Arcane Mage Leveling Issues

Classes Mage
1

I’ve been playing since classic and have played Fire and Frost quite a bit. With Dragonflight, I decided to give Arcane a better try and began leveling a a Nightborn Arcane Mage, as I thought they fit the themeing perfectly.

But I must really be missing something with this spec. I’m level 50 now, and it seems like my survivability gets WORSE with each level. I struggle to do even rudimentary quest content (currently leveling in BFA - Voldun) and I die if I pull more than one mob. No amount of casting slow, blink, frost nova, etc is saving me. My damage is abysmally low and my survivability, even while shielded is pitiful. I’m unable to complete certain quests in the zone because I just can’t survive long enough to get them done. I’ve looked up leveling guides, gone on Icy Veins, read thoughts and ideas on how the spec works. But I have NEVER struggled with survivability while leveling like this, not in all my many years of playing.

What am I doing wrong?

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2

What are you doing wrong? You’re not playing frost for leveling :slight_smile:

3

I’m not sure what levels they are available at but ring of frost, frost nova, icy nova and blast wave with the knock back are all great talents for locking down clumps of mob while you pewpew.

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4

Arcane is the best leveling spec and has been.

4 charge blast spam kills things very quickly

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5

Icy Veins recommends frost as a leveling spec.

Things can’t kill you if they can’t reach you. Frost nova/pet nova + ice lance kills groups of mobs much quicker than fire or arcane.

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6

Icy veins is wrong. Arcane has been the leveling spec since BFA because dead adds cant touch you when you 1-2 shot them.

Frost isnt killing anything faster than a 4 charge arcane blast x 2

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7

Don’t let mele touch you. They’re like greasy finger prints and you’re a touch screen.

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8

Do you ever agree with anything anyone says on this forum? wowhead also says frost mage is the best mage leveling spec. In fact, every respectable wow website says frost is is the best spec.

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9

I do on occasion.

That doesn’t mean they are correct. Arcane has been considered the best leveling spec since BFA because it can literally two shot mobs.

10

Well, here’s what I don’t get. What is the point of Arcane Barrage? It feels incredibly weak and I don’t see the point in ever casting it, despite the spell being one of the spec-defining features. Seems easier to just keep full charges and spam Arcane Blast.

Does Arcane Barrage get better?

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11

For leveling there isnt any reason.

However at max level you have specific talents that buff the damage it does. at max level arcane is all about stacking damage modifiers like RoP, radiant spark, ToTM, and Nether Precision to eventually land a 20 stack barrage into the rotation

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12

I could be misremembering but isn’t BFA’s scaling a little messed up compared to Chromie Time content? I thought I heard that mobs there are harder than they should be.

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13

Arcane blast doesn’t hit nearly as hard as it used to, it’s no longer 1 button spec. Leveling with Arcane trying to spam AB was one of the hardest slogs I’ve dealt with so far, my Evoker chewed through mobs way faster.

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14

It hits harder.

I never said arcane is a one button spec. I said leveling wise a 4 charge AB can 1-2 shot mobs which is why its better for leveling.

Thats because evoker is the new hero class /facepalm

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15

Tbh I found even fire mage easier for world content than arcane mage for everything except nuking a rare. Pyroblast autocrits let you delete most overworld mobs in like 2 seconds, arcane just can’t do that anymore. You definitely used to be able to unga-bunga arcane blast spam in past expansions, its just not as effective this time around.

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