The linkless version (for the link impaired):
Arms tree: (54 points)
1st tier - (5/5) Deflection, (2/2) Improved Rend
2nd tier - (2/2) Improved Charge, (1/3) Iron Will
3rd tier - (2/2) Improved Overpower, (2/2) Impale, (3/3) Deep Wounds
4th tier - (3/3) 2 Handed Weapon Spec., (3/3) Taste for Blood
5th tier - (5/5) Poleaxe Spec., (1/1) Sweeping Strikes
6th tier - (2/2) Trauma
7th tier - (2/2) Second Wind*, (1/1) Mortal Strike, (2/2) Strength of Arms
8th tier - (1/1) Juggernaut, (3/3) Improved Mortal Strike, (2/2) Unrelenting Assault
9th tier - (3/3) Sudden Death, (1/1) Endless Rage, (2/2) Blood Frenzy
10th tier - (5/5) Wrecking Crew
11th tier - (1/1) Bladestorm
Fury Tree: (17 points)
1st tier - (3/3) Armored to the Teeth, (2/2) Booming Voice, (5/5) Cruelty
2nd tier - (1/5) Unbridled Wrath
3rd tier - (1/1) Piercing Howl, (3/3) Blood Craze**
4th tier - (2/2) Improved Execute
* = placed instead of Improved Slam to allow for PvP
** = placed instead of Improved Cleave to allow for PvP
So rather than simply posting this, I'll share some of my thinking below regarding the difference between this and some others I've seen.
I have seen a lot of people who are taking all the talents they can grab in the Arms tree, and this is nice, but . . . . from playing for a while I think the best choice is to pick your winners. For example, I had 2 different choices I had to make here, and I elected to lose a little PvE damage in favor of having a more PvP friendly build that could still do PvE.
My winners are: Mortal Strike, Rend, Execute, and Overpower (the biggies in the Arms race)
Because these are my winners I want to do right by them.
So as you can see, in favor of Execute I've taken Sudden Death(3/3), I've taken Improved Execute (2/2) and I've glyphed for Execution. I've chosen to keep execute as my "occasional" rage dump in favor of trying to improve heroic strike, and I've run the numbers. See my earlier post for some discussion of this.
In favor of Rend I've taken Improved Rend (2/2), Trauma (2/2), and for it's connection to Overpower, I've taken Taste for Blood (3/3). You may notice I've elected NOT to use Glyph of Rending, and I'll say a bit about that later.
In favor of Mortal Strike, I've taken the Glyph as well as the talents Improved Mortal Strike (3/3) and Juggernaut (1/1), and notice that Trauma (2/2) also has a connection to this as well.
Now many of these are basic and givens. In fact, I think it's fair to say that you should pick your specialization based on what kind of weapon you use. I, for example, typically use my trusty BoH, so I'm taking axe specialization. If I were to find one of the awesome maces or swords in Ulduar, I'd consider switching over. Of course, if I got a shot at some of the axes or polearms, I'd stay right where I am. (the polearms would be funny since I have 1/400 skill with them at the moment)
So where were my real choices? Well, not taking Anger Management was one. I talked to some Arms warriors and they said that rage was seriously not an issue any more. I'm glad I listened, because they were right.
The other choices were basically down to PvE vs PvP. Not knowing for sure whether I wanted to try to do PvP in the same spec or not, I elected to do a PvP spec that I felt would still be useful in PvE, so I opted to put my 2 "free" points in the arms tree into Second Wind (2/2) rather than Improved Slam.
Obviously if I were aiming this for pure PvE, I'd go with slam every time, but since I have a lot of damage dealers already, I wanted to add a purely PvP element to it since it looks to me like something I definitely want in PvP, and who knows, it may come in handy in PvE occasionally too.
So why did I pass up Improved Hamstring? Well, yes, I know that it's vital, but those 3 points when to Sudden Death that improves my Execute. Remember I said we needed to pick our winners? I chose Execute over either Heroic Strike or Hamstring, both of which could have taken those same 3 points of talents and the glyph slot.
The other choice I made was in the fury tree. I needed to get to Improved Execute (again, because Execute is one of my winners) and I needed 5 more points to get there. The whole first tier of Fury is kind of a no brainer, but where to put the rest?
I elected to take Piercing Howl (1/1) for two reasons. First it's kind of an homage to the 3 points and glyph I couldn't put into hamstring. It is afterall kind of an AoE hamstring ability. Secondly, because there have been MANY times in Naxx when whomever was tanking the zombie chow was extremely grateful for having put one point in Piercing howl, and I've seen situations in Ulduar so far where I'd be glad to have it too. Razorscale being one, and XT being another.
Even still I had 4 more points to put somewhere, so I had to choose between Improved Cleave and Blood Craze (3/3). This was another really tough call. One is sort of both directions, the other is pretty much all PvP. In the end, I decided that I didn't want to have to try to hit Cleave every chance I got. Instead I chose to use the Glyph of Sweeping Strikes together with my original winners to "simulate" cleave often enough to get me by. After all, a free Sweeping Strikes followed by a bladestorm does a lot more AoE damage than any number of Cleaves in a row during the same time frame, even glyphed and improved.
And my final point I stuck blindly into Unbridled Rage which I see as the biggest waste of time in the Fury talent tree mainly because when I put this spec together I was somewhat uncertain whether or not rage might turn out tougher to manage than I thought, so I figured I'd stick a little more into rage generation just to be on the safe side.
Ok, so I haven't gotten to PvP at all with this spec yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I can say that in PvE it seems to be doing just fine. I'm outperforming some Fury warriors that refused to switch (but are really good at their talent spec), and I can definitely hold my own in that regard.
My primary attack sequence right now depends a little on what the pull is. For single target pulls, I use "Charge, Rend, Mortal Strike, .. Put sunders up.. (wait for whichever happens next, OP, MS, or Execute) use the next one. etc. Rend only needs to be refreshed once every 15 seconds, so I throw one of those in every 5th or 6th button, and I may add TC to part of my rotation just to keep the extra debuffs up. If it's a boss pull, I'll blow one Shattering throw right after sunders are up if the encounter will last more than 5 minutes, or I'll wait until later if not. And if all is going according to plan, the basic rotation becomes
OP > Execute > MS > Rend
The reason for this selection is that (a) OP has the shortest cooldown. If I throw OP I only have to wait 1 sec instead of the 1.5 sec gcd. (b) If Execute is up, no kidding, I'm sometimes throwing executes off that hit for 12K+ and even when I use minimal rage, I'm hitting for 7K+ damage each. Remember my discussion about spamming execute once the target gets to 20%? It goes REALLY well.
For multiple target pulls (trash etc) I use a slightly different sequence. "Charge, Rend, MS (looks the same so far, huh?) TC (unless the tank is a warrior), Sweeping Strikes, Bladestorm"
then I just watch everyone lay down and die. Once the Bladestorm is over, if there is anyone still up, I usually have OP and/or Execute activated and I start mowing down the survivors.
Make sure you give the tank some "lead-in" time before you do this. Remember you aren't in Improved Berserker Stance anymore, so your threat generation is at 100% instead of 90%.
So in a pinch, I'll say this: If you're planning on doing PvE only with your arms build, then I'd say go with Improved Cleave and Improved Slam. Why not equip yourself with two more damage dealers? But otherwise, I'd leave the rest the same.
No comments:
Post a Comment