Arms Warrior PvP Talents and Builds — The War Within (Season 1)

Last updated on Sep 09, 2024 at 18:00 by Karanze 21 comments

Choosing the right PvP and PvE talents is a prerequisite to proper performance in PvP. This guide goes through the various talent choices available to you as an Arms Warrior and gives you the best combinations you can take.

This page is part of our Arms Warrior PvP Guide.

1.

Regular Talents for Arms Warriors

2.

The War Within PvP Talent Builds for Arms Warrior in Arena

Colossus - Thunderous Roar Arms Warrior Colossus - Champion's Spear Arms Warrior Slayer - Thunderous Roar Arms Warrior
3.

Colossus Arms Warrior focuses on delivering fatal damage with Demolish Icon Demolish. This build gains increased durability thanks to No Stranger to Pain Icon No Stranger to Pain and Mountain of Muscle and Scars Icon Mountain of Muscle and Scars, and focuses heavily on dealing sustained damage through Mortal Strike Icon Mortal Strike and Overpower Icon Overpower.

There are several talents in the Arms Warrior tree that you will want to change regularly based on matchups, which are:

  • Wrecking Throw Icon Wrecking Throw / Shattering Throw Icon Shattering Throw: This node comes down to whether or not the enemy has magical immunities, such as Divine Shield Icon Divine Shield or Ice Block Icon Ice Block. If they do, pick Shattering Throw Icon Shattering Throw; otherwise, use Wrecking Throw Icon Wrecking Throw for shield breaking, and if the enemy team has none of both, skip this node and pick something else in the talent tree.
  • Blunt Instruments Icon Blunt Instruments / Warbreaker Icon Warbreaker: Whether you will hit cleave damage is a simple choice. Warbreaker Icon Warbreaker for cleave and Blunt Instruments Icon Blunt Instruments for single target.
  • Storm Wall Icon Storm Wall / Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain: The clear winner here is Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain. As Arms, you have a high amount of excess rage that you can spend, allowing this talent to increase your durability immensely.
  • Berserker Shout Icon Berserker Shout / Piercing Howl Icon Piercing Howl: Both are situational and really powerful. You should default to Piercing Howl Icon Piercing Howl but choose Berserker Shout Icon Berserker Shout in situations where you can break fears with cooldowns on your healer, such as Intimidating Shout Icon Intimidating Shout or Psychic Scream Icon Psychic Scream, reliably, or if you're confident you will have full uptime on your target.
  • Dreadnaught Icon Dreadnaught / Strength of Arms Icon Strength of Arms: You will want to pick Strength of Arms Icon Strength of Arms in all situations.

Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!

4.

Colossus - Champion's Spear Arms Warrior

Colossus Arms Warrior focuses on delivering fatal damage with Demolish Icon Demolish and locking people up in Champion's Spear Icon Champion's Spear to enhance it and guarantee the damage. This build gains increased durability thanks to No Stranger to Pain Icon No Stranger to Pain and Mountain of Muscle and Scars Icon Mountain of Muscle and Scars, and focuses heavily on dealing sustained damage through Mortal Strike Icon Mortal Strike and Overpower Icon Overpower.

There are several talents in the Arms Warrior tree that you will want to change regularly based on matchups, which are:

  • Wrecking Throw Icon Wrecking Throw / Shattering Throw Icon Shattering Throw: This node comes down to whether or not the enemy has magical immunities, such as Divine Shield Icon Divine Shield or Ice Block Icon Ice Block. If they do, pick Shattering Throw Icon Shattering Throw; otherwise, use Wrecking Throw Icon Wrecking Throw for shield breaking, and if the enemy team has none of both, skip this node and pick something else in the talent tree.
  • Blademaster's Torment Icon Blademaster's Torment / Warlord's Torment Icon Warlord's Torment: The most damage you can get here is Warlord's Torment Icon Warlord's Torment, as you have a lot of other effects that increase your critical damage, and Anger Management Icon Anger Management benefits greatly from this talent. Blademaster's Torment Icon Blademaster's Torment offers more damage in cleave situations, but you want that extra critical strike chance from Warlord's Torment Icon Warlord's Torment on your Demolish Icon Demolish for the burst damage.
  • Blunt Instruments Icon Blunt Instruments / Warbreaker Icon Warbreaker: Whether you will hit cleave damage is a simple choice. Warbreaker Icon Warbreaker for cleave and Blunt Instruments Icon Blunt Instruments for single target.
  • Storm Wall Icon Storm Wall / Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain: The clear winner here is Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain. As Arms, you have a high amount of excess rage that you can spend, allowing this talent to increase your durability immensely.
  • Berserker Shout Icon Berserker Shout / Piercing Howl Icon Piercing Howl: Both are situational and really powerful. You should default to Piercing Howl Icon Piercing Howl but choose Berserker Shout Icon Berserker Shout in situations where you can break fears with cooldowns on your healer, such as Intimidating Shout Icon Intimidating Shout or Psychic Scream Icon Psychic Scream, reliably, or if you're confident you will have full uptime on your target.
  • Dreadnaught Icon Dreadnaught / Strength of Arms Icon Strength of Arms: You will want to pick Strength of Arms Icon Strength of Arms in all situations.

Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!

5.

Slayer - Thunderous Roar Arms Warrior

Slayer Arms Warrior is a build that focuses largely on big sustained damage. It can deliver some powerful Execute Icon Executes and focuses largely on high cleave damage and dps. Exchanging Champion's Spear Icon Champion's Spear for Thunderous Roar Icon Thunderous Roar will see larger dps gains, especially on cleave, but can be lacking when it comes to burst damage, in addition to not having that extra durability from going Colossus. Slayer is still a viable build that can be strong when pressure and dampening are your win condition.

