The PvE Arms Guide--Cataclysm Edition

[Loto Bordeaux]

The PvE Arms Guide--Cataclysm Edition


Table of Contents:

I. Introduction to the Arms Warrior Specialization
II. Proper Stat Prioritization and Character Construction
IIa. Optimal Gear Enchantments
IIb. Ideal Gemming
IIc. Professions and Benefits
IId. Race and its Relevance to Arms PvE
III. Talents and Glyphs
IIIa. Talents and their Relation to Arms PvE
IIIb. Viable and Suggested Arms Specializations
IIIc. Viable and Suggested Arms Glyphing
IV. Priority Rotations
IVa. Single Target Rotation
IVb. Multi-Target AoE Rotation
IVc. Cooldowns and their Relation to Rotation
IVd. Importance of Arms Warrior Utility
V. Introduction to Arms Warrior Keybindings and Macros
Va. Suggested Keybindings
Vb. Arms Macros Synonymous to Dps
Vc. Arms Macros Synonymous to Utility and Survivability
VI. Constructing Your User Interface
VIa. Importance of a Clean and Organized User Interface
VIb. How to Install Addons
VIc. Recommended Addons Pertaining to Arms PvE Dps
VId. Recommended Addons Pertaining to Organization
VII. Personal Recommendations

　
I. Introduction to the Arms Warrior Specialization


Currently updated for 4.1, in the process of updating for 4.2

*This guide will be updated as new information arises related exclusively to Arms Warrior PvE. The guide is targeted towards those who are new to the Arms Warrior Specialization and thereby contains the basics for beginning your new class. I have put together this information based upon personal experience/testing as well as discussions from the websites listed at the end of this guide; if you are searching for a leveling guide or an in-depth theorycrafting compilation, I might suggest the website references mentioned towards the end of this post. I hope you enjoy this guide and if you have suggestions on how to improve upon the information, please send me a private message. Thank you.*

　
II. Proper Stat Prioritization and Character Construction

*Below I shall list each stat that has a direct correlation towards the Arms Warrior's effectiveness, this includes the hit/expertise cap with racials factored in and overall stat prioritization.*

Hit Cap: Hit Cap at level 85 for the Arms Warrior is currently 8%, which is equivilant to exactly 961 hit rating.
This would imply that exactly 1% hit at level 85 is equivilant to roughly 120.125 hit rating.
The Draenei racial Heroic Presence boosts the individual Draenei's hit rating by 1%, which makes the Draenei hit cap 7%. This would imply that rather than 961 hit rating, the Draenei Arms Warrior hit cap is equivilant to roughly 840.875--rounded up to 841 hit rating.

Strength: In comparison to the other stats, there is not much to discuss pertaining to strength. It is the warrior's primary stat, wearing plate gear increases strength by an additional 5%, and finally it is on virtually every piece of gear warrior's desire. Anywhere that you can grab strength, you want to, pertaining towards the actual stats on the gear.

Critical Rating: Virtually every attack an Arms Warrior posesses has the ability to be a Critical Strike. Following Strength and Hit Cap, Critical Strike Rating is the next stat priority. We not only have the Deep Wounds talent adding an additional DoT on our target(s) but also Impale following that talent to further increase our primary abilities critical strike damage bonus by an additional 20%. Not to mention the several talents in addition to those previous two that further buff our critical rating. Taste for Blood increases the critical chance of Overpower by 60% (effectively making the softcap for critical rating as a warrior 40%), Wrecking Crew that increases our damage by 10% after recieving a Mortal Strike critical hit, Juggernaut that increases both Slam's/Mortal Strike's critical chance by 25% after a charge, Cruelty buffing Mortal Strikes Critical Hit Chance by an another 10%, and finally Incite that increases Heroic Strikes critical chance by 15% and if it manages to get a critical strike--its will have another guaranteed second critical strike! Needless to say, Arms Warriors are extremely reliant on crits for overall damage since every other talent contributes to buffering that stat further. After obtaining the hit cap, crit is then your next priority (after strength of course)

Expertise Cap: Expertise cap at level 85 is still 26 rating, which equals around 781 expertise rating required for cap. This would imply that exactly 1% expertise at level 85 is equivilant to roughly 30.038 expertise rating.
*The Human/Dwarf Racial, with each races' respective weapon equipped to activate the specialization, is 3 expertise rating. This would imply that rather than 781 expertise rating, the Human/Dwarf Arms Warrior expertise cap is equivilant to roughly 690.884--rounded up to 691 expertise rating.*
*The Orc Racial, with a two-handed axe equipped to activate the specialization, is 3 expertise rating. This would imply that rather than 781 expertise rating, the Orc Arms Warrior expertise cap is equivilant to roughly 690.884--rounded up to 691 expertise rating.*

Mastery Rating: Although critical strike rating is an important attribute, mastery does not fall terribly far behind in terms of stat preference. With each single point gained towards mastery, you gain an additional 2.2% chance to activate Strikes of Opportunity (SoO) which triggers a second instantaneous melee strike dealing 100% normal white damage. The nice bonus of this additional swing is that it can also crit! That means with additional white hits being dealt, there then can by a higher proc rate of Sudden Death thus a higher up time of Colossus Smash (meaning a significant Dps increase). Mastery rating and Expertise both share equality in terms of stat priority; until you reach your race's Expertise cap however, then Mastery naturally outweighs Expertise.

Haste Rating: In contrast to Fury Warriors, Arms Warriors do not scale well based on haste and is more or less an empty stat. Our white damage count is such a small overall percentage of our damage that haste does nearly nothing in terms of weapon hit damage. Simply enough, the amount of haste that would be required to be any noticible Dps increase is so unrealistically high that it would then in fact be a Dps loss due to the amount other higher priority stats would have to suffer at its expense. In addition, our filler move Slam does not scale noticably with haste and our rage generation as Arms is inferior due to the amount of tools we possess to control/manage/conserve our rage that haste does nearly nothing for increasing rage generation (especially when you factor in rage normalization that occured during this expansion-- **Rage Generation=6.5 x Base Weapon Speed**). In lamest terms, anything with Haste provides nearly no contribution to your Dps. Any items you obtain that has Haste Rating should be reforged away to a higher priority stat.
*Although at this current time Arms Warriors cannot obtain a proper haste amount without losing Dps, this is not to say that as gear levels increase haste will not warrent more useage on gear.*

*Stat Prioritization:* 8% Hit>Strength>Critical Rating>26 Expertise=Mastery>Haste*

　
IIa. Optimal Gear Enchantments

*The full list of enchants and pre-raid gearing is located at the end of this guide.*

IIb. Ideal Gemming

*There is no right or wrong way to socket provided that you are optimizing your stats based upon what you need. The following gems are the only gems you should consider using based upon what you need to obtain the stats you require.*

Reverberating Shadowspirit Diamond (54 Strength-3% Increased Critical Damage)

Bold Inferno Ruby (Red: 40 Strength)

Inscribed Ember Topaz (Orange: 20 Strength-20 Crit) orSkillful Ember Topaz (Orange: 20 Strength-20 Mastery)

Etched Demonseye (Purple: 20 Strength-20 Hit Rating)
*Typically as an Arms Warrior (especially once your gear improves), there will be no need to socket for blues unless the socket bonus is significant enough (+20 strength or greater) to warrent its useage. In which case, you should alter your gemming/reforging to accomidate this bonus while still remaining as close to the actual hitcap as possible (as anything greater than 8% is wasted).*

　
IIc. Professions and Benefits
　
Alchemy: Mixology +80 Strength.

