Arms Warrior DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Dragonflight 10.0.7
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 — Dragonflight 10.0.7.
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Arms Warrior rotation.
Arms Warrior Rotation
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.
Easy Mode
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.
PvP
The content on this page is purely PvE-related. If you are looking for PvP Rotation Tips, please visit our PvP page below.
Arms Warrior Single-Target Rotation
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 |
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This rotation focuses on the period above 35% health before Execute takes over the rotation, as noted in the following section.
- Cast
Rend if less than 4 seconds remain on the debuff.
- Cast
Avatar simultaneously with Colossus Smash or Warbreaker.
- Cast
Colossus Smash.
- Cast
Mortal Strike.
- Cast
Spear of Bastion during Colossus Smash.
- Cast
Thunderous Roar during Colossus Smash or Test of Might.
- Cast
Skullsplitter near the start of Colossus Smash to trigger
Tide of Blood.
- Cast
Overpower with two charges off cooldown.
- Cast
Ignore Pain as an off global rage dump.
- Cast
Whirlwind as a large rage dump.
- Cast
Thunder Clap as a rage dump, which also reapplies Rend.
- Cast
Slam as a regular rage dump.
- Cast
Overpower with only one charge off cooldown.
- 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 Phase
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.
- Cast
Rend if less than 4 seconds remains on the debuff.
- Cast
Avatar simultaneously with Colossus Smash or Warbreaker.
- Cast
Colossus Smash.
Spear of Bastion during Colossus Smash.
- Cast
Thunderous Roar during Test of Might or In for the Kill.
- Cast
Ignore Pain as an off global rage dump.
- Cast
Overpower below 40 rage.
- Cast
Skullsplitter when below 40 Rage.
- Cast
Mortal Strike to maintain Deep Wounds or at 2 stacks of Executioner's Precision.
- Cast
Execute as the primary Rage spender.
- 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.
Opening Rotation for Arms Warrior
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.
Multiple-Target Rotation for Arms Warrior
2-3 Targets
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.
- Cast
Sweeping Strikes immediately before
Colossus Smash.
- Cast
Colossus Smash.
- Cast
Spear of Bastion during Colossus Smash.
- Cast
Thunderous Roar during Test of Might or In for the Kill.
- Cast
Skullsplitter to trigger Tide of Blood.
- Cast
Bladestorm during Test of Might or the Colossus Smash debuff.
- Cast
Cleave.
- Cast
Mortal Strike.
- Cast
Overpower.
- Cast
Whirlwind as a filler.
3+ Targets
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.
- Cast
Warbreaker.
- Cast
Spear of Bastion during Colossus Smash.
- Cast
Thunderous Roar during Test of Might or In for the Kill.
- Cast
Bladestorm during the Colossus Smash debuff.
- Cast
Sweeping Strikes when less than 4 targets are remaining or when priority damage is needed, preferrably within Execute range.
- Cast
Cleave.
- Cast
Overpower as a filler.
- 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.
Mastering your Arms Warrior
Aligning Cooldowns
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
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
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
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.
Managing Deep Wounds
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.
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 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.
Heroic Charge
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.
Movement and Mobility
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.
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.
Group Buffs
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.
Mythic+ Rotation
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 for Arms Warriors
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.
Changelog
- 20 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7 with better default checkboxes.
- 27 Feb. 2023: Fixed misnaming of Bladestorm.
- 02 Feb. 2023: Updated rotation tool.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Fix talent selector formatting.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 18 Nov. 2022: Update Fervor of Battle use and description.
- 09 Nov. 2022: Corrected Overpower's position in the rotation.
- 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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