Arms Warrior DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — Shadowlands 9.2.5
On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Arms Warrior in World of Warcraft — Shadowlands 9.2.5. We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+. If you play with Warmode on, we have your PvP talents covered as well.
If you were looking for WoW Classic content, please refer to our TBC Classic Arms Warrior talents.
Talent Choices for Arms Warrior
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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Talents can be freely changed when out of combat and in a rested XP area
(such as an inn or a capital city). Moreover, Tome of the Still Mind and
Codex of the Still Mind can be used to temporarily allow players to change
talents anywhere, as long as they are out of combat.
Talent Cheat Sheet for Arms Warrior
While changing talents to match the situation is highly recommended, the following builds are set up to handle the most common encounter types, with secondary/optional choices detailed.
There are multiple talents that require a change to your rotation in order to use them optimally. You can find more information on how your rotation will look after selecting your talents on our rotation page below.
Open World, Levelling and Questing
This build smooths out and speeds up the intermittent combat common with open world content. There is a lot of room for customization for extra healing, mobility, burst, or simplification. Due to the nature of infrequent combat, it is one of the few places that Sudden Death, Deadly Calm, and Dreadnaught shine.
- Level 15:
War Machine
- Level 25:
Double Time
- Level 30:
Massacre
- Level 35:
Second Wind/
Bounding Stride
- Level 40:
Warbreaker
- Level 45:
Deadly Calm
- Level 50:
Dreadnaught
Dungeons and Mythic Plus
Dungeons and Mythic Plus largely revolve around burst multitarget damage,
and continually killing enemies as you move from pack to pack. Storm Bolt and
Bounding Stride are optional, depending on your need for stuns, extra
mobility, or survivability. Although the legendary
Signet of Tormented Kings normally values Ravager, Bladestorm and
Dreadnaught are much better suited to dungeons.
- Level 15:
Sudden Death
- Level 25:
Double Time/
Storm Bolt
- Level 30:
Rend
- Level 35:
Defensive Stance
- Level 40:
Warbreaker
- Level 45:
Avatar
- Level 50:
Dreadnaught
Mythic+ can potentially require a mix of certain AoE and Single-Target talents, depending on affixes and other variables. If you want advice that is specific to Mythic+, you should check out our page below.
Single-Target Raid Encounters
This build is ideal for sustained single-target, most commonly found in
raid encounters. As boss fights often have varied mechanics, there are often
situations in which alternative talents such as Second Wind may be
worthwhile.
- Level 15:
Sudden Death
- Level 25:
Double Time
- Level 30:
Rend
- Level 35:
Defensive Stance/
Bounding Stride
- Level 40:
Warbreaker
- Level 45:
Avatar
- Level 50:
Dreadnaught
The builds suggested above do not reflect every individual encounter in the current raid tier. If you wish to have a boss-by-boss breakdown of talent choices, you should check out our dedicated page below.
Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents for Arms Warrior
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Tier 1 talents improve Rage generation.
War Machine causes autoattacks to generate 10% more Rage with each swing. Additionally, movement speed is increased by 30% for 8 seconds and 10 Rage is generated every time an enemy target is killed.
Sudden Death causes your attacks to have a chance to allow
Execute to be used on targets above 20% health and cost no Rage, but still deal damage as if it spent 40.
Skullsplitter grants an additional activated abiility which deals moderate damage and generates 20 Rage on a 21 second hasted cooldown.
War Machine value depends on the frequency of add deaths; in
general, you need roughly one kill every 8 seconds to keep up with the
Rage from
Skullsplitter in sustained combat, making it more
suitable for open world and dungeon content where you can quickly chain kills.
Unlike
Victory Rush, it does not require getting the killing blow
yourself, only damaging the target within two seconds of its death.
Sudden Death adds proc-based gameplay and is exceptional when
paired with
Condemn from the Venthyr covenant.
Skullsplitter used to be the best talent for sustaining the rotation and
filling global cooldowns, as it gives you Rage when you actually need it, but
as stat inflation has increased the amount of passive Rage generation, it is
no longer necessary to maintain the rotation. Although it can hit a second
target with
Sweeping Strikes, doing so will not generate extra Rage.
Tier 2 (Level 25) Talents for Arms Warrior
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Tier 2 talents provide additional control and mobility options.
Double Time adds a second use of
Charge, and reduces its cooldown from 20 to 17 seconds.
