The Cataclysm Pre-Patch brings with it the updates and changes to class kits and talent trees. This means that there is a lot that may be new, as well as old spells that have been given new life. For most classes, the pre-patch will change relatively little about how you play your character, but there are still a lot of things to consider.
What’s New
In terms of new mechanics, the Warrior class is among the few classes that maintained most of their identity, using the same Rage resource they have been using since the beginning of the game and the same 3 different stances. What is truly new besides the changed abilities and talents is the new Mastery System, granting them quite a strong bonus.
Mastery: Strikes of Opportunity
All specializations have a unique Mastery ability, augmented by the Mastery stat. In the case of Arms Warrior, Strikes of Opportunity grants their melee attacks a chance to trigger an additional attack which deals 100% normal damage. This bonus is very powerful as it can be triggered by most of their offensive abilities since almost all of them count as melee attacks. Furthermore, the chance for the additional attack increases considerably by adding additional Mastery Points, resulting in frequent additional attacks.
Abilities
Whilst their overall identity remains the same, with the same Rage resource and three distinct stances, Battle Stance, Defensive Stance, and Berserker Stance, many abilities have been considerably changed or slightly altered, resulting in a different yet familiar play style.
Changed Abilities
While a lot of abilities have received minor changes, this section aims to cover those that are relevant to Arms Warriors and their gameplay.
Heroic Strike
The first and most impactful change that Cataclysm brought is tied to Heroic Strike. This core Warrior ability has been modified compared to its previous iterations, now having a 3-second cooldown for the first time since its initial version in Classic. This is a huge change as we were used to spamming this ability alongside the rest of our core abilities. While it now has a cooldown, luckily, the ability retained its most important aspect, the fact that it’s not tied to our GCD system. This means that Heroic Strike can still be paired together with the rest of our abilities in the same cast by using macros.
Cleave
Cleave finds itself in the same spot as Heroic Strike, receiving the exact same changes. It now has a 3-second cooldown while retaining its Off-Gcd trait, meaning that just like Heroic Strike, it can be paired together with another offensive ability. Additionally, while it did receive this nerf, Cleave has also received a buff, with the ability now affecting 2 additional targets instead of only one additional target.
Slam
Among the abilities that received overhauls, Slam is one of the most exciting ones! While Slam mostly works the same in terms of what the ability does, it received a huge buff, it can now be used while moving. This fact, together with the Heroic Strike change, turns Slam into our main filler ability.
Execute
Execute has also been slightly modified, with its Rage cost being reduced from 15 to 10 in Cataclysm while its additional Rage consumption has also been reduced from 30 to 20. This change allows for even more Execute spamming, enhancing a Warrior’s execution phase.
Whirlwind
Whirlwind received a huge buff in Cataclysm, compared to its previous WotLK Classic version. The ability now no longer has a target cap, hitting all nearby targets. Additionally, if Whirlwind hits at least 4 targets with the Main Weapon, its cooldown is reduced by 6 seconds. This change heavily empowers the AoE capabilities of all Warriors.
Mortal Strike
Mortal Strike has also been changed, albeit slightly. The ability works almost the same as its WotLk Classic version, with the primary change that it is now directly granted to all players that choose the Arms Specialization upon selecting the Talent Tree. The only gameplay change that Mortal Strike received is that it now places an overall lower healing-reduction debuff on its target, with the debuff being nerfed from 50% to 25%.
Sunder Armor
Sunder Armor has also been changed, with the ability now stacking only to 3 stacks instead of 5 when compared to WotLK Classic. This is mostly considered a nerf, however, all other similar abilities such as Expose Armor have received the same fate, meaning that Sunder Armor is by no means weaker than its counterparts.
Sweeping Strikes
Sweeping Strikes has also been buffed, removing the 5 attacks limit in had in WotLK Classic. The ability now allows you to hit an additional target with as many attacks as you can land for 10 seconds. This is another huge buff for all Cleave and AoE scenarios, turning Arms Warrior into a powerhouse specialization.
