Dragonflight Arcane Mage Tree Feedback

Classes Mage
1

Hello all! This thread is created to discuss possible changes and additions to Arcane Mage talent tree in DF. Even though there are already similar topics on this forum, they are scattered, plus my suggestion list seems too big to be posted as a reply in one of these, so I made a separate dedicated topic. It might contain some suggestions posted by other people, so copyrights are preserved :slightly_smiling_face:

To start, Arcane Mage tree feels too shuffled and mixed. Left part contains mana management talents like Rule of Threes, Arcane Familiar and Evocation, Improved Arcane Missiles (though most Clearcasting talents are on the right side), Improved Arcane Barrage (though other talents for it are on the right side) and some AoE talents (Nether Tempest and Arcane Orb). Right side is not better - it contains mana management talents (Mana Gem), Clearcasting talents, AoE talents (Improved Arcane Explosion, Reverberate) etc. It was not hard to see the branch logic in other Mage spec trees, but not in this one. It needs a lot of work - some talents improved, some talents repositioned, some talents replaced etc.
Here is the list of my suggestions (there is also visualized version of them in link below, remove space before dot and for clarification - red arrow is position change, red square means that multiple talents should be moved with their hierarchy preserved, orange arrow is new path addition to the talent, yellow square means changes to existing talent, green square means new talent addition and green slash means addition of choice node to the existing talent):
imgur .com/a/6volCTQ

Here is also the short TLDR if needed:

  • Left branch is suggested to become the AoE branch. It would contain most Arcane Barrage talents, Arcane Explosion talents, Arcane Orb talents (moved up in the tree and no longer capstones), Nether Tempest, 2 AoE CC / utility abilities Arcane Pulse (aka current Supernova) and Arcane Singularity (aka black hole ability), new AoE Arcane Charge consumer with CD (new Supernova), 3 target AoE cleave CD (Archon aka Arcane Deathborne) etc.
  • Middle part is kept for Arcane Surge talents and choices, ToTM and playstyle talents. It now also contains possibility to take old Arcane Power as a choice node with Arcane Surge, a choice node between Overpowered (longer duration and more damage bonus for AP / AS) and Overcharged (possibility to spam 4 charged Arcane Barrages on CD during AP / AS for mobility / AoE burst), talents that improve Arcane Echo playstyle (ToTM Arcane damage increase similar to current 2 tier set bonus and ToTM generating Clearcasting stacks while it is active), Radiant Spark talents and talents that improve Kyrian Arcane playstyle (slightly buffed Presence of Mind, talent that gives Arcane Barrage a guaranteed crit after using ToTM and Arcane Harmony in the middle of tree not gated behind Expanded Potential)
  • Right part is suggested to become a mostly ST branch that has separate branches for most Clearcasting talents, Arcane Blast talents, Arcane Charge management talents and mana management talents. It also contains Evocation (moved up and no longer a capstone talent), Expanded Potential branch that makes it much more powerful and Mana Gem improvement branch (ability itself is suggested to become baseline, but talents make Mana Gem also provide a decent dps boost and Arcane Charge gain when used by Arcane Mage only and even make them available to allies for mana restoration only to prevent appearance of another Power Infusion).

Full list of suggestions:

Row 3:

  • Make Rule of Threes affect Arcane Explosion as well. Move it one row up and make it an optional pick accessed from Arcane Barrage and leading to its current position. Move Improved Arcane Barrage to its current spot.
    This would achieve several goals - make Rule of Threes an optional talent (and it should be, as it can be harmful in PVP), allow it to affect AoE rotation as well (and AoE rotation is the one that has most amount of building / spending Arcane Charges) and make Improved Arcane Barrage a first fitting opening talent to the AoE branch (which should be left, as it already contains Nether Tempest and Arcane Orb). I also suggest to put Resonance to the current Improved Arcane Barrage position to make Arcane Barage talents more connected with each other.

  • Make Clearcasting additionally increase damage of Arcane Explosion by X% in addition to making it free. This would allow to make it a DPS increase in AoE situations and utilize it there more effectively.

