NOTICE: This guide is out of date and no longer relevant. It is why it was unpinned.


First off, welcome! I am Sajakain and my main class has always been a warrior with the very first one being a Night Elf on the EU realms. I started toward the end of Vanilla and the start of Burning Crusade. Primarily I fancy the DPS side of the Warrior and it's what I feel I do best. From time to time I have dabbled in tanking but we'll leave that aspect to Estarriol.
This guide is written by me, obviously. It really is a single collection of multiple sources that include, but are not limited to, Blizzard patch notes, other guides, forum discussions, in-game testing, using SimulationCraft, reviewing logs. . . a whole slew of resources. Hopefully this guide will be able to present relevant information to you, separated by self-titled sections, in an easy-to-understand fashion.
It is worth noting that, as you progress with your Warrior or conduct your own research you may find something in this guide that doesn't make sense or... may actually be wrong. That's completely acceptable by me and, with such questioning, I'd be glad to sit down with you and discuss your findings and questions over a mug of whatever the Brew of the Month is at the time while we figure out what's right.
With all this being said, let's get to the guide! I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed composing it.
 
Before we get knee deep into things, I'd like to make you aware of some other resources at your disposal. It is only fitting that I provide these up front and give respect to those that have done the math. These resources are what I use to improve my performance in game and, ultimately, compose this very guide. If you should have any questions about these resources, don't hesitate to ask!
Icy Veins: Arms Warrior Guide SimulationCraft MMO Champion Warrior Forum Board The Arms Compendium Warrior Discord  
  1. Which does more damage: Arms or Fury?   This discussion is pretty heated more often than not and, frankly, comes down to results compiled by SimulationCraft. As such, people generally take these results and use it to determine which spec they'll play.

I cannot give this question justice better than that of what Azortharion has said. In relation to the question of "Does anyone have a class/spec DPS comparison sim?" he said this:
     

Alliance:
Draenei: Heroic Presence Dwarf: Might of the Mountain, Stoneform Gnome: Expansive Mind, Nimble Fingers Human: Every Man for Himself, The Human Spirit Night Elf: Quickness, Touch of Elune Worgen: Viciousness Horde:
Blood Elf: Arcane Torrent, Arcane Acuity Goblin: Time is Money Orc: Blood Fury Tauren: Brawn, Endurance, War Stomp Troll: Berserking Undead: Touch of the Grave, Will of the Forsaken Neutral:
Pandaren: Epicurean,
The objective of Blizzard making these changes was to (hopefully) level the playing field between the races. As you can tell there are some that may seem more beneficial than others (such as the guaranteed bonus damage that comes from the Dwarf and Tauren Racials). The end result is simply to pick whichever race you really enjoy whether it be a dwarf of the Alliance or an orc of the Horde. It's really up to you!
 

Talents, starting in patch 7.0.3, have moved closer to Blizzard's goal of personal choice. Each choice you make can be beneficial in respective situations. Use your best judgement of your needs (or your raid's needs) and select the appropriate talent.
Speculation Note: It is advisable to run simulations as you obtain gear for talent choices. As always - select the talent that is most appropriate for the encounter you are facing and your raid team's needs. These choices are based off current simulations and a "Patchwerk" style fight. They can change very quickly with hotfixes and class changes implemented by Blizzard.
The talent choices that are suggested here are for a Rend build. It's worth noting that there are other viable builds to the Arms spec if this rotation / playstyle does not suit your preferences.
 
Tier 1 / Level 15:
Dauntless: Your abilities cost 10% less Rage. Overpower: Overpowers the enemy, causing 375% Physical damage. Cannot be blocked, dodged or parried, and has a 60% increased chance to critically strike. Your other melee abilities have a chance to activate Overpower. Sweeping Strikes: Mortal Strike and Execute hit 2 additional nearby targets. Dauntless is the preferred choice here. Overpower is also viable, at a potential DPS loss, if you wish to have more activity in your rotation / playstyle. For multiple target situations, you will be switching to Sweeping Strikes.
 
Tier 2 / Level 30:
Shockwave: Sends a wave of force in a frontal cone, causing [(125% of Attack Power) * 1.25] damage and stunning all enemies within 10 yards for 4 sec. Cooldown reduced by 20 sec if it strikes at least 3 targets. Storm Bolt: Hurls your weapon at an emey, causing 60% Physical damage and stunning for 4 sec. Deals quadruple damage to targets permanently immune to stuns. Double Time: You can use Charge twice in a row, but it can only grant Rage once every 12 sec. Each use has a 20 sec recharge time. Double Time is the go-to here in most situations. Shockwave is useful for Mythic+ dungeons.
 
