[6.0 Guide] Arms - The 10 second master

[Archimtiros]

Worried about the new patch? All the changes left you confused and not sure what buttons are left, much less which to press? This is your survival guide to 6.0, Arms Warrior edition! It is intended to be short, to the point and help you hit the ground running in 6.0 while you explore new content and prepare to face the Iron Horde in Warlords of Draenor.


Is Arms any good?
The #1 question on every players mind. Yes, despite being a slow, even boring playstyle to some; Arms is fairly competitive in single target and dominates AoE, especially two target cleave. Although a lot of mechanics have been removed, and Arms does not have a single spell alert or proc to play with, the spec is still engaging in AoE, mainly due to its talents.


Updated for L100
Stats section updated.
Talents clarified slightly (Bloodbath v 2 targets, BS v 3).
Heroic Charge removed.


Major changes or What happened to all my stuff!?

New Level 45 talent tier.
Storm Bolt and Bladestorm swapped places on talent tree.
Rend added.
Mastery has changed.
Battle/Commanding Shout no longer generate rage.
Heroic Throw now has a 6s CD and is not usable in melee range.
Slam and Overpower have been removed.
Berserker Stance has been removed.
Heroic Strike has been removed.
Cleave has been removed.
Disarm has been removed.
Skull Banner removed and merged with Recklessness.
Demoralizing Banner has been removed.
Mocking Banner has been removed from Arms.
Deep Wounds has been removed from Arms.
Enrage has been removed from Arms.

Mostly pruning and consolidation. You can read a full list of changes on the official patch notes blog. It is important to note that in Warlords of Draenor a number of passive abilities have been removed and their effects have either been merged into the baseline spell, or they have been hidden all together, such as Mastery. The only way to see Mastery effects now is through the tooltip on the character sheet.


What do now?

Single Target


Every ability now costs rage and there are no on demand rage generators. Instead rage is generated through auto attacks, with roughly double rage gained on critical strikes. With one auto attack swing every 3.x seconds, this leads to a lot of downtime in the rotation. You will not fill every GCD. This is fine, outside of Colossus Smash the priority is using Mortal Strike on cooldown and spending rage only as necessary to keep from capping.

1. Keep Rend applied, refresh when <5s remaining on debuff.
2. Colossus Smash on cooldown.
3. Mortal Strike on cooldown.
4. Whirlwind during Colossus Smash, or when >50 rage outside of Colossus Smash.
5. Execute sub 20% in place of Whirlwind and Mortal Strike. Use when >40 rage for maximum damage. Pool rage prior to Colossus Smash to use as many as possible during the debuff. Ideally stack as many cooldowns as possible with near full rage, use Colossus Smash and dump 4 Executes inside of it. If time permits, pool rage for the next Colossus Smash, if not simply spam the ability until the target is dead.

• If using Sudden Death, use Execute as soon as it procs. Do not delay except for Colossus Smash.
• If using Slam, fill GCDs, pooling rage is not necessary. Stop using it once Execute becomes available.
• If using Storm Bolt, use on cooldown. With CDR it should be used inside CS every time, without it will be staggered.
• If using Dragon Roar, use on cooldown outside of Colossus Smash, since it ignores armor.

Multi-Target


2 targets

1. Keep Sweeping Strikes up.
2. Keep Rend applied to each target for rage generation via Taste for Blood.
3. Continue Single Target rotation.

3+ targets

1. Keep Sweeping Strikes up.
2. Keep Rend applied to 3-4 targets that won't die quickly for ideal rage generation.
3. Dragon Roar on cooldown.
4. Whirlwind all the things.
5. Bladestorm is worth using against 3+ targets.

Depending on the amount of Mastery you have, Mortal Strike is still worth using.


Talents
Most of our talents have been marginalized to the point where, outside of a few specific AoE situations, they don't have as large an impact on performance as they used to.
Update: Slam has been buffed and can be slightly stronger than Sudden Death for single target, but due to the negative interactions with the 2p bonus, Sudden Death is still generally better. % differences below are out of date, but the relationship between the three remains the same. Sudden Death > Slam > TfB for Single Target and TfB > Sudden Death > Slam for Multi Target.

For Single Target
Sudden Death is the best talent for single target damage.
Slam is slightly stronger than Sudden Death, but very difficult to use with the 2p making it generally a worse option.
Storm Bolt is slightly better than Dragon Roar for single target, keep in mind it needs to be staggered with Colossus Smash.
Dragon Roar is slightly weaker than Storm Bolt, but easier to use as it does not rely on Colossus Smash and uses less GCDs.
Shockwave is weaker than Dragon Roar even with the cooldown reduction as it eats GCDs otherwise used on stronger abilities. Still, it can be used when you need a stun without a large damage loss.
Avatar has a few possible uses on burst when targets die so quickly that Bloodbath will not tick for the full/most of the duration.
Bloodbath is the best single or sustained two target pick.