Blacksmithing: Socket Gloves and Socket Bracer, +80 Strength.

Enchanting: Enchant Ring - Strength, +80 Strength.

Engineering: Synapse Springs, averages to +80 Strength. However do note that it will not stack with other on-use trinkets and thusly I do not prefer Engineering as a Dps profession.
Nitro Boosts, 150% speed increase for 5 seconds. Do to the failure rate typically resulting in death, I do not recommend using this during a raid.

Herbalism: Lifeblood, +80 Haste and slight HoT.

Inscription: Lionsmane Inscription, +80 Strength.

Jewelcrafting: Bold Chimera's Eye, +81 Strength.

Leatherworking: Draconic Embossment - Strength, +80 Strength.

Mining: Toughness, +120 Stamina.

Skinning: Master of Anatomy, +80 Critical Strike Rating.

Tailoring: Swordguard Embroidery, 1000 Attack Power for 15 seconds.

　
IId. Race and its Relevance to Arms PvE
　

Alliance Races:

Human: Every Man for Himself provides the same effect as a PvP trinket by removing an imparing effect once every two minutes. There is a large amount of these imparing effects in the PvE environment and by removing one hampering status sooner would technically result in a Dps increase (or survivability increase). Lastly, Mace Specialization and Sword Specialization increases your expertise rating by 3 if you have either two handed weapon equiped, thus reducing your necessary expertise cap from 26 rating to 23 rating. This reduction could save you a potential gem/enchant/armor piece with expertise gear that could then be applied to crit/mastery, which results in yet another theoretical Dps increase.

Dwarf: Mace Specialization accomplishes the same effect as human's specialization racial by reducing the expertise cap from 26 to 23 when wielding a two handed mace, which could allow you to allocate a stat towards crit/mastery instead of expertise. Also, the racial Stoneform now not only removes diseases/bleeds on call, but also reduces all damage taken by 10% for its duration. This racial alone makes the Dwarf a highly viable DPS warrior, especially if also running a Protection offspec, due to the on call increase in survivablility (which definatly comes in handy during [heroic] raid encounters).

Night Elf: There is the occasional benefit of nature damage reduction, but that is few and far between. The only benefits of the night elf race is Wisp Spirit and Shadowmeld which reduces recovery time after a wipe with enhanced speed at death and potentially saving you a repair bill, respectively. However, if you do run a Protection off-spec, the 2% avoidance racial makes the Night Elf among the best tanking races for the Alliance.

Gnome: Beyond the situational benefit of increased arcane resistance, the only true benefit of gnomes for their racials is Escape Artist. With the amount of movement imparing effects in PvE encounters, having an ability that can remove this affliction and allow you to be back on your target sooner is more or less a theoretical Dps increase.

Draenei: Yet another situational resistance for shadow school magic, but that is irrelevant in terms of Dps. You have a self-healing ability in Gift of the Naaru which can ease the time of healers in your group/raid in these mana conservative times by restoring 20% of your total health; but the only true racial that affects Dps is Heroic Presence which reduces your hit cap from 8% to now 7%. Instead of allocating stats towards hit you can now add additional stats to crit/mastery which is always helpful.

Worgen: Worgen possess a direct bonus to crit chance (1%) which provides a direct Dps increase. The worgen also has an additional 'gap-closer' in the form of Darkflight and resistances provided by Aberration; which makes worgen easily the best Alliance race from purely a Dps standpoint.


Horde Races:

Orc: Axe Specialization effectively reduces the expertise cap from 26 rating to 23 rating, allowing you to sooner place sub-stats towards crit/mastery rating. In addition, Blood Fury provides a minor increase to attack power that very slightly boosts damage (1170 Attack Power) for a 15 second duration on a two minute cooldown timer. Occasionally, the Orc racial Hardiness that reduces stun duration by 15% does provide situational benefits...as the sooner the stun duration ends, the sooner you can resume DPS'ing your target.

Forsaken: All Forsaken abilities are entirely situational/theoretical in nature: a passive shadow resistance, Cannibalize a fallen Ncp to ease time upon healers, and a means to remove the rare charm/sleep/fear effect from Will of the Forsaken.

Tauren: Tauren is another race that only has situational abilities in the form of War Stomp and Endurance which can ease the time of healers as well as a situational nature resistance.

Troll: Berserking provides an increased attack speed by 20% for 10 seconds (more benifical to Fury however still a slight boost for Arms as well) and Beast Slaying increases damage dealt to all beast Ncps by 5% which yields a direct Dps increase. Also, with Da Voodoo Shuffle reducing the duration of movement imparing effects by 15%, you will be able to reduce the amount of time you are seperated from a boss with such an ability and theoretically raise your Dps.

Blood Elf: The Blood Elf racials provides you with yet another interrupt effect and also increases resistances to all magical sources of damage.Arcane Torrent also grants the user 15 rage upon use.

Goblin: Goblin racials are interesting in the fact that you have two on-use shared cooldown racials that on one hand can act as yet another gap closer and on the other hand be used as an on call minor damage boost in the form of hand rockets. Lastly, just in case you forgot something in your bank that you need immediate access to but there are no engineers around, you can summon your own personal hobgoblin bank to your side for one minute on a 30 minute cooldown. Finally, Goblin's overall attacking speed is increased by 1%; although miniscule, this one of the few racials that constitutes a true dps increase outside the theoretical margin.


III. Talents and Glyphs
　
My PvE Arms Specialization: http://wowtal.com/#k=B3cNR2vs.avv.warrior.RABYYR
*I should note that this is the specialization I use currently during content. There will always be debate on what the optimal spec is, and no, there is no right or wrong answer despite what people 'claim.' It is always best to specialize based upon whatever encounter you are currently progressing upon.*
　

IIIa. Talents and their Relation to Arms PvE
　
Required Talents
War Academy: Increases the damage output of primary abilities in the Arms' rotation.

Field Dressing: Improves survivability and assists healers in terms of mana-efficiency and healing throughput.

Tactical Mastery: While stance-dancing, this talent should be maxed as it eases rage management.

Deep Wounds: Self-explainatory Dps increase.

Taste for Blood: This talent allows you to use Overpower as another move in your regular rotation. Not to mention this is the talent that causes the Arms Warrior [softcap] for Critical Strike to be 40% (40% base crit plus 60% crit chance to Overpower equals Critical Strike Capped).

Sweeping Strikes: Arms cooldown ability for cleaving +2 targets at once on a short one minute cooldown, explained further in sub-section IVc.

Impale: Self-explainatory Dps increase.

Improved Slam: Shortens Slam's cast-time and enables its use as our primary filler ability.

Deadly Calm: Required Arms Dps cooldown, explained further in sub-section IVc.

Blood Frenzy: Increases raid physical damage and bleed damage, and further improves rage management.

Lambs to the Slaughter: Self-explainatory Dps increase.

Juggernaut: Improves mobility and damage.

Sudden Death: Allows the use of CS sporadically throughout your rotation.

Wrecking Crew: Self-explainatory Dps increase.

Bladestorm: The Arms Warrior signature ability and powerful cooldown. This talent is entirely manditory as it is a pivital cooldown to be used during your AoE rotation when +4 Ncps are present, however disregarded in your single-target rotation.

Battle Trance: Yet another ability that further improves the Mortal Strike attack that then activates the Battle Trace at a 15% proc rate. Battle Trance procs should be used on Heroic Strike, then Execute once below 20%.

Cruelty: Self-explainatory Dps increase.

Executioner: Increased attack speed sub-20% thereby increasing damage dealt and rage generated.
　
　