Tier 3 / Level 45:
Trauma: Slam, Whirlwind, and Execute now cause the target to bleed for 20% additional damage over 6 sec. Multiple uses accumulate increased damage. Rend: Wounds the target, causing 150% Physical damage instantly and an additional (1000% of Attack Power) Bleed damage over 8 sec. Avatar: Transform into a colossus for 20 sec, causing you to deal 20% increased damage and removing all roots and snares. As the recommendations of this build are centered around Rend, it is the required talent here. In an alternate build / playstyle, however, you can opt for Trauma. In a couple of encounters, Trauma actually proves to perform better than Rend.

Tier 4 / Level 60:
Second Wind: Restores 6% health every 1 sec when you have not taken damage for 5 sec. Bounding Stride: Reduces the cooldown on Heroic Leap by 15 sec, and Heroic Leap now also increases your run speed by 70% for 3 sec. Defensive Stance: A defensive combat state that reduces all damage you take by 20%, and all damage you deal by 10%. Lasts until cancelled. Bounding Stride should be your default choice here. Second Wind is great for leveling, maybe, and Defensive Stance (aside from being really weird as a talent) is only to be used if you seem to have a problem surviving heavy-hitting mechanics that are unavoidable otherwise.

Tier 5 / Level 75:
Fervor of Battle: Whirlwind deals 80% increased damage to your primary target. Mortal Combo: Mortal Strike now has a maximum of 2 charges. Titanic Might: Increases the duration of Colossus Smash by 8 sec. and reduces its cooldown by 8 sec. The recommended talent here is Titanic Might. As mentioned above, you can also select Fervor of Battle as another viable option.

Tier 6 / Level 90:
Deadly Calm: Battle Cry also reduces the Rage cost of your abilities by 75% for the duration. In For The Kill: Colossus Smash grants you 10% Haste for 8 sec. Focused Rage: Focus your rage on your next Mortal Strike, increasing its damage by 30%, stacking up to 3 times. Unaffected by the global cooldown. For this tier you will want In For The Kill. It's worth nothing that your artifact ability, Warbreaker, can also trigger this buff.

Tier 7 / Level 100:
Anger Management: Every 20 Rage you spend reduces the remaining cooldown on Battle Cry by 1 sec. Opportunity Strikes: Your melee abilities have up to a 60% chance, based on the target's missing health, to trigger an extra attack that deals 160% Physical damage and generates 5 rage. Ravager: Throws a whirling weapon at the target location that inflicts [7 * (337.5% of Attack power)] damage to all enemies within 8 yards over 7 sec. For this tier you can readily pick Ravager or Opportunity Strikes. Currently, in Tomb, Ravager seems to be the best pick in most encounters.
 
 

While the above talent choices are the overall recommended, I'll let you know which talents are doing the best for each specific encounter in Tomb currently. Keep in mind that this data is pulled from Warcraft Logs and is for the Heroic versions of these encounters. While it is assumed these can also work for Normal / LFR, Mythic encounters may require different set ups. You can check out what players are using for Mythic encounters by reviewing the data here: Click me!
It is also worth noting that some talents do not change, except for very specific reasons, regardless of the encounter. These talents remain the same throughout and they are:
Tier 2: Double Time Tier 4: Bounding Stride Tier 5: Titanic Might Tier 6: In For The Kill
 
    

This is one of the most discussed topics I come across. I considered putting this in the "F.A.Q." section but, in my opinion, it is so important that I gave it it's own section. Stat weights are pretty straight forward for an Arms Warrior. Before I get to that, however, let's look at the stats and how they directly affect our warrior, shall we?
Strength: This is our main stat. All your pieces, save trinkets, will have this stat on it. Critical Strike: This stat increases our chance to make our attacks critically hit which means more damage. We love doing more damage! Haste: This stat directly affects attack speed. Mastery: Our mastery buff is Mastery: Colossal Might. It increases the damage of your Colossus Smash by %, and causes it to increase damage you deal to the target by an additional % (% is based on the amount of mastery you have.) Versatility: Versatility increases damage done and decreases all damage taken. Now that we know what our stats are - what are their weights? As stated, it's pretty straight forward. Initially it is Mastery -> Haste -> Versatility = Strength = Critical Strike. Pretty simple, right?
With Tier 20, it changes slightly to 20% Haste (10% if you've taken the recommend In For The Kill talent) > Mastery > Haste >= Critical Strike = Strength = Versatility.
Important Note: Stat weights change constantly based on your gear. It is highly recommended that you download and use the latest version of Simulation Craft to gauge your personal stat weights as you obtain new gear. Over time you may see a need to gear toward one stat over another as you approach certain percentages. This is a somewhat complicated concept and the above priority is for general knowledge and purpose. The best way to get the most out of your warrior is to, again, use Simulation Craft to determine your stat weights.
 