Single Target Gameplay
The Single-Target Rotation has been somewhat overhauled in Cataclysm, since many abilities received slight changes. The gameplay itself feels familiar, being broken down into two possible viable different playstyles. The first playstyle revolves around Stance Dancing, a concept which means that you proactively change between Battle Stance and Berserker Stance to use certain abilities. The second playstyle doesn’t utilize Stance Dancing, maintaining Battle Stance throughout the entirety of the fight. The community has always had a dispute when it comes to this aspect, with many claiming that Stance Dancing is the most optimal method, especially for min-maxing players. We will split this section into two different parts for each rotation.
Stance Dancing Rotation:
The Stance Dancing is mostly played in the Berserker Stance thanks to the 5% damage increase when compared to Battle Stance. The rotation starts in Battle Stance either by using Charge or walking up to the target, and applying Rend to the target. This is mandatory as Rend will be used to trigger Taste for Blood. Once Rend has been applied to the target, and you cast your first instance of Overpower, you will switch to Berserker Stance. Rend will be maintained on the target with Mortal Strike, which will be used on cooldown. Besides Mortal Strike, your main filler ability will be Slam, with the trusty old Heroic Strike serving as a Rage Dumping ability if you have excess rage. Once the execution Phase is reached, Execute will replace Slam, with Heroic Strike being cast besides it if you consistently generate excess Rage.
The Stance Dancing part mainly comes from consistently swapping to Battle Stance in order to utilize the Taste for Blood proc and cast Overpower. This will occur quite often, as the proc itself will be generated every 5 seconds. The swap between stances is often realized with a macro or two, however, a single macro is cluttered which can result in 1-2 lost GCDs. You will mostly want to maintain the rotation mentioned earlier in Berserker Stance while continuously swapping to Battle Stance to cast Overpower once every 5 seconds and return to Berserker Stance quickly afterward.
Standard Battle Stance Rotation:
The secondary playstyle which doesn’t utilize Stance Dance, performs the entire rotation in Battle Stance. The rotation doesn’t shift at all, with Rend remaining the mandatory first ability that has to be placed and maintained on the target while Mortal Strike is cast on cooldown and Slam acts as a main filler ability. The main ideology behind this playstyle is that Stance Dancing results in a loss of DPS due to the consistent loss of Rage happening when transitioning between stances. Some players believe that even with Tactical Mastery, the DPS loss can’t be avoided, as you would simply generate more Rage and land more abilities by sticking in Battle Stance.
Burst Phase:
Both playstyles have the same Burst Phase that they can utilize. Cataclysm empowered some of your old abilities while also granting new ones. The typical burst phase revolves around Recklessness, an effect which turns all of your offensive abilities into critical strikes, with the ability being your longest cooldown. Besides Recklessness, Deadly Calm counts as the second most powerful offensive cooldown in your kit, allowing you to use abilities at no cost. The issue is that you can’t combine the two of them together, meaning that you will have to use them independently.
Additionally, you also gain access to the new Inner Rage offensive cooldown which should be used as much as possible. The gist of it is that you can combine Recklessness and Inner Rage to generate a large damage output, especially during the execution phase where you can spam Execute and Heroic Strike together. However, you can’t combine Inner Rage and Deadly Calm together.
As such, Inner Rage will be used on cooldown while attempting to preserve it for when Recklessness is best used during the key moment of an encounter while Deadly Calm should also be used on cooldown and synched with your trinkets.
AoE Gameplay
The AoE rotation changes in Cataclysm through a simple fact, it’s a lot more spammy! While the rotation itself is not different, with Arms Warrior maintaining the same exact abilities in AoE, the changes to our current abilities allow us to spam more, especially in AoE encounters.
In terms of your main AoE/Cleave abilities, Cleave will represent your main damage output in both scenarios. While it now has a cooldown when compared to its previous version, you will still want to spam this ability as you were previously used to, using it on cooldown. The change to Whirlwind also increases the frequency at which you will be using the ability, especially in AoE encounters with at least 4 targets present where you will be spamming Whirlwind every 4 seconds.
