This DPS warrior guide will focus mostly around the Arms tree.
This is mainly due to Fury being an easier spec to play and secondly because at the moment, Arms should be putting out more damage when played correctly. Due to scaling issues most Warriors will probably be going back to Fury after upgrading their gear in Ulduar.

These are some abbreviations I may use during the Guide.

ArP = Armor Rating Penetration
StR= Strength
ExP= Expertise
Imp Demo= Improved Demoralizing
MS= Mortal Strike
SD= Sudden Death
CD= Cooldown
OP= Overpower
WW= Whirlwind
BT= Bloodthirst
DW= Death Wish
HS= Heroic Strike
EXE= Execute
BiS= Best in Slot

In this guide you will find:
1. Fury & Arms Glyphs/Stats
2. Stats Arms & Fury Rotations
3. Buffs/Gems/Gear
4. Addons

1. Glyphs and Stats

This is a list of basic stats like hit/expertise/crit you should sort out first and foremost.

ARMS -You will need:

Hit Rating: 263
Expertise: 6.40% = 214 rating = 26 (Hard Cap)
181 (22) With 2/2 in Strength of Arms
148 (18) With 2/2 in Weapon Mastery.

(NOTE: Weapon Mastery is considered a “waste” for PVE vs Imp Execute when exp capped.)

Glyphs:
Mortal Strike
Rend
Execute

(Note this is Imp Demo shout build, you can also spec into 5/5 Commanding Presence, adjust the weapon spec accordingly)

FURY - You will need:
Hit Rating: 164 (Soft Cap/Special Cap)
Expertise: 6.40% = 214 rating = 26 (Hard Cap) Expertise rating

Glyphs:
Whirlwind
Heroic Strike
Execute

(Note this is an Improved Demoralising Shout build, you can also spec into 5/5 Commanding Presence.)

For Fury you should try to gain at least 35% crit, but you should not be gemming for it.
Keep in mind a lot of leather/mail gear tends to have a lot of agility and/or crit rating, there is nothing wrong with wearing leather items here and there for a Warrior. In fact some leather gear parts are considered “best in slot”.

2. ARMS Rotation:

There are no real rotations to this spec, it’s all about priorities.
A lot of warriors have their own play style when it comes to Arms. Here are the basics, learn to use the abilities correctly. Getting used to the wrong priority system will hurt your DPS. Keep in mind this is an all Battle Stance spec, apart from Recklessness on pull and low rage stance switch while moving.

1. Rend

Make sure this is always up! Refresh it either on last tick or within 3s after the last tick.

2. Bladestorm

Use this only after an Overpower where you will have a 6sec cd, to maximize DPS. This ability is amazing in some of the AOE fights you will encounter in Ulduar.

3. Sudden Death

This might seem like an ability to prioritize but in some cases it will lower your DPS. Only if you have 40+ Rage and MS/SD are both up, you should burn MS first. Doing it other way around will most likely leave you without enough rage.

4. Mortal Strike

Considered to be great for rage-dumping at lower gear levels, yet you will be using this a lot when you start raiding Ulduar with good Naxx25 gear. This is a great ability to use as a rage-dump while moving.

5. Overpower

Learn to time when the proc is about to come off CD, every 6 seconds. Meaning you should use OP in the 6 second window so a proc is not wasted. As well as how long the proc lasts(9sec) in priority of other abilities. This ability should be used to link the abilities listed above, think of it as filler. Example: MS-SD-OP-SD

6. Slam and Heroic Strike

Slam should only be used when everything is on CD and you are at ~45+ Rage, Heroic strike should only be used when you are above 75+ Rage. During Bloodlust you should replace Slam with HS given enough rage.

7. Execute

The reason for adding Execute for last is due to the fact that it’s not always the best DPS under 20%. You should still be doing your “rotations” and only using Execute as a rage-dump or when everything is on CD. I tend to swap out Slam/HS for EXE spam.