Single Target Rotation
This priority system is assuming you've taken the above recommended talents. As stated, this is a priority system and not a strict step-by-step system.
Your overall priority is this:
Rend if it is not applied to your target. Colossus Smash if not applied to your target / Shattered Defenses isn't up. Execute (From Ayala's Stone Heart proc) Mortal Strike (With Shattered Defenses up / no Executioner's Precision debuff) Slam If you've taken Overpower in your Tier 1 talents, this jumps to #4 in your priority above Mortal Strike.
 
Using Battle Cry
Depending on whether or not you have your Tier 20 4PC bonus depends on how you handle your Battle Cry window. In either situation, however, you will want to make sure Colossus Smash is applied to your target prior to using Battle Cry.
With your Tier 20 4PC: Make sure Colossus Smash is applied then cast Rend -> Battle Cry + Bladestorm -> Continue normal priority.
Without your Tier 20 4PC, Make sure Colossus Smash is applied then then cast Rend -> Battle Cry + Mortal Strike -> Continue normal priority.
 
Execute Priority
Your Execute priority (sub 20% HP) is relatively simple and straight forward. If you don't have Shattered Defenses up, use Colossus Smash / Warbreaker to obtain it. With Shattered Defenses available, your priority is
Mortal Strike (with x2 Executioner's Precision and Shattered Defenses) Colossus Smash if you don't have Shattered Defenses Execute Overpower (if talented)  

Multiple Target Rotation
It's important to note that if you are doing a multiple target rotation you should have changed talents from the ones recommend above if the targets are able to be stacked together. You will change the Tier 1 / Level 15 talent from Dauntless to Sweeping Strikes. If the targets are spread out or cannot be stacked for a duration of time then Dauntless will still be your talent of choice.
Depending on the amount of time the multiple targets live depends on how much you deviate from the single target rotation as well as if they're stacked or not. If you have 2 - 3 targets, your rotation stays the same with the adjusted talent change to Sweeping Strikes.
If you have 4+ targets, however, your priority changes to the following:
Warbreaker Bladestorm Cleave Whirlwind Take note of the improved Cleave. For each add you hit with it, up to 5 maximum, it'll increase your damage of your next Whirlwind by 20%. (5 adds hit = 100% increased Whirlwind Damage).
 

With the release of 7.2, things have changed for your Artifact Weapon. With a series of quests, you are able to imbue your weapon with power from the Council of Six making it stronger to deal with the incoming threat of Kil'Jaeden in the Tomb of Sargeras.
Below I have listed two leveling paths for the Strom'kar; the first one being if you haven't leveled your Arms weapon yet and the second path being once you have the extra traits unlocked.


Initially you unlock the weapon by placing your first 100 Artifact Power in Warbreaker. Once that's unlocked you should continue your progression into the weapon in the following order:
1. Shattered Defenses
Thoradin's Might Crushing Blows Will of the First King Exploit the Weakness Shattered Defenses 2. Corrupted Blood of Zakajz
Tactical Advance Precise Strikes Corrupted Blood of Zakajz 3. Focus in Battle
Many Will Fall Focus in Battle 4. Deathblow
5. Unending Rage
6. One Against Many
7. Void Cleave
8. Touch of Zakajz
9. Defensive Measures
10. Unbreakable Steel

Once you complete this path, you will receive a quest that will start a small series to empower your weapon. It will start with the quest The Broken Shore: Investigating the Legion in which you will need to find a randomly-dropped item: Mysterious Runebound Scroll. Once you find this item you will begin a short quest chain:
1. Arms: The Thieving Apprentice
2. Professionally Good Looking
3. Order of Incantations (The order is Arcane -> Frost -> Fire -> Shadow)
4. The Archmage Accosted
Once you complete these, you'll be asked to go back to Dalaran and receive the power from the Council of Six. Strom'kar will empower and you will have access to the new traits.
Important Note: The following path can be simplified, for general purposes, as such: Get the new golden trait (Executioner's Precision). Once that's done you can chose whatever talents in the weapon you wish. The differences in numbers are literally so close and variable based on your personal character there is no 100% definitive path to take. If you're looking for definitive choices, you can sim your warrior to find the best results.
If you're looking for a direction to take because you do not want to sim yourself or whatever reason, you can take the following path. The steps that have multiple choice is, again, a choice completely up to you. Just make sure all choices are filled before you move to the next step.
 


1. Executioner's Precision
Arms of the Valarjar Storm of Swords Soul of the Slaughter Executioner's Precision 2. Exploit the Weakness
3. Deathblow / Crushing Blows / Precise Strikes
4. One Against Many / Unending Rage / Many Will Fall
5. Touch of Zakajz / Tactical Advance
Once you have these traits filled in, the last trait will become available. It has 50 points to dropped into it and it's my belief that Blizzard does not want us to cap it out this expansion. According to the Wowhead Calculator it would take a total of 865,842,644,766,330 Artifact Power to fill 100%.
 
