The REAL guide to arcane pvp.

I've been playing Mop on warmane since beta, I've seen a lot of bulls**t about how arcane is not a pvp spec because of mobility, but mobility has never been a problem, it's spell priority that has been the problem. I'm a busy person and I don't have all day to explain every detail, so I'm gonna barebone this guide and make it simple for most of you.

the following is what you need to be successful on the battlefield:

-nether tempest (missile procs)
-ice floes (mobility)
-rapid displacement glyph (mobility)
-that glyph that increases blink distance, or spellsteal glyph for heals (mobility/heals)
-I prefer ice ward, but ring works well with floes too.
-Unerring Vision of Lei Shen

Arcane already has the dps, going overboard with it only makes you stationary.

keep nether tempest up on 3+ targets for infinite missile procs. 2 will keep missiles up about 70% of the time.
the way ice floes works with channeled spells: ice floes is NOT consumed until the channeled spell is complete, SO STOP JUKING MISSILES. Now you are able to run n gun missiles by cutting the channel short with what? MORE MISSILES!!! At 4 arc charges you should be hitting ~15K per missile (I went with full haste, ~44% with all procs/ice shield, but I recommend mage armor)

Now with pvp proc trink, potion, flask, and arcane power - - don't be surprised by how fast you can melt face, targets generally don't survive 3 or 4 secs of focused missiles doing up to 50k per missile crit. If you've ever been on the receiving end of this you know what I'm talking about. You can't escape from an infinite stream of missiles while the mage can still run/blink while gunning. Now you need some guaranteed crits, roots are pretty useless with this spec' cept for cc and barrage. So you need to go out there n get yourself an Unerring Vision of Lei Shen. Each missile from the full cast of arcane missiles as well as each secondary effect from nether tempest can proc this trinket, expect it to proc often enough to be extremely useful (1-3 procs per group fight + alter time)

I hope everyone is with me so far, not far to go.

There are 2 cons to this spec:

1. can't sheep, roots/fear breaks fast - CCing is a nightmare for everyone around you, but your dps easily makes up for it.
2.Not a good 1v1 or 2v2 spec except with a feral or disc , keeping enemies together is a must. I suggest rated bgs or 3v3/5v5 for this spec

===Use ice Lance, arc explosion, fire blast and other instants on the run for more missile procs if you're in a 1v1 situation

Well I'm done, there it is, barebone as f**k.
Play the spec however you'd like under these conditions and you'll quickly change how you view an arcmage in a fight.

I'll answer any questions you have, look at my armory (Char: Igknight, and I prefer temporal shield) for a quick referral, I'll answer questions when I find the time for it.

now go out there and be somebody

If i may add. I dont think that glyph of rapid displacement is a good one since you will not be able to blink out of stun or root. Also I would suggest that you gem and reforge to mastery arcane missiles dont spend mana so you will be at 100% mana all the time.

you're still able to blink out of roots, I prefer just using a temporal shield on a stun, uses up some or all of their burst. you're right about missiles though, you should be sitting at 97-100% mana at all times, so I see your point on the mastery; you'll maximize mastery and high mana effectiveness, but higher haste decreases gcd, NT ticks faster = more missiles on fewer targets. I have around a 1.13 A. M. channel time( 1.22 or 21 w/o ice shield) , and with the 100% crit trink I can get off 13-15 missiles (depending on cutoff) and 1 barrage within its time frame @ 50k per missile and 300k+ barrage vs 1-5 targets. Honestly I don't see a large difference between haste and mastery with this spec, you either hit faster n more often, or slower n harder. tell me some of your ballpark burst #s, you probably hit for 65k ballpark missile crit w/ full burst, right?

edit :another reason I didn't create a full blown guide, the list in OP is just what's needed to grasp the idea of this 'unheard-of' spec. I'd like more players to just test it out with what they got, without an investment cost. maybe they will stumble onto something I haven't considered yet. also the glyph choice I posted adds the mobility you lose from blazing speed. if you never use BS, then you won't need to change your glyphs, plus I like pissing warriors off n make their charge useless

little more info: I said it in the OP, but you need 2+ targets in close proximity for this spec, this spec is a natural enemy to classes with pets. I run with 2 dps trinkets as undead, I just feel like the cleanse trinket is useless in larger scale pvp, what's the point of trinking out of a stun and into a fear, we've all been in that situation.

note: if someone does try the spec, post your opinion please, I'm sure some have tried it and I'd like others to be encouraged to try it to.

Well i am not full 522 i need offhand and gloves I also use pve waist and 1 ring, but i can do about 55k missile with burst. I also use Wushoolay's Final Choice. And my max barrage was 150k i think, sometimes i dont pay attention to numbers could be bigger. Yes pet classes are very vulnerable, but you can dot totems also, they will not die.

That was my first trinket choice, but Idk if it stack beyond the first proc or reset timer?

is that totem thing new to 5.4.8? I remember hating totems cuz I had to tab through them and my NT 1shot'em in 5.4.2.

let me know if the trink stacks though, I might consider getting one if the dmg output is high enough.
what burst are you using? I use:
-int flask (1000 int)
-int potion (4000 int)
-pvp trink (~4000 int)
-pvp berserker buff (30%)(when available)
-arcane power (20%)
-Windsong (all 3 buffs)

I haven't played recently and I've heard dmg is nerfed a little more than the 8% resilience buff, but Idk personally. So my numbers are probably lower now than stated.

when I get a new comp, I'll try full mastery. *crosses fingers for 75K missiles*

So it was hard to test totem thing in bg, I tested it in duel, so you can dot them but it's doing nothing, it's not killing totems but you can see that nether tempest is on totem so that is bugged. About trinket it stars at 1 stack 1333 int and stack up to 10 stacks each second so at 10 stacks you will get 13330 int and that is when you would like to use barrage. Also he is procking all the time so you have big uptime on it. You can also upgrade it for more int. My burst is similar to your i just dont use potion all the time. Yes dmg is nerfed now, but not feeling that much on mage as it is lets say on warlock .

holy s**t!! 13330 int, that's insane! so with pot n others, I could be looking at 20000+ spell power and probably 13-16% crit? hell yeah I'm definitely getting that trinket. that's like 2x dmg, I was only getting about 40% dmg increase with my burst outside arcane power/berserker. good stuff bro, good stuff.

now I see why you prefer mastery over haste.

When you upgrade it 14370 but that lasts for 1 sec, that's why I told you to use barrage then.

Yeah but after 3 ticks you gain more than the pvp proc trink. incorporate alter time and you can barrage twice at the 1sec mark.
have you tried ice floes yet? or have you the whole time, Idk?

Yes i used ice floes since i started arcane, about alter time it is bugged so when alter time runs out you will not get arcane charges back (those that you spent with barrage wile alter was active), so that is not going to be as strong as it could be..:(

then I'll just keep using alter time as a Cleanse trinket, pop it before fear n pop back out or cyclone etc. Or just pop it before inc burst.