01-31-2010, 01:29 AM
Welcome to Raiding with Arms! I'm your host Melikar. You may remember from such raids as "Are we doing Naxx tonight?", "Ulduar: God, I hate this boss" and "Let's do some old school Molten Core!". I'm here to help YOU, the Arms Warrior, learn how to properly play and raid with your class. At least, I hope you're an Arm warrior...or have some intention of duel spec'ing as one. Or even making one? That would work. *grin*
Let's get started!
Spec
Obviously, you'll be putting a majority of your points into the Arms tree. Depending on your play-style, you are free to switch things around as you see fit, but I use specs from sites such as <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.wowpopular.com">http://www.wowpopular.com</a><!-- m --> to figure out the basic aspect of what I want and then mess with it to fit how I like to run my warrior show.
Here is the wowpopular spec: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#LcbIbfIt0brRzGuioGx0s">http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#LcbIbfIt0brRzGuioGx0s</a><!-- m -->
Here is my spec: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.wowarmory.com/character-talents.xml?r=Silver+Hand&cn=Melikar&group=2">http://www.wowarmory.com/character-tale ... ar&group=2</a><!-- m -->
I put extra points into the Arms tree and I've messed with my talents because I also use this spec for PvP. But, the basic idea and needed talents for raiding are there all the same. I did not grab [spell]Anger Management[/spell] because I feel I can generate rage quickly enough due to other talents as is. Also, I grabbed the [spell]Improved Charge[/spell] because I believe charging into battle with that extra rage can really help get you started on the rotation. I also threw 2 points in Weapon Mastery mostly due to the PvP aspect of this spec. That is something you are totally able to avoid if you wish.
What is NEEDED...
Here are the talents and abilities that are really needed and why:
[spell]Mortal Strike[/spell] : Mortal Strike not only reduces healing done to the target by 50%, but it also is a huge amount of your burst damage.
[spell]Taste for Blood[/spell] : This is another very needed talent. When TfB procs, your [spell]Overpower[/spell] ability becomes usable. Normally, you can only use this when your attacks are dodged. So having it pop up due to a 100% proc is another great source for burst damage. Since this ability can only occur once every 6 seconds and you have a 9 second timer, it's always best to use it with 3 seconds or less on the timer. As long as your rend is still up, TfB will always proc immediately again as long as you wait out those 6 seconds.
[spell]Trauma[/spell] : Grabbing the two points in Trauma is well worth it. It increases all bleed effects by 30%. And that's not just the bleeds done by you. It includes bleeds from other classes (such as rogues or feral druids) as well. So not only are you increasing your DPS output, but also your fellow raiding bleed DoT'ers!
[spell]Improved Slam[/spell] : This may seem like a waste of 2 talents, but in the Arms spec, it is absolutely not. [spell]Slam[/spell] Has a relatively short cast time as it is. Reducing the time by one second makes it nearly instant. Another great source for burst damage and it's good to use when your other abilities are either on cool down or need a proc.
[spell]Rend[/spell] : Probably the most vital ability to the Arms warrior DPS. Keep Rend up at all times. Not only is it essential that this is up to keep Overpowers to proc, it also provides a lot of overall damage due to talents and the like as well as its initial damage. Yes, I know sometimes I space and forget to throw it back up there, but the more I remember, the more damage I am doing. Also, it is best to wait to reapply Rend until the very last moment. Right as it disappears off the debuff on the mob's portrait, throw on another one. Why is it best to wait? Because reapplying too early resets the timer and actually causes the next tick of damage to come later than if you'd just left it on until it wore off. Basically, you're doing less damage by reapplying early.