Filler Talents

Blitz: Situational as it increases the rage generated upon using charge, however this talent has decreased in value further now that Charge is no longer useable up close on various bosses (as of 4.2).

Second Wind: Situational as its usefulness is dependant on the encounter.

Drums of War: Situational and generally skipped unless you are at very early stages of gearing and struggling with rage management.

Improved Hamstring: No viable use in PvE in comparison to the other abilities.

Throwdown: Generally skipped unless your current progression encounter has stunnable Ncps.

Blood Craze: No viable use in PvE in comparison to other filler talents.

Booming Voice: Slightly increased rage generation and generally skipped unless at the early stages of Arms' gearing and rage generation is low.

Rude Interuption: Dps increase on any encounter that has interuptable Ncps, recommendation however is only one point to be placed into it as you typically will clip its duration if maxed out.

Incite: Single-target Dps increase however Blood and Thunder is superior if any adds are present during any encounter.

Toughness: No viable use in PvE in comparison to the other filler talents.

Blood and Thunder: Allows the spread of Rend to all targets; this talent is a small to substantial Dps increase on any encounter with adds.
　
　
IIIc. Viable and Suggested Arms Glyphing
　
Prime Glyphs:
*These are your only options in terms of Arms Prime Glyphs. Glyph of Bladestorm is generally considered inferior to Slam.*

Glyph of Mortal Strike: Increases the damage of Mortal Strike by 10%.

Glyph of Overpower: Increases the damage of Overpower by 10%.

Glyph of Slam: Increases the critical strike chance of Slam by 5%.
　
Major Glyphs:

Glyph of Sweeping Strikes: Reduces the rage cost of your Sweeping Strikes ability by 100%.
Mandatory glyph when there will be any point in an encounter where SS will be used.

Glyph of Cleaving: Increases the number of targets your Cleave hits by 1.
On any encounter where Cleave will be used, this glyph should be selected.

Glyph of Colossus Smash: Your Colossus Smash refreshes the duration of Sunder Armor stacks on the target.
If you are required to sustain sunder for the raid, this glyph should be selected. This glyph not only refreshes Sunder but also adds a stack to the target, thus allowing your rotation to naturally add the 12% damage reduction (I would still recommend using at least one Sunder at the beginning of the encounter as the sooner 12% is applied to the target, the sooner overall raid Dps will increase).

Glyph of Long Charge: Increases the range of your Charge ability by 5 yards.
The sooner you are able to switch targets, the sooner you are able to begin your rotation (redundant, I know). If any of the prior three glyphs listed will not be used, I would recommend this as your third glyph.

Glyph of Heroic Throw: Your Heroic Throw now applies a stack of Sunder Armor.
Allows you to apply a stack of Sunder at the beginning of an encounter before using Charge/Heroic Leap. Also, allows you to sustain Sunder on the boss if forced to switch targets for a prolonged period.
*Warning: Do not use Heroic Throw indescriminatly, as when it is used, Heroic Throw resets your white swing timer.*

Glyph of Rapid Charge: Reduces the cooldown of Charge by 1 second.
As of 4.2, this glyph is generally inferior to that of Glyph of Long Charge unless you are able to spam Charge on cooldown throughout the encounter.

Glyph of Victory Rush: Increases the total healing provided by your Victory Rush by 50%.
Useful glyph if there are ample amounts of adds during an encounter with very high raid damage being recieved.
　
Minor Glyphs:

Glyph of Berserker Rage: Berserker Rage generates 5 rage when used.
Required glyph as it provides an on-call slight rage generation.

Glyph of Enduring Victory: Increases the window of opportunity in which you can use Victory Rush by 5 seconds.
Recommended glyph on fights with adds as it the use can relieve stress on your healers.

Glyph of Sunder: Reduces the cost of Sunder by 50%.
Recommended if you are needed to sustain Sunder on the boss.

Glyph of Battle Shout: Increases the duration by 2 minutes and area of effect by 50% of your Battle Shout.
Useful merely as a filler glyph if you are the Warrior sustaining the Battle Shout buff.

Glyph of Demoralizing Shout: Increases the duration by 15 seconds and area of effect by 50% of your Demoralizing Shout.
Useful merely as a filler glyph if you are the Warrior sustaining the Demoralizing Shout debuff.

Glyph of Commanding Shout: Increases the duration by 2 minutes and area of effect by 50% of your Commanding Shout.
Useful merely as a filler glyph if you are the Warrior sustaining the Commanding Shout buff.
　

IV. Priority Rotations
　
IVa. Single Target Rotation

The Arms Warrior rotation is highly reliant on procs and rage in order to determine the next ability to be used in the priority queue. However, the overall rotation can be simplified as a "1-2-3" queue.
　
ONE: MS
TWO: CS / OP / Exe(Point 1)
THREE: Slam(Point 2) / CS (Point 3) / Exe(Point 4) / OP(Point 5)
REPEAT
　

**As of 4.2, our rotation is now based upon a 1-2-3 priority queue rather than 1-2-3-4. This is due to the increase of the Overpower GCD by 0.5 seconds; as there is no longer an additional 0.5 second gap in the rotation (where if rage allowed, you would be able to fit in another "THREE" in the rotation), it is no longer worth delaying the timer of MS.**

　
Point 1: Execute only if you will be able to sustain 2 full rage Executes, or one Execute followed by one Slam (see Point 2) before restarting the Dps priority queue.
Point 2: Slam will only warrant useage sub-20% if Execute will be beneath the damage that your Slam would have otherwise dealt and if Overpower and Mortal Strike are on cooldown.
Point 3: CS if it has come off cooldown at this point.
Point 4: Execute if at a high enough rage point that its damage would surpass that of Overpower and/or Slam.
Point 5: Overpower if high raged starved if used during sub-20% or if Overpower's damage would rank higher than Execute. If above 20%, use OP if delayed due to using CS after MS.
　

TEN Things to Remember During the Rotation
1) Under no circumstance are you to delay MS, stick to the 1-2-3 priority queue.
2) Do not forget to use Overpower at least once every 30 seconds sub-20% to sustain the 4-P T11 buff if still applicable.
3) Do not spam Execute right when you reach 20% to just reach 5/5 Executioner stacks. Delaying MS/CS is a Dps loss!
4) Bear in mind that as long as OP is used before the 6 second TfB proc resets, it is not a Dps loss to delay it during that alotted time frame.
5) To know when Execute's damage surpasses that of Overpower/Slam during sub-20% rotation, you must do the testing yourself. As the damage fluctuates based upon your gear, there is no magic rage number that will tell you when Execute is better than Slam or visa-versa.
6) Do not overlap CS procs, always wait until it drops before using it again.
7) Heroic Strike or Cleave when you know you will have enough rage to sustain your rotation, at least +60-65 rage typically. Heroic Strike/Cleave should not be used during the sub-20% rotation unless you cannot avoid becoming consistantly rage capped.
8) Do not allow yourself to become rage-capped, burn off excess rage with HS/Cleave or cooldowns if necessary.
9) Use Heroic Leap on cooldown if you know you will not otherwise need it later as it is off the GCD and thus a slight Dps increase during an encounter.
10) Use any necessary raid utility fillers (Shouts/Sunder/etc) during #3 of the 1-2-3 priority queue.
　
　

IVb. Multi-Target AoE Rotation
　
This rotation is based more upon gauging your opponents more so than an actual priority rotation. My general rule of thumb is as followed:

Two Ncps: Proceed to use Sweeping Strikes and go about your normal rotation, generally I will not use Bladestorm unless I am need of a rage efficient filler AoE move (see IVc below). If the Ncp's are not down after Sweeping Strikes has finished its duration, single target finish them off while using Cleave over Heroic Strike to burn off excess rage.

