Need a cookie cutter? This article discusses what I consider to be the optimal Arms Warrior PvP talents and glyphs for patch 4.0.6 and onward. If new and significant changes are uploaded to the test server or hot-fixed on live, then I will make corresponding changes to this article so that it will continue to be relevant.

TALENTS

This is the basic spec that I recommend for Arms Warrior PvP

IMPORTANT NOTE: The in-article tooltips are not yet updated to 4.06 but I am still talking about each talent as it will appear post-patch. The post-patch versions of each talent can be found in the full talent spec linked above.

ARMS TIER ONE:

[War Academy] 3/3: With three points invested, this increases the damage of Mortal Strike by 15%. Obviously a huge boost to overall damage and (perhaps more importantly) burst.

[Field Dressing] 2/2: In all three arena brackets, you will encounter a number of teams who rely on training you at least 80% of the game. This talent provides a crucial bonus to both self-healing and heals from your teammates.

[Blitz] 1/2: With [Charge] becoming a 3.5 second stun in 4.06, this talent just got a lot better. The five extra rage is always helpful, and the additional stun is amazing for situations where you are charging your target as they retreat to the healer or another one of their teammates. Also quite nice for a focus [Charge] on a caster who happens to be next to another unsuspecting victim. 3.5 seconds is honestly quite a long time.

ARMS TIER TWO:

[Tactical Mastery] 1/2: When 4.06 goes live, stance-dancing will become even less common. While I don’t think it is necessary to retain a full 75 rage when switching stances, 50 rage (base retention + one point in TM) is useful for maintaining pressure while popping [Recklessness] and spamming defensive cooldowns immediately upon hitting [Defensive Stance]. An instant Intervene-Disarm-Spell Reflect is very capable of preventing a loss.

[Second Wind] 2/2: Free rage and healing whenever you are stunned or rooted. Since these situations are often when we need rage and healing the most, this talent is absolutely essential.

[Deep Wounds] 3/3: This talent is crucial for two reasons: it results in tremendous additional damage, and it is a prerequisite for the even more essential [Impale].

Note: [Drums of War] Is also very good if [Slam] doesn’t live up to the hype or if you don’t feel that [Blitz] and/or [Tactical Mastery] are necessary.

ARMS TIER THREE:

[Taste for Blood] 3/3: [Overpower] has always been a huge ability for Warriors and the additional 60% crit rating makes it a reliable source of [Deep Wounds] procs. This talent provides a significant amount of DPS as well as very controllable burst.

[Sweeping Strikes] 1/1: Awesome AoE damage. This is fantastic on offense and can potentially be used to punish double melee teams for sitting on you. Effectively doubles your damage if a second target is in range. Baller.

[Impale] 2/2: THIS MAKES YOUR SHIT HIT EVEN HARDER. BOOM.

[Improved Hamstring] 2/2: When used correctly, this controlled root can be an incredible offensive weapon as well as a life-saving peel.

ARMS TIER FOUR:

[Improved Slam] 2/2: My 4.06 talent build drops two points from [Drums of War] in the second tier to snag this instead. Assuming no further changes, Slam is looking like it will hit very hard in the next patch.

[Deadly Calm] 1/1: This is really an amazing cooldown. You effectively get 10 seconds of free damage spam plus the ability to unload all of the rage that you generate while [Deadly Calm] is active. This ability is one of the most reliable ways to force enemy cooldowns and potentially secure a kill.

[Blood Frenzy] 2/2: Tremendous additional DPS and rage generation. There’s really not much to explain here.

ARMS TIER FIVE:

[Lambs to the Slaughter] 3/3: You’ll probably lose stacks of this if you’re eating tons of CC, but 30% additional damage on a number of our strongest abilities is still way too good to pass up. BURST DAMAGE IMO.

[Juggernaut] 1/1: [Charge] in-combat, 3.5 second stun, and a 25% crit bonus on Mortal Strike or [Slam]. These are all amazing benefits rolled into a single talent point. [Charge] sharing cooldown with [Intercept] post-patch will suck, but this talent is still 100% essential for all Arms Warriors.

[Sudden Death] 2/2: [Colossus Smash] is probably our best ability now, and more is better. This talent helps provide the RNG for some pretty ridiculous burst damage, and facilitates [Execute] spam on low-health targets.

ARMS TIER SIX:

[Wrecking Crew] 2/2: Huge damage increase. Simple, but essential.

[Throwdown] 1/1: This is basically [Kidney Shot] for Warriors. Incredible in both offensive and defensive situations. Use it after Colossus Smash for five seconds of unavoidable burst damage, or use it to prevent your own death.

ARMS TIER SEVEN:

[Bladestorm] 1/1: Very useful as a root breaker and CC immunity, this ability also does impressive damage any time you’re in range to hit multiple targets. Additionally, yelling BLADESTORM over Skype is typically pretty satisfying.

FURY TIER ONE:

[Blood Craze] 3/3: Passive self-healing when you need it most. A life-saving talent for all of those games when you’re getting loltrained for five minutes straight.

[Cruelty] 2/2: Additional Mortal Strike damage is always good.

FURY TIER TWO:

[Piercing Howl] 1/1: This talent is absolutely essential. [Hamstring] is terrible, and we really need a way to snare targets at range. The AoE aspect is also quite a bonus.

GLYPHS

PRIME:

[Glyph of Mortal Strike]

[Glyph of Overpower]

[Glyph of Bladestorm]

Unfortunately, these are the only decent prime glyphs for an Arms Warrior. Very boring and straightforward.

MAJOR:

[Glyph of Long Charge]: The difference from 25 to 30 yards is actually very significant, considering how many other classes rely on abilities with a ~30 yard range.

[Glyph of Piercing Howl]: I mentioned how important [Piercing Howl] is in the talents section. Buffing the range to a very respectable 15 yards makes this ability much more useful for catching up to your target, and also allows it to very frequently hit additional targets.

[Glyph of Sweeping Strikes]: This glyph allows you to spam [Sweeping Strikes] without worrying about the rage cost. Really fantastic glyph, IMO.

OTHER OPTIONS:

[Glyph of Shield Wall]: This is a very respectable option if the standard 40% [Shield Wall] isn’t keeping you alive. The increased cooldown is pretty brutal for longer games, but this is a glyph worth considering for a second Arms spec to swap in when you are facing short games against very aggressive teams.

[Glyph of Intercept]: This glyph becomes terrible for Arms in 4.06 once [Charge] and [Intercept] are placed on the same cooldown.

MINOR:

[Glyph of Demoralizing Shout]: I personally think that [Demoralizing Shout] is one of the most under-utilized Warrior abilities. This glyph is fantastic against any team with a melee class. This will be slightly worse once Demo Shout no longer brings Rogues out of stealth, but I still like this glyph a lot.

[Glyph of Berserker Rage]: Free rage. Nothing wrong with that.

[Glyph of Command] or [Glyph of Battle]: Pick one of these to supplement your favorite shout for arenas and BGs. These glyphs help prevent shout downtime and also allow you to reach more of your teammates in large areas.

End

Please feel free to ask questions or leave feedback!