[spell]Sweeping Strikes[/spell] and [spell]Bladestorm[/spell] : I put these together because they almost work hand in hand. If you are fighting a single mob, the benefits are not as great. Sweeping Strikes basically hits additional enemies but nothing more. Bladestorm can have it's uses, for sure. While on a single mob, it hits much quicker than an auto-attack and it tends to crit a lot. And...that's about it. The beauty of it comes out in AoE with groups of mobs. Hitting Sweeping Strikes then hitting Bladestorm causes large amounts of damage simply because you're hitting multiple mobs around you at a higher speed. I will admit that Bladestorm was made for PvP, but it has its PvE side as well.
[spell]Sudden Death[/spell] : This ability used to be a lot better. Your execute damage was based off of your amount of rage. If you had a Sudden Death proc, you'd wait until 100 rage to use it (or as close to 100 as you could get) because that meant big numbers. I can't find the source, but I recall some recent patch notes saying that Sudden Death would no longer exceed 30 rage if and when it proc'd. If this is untrue, let me know. Regardless, I use this ability anyway. If you have a Sudden Death Proc, use it. The more rage you have, the better.
[spell]Execute[/spell] : And while I'm talking about SD, let me mention that the spell Execute itself will still do the full amount of damage if you have the mob below 20% health. So, if you have the mob to 20% health or lower and you're at 100 rage, you will cause weapon damage plus 3800 damage. It's very nice to have, is it not?
Stances: Warriors cannot forget they have the three stances - Battle, Defensive and Berserker. An Arms warrior should always be in Battle stance. Defensive is for Prot and Berserker is for Fury.
Play around with the talents and find what works best for you. I've given my ideas on what I think is the best way to go about playing an Arms warrior.
Rotation
I feel the Arms rotation is rather simple. Here is the run down of what I do in raid situations:
[spell]Charge[/spell] > [spell]Rend[/spell] (getting this up ASAP is important) > [spell]Mortal Strike[/spell] > [spell]Overpower[/spell] (If it procs off TfB, if not skip to the next ability) > [spell]Execute[/spell] (if it procs off of [spell]Sudden Death[/spell], if not move to the next ability) > [spell]Slam[/spell]
By this point, Mortal Strike should be off its cool down and you can throw another one of those out. Keep Rend applied every time it finishes its timer and keep hitting Overpower when it procs at the last three seconds. Keeping this basic rotation going is the name of the game. Slam also helps when you have nothing else available (i.e. waiting on procs or cool downs). Also, if pulling groups of mobs, make sure your tank has some pretty decent aggro before you attempt the [spell]Sweeping Strikes[/spell]/[spell]Bladestorm[/spell] combo.
IF you are fighting a boss mob and they fall below 20% health, it is best to remember a few things. Your Execute will be available at all times here. Therefore, I usually use something along the lines of this, assuming you still have Rend up and are keeping it up:
[spell]Mortal Strike[/spell] > [spell]Execute[/spell] (as close to 100 rage as you can get it without missing procs) > [spell]Overpower[/spell] (if it's there from a TfB proc and it's in the last 3 seconds. If not use a [spell]Slam[/spell]) > [spell]Slam[/spell]
If you have your Execute sitting there and you are in the last three seconds of a TfB proc, use Overpower first as it only consumes 10 rage, whereas your Execute uses all of it. You can gain back that 10 rage in about .01 seconds.
Also remember to always use your trinkets and any racial abilities you may have to help increase your DPS. As a troll, I have the Berserking ability that I always try to use whenever its two-minute cool down is over. The 20% speed increase on attacks is VERY helpful. It's pretty much the same as having a secondary [spell]Bloodlust[/spell], so always remember to keep it going if you are a troll, no matter what your class.
Gems and Glyphs
When gemming an Arms warrior, it is important to remember these stats:
Strength: It is better to gem for pure strength than AP. AP helps, of course, but raw Strength is where most of your DPS comes from.
Crit: Crit strike is also very important for any abilities you use.
Hit: The warrior hit cap is 8% or 262 for a hard cap. Make sure you are aiming for this with Strength as missing attacks means less DPS.
