Arms Warrior DPS Easy Mode — The War Within (11.0.5)
On this page, we explain how to easily play Arms Warrior in World of Warcraft — The War Within (11.0.5), using the simplest rotation, talent tree, stat priority, gear setup, etc., without sacrificing performance.
Foreword
This section is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty or simply want a more straightforward way to play their specialization without being overwhelmed by the numerous priorities and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.
The Basics of Arms Warrior in The War Within
Arms is a straightforward damage dealer that focuses on big hits and bleeds. While the base rotation is not very complicated, talents can add extra attacks or replacement abilities in order to allow customization, though it also means more playstyles to learn. The build showcased here is a simple yet effective play style that is good for all types of game content and is meant to help new players learn the fundamentals of Arms.
If you are completely new to Arms and need more information on the abilities available to you, you can check out our Spell Summary page.
Beginner's Guide to Arms Warrior in The War Within
Easy Mode Talents for Arms Warrior
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!
Beginner Arms Warrior DPS Rotation
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.
- Always open with Charge whenever possible to generate extra Rage.
- Cast Thunder Clap to apply Rend or refresh it when less than 4 seconds are remaining.
- Cast Sweeping Strikes when there are multiple targets.
- Cast Avatar on cooldown whenever enemies will live long enough to benefit from the full duration.
- Cast Thunderous Roar on cooldown.
- Cast Warbreaker on cooldown, aligned with other cooldowns as much as possible.
- Cast Bladestorm against multiple targets.
- Cast Cleave against multiple targets.
- Cast Mortal Strike on cooldown.
- Cast Execute while above 40 rage or when Sudden Death procs.
- Cast Overpower to buff Mortal Strike or Cleave.
- Cast Slam to spend excess Rage against single targets above 20% health.
All builds focus on the same principle of resetting the cooldown of Overpower with Tactician procs to buff Mortal Strike, and using it in turn to maintain Deep Wounds. Other talents add extra abilities and maintenance buffs and replace other abilities within the rotation. Remember that the majority of Rage is generated through auto-attacks, so ensuring high uptime on the target is crucial to maintaining the rotation.
Defensive Spells for Arms Warrior
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 has a relatively short cooldown, though it is similar to Defensive Stance in that it reduces damage through its Rage cost, making it best used against predictable incoming damage rather than used on cooldown.
- Impending Victory 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.
- Bitter Immunity provides an on-demand heal and removal of certain afflictions, though its long cooldown makes it lackluster in most group content where a healer will typically cover those needs.
Stat Priority for Arms Warrior
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!
- Strength;
- Critical Strike;
- Mastery.
- Versatility;
- Haste;
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.
Changelog
- 21 Oct. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.5.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Updated for The War Within Season 1.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within Pre-Season Launch.
- 26 Jul. 2024: Minor updates.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within Pre-Patch
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Updated with new talent and rotation recommendations for Season 4.
- 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5.
- 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1
- 24 Jan. 2023: Talent build updated for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 18 Nov. 2022: Update Fervor of Battle use and description.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Warrior Guides
Guides from Other Classes
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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