ARMS Warrior - Where are the builders?

Hello Great Warriors!

I have been levelling every class to max in Shadowlands and I only have one left - Warrior! Maybe I saved the best for last?

Currently level 41, was playing as fury, and decided to give arms a try.
Reading things over, I’m left scratching my head.

Are there no filler abilities for building rage?!?!

That’s fury. You have auto attack, SkS, Avatar, ravager and charge.

You know homogenization has gotten bad in this game when someone tries a spec and is confused as to why it doesn’t play like the others.

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Auto attack? Like I just sit there and wait for it to fill?

Well, this is pretty unique, and I don’t mean compared to the other spec. I mean, every single other DPS spec has some filler ability to spam, and whether it’s energy, combo points, or rage, there is something you press that builds it.

This is comparable to my palladin in Classic.

I don’t know why you would wait for full rage, but you could do that.

And every spec is limited by their resource generation. Few specs always have something to cast.

No. It is not.

Not saying to wait for full rage, but like I have to wait for auto attacks to produce enough rage to use an ability?

Seems like there’s going to be a lot of downtime watching auto attacks.

and yes, every DPS spec except this one, if I’m understanding arms correctly, has something to press or cast, just like Fury does. Name the DPS spec, I’ll tell you the filler. I’ve played all of them in the past few months.

and when I say it’s like my palladin in classic, I mean your primarily auto attacking and waiting till you have a CD or enough rage to do something.

For Arms, the talent Skull splitter does generate 20 rage.

Outside of that, not many other talents generate rage. This is what makes Arms playstyle rage starved sometimes.

Bladestorm builds rage as well but on a much higher cooldown.

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Pretty sure he doesn’t mean the whole bar, just fill enough to use an ability.

I get it kinda. I leveled my first warrior as Fury, always had something to press. Leveled another warrior as Prot, always had some to press, even if it was just Devastate. I leveled a third warrior as Arms and it was weird for a while.

Arms feels like leveling a Ret Paladin for a long time. It does smooth out a lot as you go. But yes, sometimes you have to wait a moment to get a swing in before you hit something.

Skullsplitter helps a ton. Also, it might not sim the best, but Deadly Calm, and Dreadnought helped keep the pacing up for me. I don’t play at a high level at all, so gameplay usually wins for me vs raw numbers.

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I did list other things that generate rage. Largely, yes, it is auto attacks.

“A lot” is rather subjective and vague.

Classic specs are typically 20 to 40 apm. This is not like classic. It does not play like classic. If you think it does, that shows a rather strong contradiction to

This.

Additionally, if you’re not even done leveling arms, I’d go as far as to have no respect for your knowledge of any other spec.

No dps spec but fury and havoc are GCD locked. Every other spec has some form of downtime, be it casting or waiting for resources.

No, really?

Yes, really!

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Honestly, you are just being rude and mean.

The other posters understood what I was saying and gave nice responses that I found informative. You’ve spent more time insulting than actually giving any form of advice. You even contradict yourself by first telling me “Don’t know why you would wait for the full bar to fill?” and when the other poster explains what I was saying, that’s the response you are giving? Frankly, it’s not just your character that is coming off as a troll.

As the other poster mentioned, and what I know, despite your unwillingness to give me any respect, is that every other DPS spec has SOMETHING you can be pressing that acts as the filler which isn’t auto-attacks.

WW Monk - Tiger Palm
Fire Mage - Fireball
Sub Rogue - BackStab/Sinister Strike

and the list goes on for every spec. I’ve played them all, I know their rotations, and when I tried to find the equivalent for arms, I couldn’t, and it does appears to be just auto attacks. Also, saying it has a lot downtime isn’t exactly an attack, it’s actually exactly what I had a read in a guide about the spec on wowhead and icy veins. It was more me wondering if the downtime was due to the use of auto attacks as filler. If that type of comments really upsets you, go write a letter to wowhead, icy veins, and a couple content creators on youtube when they describe the spec.

Also, if there is downtime and a use of auto attacks as filler, that’s fine - it’s not an attack on arms! Maybe it will be something I end up enjoying about Arms and end up loving it. All I’m doing is trying to fully understand a new spec I’m playing for the first time. You don’t have to be so combative, argumentative, and just downright rude.

The other posters gave nice responses, learn from their examples.

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I was trying to be nice.

That’s not contradicting. It’s showing that I understood, but was making fun of you.

Costs energy.

Cast time.

Costs energy.

Evidently not well.

You’ve been shown and told repeatedly it’s not just auto attacks. They are simply the vast majority.

You gave the impression it was your own take. I’m not surprised that was not the case.

That still does not change the fact that “a lot of downtime” is both subjective and vague.

I am not upset.

That’s honestly adorable.

Good thing I’m not worried about defending the honour of a video game specialization, innit.

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It is what he does. If someone calls him on it his buddy will jump in eventually. He isn’t utterly ignorant, he just likes to act like people owe him something for a straight answer. He is like a fart. Ignore him when you can, laugh when you can’t.

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I’m more confused as to how someone just tried Warrior for the first time in Shadowlands pre-patch.

I remember when there were no “builders” on Warrior and you got to flounder on the pull.

I remember streaming adds and an empty rage bar while trying to pick up threat. Good times.

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The parallel for the abilities you listed in Arms would be slam and whirlwind. You have excess rage, you spend it on slam or whirlwind. Every example you gave is constrained by a resource.

Look I don’t like Arms either, I play Fury for a reason. But that is its model - it’s not a builder-spender. It’s about managing a limited resource. If you get overeager and use abilities when you shouldn’t, you pay for it. I hate that personally, but thankfully they basically custom made Fury for me. Other people love it.

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Fury is really in a complete state as far as the core rotation. It used to be just as janky as Arms was.

It’s literally always been this way.

Roll a Warrior in classic and run a 5 man. Ragefire Chasm will be enough to give you a clear picture.

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Fury has been blessed with steady iterations that have gradually led it to where it is. There’s generally been a consensus about how Fury should feel with the whole raging berserker theme, and has taken a step towards a singular vision every expac.

Arms lacks the unified vision Fury has and its iterations take it backwards as often as forwards.

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Very true. At various stages it still felt weird.

I’m sure you know a thousand times better than I do. I couldn’t stand when Raging Blow required Enrage, that Wild Strike thing, or when Berserker Rage was part of the rotation.

It’s reassuring to know someone at your level feels the spec is complete, I felt that way too and I’m happy with Fury the way its core design is. The design team seems to have finally got it to a good spot.

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Feel the same way. I briefly enjoyed all those when they were introduced because they were better than the previous version, but inevitably got frustrated with them. Now though, Fury’s core largely feels like a finished product and I love it. I hope the other specs get there someday.

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