Other stats such as AP, Stam, Haste and Agility should come second. Your top priority is Hit cap and gaining as much strength as you can. Crit can even take a back seat to these two stats, but it's important to remember.
Red Gems
[item]Bold Cardinal Ruby[/item]
[item]Bold Stormjewel[/item]
[item]Bright Cardinal Ruby[/item]
Blue Gems
[item]Solid Majestic Zircon[/item] - Rarely should you be using this as an Arms warrior. The only reason you would need one is to fill out your meta-gem requirements. Otherwise, stick with Purple gems in blue slots if you need the bonus. If you don't, feel free to replace it with another strength gem.
[item]Solid Stormjewel[/item]
Yellow Gems
[item]Rigid King's Amber[/item]
[item]Rigid Stormjewel[/item]
[item]Smooth King's Amber[/item]
Purple Gems
[item]Sovereign Dreadstone[/item]
[item]Balanced Dreadstone[/item] - The main gem you will use in blue slots will be these ones. As I said earlier, Majestic Zircons will only be needed to fill out the meta-gem requirements.
Green Gems
[item]Jagged Eye of Zul[/item]
[item]Vivid Eye of Zul[/item]
Orange Gems
[item]Deadly Ametrine[/item]
[item]Etched Ametrine[/item]
[item]Fierce Ametrine[/item]
[item]Inscribed Ametrine[/item]
[item]Pristine Ametrine[/item]
[item]Wicked Ametrine[/item]
Meta
[item]Chaotic Skyflare Diamond[/item]
[item]Relentless Earthsiege Diamond[/item]
There are also plenty of other Meta-gems that can give you AP or Crit and also give you things such as a 10% decrease in fear or rooted effects. I only posted these two because they benefit your DPS the most.
Glyphs
[item]Glyph of Bladestorm[/item]
[item]Glyph of Execution[/item]
[item]Glyph of Mortal Strike[/item]
[item]Glyph of Rapid Charge[/item]
[item]Glyph of Rending[/item]
[item]Glyph of Sweeping Strikes[/item]
[item]Glyph of Victory Rush[/item]
[item]Glyph of Battle[/item]
[item]Glyph of Charge[/item]
[item]Glyph of Enduring Victory[/item]
Happy raiding!
Let's get started!
Spec
Obviously, you'll be putting a majority of your points into the Arms tree. Depending on your play-style, you are free to switch things around as you see fit, but I use specs from sites such as <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.wowpopular.com">http://www.wowpopular.com</a><!-- m --> to figure out the basic aspect of what I want and then mess with it to fit how I like to run my warrior show.
Here is the wowpopular spec: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#LcbIbfIt0brRzGuioGx0s">http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#LcbIbfIt0brRzGuioGx0s</a><!-- m -->
Here is my spec: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.wowarmory.com/character-talents.xml?r=Silver+Hand&cn=Melikar&group=2">http://www.wowarmory.com/character-tale ... ar&group=2</a><!-- m -->
I put extra points into the Arms tree and I've messed with my talents because I also use this spec for PvP. But, the basic idea and needed talents for raiding are there all the same. I did not grab [spell]Anger Management[/spell] because I feel I can generate rage quickly enough due to other talents as is. Also, I grabbed the [spell]Improved Charge[/spell] because I believe charging into battle with that extra rage can really help get you started on the rotation. I also threw 2 points in Weapon Mastery mostly due to the PvP aspect of this spec. That is something you are totally able to avoid if you wish.
What is NEEDED...
Here are the talents and abilities that are really needed and why:
[spell]Mortal Strike[/spell] : Mortal Strike not only reduces healing done to the target by 50%, but it also is a huge amount of your burst damage.
[spell]Taste for Blood[/spell] : This is another very needed talent. When TfB procs, your [spell]Overpower[/spell] ability becomes usable. Normally, you can only use this when your attacks are dodged. So having it pop up due to a 100% proc is another great source for burst damage. Since this ability can only occur once every 6 seconds and you have a 9 second timer, it's always best to use it with 3 seconds or less on the timer. As long as your rend is still up, TfB will always proc immediately again as long as you wait out those 6 seconds.
