Arms Warrior DPS Spell Summary (Legion 7.2.5)

This guide has been written by Wordup, a frequent theorycrafter involved in a number of class communities. He is also an experienced player who has been in the world top 100 since the days of Sunwell, currently raiding in Echoes. You can also follow him on Twitter.

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Archimtiros, one of the best DPS Warriors in the world, who raids in Infinity. You can follow him on Twitter.

1. Spell Summary

If you are new to Arms, this is a great place to start to get an understanding of how the spec works. In this section we will discuss what abilities you have, what they are used for within the specialization, how they interact with each other and also with important cooldowns. If you already have experience with Arms before or are comfortable with the spec in Legion, it is recommended you skip this section and move on to the rest of the guide.

2. Main Resource

Rage is your primary resource, generated both through your auto attacks and through some active abilities at differing rates. It is used to fuel your most powerful abilities such as Mortal Strike Icon Mortal Strike and Execute Icon Execute, and managing it correctly to fill out gaps in your rotation is vital to maximizing your output.

3. Basic Abilities

These are your core skills that are available regardless of talents, and form the core gameplay of the specialization.

Mortal Strike Icon Mortal Strike is your core ability, dealing high damage to your target at the cost of 20 Rage, with a 6-second cooldown. This is kept on cooldown so as to get the most out of Tactician Icon Tactician resets.

Colossus Smash Icon Colossus Smash deals high damage to your target at no cost on a 20-second cooldown. This also leaves a debuff on the target for 8 seconds increasing all damage dealt to the target by 12%, and both the damage dealt and damage taken increase scale with Mastery: Colossal Might Icon Mastery: Colossal Might.

Slam Icon Slam is your main filler, costing 20 Rage and dealing moderate damage. This is used above 20% on a target when both Mortal Strike Icon Mortal Strike and Colossus Smash Icon Colossus Smash are on cooldown to gain resets through Tactician Icon Tactician.

Execute Icon Execute is only usable on targets under 20% health, and deals massive damage with no cooldown, costing 10 Rage and consuming up to 10 additional Rage for up to double damage. 30% of the Rage consumed is also refunded if this does not kill the target. This is your hardest hitting ability and is used frequently on targets when available, especially during Colossus Smash Icon Colossus Smash debuffs.

Cleave Icon Cleave deals low damage to all targets in front of you at the cost of 10 Rage, with a 6-second cooldown. Additionally, each target hit by this increases the damage of your next Whirlwind Icon Whirlwind by 20%, up to a maximum of 5.

Whirlwind Icon Whirlwind deals low damage to all targets within 8 yards at the cost of 30 Rage, with no cooldown.

Charge Icon Charge is your primary movement tool on a 20-second cooldown that instantly rushes you to your target, generating 20 Rage and rooting them for 1.5 seconds. Use this often to stay on targets and generate additional Rage.

4. Important Procs

Tactician Icon Tactician grants a 0.75% chance per Rage spent to reset the cooldown of Mortal Strike Icon Mortal Strike and Colossus Smash Icon Colossus Smash. This is a random effect that will occur periodically in your rotation and allow for extra casts of your main abilities.

5. Offensive Cooldowns

Battle Cry Icon Battle Cry increases your critical strike chance by 100% for 5 seconds, on a 1-minute cooldown. This should be used on cooldown for increased burst.

Bladestorm Icon Bladestorm deals massive damage to all targets within 8 yards over 6 seconds, but cannot cast any other spells during this time, on a 1.5-minute cooldown. This should be used whenever possible against large groups of enemies and ideally with Battle Cry Icon Battle Cry.