Warriors have 2 DPS specs.  For a long time, though, people might argue they really didn’t.  When asked what spec to use for raiding DPS in the past, the answer was always simple:  Fury.  Going with an Arms build was an easy way to open yourself up to brilliant insults in the vein of “L2P.”  It was a cruel, cruel world for Arms warriors in PvE, forever relegated to the PvP spec.

When Wrath hit, people who loved the Arms play style had high hopes for the spec.  Fun new tools like Bladestorm and Sudden Death sounded like the perfect cure for a broken PvE spec.  Well, I can say from experience that Arms was huge, HUGE fun for the leveling game.  I wouldn’t take a warrior to 80 any other way.  In raiding though, it still took a backseat (way, way in the back) to a Fury spec.

3.1 hit, and everything changed.  Titan’s Grip took a mighty wallop from Ye Olde Nerf Bat.  At the same time, Arms got a healthy boost all around.  So now the question that hovers around the official boards and beyond is this:  Fury or Arms for raiding?

My simple answer is this:  Arms is better at lower gear levels, and Fury evens up and then pulls away as you approach BIS gear. 

For more details, let’s carry on and look at the strengths and weaknesses of each spec.

Arms Strengths

• Excellent single target DPS, some multi target DPS with Bladestorm and Sweeping Strikes
• Very, very active, many different “buttons to push” if you like that sort of thing
• You only need ONE uber two handed weapon
• Requires less expertise through gear to reach the cap

Arms Weaknesses

• Weaker (than fury) DPS in multi target situations
• Perhaps TOO active for some, long priority list (Rend, Execute, Overpower, Mortal Strike, Slam – in that order)
• You don’t look quite as cool with only ONE giant weapon

Fury Strengths

• Very, very good single target DPS – excellent multi target damage as well
• Active, but not quite as many things to keep track of (Whirlwind, Bloodthirst, Slam Proc, HS > 50 rage)
• Nothing looks quite as badass as a TG Fury Warrior with nice weapons

Fury Weaknesses

• Single target DPS less than Arms (at least at lower gear levels)
• Some consider the rotation boring
• Must gear and gem for more expertise
• Really need 2 excellent weapons to thrive

It’s like I said before, Arms, IMO, is better until you have some really nice gear for Fury.  If you’re just starting out raiding, or if you’re mostly wearing Naxx 10 gear or thereabouts, you’ll probably do better as an Arms warrior.  Arms spec relies a bit less on gear.  As gear improves, however, Fury catches up and eventually surpasses Arms.  Fury Warriors scale very, very well with gear, but it takes time to get there.  Let me give you a real world example.

Before 3.1, I out DPSd our Arms warrior every time.  Even when he had better gear, I out DPSd him.  Once I got better gear than him, it got even worse.  After 3.1, the story has changed.  Our gear right now is roughly equal, and he is almost always beating me.  You may look at my gear and say, “but you have some really nice gear.”  Yeah, I do, but one key piece is missing – a good off hand weapon. 

If my theory is correct, I should start to pass him again once I replace my crusty old Titansteel Destroyer. I believe that the real key to Fury Warrior DPS is how good BOTH your weapons are. The nerf, after all, was a direct hit to physical damage – and weapons have a HUGE impact on physical damage.

Try to take everything into account, however.  Arms and Fury are two very different playstyles.  As a Fury, I spend a lot more time waiting on cooldowns, where when I spec Arms, it’s everything I can to make sure I take advantage of every proc.  There is constantly some attack lit up that I could be using – it’s all about managing the GCD. 

Heck, there are quite a few raiding warriors that are actually using dual spec.  Some fights in Ulduar are more suited to Arms than Fury and vice versa.  If you really, really want to min/max, you too can go this route. 

Really, if you think about it, Blizzard did a nice job with these changes.  Arms is finally viable as a Raid DPS spec without totally destroying Fury.  Now we can actually choose a spec based on – wait for it – FUN!!

Before I get out of here, I believe I owe you guys a Power Auras setup export for Arms DPS.  Here it is – enjoy! It tracks your rend being up with a timer, and will let you know when Mortal Strike, Execute and Overpower are available. Thanks again to Drotara for teaching me the ways of Power Auras!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 at 11:04 pm and is filed under Warrior. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.