So what stats do you prioritize besides ilvl and Intelect ofc. I was curious and saw few “guides” but looks like they can’t agree what stat to prioritize.
Icy Veins Haste>Mastery>Versa>Crit
Wow Head Haste>Versa>Mastery>Crit
Method guide Haste > Mastery > Crit > Versa
And some Maxroll website is Haste>Versa>Crit>Mastery
Looks like Haste is number one and I can’t stop asking myself why as arcane mage?? When you have 4 charges , arcane cast is already super fast. I always stacked Crit and Mastery since BFA. Now I was curious what is the reason, since there is no explanation why
Standard answer is to use top gear sim on raidbots. Your stat priority depends on the stats you currently have, which is why there is never really a consistent answer for this.
If you’re interested you can download the simc addon (very small and unobtrusive), then in-game type /simc
Ctrl-c the entire wall of data that pops up, head to raidbots.com and select the Top Gear box, paste the simc data, and then select the items you’re unsure about to compare them. You can do a 5 min 1 patchwerk boss sim to check st, and a 1 min 5 patchwerk sim to check aoe (the cleave/m+ sim options aren’t as reliable.)
And while there is a stat weight option on raidbots remember that the result will just be a snapshot of what stats are good for you in that exact gear, which will change as you change gear.
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Haste is the only priority secondary stat. Everything else is roughly the same for Arcane. The reason you see slight variance in guides is because the authors prioritize different things. Vers is not just a damage boost but also gives you more survivability which most players need in order to survive mechanics. If you’re playing perfectly and pushing cutting edge content obviously you want to prioritize damage over survivability. Same if you’re only playing LFR and Normal because mechanics there are not as punishing and you’re less likely to die to one if you mess up and at lower levels killing the boss before it does a certain mechanic is a valid strategy that also has you focusing on damage over survival.
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As poster above said, best way to figure it out is to sim your character, as there are too many variables to be able to set out a cut and dry stat priority for people.
Say for example you stack up to 25% haste and take no other stat (for demonstration purposes). You’ll be casting fast and your cooldown times will come down, but without any mastery/verse/crit, your spells will hit like wet noodles. All this to say it’s best to sim.
Haste is at number one because it reduces our cast times (arcane surge, shifting power, arcane blast, etc etc) and allows us to burn through to our next burst window a little quicker. More burst windows = more damage. Just in terms of how the spec feels to play without sufficient haste makes everything feel super slow and clunky.
With 11.0.5’s rework, arcane mages have swapped from sunfury to the spellslinger hero talents to do the most damage. And with that, our use for mastery went down considerably, which is why you’re seeing the different prio’s on different sites. Personally I’m running mostly Haste/Crit, with a fair bit more Verse than Mastery.
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Sim yourself, but presently with changes versatility and haste are common sim results.