WoW Forever Arms Warrior Guide
Arms is the Warrior spec of slow two-handed weapons and big hits, and WoW Forever gave it more tools than it ever had in Classic. Bloodthrill turns your Rend into free Overpower procs, Improved Slam stops Slam from delaying your swing, Weaponmaster gives every weapon type its own bonus, and the new Spearing Strike adds another strike in Battle Stance. The result is a spec that keeps up on a single boss and turns every pack of two or three enemies into a burst of cleave damage with Sweeping Strikes.
This guide is written for level 60 and the live game as of the November 11 hotfixes, including the November 10 fix that stopped Sweeping Strikes from wasting charges. Below you will find where Arms stands next to Fury, the best race, a raid build and a dungeon variant in a talent calculator you can edit, the Legacy talents worth taking, the stat priority with the hit and Expertise targets, the rotation for one target and for packs, cooldowns and macros, enchants and consumables, the weapon to look for and the best professions.
Is Arms Warrior Good in WoW Forever?
Yes, especially in groups that fight packs. Arms is a burst spec: its damage comes in spikes, because one slow weapon hits hard but rarely, and almost every big ability depends on the Rage that swing brings in. Mortal Strike, Overpower and Slam all scale with weapon damage, so a slow two-hander makes each of them hit harder, while Sweeping Strikes copies your next five attacks onto a second target.
The spec is also simpler to pick up than it was in Classic. Forever has a built-in swing timer, and with Improved Slam Slam no longer resets or delays your auto attack, so the old trick of casting Slam right after a swing is no longer a requirement. What stays hard is Rage: a miss, dodge or parry on your one slow swing leaves you short for the next Mortal Strike.
The table sums up what Arms does well and where it struggles at 60.
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Strong burst cleave with Sweeping Strikes, Cleave and Whirlwind | Rage comes in spikes, and every missed or parried swing costs you an ability |
| Steady single target damage built on Mortal Strike, Overpower and Slam | Little raid utility beyond Sunder Armor and shouts |
| Mortal Strike cuts healing on the target by 50%, useful on enemies that heal | Depends heavily on the weapon and on Windfury Totem from a Shaman |
| Good mobility with Charge and Intercept | Weak self-healing, so First Aid and potions matter |
Arms vs Fury in WoW Forever
Fury usually does more steady damage on a single target. Its off-hand weapon brings in Rage on almost every swing, and it reaches Bloodthirst and Death Wish, which Arms cannot take without giving up Mortal Strike. One community simulation of both specs in level 60 gear put Fury about 14% ahead on a one-minute single target fight, with the usual caution that the numbers predate the launch hotfixes.
Arms wins where enemies come in groups and where burst matters. Sweeping Strikes, Cleave and Whirlwind make it the stronger cleave spec in dungeons, Mortal Strike is the better tool against enemies that heal, and Arms needs only one good weapon instead of two. A common plan is Arms in dungeons and Fury for raid bosses once you own a second good weapon, and dual spec from level 40 makes the switch easy. Every spec is ranked against the others in our WoW Forever tier list for classes and specs.
Best Race for Arms Warrior
Race matters less than gear and play. Community simulations put every race within about 2% of the best one, so pick the faction and look you want. If you do want the last percent, these are the races that bring the most to Arms.
| Race | Faction | What It Gives an Arms Warrior |
|---|---|---|
| Night Elf | Alliance | Elune's Light adds 10% critical strike chance for 15 sec on a 3 min cooldown, and Quickness adds dodge and movement speed |
| High Order Skyborne | Alliance | Wind Blessed adds 2% Haste, and Elemental Insight adds 5% damage against Elementals |
| Human | Alliance | Ruthless adds 1% critical strike chance, and Will to Survive breaks stuns |
| Dwarf | Alliance | Artisan's Precision adds 1% Hit Chance, so you need 7% from gear instead of 8% |
| Windshaper Skyborne | Horde | Wind Blessed and Elemental Insight, the same as the Alliance branch |
| Troll | Horde | Berserking adds 10% attack speed, and Beast Slaying adds 5% damage against Beasts |
| Orc | Horde | Blood Fury adds 10% Attack Power for 15 sec on a 2 min cooldown |
| Undead | Horde | Will of the Forsaken breaks fear, charm and sleep, useful when Berserker Rage is on cooldown |
Night Elf is the clear Alliance pick: Elune's Light is a crit cooldown you line up with Recklessness and Sweeping Strikes, and Arms gets more from crit than from anything else. On the Horde, Troll and Orc are level for Arms, and Windshaper Skyborne leads the simulations thanks to its Haste and its bonus against Elementals. Tauren has no damage racial and is the weakest Arms choice. Every racial and the best pick for each Warrior role are compared in our best Warrior race in WoW Forever guide.