There are several talents in the Arms Warrior tree that you will want to change regularly based on matchups, which are:

  • Wrecking Throw Icon Wrecking Throw / Shattering Throw Icon Shattering Throw: This node comes down to whether or not the enemy has magical immunities, such as Divine Shield Icon Divine Shield or Ice Block Icon Ice Block. If they do, pick Shattering Throw Icon Shattering Throw, otherwise use Wrecking Throw Icon Wrecking Throw for shield breaking, and if the enemy team has none of both, skip this node and pick something else in the talent tree.
  • Blunt Instruments Icon Blunt Instruments / Warbreaker Icon Warbreaker: Whether you will hit cleave damage is a simple choice. Warbreaker Icon Warbreaker for cleave and Blunt Instruments Icon Blunt Instruments for single target.
  • Storm Wall Icon Storm Wall / Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain: The clear winner here is Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain. As Arms, you have a high amount of excess rage that you can spend, allowing this talent to increase your durability immensely.
  • Berserker Shout Icon Berserker Shout / Piercing Howl Icon Piercing Howl: Both are situational and really powerful. You should default to Piercing Howl Icon Piercing Howl, but choose Berserker Shout Icon Berserker Shout in situations where you can break fears with cooldowns on your healer, such as Intimidating Shout Icon Intimidating Shout or Psychic Scream Icon Psychic Scream, reliably, or if you're confident you will have full uptime on your target.
  • Dreadnaught Icon Dreadnaught / Strength of Arms Icon Strength of Arms: You will want to pick Strength of Arms Icon Strength of Arms in all situations.

Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!

5.1.

Mandatory PvP Talents

You can choose 3 of the following PvP talents. Each has uses, but some are better for certain matchups than others.

Sharpen Blade Icon Sharpen Blade is the only mandatory talent. This ability is essential for landing killing blows. It is a great way to drain Mana from the enemy healer quickly.

Be sure not to use this ability when the enemy is at full health but rather as a follow-up to a CC chain or when you suspect the enemy healer will use bigger healing cooldowns or abilities.

Safeguard Icon Safeguard is a very strong talent that provides an additional wall for your team, in addition to slightly more short-term mobility for you.

5.2.

Situational PvP Talents

Battlefield Commander Icon Battlefield Commander lost a lot of power with the nerfs and no longer roots through Piercing Howl Icon Piercing Howl. It's still a strong pick if you have Thunderous Roar Icon Thunderous Roar talented.

War Banner Icon War Banner is compelling vs. teams with a lot of crowd control, like RMP (Rogue/Mage/Priest) or Jungle Cleave (Feral Druid/Hunter/Priest). Timed correctly, this ability alone can completely ruin the enemy team's setup and cooldowns. In Patch 9.2, this ability now also works on Disarm Icon Disarm, and has made it, so it is a lot more beneficial to use this ability offensively as well to cover your major offensive cooldowns such as Warbreaker Icon Warbreaker.

Master and Commander Icon Master and Commander received nerfs. It is not worth considering in an arena environment as it offers less defensive power than the other PvP talents. This PvP talent shines in the Rated Battleground bracket, and you should consider bringing it with you there.

Disarm Icon Disarm has a short cooldown and can completely ruin the damage of weapon-based classes like Frost DK or Subtlety Rogue. This ability can even be used offensively vs. specializations that require weapons for their defensives, such as stopping another Arms Warrior from using Die by the Sword Icon Die by the Sword or a Death Knight from using Death Strike Icon Death Strike

Duel Icon Duel is a powerful alternative vs. enemies that cannot be CC'd with Disarm Icon Disarm. Good times to pick this talent are vs Retribution Paladin, Destruction Warlock, and Feral Druid.

Storm of Destruction Icon Storm of Destruction received nerfs, and Bladestorm Icon Bladestorm in itself is not very powerful at the moment. This talent you should only consider picking up if you are going to chase Restoration Druid to reapply the slow for whenever they shift form.

Demolition Icon Demolition was changed in Dragonflight to give less of a damage increase and reduce the cooldown of your throws by 50%. It is potent with Wrecking Throw Icon Wrecking Throw, but not worth considering with Shattering Throw Icon Shattering Throw. This talent is recommended to pick up against Destruction Warlock and Affliction Warlock for their Dark Pact Icon Dark Pact and Mistweaver Monk for their Life Cocoon Icon Life Cocoon.

Death Sentence Icon Death Sentence is a vital talent that gives you a little bit extra mobility, and can be good to have if you feel like you do not need other talents in a given situation.

6.

Changelog

  • 09 Sep. 2024: Updated for The War Within Season 1.
  • 21 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within
  • 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within Pre-Patch.
  • 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
  • 22 Apr. 2024: Updated for Season 4
  • 19 Mar. 2024: Updated for Patch 10.2.6
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Updated for Patch 10.2.5
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.7.
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5
  • 09 May 2023: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.1.
  • 21 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 30 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
  • 22 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
  • 31 Jul. 2022: Updated for Shadowlands season 4.
  • 31 May 2022: Reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
  • 09 Apr. 2022: Updated to reflect the changing meta.
  • 28 Feb. 2022: Page reviewed and approved for Patch 9.2.
  • 08 Nov. 2021: Page reviewed for Patch 9.1.5.
  • 13 Oct. 2021: Adjusted recommended talents.
  • 02 Jul. 2021: Updated for Patch 9.1.
  • 16 May 2021: Updated Mandatory PvP Talents.
  • 27 Dec. 2020: Rewritten by Karanze for Shadowlands Season 1
  • 29 Nov. 2020: Removed outdated Traits and Essences.
  • 26 Oct. 2020: Updated Talent Table.
  • 14 Oct. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands pre-patch.
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