Arms Warrior DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Dragonflight 10.0.7

Welcome to our Rotation page for Arms Warriors. On this page, you will find everything you need to know about actually playing the spec in Raiding and Mythic+ scenarios.

If the rotations below seem overwhelming to you, you might benefit from visiting our Easy Mode page, which outlines a close-to-optimal rotation in simpler terms.

The content on this page is purely PvE-related. If you are looking for PvP Rotation Tips, please visit our PvP page below.

The Arms rotation is a conditional priority list, which can change depending on talent choice. Use the checkboxes below to make the appropriate customizations and make sure that Battle Stance is always toggled on!

Talents	Talents
Avatar
Thunderous Roar	Spear of Bastion
Rend	Tide of Blood
Sudden Death
Storm of Swords	Crushing Force
Blood and Thunder	Warbreaker
Ignore Pain	Bladestorm

This rotation focuses on the period above 35% health before Execute takes over the rotation, as noted in the following section.

1. Cast Rend if less than 4 seconds remain on the debuff.
2. Cast Avatar simultaneously with Colossus Smash or Warbreaker.
3. Cast Warbreaker.
4. Cast Colossus Smash.
5. Cast Mortal Strike.
6. Cast Spear of Bastion during Colossus Smash.
7. Cast Thunderous Roar during Colossus Smash or Test of Might.
8. Cast Bladestorm during Test of Might.
9. Cast Skullsplitter near the start of Colossus Smash to trigger Tide of Blood.
10. Cast Execute during Sudden Death procs.
11. Cast Overpower with two charges off cooldown.
12. Cast Ignore Pain as an off global rage dump.
13. Cast Whirlwind as a large rage dump.
14. Cast Thunder Clap as a rage dump, which also reapplies Rend.
15. Cast Slam as a regular rage dump.
16. Cast Overpower with only one charge off cooldown.
17. Cast Slam as a low-priority filler.

Keeping Mortal Strike and Overpower on cooldown and managing Rage forms the bulk of the single target rotation. Outside of the Execute phase; this will be done by rotating a variety of fillers to dump larger amounts of Rage quickly to spend more globals on Overpower. During the Execute phase, it will instead replace those fillers and take up the majority of the rotation.

Execute deals very high damage and a portion of the Rage spent if the target does not die, helping maintain the high Rage cost. It will become the primary Rage spender once the target drops below 20% health or 35%, with Massacre talented, taking the place of other spenders. When Executioner's Precision is talented, Mortal Strike will continue to be used with two debuff stacks.

1. Cast Rend if less than 4 seconds remains on the debuff.
2. Cast Avatar simultaneously with Colossus Smash or Warbreaker.
3. Cast Warbreaker.
4. Cast Colossus Smash.
5. Spear of Bastion during Colossus Smash.
6. Cast Thunderous Roar during Test of Might or In for the Kill.
7. Cast Ignore Pain as an off global rage dump.
8. Cast Overpower below 40 rage.
9. Cast Skullsplitter when below 40 Rage.
10. Cast Mortal Strike to maintain Deep Wounds or at 2 stacks of Executioner's Precision.
11. Cast Execute as the primary Rage spender.
12. Cast Bladestorm as a filler.
13. Cast Overpower as a filler.

While Execute appears to have a low priority, it becomes the main filler, secondary to using cooldowns, while Whirlwind and Slam are dropped entirely from the rotation. Mortal Strike is still used intermittently to maintain Deep Wounds, but does not have a powerful role outside of Executioner's Precision.

The Arms opener is functionally identical to the standard rotation, using Charge to initiate combat to start with more Rage, applying Rend, and then opening with cooldown buffs and Colossus Smash, as outlined in the single target rotation above.

There are two multitarget Arms rotations, a two-target setup similar to the single target rotation and another using Cleave to focus on sustained damage against a high number of targets. Use the checkboxes below to make the appropriate customizations.

• Tide of Blood
• Blood and Thunder
• Warbreaker
• Avatar
• Thunderous Roar
• Bladestorm
• Cleave
• Storm of Swords

The two-target rotation is very similar to single target, with the addition of Sweeping Strikes to cleave attacks onto a secondary target. Because it will also apply Colossus Smash to a second target, Warbreaker is not needed. When there are no more targets available, Warlord's Torment is also typically stronger than Blademaster's.

1. Cast Thunder Clap to apply Rend if less than 4 seconds remain on the debuff.
2. Cast Sweeping Strikes immediately before Colossus Smash.
3. Cast Avatar simultaneously with Colossus Smash or Warbreaker.
4. Cast Warbreaker.
5. Cast Colossus Smash.
6. Cast Spear of Bastion during Colossus Smash.
7. Cast Thunderous Roar during Test of Might or In for the Kill.
8. Cast Skullsplitter to trigger Tide of Blood.
9. Cast Bladestorm during Test of Might or the Colossus Smash debuff.
10. Cast Execute.
11. Cast Cleave.
12. Cast Mortal Strike.
13. Cast Overpower.
14. Cast Whirlwind as a filler.

