Talk:Arcane Missiles

"This is the mage's best DPS single-target spell....?"
Says who? Talented Fireball does more DPS on a decently geared Mage than talented Arcane Missiles does. --Wenry the mage 14:42, 12 April 2007 (EDT)
 * it deals a constant dmage per second. They don't mean avereaged DPS like fireball, but a constant damage every second

--
 * Utter nonsense. As Tier 5 equipped, L70 Deep Arcane Speced mage, I can definitively tell you that "Arcane Blast" easily generates the highest DPS of any single target spells when spammed.  Like "Wendy the Mage" says, Arcane Missiles is actually less than Fireball DPS.  Whoever countered with "They don't mean avereaged DPS like fireball, but a constant damage every second" is even more full of it.  Sorbe 14:06, 11 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Edited article to read "This is one of the mage's best DPS single-target spells..." Sorbe 14:06, 11 August 2007 (UTC)


 * No need to be combative. It was probably a holdover from times past.


 * Arcane missiles scale poorly compared to other spells. An indicator for scaling is coefficient (of bonus damage from items) times % increase to total dmg from talents divided by cast time. This indicates how much of your spell damage from items is added to DPS. AM has coeff/time of 0.387, fireball has 0.491 (with scorch), frostbolt 0.426. Basically the empowered AM talent is too weak, doubling its effect will allow AM to scale better than frostbolt and slightly less than fireball. --Ice mountain 11:53, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

2.2 PTR changes
I'm not able to verify atm, but there are reports that the PTR changes to AM are more extensive than indicated in the patch notes. Specifically, there have been reports that chance on hit procs can now proc on each wave of AM rather than just the initial cast. As I said, I cannot verify atm. If anyone can verify, it would be helpful to also check this against arcane concentration (clearcasting): the talent note says spell land, but it seems unlikely that Blue would allow that to hit the PTR, much less live. The item procs should be testable using spellstrike 2/2 or the mystical skyfire diamond meta. I believe robes of the elder scribes has a hidden cooldown, but I suppose it would work for testing as well. Hecuba 30 Aug 2007

Arcane Missiles with Clearcasting
There is an important element to consider with arcane missiles that many people seem to ignore: how clearcasting affects it. With improved clearcasting, an arcane mage can achieve a lot of damage in a little time using arcane missiles. I will list each way clearcasting affects and is affected by arcane missiles, assuming the mage in question has full points in clearcasting as well as improved clearcasting.

-Clearcasting can only proc on arcane missiles at the moment before the first missile where the mana is consumed, NOT on each missile individually.

-The 30% additional critical strike chance from improved clearcasting IS in effect for the volley of missiles that procced clearcasting. This can be confirmed by opening your character info pane, which will show that your crit chance is 30% higher.

-The arcane missiles you cast after an arcane missiles that procced clear casting will ALSO get the increased critical strike chance, in addition to not costing mana. Therefore, assuming a mage was spamming arcane missiles, and one procced clear casting, his next TEN missiles (two volleys of five missiles) will have a 30% higher crit chance, and cost the price of five missiles (one volley.)

-If the mage in question is particularly lucky, and clearcasting procs on two arcane missile volleys consecutively, the 30% critical strike chance DOES stack. For example: a mage fires an arcane missile volley that procs clearcasting, giving that volley and the next volley a 30% increased crit chance. He then fires another arcane missile volley for no mana that also procs clearcasting. The 30% increased crit chance from the clearcasting that was just consumed as well as the 30% from the new clearcasting that just procced combine to give that volley of arcane missiles a 60% increased crit chance, meaning almost every missile in that volley should be a critical, if not all. To top it off, the third volley will also have a 30% higher chance to crit and cost no mana, and the same thing will happen again if that one somehow procs clearcasting. NOTE: Unlike the single clearcasting buff, that shows your crit chance is 30% higher, the 60% stacked clearcasting will not be seen on your info pane, because once a clearcasting is consumed your crit chance returns to normal, and only the spell that consumed it has higher crit.

I do not know if Blizzard intended clearcasting and arcane missiles to work like this or not, and I do not have hard numbers to support what I have just stated, merely my word that I have noted these things after months of playing an arcane mage. I believe it makes sense when considering how the game makes an individual critical roll for each missile; if your crit chance is being displayed 30% higher, the rolls are going to take that into account. The only thing I can find that does not work with what I said, and thus leads me to believe that this was intentionally put in by Blizzard, is why or how the game rolls higher chance to crit on the arcane missiles after the clearcasting has been consumed. Nonetheless, I am confident the information I listed is correct, and that it also shows that arcane missiles, with the right spec and some luck, can put out very high amounts of damage indeed.

Dragunov 21:33, 1 April 2008 (UTC)Dragunov April 2008

Flavor removed

 * Fire at will!!!

This text was uncited, and so was nudged out by the quote from the card game. 04:47, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

Arcane Missiles VS Arena Pillars
This spell, while mana intensive is a useful tool in the arena to dislodge those who pillar hug & bandage. Because of the effective 1 second cast time on the first missile, and the relatively slow speed of the missile compared to arrows, the average player will find it hard to get behind the pillar before the first missile hits. Then the next two or 3 will hit, passing through the pillar. This is because channeled spells on a target usually break slower on a line of sight interruption than a cast time spell such as frostbolt. As quite a few missiles are launched between initial cast and the first missile hitting, they will all hit the target, and pass through the pillar like it wasnt there, not sure if this would be suitable for the tactics section, so I thought I'd post it here. Shown to have great effect vs rogues, who want to restealth behind the pillar, and gives the mage time to get back into range.

Eviltwig (talk) 18:42, 17 July 2008 (UTC)