PvE Guide for the Arms Warrior

[Damnagoras]

Uh. Might be a dumb question, who knows, but

12. Never Slam twice in a row in between Mortal Strikes. You'll end up delaying Colossus Smash or Mortal Strike because of the paused swing timer.

Can someone elaborate it for me, how does the paused swing timer delay ability use?

[Sherea]

If you're low raged using Slam twice i.e using the 10 rage cost and pausing swing timer for 0.5 x2 seconds will lead to you having to wait for swing to hit and it wont hit before MS or CS becomes available (you probably still can use OP as it only uses 5 rage which you will still have most of the time)

[Damnagoras]

I'm yet to see something like this happen. :<
Having the actual swing timer visible helps I guess.

[Shaith86]

Only set rule there is to follow is to get +10stre bonusses

I'd say +20 strength minimum if you're gunning for socket bonuses..

[Sherea]

I'd say +20 strength minimum if you're gunning for socket bonuses..

Well if you can counterargue with math, feel free to post

[Sinnermighty]

I'd say +20 strength minimum if you're gunning for socket bonuses..

Wrong; you want to go for the +10 STR bonuses.

[Namso]

From what I understand so far, there is a lot of mixed opinions regarding how the opening rotation needs to look like, so I believe we should come to a conclusion and hammer out what the most optimal opener is for this patch. Having said that, if we can get some rotations posted from other Arms Warriors and discuss them, perhaps we can finalize the strongest opening rotation and insert it into the guide. I'd like to know what everyone else uses. Aside from that, everything should be okay as far as I'm concerned. However, should you spot an error or disagree with something labelled into the guide, I urge you to post so it can be reviewed.

[Kezool]

From what I understand so far, there is a lot of mixed opinions regarding how the opening rotation needs to look like, so I believe we should come to a conclusion and hammer out what the most optimal opener is for this patch. Having said that, if we can get some rotations posted from other Arms Warriors and discuss them, perhaps we can finalize the strongest opening rotation and insert it into the guide. I'd like to know what everyone else uses. Aside from that, everything should be okay as far as I'm concerned. However, should you spot an error or disagree with something labelled into the guide, I urge you to post so it can be reviewed.

Optimal opener is tricky, but I'm personally all for opening with Rend > CS > MS > OP, Sherea didn't agree with it but he gave some good points as to why it might be optimal. Your first MS will have a +25% critical strike chance, why not have CS up before you use it? Ofcourse I could be wrong.

When it comes to cooldowns you need rather good math to figure it out, but until I get something solid on the matter I'm gonna keep doing what I doing which is:

Shout/prepot > Charge > rend > CS > DC/MS > OP > Slam > MS, etc with Heroic Strikes thrown in real often. Once DC ends you make sure you got Colossus Smash (I don't re-use it during Deadly Calm, I save it for the recklessness): CS > Reck/MS > Slamslam > MS > (hopefully new CS) > Slam > MS > Slamslam.

That's influenced by the fact that I got Heart of Rage. It will proc during the Deadly Calm and if it doesn't; fuck it. I delay Reck until it does even if it means having no Golemblood (Heart of Rage is alot more strength than Golemblood, but also influenced by fight duration).

I stand by my opinion that using shout before the pull as to avoid using a combat GCD is preferable over trading a slam for it, but would need MATH to actually figure that out for realsies.

Also: If you aren't delaying your MS by 0.5seconds there will be times when OP won't be avalible. For those times it's really good to actually pool your rage BEFOREHAND so you can go double-slam without starving yourself for the coming Mortal Strike. However, if Battleshout is up and a CS is imminent I would recommend using that over Slamming as double slam can be a strain on the rage.

[Namso]

Optimal opener is tricky, but I'm personally all for opening with Rend > CS > MS > OP, Sherea didn't agree with it but he gave some good points as to why it might be optimal. Your first MS will have a +25% critical strike chance, why not have CS up before you use it? Ofcourse I could be wrong.

Yeah, I'd like to get more opinions on this matter.

When it comes to cooldowns you need rather good math to figure it out, but until I get something solid on the matter I'm gonna keep doing what I doing which is:

Shout/prepot > Charge > rend > CS > DC/MS > OP > Slam > MS, etc with Heroic Strikes thrown in real often. Once DC ends you make sure you got Colossus Smash (I don't re-use it during Deadly Calm, I save it for the recklessness): CS > Reck/MS > Slamslam > MS > (hopefully new CS) > Slam > MS > Slamslam.

