Warrior PvE Arms guide! ++
Before i start the guide i would like to add something, this is something i tried to write for a long time ago when i was raiding with my warrior. Now i play disc priest and i have myself a rogue. I just found this and wanted to share it so i also can contribute something to this great community. I KNOW: WALL OF TEXT!
The arms warrior guide.
Introduction
First of all, I am making this guide to my guild mates and to other people when I am bored and have nothing else to do.
Second of all, I am not the “WTF 1337 extreme player” so if I missed out on some things you could rather tell me then flame me. I would appreciate that in a higher manner then just to get a message saying: You suck, bad post, you don’t know a shit. If you think so please tell me why!
On to the guide, I haven’t played arms warrior in raids that much before. I’m actually quite new at the subject, and from what I have found out its fun, you can do a lot of DPS with the right party, and it’s something else then fury.
Talents, why it’s good and rotations!
It’s pretty basic. A 33/28/0 build is by far the best arms dps build. And since auto attacks are relatively slow, it allows for putting points in Imp Demo instead of Unbridled Wrath, so that means you can have both Blood Frenzy, Imp TC and Imp Demo. That'll make you the most badass debuffer in the raid! And you will bring Blood frenzy as I said, and that is a great talent.
It’s really a matter of taste how you spec.
The best rotation according to theory crafters would be this:
White -> Slam -> MS -> White -> Slam -> WW ->
But really, unless you are being attacked, this rotation is not rage-friendly. You'll have to generate like 30 rage per swing to keep this baby rolling (you'll only spend 15/swing when MS and WW are on respective CDs).
Priority on abilities is to keep MS and WW on cool down >all< the time and Slam comes third.
I suppose this rotation sounds likely, sometimes ignoring a Slam after a white attack to get rage enough for MS/WW. They hit about the same so 2 hits per 4.1-3 seconds might sound better than 1 hit + an instant, and even though Slam isn't normalized by speed while MS is (that's why I said they hit about the same), the delay of the rage generation and next swing is what makes MS priority one. WW could be sacrificed for a Slam I guess since it only deals wpn.
White -> Slam -> MS -> White -> Slam -> WW -> rotation is possible to have enough rage too do all the time, but its very gear dependent, so unless you have access to the best gear you might have a hard time doing this.
Here are some talents you might want to consider in your spec:
But as you can see, I've put up:
5/5 in deflection, reason why: you won't be using much heroic strike, and since that is just a really big massive aggro builder I thought that I’ll rather spend all the talents in deflection so if the tank dies and you happen to be second on the treath list you can swap into 1hander and shield to tank.
1/2 in imp overpower, reason why: Since you don't use overpower that much in PvE, have to switch stance and lose a lot of rage which is again DPS and if you do not have tactical mastery in your spec it would be stupid. So this point is really just a point I spent to use a point if you see.
3/3 imp disciplines, reason why: I use recklessness more then I use intercept in raids, so why not? The 6 extra seconds is quite a lot really and will maybe benefit you more than other things.
2/2 blood frenzy, reason why: very good talent for melee, and it works on bosses that is not immune to rend or deep wounds.
5/5 imp demo shout, reason why: If you keep up the demo shout at boss fights, the boss will lose A LOT of dps in the end really. And it's always wise to have 1 warrior in the raid with it. I guess that can be you if no other tanker or warrior has it.
2/2 imp slam, reason why: It’s a must. Just be done with it.
2/2 weapon mastery, reason why: 2% minus dodge is also very good.
3/5 flurry, reason why: the talent stacks with wind furry and it is insane if you keep getting crits.
You could drop piercing howl, why:
One thing I could comment on is the choice of Piercing Howl vs. the last point in Commanding Presence. It is a useful talent on thrash when there is AOE to consider and it's not a bad talent at all. But on static, non-thrash bosses you will hardly be using it. The few extra AP or HP from the last point in Commanding Presence hardly makes any difference though so it's a matter of taste. If it was a real Daze effect it would be an awesome talent, but sadly because of the same reason Blizzard decided to make it a special Daze that does not give the 10% damage buff to Heroic Strikes and other attacks by other classes that gain damage from this.
You can of course change this or tell me I am wrong. But this is how I would go for it. It’s always wise to make your own spec that you are comfortable with, unless you are a complete retard of course.
Final words on this section:
You have to practice your Slam timing. The best way to do it is to get Quartz, a swing timer add-on, and find one of the Servants in Blasted Lands.
