Arcane Missiles is an Arcane mage talent. It shoots a series of missiles at the target, dealing damage.
While Arcane Missiles may be cast at any time, its intended use revolves around gaining and consuming [Clearcasting] procs, which removes its mana cost.
A common mage ability in the Trading Card Game. Its flavor text reads: "As mage spells go, this one isn't the showiest. Nonetheless, you'll find it quite effective."
A basic mage spell in Hearthstone. Its flavor text reads: "You'd think you'd be able to control your missiles a little better since you're a powerful mage and all."
This ability was mentioned in the April Fools' Day 7.8.0 patch notes: "Arcane Missiles and Arcane Explosion have been given a visual update! They're now slightly more purple."
Patch changes[]
Hotfix (2023-07-24):Damage increased by 12% in PvP Combat (was 5%).
Patch 10.1.5 (2023-07-11): Now the row 1 Arcane talent (was row 2).
Patch 10.0.2 (2022-11-15): No longer deals 15% increased damage in PvP combat.
Patch 10.0.0 (2022-10-25): Now a row 2 Arcane talent (was a level 13 Arcane ability).
Patch 9.2.5a (2022-08-02): Arcane Missile damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.
Patch 9.2.5 (2022-05-31): Arcane Missiles damage increased by 8%.
Patch 9.0.1 (2020-10-13): Now learned at level 13 (was 12).
Hotfix (2018-07-18):When Arcane Missiles activate [Clearcasting], the subsequent (free) Missiles will correctly have reduced channel time and be affected by [Slipstream].
Patch 8.0.1 (2018-07-17): Redesigned. Launches five waves of Arcane Missiles at the enemy over 2.5 sec, causing a total of (250% of Spell power) Arcane damage.
Old: Launches five waves of Arcane Missiles at the enemy over 2 sec, causing a total of (221.5% of spell power) Arcane damage. Damage increased by 60% per Arcane Charge. Each damaging spell cast has a 15% chance to activate Arcane Missiles. Chance doubled for Arcane Blast. Limit 3 charges. Generates 1 Arcane Charge.
Hotfix (2017-01-23):Increased the damage of Arcane Missiles by 8%.
Patch 7.1.5 (2017-01-10): Increased the damage of Arcane Missiles by 12%.
Patch 7.1.0 (2016-10-25): Damage increased by 17%. Now learned at level 12 (was level 14).
Hotfix (2016-09-23):Arcane Missiles damage increased by 9%.
Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): Damage per wave increased by 22.8%, and deals 50% more damage per Arcane Charge (was 60%). Activation chance reduced to 15% (wa 40%). Now learend at level 14 (was 24).
Patch 6.2.0 (2015-06-23): Now deals 10% more damage.
Hotfix (2014-10-30):Resolved an issue where notifications for Arcane Missiles charges may sometimes not display properly.
Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): Stacks up to 3 charges (up from 2).
Patch 5.2.0 (2013-03-05): Damage has been reduced by 22.1%. Now deals 50% more damage per Arcane Charge (up from 25%).
Patch 5.1.0 (2012-11-27): Now deals 25% more damage per Arcane Charge (up from 22%).
Hotfix (2012-09-20):Arcane Missiles damage has been reduced by approximately 3.5%.
Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Redesigned as a level 24 Arcane specialization ability (was a level 3 ability for all mages). Launches five waves of Arcane Missiles at the enemy over 2 sec, causing (29.5% of Spell power) Arcane damage per wave. Generates an Arcane Charge. Arcane Missiles' damage is increased by 22% per Arcane Charge. Arcane Missiles has a chance to be activated after each of your damaging spell casts. Limit 2 charges.
Patch 4.1.0 (2011-04-26): Damage has been increased by 13%.
Patch 4.0.3a (2010-11-23): Damage has been increased by 5%.
Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Redesigned. Launches three waves of Arcane Missiles at the enemy over 2 sec, causing Arcane damage per wave. Each offensive spell you cast has a 40% chance to activate Arcane Missiles. Range increased from 30 to 40 yd. Now trainable at level 3 (was 8).
Old: Launches Arcane Missiles at the enemy, causing Arcane damage every 1 sec for 3 sec.
Patch 3.0.3 (2008-11-04): Reduced the mana cost of Arcane Missiles.
Patch 2.3.0 (2007-11-13): Players will no longer get strange error messages when casting this spell at evading targets. The spell will simply fail.
Patch 2.2.0 (2007-09-25): Some procs were not triggered by this spell and now will be (such as [Eye of Magtheridon]). The tooltip for this spell will now update correctly when a Mage is affected by spell haste.
Spell haste now affects channeled spells such as Arcane Missiles, reducing the overall channeling time but still doing the same amount of damage, thus increasing the DPS.
A bug was fixed where Arcane Missiles would fire an inconsistent number of missiles. This was fixed so that ranks 3-11 would always fire 5 pulses.
Mages will no longer see line of sight errors if the target moves behind an obstacle after the spell Arcane Missiles has begun casting.
Mages using [Molten Armor] on themselves and being hit while casting Arcane Missiles will no longer cancel the spell.
Will no longer continue to channel after the target is dead.
Now does 25% less damage and costs 15% less mana.
Patch 1.12.0 (2006-08-22): It is no longer possible to cast this spell on an evading mob. In addition, the animation will now stop when the target is dead.
Patch 1.9.0 (2006-01-03): Will now be able to trigger procs based on dealing damage.
Patch 1.8.0 (2005-10-10): Should now properly report the correct "out of range" indicator on the action bar.
Patch 1.3.0 (2005-03-07): Fixed a bug where the spell would not function properly against spell-reflecting targets.
Patch 0.9.1 (2004-08-24): Arcane missiles will now only get a chance at the free cast on the first missile instead of every missile
Patch 0.9 (2004-08-17): Can no longer be cast if silenced.
Patch 0.7 (2004-06-15): Mana cost and damage increased.
[Clearcasting] procs, which removes its mana cost.
[Amplification]
[Improved Arcane Missiles]
