Playing Arms my way XD

A short Arms warrior guide the way I play it :P

I´m not english but have done my best with spelling and grammar .

So why play a warrior as a dps?
Well you get to wear plate armour, get lots of health, competition for loot is low and ofcourse is a lot of fun.There is a nice advantage to other dps classes like mages, rogues, hunters so on that you can actually take a hit and survive in situations many other classes gets oneshooted.

So lets start with looking at 2 very important stats.

263(8%) hit rating. It guarantees your swings will hit the target. Also called being Hitcapped. Important cause if you miss you do less damage.

26(6.50%) expertise. At 6.50% target will no longer be able to dodge your attacks. Also called being Dodgecapped.

Many will say that expertise is not very important for arms warriors since you get an Overpower proc each time the target dodges.
I think of it like this. First target dodges so you miss then instead of doing your usual dps you do an Overpower instead. So 2 missed hits for 1 Overpower.
The tradeoff might be good if it is 2 white hits and Overpower crits but otherwise I cant see how not being expertise capped would give you more dps.

Now what about a rotation?
Well Arms dont really have a rotation with makes it a fun dps class to play since you will not get bored doing the same thing over and over lika a dps bot.
Arms dps is all about what special ability procs and making a decision about priority.
First is Rend, A bleed effect that should always be up.
Next Mortal Strike with good damage and a debuff to healing.
Now do a Slam. Many forget about Slam but it is a very important dps boost.
Next Overpower should proc so spam that button. Cause Overpower procs every 6 seconds you can throw in a Bladestorm in between.
If multiple targets the Tank should have a decent threath advantage by now.
Heroic Strike is nice cause it can be queued up so lets do that so it goes off as soon as Bladestorm ends. It eats up a lot of rage so dont overuse it. As soon as Heroic Strike goes of hit Overpower that should have proced again.
Now thrash will mostly be dead by now.
But it is after this opener that the fun begins.

Now you really have to start paying attention. You have to look at what special abilities proc and choose between them.
Rend should never drop but you should not refresh until it runs out.
Overpower will proc every 6 seconds roughly. It will make life easier for you when you get a feel for when it is time to spam that button.
Sudden Death can proc from any hit and lets you use Execute. If both Overpower and Execute procs than use Execute first cause Overpower can proc another Sudden Death wich will let you hit Execute again XD.
If it is a long fight and Bladestorm comes off CD than use it after Overpower procs.
If nothing procs use Mortal Strike and if Mortal Strike is on CD than use Slam.

Are you all confused now XD?
To make it short the order of importance is Rend, Sudden Death (Execute ), Overpower, Bladestorm, Mortal Strike, Slam.

If you have problems keeping up with all the procs cause it can be fastpaced forget about Slam until you get more comfortable.
If you follow this then you should never get Rage starved.

On some fights you will find that you have 80+ rage all the time and not enough abilities to spend it all.
Then you should start qeueing up Heroic Strike as well. Use it instead of a Slam.

Some other abilities that you can use instead of a Slam depending on situation is Heroic Throw, good damage and uses no rage, Shattering Throw for a nice dps boost.

If there is no other warrior in group Sunder Armour, Thunder Clap and Demoralizing shout helps the group/raid a lot.

Now if you have a good Tank and want to get a nice lead in the dps race you can use this on a group of mobs or a Boss with some addons that need to be burned down.

Cast Recklessness
Cast Mortal Strike
Cast Slam or if proc Overpower/Execute
Cast Bladestorm

What you get is 2 guaranteed single target crits and up to 4 guaranteed Bladestorm crits.

Some other useful abilities are Sweeping Strikes that lets you hit additional targets.
Use it with Bladestorm to really do some aoe damage.
Cleave is another ability some people use. I dont. Never have been able to boost my dps whith it. Could be me doing something wrong :P.
Retaliation if you have some low lvl mobs hitting you.
Pummel to prevent spellcasting.
Bloodrage to generate some extra rage. Is good to use at start of fights.
Enraged Regeneration is sweet for when healer cant keep up or you want to make it easier for him.
Mocking Blow is good if you want to save Healer or some soft dps from a runaway mob. Healers are often grateful when saved so usually casts a few heals to keep you alive as well .
Berserker Rage for removing Fear and such and a rage boost if hit. Intimidating Shout works like fear but the mobs dont run. I use it as a "o shit" button to buy tank/healer some time.
Challenging Shout makes all mobs target you and you will probably die but used to save Tank if Healer cant heal for some reason and you need to buy a few seconds or its a wipe.
Victory Rush is good when leveling but there really is no use for it getting close to lvl80.

What buffs we bring to raid/group?.

Well we have 2. Battle shout or Commanding shout. Battle shout is a dps boost used almost always except if another warrior is doing it already then we put up Commanding Shout for a health boost. Not much but all we got :P.

What talents should I choose?

I am doing a 55/8/8 that works really good for me.
Some talents worth mentioning in Arms tree are improved Rend and Deep wounds. The more they bleed the better :P.
Taste for Blood is important to get Overpower to proc every 6 sec.
Sudden Death for the Excecute proc.
Bladestorm ofcourse that is the goal off the tree.
In Fury its only Armored to the teeth and Cruelty.
In Prot tree we go as far down as Incite. Why?. Well cause in longer raid boss fights rage is not really a problem and you can use Heroic Strike instead of Slam. I know not all agree but I do more dps that way.

So what to take?

Axe, sword or Mace specialization? I have not much to say here. Have always used Axe. Mainly cause it looks so cool .

Time for Glyphs.

Really not much to choose from. Bladestorm, Mortal strike, Rending for majors and minors I take Bloodrage and rest optional. Command and Battle is good for the lazy :P.

What stats to look for in gear?.

Strenght is always good. Can never have enough really.
Armor Penetration is sweet. Try to get 45% and a Arp trinket thats boost you to close to 100% when proc.
Crit rating is good ofcourse.
Haste is at the bottom and more of a bonus then something to look for.
If the loot has other stats than those above than its not for you :P.

So what to gem for?

Well first the Hit/Dodge cap. After that Arp if you have trinket and can get to 100% othervise gem Strenght.

Now Enchants.

Nothing that needs explaining I think.
Helm : 50 Attack power, 20 crit rating. Need Knights of the Ebon Blade honored
Shoulders : 40 Attack power, 15 crit rating. Need Sons of Hodir exalted.
Cloak : 22 Agility. Major Agility
Chest : 10 Stats. Powerful Stats
Wrist : 50 Attack power. Greater Assault
Gloves : 44 Attack power. Crusher
Belt : Eternal Belt Buckle. Easy to forget :P
Legs : 75 Attack power 22 crit rating. Icescale Leg Armor
Boots : 32 Attack power. Greater Assault
Weapon : Berserking

So to summon things up.

Dont expect to be the best Dps around as Arms but hopefully you have more fun instead.You wont die as often as some of your dps collegues. Fury are better than Arms. I know that many think so but having tried both I have more fun as Arms.If you are tired of mindless buttonsmashing but dont wanna be a healer or tank I can really recommend giving Arms a try.
Bladestorm really looks like crazy fun .

Thx for reading.