Arms Warrior DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — 12.1

Arms is enjoying one of its most powerful seasons in Mythic+ in Season 2, being one of the stronger damage dealers outside of specific meta comps. Arms unfortunately only excels in a couple of raid encounters, but still remains above average overall.

• Single Target - Slayer continues to be significantly ahead in single-target and most raid encounters.
• AoE - Slayer has risen to be the main multi-target damage dealing hero tree choice. Colossus can still offer higher multi-target burst, but it loses much more single-target value in the process.

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The builds listed above are popular recommendations, covering various different loadouts suited to each style of endgame content. Each Talent Build will have it's own rotation, and can also be manipulated further for specific types of content and to better benefit your group.

Combat Information

Rotations and Mythic+

Want to dive deeper? These guides will teach you how to utilize our Talent Builds in endgame content!

RotationMythic+

The Omnium Folio is a new system introduced in Midnight's Patch 12.0.7, which offers some minor performance-enhancing customization options after a multi-week quest series. Some of these bonuses affect your damage output, while others are more defensive in nature.

We recommend the following bonuses, though they can be swapped at any time, so feel free to experiment with other options or simulated recommendations for your own gearing.

• Rune of Unleashed Fire
• Rune of Void-Tainted Shell
• Rune of Lingering
• Rune of Masterful Cunning
• Rune of Echoes

The Arms Warrior apex talent, Master of Warfare, is an active proc which increases the value of Slam and buffs other rotational abilities. While it largely takes the place of regular casts of Slam, it will also be periodically weaved into the single target Execute phase. In multi-target, however, the ability will always be used passively with Fervor of Battle.

• The first point is a proc which causes Heroic Strike to replace Slam, giving it a much higher priority and triggering a small armor penetration buff. While this buff stacks, each has its own duration, resulting in the buff constantly stacking and decaying, making it easy to treat passively and ignore.
• The second and third points further enhances the Master of Warfare buff, though has no rotational impact, since all of those abilities continue to be used in the same manner.
• The final point causes Heroic Strike to apply a separate buff, increasing the magnitude of Colossus Smash, which can be quite strong, given such a high uptime on the ability.

Arms Warriors have a choice between Slayer and Colossus, each with their own strengths and focus, though generally very similar builds and gameplay.

Slayer is focused on Execute and Bladestorm, with the main gameplay difference being increased Sudden Death procs and a stronger Execute phase. It tends to be the better choice for raiding and single target encounters, though is currently enjoying a renewed focus in Mythic+ as well.

Colossus is focused on Mortal Strike, Bleeds, and Demolish, represented through increased Mortal Strike usage and a unique form of cooldown reduction for its signature ability. It tends to be better against multiple targets than single, and is used more frequently in Mythic+ instead of raid encounters.

Since Battle for Azeroth, players have the option to go into "War Mode," allowing them to participate in PvP combat with other players. Enabling War Mode provides the following benefits:

• PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world
• 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level
• 10% more experience gained while leveling
• Earn Conquest Points, which can reward gear every week

With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended to enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level. However, you will make yourself available for open-world PvP, and the possibility of being "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.

1. Sharpen Blade adds a separate off-global cooldown buff, which increases the overall damage of Mortal Strike.
2. Rebound boosts the value of Spell Reflection, providing both more offensive and defensive value in exchange for a slightly longer cooldown.
3. Dragon Charge grants extra mobility, which is always useful while leveling.

Archimtiros

Guide Author

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This guide has been written by Archimtiros, Warrior class theorycrafter and SimulationCraft developer who has been writing class guides for more than a decade. You can follow him on Twitter or see more of his day to day work in Skyhold, the Warrior Discord.

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