Arms Warrior DPS Guide & Best Runes – Phase 4 Season of Discovery (SoD)

classic pve dps arms warrior guide

Welcome to the SoD Phase 4 Arms Warrior DPS Guide!

This guide focuses exclusively on the Arms specialization, exploring key components such as Runes, Talent Trees, Stat Priorities, Rotations & Abilities, Best Professions, BiS (Best in Slot) items, and Race Choices. The new Rune System introduced in the Season of Discovery has granted Arms Warrior a plethora of new direct damage abilities and passive effects, greatly enhancing its overall performance. Phase 4 of Season of Discovery brought many changes to the state of Warriors, overhauling many of their previous runes. As a result of those changes, Arms Warriors had to adjust their playstyle, adopting new runes and new effects to rely on.

Talents

arms warrior standard talent tree build phase 4 season of discovery sod

The Talent Build for Arms Warrior is pretty standard overall, with the only mention that some of your talents will change depending on the weapon you are currently using. If you plan on using a Sword, you will use Sword Specialization, if you plan on using an Axe you will use Axe Specialization, and if you plan on using a Polearm you will use Polearm Specialization. The only weapon you will want to avoid using is a Mace unless you manage to get your hands on Sulfuras, as the Mace Specialization is by far the worst talent for PvE.

Runes

Stat Priority

  1. Hit Chance
  2. Critical Strike Chance
  3. Strength
  4. Attack Power
  5. Agility
  6. Stamina

Rotations & Abilities

Single-Target Rotation

  1. Maintain Battle Stance
  2. Prioritize Rallying Cry for moments when your group receives heavy AoE Damage
  3. Prioritize casting Berserker Rage and Bloodrage to cause the “Enraged” status for Rampage
    • Prioritize casting Rampage for Burst Phases
  4. Cast Charge as an opener
  5. Cast Thunder Clap once at the beginning to debuff the target if nobody brings a similar effect
    • Refresh Thunder Clap once its duration expires if nobody else brings a similar effect
  6. Cast Sunder Armor
    • Stack Sunder Armor up to 5 stacks if nobody else brings a similar effect
    • Maintain Sunder Armor at 5 stacks throughout the entirety of the fight
  7. Cast Rend
    • Refresh Rend once its duration ends
    • Aim to upkeep Rend 100% of the time
  8. Cast Overpower whenever it becomes available
  9. Spam Execute when the target reaches the HP threshold
  10. Cast Mortal Strike on cooldown
  11. If you choose the Blood Surge rune
  12. Spam Heroic Strike as a Rage spender as long as you don’t Rage Starve yourself

AoE Rotation

  1. Cast Sweeping Strikes for Cleave Encounters
  2. Cast Thunder Clap to debuff enemies and deal damage
  3. Cast Cleave as a main Rage spender
  4. Use the Single-Target rotation beside Cleave and Thunder Clap

Best Professions

Blacksmithing

Blacksmithing has long been one of the most iconic professions for Plate-wearing classes and Warriors can fully benefit from this profession. This is by far the best profession that a Warrior can pick, not only for the strong items that can be acquired during the leveling process but also thanks to the new end-game items and special epic items available with the release of the Season of Discovery.

Engineering

Being known as one of the top professions in both PvE and PvP in the Classic Era, Engineering’s reputation also remains true in the Season of Discovery. It grants access to powerful bombs, various gadgets, and even specially crafted equipment that can be used to enhance your overall performance.

Best Races

Warrior is the only Class that can be picked by any race available to both factions, offering a wide variety of race/class combinations. For the Alliance, the best option for Arms Warrior is a choice between Human and Dwarf due to Sword Specialization, Mace Specialization, and Stoneform. Overall, Human is the better option since the weapon skill racials directly impact the PvE performance. For the Horde, the best option is a choice between Orc and Troll due to Blood Fury and Berserking. Orc is slightly stronger since Blood Fury can be used more easier than Berserking, with the latter effect requiring you to be injured to reach its full potential.

Human

Dwarf

Night Elf

Gnome

Orc

Undead

Tauren

Troll

 

About the Author

Nevermore

Hey there folks, I am Nevermore and have been deeply passionate about WoW for more than a decade. Whether we talk about the hidden mysteries of Azeroth or the otherworldly Outland, my journey brought me here to share the things that I have experienced with you all.
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TwstedArt
TwstedArt
3 months ago

Ignore OP’s Rotation guide and look up how to “Stance Dance” if you want to actually see your numbers go up. This may be fine if youre the guild bitch and they just recruited you to apply sunder and dont care about your DPS cause theyre gonna carry you. But thats about it.

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