Season of Discovery Arms Warrior DPS Stat Priority

Before we begin, it should be said that gear in WoW Classic tends to be very unique, and as such, you will often be chasing very specific items, rather than simply following a stat priority list. Still, a more detailed explanation on each of a Warrior's relevant stats will help you understand why those pieces are so sought after.

1. Weapon stats (DPS, Damage Range, and Speed);
2. Extra Weapon Skill (great benefit for the first 3 extra skills above the maximum level cap, minor benefit afterwards);
3. Hit Chance (9% is the cap for special attacks against Molten Core bosses which are treated as being your level +3);
4. Critical Strike (200% on normal swings, 220% damage on special attacks with full Impale);
5. Strength and Attack Power (1 Strength = 2 Attack Power for Warriors, 14 Attack Power = 1 Weapon DPS gain);
6. Agility (grants critical strike).

1. Stamina (more health per point);
2. Armor (less physical damage taken per point);
3. Parry and Dodge % increases (more likely to avoid damage altogether, Parry also hastens your next auto-attack, so it is slightly better);
4. Agility (grants dodge);
5. Defense (lessens the chance for the enemy to hit, crushing blow, or critically strike you);
6. Strength and Block Value (you gain block value from Strength too, which lessens damage taken when a block happens);
7. Block % increases (more likely to block, only useful when Shield Block is not up).

• Resistance (strongly reduces Magic damage taken of a specific element);
• Spirit (health regeneration outside combat);
• Intellect (faster weapon skill learning).

As the table shows, Warriors are the class that gains the most health regeneration per point of Spirit in WoW Classic. This makes it a very powerful stat while leveling, despite Warriors having too much maximum health for it to matter at higher levels.

Your weapon is by far the largest contributor to your damage, and you should always aim to upgrade it first, if possible. There are three types of stats you are mainly looking for in a weapon: its DPS, its damage range and its speed. Slower weapons have bigger damage ranges, which is very important for certain skills that depend only on the damage range, such as Slam.

Weapon Skill allows you to hit enemies more often and, more importantly, for a lot more damage when you land a Glancing Blow. Glancing blows are regular hits that deal reduced damage. Molten Core bosses are counted as being your level +3, which means 40% of your attacks will be glancing blows, which deal 35% reduced damage if you have the default maxed weapon skill.

You can get some benefit by increasing your weapon skill further with racials such as Axe Specialization, Sword Specialization, or Mace Specialization, Runes such as Axe Specialization, or with items such as Expert Goldminer's Helmet.

Having at least +5 skill is a huge damage increase against end game bosses such as the ones in Molten Core as it massively increases your Hit chance and lowers the Glancing Blow penalty, as you can see in the table:

Hit allows your attacks to land more often, which can often be the difference between having Rage or being Rage-starved, and is also a huge direct damage contributor, as missing your special attacks is a huge damage loss.

Critical Strike allows you to occasionally deal higher damage, gaining extra Rage in the process. Higher critical strike also leads to higher Flurry uptime, making it a great stat for Warriors.

As a Warrior, Agility increases your dodge, your armor and your critical chance. Since Arms DPS Warriors mostly care about the critical chance, Agility is good, but not great.

Stamina is the only stat that will help you survive all types of attacks, and as such, should always be highly valued.

Resistance, while inherently niche due to different bosses dealing different magical damage types, can be very useful while progressing specific bosses. Wearing resistance gear of a type makes you take less damage or even completely avoid damage when hit by that type of magical damage.