Arms Warrior DPS Mythic+ Tips — Shadowlands 9.2
In this guide, you will find tips and advice to tackle Mythic+ dungeons with your Arms Warrior in World of Warcraft — Shadowlands 9.2.
Unique Challenges of Mythic+
Mythic+ Dungeons, especially high ones, are arguably the highest level of competitive PvE content that WoW has to offer aside from Mythic raiding.
Arms is a multi-target powerhouse in Shadowlands, with a multitude
of tools to handle various situations, including two target with
Sweeping Strikes, three or more targets with
Cleave,
and burst AoE using
Warbreaker alongside
Bladestorm.
Where the specialization falters is in its defensive toolkit and lack of
group utility options. While
Defensive Stance is one of the better
defensive abilities, the reduced damage makes it more difficult to use
effectively than other specializations defensive tools.
Because the majority of Mythic+ revolves around dealing with multiple targets, Arms follows the basic multi-target priority laid out in the Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities page. The key difference is in predicting the layout of the dungeon, and knowing when to save cooldowns versus when to use them. Smartly saving your cooldowns when a target is about to die, and instead using it on a fresh pack which will survive the duration of your burst damage is far more efficient and will help your group finish on time.
If you are unfamiliar with Mythic+ and its associated general mechanics, you can read more about it on our Shadowlands Mythic+ Season 1 page below.
Arms Warrior Mythic+ Builds
Below are the suggested talents for Mythic+, and although there is one primary dungeon build, a couple talents can shift slightly depending on your Covenant choice or preferences.
Level | Choices | ||
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15 |
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25 |
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30 |
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35 |
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40 |
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45 |
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50 |
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Arms Warriors have a lot of talent choice when it comes to Mythic+, with the flexibility to bring extra defensives, utility, and tailor their damage to the expected situation.
- Level 15:
Sudden Death is a passive and easy option, though
Skullsplitter gives Rage when you need it, helping fill gaps in your rotation.
- Level 25:
Double Time is a staple for both mobility and rage generation leading to more damage, although
Storm Bolt should be taken when stuns are needed to lock down difficult targets.
- Level 30:
Massacre is the general go-to even for non Venthyr, simply due to allowing better priority damage against low health targets.
- Level 35:
Defensive Stance is an amazing on-demand defensive, especially when pushing into higher keystone levels. In places where it is not necessary to survive,
Bounding Stride is extremely useful for getting out of tight situations.
- Level 40:
Warbreaker syncs perfectly with
Bladestorm for high burst potential.
- Level 45:
Avatar likewise lends itself toward burst damage, and performs even better when combined with legendary powers for greater damage potential.
- Level 50:
Dreadnaught create AoE shockwaves which add a consistent amount of extra damage over the course of a dungeon. During
Sweeping Strikes, two shockwaves will form which both hit every available target.
Rotational Considerations for Arms Warriors in Mythic+
For the most part, your rotation will remain the same as normal in Mythic+ dungeons. Because of the nature of dungeons, however, with mobs dying constantly and there sometimes being downtime in between packs, we recommend taking the following extra considerations.
Note that the information below specifically pertains to Mythic+. If you require more general information, you should go to the main Rotation page below.
AoE Rotation
- Open with
Charge whenever possible
Warbreaker to apply and maintain
Mastery: Deep Wounds
Spear of Bastion /
Ancient Aftershock
Bladestorm
Sweeping Strikes if enemies will live throughout its duration.
Overpower
Whirlwind at more than 4 targets while
Sweeping Strikes is not active.
Mortal Strike and
Execute as a filler.
Arms Warrior Utility
Battle Shout increases attack power by 5%, which applies to all
melee specs and Warrior abilities, even those which do not deal purely Physical
damage.
Pummel is crucial in Mythic+ as interrupting dangerous spell
casts is of the utmost importance.
Rallying Cry applies to the entire party, making it a strong
defensive tool during periods of group-wide damage, or a personal cooldown as
needed.
Spell Reflection is exceptional in Mythic+, either for reducing
the damage of powerful debuffs, or reflecting high damage and debilitating
effects. Although the ability can be used quite often due to its low
cooldown, properly identifying which abilities should be reflected is key, as
it can completely nullify dangerous effects and render some enemies
completely harmless.
Storm Bolt is another useful tool in stopping enemy attacks and
spellcasts, although it comes at the cost of
Double Time, which is a
very strong mobility option.
Intimidating Shout can also be used as a
faux stun, but much less reliably.
