Building a Better Arms Warrior, Round 1

It's that time... :)

Time to start looking at that old MS Arms build and begin retro-fitting it for Patch 3.0. I know, things will still change between now and then. But it's not much longer. I hope.

I'm sure there's plenty of discussion and Warrior theory crafting going on out there. And I ain't gonna read it. I'll do it m'self thank you. :) Well, okay, I'll read it eventually. But for now I'm gonna have fun with some of the changes and new stuff and not let some stuffy number cruncher ruin it for me.

These are the builds I've come up with. Two are just for fun to try stuff out. Probably day one and day two builds after 3.0 goes live. The third is probably closer to what I'll end up with for awhile.

For reference: The original MS Arms Build

STANDARD WRATH SPOILER WARNING
If ya don't want ANYTHING about Wrath, then don't read any further.

Fun Build

This one is just to test out some of the new stuff. It does not take the new bleed stuff, but otherwise gets most of the new Arms changes. This isn't for testing or anything. It's just to take some of it out for a spin and have some fun.

Bleed Build

This one is trying out all the new bleed effects and boosts. Is Rend a viable tool now? Maybe. I'm not reading that formula very well, but it looks like it's based on AP, Weapon Damage, and Weapon Speed??? And if you Enrage it's even better??? If so, gonna hafta to play with combinations of bleed effects and Enrage stuff to see how big it can be. I'm thinking this is gonna work. We're gonna find out very soon.

New MS Arms Build

Iron Will is now 3 talent points instead of 5. Forces taking one of the usually skipped over 2/3 pointers. For utility, I went with Improved Thunderclap for 2 points. Some may prefer a couple points in Improved Heroic Strike. I've never needed Improved Charge, but if you're having trouble with Rage at the start of a fight, it might work.

Because Impale and Deep Wounds have switched places, you're no longer required to take Deep Wounds. While it'll probably be awesome for a Bleed Warrior build, I'm skipping it for now to put points elsewhere.

Death Wish is, of course, gone and replaced with Sweeping Strikes. I think this is gonna be great, but we'll see. Anyhoo, ya have to take it to get to Mortal Strike so in it goes. Mortal Strike without the one second cool down? Gonna take some getting use to. Compensated for by increasing the damage.

Blood Frenzy moved way down the tree. Since I'm not taking Deep Wounds, won't need it anyhow. Not sure if Strength of Arms will be worth it or not, but I'm not going to say no to 4% more Strength and Health. Took it.

One of the biggest changes for MS Warriors? Toughness and Last Stand bump down a tier. Ouch! Incite is great, but doesn't help this build much. It'd bump up Thunderclap a bit, and if you went with Improved Heroic Strike instead it might be worth considering. Anticipation, on the other hand, looks pretty groovy. As good as Toughness? Probably not, but in addition to Toughness it'll certainly do. Take Toughness for 4 as well, though, on account of the nifty new ability to reduce the effect of movement hampering abilities. I like!

Debated very hard about taking Sudden Death. And if the build ends up Rage heavy, it'll be worth it. For now, though, I'm gonna stick with Toughness. The movement thingie is just too tasty.

So, over all I think MS Warriors are getting a win out of this one, so far. Not nearly the beefy upgrades others have seen, but we're already pretty beefy. Yah, I'd like to see more and maybe we will. But for 3.0, it'll do. And no QQ, this time. :)

So... whatcha got planned for 3.0???

-Fri

PS And yah, I'm adding complete random and unrelated pictures to my posts because... I can. :P