Arcane Mage Hero Talent Showdown in The War Within - Spellslinger vs. Sunfury

The War Within Posted 4 days ago by Porom

Not sure what Hero Talents to play for your spec in The War Within? Check out all the released articles in the 'Hero Talent Showdown' series:
Hero Talent Showdowns in The War Within
Frost DK
Havoc DH
Restoration Druid
Augmentation Evoker
Beast Mastery Hunter
Arcane Mage
Brewmaster Monk
Holy Paladin
Holy Priest
Shadow Priest
Outlaw Rogue
Subtlety Rogue

Enhancement Shaman
Affliction Warlock
Protection Warrior

For more information on Hero Talents coming in the War Within, check out our Hero Talents Overview.

The War Within Hero Talents Overview

Arcane Mage in the War WithinmostlyHero Talent Showdown: Sunfury vs. Spellslinger Kael'thas SunstriderSunfury armies Sunfury

Strengths

Weaknesses

Burden of PowerArcane SoulArcane BarrageClearcasting Spellslinger

Strengths

Weaknesses

Nether PrecisionNether PrecisionArcane BarrageNether PrecisionArcane BlastArcane BarrageArcane Splinter What's Changed? SunfurySpellfire SpheresClearcastingArcane BlastArcane BarrageGlorious IncandescenceArcane OrbArcane BarrageCharged Orb SpellslingerNether TempestSpellfrost TeachingsArcane OrbSplinterstormClearcastingClearcasting And the Winner Is...

Class Fantasy & Visuals: Spellslinger & Sunfury (Tie)
Justification (Click Here)

Sunfury Arcane Mages use their connection to the Sunstrider legacy to conjure Spellfire Spheres, Meteorites, and a powerful Arcane Phoenix during your Arcane Surge. This is the kind of theme that the hero talent system was built for. The visuals for Sunfury are excellent, invoking both the classic Kael'thas Sunstrider spheres and his pet Al'ar, the only pitfall here is that the Spellfire Spheres are very fire-centric in their animation, purple spheres would've really made this perfect for Arcane Mages. Sunfury is going to make a lot of people very happy.

Opposite of this, Spellslinger Arcane Mages generate Arcane Splinters which essentially just do damage to and around your target through all the various talents in the tree. Somewhat often, Arcane Splinters will proc Spellfrost Teachings and fire off an Arcane Orb at whatever you're facing; it's honestly really cool. More than just mechanically though, the aesthetic for Spellslinger has evolved over the course of alpha and beta, the animations look very good now and the Spellfrost Teachings is a really cool complimentary addition to the aesthetic.

Sunfury is flatly just the coolest and most on-WoW theme hero talent tree for Mages Blizzard could make, I can't ignore that, if it had more Arcane themed aesthetics I would be happier though. Spellslinger brings that traditionally Arcane spell aesthetic, just much more of it. Spellslinger could be more rooted in WoW lore, there were other options, but overall I think Blizzard pulled it off well and people will be happy. Sunfury and Spellslinger both deserve praise for their fantasy and visuals!

Fun & Rewarding Gameplay: Spellslinger & Sunfury (Tie)
Justification (Click Here)

Beyond the aesthetics which are great, Sunfury gameplay loop involves building up stacks of Spellfire Spheres to proc Burden of Power and Glorious Incandescence, in a great stroke of finesse, Blizzard made it so that you can queue Arcane Barrage after Arcane Blast and have both spells benefit from Burden of Power AND the Arcane Barrage will also proc Glorious Incandescence restoring your Arcane Charges. This is an extremely satisfying loop while optimizing Nether Precision as well. On top of all that, Arcane Soul adds a really satisfying punctuation to your burst windows.

Spellslinger's gameplay is less interesting overall but it is satisfying none the less; the goal is essentially to generate as many Arcane Splinters as possible, this means as many times as possible you'll cast Arcane Blast and queue Arcane Barrage to double dip the last stack of Nether Precision. While this isn't as engaging of a single target rotation, Spellslinger Mages also have a chance to proc Arcane Orb which creates a some additional moments of glory as well as some reactionary charges to play around in single target and AOE. Overall it could use a few more Clearcasting procs to keep up pace with Sunfury and keep the flow fun.

Difficulty: Spellslinger & Sunfury (Tie)
Justification (Click Here)

Both specs are pretty simple but will have some reactionary gameplay elements, especially due to Time Anomaly, Arcane is going to feel a little different for veterans of the spec I think, but I believe everyone will be happy with the final result. I don't think either hero talent really scales up in difficulty in a way that outpaces the other though.

Defensiveness & Utility: Spellslinger (Winner)
Justification (Click Here)

Spellslinger has amazing options to choose from defensively. Slippery Slinging turns Alter Time into a sprint which certainly will allow for some clutch plays, Look Again can be fully ignored as we almost always can't afford the point in the class tree for Displacement and it's just not really that appealing. The other choice node here offers 2 outstanding options though, Reactive Barrier and Phantasmal Image both have broad application in any content!

