Arms Warrior Guide

📊 Stat Priority

Stat priority (both hero trees share it): Item Level / Strength > Critical Strike > Haste > Mastery > Versatility. There is no variance between Slayer and Colossus — gear them the same.

• Critical Strike — generally your strongest secondary; powers Impale-style crit damage and proc generation.
• Haste — more GCDs and faster Rage = a smoother rotation, very close to Crit.
• Mastery / Versatility — solid but trail the top two; Vers also adds a little survivability.

Diminishing-returns starts (rating): Crit / Mastery first DR at ~1,380; Haste first DR at ~1,320. Higher item level beats gaming these breakpoints.

🎁 Tier Set, Trinkets & Consumables

Tier set — Rage of the Night Ender:

• 2-piece — Mortal Strike and Cleave deal +5% damage, and Colossus Smash increases damage taken by an additional 5%.
• 4-piece — Mortal Strike or Cleave on a Colossus-Smashed target (Cleave must hit 3+) extends the Colossus Smash debuff by 1.0s.

Top trinkets (raid): Gaze of the Alnseer and Heart of Ancient Hunger (top tier); Umbral Plume, Radiant Plume, Crucible of Erratic Energies as strong alternates. M+ alts: Algeth'ar Puzzle Box, Solarflare Prism.

Consumables: Flask of the Blood Knights (or Flask of the Shattered Sun) · combat potion Potion of Recklessness · food Harandar Celebration · Void-Touched Augment Rune. Gems: Flawless Quick Garnet (Haste) / crit-stat variants per your secondary needs. Enchants: weapon Jan'alai's Precision · rings Eyes of the Eagle · cloak Arcanoweave Lining · boots Lynx's Dexterity · chest Mark of the Worldsoul.

🚀 Opener

The whole opener exists to dump everything into the first Colossus Smash window. Pre-cast Rend, then fire Avatar + Ravager into Colossus Smash and spend your big channel and procs while the debuff is up. Slayer leans on Bladestorm; Colossus leans on Demolish at 10 Colossal Might.

1. Charge into the boss/pull
2. Avatar (line it up with Colossus Smash)
3. Rend to apply the bleed
4. Ravager just before Colossus Smash
5. Colossus Smash
6. Bladestorm (Slayer) inside the window
7. Mortal Strike
8. Demolish (Colossus, at 10 Colossal Might)
9. Overpower
10. Execute on any Sudden Death proc
11. Fall into the single-target priority below

⚔️ Single-Target Priority

Goal: fill every GCD, keep Mortal Strike on cooldown, spend procs, and avoid both Rage starvation and overcapping. Everything is sequenced to land inside the Colossus Smash debuff.

1. Keep Rend up (refresh under ~5s remaining)
2. Avatar on cooldown (aligned with Colossus Smash)
3. Ravager just before Colossus Smash
4. Colossus Smash on cooldown
5. Demolish during Colossus Smash (Colossus)
6. Bladestorm during Colossus Smash (Slayer)
7. Mortal Strike on cooldown
8. Heroic Strike / Slam via Master of Warfare proc
9. Overpower (don't overcap charges)
10. Execute on Sudden Death procs (and in execute range below 35% HP)
11. Slam as the Rage-dump filler

💥 AoE / Multi-Target Priority

Two-target cleave runs through Sweeping Strikes (mirrors your strikes onto a second target); 3+ targets shift Slam to Cleave and lean harder on Bladestorm/Demolish. Open every pack with Avatar + Colossus Smash so the burst lands in the debuff window.

1. Keep Rend applied on the primary target
2. Maintain Sweeping Strikes charges (Broad Strokes can auto-trigger it off Colossus Smash)
3. Ravager before Colossus Smash
4. Avatar with/before Colossus Smash
5. Colossus Smash
6. Bladestorm in the window
7. Demolish during Colossus Smash (Colossus, at 10 Colossal Might)
8. Execute on Sudden Death procs
9. Cleave as the primary multi-target filler (3+ targets)
10. Overpower, then Mortal Strike
11. Refresh Rend when it falls off

⏱️ Cooldowns

Arms is a burst-window spec: stack your cooldowns inside Colossus Smash rather than spreading them out. Avatar and Colossus Smash are pulled into alignment by Anger Management (Rage spending reduces their cooldowns), so they naturally pair up over a fight.

Colossus Smash~45s (Anger Management reduces it)

The core of the whole spec — applies the armor-shred debuff that makes the target take extra damage. Everything else is timed to fire while it's active. Use on cooldown; Anger Management shaves it down as you spend Rage.