Row 4:

  • Arcane Familiar should be moved to second row to the right of Arcane Missiles, made accessible from Arcane Barrage, leading to Clearcasting and buffed.
    This would allow ro make AF an optional pick for people that like it. Its damage value should also be buffed to make it more competitive. I also suggest to put Mana Adept to its spot to make Arcane Barrage talents connected with each other.

  • Improved Arcane Missiles feels off so far from Clearcasting talents and Improved Arcane Explosion seems off not in the AoE part of tree.
    Solution: Swap their positions.

  • Arcane Surge is controversial. Some people like it, some people don’t, some people are excited about its AoE nuke, some people are worried about its long cast time in PVP.
    Solution: Make it a choice node with current Arcane Power.
    Arcane Surge: current effect, 12s duration, 1.5-2s cast time, 90s CD.
    Arcane Power: Increases spell damage by 25%, reduces mana cost of spells by 25%, 12s duraton, instant and off-GCD (just as now), 90s CD.
    This would be a viable compromise - people who like Arcane Surge can pick and play it and people who do not can pick and play Arcane Power instead.

  • Impetus is RNG, has too small effect and is misplaced - it is a mandatory pick to access Amplification and has nothing to do with Arcane Missiles.
    Solution: Change it instead to make every X Arcane Blast usage provide 2 Arcane Charges. Move it to current Improved Clearcasting position and move Amplification to its spot and Improved Clearcasting to current Amplification Spot. This would allow to access all major Clearcasting talents as a branch from Clearcasting itself and will be a better positioning choice. Impetus should be moved to Arcane Charge generation branch, become more reliable and would be a fitting pick there alongside Reverberate.

Row 5:

  • I suggest to move Improved Prismatic Barrier to third row and put it under Arcane Missiles as a possible dead end pick - this would make it entirely optional and easily accessible for people that want to pick it.

  • I suggest to create new talent to occupy the current Improved Prismatic Barrier spot - Distant Explosion.
    “Arcane Explosion can now be used to create explosion at the targeted enemy position and does damage to him and other enemies in X yds area around him”
    This would be a talent opened by Improved Arcane Explosion and an upgrade that would allow to use Arcane Explosion from range. Arcane Mage has no other abilities that require you to be within melee range of enemies, so having their major AoE ability in melee range seems counterintuitive and this talent would help to fix that.

  • I suggest to make Nether Precision affect both Arcane Blast and Arcane Explosion. This would make this talent more synergizing with both ST and AoE rotations and more generally useful.

Row 6:

  • Create a talent named Arcane Rhytm, put it in 6th row above Nether Tempest and make it accessible from Arcane Tempo.
    “Consuming Arcane Charges has 25% chance per charge consumed to grant a stack of Clearcasting”
    This talent should be a dead end talent (so entirely optional) and can provide a reliable way to generate Clearcasting stacks by performing the build-spend charges rotation, would have good synergy with Arcane Tempo and together they would make build-spend charges rotation more competitive with Arcane Missiles / 4 charged Arcane Blast spam.

  • I suggest to move Presence of Mind to 8th row and make it accessible from Touch of the Magi. As it would also now become 3rd part talent where talent points are limited, I also suggest to buff it - make it affect 3 Arcane Blasts again, reduce its CD to 45 seconds, make it CD start on usage and change duration from infinite to 15-30 seconds to prevent its abusing. This would allow to make it more synergizing with ToTM and an optional pick for Kyrian Arcane Mages if they would like more mobility during their ToTM burst or just an optional mobility pick for all Arcane Mages. Its spot should be taken by Arcane Flurry (described later) - an Arcane Barrage talent connected with other Arcane Barrage talents and easily accessible.