That's influenced by the fact that I got Heart of Rage. It will proc during the Deadly Calm and if it doesn't; fuck it. I delay Reck until it does even if it means having no Golemblood (Heart of Rage is alot more strength than Golemblood, but also influenced by fight duration).

Cooldowns are a bit tricky in terms of when to use it because it depends entirely on your trinkets I believe. For instance, the fact that you have Heart of Rage makes using Deadly Calm early a reasonable option. For me, however, I use the Apparatus, and so I save my Deadly Calm and pop it along with the Apparatus once it gets the 5 stacks for some nasty burst. I guess it also works for you with your Recklessness. Basically your cooldown rotation revolves around the HoR proc, but mine doesn't because I have a different trinket.

I think the best way to go about this is to add a separate section about using your cooldowns at appropriate times. For example, I can have a section for Deadly Calm and Recklessness (even Battle Shout, since that's a cooldown), and then a section for on-use trinkets and equip trinkets. So it'd explain how to use your cooldowns, depending on what you have, to the utmost effectiveness.

I stand by my opinion that using shout before the pull as to avoid using a combat GCD is preferable over trading a slam for it, but would need MATH to actually figure that out for realsies.

I really don't know about this. I don't find using Battle Shout before the pull as the best way to use it. Wouldn't it be a whole lot more effective to pair it with Recklessness? You'd have your LttS stacks up by then, and you'd just do Battle Shout -> Colossus Smash -> Recklessness + Mortal Strike and win. More opinions on this would be much appreciated.

Also: If you aren't delaying your MS by 0.5seconds there will be times when OP won't be avalible. For those times it's really good to actually pool your rage BEFOREHAND so you can go double-slam without starving yourself for the coming Mortal Strike. However, if Battleshout is up and a CS is imminent I would recommend using that over Slamming as double slam can be a strain on the rage.

It's kind of hard to predict when this would happen, though (or can you?), as in when to pool your rage for the incoming double-Slam. I guess you can just wait before throwing out a Heroic Strike once you have enough rage for it and save it for the double-Slam. So instead of using Heroic Strike at, say, 60 rage, you'd use it when you're nearly maxed just to be on the safe side. I don't really know, though.

[Kezool]

Y
I really don't know about this. I don't find using Battle Shout before the pull as the best way to use it. Wouldn't it be a whole lot more effective to pair it with Recklessness? You'd have your LttS stacks up by then, and you'd just do Battle Shout -> Colossus Smash -> Recklessness + Mortal Strike and win. More opinions on this would be much appreciated.

It's kind of hard to predict when this would happen, though (or can you?), as in when to pool your rage for the incoming double-Slam. I guess you can just wait before throwing out a Heroic Strike once you have enough rage for it and save it for the double-Slam. So instead of using Heroic Strike at, say, 60 rage, you'd use it when you're nearly maxed just to be on the safe side. I don't really know, though.

What I meant was that you save enough rage to not surf around the bare minimum. Assuming no whitehits (which will land so lower the number accordingly depending on where in the rotation a white will land) it takes 70 rage to do MS > Slam > Slam > MS, from the first MS to the second MS there's a 4.5second window. You will have one white land during that so around 50 rage before going in will be required. It's not always possible so as I said during that it's often preferable to use Battleshout if no more opportune moments are about to present itself.

Also not using Berserker Rage blindly can assist with this. I'm personally of the opinion that 5 rage when you don't need it is 5 rage wasted (even tho it ain't). I've just had too many encounters being at 17 rage with MS just coming off cooldown to just use it nilly willy.

[Namso]

What I meant was that you save enough rage to not surf around the bare minimum. Assuming no whitehits (which will land so lower the number accordingly depending on where in the rotation a white will land) it takes 70 rage to do MS > Slam > Slam > MS, from the first MS to the second MS there's a 4.5second window. You will have one white land during that so around 50 rage before going in will be required. It's not always possible so as I said during that it's often preferable to use Battleshout if no more opportune moments are about to present itself.

I'll add a note about that in the Tips section.

Also not using Berserker Rage blindly can assist with this. I'm personally of the opinion that 5 rage when you don't need it is 5 rage wasted (even tho it ain't). I've just had too many encounters being at 17 rage with MS just coming off cooldown to just use it nilly willy.

Well, like you said, it makes no difference using Berserker Rage blindly or not. It's actually better to use it off cooldown so you can use it more often during the encounter, meaning more rage. You just have to pay attention to your rage when picking a particular ability to avoid that kind of thing.

