Halten

I've wanted to make a thread on this for awhile, no idea why I haven't.

Arms spec is a whole different game than fury, and a completely different WORLD than protection, but here goes my little attempt at telling you guys about it.

First things first, you will not see a dual wielding Arms spec warrior. Its just not efficient. Arms is all about burst damage, big crits, and instant attacks, whereas fury is based on weapon speed (I think, someone feel free to correct me). As I stated in the fury thread, arms is less damage over time, but a LOT up front. Think of arms as burst damage, and fury as constant, steady damage. This is why the Arms spec is considered "the PvP spec" for warriors.

When looking for weapons, dps is important, but not so much as top end. Mortal strike, which is the "end point" of the arms tree, is an instant attack, which like heroic strike, adds damage to normal weapon damage. Since its instant either way, weapon speed doesn't matter much, aside from building up the 30 rage it costs to use . The slowest 2h weapon I've used had a weapon speed of 3.90, but a huge highend for the level. Sure I didn't hit a bunch, but when I hit, I hit very, very hard, and thats what Arms is all about.

Another point that divides fury from arms is rage. Fury generates tons and tons of rage from hitting so much, but nothing really potent to use it with, aside from bloodthirst, which is only really good if you have a lot of attack power. Arms on the otherhand, has the superpotent mortal strike, but since you tend to hit so slowly, it seems to take forever to build that 30 rage. I've heard many DW fury warriors complaining after respeccing to arms by saying mortal strike takes too much rage to use. Look at the tooltips, both mortal strike and bloodthirst are both 30 rage, Fury just generates it much more easily.

Now, for the different specs. Arms can be a very....weird spec, since it tends to work so well with the other specs.

This is my current spec, I guess it would be the official "Arms PvP spec". Its all about hitting things hard, and then hitting them really hard again:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/...00000000000000

Then there's my old spec, which I'll be switching back to shortly, I guess people would call it the "balance spec".
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/...50000500000000
~Notice the change in the arms tree. (Note, this is only the way I had it, not official). Theres only 3/5 in the weapon specialization to get those two in deflection. "DPS tank spec :P"

EDIT!-Heres the "balance spec" in relation to what Beep said. It offers more damage mitigation, and I think when I respec, I'll use this one!(Plus, I like linking the talent calulators thing :P)
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/...50010400000000

Those are the only two Arms spec I generally see, but if you notice with both there's ALWAYS the 5 points in cruelty. That 5% to crit is very essential to doing damage. Thats one reason I was talking about Arms in conjunction with the other specs.

Well, that about wraps it up. If you had any question about arms, I hope this answered it (this was my first...."write up"). And of course, feel free to ask any unanswered questions here! Oh, and thanks for the read .



-Halten

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beep

Nice post, Halten...

I have a comment on your proposed "balance" arms spec with respect to the Protection Talents.

You put 5 in Anticipation, 5 in toughness and 5 in defiance.

For the times when you are tanking (think damage mitigation), I'd suggest...5 in shield specialization, 5 in toughness, 1 in improved shield block and 4 in defiance. IMO the ability to block one or two attacks every 6 seconds is a huge benefit when you are tanking. You give up the extra in defense (offset by the better gear you are wearing now) and one point in defiance...but still have most of the extra threat.

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Beep


Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do. - (Isaac Asimov)

Halten

Hmm, thats a nice spec too, Mine was kind of a basic one, well, thats what I was shooting for. When I first respecced to 31/5/15, thats what one of my friends told me to do, and it worked for me. I like your spec better. Also, you're right about the loss of the meager 10 defense. I'm at 365 defense now, so I figure its only a little bit more before I just focus on stam, stam, stam!

Thanks, Beep! I edited the post to include what you said .

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Phantom

Halten Currently I am using an Arms/Prot Hybrid tank build, you can see it here.

Currently raiding in MC/BWL/AQ 40 this is working great for me. When not tanking I can lay down some pretty serious DPS, and when tanking I have no problem holding aggro. Shield Block is something I use, but not often enough to bother putting a point into. But, if not using my current hybrid spec, I would use the one Beep mentioned, it is a very good spec. Having Mortal Strike is very key for many fights with the raids I am doing currently, so it is a very good thing to have. Plus a big Mortal Strike crit while in Defensive Stance is nice aggro.

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beep

I differ from Phantom with respect to shield block...I ALWAYS keep shield block up...ALWAYS...every 6 seconds. It's the easiest, simplest way to reduce melee damage...much easier on your healers if your incoming DPS is lower. If you have it, IMO, you should use it as often as it is available when you are tanking.

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Beep


Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do. - (Isaac Asimov)

Halten

Thats where I'm iffy, when I use shield block, I usually only block 84-85 damage. When they hit for 600+, it just kinda makes it seem useless to me.

__________________

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