[spell]Trauma[/spell] : Grabbing the two points in Trauma is well worth it. It increases all bleed effects by 30%. And that's not just the bleeds done by you. It includes bleeds from other classes (such as rogues or feral druids) as well. So not only are you increasing your DPS output, but also your fellow raiding bleed DoT'ers!
[spell]Improved Slam[/spell] : This may seem like a waste of 2 talents, but in the Arms spec, it is absolutely not. [spell]Slam[/spell] Has a relatively short cast time as it is. Reducing the time by one second makes it nearly instant. Another great source for burst damage and it's good to use when your other abilities are either on cool down or need a proc.
[spell]Rend[/spell] : Probably the most vital ability to the Arms warrior DPS. Keep Rend up at all times. Not only is it essential that this is up to keep Overpowers to proc, it also provides a lot of overall damage due to talents and the like as well as its initial damage. Yes, I know sometimes I space and forget to throw it back up there, but the more I remember, the more damage I am doing. Also, it is best to wait to reapply Rend until the very last moment. Right as it disappears off the debuff on the mob's portrait, throw on another one. Why is it best to wait? Because reapplying too early resets the timer and actually causes the next tick of damage to come later than if you'd just left it on until it wore off. Basically, you're doing less damage by reapplying early.
[spell]Sweeping Strikes[/spell] and [spell]Bladestorm[/spell] : I put these together because they almost work hand in hand. If you are fighting a single mob, the benefits are not as great. Sweeping Strikes basically hits additional enemies but nothing more. Bladestorm can have it's uses, for sure. While on a single mob, it hits much quicker than an auto-attack and it tends to crit a lot. And...that's about it. The beauty of it comes out in AoE with groups of mobs. Hitting Sweeping Strikes then hitting Bladestorm causes large amounts of damage simply because you're hitting multiple mobs around you at a higher speed. I will admit that Bladestorm was made for PvP, but it has its PvE side as well.
[spell]Sudden Death[/spell] : This ability used to be a lot better. Your execute damage was based off of your amount of rage. If you had a Sudden Death proc, you'd wait until 100 rage to use it (or as close to 100 as you could get) because that meant big numbers. I can't find the source, but I recall some recent patch notes saying that Sudden Death would no longer exceed 30 rage if and when it proc'd. If this is untrue, let me know. Regardless, I use this ability anyway. If you have a Sudden Death Proc, use it. The more rage you have, the better.
[spell]Execute[/spell] : And while I'm talking about SD, let me mention that the spell Execute itself will still do the full amount of damage if you have the mob below 20% health. So, if you have the mob to 20% health or lower and you're at 100 rage, you will cause weapon damage plus 3800 damage. It's very nice to have, is it not?
Stances: Warriors cannot forget they have the three stances - Battle, Defensive and Berserker. An Arms warrior should always be in Battle stance. Defensive is for Prot and Berserker is for Fury.
Play around with the talents and find what works best for you. I've given my ideas on what I think is the best way to go about playing an Arms warrior.
Rotation
I feel the Arms rotation is rather simple. Here is the run down of what I do in raid situations:
[spell]Charge[/spell] > [spell]Rend[/spell] (getting this up ASAP is important) > [spell]Mortal Strike[/spell] > [spell]Overpower[/spell] (If it procs off TfB, if not skip to the next ability) > [spell]Execute[/spell] (if it procs off of [spell]Sudden Death[/spell], if not move to the next ability) > [spell]Slam[/spell]
By this point, Mortal Strike should be off its cool down and you can throw another one of those out. Keep Rend applied every time it finishes its timer and keep hitting Overpower when it procs at the last three seconds. Keeping this basic rotation going is the name of the game. Slam also helps when you have nothing else available (i.e. waiting on procs or cool downs). Also, if pulling groups of mobs, make sure your tank has some pretty decent aggro before you attempt the [spell]Sweeping Strikes[/spell]/[spell]Bladestorm[/spell] combo.