 

The only addon that I really deem significant is Weak Auras. You can use it to track literally everything in the game if it's trackable. Use this for boss encounters and, more specifically, monitoring your buffs / debuffs for your Arms Warrior. Important things to track include, but are not limited to:
Shattered Defenses Colossus Smash Executioner's Precision Rend Battle Cry Potion of the Old War ____________________________________________
Change Log:
7/17/2016: Original Post
7/19/2016: Updated Post to reflect similarities in IV's Guide on Talents and Stat weights where needed.
7/31/2016: Updated for recent simulation results in talent choices and stat priority. Also updated Addons.
8/27/2016: Added Artifact path information.
9/4/2016: Updated Stat Priorities, Rotation, Artifact Path, and Macros.
9/18/20126: Updated Links of Interest, Stat Priorities, & Rotation Priority sections.
9/27/2016: Updated FAQ and Macros sections.
10/26/2016: Updated Macros section.
12/08/2016: FAQ, Talents, Rotation, Macro sections updated.
3/30/2017: Artifact Path updated for 7.2 changes.
6/15/2017: Talents, Stats, & Rotation sections updated due to 7.2.5 changes to the Arms specialization.
8/2/2017: Talents & Rotation sections updated to Rend Build. Included Fight Specific Talent choices. Addons updated. Removed Macros section.

Hey all
As the title says im having issues with low dps atm, when i sim myself on raidbots im supposed to do 1.3mil dps ish (iknow its perfect conditions) but atm im roughly doing hardly 1mil unless its execute phase. Any tips or suggestions i can do to improve my performence.
Here's a log for examination pretty much represent my overall performence for single target bosses: https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/TdhwyZKXq2rtjbxF/#fight=last&type=damage-done&source=14
Armory: https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/character/auchindoun/slamlee

[US] Stormreaver — Skunkworks
Tuesdays & Thursdays: 7:00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M. (pst) || 9-1 (cst) || 10-2 (est)
 
Progression
10/11M Antorus
9/9M ToS
10/10M Nighthold
3/3M Trial of Valor
7/7M Emerald Nightmare
 
Website
skunkworksguild.com
 
About Us
Skunkworks is a guild for players who can not or do not want to commit to the time-intensive raid schedules of traditional "hardcore" guilds.
However, we still maintain a high caliber player environment and make an efficient use of our raiding time.
We raid Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:00 - 11:00 PST, just 8 hours a week and never more.
 
We are very protective of our guild environment and selective in recruitment. We are looking for solid players mechanically as well as intellectually.
We all get paid to deal with idiots, why should we pay to spend our leisure time with them as well?
 
Skunkworks has been around for multiple expansions and has historically always been at the top of the 2-night raiding guild scene.
 
Past Raiding Achievements
 
#US 199 Mythic KJ #US 186 Mythic Archimonde #131 US Heroic Garrosh #68 US Heroic Ra-den #77 US Heroic Lei Shen #86 US Heroic Sha of Fear #106 US Heroic Madness of Deathwing #99 US Heroic Ragnaros #147 US Sinestra #91 US Heroic The Twilight Destroyer (Halion) #71 US Heroic Fall of the Lich King #247 US Tribute to Insanity #160 US Alone in the Darkness Current Guild Needs
Amazing Range DPS ---Exceptional Candidates always considered regardless of recruiting needs.
 
How to Apply
Apply with Google Forms
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeL-LW1-7rRK28Z3Nswg4xD3-jjQWrIsCh77rYOdxKwY0oPPQ/viewform.
All applications are kept private.
Please include at least the following.
    Prominent links to relevant armory pages ]A guild history with reasons for departure
    The reason(s) you have chosen to apply to this guild
    Warcraft Logs
    UI screenshots or fraps/Stream footage
 
Contact Information
Shadaka (GM)
Real ID:Shadak#1881
 
Aerivore (Recruitment Officers)
Real ID:  Aerivore#1581
 
Sovm
Real ID: Sov#1192

Hello, sorry for my bad english. I post here because i've some problems with my DPS in ToS M, my IL is 928 and i only can rise and mantain 900k-1M but when i will do simmin in raidbots my dps rise 1.4 M :S.
Here is lastest logs of yesterday, i've between 250 -350 ms of ping always.
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/RHXLrcZvYn9KN8bh/
I can't put images of my gear and talent set, i don't know why.
Thx for answer this and help me :)
 

Sorry if this has been asked before, but search didn't give me any results.  With the advent of Argus, I have been getting more gear with higher item levels than my normal/heroic T20 gear.  The basic question is, as an arms warrior when do I swap out my gear and lose the 4 piece set bonus for higher item level gear?  Thanks in advance for any help.