Arms Warrior DPS Easy Mode — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0)

Although built for beginners, this build is capable of engaging in all forms of content, from open-world level to dungeons and entry-level raids. While there may be better-performing builds for specific pieces of content, they are also more specialized. As you gear up, acquire tier bonuses, or plan to engage with specific forms of content, more specialized builds will become available.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

The simplified rotation outlined below encompasses both single and multiple target situations using our suggested talents. While the Arms playstyle is relatively straightforward, remember that Slam is no longer used once Execute becomes available. Against multiple targets, follow the same general priority, while keeping Sweeping Strikes on cooldown.

• Cast Rend to apply or refresh the debuff when less than 4 seconds are remaining.
• Cast Avatar on cooldown whenever enemies will live long enough to benefit from the full duration.
• Cast Colossus Smash on cooldown, aligned with other cooldowns as much as possible.
• Cast Mortal Strike on cooldown.
• Cast Bladestorm against multiple targets.
• Cast Execute whenever Sudden Death procs.
• Cast Overpower as much as possible to buff Mortal Strike and Cleave.
• Cast Execute or Slam as a Rage spending filler.

All builds focus on the same principle of spending rage to trigger Tactician procs, while keeping Mortal Strike on cooldown and taking advantage of Sudden Death procs. Remember that the majority of Rage is generated through auto-attacks, so ensuring high uptime on the target is crucial to maintaining the rotation, but care should be taken to ensure you do not overspend on Execute or Slam.

Arms Warriors have several defensive abilities that can be used individually or layered for stronger damage mitigation. Although lacking any true immunity or cheat death, this can make them very capable of surviving predictable incoming damage.

• Die by the Sword is the main defensive cooldown, reducing damage and parrying most front-facing melee attacks. It can also be used to great effect in combination with a well-timed Taunt or Intervene to take pressure off of other players.
• Spell Reflection is a very powerful tool that not only reduces incoming magic damage, but can deflect or even reflect spells entirely. While not all spells will be reflected to deal damage to the attacker, simply deflecting their application can significantly reduce damage, if not trivialize many dangerous abilities outright.
• Defensive Stance is one of the most reliable cooldowns in the game, featuring an extremely short 3-second cooldown, though mitigated by the associated reduction in damage. While this makes it somewhat unpopular, smart use of the ability can dramatically increase survivability.
• Ignore Pain no longer has a Rage cost, but now has a slightly longer cooldown and is on the GCD. It layers very well with other defensive cooldowns before incoming damage.
• Impending Victory is a powerful on-demand heal on a short cooldown that resets when an enemy is killed. This makes it regularly available and an important reactionary tool that should be used regularly.
• Second Wind, Pain and Gain, and Fueled by Violence are extra healing effects that trigger passively and do not need to be micromanaged.

The general stat priority for a Arms Warrior is seen below. This is very much a rough guideline and is designed for players who do not wish to sim their character. If you are simming your character, please disregard this stat priority completely and follow your sim!

1. Strength;
2. Critical Strike;
3. Haste;
4. Mastery;
5. Versatility.

Critical Strikes more than double all damage dealt and increase Rage generation from auto-attacks, which reduces downtime in the rotation. Mastery increases damage taken by enemies, while Haste compresses the rotation, increasing auto-attack speed and reducing the time between ability casts. Finally, Versatility is a static damage increase, which also reduces damage taken by half the amount.

While the stat priority for classes is normally the same for both the Easy Mode page and our full guide, subtle differences may still occur. If you want to see a full explanation of the stat priority, as well as the absolute top choices for the priority, head to our full stats page below.

Combat Assistant, added in Patch 11.1.7, is comprised of two options meant to help players with combat rotations and gameplay.

The first is Assisted Highlight, which recommends the next rotational ability that players should use, in order to help them learn how to better play their specialization. While not a perfectly min-maxed rotation, it is perfectly serviceable, losing an average of around 5% compared to more complicated manual ones. However, it does not attempt to recommend offensive cooldowns, defensives, utility abilities, or other off-GCD abilities such as Charge, so players must be mindful to use these on their own.

The second option is the Single-Button Assistant, which is a new button placed on the action bar which automatically cycles through each ability in the rotation when pressed. Using the same rotation as the Assisted Highlight, it is serviceable, though an additional 25% penalty is placed on the global cooldown to keep this from being an easily competitive option, resulting in a roughly ~20-25% loss in performance. Therefore, it is only recommended for brand new players, players in trivial content, or those who are otherwise unable to keep up with regular gameplay.

In both cases, using cooldowns such as Avatar and Sweeping Strikes can be as easy as macroing them to the Single-Button Assistant or a common ability like Colossus Smash, though players may also opt to continue using them manually, as described in the rotation section.