I just cant seem to enjoy Arms ever since BFA, it feels like its going in too many directions and has no goal and too many keybinds. You have to keybind Rend, Thunderclap, Mortal Strike, Overpower, Slam, Cleave, Sweeping Strikes, Execute, and this doesnt even count the CC or cooldowns, which dont align at all and feel awkward like pressing Bladestorm without Colossus Smash.
Sweeping strikes as a passive felt great in Legion, not sure why we needed a keybind for a buff on the GCD.
Rend feels awful to press, and has 0 synergy with the kit, its literally just a bleed.
Cleave can be awkward to use with positioning sometimes but I like how hard it hits now.
Im playing Slayer Arms and there is 0 incentive to pick execute talents for my execute ability rather than the same talents other builds use. Give us some variety in playstyle please.
P.S if an ability like Unhinged doesnt work with Sweeping Strikes Mortal Strikes or whirlwind, SPECIFY IT.
5 Likes
I don’t know how you enjoyed BFA arms when it was one of the worst time for arms warrior. Such a boring expansion for it.
4 Likes
I’m trying to offer some thoughts on your post here, but when you say keybind are you referring to macro’s or just general keybinds? Because a keybind for MS, OP, rend, CS, slam, cleave, sweeping and the CDs are not that many keybinds. Arms does have a pretty good toolkit but it’s not bloated by any means.
If I may offer some simplified help that you maybe already know or maybe do not.
If 2+ targets: Sweeping strikes>charge>clap (if talented) or rend>CS/warbreaker>Avatar>Roar>MS until on CD>cleave if MS on CD>OP when nothing else to push>BS only when MS and cleave on CD and remember to MS as soon as BS ends if talented into “brutal finish” for bonus MS dmg. Also execute when it procs, but don’t spam execute. In fact I don’t run “improved execute” talent. Mortal strike is still our #1dmg, not execute.
If single targets its even easier just Charge>rend>CS>Avatar>Roar>MS>OP>execute when procs.
Here are a couple macros I use
#showtooltip Avatar
/use trinket
/cast Avatar
/cast Thunderous Roar
If you hate rend and only PVE, just bind it into your charge like this
#showtooltip Charge
/cast Charge
/cast Rend
If you like PVP might want this one (have to apply rend manually)
#showtooltip Charge
/cancelaura Bladestorm
/cast Charge
/cast Hamstring
Of course I use Cooldown macros such as the ones you’ve shown, it’s more about the tediousness of the spec.
You don’t think Mortal Strike, Slam, Overpower, Execute, Sweeping Strikes, Colossus Smash, Bladestorm/Ravager, Spear/Roar, Shockwave, Storm Bolt, Spell Reflect, Commanding Shout, Rend, Thunder Clap, Demolish, are a lot of keybinds? And that’s for whats required for an Arms warrior to do well at M+. That’s 15.
Not including Pummel, Impending Victory, Heroic Throw, Hamstring, Piercing Shout, Berserker Rage, Intimidating Shout, Skullsplitter (which is recommended in wowhead builds), Battle and Defensive Stance, (Racial), Battle Shout.
I’m almost always top dps in Heroics, unless an arcane mage decides to blow up the boss. It’s not a problem of tuning but of having some Quality of Life changes that would make the spec much more fun.
3 Likes
Only true issue I have with arms is sweeping strike. That talent should just be baked into whirlwind or cleave at this point. You do cleave or whirlwind and you get the sweeping strike buff. Why it is still a dedicated button with a GCD I have zero clues into why. But other than that, I do not feel a button bloat.
I even took rend off my bar and just use thunderstrike to get rend on my targets. Since Rend isn’t hard hitting anymore and I use slam as a filler, all rend is for is putting up the dot and thunderstrike does that for me.
Storm bolt, shockwave, spell reflect and commanding shout are all situational for me. I hardly press those unless I need a stun or defense. Mortal Strike is still my bread and butter outside of demolish.
1 Like
Personally I think we have the perfect amount of keybinds and abilities.
The only class in the game in my opinion that has too many is shamans.
3 Likes
But you kinda just listed a bunch of abilities but really didn’t talk about their usage or when they’ll be consided important.
Things like Spell Reflect, Commanding Shout, Shockwave, and stormbolt all get used at varying frequencies that aren’t consistent.
Likewise things like Berserker Rage, Hamstring, Battle Shout, and Heroic Throw are things that aren’t pressed at all based on the encounter, or occur so infrequently that they can generally be planned around or aren’t worth applying/using.
Warrior as a whole doesn’t have that many buttons, especially when you compare them to other classes.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed than that may be a sign your keybindings need adjustment, or your UI isn’t helping you parse through information quickly.
If you are playing pure pve yeah, it may not look like its too many buttons, but it kinda is, and you need these on ready
Still, Rend as a button need to go, it need to be a passive like it is to thunderclap, affecting slam
2 Likes
That’s not really an Arms-specific problem, though.
Most melee have 8-9 keybinds that you’ll use on every pull just to get into position, do damage and interrupt, and need around 25-30 keybinds to play fully. It’s not an Arms thing.
Unholy DK has like 6 different offensive cooldowns that you’re managing on top of all your rotational abilities.
Windwalker Monk you need 5 different keybinds just for mobility.
1 Like
Sure, its a problem of skill bloat that affects more the PVP side of things, and its a hassle to deal with in most cases
But i still reinforce i would rather Rend to be a passive, its rly feels bad to press amongst the(imo) already lacking rotation
1 Like
I would be okay with slam giving rend. I also want CLeave to give sweeping strikes buff. Those two buttons could go and be baked into other skills. I already took rend off my bar and just use thunderclap now.
It feels like the perfect amount of keybinds to me. A mmo mouse can really help if you are not already using one.
You need to get and good gaming mouse with a lot of buttons so you can “attack” with one hand and “defend” with the other, or just share keybinds the way you prefer on both your hands. Getting a good gaming mouse helped me solve the “a lot of keybinds” issue.
Arms is one of the most simple pve rotations atm. Take rend off your bar in dungeons, you can just tclap to apply it. you dont run skull splitter in dungeon cleave either, its for raid single target rotation and imo is the only thing that makes the spec not brain dead. You also said youre running slayer but included demolish in your list of keybinds to make it look more inflated. Every melee has the same or more keybinds than arms. Take a look at shaman if you wanna see a lot of keybinds