Three Ncps: Cleave now takes the position of Heroic Strike now in your rotation. If specialized into Blood and Thunder, use Rend/TC at the beginning of the pull. Once Rend has been spread, activate Bladestorm. Once it has finished it's duration, proceed with your normal rotation; however, while Sweeping Strikes is active--Thunder Clap now holds priority over Slam with +3 targets as Thunder Clap with Sweeping Strikes works as pre-nerf SS/BS (inflicts all targets with double damage).

Four Plus Ncps: Immediatly Rend and use Thunderclap if specialized into Blood and Thunder. Once Rend has been applied/spread, activate Bladestorm to burn the adds as quickly as possible. After using these abilities, your rotation is as followed [Thunderclap>MS>Whirlwind>Overpower>Slam].
Prioritize Cleave over Heroic Strike and activate Sweeping Strikes after Bladestorm has ended. Do not forget to use Heroic Leap as well if not on cooldown for an off the GCD damage boost.

　
IVc. Cooldowns and their Relation to Rotation

　
Bladestorm: This cooldown should be used without question if there are three or more Ncps within range. Activate Blood and Thunder before using Bladestorm. While Bladestorming you continue to generate rage, so it is best advised to have a low rage count before using Bladestorm since all rage left will be wasted if by chance you cap out during its duration.
*Bladestorm is a single-target DPS loss.*
*Reckstorm (Recklessness and Bladestorm) is only advisable if the adds on the encounter need to be killed immediatly and Recklessness will be active again before the next 'burn-phase' on the boss.

Deadly Calm: This ability allows you to perform your rotation freely without the constraint of Rage management. Assure that you are near empty rage when using this ability, if not, use Heroic Strike on cooldown to lower your rage. Most importantly, do not use this ability at the beginning of the encounter! Charge in, begin the first stage of your rotation, and by the time you reach your second Taste for Blood proc, begin stripping your rage to then use this amazing ability (this assures you have a steady rotation going and likely your enchants/procs are beginning their duration, then you use Deadly Calm and shred into the opponent with boosted damage and unlimited rage). Ideally, assure that Colossus Smash will be active within at least 3 seconds before using Deadly Calm in order to maximize your damage output during the 10 second duration.
*Activate this ability during your filler, just before MS/OP come off cooldown.*
*Never use Deadly Calm with Bladestorm, this should go without saying.*
*Bear in mind that for the ability Execute, this only removes the 10 rage cost for activating Execute, not the 20 additional rage needed for additional damage.*

Inner Rage: This ability reduces the cooldown of Heroic Strike and Cleave by 50% for 15 seconds on a 30 second cooldown. If you are generating ample amounts of rage (typically during Heroism or various boss 'burn-phases'), you may activate this cooldown for increased damage.

Sweeping Strikes: Simply enough, use this ability when there is two or more Ncps for a damage boost. Never use Sweeping Strikes and Bladestorm together, as it will only affect your current target and no other Ncp.

Recklessness: It's best to activate this ability in the Execution phase of your rotation for further increased burst damage or activated during the 'burn-phase' of an encounter. Otherwise, this ability should be used whenever you can safely incorperate it into your rotation and reap the maximum benefits (Colossus smash must be active, MS and OP/Execute should be ready to come off cooldown, Rend should be active, etc).

Retaliation: If you are being struck by another Ncp, activate this cooldown...unless of course you pulled aggro...then generally you should not.

Berserker Rage: Two uses: A) The boss has a fear/sap/incapacitate ability and you can become immune to it to continue Dps'ing or assisting the raid, B) You are short on rage and need to rapidly generate more (most common use). Also, this ability warrents useage if you need to immediatly activate Enraged Regeneration.

Shattering Throw: Personal Dps loss, however raid Dps gain. Use this ability during any 'burn' phase and/or during Heroism.

Enraged Regeneration: Useable health restoration cooldown if you are taking (or about to take) substantial raid damage.

Shield Wall: Useable damage reduction cooldown if you are about to take a high amount of damage...might be a Dps loss, however it beats the alternative.

Heroic Throw: First off, this ability is useful for when you are either beginning to engage an encounter before charging in or if you have to be mobile and are forced to break your rotation. If you are glyphed into Heroic Throw, this gives you the ability to apply a Sunder with additional damage as well as sustaining your three stacks of Sunders if you have to be away from the target for an extended period of time. Do not use during your rotation however, as Heroic Throw resets your swing timer and thereby is a Dps loss.

Heroic Leap: Besides being a very nice gap closer or emergency 'get out of AoE' cooldown, this ability provides light AoE damage off the GCD. This ability should be used on cooldown if possible; if timed properly, this ability can also be used at the same time as Charge to maximize initial damage output on a boss.

Rallying Cry: This ability supplies all friendly players within 30 yards of the warrior with a pseudo-Last Stand effect. This ability should be activated when there will be massive AoE damage to the raid in order to assist healers.

Shield Block: Useable if you are about to recieve high physical damage and are at risk of death otherwise.

Disarm: If the tank is experiencing high damage and at risk of death, and the Ncp is disarmable...self-explainatory.


IVd. Importance of Arms Warrior Utility

*This is only meant to act as a quick notice directed to new Arms Warriors wishing to improve at their class. Remember, although doing as much damage as possible is important to progression, easing the life of your fellow raid members should be your main priority. Assure that all buffs/debuffs that you are capable of performing are active in the raid: three stacks of Sunder Armor, Battle/Commanding/Demoralizing Shout, interupt Ncps abilities via Pummel/Throwdown if necessary, be specced into Blood Frenzy (sounds redundant but you would be suprised...). Finally, keep in mind that even if you have perfected the Arms Warrior Specialization, that one person does not make a group/raid. Do not become the overbearing egotist and finally, do not forget that without your raid members: we as individuals are nothing. Assure that you are using all of your capabilities to maximize your raid, not just trying to show off 'high numbers.'*
　

V. Introduction to Arms Warrior Keybindings and Macros
　
Va. Keybindings

Keybinding comes down to 100% personal preference. There is no right or wrong way to keybind your abilities, just as long as all of them are bound and ready for use whenever the situation presents itself. I will list below how I have set up my bindings, to give you the general idea behind the Arms PvE build.

*If you find yourself in need of more keybindings than what your keyboard can provide, I would recommend investing in a mouse with additional side-buttons. Most come with at least two, all the way up to the Razer Naga with a 12 button side panel.*

For the bindings that are not listed: E=Move Forward, S=Strafe Left, F=Strafe Right, Q=Change Target, Shift-Q= Set Focus, Alt-Q=Target Focus.
For abbreviations next to the bindings: S-__ is 'Shift-Ability', C-__ is 'Control-Ability', A-__ is 'Alt-Ability', MWU/MWD='Mouse Wheel Up/Mouse Wheel Down', MB4/MB5='Mouse Button 4/Mouse Button 5', (two side buttons on my mouse) Open='Unused Keybinding', (At times, I place temporary "/target ____" macros in those open spots for fast switches on boss encounters).

