Is Bladestorm Worth Getting? PvE Arms Build

Classes Warrior
1

Immune to CC isn’t too useful in PvE, and even when it is you might hold Bladestorm if it’s not optimal for damage (to get that part out of the way)

Bladestorm does roughly the damage of Thunderous Roar, a little better than Spear of Bastion (with no talents).

BUT those are instant cast, while Bladestorm occupies your time for 5.3 seconds. I’m not sure if you should even use it during your Warbreaker damage window. It does not play like a burst aoe ability, and it is even more disappointing in single target.

As for single-target usage, Bladestorm is about as good as 2 Mortal Strikes, without Overpower/Execute buff. So generally you could do more single target damage in 5.3 seconds with regular rotation abilities, but at least it doesn’t cost rage.

My build can only afford to get Bladestorm and one passive for it. The passives are

  • Dance of Death - If your Bladestorm helps kill and enemy your next Bladestorm lasts 3.0 seconds longer
    • stuck in Bladestorm longer? sounds weak
  • Unhinged - While Bladestorm is active, you automatically cast a total of 2 Mortal Strikes at random nearby enemies
    • basically doubles its damage in single target, but you generally still want to use it against multiple targets
  • Hurricane - While Bladestorming, every 0.9 sec you gain 5% movement speed and 5% Strength, stacking up to 6 times. Lasts 6 sec.
    • sets you up to use other burst damage abilities; decent all-around unless the enemies die too fast to make use of it
  • Merciless Bonegrinder - When Bladestorm ends, Whirlwind and Cleave deal 50% increased damage for 9 sec.
    • generally good for aoe, but I’d rather get something that makes it more worthwhile in 1-3 targets

currently running Bladestorm with Unhinged

Here’s my build currently:

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If I were to not get Bladestorm, I’d probably get

  • In For The Kill (10% haste for 10 seconds after Warbreaker)
    • (to do more damage in Warbreaker window)

and either

  • Improved Overpower (15% Overpower damage)
    • (for more single-target)
  • Improved Sweeping Strikes (6 sec. longer Sweeping Strikes)
    • (for more damage in 2-3 target situations)

not a fan of Slam or Skullsplitter

anyone got any good insights?

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2

Following!

3

I dont understand the comparison to spear and roar, they are not in the same tree.

Asalways I think ot depends on the content you are doing. Bladstorm will buff other abilities depending on your specc one of which is mortal strike but also cleave after its done. So in a dungeon enviroment it has value for clears and bosses with adds or council fights. Bladestom plus sweeping strikes will do some damage.

4

I was comparing to those to give perspective of how much of your “burst” aoe damage you would lose by not getting Bladestorm.

I mentioned I can only afford to get one passive; are you generally recommending Hurricane?

5

Bladestorm actually isn’t taken for a lot of PvE content, surprisingly. But it’s not a dead talent, either - on the contrary, BS is taken for absolute maximum AoE damage. For the raid, I take it to the Primal Council and Dathea, Advanced (heroic and mythic). It’s a must have for Algethar Academy purely because of tree boss adds. It can be taken to other M+, particularly during fortified weeks if maximized AoE damage is the priority.

You want all overpower talents - sweeping strikes baseline is good enough for AoE, and you mainly want to combo it with overpower buffed by dreadnaight anyway. Dance of Death is useless: you want to open fights with bladestorm, not end them. Merciless bonegrinder, hurricane, and double bladestorm with Avatar gets you the most mileage and huge cleave and whirlwind cabbage.

It is possible to squeeze in skullsplitter and its buff talent and rend with the BS build - it will not make single target dps as weak with full AoE.

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