I found that the best timing with Slam was to hit it exactly when the swing timer said the next swing would be initiated. This might look strange because your character will not have begun the next swing physically so to speak, but it has been initiated and the command has been sent to the server. So if it is done correctly the Slam and the auto attack will hit almost simultaneously even though Imp Slam has a 0.5 sec cast time (because of latency etc) and you will prolong your next auto swing as little as possible.
Another thing I experienced is that if you do not have 15 rage before the auto swing, don't bother using Slam after that swing, even if rage is rewarded slightly before the character does the swing, the small latency you always have will make your Slam come later than if you had timed it with Quartz, and so you will lose time to your next swing, making your rage generation slower and dps lower. I found that it was a bit better to skip one and then have enough rage for a couple ones later.
The gear, pots and gems.
Pots:
The best pots you can get are of course: (sorted out in this way: nr 1 is the best and then down. )
1. [ITEM]Fel Strength Elixir[/ITEM]
2. [ITEM]Elixir of Major Agility[/ITEM]
3. [ITEM]Elixir of Major Strength[/ITEM]
4. [ITEM]Onslaught Elixir[/ITEM]
5. [ITEM]Elixir of Mastery[/ITEM]
Flasks:
1. [ITEM]Flask of Relentless Assault[/ITEM]
2. [ITEM]Unstable Flask of the Soldier[/ITEM]
3. [ITEM]Unstable Flask of the Beast[/ITEM]
4. [ITEM]Unstable Flask of the Bandit[/ITEM]
Food:
1. [ITEM]Roasted Clefthoof[/ITEM]
2. [ITEM]Ravager Dog[/ITEM]
3. [ITEM]Spicy Hot Talbuk[/ITEM]
4. [ITEM]Grilled Mudfish[/ITEM]
5. [ITEM]Warp Burger[/ITEM]
Gems:
A thing i can mention hear is that you should go for strength gems unless the socket bonus is really great. When you get BoK (Blessing of kings) in raids of a paladin you will gain more of a strength gem then you will from a attack power gem.
Gems are harder for me to say what the best is for you, because it is quite different from person to person. But I will try:
Red Gem
1. [[ITEM]Bold Crimson Spinel[/ITEM]]
2. [[ITEM]Bright Crimson Spinel[/ITEM]]
3. [[ITEM]Bold Living Ruby[/ITEM]]
4. [[ITEM]Bright Living Ruby[/ITEM]]
5. [[ITEM]Delicate Crimson Spinel[/ITEM]]
6. [[ITEM]Delicate Living Ruby[/ITEM]]
Yellow Gem
1. [[ITEM]Rigid Lionseye[/ITEM]]
2. [[ITEM]Smooth Lionseye[/ITEM]]
3. [[ITEM]Rigid Dawnstone[/ITEM]]
4. [[ITEM]Smooth Dawnstone[/ITEM]]
Orange Gem
1. [[ITEM]Inscribed Pyrestone[/ITEM]]
2. [[ITEM]Wicked Pyrestone[/ITEM]]
3. [[ITEM]Glinting Pyrestone[/ITEM]]
4. [[ITEM]Inscribed Noble Topaz[/ITEM]]
5. [[ITEM]Wicked Noble Topaz[/ITEM]]
6. [[ITEM]Glinting Noble Topaz[/ITEM]]
Green Gem
1. [[ITEM]Jagged Seaspray Emerald[/ITEM]]
2. [[ITEM]Jagged Talasite[/ITEM]]
Purple Gem
1. [[ITEM]Sovereign Shadowsong Amethyst[/ITEM]]
2. [[ITEM]Balanced Shadowsong Amethyst[/ITEM]]
3. [[ITEM]Sovereign Nightseye[/ITEM]]
4. [[ITEM]Balanced Nightseye[/ITEM]]
5. [[ITEM]Shifting Shadowsong Amethyst[/ITEM]]
6. [[ITEM]Shifting Nightseye[/ITEM]]
Meta Gem
1. [[ITEM]Relentless Earthstorm Diamond[/ITEM]]
2. [[ITEM]Potent Unstable Diamond[/ITEM]]
3. [[ITEM]Swift Skyfire Diamond[/ITEM]]
4. [[ITEM]Enigmatic Skyfire Diamond[/ITEM]]
5. [[ITEM]Thundering Skyfire Diamond[/ITEM]]
The gear!
It is again hard for me to say what gear you should go for.
But what you should focus on is to get capped hit rating, a lot of critt and a lot of strength, because you gain more attack power from strength if you have BoK then you do from pure attack power.
As a proper warrior would do, he would gain as much hit rating as possible from the gear before he would socket hit gems on his gear. You should be able to get hit rating caped from the gear with only strength sockets.