Bar One
W-- Colossus Smash
R-- Slam (Auto-Place Berserker)
T-- Overpower (Auto-Place Battle)
G-- Mortal Strike (Auto-Place Berserker)
V-- Pummel
C-- Heroic Strike
SW-- Sunder
SR-- Rend (Auto-Place Battle)
ST-- Hamstring
SG-- Thunderclap (Auto-Place Battle)
SV-- Whirlwind (Auto-Place Berserker)
SC-- Cleave
　
Bar Two:
1-- Berserker Rage
2-- Inner Rage
3-- Recklessness (Auto-Place Berserker)
4-- Heroic Throw
5-- Enraged Regeneration
6-- Shattering Throw
S1-- Retaliation (Auto-Place Battle)
S2-- Piercing Howl
S3-- Throwdown
S4-- Intimidating Shout
S5-- Darkflight
S6-- Dps Potion

　
Bar Three:
MWU-- Intervene
MWD-- Charge
X-- Deadly Calm
D-- Execute (Auto-Place Berserker)
SD-- Sweeping Strikes
AD-- Rallying Cry
A-- Bladestorm (Auto-Place Berserker)
Z-- Victory Rush
MB4-- Trinket 1
MB5-- Trinket 2
CMWU-- Encounter Specific Macro
CMWD-- Encounter Specific Macro

　
Bar Four:
SMWU-- Focus Intervene
SMWD-- Focus Charge
AMWU-- Health Potion
AMWD-- Health Stone
SA-- Heroic Leap
AA-- Demoralizing Shout
AZ-- Bandage Self
F1-- Flying Mount
F2-- Ground Mount
F3-- Hearthstone
F4-- Pet
B-- [Encounter Specific Macro]

　
Bar Five:
SX-- Disarm (Auto-Place Defensive)
CX-- Shield Wall (Auto-Place Defensive)
AX-- Spell Reflect (Auto-Place Battle)
SMB4-- Battle Shout
SMB5-- Commanding Shout
AMB4-- Equipset 2H
AMB5-- Equipset Shield
CMB4-- [Open Macro]
CMB5-- [Open Macro]
SZ-- Equipset Switch (2H or Shield)
~ -- Maximum Camera Distance
TAB-- [Encounter Specific Macro]

　
　
Vc. Arms Warrior Macros Synonymous to Dps

*Check out the Warrior Macro Sticky on mmo-champion.*

*Personal Preference is to not add modifiers, if you wish to do so, add: "/equip [modifier:***] ___" (replace *** with shift, ctrl, or alt, replace ___ with name of weapon/ability).

*Personal Preference is to automatically change stances for the majority of abilities, to automatically change stances then use:
#showtooltip ________
/startattack
/cast [stance:_/_] _____ Stance
/cast ________

OR

#showtooltip ________
/startattack
/cast _____ Stance
/cast ________

*Example:
#showtooltip Overpower
/startattack
/cast [stance:2/3] Battle Stance; [stance:1] Overpower

Mortal Strike
#showtooltip Mortal Strike
/startattack
/cast [stance:1/2] Berserker Stance; [stance:3] Mortal Strike

Heroic Throw/Shoot/Throw
#showtooltip Heroic Throw
/cast Heroic Throw
/cast [equipped:thrown] !Throw; !Shoot

Shattering Throw
#showtooltip Shattering Throw
/cast Battle Stance
/cancelaura Bladestorm
/cancelaura Hand of Protection
/cast Shattering Throw
/startattack

Bladestorm
#showtooltip Bladestorm
/stopcasting
/cast Darkflight(Racial)
/cast Bladestorm

Vd. Arms Warrior Macros Synonymous to Utility and Survivability

*Check out the Warrior Macro sticky on mmo-champion.*

*For those of you who do not wish to alter the Blizzard Unit Frames, but would like to rearrange their position, I highly recommend the use of these macros:

1) Move Party Frame: /run local p=PartyMemberFrame1; p:SetMovable(true) p:SetUserPlaced(true) p:HookScript("OnMouseDown",function() p:StartMoving()end) p:HookScript("OnMouseUp",function() p:StopMovingOrSizing ()end)

2) Move Player Frame: /run local f=PlayerFrame; f:SetUserPlaced(true) f:SetMovable(true) f:EnableMouse(true) f:RegisterForDrag("LeftButton") f:SetScript("OnDragStart",f.StartMoving) f:SetScript("OnDragStop",f.StopMovingOrSizing)

3) Adjust Target Frame Based Upon Screen-Coordinates: /run TargetFrame:ClearAllPoints() TargetFrame:SetPoint("LEFT",0,0,"RIGHT",0,0)

4) Adjust Focus Frame Based Upon Screen-Coordinates: /run FocusFrame:ClearAllPoints() FocusFrame:SetPoint("LEFT",0,0,"RIGHT",0,0)

*For #3 and #4, you will need to adjust the coordinates ",0,0" to the exact location of your choosing
depending upon your screen resolution.*

Maximum Camera Distance
/console cameradistancemaxfactor __
(Replace __ with numbers ranging from 1-50, depending upon the distance you would like to zoom out. Bear in mind you must refresh this macro everytime you log)

Heroic Leap (prevents the toggling of the heroic leap ability if pressed in excess)
#showtooltip Heroic Leap
/cast !Heroic Leap

Cancels Bladestorm and Charges
#showtooltip [stance:1] Charge; [stance:2] Charge; [stance:3] Charge
/cancelaura Bladestorm
/startattack
/cast [stance:1] Charge; [stance:2] Charge; [stance:3] Charge

Stance Specific Cooldown Macro
#showtooltip [stance: 1] Retaliation; [stance: 2] Shield Wall; [stance: 3] Recklessness
/cast [stance: 1] Retaliation; [stance: 2] Shield Wall; [stance: 3] Recklessness

Disarm
#showtooltip
/cast [nostance:2] Defensive Stance; Disarm

Spell Reflect
#showtooltip Spell Reflect
/stopcasting
/cast Spell Reflect
/equipset (_______)
　
　
VI. Constructing Your User Interface
　
　
VIa. How to Install Addons

1) Close out World of Warcraft, then visit a safe website such as wow.curse.com or wowinterface.com and brouse their selection for the addon that suits your personal needs.

2) Ahead of time, open up your World of Warcraft Addons folder (Start>My Computer>Program Files>World of Warcraft>Interface>Addons). Do not alter anything within this folder that was initially placed within at installation.

3) Select the addon that you wish to have, then select download and choose manual installation.

4) Once the pane appears on your screen, select open then highlight all folders within the temporary pane and drag all folders into your World of Warcraft Addon folder. Repeat steps three and four with all other addons.

5) After manually downloading all desired addons, log back into World of Warcraft and visit your character screen. At the bottom left hand corner there will be a button labled addons. Click this and assure that your new addons are selected. If it marks your addon as "Out of Date," do not fret, a majority of the time that addon will still continue to work but occasionally a new World of Warcraft patch will 'break' the addon and a new version of that addon will have to be downloaded.

6) Based upon the addon(s) that you chose, some configuration may be required in order to set the addon up. Nine out of ten times, the addon you selected will have a tutorial explaining how to configure each addon either from the site you downloaded it from or from Youtube. Most addons/tutorials are pretty self-explanitory, so you should have little problems when personalizing your World of Warcraft experience.

　
VIb. Recommended Addons Pertaining to Arms Dps

*(These are merely suggested addons for those beginning to design their user interface, each of the 1000's of addons is entirely up to the discresion of the user).*

1) Omen Threat Meter: Target threat meter used for Aggro Management.

2) Recount or Skada: Provides a simple breakdown of various outputs provided by yourself and each raid member (Dps/Hps/etc) and a pie-chart indicating the % output of each ability used.

3) Bigwigs or Deadly Boss Mods: Boss ability tracker to simplify boss mechanics.

4) Grid: Compact raid interface complete with numerous personalization features (buff/debuff tracking, health lost/gained, etc).

5) Satrina Buff Frames: Reorganizes/compacts raid buffs and debuffs. Also allows for the creatation of a personal debuff tracker (ie. Rend).