Impending Victory replaces
Victory Rush with a new active ability which spends 10 Rage to heal 40% of your maximum health, on a 25 second cooldown. Getting a killing blow will reset its cooldown.
Storm Bolt grants an active ability with a 20-yard range which deals trivial damage and stuns the target.
Double Time is the go-to choice for both the extra mobility and
Rage generation.
Impending Victory is very useful in situations which require
in-combat healing, given that Arms lacks self-healing outside of talents and
killing blows. The damage is surprisingly efficient, though not enough to
outweigh using Charge more frequently. In group situations, the extra healing
is not typically needed, making it a strong but seldom used talent.
Storm Bolt is situationally useful in both dungeons and PvP content.
Tier 3 (Level 30) Talents for Arms Warrior
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Tier 3 talents customize the rotation.
Massacre allows
Execute to be used on targets below 35%, instead of 20%.
Fervor of Battle causes
Whirlwind to cast a free
Slam against the primary target.
Rend grants an additional active ability which costs 30 Rage to apply a 15 second bleed DoT on the target.
Massacre is extremely potent when paired with
Condemn from the Venthyr covenant, although it loses
to Rend in pure single target without.
Fervor of Battle effectively replaces
Slam with
Whirlwind, filling less global cooldowns due to the higher Rage
cost, but dealing more damage with each. The automatic Slam does not cost Rage
or trigger
Tactician, but will hit your second target during
Sweeping Strikes.
Rend is a maintenance debuff which deals consistent damage over
time. It can be applied to two targets simultaneously with
Sweeping Strikes, and can be refreshed early to increase the
duration of the new debuff by up to 30% of the original duration, allowing a 20
second long follow up Rend debuff. It is currently very strong in single
target, though too Rage intensive to reliably maintain against multiple
targets.
Tier 4 (Level 35) Talents for Arms Warrior
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Tier 4 talents provide additional defensive and mobility.
Second Wind causes you to restore 6% of your maximum health every second when you have not taken damage for 5 seconds.
Bounding Stride grants 70% movement speed for 3 seconds when you use
Heroic Leap, and reduce its cooldown by 15 seconds.
Defensive Stance grants an additional active ability that reduces all damage taken by 20%, but also reducing all damage you deal by 10%. This has a 10-second cooldown to switch the stance on and off.
Second Wind is typically not used in group content due to the
activation time, but a surprising number of environmental damage effects during
boss encounters will not interrupt the heal. Great in open world content,
allowing you to quickly heal between combats.
Bounding Stride is useful in general gameplay, but only
practical in raid encounters which actually require you to leap more often
than normal.
Defensive Stance provides on-demand damage mitigation, perfect for
frequent or predictable damage spikes, although it does lock you into the
stance for a few seconds, lowering damage output during that time.
Tier 5 (Level 40) Talents for Arms Warrior
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Tier 5 talents are situational multitarget enhancements.
Collateral Damage causes
Whirlwind to deal 25% increased damage for each ability cleaved onto a second target during
Sweeping Strikes.
Warbreaker replaces
Colossus Smash with an AoE version of the same ability and effect.
Cleave grants an additional activated ability which strikes all targets in a frontal cone damage and inflicts
Deep Wounds, while also benefitting from
Overpower.
Collateral Damage is a quirky ability which is somewhat difficult
to find a strong use case for, but mainly resides within the two-target
niche. The follow up
Whirlwind can be buffed considerably, and
even strike multiple targets for additional damage, although you are more
likely to use one of the other talents in situations with more than two
targets.
Warbreaker synergizes very well with
Bladestorm for
burst AoE, and applies
Deep Wounds, making it the best and easiest
talent to use when facing multiple targets.
Cleave has the highest sustained multitarget damage potential,
while also maintaining
Deep Wounds, while would make it the talent of
choice when constantly facing multiple targets, although the ease of applying Deep
Wounds through other makes it unnecessary and therefore less used than Warbreaker.
Tier 6 (Level 45) Talents for Arms Warrior
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Tier 6 talents improve and add additional cooldowns.
In For The Kill causes
Colossus Smash to grant 10% Haste for 8 seconds when cast.
Avatar is an active ability with a 90 second cooldown. It causes you to generate 20 Rage, deal 20% increased damage for 20 seconds, and activating Avatar removes all roots and snares.
