In this article, we present you with the best gems and enchants that you can get for an Arcane Mage in WoW 4.3, including profession-specific perks. We also list the best consumables: food, flasks, and potions.

Make sure to check our Gear Optimisation Guide, which serves as a support guide for this article. The other articles of our Arcane Mage guide can be accessed from the table of content on the left.

1. Gems↑top

Sockets	Gems
	Burning Shadowspirit Diamond
	Brilliant Queen's Garnet, Brilliant Inferno Ruby (cheaper), or Brilliant Chimera's Eye (JC)
	Socket Bonus is not at least +10 Intellect → Brilliant Queen's Garnet or Brilliant Inferno Ruby (cheaper) Otherwise Haste cap reached? → Artful Lava Coral or Artful Ember Topaz (cheaper) Haste cap not reached? → Reckless Lava Coral or Reckless Ember Topaz (cheaper)
	Socket Bonus is not at least +10 Intellect → Brilliant Queen's Garnet or Brilliant Inferno Ruby (cheaper) Otherwise → Veiled Shadow Spinel or Veiled Demonseye (cheaper)

2. Enchants↑top

Slot	Main Enchantments	Extra Enchantments
Head	Arcanum of Hyjal
Shoulders	Greater Inscription of Charged Lodestone Felfire Inscription (Inscription)
Back	Enchant Cloak - Greater Intellect Lightweave Embroidery (Tailoring)
Chest	Enchant Chest - Peerless Stats
Wrists	Enchant Bracer - Mighty Intellect Enchant Bracer - Precision (cheaper) Draconic Embossment - Intellect (Leatherworking)	Socket Bracer (Blacksmithing)
Hands	Enchant Gloves - Haste Enchant Gloves - Greater Mastery	Synapse Springs (Engineering) Socket Gloves (Blacksmithing)
Waist		Grounded Plasma Shield (Engineering) Ebonsteel Belt Buckle
Legs	Powerful Enchanted Spellthread Master's Spellthread (Tailoring)
Feet	Enchant Boots - Lavawalker Enchant Boots - Haste (cheaper) Enchant Boots - Precision (for hit cap)
Rings	Enchant Ring - Intellect (Enchanting)
Weapon	Enchant Weapon - Power Torrent Enchant Weapon - Hurricane (cheaper)
Off-hand	Enchant Off-Hand - Superior Intellect

Note that Extra Enchantments can be applied to an item in addition to a Main Enchantment.

3. Consumables↑top

You should always be eating food that provides 90 intellect, whether this is in the form of:

• Severed Sagefish Head or
• Seafood Magnifique Feast or
• Fortune Cookie

Your flask should be a Flask of the Draconic Mind.

During the encounter, your best choice for a potion will be Volcanic Potion.

4. Summing-up Profession Perks↑top

Choosing a profession for your Arcane Mage can impact your raid performance. As a rule, you should shy away from gathering professions (with the exception of Herbalism), which leaves the following viable professions for raiding:

Profession	Perks
Tailoring	Provides a gain of approximately 120 Intellect through Lightweave Embroidery. It also provides Master's Spellthread, a much cheaper equivalent of Powerful Enchanted Spellthread, the usual leg enchant.
Blacksmithing	Provides a 100 Intellect gain through two extra sockets: Socket Bracer and Socket Gloves. Only provides an 80 Intellect gain if you are still using Brilliant Inferno Ruby, and not the newer Brilliant Queen's Garnet.
Jewelcrafting	Provides a 51 Intellect gain through the ability of using 3 Brilliant Chimera's Eye. It does provide an 81 Intellect gain if you are still using Brilliant Inferno Ruby and not the newer Brilliant Queen's Garnet.
Alchemy	Provides an 80 Intellect gain to your flask through Mixology.
Enchanting	Provides an 80 Intellect gain through Enchant Ring - Intellect.
Engineering	Provides an 80 Intellect gain in average through Synapse Springs. Also provides Grounded Plasma Shield, an additional Waist enchant that can be used as a survival tool during encounters, but it runs the risk of backfiring (in which case, you taunt and take aggro on all nearby mobs).
Inscription	Provides an 80 Intellect gain through Felfire Inscription. It also saves you from the trouble of farming reputation with Therazane to get the usual enchantment.
Leatherworking	Provides an 80 Intellect gain through Draconic Embossment - Intellect.
Herbalism	Provides an 80 Haste Rating gain in average through Lifeblood.

You will generally prefer a passive Intellect bonus over any of the other temporary gains. Indeed, Lifeblood provides Haste Rating, which is much less valuable than any Intellect bonus, as an Arcane Mage. Synapse Springs is good, but if you already have an on-use trinket, the two effects cannot be used simultaneously and you will prefer that of your trinket, which is, most likely, a lot more powerful than that of Synapse Springs. Also, Synapse Springs has a one-minute cooldown and loses much of its appeal if you decide to delay using it until you can combine it with Arcane Power.