A question about Arms

[BMaxwell00 0]

Is there any reason to pick Arms over Gladiator and Fury (SMF and TG) right now in a raid environment?

 

It feels like Arms is a very good AoE spec, but lacking in single-target damage, which is understandable, but I know for a fact that Fury and Gladiator are superior in single-target damage while still being good (if not better) at AoE. Makes me wonder if there's any advantage to using Arms at all. 

 

Somewhat relevant to this question is the fact that I've only seen a single Arms warrior in the past few months since I got back into WoW, but a looooot of Fury warriors.

 

Please don't read this as a "wtf I'm not #1 DPS this spec sucks" thread. I'm not interested in topping charts and boasting about it, I just want to bring the best of my class to the group, and I'm not sure if Arms is the way to go for that.

[ragebarr 153]

The short answer to your question is: Yes, there are reasons to take Arms over Fury.

 

The long answer is that it depends on a lot of things: What the exact fight is, the gear and set bonuses you have, etc.

 

Generally speaking, if you don't want to bother switching specs on a fight per fight basis, Fury should give you overall better results, mainly due to the fact that without the T18 4pc, Arms ST is lacking, and with it, it becomes a RNG fest. That mostly explain why most of the Warriors you see around are Fury.

 

On some select fights however, when there's 2 targets up for most of the fight, or when you have the opportunity to use Sweeping Strikes + Execute on a lot of adds during the fight, (Tyrant Velhari and Archimonde are the 2 best examples of this atm) Arms does exceptionally well.

 

On most other situations, however (single target and AoE) Fury usually ends up being better.

As far as Glad goes, it's barely played on the hardcore raiding scene, since it lacks in damage behind the 2 other specs at the moment, and it's lacking the only raid utility DPS warriors have, Rallying Cry.

 

Assuming you're not Mythic Raiding (and to a certain extent even if you are), you should be able to play the spec you enjoy the most and still be able to kill bosses. What I outlined in the previous paragraphs is simply what is the "general consensus" on the warrior specs atm.

 

I hope this answers your question.

[Sajakain 104]

Is there any reason to pick Arms over Gladiator and Fury right now in a raid environment?

• Yes. There are several encounters that Arms clearly outdoes Fury in performance. Obviously anything multi-target but, for reference: Hellfire High Council, Kilrogg Deadeye, Gorefiend, FEl Lord Zakuun currently has an Arms Warrior ranked #1 in the class, Xhul'horac, Socrethar, Tyrant, and Arch. If you count them that's 8 out of 13 bosses that Arms has proven to do better than Fury and Gladiator scratched that last part. . . let's not mention Gladiator stance again. I could have also included Iron Reaver with in which an Arms Warrior currently leads the class in rankings as well but Fury mostly takes that fight. Морж is a unique warrior.

"But I know for a fact that Fury and Gladiator are superior in single-target damage"

• I would run SimulationCraft again. If you don't feel like it, feel free to check out my listings in my Arms Guide here on Icy Veins. Only in Normal and Heroic gear does Glad Stance come close to Arms in single target output and even then it still falls behind.

 

If you're looking to bring the "best of your class" to the group then I would strongly encourage you to play both specs; Arms and Fury. Each have their respective strong points and, as such, shine in different encounters. I hope this answers your questions.