Arcane magic

Arcane magic is sometimes used as a general group name for many types of magic, but it's also used by magicians to describe the most advanced and powerful incantations. To fully grasp the concept of Arcane magics, it's good to have read about the general nature of magic first.

Diablo Game Arcane Magic

The Wizard is the only playable class in any of the Diablo games that can use Arcane magic. Read more about the Wizard arcane skills in these articles:

• Arcane Skill Tree - Primary source of Arcane magic.
• Conjuring Skill Tree - A mix of schools of magic. Probably involving some Arcane powers.

Nature of Arcane Magic

Arcane spells seems to be magic taken closer to the essence of magic, and seems to be a source of power that's quite different than magic shown in casters before. It uses elements that are similar in other schools of magic, like the Teleport spell of a Sorceress that traditionally uses Lightning magic to transport the caster and the Wave of Force which looks a lot like the lighting-based Nova. How much of the Wizard's skills actually use Arcane magic, or traditional Elemental magic is currently not known, but the Arcane powers include much more than just parts of other types of magic.

A lot of other spells and effects with Arcane magic seems to harness more of that "deep" uncontrolled parts of the Ether, with her Magic Missiles leaving glowing corpses, passive skills that improve all types of spells, a torrent of energy released in the Disintegrate spell and other ways to manipulate time and space through Slow Time or the Arcane Orb.

Abd al-Hazir specifically mentions the use of Arcane magic in his seventh entry of the Writings of Abd al-Hazir, concerning the Wizard:

[...] she was caught in the Ancient Repositories, where the most dangerous incantations are housed for the safety of the public.

He also writes:

We now have a rebellious wizard, young and inexperienced, wandering the world, dabbling in powerful magics she does not understand. Those wiser than you or I determined long ago that certain schools of magic were too dangerous and forbade their practice. It is those magics that this wizard seems determined to explore – magics centered on manipulating the primal forces from which reality is constructed.

Possible Demonic Magic Relation

We know that Demonic magic was abandoned after the Mage Clan Wars, and it seems Arcane magic was as well. The reason for the ban on Arcane magic could just have been that the Arcane powers just has a much higher corrupting influence than Elemental magic, or the fact that the fabric of reality was almost ripped asunder during the height of the Sin War. The exact reason is unknown, as is any relationship with Demonic powers, if it could be the same Demonic magic, but in a new disguise.

Other Schools of Magic

Magic
Arcane magic - Divine magic - Demonic magic - Godly magic - Holy magic - Nature magic - Spirit magic - Death magic - Life magic
Prime magic - Elemental magic - Fire magic - Lightning magic - Cold magic
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