Besides those two main AoE abilities, you will perform your standard rotation on your main target, with the exception of Slam as it will lead to Rage-Starved situations. Additionally, if you run the AoE variant of the Talent Build, you will also throw Thunder Clap into the mix to spread Rend. This will however require you to perform a slight amount of Stance Dancing, as you won’t be able to refresh it on multiple targets with Mortal Strike.
In terms of big AoE cooldowns, Sweeping Strikes is one of the most useful cooldowns in your arsenal, allowing you to either increase the number of targets in AoE situations or simply perform your standard Single-Target rotation while also damaging a secondary target in 2-Target Cleave encounters.
However, the star of the show is Bladestorm, which now should be used on cooldown in AoE encounters since it no longer has a target limit. With the ability to receive a massive buff, it should always be used on cooldown, especially in encounters that have at least 3 targets.
Cooldowns
Recklessness
Finally, Warriors receive something that they have been waiting for quite some time, a huge buff to Recklessness! The ability has been changed, retaining its Critical Strike Chance increase effect, however, it can now be used in all stances. This is absolutely huge for players that oppose the Stance Dance mechanic, turning it into a very strong ability that can be used in Battle Stance effectively.
Deadly Calm
Deadly Calm is a new ability introduced in Cataclysm that serves as one of the main offensive cooldowns in your kit. Deadly Calm offers you a 10-second window in which you can use any other ability in your kit without spending any Rage. This cooldown can be treated as a top priority during key moments of the fights.
Inner Rage
Inner Rage is yet another new ability introduced in Cataclysm that acts as an offensive cooldown. While not as strong as Deadly Calm, this ability reduces the cooldown of Cleave and Heroic Strike by 50% for 15 seconds. This can be extremely useful if you consistently generate large amounts of Rage, resulting in quite a big DPS spike. The only issue is that this ability can also lead to a rage-starved state if not used properly. The best part about this ability is its low 30-second cooldown, allowing you to use it often.
Bladestorm
Bladestorm received a similar buff when compared to Sweeping Strikes and Whirlwind, with the ability no longer having a target limit in Cataclysm. This is huge news, as the ability is no longer considered a meme ability in actual PvE content.
Talents
With the arrival of Cataclysm, the talent system received a massive overhaul, changing from the 71 talent points system to a more compact 41 points system. As such, many of the old talents were either completely removed or changed, resulting in way fewer possible build variations. One key aspect of the new system is that you must use at least 31 points in your main specialization to use the remaining 10 points in a secondary specialization.
With the trees being heavily compressed, you’ll find that each talent is more impactful than ever before. Upon choosing a tree we will be granted a few abilities, in the case of Arms Warrior, we gain Mortal Strike, Anger Management, and Two-Handed Weapon Specialization right away.
In the first tier, one option is mandatory while the other two are considered interchangeable, with all three talents being a new addition with the release of Cataclysm. War Academy is a must-have as it empowers Mortal Strike by a considerable amount. Field Dressing and Blitz are considered completely interchangeable, depending on your preferences. Field Dressing offers overall survivability which is useful for undergeared players while Blitz is useful for initial rage generation.
The second tier has one of the most broken talents that Warriors have always loved, Deep Wounds. This talent retained its WotLK version, generating a large amount of free damage output, proccing itself consistently whenever you land a critical strike with any of your offensive abilities. Tactical Mastery has received a slight overhaul, having its threat generation part removed while gaining an increase in the retained Rage when changing Stances. Drums of War is yet another new talent that we will want to pick, removing the cost of our Shouts while also removing the cost of Pummel.
The third tier is where we you get your hands on some powerful talents! Taste for Blood works the same, granting rend the ability to proc Overpower without having to meet its requirements. Impale has been sadly nerfed, with its effect now only empowering Mortal Strike, Slam, and Overpower, while Sweeping Strikes has been massively buffed, having the limited number of attacks removed entirely.
