Warrior Hero Talents — The War Within (11.2)

This page is specifically about Hero Talents in The War Within. If you want to learn more about the best regular talents for Arms Warrior, check out our Talents page:

Slayer is the typical go-to for raid encounters, due to its strong emphasis on Execute. In cases where adds are present, it is often not advised to spec into multitarget talents at all, simply relying on Sweeping Strikes and Bladestorm while focusing on pure single target.

Colossus is generally weaker outside of a few add-heavy encounters, though consistent cleave is a rarity in raid content. In cases where a quickly dying group of adds is present, Demolish can put out strong burst damage, but Slayer is generally preferred.

Colossus performs much better in Mythic+, thanks to sustained bleeds and frequent use of high damaging Cleave. Though it lacks single target/priority damage, it is generally considered less important than raw multitarget damage. Likewise, the enhance stuns and self-healing are much more useful in dungeons than raids.

Slayer has several multitarget tools available to it, though its performance is highly dependent on maintaining a high uptime on Juggernaut, which is not particularly feasible in most dungeons. Similarly, the enhanced mobility is a nice perk in certain circumstances, though rarely as impactful as it is in raids, since dungeons typically lack the same amount of complex movement.

Tier set bonuses have changed in Season 3 to be separated by hero talents instead of traditional specializations. This still results in three separate groups of bonuses, but instead of distinct Arms, Fury, and Protection sets, they are now tailored to Colossus, Mountain Thane, and Slayer.

• Warrior Slayer 11.2 Class Set 2pc — Execute damage increased by 10% and Executes from Sudden Death have a 10% chance per stack of Overwhelmed on the target to trigger a Slayer's Strike at 100% effectiveness. Stacking up to a 100% chance to trigger a Slayer's Strike, this greatly enhances the single target damage capability of Execute, while also leading to more Sudden Death procs.
• Warrior Slayer 11.2 Class Set 4pc — Overpower damage increased by 10% and Overpower has a 2% chance per stack of Overwhelmed on the target to trigger Reap the Storm at 150% effectiveness. Gives Overpower up to a 10% chance to trigger Reap, mirroring that of Mortal Strike, though this chance does not scale up when hitting multiple targets.
• Warrior Colossus 11.2 Class Set 2pc — Demolish damage increased by 20% and critical strike damage of your abilities is increased by up to 20% on targets affected by your Demolish for 10 sec based on the number of stacks of Colossal Might consumed. Very straightforward enhancement to Demolish.
• Warrior Colossus 11.2 Class Set 4pc — Demolish increases the critical strike chance of your next 1 Mortal Strike by 100%. Mortal Strike critical strikes increase your Rend and Deep Wounds damage by 80% for 8 sec. These effects are independent, so that any Mortal Strike crit will trigger the increased bleed damage, resulting in a very high natural uptime.

The bonuses for both heroes are very strong, amounting to significant increases over their Season 2 counterparts, while also shaking up the gameplay with talent build and rotational changes. Although both sets activate passively, they encourage more use of Sudden Death and Demolish, also resulting in more active gameplay.

2.

Best Hero Talent Builds for Arms Warrior

Slayer Single Target Raid Build Colossus Mythic+ Build

3.

Best Slayer Single Target Raid Build for Arms Warrior

Slayer lacks compelling defensive bonuses, but offers a choice between increased mobility of Relentless Pursuit and Vicious Agility. Which is better will largely come down to circumstance, though the increased movement speed after using Charge is very helpful in raid situations where bosses get quickly pulled from one side of the room to the other, making it a safe default choice. In the rare circumstance where Heroic Leap is needed just a few seconds sooner, Vicious Agility may be worth swapping to.

3.

Best Colossus Mythic+ Build for Arms Warrior

Colossus has a utility choice between longer stuns with Boneshaker or a knock-up and lower cooldown from Earthquaker, both of which are complelling in their own way, though the knockup effect helps ensure the target is dirupted even in the face of diminishing returns.

Colossus revolves around Demolish, with Mortal Strike and Cleave contributing to increase its damage and reduce the cooldown. Because of this, talents that increase the frequency of those abilities are favored, at the expense of using Execute less.

Slayer increases the amount of Sudden Death procs, which consume Marked for Execution for enhanced damage and to reduce the cooldown on Bladestorm. Although this does not seem like a significant rotational change, it puts a great deal of emphasis on maintaining Juggernaut before the normal execute phase begins.