Avatar~1.5 min (reduced by Anger Management)

+20% damage for 20s. Align it with Colossus Smash for your big burst window. Reduced over the fight by Rage spending.

Bladestorm~1.5 min

Slayer's signature channel. No Rage cost; you keep auto-attacking through it and it hits everything around you. Best burst inside a Colossus Smash window; also your strongest AoE button.

Demolish~45s (reduced by Colossal Might)

Colossus's heavy channeled finisher. Builds and spends Colossal Might stacks — fire it at 10 stacks inside Colossus Smash. Its cooldown is shortened by your Colossal Might generation rather than Anger Management.

Ravager~1.5 min

Spinning whirlwind you drop just before Colossus Smash; buffs your Cleave and adds sustained multi-target damage through the window.

Champion's Spear~1.5 min (talent)

Throws a spear that tethers and damages enemies, generating burst + Rage. Optional talent — line it up with your Colossus Smash burst when specced.

💚 Defensive Toolkit

Arms is not immortal, but the kit is deep: a parry wall, a magic-eating reflect, a stance, a battle-rez-of-your-own-health Victory, and a raid-wide cooldown. Pre-press for known damage rather than reacting late.

Die by the Sword~2 min

+100% parry chance and a flat damage reduction for the duration. Your main personal — great vs melee/physical pressure and tank-buster overflow.

Spell Reflection~25s

Reflects the next incoming spell back at the caster and reduces magic damage during the window. Short cooldown — use it actively to eat targeted casts.

Defensive StanceToggle (~6s lockout)

Toggleable stance that reduces all damage taken (at a damage cost). Flip it on for scary windows, flip it back off for your burst.

Rallying Cry~3 min

Raid cooldown — grants the whole party/raid a temporary max-health buff. Call it for group-wide spikes, not just yourself.

Impending Victory / Victory Rush~25s

Instant self-heal that costs a little Rage; strong sustain filler when you're taking chip damage.

Berserker Rage~1 min

Removes/prevents Fear, Sap and Incapacitate effects and breaks you out of loss-of-control — your personal anti-CC button.

🧰 Utility & Crowd Control

🗝️ Mythic+ Tips

• Run Colossus for dungeons — Demolish + bleeds + Sweeping Strikes give you the better sustained AoE; Slayer is the raid/ST pick.
• Open every pack with Avatar + Colossus Smash so your Bladestorm/Demolish burst all lands inside the debuff window.
• Keep Sweeping Strikes up for 2-target priority cleave; let it auto-trigger off Colossus Smash with Broad Strokes when specced.
• Charge or Heroic Leap between packs to keep uptime; lost melee uptime is lost damage with no Stagger-style smoothing to fall back on.
• Spread your interrupt load: Pummel + Storm Bolt + Intimidating Shout cover far more casts than a kick alone.
• Pre-press Defensive Stance / Spell Reflection / Die by the Sword for known unavoidable hits, and call Rallying Cry for group-wide spikes.

⌨️ Macros & Addons

WeakAuras is not supported in Midnight (12.0) — use Blizzard's built-in Cooldown Manager (import configs from Wago.io). Addons: ElvUI, DBM/BigWigs, OmniCD, Hekili (for priority help).

#showtooltip Pummel
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][@focus,exists,harm,nodead][] Pummel

#showtooltip Storm Bolt
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Storm Bolt

#showtooltip Colossus Smash
/cast Avatar
/cast Colossus Smash

#showtooltip Intervene
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][] Intervene

🚫 Common Mistakes

• Using Bladestorm / Demolish / Mortal Strike OUTSIDE the Colossus Smash window — almost all your burst should land while the debuff is up.
• Letting Rend fall off — it's a small but constant loss and several effects key off it.
• Overcapping Rage (or starving yourself) — keep filling GCDs with Slam/Overpower so spending stays smooth and Anger Management keeps reducing your cooldowns.
• Sitting on Overpower charges or wasting Sudden Death Execute procs.
• Holding Avatar for a 'perfect' window so long that you lose a full use over the fight — use it roughly on cooldown, aligned with Colossus Smash.
• Looking for Warbreaker or Thunderous Roar — those buttons were removed in Midnight; your AoE is Bladestorm, Ravager, Cleave and Demolish now.
• Forgetting your defensives — Die by the Sword, Spell Reflection and Rallying Cry are free survival/raid value if you pre-press them.