[MACRO] Arcane Mage DPS Macro

[heffner]

Hi everyone,

I recently switched my mage from fire to arcane. I have never played the arcane tree before, have always been fire for all my mages. I switched because I thought it might increase my DPS, but now I am not so sure....however, that's another discussion.

What I need help with is a DPS macro. I spent hours trying to work this out and managed to finally get something to sort of work but was hoping that someone else may have worked this out.

What I wanted is a key I can spam to cast - Arcane Blast X 3, Arcane Missiles, Arcane Blast. Of course, I could just use /castsequence in a single line, but we all know how much that gimps the DPS.

I tried to do this combination in many ways. Right now I have the sequence spread across three macros and I use a fourth to click them.

My current macro casts ABX3, AM, AB, ABX4, AM, AB, ABX? ...it's kinda odd. It's not really optimized either, the casts between AB seem too long. My timing is obviously off. I think the channeling is messing me up. I tried /castsequence [nochanneling], but found using /stopmacro [channeling] worked better for me.

Anyway, I couldn't find anything on the site (sorry if it's already been asked). Thanks for your help!!

[Bot]

are you gonna ignore missile barrage procs or you using a notifier for them. miks scrolling battle text is good for that. also ive not done much research but it seems as though the standard rotation is
Arc Blast, Arc Blast, Arc Barrage
OR if Missile Barrage procs during that, you change it to
Arc Blast, Arc Blast, Arc Blast, Arc Missiles

i was only arcane for a minute at lvl 71 so im not sure but might be better

[daviddoran]

I did some testing with a practice dummy, and tried

/castsequence Arcane blast, arcane blast, arcane blast, arcane missiles, arcane barrage

as well as that same basic rotation manually. The DPS numbers weren't different by much. I mostly use the sequence on trash just cause its easier. On boss fights, I do a manual rotation and as long as i remember to throw in arcane missiles, I dont go OOM too fast, and with the changes to mana regen, my in combat and out of combat mana regen is identical.

I don't bother waiting for the arcane missile haste proc, I just cast away. Usually 1 or 2 and often all 3 have the proc, but what I do, is if at least one did the full proc, I just interrupt the others and go back to arcane blast. It doesn't do as much dps as the blasts anyway, so if it doesn't go off in 2 seconds, I just move on. Also, I found that throwing arcane barrage helped a lot, as that does quite a lot of damage for an instant cast. I also throw in PoM Pyros whenever its up, and I use Mirror image often too. It's amazing the difference a little gear makes though. I have 3 mages with identical talents and macros, with the exact same spell rotations, and the one that got into more raids and has a few epics consistantly does 200-400 DPS more than the other 2. I think arcane scales very well with gear.

Once I get enough gold to buy cold weather flying (yeah, I don't have it yet, luckily my guild has a lock...) I will save for dual spec, and try a frostfire bolt build. Or, I could try 3 experimental builds, and test it on a dummy, and respec the other 2 to whoever does the most dps

[heffner]

I was just going to ignore the procs for now.

I don't really know the best rotation, I just took some info from elitistjerks.com (http://elitistjerks.com/f75/t42876-arcane_thread/). There are a few different options. I am still working that out too. I might have to adjust the sequence a bit.

I haven't added in mirror image or any of the damage boosting "buffs" yet like PoM or Icy Veins. I figured I would somehow work those in after.

[moog]

Don't ignore the procs... they really boost your DPS!

My main mage macro is...

/stopmacro [noharm][dead][channeling]
/castsequence reset=combat/target Scorch, Arcane Blast, Arcane Blast, Arcane Blast, Arcane Missiles, Arcane Barrage

An insta-pyro when available really helps DPS...

/stopmacro [noharm][dead][channeling]
/castsequence reset=combat Presence of Mind, Pyroblast

I use PowerAuras to monitor for the Missile Barrage proc, prompting me to trigger my mage macro...

/stopcasting
/cast Arcane Missiles

I trigger Arcane Power and Mirror Image manually and cast slow when my tank takes a new target.
My mage has the Glyph of Improved Scorch, too, immediately slapping 5 improved scorch applications on the target, helping the whole party

[puppychow]

for arcane, to maximize DPS this is the rotation you should use in most fights:

3x arcane barrage
if missile barrage proc'd, cast arcane missiles (to clear buff)
else cast arcane barrage (to clear buff)
<rinse and repeat == use arcane power and trinkets every cooldown, use evocation when icy veins and/or bloodlust is almost over>

for multiboxing macros you can either have 3 buttons and rotate between 1,1,1,2 or 3 :
#showtooltip
/cast [nochanneling] arcane blast
(same for arcane missiles, arcane barrage)

or you can use one single castsequence and get about 90% of the DPS:

#showtooltip
/castsequence [nochanneling] arcane blast, arcane blast, arcane blast, arcane missiles

You actually don't end up losing a lot of DPS by using AM even if missile barrage hasn't proc'd. You do however lose DPS by missiling too early, wait until you have 3 stacks of the buff then AM to kill the buff. If mana is an issue (esp since evo/gem management is hard when multiboxing mages) you can drop to 2x AB's then 1 AM, but your DPS will suffer a bit.

There's no reason to really ever cast scorch or pyro in PVE as an arcane mage, you are betting off POMing a arcane blast since it can trigger arcane bonuses. In PVP of course you may want to POM a pyro to burst someone down.

Moog, I'm a little confused why you have both arcane and scorch in your macros. Scorch only increases critical chance against enemies if you talent into improved scorch, and an arcane mage can't have both IV and imp scorch. So glyph'ing for imp scorch and casting it does nothing for your party. IV is a much higher DPS boost than spec'ing for scorch, even taking into account a caster team.

[heffner]

I did manage to find that same castsequence after a bit more searching. I assume you meant Arcane Blast X 3 though =). So, ABX3, [mbarr or abarr].

Unfortunately, I run a group of five different classes. That's what makes things more challenging for me. So, I try my best to make a macro that lets me take advantage of the procs as much as possible without having to actually watch for them.

I actually switch from Fire to Arcane because I thought there wasn't any procs to watch for. Heh, obviously I was mistaken. Ah well I wanted to try it anyway.

I think I will install Miks Scrolling Combat Bars and see if that helps me.

Thanks again for the replies.

[moog]

Moog, I'm a little confused why you have both arcane and scorch in your macros. Scorch only increases critical chance against enemies if you talent into improved scorch, and an arcane mage can't have both IV and imp scorch. So glyph'ing for imp scorch and casting it does nothing for your party. IV is a much higher DPS boost than spec'ing for scorch, even taking into account a caster team.

I've specced down to Improved Scorch (53/18/0) - I prefer the team synergy of the glyphed improved scorch being on the kill target at all times over the icy veins boost for the mage for 20s every 3m.
This also allows me to have Pyro for PoM+Pyro DPS boost every 2m.

It works for me

[Poetry]

I run 5 different classes so I found watching for missile barrage too much to micro manage so this last time around I didn't bother spec'ing into it at all. My cast sequence is 3 x Arcane Blast followed by Arcane Barrage. I include all possible buffs in my macro: Icy Veins, Arcane Power, Presence of Mind, Mirror Image, 2 trinkets. My mage often tops the damage meter, so even if catching Missile Barrage would up my dps, I'm not too worried. She performs well, efficiently, and takes no babysitting...she's a single target machine. I like low maintenance.

[heffner]

Poetry, exactly what I was planning =) I suppose I focus on these things too much since I doubt I would even use more than 1 toon if I ever raid again.