Arms Warrior Talents at 60
Both builds below spend 32 points in Arms and the rest in Fury. Thirty-two is the most you can put into Arms while still reaching the end of the tree: every Arms talent worth having, from Mortal Strike to Weaponmaster, fits inside it. What changes between the two builds is the Fury side, where you choose between extra Rage and extra damage when you get hit.
Best Arms Raid Build: 32/19/0
This is the build for raids and for most players. It takes every key Arms talent and spends 19 points in Fury on crit and Rage. Unbridled Wrath and Reckless Swings feed Rage into the one place where Arms runs short, the gap between two slow swings, which makes the whole rotation smoother.
A few talents shape how the spec plays.
- Bloodthrill 2/2. Every main hand hit against a target with your Rend has a 20% chance to let you use Overpower. This is why Rend stays up on every target, and why Overpower becomes a core button instead of a reaction to dodges.
- Improved Slam 2/2. Takes 5 sec off the cooldown of Slam, 0.5 sec off its cast time and global cooldown, and stops it from interrupting or delaying your swing. Slam becomes a free extra hit.
- Weaponmaster 5/5. The bonus depends on your weapon: 5% critical strike chance with axes and polearms, 15% armor ignored with maces and staves, or a 5% chance for an extra attack with swords.
- Two-Handed Weapon Specialization 3/3 and Impale 2/2. 6% more damage with two-handed weapons and 20% more critical damage on your abilities, which makes every Mortal Strike and Overpower crit hit noticeably harder.
- Deep Wounds 3/3. Every crit starts a bleed for 60% of your average weapon damage over 12 sec. It is also required for Impale.
- Spearing Strike 1/1. A new Battle Stance strike for 75% weapon damage, doubled against Giants, Dragonkin and mounted targets. It fills globals between Mortal Strikes and hits twice as hard on dragons such as Onyxia.
- Cruelty 5/5 and Enrage 5/5. 5% critical strike chance from Cruelty, and Enrage gives 10% Physical damage for 12 sec when you are hit.
The last point sits in Lingering Rage, which does almost nothing in a fight. If you hold Battle Shout for the raid, move it into Booming Voice instead.
Dungeon Variant: 32/17/2
In dungeons you take more hits, especially when you pull enemies onto yourself with Sweeping Strikes and Cleave. This variant drops Unbridled Wrath and Reckless Swings and takes Improved Bloodrage 2/2 instead, which adds 50% to the Rage from Bloodrage, so you open every pull with enough Rage for Sweeping Strikes. Enrage procs more often in a dungeon than in a raid, which covers part of the lost damage.
Use it when you take damage in most fights. In a raid where the boss never targets you, the raid build is stronger.
Arms Talents to Skip
A few talents look tempting but do not belong in a PvE build at 60.
- Death Wish and Bloodthirst. Both need more Fury points than you can spend while keeping Mortal Strike. Arms has to choose, and Mortal Strike is the spec.
- Improved Hamstring and Piercing Howl. Control for PvP and solo play. They add nothing to damage in a group.
- Deflection and Improved Charge. Parry and Rage from Charge help while leveling, but you rarely Charge in a raid and the tank takes the hits.
Every Arms talent and what changed compared with Classic is in our WoW Forever Warrior talents guide.
Legacy Talents for Arms Warrior
Legacy talents are account-wide perks you earn by playing, and few of them affect damage at 60. For an Arms Warrior they save gold and Rage, which leaves more of both for damage. Gourmand makes food buffs last up to twice as long, Permanence doubles the duration of Battle Shout and other long party buffs, and The Quick and the Dead lets you rebuff for free after a wipe.
The rest of the 16 points go into Reinforce, which cuts the durability you lose on a wipe, and Diplomat for the raid and faction reputations. How every Legacy tree works is covered in our best WoW Forever Legacy talent builds guide.