6) Powerauras: Allows for the creation of auras to indicate various ability/cooldown procs.

7) ForteExcorist or Quartz: Bar-based cooldown tracking addon.

8) OmniCC: Provides a countdown numerical feature on-top of your abilities, that is, if you have chosen to have your ability bar displayed on your screen.

9) Range Display: Indicates the range from yourself to the targeted or mouseover player/Ncp unit.

10) Debuff Filter or DoomCooldown Pulse: Reorganizes character relevant target debuffs for simpler spell managementmanagement.

　
VIc. Recommended Addons Pertaining to Organization

*(These are merely suggested addons for those beginning to design their user interface, each of the 1000's of addons is entirely up to the discresion of the user).*

1) Pitbull or Xperl or Shadow Unit Frames: Allows for the reorganization of the user interface with customized nameplates.

2) Bartender or Dominos: Allows for the recustomization of player ability bars or removal from UI if chosen.

3) Prat or Chatter: Newly organized chat frame.

4) Move Anything: Allows for the replacement of any UI component, including encounter specific boss abilities.

5) SexyMap or Chinchilla: Recustomization of your mini-map.

6) Titan Panel: Creates a bar at the base or top of your screen to track anything from gold to experience or even Fps.

7) KgPanels: Allows for the creatation of solid panels or importation of pre-designed custom artwork into the UI.

8) MikScrollingBattleText: Condenses your damage/healing output into a small rotating window.

9) Caelnameplates: Alters your friendly/hostile unit nameplates.

10) Bagnon: Creates an organized/condensed bag rather than five individual units.
　

VII. Personal Recommendations

*Below I will list a few guides and websites both related to Arms Warriors, PvE, and World of Warcraft in general that I highly recommend checking out.*

Of course mmo-champion goes without saying, since you are already on this site.
http://www.wowhead.com/ (Excellent Source for researching world of warcraft items/quests)
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/ (The World of Warcraft website...obvious I know)
http://elitistjerks.com/f81/ (Dedicated to Warrior number-crunching and theorycrafting)
http://wow.curse.com/ (A safe method of downloading addons)
http://learntoraid.com/ (Excellent source for learning of the latest boss encounters)
http://tankspot.com/ (Another boss-strategy guide website as well as discussion forums)
http://wowprogress.com/ (WoW Guild ranking website, I would recommend researching these guilds and visiting their personal websites for research)