  • Foresight seems mispaced being in the middle of Arcane AoE tree. Arcane Mage AoE rotation is already mostly instant cast, so it does not require neither standing still nor casting on the move addition.
    Solution: Move Foresight to the general Mage tree (where all 3 specs could find usage fo it, especially Fire Mages with Flamecannon and Kyrian Arcane Mages sitting in Rune of Power). Make it provide 2 seconds of casting on the move per 5 seconds standing still and stack up to 2-3 times to make its bonus unlocked easier and more generally useful. Replace Foresight in Arcane talent tree with Arcane Flurry talent:
    “Arcane Barrage now hits 1 additional target per Arcane Charge spent and its cleave area is increased by X%”.
    This would be the improvement talent for AoE Arcane Barrage rotation - it would allow it to hit up to 9 targets and more reliably hit enemies around main target with large hitbox. It should be moved to current Presence of Mind location and its spot should be taken by Chrono Shift. This would still keep it accessible from Resonance new location and neighboured with Chrono Shift, so all these three Arcane Barrage talents would be close to each other and connected. However, to keep its power in check, if needed Resonance bonus can be capped at 75% to prevent getting too big bonuses from more than 5 targets.

  • Enlightened is a universal talent, but it relates to more mana management than AoE damage, so I suggest to put it between Arcane Surge / Arcane Power choice node and their upgrade choice node Overpowered / Overcharged. They have decent synergy - Enlightened can both buff initial Arcane Surge blast with proper mana management and utilize Arcane Power mana cost reduction to keep its damage increase longer.

  • I suggest to put a new talent in Enlightened position: Arcane Singularity
    “Create a warp of space and time in selected area, pulling enemies in it to its center and slowing them by X% for Y seconds. Instant, 30+ yds range, 30-60s CD.”
    This is the long-asked black hole ability for Arcane Mages that would both fit their lore and give them some utility inaccessible to other Mage specs to provide a unique niche. Even though similar abilities like Sigil of Chains and Gorefiend Grasp already exist, they are tied to tank specs and Arcane Mage is a dps spec, so it would still be unique in its own way. Position of current Enlightened is fitting for this talent, as it is an AoE utility ability in the middle of AoE tree and it is close to Arcane Barrage talents that have good synergy with it - you can gather scattered enemies together with Arcane Singularity and blast them all with Arcane Orb / 4 Arcane Charged Arcane Barrage.

  • I suggest to rename Arcane Surge improvement talent back to Overpowered, make it affect Arcane Power as well and make it a choice node with Overcharged.
    Overpowered: “Arcane Surge and Arcane Power last additional 3 seconds and their damage bonuses are increased by 25%”
    Overcharged: “While Arcane Surge or Arcane Power are active, you instantly gain 4 Arcane Charges and Arcane Charges are not expended on Arcane Barrage, but still provide their damage bonus to it”.
    This will be a decent playstyle choice for major CD upgrade. People will be able to pick between AS /AP longer duration and increased damage, suitable for example for Kyrian Arcane builds and possibility to spam 4 charged Arcane Barrages for its duration, suitable for mobility / AoE fights and could choose the upgrade they would like more.

  • I suggest to create new talent in Resonance current spot - Arcane Pummeling:
    “When Clearcasting Arcane Missiles hit an enemy, the damage of Arcane Missiles is increased by X% for Y seconds. Stacks up to N times.”
    This talent is created to enable Arcane Missiles pressure playstyle - its biggest damage bonus is achieved by quickly discharging several Clearcast Arcane Missiles in a row against the enemy and will promote playstyle that is gathering them together in preparation to ToTM burst that would ramp up the longer Clearcast Arcane Missiles are successfully spammed. Duration of this bonus should be short enough, so that enemies can counterplay this burst via kicking Arcane Missiles to stop the ramp up, but the bonus itself should be significant enough to make Clearcasting spam a major threat if allowed to be maintained, enabling a “high risk, high reward” playstyle. This talent position should be right under Slipstream, as they would have good synergy.

  • I suggest to create new talent in current Slipstream position - Overcharged Blast:
    “When Arcane Blast is used with 4 Arcane Charges active, it does X% increased damage”.
    This talent should be following the Nether Precision node and would help to enable old burn-conserve playstyle for Arcane revolving around spamming 4 charged Arcane Blast mixed with Clearcast Arcane Missiles for mana management and Nether Precision buff until mana gets low and then using Evocation / build-spend charges rotation to get back to a decent amount of Mana.