Cleave is the primary attack while facing many targets, dealing good damage, and maintaining Deep Wounds. However, a great deal of the overall damage comes from layering cooldowns. In this situation, Warbreaker and Bladestorm, alongside Blademaster's Torment, adds up to a great deal of burst damage.

1. Cast Thunder Clap to apply Rend if less than 4 seconds remain on the debuff.
2. Cast Warbreaker.
3. Cast Spear of Bastion during Colossus Smash.
4. Cast Avatar simultaneously with Spear of Bastion (if talented) so that the automatic Bladestorm from Blademaster's Torment triggers at the same time.
5. Cast Whirlwind during the Merciless Bonegrinder buff following Bladestorm.
6. Cast Thunderous Roar during Test of Might or In for the Kill.
7. Cast Bladestorm during the Colossus Smash debuff.
8. Cast Sweeping Strikes when less than 4 targets are remaining or when priority damage is needed, preferrably within Execute range.
9. Cast Execute during Sweeping Strikes.
10. Cast Cleave.
11. Cast Whirlwind to dump Rage between Cleave's cooldown.
12. Cast Overpower as a filler.
13. Cast Whirlwind as a filler.

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 unless Unhinged is also talented.

Arms cooldowns align fairly naturally, thanks to Anger Management. Still, it is important to ensure that Colossus Smash and Deep Wounds are active on as many targest as possible before going into the cooldown cycle.

Avatar is a potent cooldown in its own right but becomes extraordinarily more powerful in combination with the follow-on Tormented talents. These function similarly to Signet of Tormented Kings, but with a guaranteed effect rather than a random one, allowing you to choose what cooldown is triggered. Warlord's Torment is extremely powerful in single and some multitarget situations, as it allows fairly high uptime on Recklessness, despite not normally having access to the ability. Blademaster's Torment is more tailored for extended multitarget, allowing an extra use of Bladestorm, alongside all of its talented benefits, though care should be taken to ensure that Avatar is used after damage-enhancing cooldowns such as Colossus Smash and Spear of Bastion's Elysian Might have been applied in order to maximize its benefit.

Bladestorm is Arms main multitarget cooldown, which should always be used alongside Warbreaker and Avatar whenever possible. Although it is not the strongest AoE ability by itself, it can trigger several powerful buffs, such as Hurricane and Merciless Bonegrinder, both of which combine nicely with Storm of Swords to create an extremely high burst of damage. With Blademaster's Torment, this can be done twice quickly, leading to very high burst potential.

Tide of Blood is an interesting ability that causes Rend and Deep Wounds to instantly tick out on the target, dealing several instances of damage in rapid succession. This high burst of damage can be extraordinarily powerful when combined with Colossus Smash, Warlord's Torment, and several bleed enhancing talents, though it does have an awkward effect on the rotation, requiring Rend and Deep Wounds (via Mortal Strike) to be reapplied after each use.

Maintained by Mortal Strike, Colossus Smash, Bladestorm, and Cleave, keeping Deep Wounds on the target or targets is paramount to maximizing damage, as it can significantly increase the damage taken from your abilities. Because the debuff lasts a minimum of 12 seconds, this should happen naturally throughout the rotation, but when facing multiple targets, take care to keep the debuff on as many targets as possible for maximum benefit.

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 is paramount, both for damage and 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.

This is far less of a concern in Dragonflight than it has been in the past, however, as both high gear and new talents have significantly inflated Arms' Rage economy. In many cases, this can result in it being difficult to spend Rage faster than it is generated, and so it is often worth prioritizing spending Rage on Execute or Slam over using Overpower as a free filler.

A small optimization 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 be also be used to create enough room to Charge for bosses with large hitboxes.

Warriors have several active tools through Charge and Heroic Leap that allow for instant movement across large distances. Finding ways to maximize your uptime on a target through the intelligent use of these is crucial, as downtime is extremely detrimental to the flow of the rotation. The talents Double Time and Bounding Stride are particularly useful in any encounter which demands heavy movement.

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.

Arms also brings Battle Shout, increasing all party and raid members Attack Power by 5%, which should be applied before combat begins. 5% Attack Power translates to roughly 5% damage for melee classes and Hunters. However, the actual impact is slightly reduced due to the prevalence of non-scaling sources of damage, such as trinkets and potions.

For information about Mythic+ as an Arms Warrior and the rotation you need to use in this game mode, please refer to our Mythic+ page.

WeakAuras can tremendously affect your performance, helping you track important buffs, debuffs, and cooldowns. Since this is a broad topic, we dedicated a page to it.