Is Arms viable for WPVP/ Duels/ Solo PVP?

[Praff]

Sup y'all!

Can anyone please tell me if Arms is viable as a solo WPVP class with the new Shadowland changes or is it still one of the worst 1v1 classes out there?

I'm torn between maining Arms or Frost DK (since they buffed 2H) - my heart says Arms but my head says Frost DK (much better survivability).

Would appreciate some advice from anyone who's played around w/ both at max level w/ covenants etc.

Cheers!

[Gotural]

It's still one of the worst / the worst 1v1 spec, but the difference is closer than before.
Most of the changes are increasing Warrior viability in arena situations (Intervene requires a mate, Ignore Pain to survive a bit while your healer is CCed, etc) and won't really apply in 1v1 situations.

DKs on the other hand look far far stronger in 1v1 situations.

[Praff]

Many thanks friend!

In that case I will main a Frost DK wielding a big ol' 2h.

With my luck they'll be nerfed into the ground by 9.1 and only dw will be viable

[Gotural]

I feel you mate!

I also play DK and Warrior and I'm hyped about 2H Frost! We shall see if it's any good.

If you like Fury, it's still in a great shape in SL despite the BT heal nerf from 5% to 3%.

[Praff]

Yeah I never really liked Fury as much tbh. I mean I'd rather play Arcane Mage than Fury for some strange reason :P

In terms of class fantasy, animations, aesthetics and feel of the abilities this is my class & spec tier list:
1. Arms Warr (if they weren't so incredibly gimped for 1v1s I'd play this exclusively - if they just had impending Victory baseline SIGH!)
2. Frost DK w/ 2H (I mean Arthas, am I right?!)
3. Arcane Mage (they seem like the coolest mage spec with my fav abilities - minus the meteor which is one of the coolest looking abilities in the game rn)

In an ideal world I'd just play what appeals to me the most from an RPG perspective, right? Unfortunately I'm so utterly sick of just almost every other class dumping on my Arms Warr hardcore simply because they have self sustain and I don't. So many times I would encounter a rogue in WPVP, fight them until we were both at around 30% roughly only to have them vanish and come back at 80%hp!!! I mean I don't expect to keep up w/ a DK in terms of self sustain as Arms but fuck me it's SO ridiculous to not have ANYTHING for self sustain... I mean you could talent into it; and give up your stun. Which is insane lol.

Anyway rant over. But yeah, in conclusion I guess I'm going w/ the Frost DK 2H. If they mess that up I might quit the game again as I only really want to play a strength based, plate wearing melee class that can hold its own in 1v1s. Don't need them to be the best, just you know, have some self sustain.

[Gotural]

I only really want to play a strength based, plate wearing melee class that can hold its own in 1v1s.

You could also try to play Retribution Paladin

[Praff]

You could also try to play Retribution Paladin

I was considering it, we'll see how it goes. Thanks for the suggestion

[Ulfric Trumpcloak]

No, it isn't. Arms has no self healing, and in order to have a stun you give up mobility which is extremely important for melee in wpvp.

[Lodravel]

No, it isn't. Arms has no self healing, and in order to have a stun you give up mobility which is extremely important for melee in wpvp.

Well, yeah, but it's actually not that big of a detriment.

The new leaper legendary gives warrior mobility en masse. Venthyr and Night Fae signature abilities also add to that.
Our survivability has gotten quite the buff, too. Shield block, while requiring you to swap weapons, will allow us to effectively hardcounter melee burst. IIRC, Ignore Pain is more expensive for fury, so we got that going for us. Lastly, Condemn (Venthyr ability) is one hell of a dueling ability, dishing out big damage while preventing the "condemned" enemy's damage.

None of this is exclusive to arms, ofc, but that doesn't matter. While Fury has it's selfhealing, I reckon that the additional utility in SL will allow Arms to much more reliably deliver its chonky damage, making it a much better contender than it used to be.

[Gotural]

Well, yeah, but it's actually not that big of a detriment.

The new leaper legendary gives warrior mobility en masse. Venthyr and Night Fae signature abilities also add to that.
Our survivability has gotten quite the buff, too. Shield block, while requiring you to swap weapons, will allow us to effectively hardcounter melee burst. IIRC, Ignore Pain is more expensive for fury, so we got that going for us. Lastly, Condemn (Venthyr ability) is one hell of a dueling ability, dishing out big damage while preventing the "condemned" enemy's damage.

None of this is exclusive to arms, ofc, but that doesn't matter. While Fury has it's selfhealing, I reckon that the additional utility in SL will allow Arms to much more reliably deliver its chonky damage, making it a much better contender than it used to be.

Alas I'm afraid that no ones is ever going to pick the leaper legendary because damage > mobility, even in arenas.
As far as I know, you can't swap weapon during combat in Shadowlands, but I would love for someone with beta access to log in and verify that.

[Lodravel]

Alas I'm afraid that no ones is ever going to pick the leaper legendary because damage > mobility, even in arenas.
As far as I know, you can't swap weapon during combat in Shadowlands, but I would love for someone with beta access to log in and verify that.

Well, depends on the situation. If we're talking strictly duels and WPvP, I can see leaper beating out others. But yeah, you've got a point. We'll probably only start seeing leaper regularly once they unlock the second legendary slot.

Weapon swapping works in combat like it always has, incurring a GCD. Don't know if you'll be able to do that during M+ tbh, although that doesn't concern us here anyway.

[Gotural]

Weapon swapping works in combat like it always has, incurring a GCD. Don't know if you'll be able to do that during M+ tbh, although that doesn't concern us here anyway.

This is a very very good new mate. I was super hyped for Shield Block for Warrior and SotR for Ret Paladin being baseline but read somewhere on this forum that you couldn't weapon swap during combat anymore in Shadowlands and couldn't verify myself in the beta. Thank you.

[Grakao]

Our survivability has gotten quite the buff, too.

We got also 2min Die By The Sword (down from 3min) and 20% health from Rallying Cry (up from 15%).

Very good surv buffs indeed.

[Cyanu]

I suspect that for duels the Kyrian convenant helps a TON, it provides self healing which is crucial for the classes that lack it, while it also removes tons of crap from us (godsent vs rogues i suspect), the spear is also a great skill because it's obviously great for anyone that would try to kite us while dealing a fair amount of magical damage against plate

ps:keep in mind skill-capped already recommended Kyrian over Venthyr for arms in arena, so i'm not making stuff up- they say that Condemn is overrated (key fact: armor aside it deals less damage than Execute, while Door of Shadows seems a little wasted on warrior- it has a cast time and lack of mobility was never the issue)

[Syegfryed]

It's still one of the worst / the worst 1v1 spec, but the difference is closer than before..

even in shadowlands the spec is garbage for that? Christ, have to be forced to be fury to not get streamrolled in a pvp server, i can't like fury at all.

Guess i will have to rerroll a second expansion in a row.