[EN] Warrior Arms 5.4.8 Pve Guide

[Evydence]

Summary:
1. Introduction
2. Why Warrior Arms?
3. Patch notes
4. Race choice
5. Stats priority
6. Talents
7. Glyphs
8. Gems
9. Enchants
10. Professions
11. Rotation
12. BIS Gear dungeons
13. BIS Gear raids (First phase)
15. Macros
16. Addons





1.Introduction
Mist of Pandaria already made its appearance on our server, and warriors are almost at their full potential.



2. Why Warrior Arms?
Well for connoisseurs of cataclysm, Arms spec is unchanged (75%), with small changes in different sections like mastery, talents, etc.
But it still remains a very pleasant spec and also very strong, and he currently reach the # 1 spot in the recount and the sustain that it offers is incredibly high.



3. Patch notes

*I've selected only the notes that are connected with Arms spec.*
Patch 5.0.4:

Spoiler:

The design of Rage has changed to function more like a valuable resource.
Warriors no longer naturally gain Rage from taking damage, but instead generate Rage with their primary attacks, such as Mortal Strike, Bloodthirst, and Shield Slam.
Stances also now share a single action bar, rather than changing your action bar, and abilities are no longer restricted by stance.
In addition, the benefits of the stances have changed considerably, with Berserker Stance allowing the warrior to gain some Rage from taking damage, Battle Stance making the warrior gain additional Rage from dealing damage, and Defensive Stance focused on survivability.

Patch 5.1.0:

Spoiler:

Taste for Blood will now stack up to 3 times in PvP. It will continue to stack to 5 in other situations.
Avatar no longer grants immunity to movement impairing effects, and instead now instantly breaks movement impairing effects. This ability also no longer generates addiitonal Rage while active. Its duration has increased to 24 seconds (was 20 seconds).
The cooldown of Intimidating Shout has increased to 90 seconds, up from 60 seconds.
The silence provided by Glyph of Gag Order is no longer effective against players.

Patch 5.2.0:

Spoiler:

The benefit of Haste from items and consumables has been increased by 50% for all Warriors.
Bladestorm now provides immunity to disarm while active.
Defensive Stance now reduces damage by 15% (was 25%).
Execute now deals 15% less damage.
Shockwave now has a 40-second cooldown (was 20 seconds), and striking 3 or more targets will reduce its cooldown by 20 seconds.
Second Wind now generates 15 rage (was 20 rage) over 10 seconds.
Warbringer now reduces the target's movement by 50% for 15 seconds (8 seconds in PvP), in addition to its other effects. The 3-second stun/knockdown is now in the diminishing returns category for stuns (same as Shockwave and Storm Bolt), and not the proc stun diminishing returns category.
Shield Barrier now scales approximately 10% less efficiently with attack power.
Storm Bolt now deals 125% weapon damage (was 100%).
Enraged Regeneration now costs 30 Rage (was 60 Rage).
Deadly Calm has been removed from the game.
Glyph of Incite no longer activates from Deadly Calm, and now activates from Demoralizing Shout instead.
Glyph of Overpower is now Glyph of Die by the Sword. It increases the duration of Die by the Sword whenever Overpower or Wild Strike are used.
Glyph of Death from Above no longer increases the damage dealt by Heroic Leap.
Impending Victory will now heal the Warrior for 15% of maximum health when they have not slain an enemy (was 10%).

• Arms:
Taste for Blood has been redesigned. It now causes the Warrior to gain 2 stacks of Overpower (maximum of 5 stacks) when Mortal Strike deals damage, 1 stack when the target dodges, and no longer interacts with Heroic Strike. It now requires level 20 (used to require level 50).
Slam now deals 220% weapon damage (was 190%) and now costs 20 rage (was 30 rage).
Deep Wounds damage has been increased by 100% for Arms Warriors.
Whirlwind now costs 20 rage (was 30) for Arms Warriors. The cost is unchanged for Fury Warriors.
Overpower now costs 10 rage and reduces Mortal Strike's remaining cooldown by 0.5 seconds.
Sudden Death now has a 10% (was 20%) chance to activate from auto attacks or Opportunity Strike. In addition, using Execute makes Overpower free for 10 seconds.

