Arms Warrior DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1
On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Arms Warrior in both single-target and multiple-target situations. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc. in order to minmax your DPS. All our content is updated for World of Warcraft — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1.
1. Single-Target Rotation for Arms Warrior
The Arms rotation is a conditional priority list, which can change depending on talent choice. Use the checkboxes below to make the appropriate customizations.
- Skullsplitter
- Rend
- Fervor of Battle
- Warbreaker
- Cleave
- Avatar
- Deadly Calm
- Ravager
- Dreadnaught
- Crushing Assault
Note that this rotation focuses on the period above 20% health, or 35% health
with Massacre talented; when your target reaches this threshold,
Execute becomes available and the priority changes, as noted in
the following section.
- Cast
Colossus Smash.
- Cast
Execute with
Sudden Death proc.
- Cast
Overpower to buff
Mortal Strike.
- Cast
Mortal Strike to maintain
Deep Wounds.
- Cast
Bladestorm during
Colossus Smash or
Test of Might (see below).
- Cast
Slam.
When the azerite trait Test of Might is enabled, delay using
Slam or
Whirlwind unless over 60 Rage in order to pool
Rage for
Colossus Smash. During Colossus Smash and the following Test
of Might buff, use those abilities normally.
Bladestorm can also
be used during the Test of Might buff instead of Colossus Smash in order to
spend more rage.
Keeping Mortal Strike on cooldown to maintain
Deep Wounds is the most important part of the rotation. There
will always be three global cooldowns between each cast, making it impossible
to ever overcap
Overpower buff stacks.
1.1. Execute Usage
Execute deals very high damage, maintains
Deep Wounds, and refunds 30% of the rage spent if the target
does not die, allowing it to be cast more frequently than other abilites. It
will become the main Rage spender once available.
- Cast
Colossus Smash.
- Cast
Bladestorm when under 30 Rage.
- Cast
Overpower.
- Cast
Execute
Mortal Strike is not used unless two of the three listed
conditions are met, otherwise it is less Rage efficient than
Execute. Overpower continues to be used regardless, to take
advantage of the zero Rage cost.
1.2. Opening Rotation for Arms Warrior
Arms opener is functionally identical to the standard rotation, using
Charge to initiate combat in order to start with more Rage, and
proceeding with the standard priority detailed above.
When talenting Skullsplitter, delay its use in the opener until
after
Bladestorm, unless also delaying Bladestorm for any
reason, such as an upcoming wave of multiple targets, or using
Test of Might.
2. Multiple-Target Rotation for Arms Warrior
The Arms rotation is a conditional priority list, which can change depending on talent choice. Use the checkboxes below to make the appropriate customizations.- Skullsplitter
- Rend
- Fervor of Battle
- Warbreaker
- Cleave
- Avatar
- Deadly Calm
- Ravager
- Dreadnaught
- Crushing Assault
Whenever there are more than 2 targets, keep Sweeping Strikes on
cooldown, using it to spread
Colossus Smash and
Rend
debuffs onto a second target whenever possible. Prioritize
Bladestorm over Sweeping Strikes, and do not use Sweeping
Strikes if you are about to use Bladestorm.
2.1. 2-3 Targets
- Cast
Sweeping Strikes if you are not about to use
Bladestorm.
- Cast
Colossus Smash.
- Cast
Bladestorm during the
Colossus Smash debuff.
- Cast
Execute.
- Cast
Overpower.
- Cast
Mortal Strike.
- Cast
Slam during
Sweeping Strikes.
- Cast
Whirlwind.
Unless solely focused on burst AoE with Bladestorm,
Cleave is the priority attack in order to maintain
Deep Wounds on multiple targets.
2.2. 4+ Targets
- Cast
Sweeping Strikes if you are not about to use
Bladestorm.
- Cast
Colossus Smash.
- Cast
Bladestorm during the
Colossus Smash debuff.
- Cast
Execute during
Sweeping Strikes.
- Cast
Mortal Strike during
Sweeping Strikes.
- Cast
Whirlwind during
Colossus Smash.
- Cast
Overpower.
- Cast
Whirlwind.
For maximum burst AoE, stack Avatar with
Warbreaker,
and cast
Bladestorm on as many targets as possible. Do not
use
Sweeping Strikes if you are about to use Bladestorm.
3. Mastering your Arms Warrior
3.1. Aligning Cooldowns
Because Avatar lasts twice as long as
Colossus Smash, it can safely be used up to 10 seconds ahead of
time and the cooldowns will still overlap.