*Another good source of information is to research highly ranked guilds and visit their websites. Many of these guilds have forums for constructive discussion for each spec/class and provide an extremely valuable source of information for any new or veteran Arms Warrior.
　
Guide to Pre-Raid Loot and Enchants
Head
Enchants:
(Heirloom / Reputation) Alliance Arcanum of the Wildhammer- 60 Strength + 35 Mastery Rating
(Heirloom / Reputation) Horde Arcanum of the Dragonmaw - 60 Strength + 35 Mastery Rating
Items:
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Anomuran Helm - From Mindbender Ghur'sha in Throne of the Tides
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Stonemason's Helm - From Vanessa VanCleef in The Deadmines
(ilevel 346 / Vendor) Helm of Easeful Death - Bought with 2,200 Justice Points
Neck
Items:
(ilevel 359 / BoE) Buc-Zakai Choker - World Drop. Actually named "Buc-Zakai Choker"
(ilevel 359 / Reputation) Gift of Nadun - From Ramkahen at Exalted.
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Seedling Pod - From Ammunae in Halls of Origination
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Red Sky Pendant - From Grand Vizier Ertan in The Vortex Pinnacle
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Baroness Silverlaine's Locket - From Baron Silverlane in Shadowfang Keep
(ilevel 346 / Vendor) Pendant of Quiet Breath - Bought with 1,250 Justice Points
Shoulder
Enchants:
(Epic / Reputation) Greater Inscription of Jagged Stone- 50 Strength + 25 Critical Strike Rating
(Blue / Reputation) Lesser Inscription of Jagged Stone - 30 Strength + 20 Critical Strike Rating
Items:
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Missing Diplomat's Pauldrons - From Glubtok in The Deadmines
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Raz's Pauldrons - From Ascendant Lord Obsidius in Blackrock Caverns
(ilevel 346 / Vendor) Pauldrons of the High Requiem - Bought with 1,650 Justice Points
Cloak
Enchants:
(525 Enchanting) Enchant Cloak - Greater Critical Strike - 65 Critical Strike Rating
Items:
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Burned Gatherings - From Karsh Steelbender in Blackrock Caverns
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Eagle Ray Cloak - From Commander Ulthok in Throne of Tides
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Geordan's Cloak - From Siamat in Lost City of the Tol'vir
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Shadow of the Past - From Glubtok in The Deadmines
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Skin of Stone - Zone Drop in The Stonecore
(ilevel 333 / Reputation) Shroud of the Dead - From Ramkahen at Honored
(ilevel 333 / Quest) Cloak of the Red Flight - From Battle of Life and Death in Twilight Highlands
Chest
Enchants:
(525 Enchanting) Enchant Chest - Peerless Stats - 20 All Stats
Items:
(ilevel 359 / Crafted) Elementium Deathplate - Created with 515 Blacksmithing
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Breastplate of the Risen Land - From Earthrager Ptah in Halls of Origination
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Lord Walden's Breastplate - From Lord Godfrey in Shadowfang Keep
(ilevel 346 / Vendor) Breastplate of Raging Fury - Bought with 2,200 Justice Points
(ilevel 333 / Quest) Alliance Flynn's Favorite Chestplate - From Doing It Like a Dunwald in Twilight Highlands
(ilevel 333 / Quest) Horde Skyshredder Battleplate - From Krazz Works! in Twilight Highlands
(ilevel 333 / Crafted) Redsteel Breastplate - Created with 425 Blacksmithing
(ilevel 333 / BoE) Harbinger's Breastplate - World Drop?
Bracer
Enchants:
(525 Enchanting) Enchant Bracer - Major Strength- 50 Strength
(525 Enchanting) Enchant Bracer - Greater Critical Strike - 50 Critical Strike Rating
(525 Enchanting) Enchant Bracer - Greater Speed - 50 Haste Rating
Items:
(ilevel 346 / BoE) Terborus's Rotating Bands - World Drop?
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Alpha Bracers - From Anraphet in Halls of Origination
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Bracers of Cooled Anger - From Karsh Steelbender in Blackrock Caverns
Glove
Enchants:
(525 Enchanting) Enchant Gloves - Greater Mastery - 65 Mastery Rating
(525 Enchanting) Enchant Gloves - Mighty Strength - 50 Strength
(480 Enchanting) Enchant Gloves - Greater Expertise - 50 Expertise
(455 Enchanting) Enchant Gloves - Haste - 50 Haste
Items:
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Gear-Marked Gauntlets - From Helix Gearbreaker in The Deadmines
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Hematite Plate Gloves - From Slabhide in The Stonecore
(ilevel 346 / Reputation) Alliance Gryphon Talon Gauntlets - From Wildhammer Clan at Revered
(ilevel 346 / Reputation) Horde Gauntlets of Rattling Bones - From Dragonmaw Clan at Revered
(ilevel 346 / Vendor) Reaping Gauntlets - Bought with 1,650 Justice Points
Belt
Enchants:
(Blue / Crafted) Ebonsteel Belt Buckle - Crafted with 525 Blacksmithing
Items:
(ilevel 359 / Reputation) Belt of the Ferocious Wolf - From Guardians of Hyjal at Exalted
(ilevel 359 / Crafted) Elementium Girdle of Pain - Crafted with 510 Blacksmithing
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Belt of the Forgemaster - From Forgemaster Throngus in Grim Batol
(ilevel 346 / BoE) Garr's Girdle of Memories - World Drop?
(ilevel 346 / Vendor) Beech Green Belt - Bought with 1,650 Justice Points
Legs
Enchants:
(Epic / Crafted) Dragonscale Leg Armor - Crafted with 425 Leatherworking
Items:
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Legguards of Winnowing Wind - From Asaad in The Vortex Pinnacle
(ilevel 346 / BoE) Alpheus Legguards - Zone Drop in Throne of the Tides
(ilevel 346 / Vendor) Greaves of Gallantry - Bought with 2,200 Justice Points
(ilevel 333 / Quest) Offline Greaves - From Penetrating Their Defenses in Halls of Origination
Boots
Enchants:
(525 Enchanting) Enchant Boots - Lavawalker - Movement Speed Increase + 35 Mastery Rating
(510 Enchanting) Enchant Boots - Mastery - 50 Mastery Rating
(505 Enchanting) Enchant Boots - Precision - 50 Hit Rating
(455 Enchanting) Enchant Boots - Haste - 50 Haste Rating
Items:
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Greaves of Wu the Elder - From General Husam in Lost City of the Tol'vir
(ilevel 346 / Reputation) Waywatcher's Boots - From Guardians of Hyjal at Revered
(ilevel 333 / Quest) Alliance Treads of Terror - From Skullcrusher the Mountain in Twilight Highlands
(ilevel 333 / Quest) Horde Treads of Terror From Skullcrusher the Mountain in Twilight Highlands
Ring/s
(ilevel 359 / BoE) Blauvelt's Family Crest - World Drop. Actually named "Blauvelt's Family Crest"
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Circle of Bone - From Erudax in Grim Batol
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Nova Band - From Isiset in Halls of Origination
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Ring of the Darkest Day - From High Prophet Barim in Lost City of the Tol'vir
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Signet of Transformation - From Corla, Herald of Twilight in Blackrock Caverns
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Skyshard Ring - From Altarius in Vortex Pinnacle
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Umbriss Band - From General Umbriss in Grim Batol
(ilevel 346 / Reputation) Gorsik's Band of Shattering - From Therazane at Revered
(ilevel 346 / Reputation) Red Rock Band - From Ramkahen at Revered
(ilevel 333 / Reputation) Galrond's Band - From Guardians of Hyjal at Honored
Trinket/s
Items:
(ilevel 359 / Crafted) Darkmoon Card: Hurricane - From Darkmoon Hurricane Deck at Darkmoon Faire
(ilevel 359 / BoE) Fury of Angerforge - World Drop
(ilevel 359 / Reputation) Alliance Impatience of Youth - From Baradin's Wardens at Exalted
(ilevel 359 / Reputation) Horde Impatience of Youth - From Hellscream's Reach at Exalted
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Heart of Solace - From Augh in Lost City of the Tol'vir
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Magnetite Mirror - From High Priestess Azil in Stonecore
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Mark of Khardros - From Erudax in Grim Batol
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Might of the Ocean - From Neptulon's Cache in Throne of the Tides
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Right Eye of Rajh - From Rajh in Halls of Origination
(ilevel 333 / Reputation) Alliance Baradin Footman's Tags - From Baradin's Wardens at Honored
(ilevel 333 / Reputation) Horde Baradin Grunt's Talisman - From Hellscream's Reach at Honored
(ilevel 333 / BoE) Soul's Anguish - World Drop?
Two-handed Weapon/s
Enchants:
(525 Enchanting) Enchant Weapon - Landslide - "...sometimes increase attack power by 1000 for 12 sec when striking in melee..."
(480 Enchanting) Enchant Weapon - Hurricane - "...sometimes increase haste rating by 450 for 12 sec when casting spells or dealing melee damage..."
(470 Enchanting) Enchant Weapon - Hurricane - "...sometimes disrupt elementals when struck by your melee attacks, dealing Arcane damage and silencing them for 5 sec..."
(450 Enchanting) Enchant Weapon - Avalanche- "...often deal 463 to 537 Nature damage to an enemy struck by your melee attacks..."
Items:
(ilevel 359 / BoA) Zin'rokh, Destroyer of Worlds - Created with 450 Archaeology.
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Arced War Axe - From Commander Springvale in Shadowfang Keep
(ilevel 346 / Reputation) Alliance Blade of the Fearless - From Baradin's Wardens at Revered
(ilevel 346 / Reputation) Horde Blade of the Fearless - From Hellscream's Reach at Revered
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Foe Reaper - From Foe Reaper 5000 in The Deadmines
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Sword of the Bottomless Pit - From Ozruk in The Stonecore
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Whitefin Axe - From Neptulon's Cache in Throne of the Tides
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Wild Hammer - From Erudax in Grim Batol
(ilevel 333 / Quest) Oversized Oblique Ogre Obliterator - From The Crucible of Carnage: The Twilight Terror! in Twilight Highlands
(ilevel 333 / BoE) Sorrow's End - World Drop?
Ranged Weapon
Going to allow greens here as an exception since there are very few well itemised ranged weapons
Items:
(ilevel 359 / BoE) Spinerender - From Cataclysm Lockboxes
(ilevel 346 / Crafted) Overpowered Chicken Splitter - Crafted with 525 Engineering
(ilevel 346 / Crafted) Kickback 5000 - Crafted with 525 Engineering
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Amber Messenger - From Ascendant Lord Obsidius in Blackrock Caverns
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Lightningflash - From Asaad in The Vortex Pinnacle
(ilevel 346 / Dungeon) Slashing Thorns - From Ammunae in Halls of Origination
(ilevel 346 / Reputation) Alliance Sky Piercer - From Baradin's Wardens at Revered
(ilevel 346 / Reputation) Horde Sky Piercer - From Hellscream's Reach at Revered
(ilevel 346 / BoE) Thundercall - From Asaad in The Vortex Pinnacle
(ilevel 333 / Quest) Big Bendy Blasting Bow - From The Crucible of Carnage: The Twilight Terror! in Twilight Highlands
(ilevel 333 / BoE) Ravenheart Longbow - World Drop?
(ilevel 333 / Crafted) Volatile Thunderstick - Crafted with 495 Engineering
(ilevel 333 / Crafted) Finely-Tuned Throat Needler - Crafted with 490 Engineering
(level 318 / Quest) Alliance Silenced Blunderbuss - From Dark Assassins in Twilight Highlands
(level 318 / Quest) Horde Muffled Blunderbuss - From Dark Assassins in Twilight Highlands
(level 312 / Quest) Scarab-Inlaid Crossbow - From Lieutenants of Darkness in Uldum

[Afrosaurus]

Probably want to fix quite a few of your links and spelling errors.
Also, you have the "Enchants" section there twice, for some reason.

Also of note, the 4.1 patch won't change any stat priorities, so Strength > 8% hit > 26 Expertise > Crit > Mastery > Haste

EDIT: Fury of Angerforge is actually a BWD and not a world drop.

[Drakiru]

my arms warrior is currently lvl 66 and i have a few 'noob' questions:
-does arms stay in battle stance the entire time or switch to berserker stance when appropiate?
-Slam seems to hit for twice as much as overpower, so why do you use it?