  • Put PVP talent Arcane Empowerment in Arcane general tree in the 6th row above Reverberate, make it accessible from Improved Clearcasting new node and if needed remove its additional Clearcasting stacking bonus.
    “Clearcasting [can now stack up to 2 additional times and] increases damage of Arcane Missiles by X% per stack. Clearcasting no longer affects Arcane Explosion.”
    This should be a dead end talent to make it entirely optional. It supports the mentioned Arcane Pummeling playstyle, allowing to use Arcane Explosion without ruining the CC stacks gathering and providing additional damage bonus for stacking several CC stacks.

Row 7:

  • Nether Tempest is too undertuned even when made a separate talent and could use a buff to make it more competitive even with Arcane Explosion spam.
    Solution: Make it deal 60% of Spell Power Arcane damage baseline, reduce its scaling to 25% damage bonus per Arcane Charge and make it deal full damage to all affected enemies. The numbers here are not random - Arcane Explosion with Improved Arcane Explosion upgrade does 60% of Spell Power Arcane damage instantly per GCD and NT with 4 Arcane Charges would deal 120% of Spell Power Arcane damage over 12 seconds (so would do more damage, compensated by it being damage-over-time) per GCD. This would allow to make it a small dps increase over just Arcane Explosion spam → Arcane Barrage and create 2-4 AE → Nether Tempest → Arcane Barrage rotation, but the dps increase is not too big - AE still generates 1-2 Arcane Charges per cast and allows to use more Arcane Barrages if spammed without NT. This should be fine, as it makes NT just an optional pick that can provide small AOE dps increase, but also can be skipped by people who do not like it. If you want, also make it scale more with Arcane Charges from Mastery akin to Arcane Blast / Arcane Barrage.

  • I suggest to move Arcane Orb to 7th row (under Chrono Shift position) and make it accessible from it and Arcane Flurry.
    Arcane Orb is a good supplementary talent, but definitely not powerful enough for a capstone talent and should not limit 3rd tree part talent choices. Putting it in 7th row fixes this issue - it is still in AoE tree, opened by AoE talents Chrono Shift and Arcane Flurry, but it frees both capstone talent spot and a talent point in 3rd part of tree, so build variety there would become bigger.

  • I suggest to move Supernova under Arcane Singularity node, rename to Arcane Pulse and make it a choice node with Time Stasis.
    Arcane Pulse: “Pulses Arcane energy around the target enemy or ally, dealing X% of Spell Power Arcane damage to all enemies within 8 yds and knocking them upward. Instant, 25s CD.”
    Time Stasis: “Stop the time flow for targeted enemy, stuning him for 4 seconds and making his abilities not recharge while this effect is active. Instant, ranged, 45+s CD.”
    This would be a second utility / CC talent right under Arcane Singularity. It would be accessible from Arcane Singularity (for PVE builds) and Chrono Shift (for PVP builds) and give players a choice between ranged AoE mini-interrupt (useful for Mythic+ / mass PVP / occasionally raids) and ranged ST stun (useful for soloing and arenas).
    Arcane Pulse should be slightly buffed to become more competitive - it should deal full damage to all targets and its damage should be buffed to be at least bigger than damage of spammable Arcane Explosion.
    Time Stasis is its ST CC competitor that would provide Arcane Mages with their own Arcane flavored unbreakable CC and give them a tool to cover their Arcane casts and to stack Arcane Pummeling without being kicked on Arcane Missiles cast immediately in PVP.

  • Touch of the Magi is a good talent, but its fixed duration and AoE damage loss on targets death make it not very reliable - in PVE enemies can die earlier than it detonates and make you lose the stored damage against other foes, in PVP enemies can see its duration and just pop a defensive / immunity before it detonates.
    Solution: Allow players to detonate ToTM early via using its key input again akin to Cloudburst Totem, which is its analogue. This would solve the aforementioned issues - players would be able to detonate it when they want, so they can detonate it before the target dies to at least unleash its explosion in PVE and can detonate it at any time in PVP, making it less predictable.

