The Ironsong Tribe

Full Version: The Art of Big Freaking Weapons (The Arms Guide)
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Hi, local warrior Jivundus here, and your Arms Warrior RCSL. If you need to contact me ingame, I can be on: Jivundus, Rajana, Tetsumis, Tabraus, Venorasha(Not in IST), and Juyanita.

So you wanna be an Arms warrior while you raid, eh? I wont lie to you, its harder than Fury. Gear wise, and play wise. Fury is forgiving in play style if not so much gear, Arms requires that you pay attention, all the time. However despite its hard play style, if done correctly the PvE Arms DPS build can not only do well, but it will actually add %4 damage to any other physical damage based DPSer in the entire raid, tanks included.

There are many kinds of Arms builds, arranging from Solo, PvP, PvE Raid, Tanking Hybrids, and variations on all of them. However for Arms PvE Raiding to truly shine, it depends on Improved Slam, two talent points that often get overlooked in other builds. While an Arms build can DPS without using Slam, using MS and Whirlwind, it will be sub par in a raid situation. And it is Imp. Slam that brings the difficulty and trickiness into a true Arms PvE Raid build.

-The Builds-
Imp. Slam+Blood Frenzy Raid Build without Imp TC
Imp. Slam+Blood Frenzy Raid Build with Imp TC
A typical Arms build that does not use Imp. Slam
More of a PvP based Arms build, this will deal damage, but will be Far under the damage of the build listed above, I do not recommend trying to raid with it.

-Weapon Choice-
Of course as any Arms build, you are going to choose a weapon to use via the Specializations. While all three types have their own benefits and draw backs, only two should be used for PvE Raid DPS, Axe and Sword. Mace Specialization are near useless when up against bosses that are immune to stuns, you will find much better results with either an axe or a sword. I recommend an axe until you get your crit chance to about 30% without it, then going sword for the extra swing chance.

-Weapon Rotation-
As I've said earlyer in this, Slam is vital to this build, as is its use. Slam resets your auto attack swing timer so when you use the ability is crucial. You must use Slam as soon as your auto attack happens, which brings me to a crucial addon if you wish to perfect this, Quartz. When it is set to display your swing timer, it will allow you to correctly cast Slam in order to time it right. To quote Meeks, a DPS warrior with two Very good guides which I will link at the end of this, as follows:
Quote:You want your slam to start every swing as soon as the auto attack happens. To do this you need to have Quartz activated and displaying your swing timer. Ideally if you have 0 latency you will hit slam as soon as the swing timer finishes. If executed perfectly you will only loose .5 seconds from your auto attack and you will be maximizing your potential damage. Unfortunately most people do not have 0 latency so to maimize your rotation Quartz has another very use feature to help you avoid latency slowing your rotation.

When you hit your slam button Quartz will display your latency on the Slam swing timer. Remember this number every time you slam. For example if it says 300 MS then you watch your swing timer and when there is 300 MS left in the swing timer hit slam. When done correctly the slam will start as soon as the auto attack happens. The problem here is that if you jump the gun even a little you will loose your auto attack and that is much worse then being a little late on the slam. As you do this more and more you will develop a feel for it and it will get a little easier.
As to the actual attack rotation you should use, it is as follows.
Auto attack --> Slam --> Mortal Strike
Auto attack --> Slam --> Whirlwind
Auto attack --> Slam --> Mortal Strike
Auto attack --> Slam --> Demo Shout/battle shout
In this attack rotation, Slam is the priority. If you do not have the rage for every step of the rotation, stick to Slam.

-The Gear-
As an Arms PvE Raid warrior, there are several stats you want to consider when gearing.
Hit Rating, Crit Rating, Attack Power, Armor Penetration and Haste. I will not go into Armor Penetration here, as it is not worth getting until you can get a lot of it(Read, T6/S3 gear).
Hit Rating is by far the most important and best way to get up your DPS as a PvE Arms build, up to the boss cap of 142. Gemming for hit is acceptable as this build up to the point where you are capped. After hit, you will want to focus on both AP, and crit, going for a balance of both until you have a decent amount of crit(About 30%) It should be noted however that if you wished to max your potential DPS during an entire raid, that 142 hit is only what is needed for bosses, I personally use two sets, one which has over 142 hit, and one that is closer to 80, but with more AP, crit, ect.

In closing, I'm not the master of warrior DPS, I'm always open to suggestions, talk to me about it!

-Links-
Meeks Guide
-Enchants-
Head- Glyph of FerocityVendor, Revered with Cenarion Expedition.
Shoulders- Respective Aldor or Scryer Inscriptions.
Cloak- Enchant Cloak - Greater Agility Enchanter, Trained
Chest- Enchant Chest - Exceptional Stats Enchanter, Revered with Thrallmar
Wrists- Enchant Bracer - Brawn Enchanter, Trained
Gloves- Enchant Gloves - Major Strength Enchanter, Trained
Legs- Nethercobra Leg Armor or Cobrahide Leg Armor Leatherworker, Honored and Exalted with Thrallmar
Boots- Depending on what you want to spend, a lot of choices here.
Enchant Boots - Dexterity Enchanter, rare instance drop. Cheap mats. Best stats, no run speed.
Enchant Boots - Boar's Speed Enchanter, rare world drop. Cheap mats. Run speed, but Stamina instead of agility.
Enchant Boots - Cat's Swiftness Enchanter, rare world drop. Expensive mats. Run speed and agility.
Enchant Boots - Surefooted Enchanter, rare Karazhan drop. Expensive mats. 10% Hit rating, no run speed.

Weapons- There are three choices, depending on the level of your weapon and what mats you can put up for said weapon.
Enchant 2H Weapon - Savagery Enchanter, rare instance drop. Cheapest, rated 3rd.
Enchant Weapon - Mongoose Enchanter, rare Karazhan drop. Expensive, rated 2nd.
Enchant Weapon - Executioner Enchanter, rare Zul'Aman drop. Expensive, rated 1st.
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