Arms Warrior PvP Talents and Builds (Dragonflight 10.2)
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.
Regular Talents for Arms Warriors
(META) Thunderclap / Shockwave build for Arms Warriors
Spear of Bastion / Shockwave burst build for Arms Warriors
Important Choice Nodes
Wrecking Throw /
Shattering Throw: This node comes down to whether or
not the enemy has magical immunities, such as
Divine Shield or
Ice Block.
If they do, pick
Shattering Throw, otherwise use
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 /
Warlord's Torment: The most damage you can
get here is
Warlord's Torment, as you have a lot of other effects that increase your
critical damage, and
Anger Management benefits greatly from this talent. In a
Bladestorm focused build, you can pick
Blademaster's Torment instead.
Blunt Instruments /
Warbreaker: Whether you
will hit cleave damage is a simple choice.
Warbreaker for cleave and
Blunt Instruments
for single target.
Storm Wall /
Ignore Pain: The clear winner here is
Ignore Pain.
As Arms, you have a high amount of excess rage that you can spend, allowing this talent
to increase your durability immensely.
Improved Sweeping Strikes /
Strength of Arms: This node comes down to
whether you can take advantage of
Sweeping Strikes or not. It is your most potent
damage increase, but if there is nothing to cleave, you should go with
Strength of Arms.
Blood and Thunder /
Crackling Thunder: You should always choose
Blood and Thunder
in this node, as it allows you to apply and spread
Rend, for major damage gains.
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 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 is a very strong talent, that provides an additional wall
for your team, in addition to slightly more short-term mobility for you.
Situational PvP Talents
Storm of Destruction reduces the cooldown of your
Bladestorm to 1 minute, which is great for a build that involves
Blademaster's Torment.
Battlefield Commander has strong benefits and is your go-to when
you require no additional utility.
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, 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.
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.
Master and Commander also benefits from
Inspiring Presence.
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 or a Death Knight from using
Death Strike
Duel is a powerful alternative vs. enemies that cannot be CC'd with
Disarm. Good times to pick this talent are vs
Retribution Paladin, Destruction Warlock, and
Feral Druid.
Demolition has been 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, but not worth considering with
Shattering Throw.
This talent is recommended to pick up against
Destruction Warlock and Affliction Warlock
for their
Dark Pact and Mistweaver Monk for their
Life Cocoon.
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.
Changelog
- 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.
Other PvP Guides
This guide has been written by Karanze, an experienced Gladiator Warrior player who has been a Stormforged/trusted member in the popular Warrior class discord Skyhold. You can watch his stream on Twitch.
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