Hey all!
This is a thread about a new talent idea that I have to propose for the Arcane spec.
The premise of this new talent relies on 2 factors: a channel prior to the cast and the actual cast itself. The unique take is that the precast spends mana every second to charge the detonation, where increasing time spent during the channel ultimately increases the explosion damage.
The other purpose behind this new talent is that it is meant to meaningfully compete with the Overpowered talent in the last row, which has remained uncontested for at least 2 expansions due to the strength of that talent and the lack of strength from the other talents.
How would this spell actually work Brainard?
Here’s what I envision for this spell:
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Arcane Bomb : Begin a channel, spending (10% base mana) per second (tick frequency increased by haste, mana cost reduced by Arcane Power), gained 1 stack of Bomb Charge per second of channel. No maximal channel time (cutoff is based on available mana).
After interrupting the channel or reactivating the spell, you explode outwards dealing (120% Spell Power) Arcane damage all targets within 20 yards. This damage is increased by 100% per stack of Bomb Charge accumulated.
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3 minute cooldown. Replaces Time Anomaly talent in Level 50 Row. This interacts with Slipstream talent, allowing you to move while channeling.
Why add this talent though?
- Because unlike Fire and Frost specs, the final row of Arcane has not changed in at least 2 expansions. Time Anomaly, theoretically, is quite good. The problem is that it is completely RNG. You could get Time Warp while doing nothing, and Arcane Power while at 0 Mana, or Evocation while full on mana, etc. It is a remnant of an old system of beliefs that stated that more RNG = better, which isn’t always true. This talent is unlikely to ever see play for that reason alone, even if the proc rate of Arcane Power and Time Warp was increased significantly; it is simply too random.
- This talent creates a new build for Arcane that works similar to Venthyr Boomy currently (big 3 minute cooldown), but with a twist: all of your damage is done in a single giga spell that does a huge amount of damage. This large amount of damage would also provide Arcane with a significant niche pick in AoE, making them very strong in M+, at the cost of single target damage (from Overpowered talent not being picked).
- This talent significantly scales with Mastery not only due to increased damage, but increased mana, which means more stacks of Bomb Charge available.
- This talent also significantly scales with Haste, as the ideal scenario would be to burn as much mana in a 12 second interval, since prior to using this spell you would pop Arcane Power, which would drop a Rune of Power on the ground. Because RoP only lasts 12 seconds, you want to burn as much mana in that 12 second window as possible, otherwise you would lose out on 40% increased damage from RoP. Currently, haste is not valued for Arcane (this has been the case for a long time because it drains mana faster).
- It would be super cool! It’s like something that was ripped straight out of Dragon Ball Z!
What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comment section below!
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One blows up or the target? And if it’s you who xplodes, I assume you don’t die, right?
And while I’d wish Blizz do not add abilities with a veeery long cooldown, the spell looks fun (unforgiving, though).
In Kaurmine world that’s never true 
I see what you mean, I meant more like you cause an outward explosion, not like a suicide bomber thing lol.
I intended to keep in the spirit of Arcane’s AoE being melee focused (arcane explosion), so it should be centered around your position
o so… basically a stationary version of Arcano Sphere but usable in pve content?
Similar in many ways, except way bigger in cooldown, radius and damage. Think of this as a nuke that you charge for 10 or so seconds, then explodes for giant damage in an AoE every 3 mintues (at the cost of your entire mana bar)
what if, for simplicity, the damage it does is based off the amount of mana consumed by the ability. so using it at low mana wouldn’t be as much damage as using it at full mana.
for balancing the damage value could be like arcane explosion’s damage to mana cost ratio but released all at once and always crits.
It’s a cool idea. It might be tough to balance if you can channel it out of combat. Like Imagine just running triple arcane bomb in an M+. Just have the mages channel before the pull and drag the entire DOS-Ardenweald map onto the mages and insta-gib the entire map.
Maybe it’s something you need to be in combat to charge?
Yep that’s exactly the way it works right now! The way it would be coded in either case is the same (i.e. stacks in the background vs. in my example you actually see the stacks per mana spent). In either case you would ofc want to use it with a full bar of mana.
Agreed, the number value behind this is completely up in the air, and would have to be balance
the image this ability kind of gives me is the mage saying “buy me time while i charge up an attack”
maybe the channel of energy is actually only a catalyst modifier. like once done it can be applied to any ability for a legendary version of the ability.
like using it with frost nova does the same thing khadgar did in the WoD intro.
“we don’t have that kind of time~” freeze everyone solid in a 200 yard radius.
I see wat you mean, but from a development perspective I think its easier to design a single spell with a clear purpose in mind that has meaningful playstyle
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I agree, it sucks that Arcane’s talents have been hard cemented for a while now. I remember back in WoD when they had the crystal that would do so much damage.
Cool idea though
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I’m debating how balanced this would be…it seems a little over powered…
3 seconds drains 30% mana and does 360xSP damage to all targets
10 seconds drains 100% mana and does 1200xSP to all targets
So what’s the equivalent - if there is any - of the type of massive aoe damage this would do?
And what’s the Damage per second trade off - a full cast would need an evoke right after - almost negating the mana penalty. But that’s 2 long channels without any other spells cast.
It’s a really cool idea… it just seems a bit over powered.
Keep in mind, I put in the numbers just to have something to look at. This could easily be buffed/nerfed as per testing
So for comparison Arcane Explosion is @50% Sp instant cast…
So I’m thinking, given a longer cool down and channeling penalty - something like the bomb builds at 70% per sec, radiating 20% aoe damage while channeling - then maybe give it an aoe knock back when it explodes? Just for lols?
That would be
Over 3 seconds - an explosion building to 210 Sp and 20% for each of the 3 seconds channeling
Over 10 - 700% + 20% channeling for 10 seconds
Seems closer to damage range I’d say of Earth Shock at about 270%
But I don’t really know what I’m talking about. I love arcane, and this was fun spell to think about. Thanks for the brain teaser!
No, i wouldnt want that. I prefer the damage to happen all at once rather than pulsing every second. In the spirit of kyrian arcane’s giga barrage that crits for 200k+, it is more fitting for arcane’s playstyle to have a huge few hits than slowly building damage.
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