Sunfury, on the other hand, has Merely a Setback which adds a little Avoidance (does not work on all damage) and a little Leech (not always useful either) to your Prismatic Barrier spell. The choice node Sunfury gets for utility is either Lessons in Debilitation or Gravity Lapse, neither of these have broadly applicable use cases and so you might just default to Lessons in Debilitation just because it doesn't make your spell hit less targets. There is also a bug with Gravity Lapse where it fails to deal damage if the target isn't able to be lifted.

Leveling: Sunfury (Winner)
Justification (Click Here)

Sunfury will likely be the better leveling spec for its burst, AoE, and the fact that Spellslinger does not work as well until it has most or all of its talents while Sunfury gets a good benefit immediately.

Mythic+: Sunfury (Winner)
Justification (Click Here)

Mythic+ is competitive content and in competitive content you generally want to go for the highest performing option, Sunfury is that option right now, the difference is huge ~22.5%. This is the driving factor here otherwise I would recommend Spellslinger for having better defensives, funnel, and burst; it is also more purple.

Raid: Sunfury (Winner)
Justification (Click Here)

The above is true for Mythic+ and Raid. Sunfury is simply better and Spellslinger doesn't compete numerically.

Best Overall: Sunfury (Winner) Hero Talent Feedback SunfurySpellfire SpheresArcane PhoenixSpellfire SpheresArcane FamiliarBurden of PowerSpellfire SpheresSpellfire Spheres SpellslingerForce of WillTime LoopArcane SplinterSplinterstormClearcasting Base Arcane Gameplay, Talents, & TuningClearcastingArcane BlastArcane BarrageNether PrecisionArcane BarrageHigh VoltageArcane MissilesArcane ChargeRadiant SparkNether TempestChrono ShiftChrono ShiftChrono ShiftArcane ExplosionArcane SplinterSpellfire SpheresNether PrecisionNether PrecisionNether PrecisionArcane BarrageGlacial SpikeFlurryWinter's ChillFireballPyroblastHeating UpArcane BlastArcane MissilesArcane BarrageArcane BlastArcane BlastArcane BarrageArcane BlastArcane MissilesArcane MissilesArcane MissilesArcane MissilesArcane MissilesShould You Play Arcane Mage in the War Within?PoromAltered-TimeTwitterPatreonArcane DreamYoutube

Comment by MedolinetteArcane supremacy <3
(+ Very purple)Comment by StevoxNot purple enoughComment by 0kitty0I don't get why they made these 10 talent points. So many of the talents are minor inconsequential things you'll either never notice or just turn to guides to tell you what does better numbers. It's like they thought "oh 10 levels = 10 talents right?" but in order to come up with enough ideas to fill all the slots they put in boring garbage like "tiny chance to increase x ability damage by tiny amount for x seconds"

And somehow they'll find a way to tack more bloated crap onto each class in the next expansion because everything is "evergreen" nowComment by risklessWhich font style and addon is this for damage text? Looks greatComment by Elazul01I wish it was more balanced like they claimed they would do. I'll be doing spellslinger regardless since I prefer the theme for Arcane in particular. Somewhat of a shame there's as big a dps difference as there is, but that's how it goes.Comment by ElmehdiWhy adding fire stuff to Sunfury Arcane. I hope in the next xpack we will have some pur Arcane Pheonix and Arcane meteors.Comment by tazbonesVery nice and detailed post. Almost got me thinking of choosing arcane over frost. Still unsure.Comment by MattSinzThat phoenix model just makes me want an updated version of Ashes of Al'ar. Do it Blizzard!Comment by enheruI hope they do some additional balancing. They nerfed Spellslinger very hard a few beta builds ago and it seems pretty clear the nerfs were too much.

Purple is the way to go.Comment by BuffFireMagebuff fireComment by SteeltailI don't like hero talent ideas.
I mean, they look cool etc, but shouldn't sunfury be available only to blood/high elves and sentinel for night elves?

So many hero specs break lore... It could easily be fixed (for big company like blizz...right? RIGHT?) by just adding tons of new cosmetic glyphs that change spells appearances, for example, sentinel owl for bear, raptor or wolf.

But what am I thinking? I still have to use shadow words on my pure holy priest :(Comment by YellowsenBest trees, can't wait to play them (not enough purple a Weakness got me)Comment by Raxus502they gonna nerf sunfury so hard...Comment by FlanellThat phoenix model just makes me want an updated version of Ashes of Al'ar. Do it Blizzard!Comment by MattSinzThat phoenix model just makes me want an updated version of Ashes of Al'ar. Do it Blizzard!Comment by mrwakeupAll skills on sunfury arcane should be purple, hope they do it some dayComment by KenjiT28Not purple enoughComment by orca2017I was leveling arcane but the orb is sooo annoying.. I think im going sunfury instead or frost /fire.. which looks amazing!Comment by FitzbanGreat article, buff Spellslinger! Up with Arcane down with FireComment by theraafaThat phoenix model just makes me want an updated version of Ashes of Al'ar. Do it Blizzard!Why adding fire stuff to Sunfury Arcane. I hope in the next xpack we will have some pur Arcane Pheonix and Arcane meteors.