The fourth tier brings yet another row of improved and new talent., All of the talents can be considered mandatory, as they all provide amazing bonuses. Improved Slam receives an additional damage-enhancing effect besides its cast time reduction. Deadly Calm is an entirely new talent that acts as a major offensive cooldown, removing the cost of all of your abilities for 10 seconds. Lastly, Blood Frenzy is a mix of previously available talents from WotLK, now allowing us to debuff our targets with both a 4% damage-enhancing effect for Physical Damage and a 30% damage increase effect to all Bleed Damage.
The fifth tier brings some familiar powerful talents, alongside a brand new one. Lambs to the Slaughter is an amazing new talent that allows you to use Mortal Strike to reset the duration of Rend while also granting a stacking buff that increases the damage of Execute, Overpower, Mortal Strike, and Slam by 10% per stack up to 3 stacks. Besides the stacking debuff, this talent is amazing since it facilitates a much easier use of Taste for Blood. Juggernaut works almost exactly the same as it did in WotLK, with the addition that it will now make your Charge share a cooldown with Intercept. Lastly, Sudden Death has also received somewhat of an overhaul, the talent now ties into an ability that is not yet available to you, however, it kept its Rage preservation part tied into Execute.
The sixth tier only brings one viable talent, Wrecking Crew! The talent has been reworked, now granting its effect upon landing a critical strike with Mortal Strike as opposed to its WotLK version where you could land a critical strike with any of your melee attacks. This can be considered an overall nerf to the talent.
Our capstone is Bladestorm, a beloved ability from WotLK that has been considered a meme in PvE content for quite some time. Its rebranded Cataclysm version finally makes it viable in AoE encounters, making it quite a powerful tool!
Apart from the Arms Talent Tree, we can spend points in two distinct ways. The ways in which you choose to spend your points will make the difference between the standard Single-Target variation of the build and its AoE variation. If you choose the standard Single-Target variation we’ve displayed above, you will spend you will only spend your points in the Fury Talent Tree, grabbing Cruelty and Battle Trance. Cruelty increases the Critical Strike Chance of all of your effects, including the proc chance of Deep Wounds. Battle Trance acts as a free resource generation tool, granting you a chance to remove the Rage cost of any ability costing above 5 Rage when casting Mortal Strike.
In case you choose the AoE variant of the build, you will only spend one point in Battle Trance and 2 points in the Protection Talent Tree on Blood and Thunder. The talent can be used to allow Thunder Clap to spread Rend to any other adjacent target next to the main target you applied Rend. Additionally, the AoE variant will also spend points in Cruelty, as the talent is way too strong to be ignored.
Glyphs
Glyphs have been overhauled in Cataclysm, replacing the previous Major-Minor system with a three-tiered system instead. Prime Glyphs are where you’ll get your biggest benefits, offering things like flat damage increases to certain spells, or boosts under certain conditions. Major Glyphs are more situational or defensive, offering things like reduced cooldown on defensive abilities. Finally, Minor Glyphs improve the overall quality of life, increasing the uptime of buffs such as Battle Shout and Commanding Shout, reducing the rage cost of Sunder Armor, or even removing the Fear effect from Intimidating Shout.
Prime
Glyph of Mortal Strike
This glyph increases the overall damage of Mortal Strike by 10%. This glyph can be considered mandatory as Mortal Strike is one of our main damaging abilities, being spammed consistently throughout each encounter.
Glyph of Overpower
This glyph increases the overall damage of Overpower by 10%. Just like in the case of the Glyph of Mortal Strike, this glyph will be considered mandatory as Overpower constitutes a large portion of your damage output.
Glyph of Slam
This glyph increases the Critical Strike Chance of Slam by 5%. While this glyph might seem underwhelming compared to the other two main glyphs we will use, the Critical Strike Chance increase is huge, especially since Slam is considered our main filler spell.
Glyph of Bladestorm
This glyph reduces the cooldown of Bladestorm by 15 seconds. This glyph is mostly situational as you will only want it for heavy AoE encounters where you will encounter multiple large groups of mobs. This glyph can be used for Trash Mobs clearing in ICC and swapped for all Boss Encounters with a more potent Single-Target glyph.
