Arcane Mage

Arcane Mage puts 31 points into Arcane, 16 points into Frost and 4 points into Fire by level 60, with no respec on the way.

No talent ability is worth building around here: the points go to passive bonuses.

Arcane Power is left out on purpose: in our sim it does less for leveling than the same points spent elsewhere.

By our sim, this build gets you from 10 to 60 in about 18% less time than playing with no talents.

At level 40 most of your ability damage comes from Frostbolt (78%) and Fire Blast (22%).

Each talent gets a tier for how much it helps this build level, by our sim: S best, A strong, B solid, C small, Filler needed to reach deeper talents.

1. 10-14
   

   Improved Frostbolt 1-5 S

   Frost. S tier: one of this build's best points for leveling.
2. 15-16
   

   Wand Specialization 1-2 A

   Arcane. A tier: a strong point for leveling.
3. 17-19
   

   Elemental Precision 1-3 B

   Frost. B tier: a solid point for leveling.
4. 20-22
   First, filler points:

   • Ice Shards 1-2C

   

   Frost Channeling 1 S

   Frost, at level 22. S tier: one of this build's best points for leveling.
5. 23-31
   First, filler points:

   • Arcane Focus 1-5
   • Improved Channeling 1-3

   

   Arcane Blast 1 A

   Arcane, at level 31. A tier: a strong point for leveling.
6. 32-34
   

   Piercing Ice 1-3 A

   Frost. A tier: a strong point for leveling.
7. 35-36
   

   Wake of Fire 1-2 B

   Fire. B tier: a solid point for leveling.
8. 37-38
   

   Frost Channeling 2-3 S

   Frost. S tier: one of this build's best points for leveling.

1. 
   Frostbolt

   filler
2. 
   Fire Blast

   on cooldown

Share of your ability damage

• Frostbolt78%
• Fire Blast22%

What our sim found levels best at this level with this build: DoTs once per mob, cooldowns on cooldown, and the rest on your best filler. Auto attacks are always on, so they are not listed.

Spell power > MP5 > Intellect > Spirit

• Spell power1.00
• MP50.60
• Intellect0.34
• Spirit0.14

1% crit is worth about 2 Spell power.

Stat values like Pawn: point for point, your best stat is 1.00 and the rest are worth that share of it. MP5 is mana regen per 5 seconds, as item tooltips show it. Your own gear shifts these: the Character page works them out for you.

• At level 40, for the same item budget, spell power helps most, then Intellect. Look for gear with those first.
• Some points (Improved Channeling, Arcane Subtlety and Magic Absorption and others) are filler to reach the next tier; they do little for leveling on their own.

How this is made: a typical character at each level (Classic-like stats, quest greens for gear) pulling same-level mobs one at a time, with downtime counted. It is an early version, refined as players’ combat logs measure what each talent really does.