Arms Warrior Stat Priority
Arms gets its damage from weapon hits, so first make sure those hits land, then make them crit. Two stats remove the swings that do nothing: Hit Chance stops misses, and Expertise stops dodges and parries. After those, critical strike chance is the strongest stat, because Warriors gain double Rage from critical weapon hits and Impale makes ability crits deal 220% damage.
The priority for raids at 60 looks like this.
- Hit Chance up to 8%. Raid bosses count as three levels above you, so you need 8% to never miss them. Arms gets no Hit Chance from talents, so all of it comes from gear. Dwarves need 7%. Against level 60 enemies 5% is enough.
- Expertise up to about 6.5%. This is the community target for stopping bosses from dodging your attacks. It is a new stat in Forever, and the exact raid number will be confirmed once the first raids open.
- Critical Strike Chance. More Rage, more Deep Wounds bleeds, bigger Mortal Strikes.
- Strength. Each point gives 2 Attack Power.
- Agility. It gives Warriors no Attack Power, only crit and dodge: 20 Agility is about 1% crit. An item with roughly 1.5 times as much Agility as another has Strength is often the better choice.
- Haste. The weakest damage stat for Arms. Faster swings matter less than harder ones when your abilities scale with weapon damage.
Weapon damage sits above every stat. A slow two-hander with high top-end damage raises every Mortal Strike, Overpower and Slam, so upgrade the weapon before anything else. Weapon skill is rare on gear now, but each point still lowers the damage you lose to glancing blows against bosses. Forever items carry a full stat budget for their class, so do not skip a piece that looks worse on paper but has more total stats. How Hit Chance works for every attack type is explained in our WoW Forever hit cap guide, and Expertise and the other new stats in our WoW Forever stats and itemization changes guide.
Arms Warrior Rotation and Cooldowns
Arms has no fixed rotation. You follow a priority: keep your bleeds up, spend procs as they come, press Mortal Strike on cooldown and use whatever Rage is left on Slam and filler. The skill is in Rage management, because everything costs Rage and it comes in big chunks from one slow swing.
How Rage Works for Arms in WoW Forever
Forever changed how Warriors gain Rage. Auto attacks now give Rage based on weapon speed rather than damage dealt, so a slow weapon brings in a lot at once and a fast one a little more often. A critical auto attack gives double Rage, which is one more reason crit sits so high for Warriors. Two talents add steady Rage between swings: Anger Management gives 1 Rage every 3 sec, and Unbridled Wrath gives a 60% chance for 1 extra Rage on every weapon hit.
The practical rule is to pool Rage instead of spending it the moment you have it. If you spend everything on Heroic Strike right after a swing, you will be empty when Mortal Strike comes off cooldown. Keep enough for your next core ability, and only put the rest into filler.
Single Target Priority
On a single boss, go down this list from the top and use the first ability that is ready.
- Keep Battle Shout up. Since launch it reaches the whole raid.
- Keep Rend on the target. It feeds Bloodthrill, and it scales with Attack Power and can crit in Forever.
- Overpower when a Bloodthrill proc is up. Procs do not stack, so a second proc while the first is unused is a lost Overpower.
- Mortal Strike on cooldown.
- Slam.
- Sunder Armor to five stacks, if no other Warrior applies it.
- Heroic Strike as a Rage dump. Guides give 40 to 60 Rage as the point to start; with less, you risk delaying Mortal Strike.
When the boss drops below 20% health, Execute joins the list and takes most of your Rage. Keep Rend, Overpower and Mortal Strike going, but stop using Heroic Strike, because Execute does more with the same Rage. If you are the only Warrior in the raid, Demoralizing Shout and Thunder Clap go to the top of the list.
AoE and Cleave Priority
Arms shines on two or three enemies. Sweeping Strikes is the center of the burst: it copies your next five melee attacks onto a nearby enemy, auto attacks included, so you want your strongest abilities inside those five charges.
- Rend on the main target.
- Sweeping Strikes.
- Mortal Strike and Overpower while the charges last.
- Cleave with spare Rage, but only while Sweeping Strikes has more than 5 sec left on its cooldown.
- Whirlwind in Berserker Stance.
- Slam.
