Arms Warrior Class Guide - MoP Classic

Welcome to our Mists of Pandaria Classic (MoP Classic) Arms Warrior Class Guide for Phase 1, it focuses on getting you up to speed with the Spec for PvE content, Dungeons and Raiding. The guide includes key information for what has changed going into MoP, the best Talent builds, Major Glyphs, your Rotation, Gearing and Consumables for Arms Warrior.

Table of Content

• Changes from Cataclysm to MoP
• Talents
• Rotation & Abilities
• Gearing & Consumables

What’s New for Arms Warrior in Mists of Pandaria Classic

Mists of Pandaria brings a lot of changes to classes, not only with the new and improved talent tree but also with core changes to how classes work. This extension could be seen as the first step into “modern” World of Warcraft. But how are these changes impacting the Warrior class and the Arms specialisation:

• Recklessness doesn’t increase the damage you take anymore.
• Rend is replaced by Deep Wounds.
• Stance dance to DPS is over.
• Slam is exclusive to Arms.
• We don’t use Ranged Weapons anymore.
• Berserker rage is a better offensive spell.
• Battle Shout has been modified and is slightly worse, but still good rage generation.
• We have a new mechanic called Banners. We have 3 War banners, and can place one out of 3 on the battlefield: Demoralizing Banner, Mocking Banner and Skull Banner.
• And with al that, new glyphs and other talents, but we will talk about that in a later section.

Is Arms Warrior Good?

The short answer is yes. Arms was the go-to specialization in Cataclysm for DPS Warriors, and will still be in the first phases of Mists of Pandaria Classic. With amazing mobility, amazing utility, a lot of ways to increase your group's damage with banners, shouts, sunder armor, and incredible damage, you will be needed in every raid comp.

Regarding class design, Mists of Pandaria is an all-time high for warriors, this iteration being one of the best if not the best. If you are a Warrior main from Retail or Classic, you have to play Warrior in MoP. And if you want to discover the class, this is the best expansion to do so.

Best Talents & Glyphs for Arms Warrior in MoP Classic

Regarding talents, the revamped talent tree is special and can be confusing for people not used to it. This guide focuses on PvE, so we will give you 2 different versions of the build for Arms Warrior. One for Raiding and Single target fights, and another for Dungeons & Challenge modes.

But don’t forget, each talent row serves a different purpose, and not every one is tailored toward damage, so options will vary depending on the fights and the utility you should bring.

Arms Warrior Raiding Talent Build

This is the default set up for raiding. Double time can be swapped with Juggernaut if you have no use for the extra charge and prefer the reduced cooldown. Second Wind is better in fights where you stay a long time under 35% HP. Disrupting shout is a default choice, but try and swap around with Piercing Howl depending on the CC requirements. Dragon Roar is better in single target, Vigilance is a very powerful external and will save your teammates, but Mass Spell Reflection can be game-breaking in very niche cases.

For the last line, Bloodbath is the best option available.

Best Arms Warrior Raid Glyphs

Regarding Major Glyphs, you will want to obtain Glyph of Unending Rage, Glyph of Colossus Smash and Glyph of Bull Rush.

Other options are Glyph of Sweeping strike for multi-target, Glyph of Rude Interruption in fights with kicks, Glyph of Death from above for mobility (Glyph of Enraged Speed can also be taken for mobility purposes) or Glyph of Die by the Sword for more defensives.

The only Minor Glyph worth taking above all else is Glyph of the Subtle Defender to use Defensive Stance without taking aggro.

Arms Warrior Dungeons & Challenge Mode Talent Build

The Dungeon Talent Build is very similar to the raiding talent tree. The Synergy between Bladestorm and Bloodbath is amazing and will shred through packs. Regarding the other choices, it’s the same as the raiding talents: you might want to change them slightly depending on the dungeons or the encounter.

Best Arms Warrior Dungeon Glyphs

Regarding Major Glyphs, you will want to obtain Glyph of Unending Rage, Glyph of Colossus Smash and Glyph of Bull Rush.

Other options are Glyph of Sweeping strike for multi-target, Glyph of Rude Interruption in fight with kicks, Glyph of Death from above for mobility (Glyph of Enraged Speed can also be taken for mobility purposes) or Glyph of Die by the Sword for more defensives.

