Welcome to the PVE Arms Warrior DPS Guide for World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King!
This guide will teach you how to play an Arms Warrior in a raid. It covers talents, glyphs, gems, enchantments, rotation, and gameplay tips.
Talents
Don’t forget to change Sword/Mace/Poleaxe Specialization according to your weapon!
The first build is for people new to raiding. No top gear or stat caps. Here we have a focus on rage generation with talents like Unbridled Wrath and Anger Management. Also, we take Weapon Mastery due to lack of Hit Rating and Expertise. Slam is excluded from our rotation, which makes us more mobile, but do less damage.
The second build is for people with stats capped. This build is considered the best DPS in 1 target.
Requires good gear.
Glyphs
Major Glyphs
- Glyph of Mortal Strike – may be changed with the 1st build
- Glyph of Rending
- Glyph of Execution
Minor Glyphs
Gems
Gems are situational and depend on the build and equipment. They are used to reach the required stat caps.
- Meta
- Red & Yellow
- Blue
Enchants
- Head – Arcanum of Torment
- Shoulder – Greater Inscription of the Axe
- Cloak – Enchant Cloak – Major Agility
- Chest – Enchant Chest – Powerful Stats
- Bracers – Enchant Bracers – Greater Assault
- Gloves – Enchant Gloves – Crusher
- Waist – Eternal Belt Buckle
- Legs – Icescale Leg Armor
- Boots – Enchant Boots – Cat’s Swiftness or Enchant Boots – Greater Assault
- Weapons – Enchant Weapon – Berserking
Rotation
Arms don’t have that much of a Rotation. Their gameplay is based on skill procs.
When Sudden Death procs, you use Execute. Taste for Blood is procced by Rend. Taste for Blood lets you use Overpower.
Skill Priority:
Stat Priority
- Hit
- Expertise
- Armor Penetration
- Strength & Attack Power
- Crititcal Strike Rating
The Hit requirement is 8% (or 263 rating) to always hit the target. Expertise rating soft-cap is 26, which removes the chance of your attacks to be dodged & parried. At the same time, lower levels of expertise provide more opportunities to use Overpower. Some theorycrafters recommend staying at around 20 expertise to use more Overpower.
Armor Penetration is the primary stat of Arms spec and therefore is a priority. The downside that a new player might experience is that it’s not as effective in the beginning when you haven’t got enough of it (around 50%). The hard cap for Armor Penetration is 100%. To reach it, use gear, gems, trinket procs. Additionally, we have Battle Stance, 2p Hellscream’s Battlegear set bonus, and Mace Specialization.
1400 ArP equals 100%, and it’s usually the cap for melee classes.
1260 is the hard cap for Arms Warrior because we use Battle Stance
1050 if we’re using Battle Stance with a Mace + Mace Specialization talent
966 if we add the 2-piece Hellscream’s Battlegear set bonus to all of the above-mentioned
(Note that while Mace can be useful during the transition to ArP, you’ll want to switch to Axe + Poleaxe Specialization for better DPS in the long run)
Strength is the core stat for Warriors, which increases the Attack Power and effectiveness of the abilities. In the beginning, new players will find gemming for Strength (while gathering ArP gear) to be more efficient. After getting around 50% of ArP, you can make the transition to ArP and focus on it entirely.
Critical Strike Rating has a significant impact on your DPS. We have talents such as Impale, Deep Wounds, Trauma, and Wrecking Crew, the effectiveness of which depend on frequent crits. Stack crit as much as possible. Start by reaching 30-35% by the time you start raiding and build up from there. 60% is an achievable amount of crit if you’re closing on to BiS gear. It’s not unusual to see Warriors adding Agility items such as Vereesa’s Dexterity, Ashen Band of Endless Vengeance, or FrostBrood Sapphire Ring to increase the crit chance.