Arms Warrior Patch 9.2 Changes Analysis and Tier Set Thoughts
On this page, we tell you how the Patch 9.2 changes for Arms Warrior affect the spec and what the current state of theorycrafting is.
Arms Warrior in Patch 9.2: Eternity's End
This page will go over the changes in Patches 9.2, specifically how the changes impact the playstyle, Legendaries, Covenants and other topics. If you are simply interested in what the current changes are for Arms Warrior in 9.2, you can instead read our full list of changes to the entire Warrior class on our dedicated pages below. For an additional list of content in Patch 9.2, you can also check out our Patch Overview page.
Base Spec Changes for Patch 9.2
Currently there are no base spec changes for Arms Warriors in Patch 9.2. However, with the addition of Tier sets and the ability to equip two Legendaries, there are several new considerations and rotation updates.
Arms Warrior Talent Changes in Patch 9.2
There are no talent changes for Arms Warriors, and the new tier set bonuses do not affect talent choice.
Arms Warrior Tier Set in Patch 9.2
Within the new Sepulcher of the First Ones raid that will be coming in Patch 9.2, every class will once again earn pieces of a gear set that is uniquely class-themed with its own two- and four-piece bonuses for each specialization. For Arms Warrior, these set bonuses currently are:
Arms Warrior 2-Piece —
Colossus Smash lasts 3 sec longer and increases your damage dealt to affected enemies by an additional 5%.
Arms Warrior 4-Piece —
Tactician has a 50% increased chance to proc against enemies with
Colossus Smash and causes your next
Overpower to grant 2% Strength, up to 8% for 15 sec.
Arms Warrior Tier Set Thoughts
The Arms Warrior 2-Piece bonus is very straightforward and synergizes
very well with the high uptime granted by
Enduring Blow. Although the
legendary procs do not have their duration extended by the tier bonus, they do
benefit from the 5% increased damage taken.
The Arms Warrior 4-Piece bonus is somewhat awkwardly worded and has two
distinct parts. Firstly, the increased chance to proc
Tactician only works
while the
Colossus Smash debuff is active on any target hit by the
ability, so a 30-Rage
Whirlwind which hits just one debuffed enemy
will have a 63% chance to trigger Tactician rather than its normal 42% chance.
The second part of the four-piece bonus causes all
Overpowers to stack
the Strength buff, regardless if Colossus Smash is active or not — this
makes it very easy to maintain over the course of an encounter, so long as there
is not significant downtime or intermission phases, and should have close to
100% uptime over the course of most encounters.
While neither of these bonuses have significant talent or rotational
impacts, aside from simply being able to press Overpower more often,
they both help speed up the rotation by reducing downtime and provide a reliable
damage increase that is free of gimmicks. In fact, it is fairly difficult to not
gain full value out of the tier sets, and that infallibility is an important part
of consistently dealing good damage.
Covenant Changes in Patch 9.2 for Arms Warrior
As it currently stands, Night Fae appears to be the strongest Arms
Warrior Covenant, only slightly ahead of Kyrian in single-target and
effectively equal in multitarget. Each has their own pros and cons, however,
as the ability to equip their Covenant Legendary alongside Enduring Blow
introduces some rotational considerations.
Nature's Fury causes
Ancient Aftershock to last even longer, which can be difficult to get
full value out of in many encounters, while
Elysian Might is much
burstier but requires the player to stay in a small area that can be
problematic on encounters with high movement or dangerous ground effects. Both
are good options, and invariably some fights will favor one slightly over the
other, so at this point the difference between them is largely academic.
Necrolord is an interesting choice as it is weaker for the Warrior, but grants damage bonuses to allies, bringing its total group contribution up to competitive levels. While Arms Warriors may not often make this trade, the Covenant is much stronger for Fury.
Venthyr continues to lag behind other Covenants, being very
slightly ahead of Necrolord in terms of personal performance, but
without any group benefit. The Covenant Legendary, Sinful Surge,
synergizes greatly to increase the uptime of
Colossus Smash, which
synergizes well with both tier set bonuses, but has diminishing returns with
Enduring Blow, pushing the Covenant to suffer overlap or use a weaker
Legendary.
Legendary Changes in Patch 9.2 for Arms Warrior
Recall that in Patch 9.1, every class received a Legendary Power that was unique to each Covenant. For Warriors, these Powers were:
- Kyrian —
Elysian Might — Increases the duration of
Spear of Bastion and also increases your Critical Strike damage while remaining within its area.
- Necrolord —
Glory — Causes
Conqueror's Banner to affect 1 additional ally and increases the buff's duration on you depending on the Rage spent.
- Night Fae —
Nature's Fury — Increases the duration and damage dealt of
Ancient Aftershock.
- Venthyr —
Sinful Surge —
Condemn extends the duration of
Colossus Smash by 1.5 seconds.
With Patch 9.2 players will unlock the ability to use 2 Legendary Powers — one Covenant-specific and one generic.
While some classes have several potential double Legendary combinations,
Arms Warriors will continue to use Enduring Blow for single-target
content, regardless of their Covenant. In multitarget content such as Mythic+
dungeons,
Signet of Tormented Kings will instead be used to gain
additional cooldowns.
Changelog
- 21 Feb. 2022: Page reviewed and approved for Patch 9.2.
- 15 Jan. 2022: Page added with initial thoughts and information.
More Warrior Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Archimtiros, Warrior class theorycrafter and SimulationCraft developer who has been writing class guides for more than a decade. You can follow him on Twitter or see more of his day to day work in Skyhold, the Warrior Discord.
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