Introduction
My name is Tamir, also known as tam1h.
I've been pushing high mythic+ keys since Legion as a mage and raiding since Warlords of Draenor. I have been raiding in the top 30 scene throughout most of Shadowlands and Dragonflight.
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/tam1h
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TamirWow
What has changed
Season 4 Arcane Mage Changes
Going into Season 4, Arcane Mage doesn't see any changes, which is a good thing; I think Arcane is in a great spot, both in the Raid and Mythic+.
We get to keep our current Tier set that we’ve been playing with during Season 3, but with a few changes in terms of gearing. New, or more so old, gear and trinkets are coming back with Season 4 Awakened Raids and Dragonflight M+ dungeon pool, as well as the Dinar like system of Shadowlands, now going by the name of Antique Bronze Bullion; I will give my opinion on what you should be getting first going into Season 4 in the gearing Section.
First Impressions of Arcane Mage
Here are some of my first impressions of the spec.
- The class has serious front-load damage inside our cooldowns
- It's much easier to manage mana compared to Shadowlands
- We got Greater invisibility as a talent (which we already had) on the class try but didn't gain anything else in return like the other specs in the defensive department (Fire's Cauterize + Greater Invisibility / Frost's Greater Invisibility and 2x Ice Blocks)
- Very CD depended, and the damage outside of Arcane Surge is very lackluster
- Very strong on 5-8 Target cleave with Arcane Surge / Touch of the Magi / Arcane Echo Splash
- If you want to do proper damage as an Arcane Mage it will take some time to set it up properly
- Very immobile in Ramp (our damage setup)
- You are heavily affected by mechanics. If you need to do something during your burst or setup window, you will get heavily punished.
- Requires some preparation and encounter familiarity to achieve proper damage
- More punishing than the other 2 specs in terms of damage ramp / setup, but it can be gratifying if targets are stacked
- Requires your Touch of the Magi Target to be alive for a long time to do proper cleave.