3.1.1. Managing Deep Wounds
Primarily maintained by Mortal Strike,
Execute,
and
Cleave, keeping
Deep Wounds on the target or
targets is paramount to maximizing damage, making up roughly 15-20% of the
specs damage on single-target, and up to 50% on multi-target. Because the
debuff lasts 6 seconds, this should happen naturally over the course of the
rotation, but when facing multiple targets, take care to keep the debuff on
as many targets as possible for maximum benefit.
3.1.2. When to use Skullsplitter
Skullsplitter is an on demand Rage generator, which should be used
as close to on cooldown as possible, whenever Rage is below 60 to keep from
capping. However, it should not be used without spending Rage before
Bladestorm, or else autoattacks run a very high risk of wasted
Rage.
4. Azerite Traits
Most Azerite traits are passive bonuses that do not need to be managed. However, a few can be optimized to improve performance slightly:
- When using
Test of Might, delay using
Slam or
Whirlwind unless over 60 Rage in order to pool Rage for
Colossus Smash. During Colossus Smash and the following Test of Might buff, use those abilities normally.
Overpower should still be used normally, in order to not waste
Tactician procs, and
Bladestorm can also be used during the Test of Might buff instead of Colossus Smash in single target encounters, or when multiple targets will survive the full duration (more than 15 seconds).
- When using
Seismic Wave the projectile will hit all enemies in a line, making it very effective on multi-target. If
Overpower hits a second target during
Sweeping Strikes, a second wave will also be formed.
- When using
Striking the Anvil, it is possible for
Tactician to proc on the global cooldown before
Mortal Strike comes off cooldown naturally. In that situation, you have a choice between using
Overpower immediately which will waste the cooldown reduction, or prioritizing Mortal Strike which runs the risk of overwriting the Tactician proc. In most situations, it is better to follow the normal priority and continue to use Overpower ahead of Mortal Strike.
4.1. Tier 1 Talents Rage Generation
On average, one target needs to die every 8 seconds for
War Machine to keep up with
Skullsplitter in sustained
combat. For this reason, it tends not to be practical in most raid
encounters, and is better reserved for fast-paced dungeons and open world
content.
4.2. Rage Management
Arms generates Rage purely from auto-attack swings and Charge
casts and nearly all abilities cost Rage to use. Ensuring you always have
enough Rage to use
Mortal Strike on cooldown or
Execute every 6 seconds is paramount, in order to keep
Deep Wounds on the target. Choosing not to spend Rage on a
filler ability, and letting a global cooldown go unfilled is better than
letting the debuff drop off.
4.3. Heroic Charge
A small optimisation can be made by moving out of range of the target and
using Charge to generate extra Rage during your rotation. Care
should be taken to do this between autoattack swings, when
Colossus Smash is not active.
Heroic Leap can also be
used to create enough room to Charge.
4.4. Movement and Mobility
Warriors have a number of active tools through Charge and
Heroic Leap that allow for instant movement across large distances.
Finding ways to maximise your uptime on a target through the intelligent use of
these is crucial, as downtime is extremely detrimental to the flow of Fury's
rotation. The talents
Double Time and
Bounding Stride are
particularly useful in any encounter which demands heavy movement.
4.5. Defensive Abilities
Arms' primary survivability tool is Die by the Sword, which is
exceptionally useful for immuning direct physical damage and can even be used
to tank raid bosses for a short time. The talent
Defensive Stance
can be used for more mitigation when expecting more frequent spike damage.
Warriors also have access to Rallying Cry, one of the few
defensive group cooldowns in the game. It is typically used to help the group
survive key encounter mechanics rather than as a personal cooldown. Keep in
mind that it is on the global cooldown, so be ready to use it when needed.
4.6. Group Buffs
Arms also brings Battle Shout, increasing all party and raid
members Attack Power by 10%, which should be applied before combat begins.
5. Changelog
- 18 Jan. 2019: Updated for Season 2.
- 10 Dec. 2018: Patch 8.1 updates, removed Executioner's Precision.
- 13 Nov. 2018: Added new toggles, multi-target toggles, better Overpower and Execute use.
- 04 Sep. 2018: Improved stipulations for Deadly Calm, Skullsplitter, and Test of Might.
- 18 Aug. 2018: Clarified Sweeping Strikes use alongside Bladestorm.
- 13 Aug. 2018: Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.
More Warrior Guides
Guides from Other Classes
Raid Guides
This guide has been written by Archimtiros, the Warrior class theorycrafter, and one of the best DPS Warriors in the world, who raids in Infinity. You can follow him on Twitter and you can watch his stream on Twitch.

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