For AoE
Taste for Blood is the clear winner, since Slam directly competes with Whirlwind and Sudden Death does no AoE damage. It is worth using with any amount of extra targets.
Dragon Roar is the best Multi Target pick in every situation.
Bladestorm is worth using against 3+ targets.


Glyphs
Mandatory
Unending Rage is crucial to proper rage management.

Situational
Rude Interruption if you will be interrupting.

Filler
Wind and Thunder for any AoE situations.
Death from Above/Heroic Leap are good for mobility, choose the most appropriate for your situation.

Gimmicks
Sweeping Strikes is outclassed by Taste for Blood, which will give more than enough Rage generation. 1 extra rage/hit isn't nearly worthwhile.
Resonating Power still doesn't make Thunder Clap useful for anything more than applying snares.
Recklessness is the biggest trap of them all. Stay away from it.

My picks for the majority of content would be Unending Rage, Wind and Thunder and Bull Rush/DfA/Heroic Leap or Rude Interruption as the situation calls.


Stats
Much like our talents, for single target our stats are now much closer together, though there is some major disparity for AoE, most notably that our Mastery does not effect Whirlwind. Depending on what you want to use Arms for, you may want to be aware of the amount of Mastery on your gear. For pure single target, it is the strongest Single Target stat, but for AoE it is the weakest.


Remember that your mileage may vary depending on gear. If you are really worried about min/maxing I encourage you to use SimulationCraft to find your own stats.

T17P (pre-raid) single target stat weights


T17M (mythic) single target stat weights


Haste has two breakpoints for Arms Single Target, at 10% (for better rage generation) and 25% (2 MS during CS) but due to the poor rating conversion they aren't worth going after unless you are right on the edge.

T17P (mythic) hectic add cleave - light movement and add waves with a boss target


T17M (mythic) hectic add cleave - light movement and add waves with a boss target


As always, stat weights only tell you what happens when you add a single stat to your already existing values. When trading one stat for another, such as swapping a piece of gear, you'll want to use reforge plots to see how values change.

Tier
2 pieces (Arms) : Colossus Smash has a 40% chance to reduce the cooldown of Mortal Strike by 50% for 10 sec.
4 pieces (Arms) : Colossus Smash now generates 20 Rage.

Tier 17 enhances performance slightly but doesn't have a large impact on rotation. The two-piece reinforces the importance of using Colossus Smash immediately before Mortal Strike so as to take advantage of the reduced cooldown and use Mortal Strike as much as possible. The four-piece helps rage generation, which is particularly helpful during the Execute phase. Take care to ensure you won't cap rage before using it.

Note: wowdb has the bonuses backwards, the 2p reduces the cooldown of Mortal Strike and the 4p generates rage.


Item Enhancement & Consumables

Enchants	Cheap	Expensive
Cloak	Breath of Critical Strike	Gift of Critical Strike
Neck	Breath of Critical Strike	Gift of Critical Strike
Rings	Breath of Critical Strike	Gift of Critical Strike
Weapon	Mark of the Thunderlord
Gems
	Critical Strike Taladite	Greater Critical Strike Taladite
Food
	Blackrock Barbecue	Pickled Eel
Flask
	Draenic Strength Flask	Greater Draenic Strength Flask
Potion
	Draenic Strength Potion

Advanced Techniques

Heroic Charge
Update: RIP. Charge no longer generates rage if used against the same target twice in a row. Ever.


Rend Refreshing and Burst
Rend now has a burst tick at the end of the debuff that is significantly stronger than the others. Because of this, it is important not to refresh Rend early and miss that extra damage, likewise Rend loses a lot of effectiveness against targets that will not survive the full duration of the debuff.
However, the player is helped by a DoT rolling mechanic, where a dot can be refreshed when <5 seconds are remaining, extending the duration of the new debuff and still causing its final ticks.
This means you can refresh Rend when <5s are remaining and the old Rend will still "burst" when the debuff was initially supposed to expire, and then go right into its next cycle.
TL;DR refresh rend with <5s remaining on the debuff.


Taste for Blood Management
In multi-target situations, deciding how many targets to Rend is a tricky balance based on how long you estimate the target to be alive. Keeping Rend up on more targets will gain DoT damage and Rage generation, but it will also begin to eat too many GCDs better spent on Whirlwind and causing you to rage cap. As of right now, I don't recommend tab targeting the world. Instead limit yourself to 3-4 Rend targets and spend GCDs on Whirlwind instead. You will also very likely not be able to manage each dot with 100% accuracy and that is fine, the main benefit is the rage generation not the dot damage itself, though do your best not to refresh the dot early/late if possible.