EDIT: thx Loto Bordeaux below for the detailed answer

[Loto Bordeaux]

1) For the majority of your rotation you remain in Battle Stance. Berserker Stance is only viable for stance-dancing Recklessness if the situation calls for it during your 100%-21% rotation (CS active, Rend with >8-10 seconds remaining, and Mortal Strike and Overpower active or 1-2 seconds from being active [factoring in the GCD's to activate Recklessness and switch back to Battle Stance]). The other situation being the Execution phase of your rotation where one preference is to remain in Berserker Stance and proceed with the rotation listed in the guide, but again, this portion comes down to personal preference and provided you have the correct buffs active to make it viable. **There is currently a discussion worth checking out on stance-dancing in the elitist jerks Arms discussion thread if you would be interested.**

2) While Slam does have a much nicer damage-coefficient, especially with the change to Improved Slam, Overpower still holds a higher priority over it for numerous reasons. First, Overpowers RDR (Rage-Damage Ratio) is among the best abilities that warrior's have (high damage for little Rage investment). Second, Slam is used as a filler move due to the fact that it pauses your white-swing timer, making it a significantly less efficient move (but still the best filler move we have due to RDR). Third, thanks to Taste for Blood, Overpower has a significantly higher critical ratio than all of our other abilities (60% increased chance) and is further buffed by additional Arms Warrior talents (see talent list above); this high critical ratio combined with its highly effective RDR makes Overpower have a higher priority over Slam and thus warrents use in our rotation. As you increase in level (since at the moment you are 66) you will see Overpower pull ahead in overall damage output over Slam.

Hope I was of help.

[bpcatt1]

In IVd the section about Rallying Cry should be heroic leap. Rallying Cry is a raid wide mini-last stand to be added in 4.1 I believe.

In Vc you should probably delete the intercept macro as charge and intercept share a CD when you take Juggernaut, so you will never actually use intercept.

Other than those extremely minor fixes, the below is very comprehensive for someone looking into how to play Arms. It probably wouldn't hurt to link the Elitist Jerks Arms warrior post so people can go straight to it for more theorycrafting information. As a side note in the addons pertaining to dps, if anyone is interested, Watcher is particularly good. I believe its display and function is similar to Forte... I just found it easier to configure what I wanted in a rotation helper... just my 2c worth.

[Deleted]

To be honest I don't really use sweeping strikes - I haven't got it talented.

Useful in Maloriak encounter (or not because I bladestorm the adds?)
Useful in Halfus (again, I bladestorm whelps) but i'll use it if 2 drakes are near each other.
Useful in Al'Akir (very minorly, putting DpS on Al'Akir while attackin Stormlings)

And please don't mention Trash, who cares about that?

[warcrimes]

And please don't mention Trash, who cares about that?

faster trash dies faster you can get to bosses
i care

[mysticx]

One niggle about the profession-section: the "Synapse springs" glove-tinker has been changed to provide a 480 STR/AGI/INT-buff for 10 seconds on 1 minute CD now (Whichever is highest, used to be just INT), so it probably outdoes "Tazik shocker" for DPS-purposes...

[Afrosaurus]

To be honest I don't really use sweeping strikes - I haven't got it talented.

Useful in Maloriak encounter (or not because I bladestorm the adds?)
Useful in Halfus (again, I bladestorm whelps) but i'll use it if 2 drakes are near each other.
Useful in Al'Akir (very minorly, putting DpS on Al'Akir while attackin Stormlings)

And please don't mention Trash, who cares about that?

Halfus? Conclave?

Not to mention, there aren't exactly any other glaring options.

[Shawaam]

You linked Juggernaut instead of Mortal Strike in the damage priority part. I think that's wrong :P

[Deleted]

This needs updating -.-

[Deleted]

To be honest I don't really use sweeping strikes - I haven't got it talented.

Useful in Maloriak encounter (or not because I bladestorm the adds?)
Useful in Halfus (again, I bladestorm whelps) but i'll use it if 2 drakes are near each other.
Useful in Al'Akir (very minorly, putting DpS on Al'Akir while attackin Stormlings)

And please don't mention Trash, who cares about that?

Using Bladestorm WHILE under the effect of sweeping strikes means almost double dmg (since sweeping strikes says that each of your melee attacks strikes an additional nearby opponent). There are also situations when u can dmg 2 targets at once just like Halfus u mentioned (hitting 2 drakes or a drake and Halfus)

[Deleted]

Using Bladestorm WHILE under the effect of sweeping strikes means almost double dmg (since sweeping strikes says that each of your melee attacks strikes an additional nearby opponent). There are also situations when u can dmg 2 targets at once just like Halfus u mentioned (hitting 2 drakes or a drake and Halfus)

Never mix the two together.

They fixed what you're saying way back when to avoid just that. Bladestorm used to double when you popped Sweeping Strikes, but because of the potential Shitstorm that would follow by keeping that in, it was removed.

Sweeping Strikes will now only cleave one of the Bladestorms per "swing" for a total of 5 swings in 5 seconds. It still cleaves the whitehits but it's far more efficent to use Sweeping strikes before or after Bladestorm. Cleaving them 50k MS's is far superior to any individual Bladestorm hit.

If you wanna say "No lol it doesn't", go to dummies and test for yourself.

[Loto Bordeaux]

I have updated subsection 'IVc.' and 'IVd. Sweeping Strikes' to further elaborate on how to execute the Arms AoE rotation, as what I previously had listed in the guide was far too vague of a description.

[Deleted]

Very nice guide thanks. I'll definitely be using this guide when I come back to WoW and start playing my Warrior again.

[Deleted]

Great guide..

But Cata really lack Arms - PVe gear.. Almost every single piece of epiqs got haste, and blizz want's arms to be a Pve spec as well.

[Warkol]

To be honest I don't really use sweeping strikes - I haven't got it talented.

Useful in Maloriak encounter (or not because I bladestorm the adds?)
Useful in Halfus (again, I bladestorm whelps) but i'll use it if 2 drakes are near each other.
Useful in Al'Akir (very minorly, putting DpS on Al'Akir while attackin Stormlings)

And please don't mention Trash, who cares about that?

You sir, are a moron. Sweeping Strikes is one of the best short-cooldown abilities in the game.
Any competitive Arms Warrior could tell you the value of Sweeping Strikes. And the fact that you mentioned:
"And please don't mention Trash, who cares about that?" shows a lot of ignorance. Everyone will care when you're killing trash faster, to get to bosses faster.

Great guide I might add, I'm an Arms lover boy.

[Afrosaurus]

You sir, are a moron. Sweeping Strikes is one of the best short-cooldown abilities in the game.
Any competitive Arms Warrior could tell you the value of Sweeping Strikes. And the fact that you mentioned:
"And please don't mention Trash, who cares about that?" shows a lot of ignorance. Everyone will care when you're killing trash faster, to get to bosses faster.

Great guide I might add, I'm an Arms lover boy.

I'm a mainspec tank.
The only fights I get to dps on are V&T and Atramedes. (I tank worms on Magmaw)
In light of this, I don't spec Sweeping Strikes either.

[Bysu]

I was wondering what are the expectations for arms PvE dps come 4.1, now that Rend will be refreshed through Mortal Strike are we gonna prefer stance dancing and going Battle Stance just for the Ovepowers?; and if that is the case, how would that affect the value of expertise since more dodges would end up being a problem?.

[mugiwara1984]

I was wondering what are the expectations for arms PvE dps come 4.1, now that Rend will be refreshed through Mortal Strike are we gonna prefer stance dancing and going Battle Stance just for the Ovepowers?; and if that is the case, how would that affect the value of expertise since more dodges would end up being a problem?.

you lose much too much rage with stancedancing. the only reason to change stances is if you want to use this fury cooldown.

but what im interested in is more, if mastery gets over crit now that it got buffed.