Arms Warrior Legendaries in Mythic+
Due to Unity
replacing individual Covenant Legendaries,
the best choice of Legendary for Mythic+ dungeons is
Signet of Tormented Kings
in all cases, while Unity will add the associated Covenant Legendary power.
Arms Warrior Covenants in Mythic+
The best Covenant for Arms Warriors in Mythic+ is Kyrian followed by Night Fae.
- Kyrian combined with
Elysian Might and the Mikanikos soulbind allows
Warbreaker and
Spear of Bastion to be used every 45 seconds, supported further by
Avatar and
Bladestorm every 90 seconds, a much greater AoE frequency than other builds. Care must be taken to remain inside the Spear area of effect to gain full damage, however, which may be tricky when there are enemy ground effects to deal with. Kyrian will typically use Mikanikos with
Crash the Ramparts,
Piercing Verdict, and
Mortal Combo or
Merciless Bonegrinder conduits.
- Night Fae is second to Kyrian only in that
Ancient Aftershock remains capped at 5 targets, losing a significant amount of damage in higher target situations. It can still be quite effective, due to the extra knockdown controlling enemies and the high burst damage every 1.5 minutes. Night Fae will typically use Korayn with
Crash the Ramparts,
Destructive Reverberations, and
Mortal Combo or
Merciless Bonegrinder conduits.
- Necrolord has some potential for buffing other, higher
damage, allies in Mythic+ content, but comes at a significant personal damage
loss for the Warrior. Necrolord will typically use Emeni with
Crash the Ramparts,
Veteran's Repute, and
Mortal Combo or
Merciless Bonegrinder conduits.
- Venthyr has very limited Mythic+ potential due to
Condemn not hitting multiple targets or providing any significant single target damage increase. Venthyr will typically use Nadjia with
Crash the Ramparts,
Mortal Combo, and
Merciless Bonegrinder conduits.
Trinket Considerations for Arms Warriors in Mythic+
When choosing your trinkets, there are two avenues of approach. The first is maximizing burst in conjuction with your cooldowns, while the second is maximizing single target in order to perform better on bosses. We recommend simulating yourself on Raidbots using the Patchwerk option for raids and single-target, and DungeonSlice (Mythic+/AoE Fights) Fight Styles. Usually, we recommend using trinkets that proc stats, rather than single-target damage dealers.
You can also get a quick overview of good Mythic+ Trinkets on our Gearing page, specifically the Simulation chart for multi-target scenarios.
Handling Mythic+ Affixes as an Arms Warrior
Most Mythic+ affixes require no special setup or gameplay considerations for Arms Warriors, although there are a few interactions to be aware of.
Explosive affix orbs are very easy to kill with as little as a single auto attack, though they cannot be hit by AoE abilities such as
Whirlwind or
Bladestorm unless they are your primary target.
Spiteful affix adds can be dangerous if you are not aware of their spawning, but are easily controlled by using
Storm Bolt or
Intimidating Shout, allowing ample time to get away from or kill them.
- The seasonal
Encrypted affix adds three different relics to each boss and various packs of mobs found throughout each dungeon. Upon defeating all three of these special targets, a special Automa mini-boss will spawn according to the first relic which was destroyed. Once that Automa is defeated, it will grant a very powerful special effect to the entire party, lasting between 10 and 60 seconds.
- Destroying the Urh Relic first spawns Urh Dismantler, which grants
Decrypted Urh Cypher upon defeat.
- Destroying the Wo Relic first spawns Wo Drifter, which grants
Decrypted Wo Cypher upon defeat.
- Destroying the Vy Relic first spawns Vy Interceptor, which grants
Decrypted Vy Cypher upon defeat.
- Destroying the Urh Relic first spawns Urh Dismantler, which grants
- While Legion Timewalking begins is active, select dungeons from that
expansion can be run using the Mythic+ difficulty system. They use a different
set of affixes from regular keys, including the new
Infernal affix, in which special Legion Commander mini-bosses are present throughout the dungeon. While none of them are particularly difficult, their placement before each dungeon boss requires more precise cooldown timing. Luckily, this is not a major concern for Warriors, who have relatively short cooldowns to begin with.
Changelog
- 21 Feb. 2022: Page reviewed and approved for Patch 9.2.
- 01 Nov. 2021: Updated for Patch 9.1.5, along with improved affix-specific sections and condensed covenant recommendations.
- 28 Jun. 2021: Reviewed and approved for Patch 9.1.
- 09 Mar. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 07 Dec. 2020: Added Covenant overview.
- 23 Nov. 2020: Removed Essence & Azerite information, updated the rest for Shadowlands launch.
- 12 Oct. 2020: Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
More Warrior Guides
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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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