IF you are fighting a boss mob and they fall below 20% health, it is best to remember a few things. Your Execute will be available at all times here. Therefore, I usually use something along the lines of this, assuming you still have Rend up and are keeping it up:
[spell]Mortal Strike[/spell] > [spell]Execute[/spell] (as close to 100 rage as you can get it without missing procs) > [spell]Overpower[/spell] (if it's there from a TfB proc and it's in the last 3 seconds. If not use a [spell]Slam[/spell]) > [spell]Slam[/spell]
If you have your Execute sitting there and you are in the last three seconds of a TfB proc, use Overpower first as it only consumes 10 rage, whereas your Execute uses all of it. You can gain back that 10 rage in about .01 seconds.
Also remember to always use your trinkets and any racial abilities you may have to help increase your DPS. As a troll, I have the Berserking ability that I always try to use whenever its two-minute cool down is over. The 20% speed increase on attacks is VERY helpful. It's pretty much the same as having a secondary [spell]Bloodlust[/spell], so always remember to keep it going if you are a troll, no matter what your class.
Gems and Glyphs
When gemming an Arms warrior, it is important to remember these stats:
Strength: It is better to gem for pure strength than AP. AP helps, of course, but raw Strength is where most of your DPS comes from.
Crit: Crit strike is also very important for any abilities you use.
Hit: The warrior hit cap is 8% or 262 for a hard cap. Make sure you are aiming for this with Strength as missing attacks means less DPS.
Other stats such as AP, Stam, Haste and Agility should come second. Your top priority is Hit cap and gaining as much strength as you can. Crit can even take a back seat to these two stats, but it's important to remember.
Red Gems
[item]Bold Cardinal Ruby[/item]
[item]Bold Stormjewel[/item]
[item]Bright Cardinal Ruby[/item]
Blue Gems
[item]Solid Majestic Zircon[/item] - Rarely should you be using this as an Arms warrior. The only reason you would need one is to fill out your meta-gem requirements. Otherwise, stick with Purple gems in blue slots if you need the bonus. If you don't, feel free to replace it with another strength gem.
[item]Solid Stormjewel[/item]
Yellow Gems
[item]Rigid King's Amber[/item]
[item]Rigid Stormjewel[/item]
[item]Smooth King's Amber[/item]
Purple Gems
[item]Sovereign Dreadstone[/item]
[item]Balanced Dreadstone[/item] - The main gem you will use in blue slots will be these ones. As I said earlier, Majestic Zircons will only be needed to fill out the meta-gem requirements.
Green Gems
[item]Jagged Eye of Zul[/item]
[item]Vivid Eye of Zul[/item]
Orange Gems
[item]Deadly Ametrine[/item]
[item]Etched Ametrine[/item]
[item]Fierce Ametrine[/item]
[item]Inscribed Ametrine[/item]
[item]Pristine Ametrine[/item]
[item]Wicked Ametrine[/item]
Meta
[item]Chaotic Skyflare Diamond[/item]
[item]Relentless Earthsiege Diamond[/item]
There are also plenty of other Meta-gems that can give you AP or Crit and also give you things such as a 10% decrease in fear or rooted effects. I only posted these two because they benefit your DPS the most.
Glyphs
[item]Glyph of Bladestorm[/item]
[item]Glyph of Execution[/item]
[item]Glyph of Mortal Strike[/item]
[item]Glyph of Rapid Charge[/item]
[item]Glyph of Rending[/item]
[item]Glyph of Sweeping Strikes[/item]
[item]Glyph of Victory Rush[/item]
[item]Glyph of Battle[/item]
[item]Glyph of Charge[/item]
[item]Glyph of Enduring Victory[/item]
Happy raiding!