Thanks to Collision, Manager, Requiel, WarriorSarri and more for months of testing, screaming like mad men on the beta forums and HeroicStrike.org.

[Deleted]

Nice guide thanks alot

[Murlocbait]

Terrific guide, thank you for all the hard work!

[Warriorsarri]

Two things:

First off, wouldn't it be best to have Juggernaut as the default choice due to ChargeWeaving, and then keep Double Time as backup on Movement fights / AoE fights?
Secondly, why "WarriorSarri? Wouldn't it be simpler to just say either Sarri or Warriorsarri?

[Archimtiros]

Two things:

First off, wouldn't it be best to have Juggernaut as the default choice due to ChargeWeaving, and then keep Double Time as backup on Movement fights / AoE fights?
Secondly, why "WarriorSarri? Wouldn't it be simpler to just say either Sarri or Warriorsarri?

First, because Heroic Charge is already under revision to get nixed, it isn't worth the (very small) amount of min/maxing. Also for many fights Double Time allows you to use Heroic Charge and save a charge of charge (yeah that just happened) for movement.
Second, because I hate you. Should have written Warriorscumbag!

[crazed]

Nice comprehensive guide. Any idea if a similar one is coming soon for Fury?

[CollisionTD]

Thanks to Collision, Manager, Requiel, WarriorSarri and more for months of testing, screaming like mad men on the beta forums andHeroicStrike.org.

$35 and all I got was this fucked up version of arms!

[Trouncin]

There is a guide made by Collision already. It's stickied at the top of the warrior forum here on mmochamp.

I'd be nice and link it but I'm not allowed ;_;

On another note, I haven't kept up for a BIT but how is arms vs fury looking for 6.0 and beyond?

[Regidor]

The warrior community always creates quality guides, thanks. Even though I'm not certain of what I'll main yet, I still can't wait for the full WoD guides.

[Felroar]

Nice guide. Wondering if you'll do one for Fury as well, as I'm assuming the way to go will be Arms for AoE and Fury for single target. at least until Fury gets nerfed anyway.

[jn27]

Great work as always, you've done us a great service.

[CollisionTD]

Nice guide. Wondering if you'll do one for Fury as well, as I'm assuming the way to go will be Arms for AoE and Fury for single target. at least until Fury gets nerfed anyway.

>_>

<_<

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-now-what-quot

[Archimtiros]

>_>

<_<

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-now-what-quot

The people want what the people want, sorry Col.

Serious note though, I'll be putting up 6.0 and Warlords guides here and over at the Sentry Totem, I encourage anyone who is interested to check it out; this weekend will have a big push of 6.0 guides for all classes, Warlords guides over the next couple weeks and of course lots of written articles. It's also a good place to get help for people who need it (check out the /help-me section).

Serious note part 2; Collision does some outstanding work and I work with him a lot when making these guides. Regardless of who writes them, you can rest assured that the information is solid and vetted by more than one of us.

[Belchh]

Is there some sort of haste break point, or is it just worthwhile due to the compression it provides over the entire rotation?

[Secondwind]

Is there some sort of haste break point, or is it just worthwhile due to the compression it provides over the entire rotation?

Once you hit like 50% it'll probably drop off really sharply. But you shouldn't be getting anywhere near 50%.

[Felroar]

>_>

<_<

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...-now-what-quot

Sorry Collision, I swear i checked the threads for this very reason but I didn't notice the stickies had been changed.

[Archimtiros]

Is there some sort of haste break point, or is it just worthwhile due to the compression it provides over the entire rotation?

It starts to drop off at about 50%, like SW said. I'm running a plot of all stats right now but it will be a bit.

For single target


For 5 target AoE


Base profile has 345 Haste; 17.25% unbuffed, 23.11% raid buffed.

[Saltywaffles]

Note: Since I have not been on the beta or ptr I am not sure if this is right or not.

How much is rage generation and issue for ST? Since you should only WW at 50+ rage outside of CS, do you have to constantly be conserving rage to make sure you have enough for the higher priority abilities? Also since the talents are marginalized like you mentioned, is ravager always the clear cut winner or can anger management ever be something to consider? Is the dps loss from using anger management that high?

[Archimtiros]

Single target, plot of all secondaries


AoE 5 target plot

Can you tell which stat is my favorite?

Profile stats for reference

[hollafame]

I almost fell out of my chair laughing when I read BS is only good on 9+ targets. RIP~

Edit: Great guide btw.