Arcane Assist

ArcaneAssist — Arcane Mage Rotation Helper for Midnight (12.1)

ArcaneAssist is a rotation helper built specifically for Arcane Mages running the Sunfury hero tree in Midnight Season 2 (patch 12.1). It puts a compact, movable display on your screen that answers the one question Arcane players ask every global: "what do I press next, and why?" — and it was written from the ground up for Midnight's new addon API restrictions, so it keeps working in raids, Mythic+, and PvP where pre-Midnight rotation addons stopped functioning.

Features

1. Next-spell queue with reasons

A large "cast this now" icon plus the two predicted follow-up casts, driven by the current Wowhead Arcane priority list (Season 2). Under the main icon the addon prints the reason for the recommendation — e.g. "Clearcasting, Salvo < 12", "Salvo capped (25)", "AoE dump (5+ targets)", or "Arcane Soul!".

What this means for you: you learn the rules of the spec while you play instead of memorizing a guide or alt-tabbing mid-dungeon. New Arcane players stop hard-casting Blast through procs; experienced players catch the edge cases (like holding Barrage until 4 Arcane Charges, or dumping at the 25-stack Salvo cap) without watching four buff icons at once.

2. Burst-window and cooldown coaching

A dedicated cooldown row tracks Arcane Surge, Touch of the Magi, and Evocation with live timers. The queue logic implements the guide's cooldown rules: Surge is flagged the moment it's ready ("Burst!"), and Touch of the Magi is recommended in the sliver of time while your Arcane Barrage or Prismatic Bolt is still mid-air — the "never delay the miniburn" rule that actually decides whether your cooldowns stay synced for the rest of the fight.

What this means for you: your Surge + Touch of the Magi windows line up naturally instead of drifting apart over a long fight, which is one of the biggest real DPS differences between an average and a good Arcane Mage. You can also glance at the row to plan around a boss phase ("Touch is back in 8 seconds — hold for adds").

3. Proc alerts you can't miss

Flashing text alerts above the frame for the moments that matter:

• "ARCANE SOUL — BARRAGE!" when your Surge ends and the free-Barrage window opens
• "PRISMATIC BOLT PROC" when the new 12.1 apex-talent proc is up (with a reminder to line it up with 8 stacks of Cumulative Power if you have the 4-piece)
• Clearcasting and low mana warnings

What this means for you: the highest-value, shortest-lived moments of the Sunfury kit stop slipping by unnoticed in the middle of a fight. Arcane Soul in particular lasts only seconds — the difference between spamming Barrage through it and wasting it is enormous, and the addon makes it impossible to overlook.

4. Live resource readouts

Always-visible counters for Arcane Salvo (color-coded: yellow at the 12-stack spend threshold, red at the 25 cap), Cumulative Power set-bonus stacks (green at 8, when Prismatic Bolt hits hardest), and Arcane Charges.

What this means for you: the three numbers that drive every Arcane decision sit in one place, in one glance, instead of being buried in your buff bar.

5. Automatic single-target / AoE switching

The addon counts attackable enemies via nameplates and automatically applies the AoE branches of the priority (e.g. Barrage dumps and Arcane Orb usage at 5+ targets). No mode toggle to remember.

What this means for you: the recommendation is already correct when a dungeon pack runs at you; you never fight the addon or flip switches mid-pull.

6. Built for Midnight's addon restrictions ("secret values")

Midnight hides most combat data (buffs, cooldowns, mana) from addons while in combat — the change that ended Hekili and WeakAuras' retail combat features. ArcaneAssist is designed around it with a hybrid engine:

• Out of combat it reads real data and stays perfectly accurate.
• In combat it runs an internal model advanced by your own casts and proc-glow events (which Blizzard still exposes), and the headline recommendation defers to Blizzard's own sanctioned Assisted Combat engine, which is allowed to see your hidden stats.
• A small live / tracked tag on the frame always shows which mode you're in, and estimated values are marked with ~ — the addon never pretends to know something it can't.

What this means for you: it keeps working — and keeps updating instantly — inside raids, Mythic+, and PvP in 12.1, instead of freezing or erroring the moment you enter combat like legacy rotation addons. Arcane Charges are exempt from Blizzard's data hiding, so that counter is always exact.

7. Stays out of your way

• Shows only when it matters: in combat or when you have an attackable target, and only on a Mage in the Arcane specialization. It hides everywhere else.
• Fully movable and scalable: /aa unlock, drag it, /aa lock, /aa scale 1.2, with a /aa test mode so you can position it safely out of combat.
• Lightweight and event-driven — it recalculates when the game state changes rather than burning CPU every frame, and a /aa debug command prints a full self-diagnostic if you ever want to report an issue.

What this means for you: no configuration required to start (sensible defaults, screen-center placement), no screen clutter at the bank or auction house, and no measurable FPS cost in fights.

What ArcaneAssist does NOT do

It cannot press buttons, cast spells, or automate your rotation in any way — Blizzard's API forbids that, and this addon is a display/teaching tool only. It currently targets the Sunfury hero tree (the recommended tree for 12.1); Spellslinger support may come later.

Quick start

1. Install, log into your Arcane Mage, target a training dummy.
2. /aa unlock → drag the frame where you want it → /aa lock.
3. Follow the big icon. Read the yellow reason text — that's the rotation teaching itself to you.