[Kezool]

I'll add a note about that in the Tips section.



Well, like you said, it makes no difference using Berserker Rage blindly or not. It's actually better to use it off cooldown so you can use it more often during the encounter, meaning more rage. You just have to pay attention to your rage when picking a particular ability to avoid that kind of thing.

Your rotation is set, you don't have much of a choice so if you lack rage you lack rage, and that's why I prefer to save Berserker Rage if I know something is coming up that may require the tiny ammount of rage it does provide. It all depends on the encounter and what stage of the rotation I am in (talking on a bigger scale than the MS > Fillerx2 > MS).

I'm rather comfortable playing Arms having played it for a long time, and especially now with Firelands being farmed for so long I also know the encounters really well. What that means is I'll know in advance if I'm gonna be risking a rage drought or not and that affects how I use my stuff. Most of what I am typing here in this thread is in regards to Ragnaros because that's a long fight where cooldowns come in to play more than once and it's also a rather technical fight with lots of ups and downs, and also Baleroc because that's a straightup nukefest with a soaking/link gimmick.

[Namso]

Your rotation is set, you don't have much of a choice so if you lack rage you lack rage, and that's why I prefer to save Berserker Rage if I know something is coming up that may require the tiny ammount of rage it does provide. It all depends on the encounter and what stage of the rotation I am in (talking on a bigger scale than the MS > Fillerx2 > MS).

But it doesn't make a difference if you save it or not. If you are about to lack rage and use Berserker Rage, go ahead. If you used Berserker Rage earlier, you wouldn't have lacked the rage. Therefore using it earlier is better because you'd be able to use it again faster.

[Kezool]

But it doesn't make a difference if you save it or not. If you are about to lack rage and use Berserker Rage, go ahead. If you used Berserker Rage earlier, you wouldn't have lacked the rage. Therefore using it earlier is better because you'd be able to use it again faster.

I know what you mean and I know what I mean, and I'm not sure you do this but I stancedance so my effective ragecap is 75, granted I use Heroic Strike whenever it gets close but if I am in a situation where using Berserker Rage does nothing (as in; it gives me another reason to use Heroic Strike due to getting closer to the magical 75) I tend to save it until I know what's actually gonna happen.

[Namso]

I know what you mean and I know what I mean, and I'm not sure you do this but I stancedance so my effective ragecap is 75, granted I use Heroic Strike whenever it gets close but if I am in a situation where using Berserker Rage does nothing (as in; it gives me another reason to use Heroic Strike due to getting closer to the magical 75) I tend to save it until I know what's actually gonna happen.

Yeah of course you wouldn't use Berserker Rage over 75 rage, or use it when it's not even necessary (during Deadly Calm is another example). I should've made that a lot more clear, I'll fix that, thanks.

[Proberly]

I dusted off my old arms spec after reading this, and did manage to pull some nice single target numbers. Cheers OP

[Mest]

Since the current Arms-guide isn't updated any longer (and since it's perhaps a tad too cluttered) we're considering stickying this instead.

However, neither I nor Aurora follow Arms theory close enough to be able to judge the quality of detail in this guide. I know there are plenty of knowledgable Arms Warriors around on these boards so I'm asking you to give your comments on anything you may find misleading.

[Sherea]

I already did for most of the things out there. However, some things I pointed out are pretty advanced and aren't really that relevent in what you generally look in a how to play -XYZ specc guide. I can say that overall its pretty complete, there really isn't that much to Arms, you get the hang of it or you don't

One thing I spotted anyway is the gemming. You want to follow the same principles as Fury, 40 strenght in everything unless the bonus is +10 strenght or higher. Then you use a 20stre/20hit gem in a blue slot, or a 20stre/20crit in a yellow slot

[Namso]

I already did for most of the things out there. However, some things I pointed out are pretty advanced and aren't really that relevent in what you generally look in a how to play -XYZ specc guide. I can say that overall its pretty complete, there really isn't that much to Arms, you get the hang of it or you don't

One thing I spotted anyway is the gemming. You want to follow the same principles as Fury, 40 strenght in everything unless the bonus is +10 strenght or higher. Then you use a 20stre/20hit gem in a blue slot, or a 20stre/20crit in a yellow slot

Fixed. Thank you.

[Tert]

Very nice thread you made. I have never bothered with stancedancing macros but damn, its he'll alot more fun to play now thanks to you

question:

In berserker stance i have a macro to: cast battlestance, cast overpower - this seems to trigger a global or im i wrong? the overpower cast is not instant, gotta click twice??