  • Move Evocation to 7th row, reduce its base cooldown to 90 seconds and make it accessible from Overcharged Blast and new position of Impetus.
    Evocation is both not fitting for capstone talent and a mana management talent, so its logical position is middle of mana management tree (which is right part) and being connected to a mana management related talent (which is Overcharged Blast). CD change is suggested to make it align with Arcane Power / Arcane Surge even with Siphon Storm upgrade and make them synergize better. Additional Impetus connection makes it accessible for charge management based builds, as well and gives players two prerequisite talents for it to pick from.

  • Move Illuminated Thoughts to current Supernova position in 7th row and make it a 1 point investment talent.
    This would make this talent connected with Slipstream and Arcane Pummeling and make synergizing Clearcasting talent closer to each other and more accessible. It should be also made a 1 point investment talent to both keep ToTM sides point investment equal and because its analogue in Frost tree Frozen Touch requires only 1 point investment, so this one should as well.

Row 8:

  • Slightly change Prodigious Savant and make it also scale Nether Tempest damage. This would provide better synergy between these talents, especially if they are put as neighbours, as suggested.

  • Put choice node between Orb Barrage and Charged Orb to 8th row under Arcane Orb new node, move Prodigious Savant to the left and change both talents of this choice node:
    Orb Barrage: “Casting Arcane Barrage has X% chance per Arcane Charge spent to launch an Arcane Orb in target’s direction.”
    Charged Orb: “Arcane Orb has 2 charges and its cooldown is reduced by 5 seconds”
    This is a slightly modified version of current choice node - it is no longer a capstone talent and both of its choice talents are buffed / tweaked. Orb Barrage should have Mantle of Kirin Tor legendary effect, as many players liked it and would prefer to current effect of Orb Barrage. Charged Orb improvement makes it not only provide an additional Arcane Orb at the beginning of combat, but also more Arcane Orbs in general, making it a controllable competitor of Orb Barrage for people, who do not like sending RNG Arcane Orbs.

  • I suggest to swap positions of Arcane Echo and Arcane Bombardment. This is not mandatory, as both are accessible from ToTM, but would make them more fitting to the branches they should belong to - Arcane Bombardment as a left branch talent (as left branch would contain most of Arcane Barrage talents) and Arcane Echo as right branch talent (as right branch would contain most of Arcane Missiles / Clearcasting talents).

  • Put choice node between Improved Evocation and Siphon Storm to 8th row under Evocation new node and change both talents:
    Improved Evocation: “Evocation’s cooldown and channel time are reduced by 33%”
    Siphon Storm: “Evocation grants X Arcane Charges and while channeling Evocation, your Intellect is increased by 2% every 1 second. Lasts 30 seconds”.
    This would provide players a choice between Improved Evocation, which allows to use Evocation both more frequently and with less downtime (more useful for mana management builds) and Siphon Storm, which allows to use Evocation as an additional damage boost for Arcane Surge / Arcane Power (more useful for Kyrian / Arcane Pummeling builds).

  • I suggest to make Conjure Mana Gem ability itself baseline for Arcane Mage and instead make its row 8 talent provide 4 Arcane Charges and increase spell damage by X% for Y seconds after using Mana Gem. This would make it an optional improvement talent for Mana Gem and make it much more useful in combat situations.

Rows 9-10:

  • I suggest to make a new talent named Archon and put it under Prodigious Savant:
    “Turn into a being of pure Arcane energy for 15 seconds, making Arcane Blast hit 2 additional targets near the main and Arcane Barrage deal full damage to 2 nearest enemies to the initial target. 1 min CD”
    This is an Arcane themed cleave ability akin to Iceborne / Deathborne. It would give players a possibility to spec into cleave CD if needed, which would also have good synergy with mana based playstyle that focuses on buffing and using 4 charged Arcane Blasts.

  • I suggest to add a new talent under Arcane Orb upgrade choice node named Empowering Orb:
    "Using Arcane Orb increases damage of your next Arcane Barrage or Supernova (not the CC ability, a new one that will be described later) by X%.
    This would be a 3rd talent in Arcane Orb AoE branch and make it synergize slightly better with Arcane Barrage and the following ability Supernova, increasing their damage.