The only Minor Glyph worth taking above all else is Glyph of the Subtle Defender to use Defensive Stance without taking aggro.

Rotation for Arms Warrior in MoP Classic

Single Target Rotation & Priority:

Arms warriors have to consider a few parameters when DPSing, the main two being: Is Colossus Smash up on my target and is my target in Execute Range (below 20% HP)?

When the target is above 20% (no execute):

1. Use Dragon Roar on cooldown.
2. Use Bloodbath on cooldown.
3. Use Skull banner on cooldown.
4. Use Recklessness on cooldown.
5. Use Colossus Smash on cooldown if Colossus Smash isn’t already active on your target. If so, delay Colossus Smash.
6. Use Berserker Rage on cooldown, but only if Enrage is not already active.
7. Use Mortal Strike.
8. Use Overpower.
9. Use Slam.
10. Use Battle shout and Commanding shout to generate rage. You should use them just before the fight.
11. Use Heroic Throw.

During Recklesness & Colossus Smash, Slam takes priority over Overpower. As much as possible, try and use Dragon Roar outside of Colossus Smash.

When the target is below 20% (execute phase):

1. Use Dragon Roar on cooldown.
2. Use Bloodbath on cooldown.
3. Use Skull banner on cooldown.
4. Use Recklesness on cooldown.
5. Use Colossus Smash on cooldown if Colossus Smash isn’t already active on your target. If so, delay Colossus Smash.
6. Use Berserker Rage on cooldown, but only if Enrage is not already active.
7. Use Mortal Strike.
8. Use Execute above 80 rage outside of Colossus Smash. During Colossus Smash, use it as much as possible.
9. Use Overpower.
10. Use Battle shout and Commanding shout to generate rage. You should use them just before the fight.
11. Use Heroic Throw.

AoE Rotation & Priority

1. Cast Thunder Clap to maintain Deep Wounds in AoE.
2. Keep Sweeping Strike up.
3. Use Bloodbath on cooldown
4. Use Skull Banner on cooldown
5. Use Recklessness on cooldown.
6. Use Colossus Smash on cooldown.
7. Use Berserker Rage on cooldown, but only if Enrage is not already active.
8. Use Bladestorm on cooldown.
9. Use Mortal Strike on cooldown.
10. Cast Slam.
11. Cast Overpower.
12. Cast Battle shout or Commanding Shout.
13. Cast Thunder Clap.

Regarding Openers, you want to prepare a few cooldowns before starting the fight: Battle shout, Shattering Throw, Charge, Mortal strike and then the usual cooldown usage. During Colossus Smash, don’t forget to spam Slam and use Mortal strike on cooldown.

Best Gear & Stats for Arms Warrior in MoP Classic

Best in Slot aren’t as big in Mists of Pandaria Classic. Reforging is the new hype, so you can tailor your gear better than before.

The gear you should aim for are: Trinkets, Tier Sets and Weapons.

The best weapons you can find in the first phase are:

• Mogu'Dar, Blade of the Thousand Slaves, Xin the Weaponmaster, Mogu'Shan Palace.
• Masterwork Spiritblade Decimator, Blacksmithing.

The best trinkets for Arms Warrior are:

• Relic of Xuen from Inscription.
• Lessons of the Darkmaster from Scholomance, Darkmaster Gandling.
• Mogu Rune of Paralysis, Justice points.
• Ghost Iron Dragonling, from Engineering.

MoP Arms Warrior Stat Priority

Reach your Hit and Expertise cap, so around 7.5% for both. Then, strength is your best stat. As soon as a gear piece gives you more strength, it’s a good idea to equip it.

After that, it goes: Critical Strike, Mastery and Haste in that order. Critical strike is the most valuable statistic, whereas Mastery and Haste are closer in value.

Best Consumables, Enchants & Gems for Arms Warrior in MoP Classic

The following tables outline the recommended Consumables, Enchants and Gems for Arms Warrior in Raiding and Dungeon content.

Consumables

Enchants

Gems

We hope this guide helped you improve your Arms Warrior Gameplay and better understand the spec. To check out all of our MoP Classic content, such as Class Guides, Tier Lists and more, you can browse our full library of MoP Classic Guides.