- Sunder Armor on the priority target, then Thunder Clap and Demoralizing Shout.
AoE costs a lot of Rage, so stop using Cleave a few seconds before Sweeping Strikes is ready and save Rage for the next burst. Since the November 10 hotfix, Sweeping Strikes keeps its charges when no second enemy is in range, so it is no longer wasted when a target dies early or the pack spreads out.
Stance Dancing and Cooldowns
Overpower, Sweeping Strikes and Spearing Strike need Battle Stance, while Whirlwind and Recklessness need Berserker Stance. You switch stances during the fight, and Improved Tactical Mastery lets you keep up to 15 more Rage on top of the base Tactical Mastery each time, so a quick switch costs little.
Arms has no cooldown of its own like Death Wish. Your burst comes from Recklessness, which adds 100% critical strike chance for 15 sec on a 30 min cooldown but raises the damage you take by 20%, and from your racial. Save them for moments when at least two damage boosts line up: a Strength trinket proc, the Execute phase, a pack you hit with Sweeping Strikes, or a boss mechanic that raises your damage. Pop Bloodrage before a pull if you are short on Rage.
Useful Macros for Arms
Auto attack in Forever does not start on its own when you press an ability without enough Rage. This macro makes sure your swing starts with the first button you press:
#showtooltip /cast Heroic Strike /startattack
Put any other ability in place of Heroic Strike. A mouseover macro for Sunder Armor lets you stack Sunder on a second target without changing your target:
#showtooltip Sunder Armor /cast [@mouseover] Sunder Armor
Turn on the built-in swing timer in the Cooldown Manager and add a threat meter. Arms deals its damage in spikes, and a big Sweeping Strikes burst early in the pull can take aggro from the tank.
Arms Warrior Mistakes to Avoid
These are the mistakes that cost Arms Warriors the most damage at 60.
- Letting Rend fall off. Without Rend there are no Bloodthrill procs, and Overpower disappears from your rotation.
- Sitting on a Bloodthrill proc. A second proc does not stack. Use Overpower soon after it lights up.
- Spending Rage on Heroic Strike before Mortal Strike. Pool for your core abilities first and dump only the excess.
- Wasting Sweeping Strikes on auto attacks. Open with Mortal Strike or Overpower right after you press it.
- Using a fast weapon. Every core Arms ability scales with weapon damage, and a fast two-hander hits for less.
Enchants and Consumables for Arms Warrior
Enchants and consumables are a large part of a Warrior's damage, because Strength, crit and weapon damage add to every hit. Not every endgame enchant and recipe in Forever is known yet, so the table lists the best options players use now.
| Slot | Best Enchant |
|---|---|
| Weapon | Enchant Weapon - Crusader |
| Head and Legs | Lesser Arcanum of Voracity |
| Neck | Enchant Necklace - Strength |
| Cloak | Enchant Cloak - Agility |
| Chest | Enchant Chest - Greater Stats |
| Wrist | Enchant Bracer - Superior Strength |
| Gloves | Enchant Gloves - Superior Strength |
| Feet | Enchant Boots - Minor Speed |
For raids, bring the consumables below. Sharpening stones and weightstones now stack with Windfury Totem, so you do not have to choose between them when a Shaman is in your group.
| Type | Consumable |
|---|---|
| Weapon | Elemental Sharpening Stone, or Dense Sharpening Stone and Dense Weightstone for blunt weapons |
| Flask | Flask of Natural Precision in Mount Hyjal, Hyjal Summit and the Barrow Deeps |
| Elixirs | Elixir of Greater Strength and Elixir of Greater Agility |
| Potions | Mighty Rage Potion, Superior Frenzy Potion and Major Healing Potion |
| Food | Smoked Desert Dumplings for Strength, or Mightfish Steak for Attack Power |
| Explosives | Dense Dynamite and Goblin Sapper Charge for Engineers |
Mighty Rage Potion is the best combat potion for Arms: it gives 45 to 75 Rage and 60 Strength for 20 sec, which pays for a full Sweeping Strikes burst. Every enchant for every slot and class is in our best enchants in WoW Forever guide.
Arms Warrior Gear Overview
The weapon is the most important item an Arms Warrior owns. Look for the slowest two-handed weapon with the highest top-end damage you can get: Mortal Strike, Overpower and Slam all use weapon damage, and Two-Handed Weapon Specialization adds 6% more on top.
