Arms warrior SMASH! We’ve already got new talents, new glyphs, and a different rotation in MoP – and now, with Patch 5.2, we’ve been redesigned again. But don’t worry – we’ll get you up to speed on all that, as well as your stat priorities, reforging and gemming, so you can get back to whirling around with your two-hander as fast as possible!
Updated 22nd May 2013 to World of Warcraft Patch 5.3
Arms Warrior Changes in Patch 5.3
No real PvE changes.
Arms Warrior “Rotation” and Priorities
The biggest change for veteran Arms warriors is that Rend has gone away, giving us a simpler rotation.
Single-target DPS
Start by Charging. Follow this priority tree for ability use:
- Top Priority: Use Colossus Smash if it’s available. Use Mortal Strike if that’s available.
- Second Priority: Use Execute if it’s available. If it’s not, use Overpower if that’s available.
- Third Priority: If you have too much Rage, use Slam and / or Heroic Strike.
Keep Battle Shout up through all this – you’ll only need to use it once per minute. If you’re low on rage, use Battle Shout and Charge wherever possible.
AOE DPS
There’s no radically different AOE rotation for Arms – as you face more enemies, you’ll make subtle changes to your existing rotation.
If you’re facing more than one enemy, keep Sweeping Strikes active, use Thunder Clap, and use Cleave instead of Heroic Strike.
If you’re facing three or more enemies, use Thunder Clap when you can. If you’re facing four or more enemies, use Whirlwind as your top priority whenever you can.
Cooldowns
- Recklessness, – use these whenever possible.
- Skull Banner – Use when your group needs more DPS, or in a raid, discuss its usage with your raid leader.
- Berserker Rage – Use whenever possible, but don’t use whilst you’re Enraged.
- Rallying Cry – powerful raid/party-wide defensive ability. Use when your raid leader tells you to, or when people look like they’re about to die in a dungeon!
Buffs
Stay in Battle Stance. As mentioned before, keep Battle Shout (or Commanding Shout if your raid leader tells you to use that) up.
Arms Warrior Talent Choices
Warrior talents in Patch 5.05 are particularly situational. Use whatever works best for you – but here’s a good general build to get you out and killing things!
- Tier 1: Double Time
- Tier 2: Impending Victory – gives you a minor heal.
- Tier 3: Disrupting Shout – AoE spell interrupt ability.
- Tier 4: Dragon Roar – another powerful DPS cooldown. Use whenever it’s available.
- Tier 5: Vigilance
- Tier 6: Avatar. Gives you another powerful DPS cooldown to use whenever it’s available.
Stats, reforging and gemming for Arms Warrior
Hit and Expertise are really important in 5.05, and their caps have changed.
Priorities: Hit and Expertise to cap (both 7.5% / 2550 rating) > Strength >Critical Strike > Mastery > Haste
Reforging: Reforge to the Hit and Expertise caps first, then reforge to Crit. Reforge from excess Hit and Expertise first, then Haste.
Gems: Gem with Bold (Strength) gems in Red sockets, Inscribed (Str/Crit) gems in Yellow sockets and Etched (Str/Hit) gems in Blue sockets.
Meta Gem: Reverberating meta gems.
Note: if you are wearing high iLevel gear (about iLevel 490), you should gem for Crit. Use Inscribed gems in Red sockets, Smooth gems in Yellow sockets and Piercing in Blue sockets.
Arms Glyphs
MoP glyphs are very situation-specific, so don’t feel bound to these, but here’s a good basic loadout of glyphs to get started with:
Major: Glyph of Unending Rage, Glyph of Colossus Smash, Glyph of Bull Rush.
Minor: Glyph of Intimidating Shout is good. Others are your choice!
Arms Warrior enchants and item enhancements
You should almost always use a profession enhancement item if it provides appropriate stats instead of a general enchant.
- Shoulder – Greater Tiger Fang Inscription
- Back – Enchant Cloak – Accuracy or Enchant Cloak – Superior Critical Strike
- Chest – Glorious Stats
- Bracers – Enchant Bracers – Exceptional Strength
- Gloves – Enchant Gloves – Super Strength
- Belt – Living Steel Belt Buckle
- Legs – Angerhide Leg Armor
- Feet – Enchant Boots – Greater Precision or Enchant Boots – Greater Haste
- Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Dancing Steel
Links
If you want more detail on Arms Warrior play:
- Icy Veins have a detailed guide to all things Arms Warrior already updated to 5.2.
- Finally, as a WoW player, you should really check out the latest and greatest from the blogosphere on World of Warcraft, here at the Melting Pot.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Just wondering.. Since Avatar dosent give a damage buff anymore.. Is it still the best for a dps class? Isent bloodbath or somthing better then?
Honestly, the Tier 6 talents are very evenly balanced. Avatar’s the simplest to manage, which is why we recommend it, but if you prefer another one, that’ll be equally good.
You’re correct – currently Bloodbath sims higher than the other two. However, it’s so close as to not really be worth worrying about.
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