Patch 5.3.0:

Spoiler:

• General:
◾ Defensive Stance now decreases damage taken by 25%, up from 15%.
◾ Shield Wall's cooldown has been reduced to 3 minutes, down from 5 minutes.

• Talents:
Enraged Regeneration no longer costs rage to use, instantly heals the Warrior for 5% of their total health, and healing an additional 5% over 5 seconds. Using the ability while Enraged doubles the healing effects to 10% of the Warrior's total health and an additional 10% over 5 seconds.
Second Wind no longer generates rage when the Warrior is struck by a Stun or Immobilize effect. ◾ Arms and Fury Warriors receive a passive ability that enables them to generate rage when struck by a Stun or Immobilize effect at level 56.
Spell Reflection is no longer consumed by spells from player pets and guardians.
Vigilance now resets the cooldown on Taunt in addition to its current effects.

• Arms:
Sweeping Strikes no longer causes Resilience to decrease damage to secondary targets incorrectly when the original target's damage has already been decreased by Resilience.

Patch 5.4.0:

Spoiler:

• General:
Battle, Berserker and Defensive Stance [alternative: Warrior Stances] now have a 1.5-second cooldown (down from 3 seconds).
Blood and Thunder now also increases the damage of Thunder Clap by 50%.
Deep Wounds damage has been increased by 65%.
Enrage now also triggers on critical hits from Devastate and Shield Slam.
Hamstring is no longer on a global cooldown.
Intervene now also breaks roots and snares when used.
Shattering Throw no longer costs rage.
Shield Wall no longer requires a shield. If the Warrior does not have a shield equipped, it will show a visual of an equipped shield.
Spell Reflection no longer requires a shield. If the Warrior does not have a shield equipped, it will show a visual of an equipped shield.

• Arms:
Mortal Strike now deals 215% of weapon damage (up from 175%).
Seasoned Soldier now also reduces the cost of Thunder Clap by 10 Rage.
Slam now deals 25% more damage, but the Rage cost has been increased by 25% as well. While Sweeping Strikes is active, Slam will deal 35% of damage dealt against the primary target to all other enemies within 2 yards, and targets affected by Colossus Smash receives 10% more damage.

Patch 5.4.2:

Spoiler:

• General:
Intervene no longer removes movement-impairing effects on use. The talent Safeguard will continue to remove movement-impairing effects.
Improved checks on pathing for Intervene and Safeguard to address situations where Warriors may wind up under the terrain.

Patch 5.4.7:

Spoiler:

• General:
Disrupting Shout and Pummel now both share a 15-second cooldown when either ability is used. Disrupting Shout's 40-second cooldown remains unchanged but the ability will be unavailable for 15 seconds after using Pummel.

*Patch notes from 5.4.0 and 5.4.0 raised the Arms spec raised quite a lot, giving him a chance to compete with Fury spec at some extent.





4. Race choice

Doing this guide I focused on top classes (I know that each race gives you something in part):
Horde:
1. Orc :
-Blood Fury (wowhead link) wich give us 4514 attack power with a 2 minutes CD, best choice, we also have
-Axe Specialization (wowhead link) 1% expertise on axe, and we can reforge from that after we hit the expertise cap.
2. Troll :
-Berserking (wowhead link) Pretty decent sustain immediately after BloodLust/Timewarp (wowhead link), still it's not as good as the orc racial.
3. Epicurean (wowhead link) double the food effect.


Alliance:
1. Worgen :
-Viciousness (wowhead link) 1% crit, best choice for a warrior.
2. Draenei :
-Heroic Presence (wowhead link) it's good for making the hit cap.
3. Epicurean (wowhead link) double the food effect.
4. Human :
- Sword Specialization 1% expertise from sword, and we can reforge from that after we hit the expertise cap.
- Mace specialization 1% expertise from mace, and we can reforge from that after we hit the expertise cap.
5. Dwarf :
- Mace specialization 1% expertise from mace, and we can reforge from that after we hit the expertise cap.





5. Stats priority
Hit/expertise cap (7.5%)> Crit > Haste=Mastery





6. Talents




Tier 1

Double Time (wowhead link) best choice, it's give us a lot of mobility in fight with adds and multi bosses.
Warbringer (wowhead link) is not as good as the double charge, most used in PvP.
Juggernaut (wowhead link) reduce the cooldown of charge from 20 seconds to 12, you can also choose this talent.

