The Arms Warrior PvE Compendium for Cataclysm

[kyo]

As you may know, in Cataclysm, it's all about Mastery.

Arms Warrior Passive Tree Bonuses
Armor Penetration: Arms Warriors will still receive the default 10% from Battle Stance
Bonus Swing: think the extra swing you get from the Sword Skill
Melee Damage

Arms Warrior Primary Skills
Mortal Strike
Anger Management: generates 1 point of rage every 3 seconds
Two Handed Weapon Specialization: increases the damage you do with a Two Handed Weapon by 6%

New Warrior Skills: *NOTE* some of these might not apply to Arms Warriors
Inner Rage (Level 81): Whenever the character reaches a full 100 Rage, he or she will gain a buff that causes attacks to consume 50% more Rage and do 15% more damage for a short amount of time. This is a passive ability so it won't need to be activated by the player. The goal for this ability is to provide a benefit for hitting max Rage instead of it feeling like a penalty. However, we also don't want warriors to feel like they're supposed to pool Rage and do nothing until they hit 100, so we'll be closely monitoring how this plays out during the beta testing, and making adjustments as needed.

Gushing Wound (Level 83): This ability will apply a bleed effect to the target. If the target moves, the bleed gains an extra stack and refreshes its duration, up to a maximum of three stacks. The ability is currently planned to have no cooldown, cost 10 Rage, and have a 9-second duration. Gushing Wound is designed to be weaker than Rend with one stack, but better with three stacks, which will be reached when fighting a moving target.

Heroic Leap (Level 85): This ability makes the character leap at their target and apply the Thunder Clap ability to all enemies in the area when they land. Heroic Leap will be usable in Battle Stance and shares a cooldown with Charge, but the Juggernaut and Warbringer talents will allow Heroic Leap to be used in any stance and possibly while in combat. The cooldown for this ability might be longer than the Charge ability, but it will also apply a stun effect so you can make sure the target will still be there when you land.

Mechanics and Ability Changes
Every attack is now an instant attack (IE: Heroic Strike and Cleave can be used immediately, but possibly when you have nearly a full rage bar).
Battle Shout, Commanding Shout and possibly Demo Shout will work similarly to a Death Knight's Horn of Winter.

How should I gear/gem as an Arms Warrior for Cataclysm?
*NOTE* You will be gearing only for Plate.
Strength: 1 point of Strength equals 2 points of Attack Power... 'nuff said.
Crit Rating/Chance: Blizzard said that they may have to put more Crit Rating on Plate to compensate for all the Crit Chance we will be losing once Cataclysm goes live (Yes, we will be losing 10% Crit Rating when Cataclysm goes live).
Hit: Hit Rating has yet to be determined for Cataclysm, but assume it will be 8% (*NOTE* The Hit Rating will change as you move to a harder tiered raid IE: Tier 11 will have a set Hit Rating needed for its gear while a Tier 12 raid will have a different, etc.).
Mastery: At this moment, no one knows how much Mastery is needed to max out your specialization.
Agility: They may or may not put Agility on any Plate endgame or Tier items. If they do, grab it as it will raise your Crit Chance.
Meta Gem: Something the equivalent of the Chaotic Skyflare Diamond should be the Meta Gem you'll need for Cataclysm.
Gems: At this time, no one knows what to gem in Cataclysm. More info needs to be put out before any conclusion is made.
Tear Gem: If there is a Cataclysm equivalent to the Nightmare Tear, get it.
Haste: Haste is horrible for Arms Warriors, period. The Cataclysm talent "Lambs to the Slaughter" will provide our Haste boost whenever we hit a target with Mortal Strike. 2 points into that talent should suffice *see the link below*

What weapon should I have?
In Cataclysm, it will not matter what Two Handed Weapon you take since they will all work exactly the same way.

Which spec should I be as an Arms Warrior?
There will possibly be only one spec that will be viable in end game raiding as an Arms Warrior: Incite
The Major Glyphs will possibly remain the same: Glyph of Rending, Glyph of Mortal Strike, Glyph of Heroic Strike
The Minor Glyphs will possibly remain the same: Glyph of Bloodrage, Glyph of Battle, Glyph of Command
*NOTE* They were supposedly going to have the Path of the Titans in Cataclysm, but instead have decided to make it into Moderate Glyphs instead. However, as of yet, the Moderate Glyphs have not been revealed.

[Hammaer]

Inner Rage (Level 81): Whenever the character reaches a full 100 Rage, he or she will gain a buff that causes attacks to consume 50% more Rage and do 15% more damage for a short amount of time. This is a passive ability so it won't need to be activated by the player. The goal for this ability is to provide a benefit for hitting max Rage instead of it feeling like a penalty. However, we also don't want warriors to feel like they're supposed to pool Rage and do nothing until they hit 100, so we'll be closely monitoring how this plays out during the beta testing, and making adjustments as needed.

This many be the dumbest-sounding thing I've ever heard of. IF you hit 100, we're gonna steal your rage faster for more damage, BUT we don't want you to use it intentionally (only by accident?), so if ppl start doing it deliberately we'll change it. Also, if HS is becoming insta-cast, will rage overcharge really be a problem? Is it a problem now (I honestly don't know - it isn't for my 73, but that's a looong way from ICC)?

Gushing wound sounds interesting, although tanks will have to keep the bosses moving or the warriors will get mad cuz their dps will drop. Then again, isn't rags coming back, and wasn't he immobile anyway? I'm confused when they reference talents like they do for Heroic Leap, given that their overhauling the trees and may elimiate those abilities anyway, but otherwise it sounds like a tank/pvp ability mostly.

[kyo]

Gushing Wound is meant more for PvP than PvE (yeah, Blizzard never thought this one through). Unless the tanks plan to move the boss every seven seconds so that the proc refreshes into a nastier DoT; this attack will simply be a poorly thought out attack Blizzard gave Warriors.

As for Inner Rage, the ends do not justify the means. Simply put, its currently more of a negative (consuming 50% more of our rage per special attack) than a positive (the 15% increase to damage), however... if the rage gaining abilities of the Arms Warrior (Endless Rage and Anger Management) and the Fury Warrior (Enrage Intensify, etc.) are able to counter the negative, then it's all good.