WoW: Warrior Arms Talent Changes in WotLK

New Warrior Talents and Analysis for World of Warcraft

© Craig Sanders

Oct 12, 2008

The upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, will contain many changes to the game. Apart from the new continent, new Prestige Class, and new profession, the wizards from Blizzard have altered and upgraded the talent trees for all classes.

In Wrath of the Lich King, significant alterations have been made in all three Warrior trees. Each tree--Arms, Fury, and Protection, have had their talents tweaked, to the benefit of the player. Below is a review of the Talent changes to the Arms Tree.

Arms Talent Tier One

• Rend--Now has only 2 ranks instead of three, leading to a damage bonus of 50%. However, Rend has gained more importance in the Arms Tree, as shown below.

Arms Talent Tier Two

• Iron Will--Now reduces the duration of Stuns and Charms by 10%, to a maximum of 30%. Iron Will no longer improves your resistance to Stun or Charm.
• Tactical Mastery--Now in the Arms Tree.
• Improved Thunderclap--Now in the Protection Tree. The switch of Thunderclap and Tactical Mastery (TM) further settles the roles of the Talent Trees as TM is a must for PvP battles.

Arms Talent Tier Three

• Impale--Now a Tier Three Talent instead of Tier Four.

Arms Talent Tier Four

• Two Handed Weapon Specialization--Now only has three ranks instead of five, but each rank gives a damage bonus to the Warrior of 2%. This is a considerable upgrade, getting more maximum damage for less Talent Points.
• Taste for Blood--When the Warrior deals damage with his Rend ability, he has a 10% chance of allowing the use of Overpower for 5 seconds. Three ranks available to 30%.

Arms Talent Tier Five

• Poleaxe Specialization--Now adds 1% to critical damage as well as to probability.
• Mace Specialization--Now ignores 3% of the Warrior’s opponent’s armor instead of a stun percentage. Five ranks to 15% maximum. This is a stunning change to Mace Specialization that will change the way that Warriors fight in PvP. No longer will the mace be the weapon of choice in the Battlegrounds and Arena.
• Sweeping Strikes--Has moved to the Arms Talent Tree. Charges have been reduced from ten to five. Very Useful in the chaos of PvP and Battlegrounds.

Arms Talent Tier Six

• Trauma--Your normal melee critical strikes increase Bleed effects on the target by 15% for 15 seconds. Two ranks to a 30% maximum. Yet another new talent that enhances the Rend ability.
• Improved Disciplines--Eliminated. A hardly taken Talent that no one will miss.

Arms Talent Tier Seven

• Strength of Arms--Increase total strength and health by 2%. Two ranks to 4% maximum.
• Improved Slam--Has moved to the Arms Talent Tree. This will make the Slam Rotation (using Slam right after a melee attack, then following with Mortal Strike) that much more potent. This will also make Slam feasible in PvP and Battlegrounds, as it gives a powerful damage dealer to use while Mortal Strike is cooling down.

Arms Talent Tier Eight

• Improved Mortal Strike--Now gives 3% to damage and cool down reduction by 0.3 seconds. Three ranks to 10% and 1 second. A good upgrade to a great Talent.
• Unrelenting Assault--Reduces the cool down of Overpower and Revenge by 2 seconds. Two ranks to 4 seconds maximum.

Arms Talent Tier Nine

• Blood Frenzy--Now increases attack speed by 3%. Damage from Rend and Deep Wounds increases all physical damage on target by 1%. Two ranks to 6% and 2%. Decrease in damage, but the increased attack speed is very useful.
• Sudden Death--Melee critical hits have a 10% chance of allowing the use of Execute. Three ranks to 30% maximum. Will not happen enough to be especially useful.

Arms Talent Tier Ten

• Wrecking Crew--Melee critical hits increase all damage caused by 2% for 12 seconds. Five ranks to 10%. Causes an "enrage effect" which allows access to new abilities.

Arms Talent Tier Eleven

• Bladestorm--Casts an instant Whirlwind and will Whirlwind every second for 6 seconds. Removes movement impeding effects and renders the Warrior immune to them for six seconds. Could be excellent for PvP and Battlegrounds due to the immunity to movement impeders. However, the warrior can do nothing else with Bladestorm on, meaning that if an enemy flees, you cannot Hamstring or Intercept him. It will be interesting to see if the Talent gets a tweak to improve it.

While Bladestorm is the keystone of the new Arms Tree, the key talent may be Wrecking Crew, depending on the finalization of the "Enrage Effect." The loss of the stun effect from Mace Specialization will hurt, but the new additions to the Arms Talent Tree make it undoubtedly the premier Talent Build for PvP and Battlegrounds play.

A Well-Armed Warrior

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