Tier 2

Second Wind (wowhead link) best talent from this tier, it's give us a better survibibility.
The other 2 talents are most used for a protection warrior.

Tier 3

You choose what you want, and usually depends on the "raid useful".
Staggering Shout (wowhead link) is my choice because in comb with Hamstring (wowhead link) you can root almost all type of adds.
Piercing Howl (wowhead link) slow for 50% of movement speed for all enemies in 15 yards.
Disrupting Shout (wowhead link) it's an aoe intrerupt for a distance of 10 yards, not so usefull pve because it have a share cd with pummel, and an internal CD of 40 seconds.

Tier 4

Dragon Roar (wowhead link) Best talent from tier 4, it will be used as a "bonus dps", you will use it only when:
1) You don't have enough rage for a slam and your mortal strike is on CD.
2) You don't have enough rage for a slam, you have CD on mortal and you don't have any proc of overpower.
3) You have all abilities up, but you have only 2 more seconds from bloodbath and you want to benefit from that bleed.
Bladestorm (wowhead link) Best talent for AoE situations.
Shockwave (wowhead link) - Useful only in PvP, it does very low amount of damage.

Tier 5

Mass spell reflection (wowhead link) usefull only in PvP.
Safeguard (wowhead link) usefull talent, but the problem is that when you use it you lose some potential damage on the boss.
Vigilance (wowhead link) best choice for this tier, you can use it on any raid member and it's grant a 30% protection for 12 seconds.


Tier 6

Avatar (wowhead link) - 20% damage increase for 24 seconds, not soo good, but you can use it for short encounters of for a better burst.
Storm Bolt (wowhead link) - 500% damage weapon with a 30 seconds CD, it's a good talent for Fury spec, but not for arms.
Bloodbath (wowhead link) - best choice from this tier, bleed over time for 6 seconds with a 12 seconds duration, it's affect only special attacks and they will do an 30% aditional damage as a bleed for 6 seconds. Best choice because it's have the same CD with the glove enchant from enginering and you can use it with Berserker Rage (wowhead link), this will be a mini burst at every minute.





7. Glyphs


Colossus Smash (wowhead link) it will apply Weakened Armor (wowhead link). Best glyph for a warrior Arms, it's also good because you help the rest of the raid with it.

Bull Rush (wowhead link) - you receive 15 rage when you use it. Charge (wowhead link). Another glyph that should be a must because you can use this combo with Heroic Leap (wowhead link) or Intervene (wowhead link) then use Charge (wowhead link) to come back on the boss, you will gain rage and it isn't a lose dps.

Rude interruption (wowhead link) - It's give you ai 6% increase damage for 20 seconds. once you succesful intrerupt someone with Pummel (wowhead link), usefull on encounters where you need to intrerupt a lot like Protectors of the Endless or Council of Elders.

Sweeping Strikes (wowhead link) - Everythime you hit someone with SS (wowhead link) you will gain 1 rage. (Good to use on AoE situations)

Long Charge (wowhead link) - Usefull in encounters where the boss is moving. (Feng, Spirit kings, Garalon, Horridon etc)






8. Gems
Meta socket: Reverberating primal diamond or Capacitive primal diamond
Red socket: Inscribed vermilion onyx or Bold primordial ruby
Yellow socket: Smooth suns radiance
Blue socket: Piercing wild jade

*Note: We're gonna play with full crit shockets, Smooth suns radiance, because we want to reach the crit cap as fast as possible.[





9. Enchants
Shoulders: Greater tiger fang inscription
Back: Enchant cloack superior critical strike
Chest: Enchant chest glorious stats
Bracers: Enchant bracer exceptional
Gloves: Enchant gloves super strength
Belt: Living steel belt buckle - it's adding a new socket slot where we will put Smooth suns radiance
Legs: Angerhide leg armor
Boots: Enchant boots pandaren's step
Weapon: Enchant weapon dancing steel or Enchant weapon windsong





10. Professions
Enginnering - It's giving us 1920 strength for 10 secunde witha 60 seconds CD, very usefull in combo with Bloodbath (wowhead link) because they have the same CD.
Blacksmithing - 2 bonus sockets => 640 crit.
Tailoring - It's give us this enchant on the cloack Swordguard Embroidery (wowhead link).