Major
Glyph of Sweeping Strikes
This glyph entirely removes the Rage cost required for activating Sweeping Strikes. This glyph is awesome overall as it can allow you to enter a Cleave Burst Phase without running the possibility of Rage starving yourself.
Glyph of Cleaving
The Glyph of Cleaving is one of the stronger glyphs you can choose for Cleave and AoE encounters, granting your Cleave the ability to hit one additional target. This is especially strong when combined with Sweeping Strikes.
Glyph of Resonating Power
This glyph reduces the cost of Thunder Clap by 5 Rage. While this might seem like an insignificant glyph at first, it can be very useful in AoE encounters, as it will make it easier for you to avoid rage starvation. This is especially useful if you choose the AoE variant of the talent build where you spend points in Blood and Thunder.
Glyph of Sunder Armor
Minor
Glyph of Furious Sundering
This glyph reduces the cost of Sunder Armor by 50%. This glyph can be used to stack Sunder Armor faster at the beginning of a fight in case there are no other similar effects to reduce the target’s armor.
Glyph of Demoralizing Shout
This glyph increases the duration of Demoralizing Shout by 15 seconds while also increasing the area of effect of it by 50%. This glyph is a great option as it lets you reduce the frequency at which you have to apply a Demoralizing Shout to your target.
Glyph of Battle
This glyph increases the duration of Battle Shout by 2 minutes while also increasing the area of effect of it by 50%. This glyph is great if you choose to not incorporate Battle Shout into your rotation for its rage generation component.
Glyph of Command
This glyph increases the duration of Commanding Shout by 2 minutes while also increasing the area of effect of it by 50%. This glyph is great if you choose to not incorporate Commanding Shout into your rotation for its rage generation component.
Stats
Stats have received a lot of changes in Cataclysm. Strength will be the predominant way of gaining Attack Power while Armor Penetration has been entirely removed from the game. We also gain a new stat that is useful for Arms Warriors, Mastery, which generates a considerable damage output through the Strikes of Opportunity effect.
In Cataclysm, Strength has been redesigned as the main way for Arms Warrior to acquire Attack Power. You should aim to acquire as much Strength as possible to maximize your damage. While certain enchantments still provide Attack Power and some older items grant the stat, Strength will grant you the bulk of your Attack Power.
Expertise Rating is the second most important stat you can acquire after Hit Rating for most Melee DPS classes. Expertise Rating reduces the chance for your attacks to be dodged or parried, making it an indispensable stat. However, you can’t completely negate Parries unless you reach the hard Expertise Cap. As such. Melee DPS classes should always position themselves behind the boss, as attacks can’t be parried from behind! You will require 26 Expertise to reach the Soft Expertise Cap to reduce the chance of your attacks being parried or dodged against level 83 enemies.
Critical Strike Chance is the most important secondary stat after Hit Rating and Expertise Rating, directly enhancing two aspects of our gameplay. Firstly, Critical Strike Chance enhances the damage of all our offensive abilities, making it a premium stat. Secondly, it directly ties into two of our talents, being necessary for Deep Wounds, with each critical strike proccing the effect, and for the Wrecking Crew talent which grants us a direct damage-enhancing effect after landing a critical strike with Mortal Strike.
Mastery is the next important stat for Arms Warriors, being a new addition brought by Cataclysm. Every single different specialization has a different benefit from acquiring Mastery! Arms Warriors receive a chance to trigger an additional attack each time they land a melee attack. The effect itself can be triggered by almost every offensive ability in your kit since most of them count as a melee attack. Each Mastery point increases the chance to trigger an additional attack by 2.2%. The effect they receive their bonus through is Mastery: Strikes of Opportunity.
Haste Rating increases the overall speed of your attacks while also reducing the Global Cooldown of your abilities and their specific cast time. Haste Rating is the worst possible stat for Arms Warriors since our kit is already spammy while we also already have access to a passive effect that triggers additional weapon attacks, our Mastery. As such, Haste Rating should mostly be reforged into a much more useful stat such as Critical Strike Chance or Mastery.
Remember, this is not set in stone and certain gear levels, groups, fights, or any number of variables may shift this around.
Â
About the Author