  • New talent: Supernova
    Cast time: 0-2 seconds
    CD: 30-60 seconds
    Range: 40m
    “Use your Arcane Charges to unleash a massive explosion of Arcane energy in selected area, dealing X% of Spell Power Arcane damage to enemies in it per charge consumed [and dazing them, reducing their cast and attack speed by Y% for N seconds per charge consumed]”.
    Now that is what deserves the name Supernova. It should be an AoE Arcane Charge consumer with no target cap and decent damage, compensated by necessity to spend all Arcane Charges and decent CD, if needed even cast time attached. This talent would provide Arcane Mages with big AoE damage CD ability akin to Meteor for Fire Mages and Comet Storm for Frost and the currently missing uncapped AoE Arcane Charge consumer. Its damage and CD should be balanced with Arcane Surge blast taken into account, as even together they should not just one shot elite mobs and players. Mass cast / attack speed reduction for affected enemies is an optional addition and would just make this ability more distinct from Arcane Surge.

  • I suggest to add a new talent under Arcane Bombardment called Mage’s Fury:
    “Using Touch of the Magi increases critical hit chance of your next Arcane Barrage against affected enemy by 100%”.
    This is the QoL talent for Kyrian Arcane builds that would make them much less RNG reliant - they would get a guaranteed final Arcane Barrage crit all the time if they manage to land it into ToTM. ToTM requirement also gives a room for counterplay in PVP for enemies - if they manage to LoS / CC the Arcane Mage for long enough time to make his final Arcane Barrage hit when ToTM already expires, they can avoid the guaranteed critical hit. If needed for balance, it could also become a 2 point talent investment, so that it and Arcane Harmony are not too easily accessible.

  • I suggest to move Arcane Infinity to the left and make it accessible from Mage’s Fury.
    As it is a cornerstone of Kyrian Arcane build, it should not be put so far from it as it is now and hidden by not needed RNG talents. Putting it under Mage’s Fury allows to make it more accessible for Kyrian Arcane builds and make it an end talent of Kyrian Arcane Barrage branch.

  • I suggest to add new talent under Arcane Echo called Arcane Exposure:
    “Your Arcane spells deal X% increased damage against enemy affected by Touch of the Magi”.
    It is the current Arcane 2 tier set bonus as a talent. It would be helpful mainly for Arcane Echo / Arcane Pummeling build, as it is intentionally put after Arcane Echo to limit its accessibility to Kyrian Arcane builds, who already get a massive boost from guaranteed crit on their final Arcane Barrage. If needed for balance, this talent could be made a 2 point investment talent as well.

  • I suggest to add new talent under Arcane Exposure named Mage’s Clarity:
    “Touch of the Magi generates a stack of Clearcasting instantly and every 3 seconds while it is active”.
    This would be the capstone talent of Arcane Echo / Arcane Pummeling branch and would allow to get guaranteed Clearcasting stacks during ToTM, making Arcane Pummeling build less RNG dependant, easier to play and capable of some immediate burst without big necessity to fish for Clearcasting stacks first.

  • I suggest to add a new talent called Unleashed Potential under Concentration node:
    “Expanded Potential makes your Clearcasting not consumed by casting relevant spells for X seconds instead of once”.
    This is the suggested capstone talent for Concentration branch - it would allow to spam Clearcasting Arcane Missiles / Arcane Explosion for several seconds when consuming Expanded Potential, making it much more powerful and an analogue of Fire Mage’s Fire Frenzy talent.

  • I suggest to rename Cascading Power to Shared Power and make it increase Mana Gem mana restoration to 25% of maximum mana and allow Mana Gem to create a similar table to Conjure Refreshment that allows sharing them with allies.
    This would give some Arcane Mage another unique niche - possibility to share Mana Gems with allies that use mana, providing an analogue of Warlock’s Healthstone. Damage bonus from previous talent though should affect only the Arcane Mage, so that Mana Gems would not become another Power Infusion and Arcane Mages are not mandatory in the raid, which I think would be overkill.

This sums up the list of my suggestions. Feel free to add your feedback and ideas about possible changes and additions to Arcane Mage talent tree. Thank you for reading!

3 Likes