Arms Warrior guide for WoW Forever

The Arms Warrior in WoW Forever swings one big, slow weapon. Rend keeps bleeding, Overpower lights up again and again, and every hit takes a visible chunk off the enemy. Many of its talents lean towards PvP, which makes Arms the natural pick for battlegrounds. This guide covers the level 30 build, rotation, Rend and Overpower, Rage, stats, weapons and races.

Role	Melee damage with a two-handed weapon
Build at level 30	26 points in Arms, with the 5 extra points from Talented
Key talents	Improved Rend, Improved Overpower, Bloodthrill, Improved Slam, Impale, Two-Handed Weapon Specialization
Strength	Big hits, strong cleave with Sweeping Strikes
Weakness	Slow play, abilities that suit PvP better
Leveling	Warrior leveling guide, Warrior level build
Other specs	Fury Warrior, Protection Warrior

What changes for Arms

• Bloodthrill is new. Main hand attacks on a target with your Rend have a 20% chance to make Overpower usable, at 5/5.
• Improved Rend gives Rend 35% more bleed damage at 3/3.
• Improved Slam does much more. Shorter cast and global cooldown, no interrupted swing and a 3 seconds shorter cooldown.
• Spearing Strike is new. 40% weapon damage, and 80% extra against Giants, Dragonkin and mounted targets, which it pulls off their mount.
• Impale now gives your abilities a 20% bigger critical strike damage bonus at 2/2.
• Weaponmaster is new. A bonus per weapon type: critical strike chance with axes and polearms, armor penetration with maces and staves, extra attacks with swords.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths	Weaknesses
Damage in big chunks, even against several targets	Rage comes from slow swings, so everything feels slow
Sweeping Strikes, Cleave and Whirlwind for strong cleave	Spearing Strike and Mortal Strike suit PvP better than PvE
The best Warrior spec for battlegrounds

The level 30 build

This build uses 26 points: the 21 points of level 30 plus 5 from Talented in the Legacy system. Without Talented, stop at 21 points; the Warrior level build gives the order per level. Open the build in the talent calculator.

Talent	Points
Improved Heroic Strike	3/3
Deflection	2/5
Improved Rend	3/3
Improved Charge	2/2
Improved Overpower	2/2
Deep Wounds	3/3
Spearing Strike	1/1
Two-Handed Weapon Specialization	2/3
Impale	2/2
Bloodthrill	4/5
Sweeping Strikes	1/1
Improved Slam	1/2

After level 30 come Weaponmaster and Mortal Strike at the bottom of the tree.

What the key talents do

Talent	What it does in Forever
Improved Rend	35% more bleed damage from Rend
Improved Overpower	50% more critical strike chance for Overpower
Bloodthrill	Overpower procs from main hand hits on targets with your Rend
Improved Slam	Makes Slam an almost instant filler that does not reset your swing
Impale	A 20% bigger critical strike damage bonus for your abilities
Two-Handed Weapon Specialization	3% more damage with two-handed weapons at 3/3
Mortal Strike	One of your strongest attacks in any situation. After level 30
Weaponmaster	A bonus per weapon type. After level 30

Rotation

1. Spend extra Rage on Heroic Strike, or Cleave against several enemies, so it is never wasted.
2. Keep Battle Shout up.
3. Stack Sunder Armor.
4. Overpower whenever it lights up.
5. Put Rend on the target and keep it there.
6. Mortal Strike, once you have it.
7. Spearing Strike.
8. Slam.
9. Hamstring when nothing else is ready and you have Rage to spare.

Cooldowns and utility

• Retaliation and Shield Wall when you are the target.
• Berserker Rage to ignore Fear and Incapacitate effects.
• Recklessness is the strongest damage cooldown in the game.
• Bloodrage freely, for extra Rage.

Movement

Stay on the boss. Out of combat, always open with Charge for Rage and an instant start. In combat you have Intercept, but only in Berserker Stance, so switching costs the Rage you had.

Rend, Overpower and Rage

Rend must always be ticking on your target, mainly for the Bloodthrill procs. Rend on several targets does no harm, but does not give you more procs.

Overpower only works when it lights up, even when it is off cooldown. Watch for it and press it every time.

Rage. Plan ahead and keep enough for your important attacks. If Heroic Strike or Slam leaves Mortal Strike or Overpower waiting for a second or two, that was a mistake. Keep your Rage moving: never full, never empty.

Stats and gear

The exact order at level 60 follows after the launch. These stats help an Arms Warrior:

• Strength and attack power. Your main stat: 1 Strength gives 2 attack power, so Strength is worth more per point.
• Hit chance. A miss deals nothing and gives no Rage.
• Critical strike chance. More damage and more Rage. Agility adds some critical strike chance too.

Armor. Plate is ideal, but Mail or Leather with the right stats can be better. Forever has no penalty for a lighter armor type, you just have less Armor. Blacksmiths make good leveling gear, and dungeons have plenty more.

Weapons. Look for slow, hard-hitting two-handed weapons. Most of your damage comes from instant attacks such as Mortal Strike, Overpower and Slam, which scale with weapon damage. A ranged weapon only counts for its stats.

Races and professions

Every race can play a Warrior. Every pick works, but some are stronger.

Faction	Race	Why
Alliance	Human	Ruthless: 2% more critical strike chance. The strongest pick
Alliance	Dwarf	More critical strike damage, but much weaker than Human
Alliance	Gnome	A burst cooldown that can be very strong
Alliance	Night Elf	Elune’s Light, a critical strike cooldown for Rage and damage on demand
Alliance	High Order Skyborne	Wind Blessed: Haste, which is rare and strong for you
Horde	Orc	Blood Fury for attack power and extra critical strike chance
Horde	Troll	More damage to Beasts and Berserking for attack speed on demand
Horde	Undead	Touch of the Grave deals damage and heals you a little
Horde	Tauren	War Stomp, more critical strike damage and Plainsrunning for speed while you keep moving
Horde	Windshaper Skyborne	Haste and a speed cooldown that comes in handy

Professions. Blacksmithing makes some of the best Mail and Plate gear, much of it only for Blacksmiths. Engineering has useful gadgets for every spec.