Deadly Calm is an active ability with a 60 second cooldown which passively increases maximum Rage by 30 and when activated makes the next four abilities with a Rage cost free.
In For The Kill increases the number of global cooldowns,
autoattack swings, and Rage generated during
Colossus Smash. Combines
best with
Anger Management for higher uptime, but neither talent is
particularly competitive currently.
Avatar offers increased burst potential, particularly in
combination with
Warbreaker and
Bladestorm, but it
really shines when using the legendary power
Signet of Tormented Kings
in order to trigger more frequent buffs.
Deadly Calm creates burst windows, and is particularly powerful when
paired with
Condemn from the Venthyr covenant. The
increased Rage cap is interesting, but not incredibly impactful, as Arms
rarely approaches maximum Rage anyway, but it adds an extra buffer
nonetheless.
Tier 7 (Level 50) Talents for Arms Warrior
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Tier 7 talents improve cooldowns.
Anger Management reduces the cooldown of
Colossus Smash and
Bladestorm by 1 second for every 20 Rage spent.
Dreadnaught adds a second charge to
Overpower and causes it to unleash a damaging wave in front of the Warrior.
Ravager replaces
Bladestorm with a targetable, stationary AoE effect which deals damage and inflicts
Deep Wounds over 12 seconds and inflicts
Deep Wounds on a 45 second cooldown. It also generates 7 Rage per hit up to 49 Rage.
Anger Management reduces the cooldown of
Colossus Smash to
25-30 seconds and
Bladestorm to 60-70 seconds, depending on Rage
generation and Haste, making it great for lining up burst AoE, but no longer
the best option for sustained damage.
Dreadnaught is the best talent for multitarget, allowing smoother
use of
Overpower, with the second charge reducing
Tactician
proc waste, while the projected shockwave adds additional multitarget damage. It
is currently very strong in all types of content, particularly when used with
Sweeping Strikes to create two shockwaves.
Ravager is fairly weak for its intended purpose and not
currently used in any competitive content.
PvP Talents (War Mode)
Enabling "War Mode" enables the following effects in open world content:
- Flagged for PvP, regardless of your server.
- PvP talents enabled in the open world.
- 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level.
- 10% more experience gained while leveling.
- Earn Conquest Points which can reward gear every week.
These benefits are always active when doing open world activities, meaning it can be quite lucrative to keep the feature enabled while leveling and doing max level content for greater rewards. However, you will be flagged for PvP and sharded with other players who also have War Mode enabled, which adds a risk of being attacked or killed by the opposing faction, which can potentially slow you down and outweigh the benefits. Therefore, you should only use War Mode if you are comfortable engaging in World PvP.
PvP Talents (War Mode)
Since Battle for Azeroth, you have the option to go into "War Mode". Enabling War Mode provides the following benefits:
- PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world;
- 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level;
- 10% more experience gained while leveling;
- earn Conquest Points which can reward gear every week.
With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended to enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level. However, you will make yourself available for open world PvP, and the possibility to be "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.
Arms Warrior PvP Talents
Shadow of the Colossus jumpstarts the rotation by ensuring
Overpower is always available and you have enough Rage to follow it up with other attacks.
Storm of Destruction allows
Bladestorm to be used more frequently, boosting single and multitarget damage considerably.
Sharpen Blade adds a separate off global cooldown buff which synergizes well with
Overpower to increase the damage of
Mortal Strike considerably.
Death Sentence and
War Banner offer increased
mobility, which can be useful, but too situational to be practical in a PvE
setting.
Master and Commander,
Spell Reflection,
Disarm, and
Duel can be situationally strong defensive
options, but are not typically necessary or useful in PvE content.
Changelog
- 31 May 2022: Page reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
- 21 Feb. 2022: Page reviewed and approved for Patch 9.2.
- 01 Nov. 2021: Updated Impending Victory description for Patch 9.1.5
- 28 Jun. 2021: Updated for Patch 9.1.
- 09 Mar. 2021: Removed Fervor of Battle from dungeon talent recommendations.
- 30 Jan. 2021: Updated recommendations and added more clarification based on covenant and legendary choices.
- 07 Dec. 2020: Updated talent descriptions to reflect the value of Signet of Tormented Kings.
- 23 Nov. 2020: Updated talent recommendations and descriptions for Shadowlands launch.
- 14 Oct. 2020: Adjusted recommended talent graphics.
- 12 Oct. 2020: Page updated for the Shadowlands 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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