Arcane Blast is a level 10 Arcane mage ability. Its damage, mana cost, and casting speed are increased by Arcane Charges. This creates tension between mana efficiency and DPS, which plays a part in Arcane's playstyle of cycling between a "burn phase" and a "conserve phase."
Patch 10.1.0 (2023-05-02): Damage increased by 10%.
Patch 9.2.5 (2022-05-31): Arcane Blast damage increased by 10%.
Patch 9.1.0 (2021-06-29): Arcane Blast now deals 20% more damage in PvP combat.
Patch 8.0.1 (2018-07-17): Arcane Blast's mana cost is now increased by 100% per Arcane Charge (down from 125%). Additionally, the cast time of Arcane Blast is now reduced by 8% per charge. Base mana cost reduced to 2.75%, down from 3%.
Patch 7.3.0 (2017-08-29): Arcane Blast has received new casting and impact animations.
Hotfix (2017-01-17):Arcane Blast now deals normal damage in PvP situations (was an additional 5%).
Patch 7.1.5 (2017-01-10): Damage increased by 12%.
Patch 7.1.0 (2016-10-25): Damage increased by 17%.
Hotfix (2016-09-23):Arcane Blast damage increased by 10%.
Hotfix (2016-08-26):Arcane Blast (Arcane) now deals 15% more damage in PvP.
Hotfix (2016-08-22):Arcane Blast mana cost has been decreased to 3.0% base mana (was 3.2%).
Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): Spell power co-efficient increased to 150% (up from 121%) and damage increase per Arcane Charge increased to 60% (up from 50%). Arcane Blast no longer causes a debuff; Arcane Charges are now a secondary resource.
Hotfix (2014-12-08):Damage has been increased by 16%.
Cast time increased to 2.25 seconds (up from 2 seconds). Damage has been increased by 12.5% to compensate.
Patch 5.2.0 (2013-03-05): Damage has been reduced by 22.9% and mana cost has been increased to 1.66667% of base mana (was 1.5%).
Patch 5.1.0 (2012-11-27): Arcane Blast's mana cost increase when affected by Arcane Charge is now +75% (was +125%).
Hotfix (2012-09-20):Arcane Blast damage has been reduced by approximately 3.5%.
Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Now an Arcane specialization ability at level 10 (was a level 24 ability for all mages). Now affected by the Arcane Charge resource mechanic.
Patch 4.2.0 (2011-06-28): Damage done has been reduced by 5%.
Patch 4.1.0 (2011-04-26): Cast time has been reduced to 2.0 seconds, down from 2.35 seconds. In addition, the stacking effect of Arcane Blast now increases the damage done by Arcane Explosion, and Arcane Explosion does not consume that effect.
Hotfix (2011-02-15):Arcane Blast now costs 5% of base mana before stacking modifiers, down from 7%.
Patch 4.0.6 (2011-02-08): Mana cost has been reduced by 12%.
Hotfix (2011-01-18): The mana costs of the following mage spells have been reduced, but they still require the previous percentage of base mana in order to be cast: [Arcane Barrage] (11% of base mana), Arcane Blast (7% of base mana), and [Fireball] (12% of base mana). As an example, Fireball requires 16% base mana to cast, but only consumes 12% of base mana.
Patch 4.0.3a (2010-11-23): Now increases damage of the next Arcane Blast by 10% per stack, down from 20%, reduces cast time by 0.1 seconds per stack, and increases the mana cost by 150%, down from 175%. In addition, the base cast time of Arcane Blast has been lowered to 2.35 seconds.
Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Arcane Blast now costs 8% of base mana, up from 7%. Range increased to 40 yards, up from 30 yards. Now increases damage of Arcane Blast by 20% for each charge, up from 15%. Now learned at level 20 (was 64).
Patch 3.2.2 (2009-09-22): The buff from using this ability now stacks up to 4 times instead of 3, and each application increases mana cost by 175% instead of 200%. In addition, the duration of the buff has been reduced to 6 seconds.
Patch 3.2.0 (2009-08-04): Mana cost reduced by 12%.
Patch 3.1.0 (2009-04-14): Stacking effect is no longer considered a Magic effect and will not be dispelled.
Formerly it was considered a harmful magical effect and could be dispelled by allies.
Patch 3.0.8 (2009-01-20): This ability has been significantly changed. Arcane Blast now increases the damage of the next Arcane spell by 15%. However, using Arcane Blast itself does not consume the charge itself. Each time you cast Arcane Blast, the damage of Arcane spells is increased by 15% and the mana cost of Arcane Blast is increased by 200%. This effect stacks up to 3 times and lasts 10 seconds or until any Arcane damage spell except Arcane Blast is cast. Additionally, Arcane Blast will now work with the talent [Torment the Weak].