Weaponmaster decides which weapon type you prefer when two are close.
| Weapon Type | Weaponmaster Bonus | When It Is Best |
|---|---|---|
| Axe or polearm | 5% critical strike chance | The safest choice: crit is your best stat and feeds Rage and Deep Wounds |
| Sword | 5% chance for an extra attack | Extra swings bring extra Rage, strong with high weapon damage |
| Mace or staff | Attacks ignore 15% of the target's armor | Strong against high-armor bosses and elites |
While leveling, the weapon from the level 30 class quest is the best two-hander in the 30s: you choose between Whirlwind Axe, Whirlwind Sword and Whirlwind Warhammer. The full chain is in our WoW Forever Warrior weapon quest guide.
At 60, your pre-raid gear comes from the level 55 to 60 dungeons, crafting, reputation and PvP. The first raids open on December 9 with the Warrior tier set, whose five-piece bonus takes 30 sec off the cooldown of Recklessness. Every piece and how to get it is in our WoW Forever Warrior tier set guide. If you would rather start raiding with your gear sorted, our WoW Forever pre-raid gear service gets your Warrior ready for the first raids.
Best Professions for Arms Warrior
Engineering is the best profession for an Arms Warrior at 60. It is the only one that adds damage in a fight: Dense Dynamite and Goblin Sapper Charge hit every enemy around the target, which suits a cleave spec, and the gadgets help in PvP too.
While leveling, Mining and Blacksmithing work better. Both give a campfire buff, and Blacksmithing makes the sharpening stones you use every fight. Most Warriors swap one of them for Engineering at 60. Pick up First Aid as well: Arms has almost no self-healing, and bandages between pulls save a lot of time.
More WoW Forever Warrior Guides
These guides cover the rest of the Warrior class in Forever: the overview of all three specs, every talent change, the best race for each role and the tier set you will chase in the December raids.
WoW Forever Arms Warrior FAQ
These are the questions players ask most often about Arms in WoW Forever.
Is Arms or Fury better in WoW Forever?
Fury does a little more steady damage on a single raid boss, and Arms does more on packs and in short burst windows. Arms also needs only one weapon. Many Warriors play Arms in dungeons and Fury in raids once they have two good one-handers.
What is the best Arms Warrior build at 60?
32 points in Arms for Mortal Strike, Bloodthrill, Improved Slam and Weaponmaster, and 19 in Fury for Cruelty, Unbridled Wrath, Enrage, Reckless Swings and Improved Execute. Both builds are in the calculators above.
Should Arms Warriors use Slam in WoW Forever?
Yes. With Improved Slam 2/2, Slam has a 10 sec cooldown and no longer resets or delays your auto attack, so it is a free extra hit after Mortal Strike and Overpower.
Do Arms Warriors need to stance dance?
A little. Overpower and Sweeping Strikes need Battle Stance, while Whirlwind and Recklessness need Berserker Stance. Improved Tactical Mastery keeps up to 15 extra Rage when you switch, so a quick swap costs little.
Is Orc or Troll better for Arms Warrior?
They are level for Arms. Blood Fury adds Attack Power and Berserking adds attack speed, and simulations put both within about 1% of each other. Pick the one you like playing more.
Do critical strikes give Warriors more Rage in WoW Forever?
Yes. Since the November 2 build, a critical auto attack gives a Warrior twice the normal Rage, which is one reason crit is the best damage stat for Arms after the hit and Expertise targets.
Why use Sweeping Strikes and Cleave on only two enemies?
Sweeping Strikes makes your next five melee attacks hit a second enemy, so Mortal Strike, Overpower and auto attacks inside those charges hit two targets instead of one. Cleave already hits two enemies and costs Rage you may need for those abilities, so on two targets Sweeping Strikes does most of the work and Cleave is only for spare Rage.
What is the hit cap for Arms Warrior?
8% Hit Chance against raid bosses and 5% against level 60 enemies. Arms gets no Hit Chance from talents, so it all comes from gear. A Dwarf needs 7% thanks to Artisan's Precision.
What are the best professions for Arms Warrior?
Engineering for its explosives at 60, with Mining or Blacksmithing as the second profession. Take First Aid too, because Arms has very little self-healing.
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