Arms Warrior Guide — Class Guides · WoW Burning Crusade

Two-handed weapon damage built around Mortal Strike, which also reduces the healing its target receives. The usual leveling and player-versus-player tree.

A plate-wearing melee fighter who builds Rage by dealing and taking damage and spends it on attacks, shouts and stances. Warriors tank with a shield in Defensive Stance or deal melee damage with two-handed or dual-wielded weapons. More about the warrior

Class: Warrior
Roles: Damage, Tank
Used for: Raids and dungeons, Player versus player, Leveling
Top talent: Endless Rage
Popular builds: 4
Version: WoW Burning Crusade

How to play

Arms in The Burning Crusade is two-handed damage with raid utility: Blood Frenzy makes the target take more physical damage from everyone, Mortal Strike is the big hit and still halves healing, and Endless Rage adds Rage from your swings. Death Wish now sits in the Arms tree.

Blood Frenzy works while Rend or Deep Wounds is on the target, so a raid keeps one Arms warrior on the boss to hold it. The rotation is Mortal Strike, Whirlwind and Slam between swings, with Heroic Strike to spend extra Rage.

In arenas Arms is the warrior spec: Mortal Strike's healing cut, Intercept, Hamstring and mace stuns, with Second Wind to recover from crowd control.

At a glance

Single-target damage
Damage to groups
Survivability
Utility for the group
Solo play and leveling
Ease of play

Rated 1 to 5 against the other specs in WoW Burning Crusade.

Rotation and priorities

1Keep Rend or Deep Wounds up so Blood Frenzy stays on the target.
2Mortal Strike whenever it is ready.
3Whirlwind whenever it is ready, in Berserker Stance.
4Slam right after an auto attack when you have Rage to spare.
5Execute below 20% health; Heroic Strike to spend Rage that would cap.
6Death Wish with trinkets and Bloodlust.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Blood Frenzy raises physical damage for the whole raid.
The strongest warrior in arenas.
Sturdy, quick leveling with Endless Rage and Victory Rush.

Weaknesses

Less personal raid damage than Fury.
Depends on a healer partner in arenas.
Relies on a strong two-hander.

Stats and gear

Stat priority

Most valuable first. Bars compare each stat with the best one; a cap in the note means the stat drops off once you reach it.

1
Hitto 142 rating (9%)
2
Expertisefewer dodged attacks
3
Strength2 attack power each
4
Critical strike
5
Armour penetration
6
Agility

What to look for

A two-hander with high damage per second: instant attacks use a fixed weapon speed in TBC, so a slow weapon only helps Slam, Heroic Strike and white hits.
Hit to 142 rating, then expertise and Strength; armour penetration grows stronger as gear improves.
Resilience and Stamina for arenas; Mace Specialization's stuns favour maces there.

Items worth chasing

GorehowlA raid two-handed axe.
Dragonspine TrophyAttack power and a haste proc in a trinket.
Bloodlust BroochA burst of attack power on use.
Hourglass of the UnravellerHit, and attack power after crits.

Builds

Each bar splits the build's talent points by tree.

Arms
Fury
Protection

Blood Frenzy Raider
DamagePvE
3328
33/28/0
Arms for raids: Blood Frenzy adds physical damage for everyone, Mortal Strike and Sweeping Strikes carry your damage, and Fury supplies Flurry.
- Death Wish 1/1
- Improved Disciplines 2/3
- Blood Frenzy 2/2
- Mortal Strike 1/1
- Sweeping Strikes 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level
Mace Stun Gladiator
DamagePvP
4117
41/17/3
Arena Arms: Mortal Strike cuts healing, Mace Specialization stuns, Endless Rage and Second Wind keep Rage flowing, and Piercing Howl slows groups.
- Death Wish 1/1
- Blood Frenzy 2/2
- Mortal Strike 1/1
- Second Wind 2/2
- Endless Rage 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level
Endless Rage Wanderer
DamageLeveling
4120
41/20/0
Arms leveling to 70: Mortal Strike and Sweeping Strikes clear quests fast, while Endless Rage and Anger Management mean less waiting for Rage.
- Death Wish 1/1
- Blood Frenzy 2/2
- Mortal Strike 1/1
- Improved Mortal Strike 5/5
- Endless Rage 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level
Flag Carrier Bulwark
TankPvP
3523
35/3/23
Arms/Protection for carrying flags: Mortal Strike still cuts healing, while Last Stand, Improved Shield Block and Concussion Blow keep you alive and in control.
- Death Wish 1/1
- Blood Frenzy 2/2
- Mortal Strike 1/1
- Second Wind 2/2
- Concussion Blow 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level

Key talents

Endless Rage · top talent, up to 1
You generate 25% more rage from damage dealt.
Two-Handed Weapon Specialization · tier 4, up to 5
Increases the damage you deal with two-handed melee weapons by 5%.
Death Wish · tier 5, up to 1
When activated, increases your physical damage by 20% and makes you immune to Fear effects, but increases all damage taken by 5%. Lasts 30 sec.
Mace Specialization · tier 5, up to 5
Gives your melee attacks a chance to stun your target for 3 sec and generate 7 rage when using a Mace. More effective than Mace Specialization (Rank 4).
Improved Intercept · tier 6, up to 2
Reduces the cooldown of your Intercept ability by 10 sec.
Improved Hamstring · tier 6, up to 3
Gives your Hamstring ability a 15% chance to immobilize the target for 5 sec.
Improved Disciplines · tier 6, up to 3
Reduces the cooldown of your Retaliation, Recklessness and Shield Wall abilities by 10 min and increases their duration by 6 sec.
Blood Frenzy · tier 7, up to 2
Your Rend and Deep Wounds abilities also increase all physical damage caused to that target by 4%.
Mortal Strike · tier 7, up to 1
A vicious strike that deals weapon damage plus 85 and wounds the target, reducing the effectiveness of any healing by 50% for 10 sec.
Second Wind · tier 7, up to 2
Whenever you are struck by a Stun or Immobilize effect you will generate 20 rage and 10% of your total health over 10 sec.

Arms abilities by level

When each ability arrives: trained abilities at the level a trainer first teaches them, talent abilities (gold frame) at the first level the talent can be taken.