08-31-2006, 04:51 PM
Quote:Improved Slam probably works like the Flash Heal cast time reduction of the prophecy set. The bonus reduces Flash Heal's cast time to 1.4 seconds, AND reduces the global cooldown Flash Heal causes to 1.4 seconds. Improved Slam may reduce the global cooldown Slam causes in such a way that you can still spam Slam.
However Improved Slam is a 21-point talent and so you cannot have it and Endless Rage.
And in my personal opinion, anyone who thinks that Warriors are going to dominate because of using Endless Rage to spam SLAM of all things, has never tried to use Slam in PvP before.
I don't think anyone was suggesting Endless Rage would be especially useful for PvP - I don't think it will be. Deathwish/Flurry/Mortal Strike is almost certainly going to be the burst damage mangler build. However the upper Arms talents are nice in particular for PvE. Endless Rage can be used both for tanking and doing bursts of DPS, and also has some reasonable utility in PvP as well.
In my experience, Slam's greatest problem is rage since you can't auto-attack while slamming. With infinite rage, slam really becomes viable even though it usually isn't. I tried a 2-handed slam build, and I never had problems with placement, I had problems getting the max rage to unload a bunch of slams at the right time. The only reason I mention slam is because it's probably the best way to spend rage in that situation. A tank could also use it to spam alternating heroic strike and sunder armor.
The way things look, I think it will pan out this way for arms:
PvP Mangler: 31 Points Arms to Mortal Strike, 30 Points in Fury to Flurry/Deathwish. This build will have mortal strike, deathwish, improved intercept, flurry, enrage, and weapon specialization, impale and deep wounds. It will be ridiculious.
Arms Raid DPS: 41 Points to Endless Rage, 5 to Cruelty, 5 Tactical Mastery, 5 Toughness, 5 Defiance. Can replace any amount of defiance with shield block stuff too, or last stand. This build can swap from DPS to off-tanking, and uses the blood frenzy debuff to provide a general increase in raid DPS.
What I wonder is with Mortal Strike and Flurry being compatible, will dual-wield DPS still remain viable? Fury seems to be weak, but I suspect that might be deceptive, as there are a ridiculious number of attack power raising abilities that work in synergy with each other there. Improved Battleshout, Improved Berserker Stance, and Rampage will probably increase attack power by hundreds of points of points, not to mention the gradual increase in attack power as levels increase. It might be worth some mathy experimentation.
I think the big chunk of 61 points to spend is going to allow people to not just specialize in one thing like warriors traditionally do, but really open the possibility for effective dual-role specs.