11. Rotation

Burst:
PrePot+Battle Shout (wowhead link)+ Charge (wowhead link)+Recklessness (wowhead link)+Blood Fury (wowhead link) + Hands (use) + Bloodbath (wowhead link)+*Berserking rage (wowhead link).

Single target:
"Burst"+ Colossus Smash (wowhead link)--> Mortal Strike (wowhead link)-->Slam (wowhead link)+Slam (wowhead link)+Slam (wowhead link)(pana la 0-10 rage)--> Colossus Smash (wowhead link)-->Mortal Strike (wowhead link)-->Berserking rage (wowhead link)--> Slam (wowhead link)+Slam (wowhead link)+Slam (wowhead link)--> Dragon Roar (wowhead link).

AoE rotation:
Mortal Strike (wowhead link)--> Sweeping Strikes (wowhead link)--> Thunder clap (wowhead link)-->Slam (wowhead link)+Slam (wowhead link)-->Mortal Strike (wowhead link)--> Sweeping Strikes (wowhead link)--> Thunder clap (wowhead link)--> Bladestorm (wowhead link)

Execute rotation:
- Execute (wowhead link) use it always when you can, even in "Execute phase" Colossus Smash (wowhead link) is a must, and Mortal Strike (wowhead link) use it on CD, because you will need a lot of rage to use execute.
-When we can't use Execute (wowhead link) (because we don't have enough rage after we use Execute (wowhead link)) we're gonna use Overpower (wowhead link) because of this passive Sudden death (wowhead link) wich let us to use Overpower (wowhead link) for 10 seconds, and it's "free" (for not using rage on this, and keep it for Execute (wowhead link)), then we just continue with Mortal>Colosus>Execute>Execute.... until we are out of rage and we need to use again Overpower.

^Priorities in the raid are usually based on dps> rage:
-We will use Slam on CD, but we will most of the time to use it with Colosus Smash, for damage increase.
-We will use Mortal Strike always on CD (but try to don't use it when you have Colosus Smash on target, only if you don't have enough rage you can use it).
-We will use Bloodbath and glove burst usually on CD (but if the battle shout has less than 10 sec CD, wait for it, then first use Battle Shotu after use Bloodbath glove and if you are out of rage, heroic Leap and Charge rage for free).
-Over power will be used as the main filler, will gonna use it when: Mortal Strike is on CD, Colossus Smash isn't apply on the target, and we have max 25 rage, if we have more rage we will use Slam.
-Dragon Roar will be used as an off filler, we will use it only when Slam and Mortal Strike are on CD, for keeping our dps hight until the next slam will come.
-Berserking Rage - if we know how to "abuse" it, he will increase our dps a lot, most times you will use it when Colossus is apply on the target and if you don't have enough rage for at least two slams, besides rage- received, we will get instant Enrage (10% Increase dmg), so we benefit from it to the maximum.
- the second option is using it on CD from the beginning, because will come once in two cd with Bloodbath and glove burst, which is obviously an extra dps.






12. BIS Dungeon Gear

>>Direct link<<






13. BIS Raid Gear (First phase)

>>Direct link<<







15. Macros

Burst Macro:

Quote:

#showtooltip /cast Recklessness /cast Blood Fury /use Hand's (manusa->Enginnering) /use Skull Banner

Safeguard:

Quote:

#showtooltip /cast [@Focus] Safeguard

Rallying Cry:

Quote:

#showtooltip /cast Rallying Cry /use Demoralizing Banner /raid Am dat Rallying Cry!!! / Rallying Cry UP for 10 sec!!!

"Mega Burst":

Quote:

#showtooltip /cast Recklessness /cast Blood Fury /use Hand's (manusa->Enginnering) /use Skull Banner /cast Avatar

Pummel:

Quote:

#showtooltip /cast [@focus] Pummel

16. Addons

DBM (Deadly boss mods): Download link
Weak Auras: Download link
Coolline: Download link
ExtraCD: Download link
Skada (recount): Download link
gUIv3 (interfata): Download link (I can say that this addon helped me a lot, it separate the interface so that you can see every encounter much easier and in the same time you can see your abilities).







If you gonna hit the king you're better kill the king

[Daeron]

Good job!