Slam might seem like it’s far down on the list but you will be using this ability a whole lot. It might take you some time to get used to when you should use it vs when you should save the rage for other abilities that are about to come off cd.

This might seem complex but as soon as you get used to the flow you will be pushing some nice numbers out of your warrior. Now let’s look at gear and buffs!

FURY Rotation:

Just like Arms this spec doesn’t really use any type of rotation, you are pretty much playing whack-em-all with your action bars. Unlike Arms this is an all-berserker stance spec.

1. Whirlwind

This is your biggest damage ability that should always be on CD.

2. Bloodthrist

Pretty much the same deal as WW minus the damage, make sure to keep this ability on CD.

3. Heroic Strike

Even though WW/BT will give you the biggest numbers, HS is where your real DPS output is from, unless you are doing an AOE fight. You should be spamming HS for the majority of the time, being expertise capped and having 164 hit rating will ensure that this ability will never miss. Keep in mind to stop spamming it when/if you are getting low on Rage and WW or BT is about to come off CD.

4. Execute

More often then not this ability will be the only thing you will spam when the boss hits 19% but still keeping WW on CD is still a smart move even in execute range.

5. Death Wish

Not much to say other then learn when you should use it! It will not only vary from Boss to Boss but from Guild to Guild.

Death Wish should be used to boost your DPS as much as possible, meaning using Potion of Speed/Bloodlust/Bursting down a Boss or Add etc.
With a 2minute cooldown you will more often then not be able to use this ability twice on one fight if you time it right. The problem is that if the fight is close to 2min long, DW might still be on CD when bloodlust/heroism is activated. In these cases you can try to use your DW 10-15sec before the pull is even made. (Something you might have learned from Patchwerk fights.)

Gems:

As you might have noticed there is constant debate over what gems are better for a Warrior, Armor Penetration or Strength. From personal experience Armor Penetration shines when you have a lot of it. Most Arms/Fury warriors are currently using url= http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40256 Grim Toll due to its now amazing proc which helps boost ArP during boss fights. This results in a high burst of outgoing damage.

To put it in easy-to-understand terms: The more ArP you have the better it is, and the more strength you have the worse it is. At 40% ArP every point of ArP is worth around 1.3 times what it's worth at 10% (battle stance buff). The value of ArP even after 30% passive ArP rating makes it better then strength.

Gear:

When it comes to gear, try to get as much passive ArP gear as you can while staying hit/expertise capped. Having said that, you should not follow this “rule” blindly.

Chances are with gear upgrades you will loose either expertise and/or Hit Rating.

Listing BiS items is pointless at this point since warriors now have a wider range of gear to choose from, chances are however you will end up with 4/5 part T8. Another option is to go 2/5 T7 + 2/5 T8 making your slams slightly more powerful while you gear up.

When it comes to weapons I would recommend Poleaxe over Maces/Swords from a pure talent value standpoint. But this is something you will need to judge for yourself. With no new axes in 3.1 apart from Furious Gladiator's Sunderer in PVE you should aim for Voldrethar, Dark Blade of Oblivion unless you are lacking hit rating which will make Earthshaper slightly better.

Buffs:

Make sure you have Flask of Endless Rage and food buffs before a boss pull. Food like Hearty Rhino or Dragonfin Filet is what you should be using. For Arms you should be using Insane Strength Potion over Potion of Speed. It’s a major pain to farm but will be worth it.

Here is a list of good addons that you can use to help you spot procs easier resulting in better DPS, You will probably only need one of them to do the job:

ClassTimer: Great addon for buffs/debuffs. My personal favourite.

Power Auras: Buffs/Debuffs mod that might take some time to setup, but works nicely. A bit too flashy for my taste though.

TellMeWhen: Will pop up icons during specified buffs/debuffs. Have yet to try it but have heard good things.

Omen: Threat addon

Some of these addons might not be setup properly off the bat, so you might have to add proc names into the “extra features” stuff like; Sudden Death and Taste for Blood, Slam! etc.
NOTE: The addons might be case sensitive, so make sure to use correct spelling.

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