ARMS or FURY, which to use and why?

[Kilrum]

I finally bit the bullet not too long ago and decided to use my second spec as DPS instead of UA. I initially attempted Fury, but did not care for it all that much. I only tried it one day and switched to arms since I had heard that Arms had a much easier rotation to learn.

Since then, I have accumulated a decent set of gear for my arms spec, and have in my bank a few more pieces to switch out for Fury if I choose to go that route.

Since my main spec is Prot, I do not anticipate being able to go into many raids as DPS any time soon. But I would like to be prepared in the event I do get the chance.

I am not so much interested in topping the DPS charts as I am bringing utility to the raid while still putting out a respectable amount of DPS. In heroics recently, and some ToTC 25 I was able to crank out roughly 2.7 to 3.3K dps through the entire fight.

With Arms, I am able to use Shattering Throw to help out when needed, especially in a melee heavy raid during Bloodlust. Also, MS seems to help out for things like faction champs, but I am usually still prot on that fight so I could be mistaken. And, for giggles I spec'd into Piercing Howl (tells you how serious I was at first about DPS'ing ).

So now I have gotten a taste of DPS'ing recently after spending levels 1-80 as a prot warrior, and most of my time as an 80 (got to 80 2 weeks after WoTLK came out) as a tank.

I am hoping that those experienced with both arms and fury can give me pro's and con's concerning both, and which would better serve a raid in addition to giving me a chance to chop up nasty lil gankers when I need to.

Don't bother looking up my profile for DPS since I always log out in my tank gear...

Also, if someone has a spec I can look at which I should consider using that would be greatly appreciated. I would like to get more competent at the class and spec as quickly as possible.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me, and tak eit easy!

[geros]

If you have a kitty DPS in raid that has to apply his/her own mangle they will <3 you forever for having trauma up as an Arms warrior. Either a feral cat/bear will be providing the rampage buff. Arms warriors also provide blood frenzy. Arms is certainly a stronger spec to buff the raid.

[Halandir]

I only tried it one day and switched to arms since I had heard that Arms had a much easier rotation to learn.

I'm not sure about this... I believe Arms is more reactive, a priority-type situation based on what procs, while Fury is a set rotation. I would almost say Fury is easier.

[Thegreatme]

Arms pro's:
Your feral druids will want to have your babies
MS
less dependant on having certain gear/raid comps in order to do competitive DPS.
easier access to shattering throw
takes less damage than fury (not in berserker stance)
sweeping strikes blade storm is awesome

Arms Con's:
less gear dependant makes it not scale as well but it is not that bad
if you aren't good at playing whack a mole it can be hard to master the spec.
the DPS rotation is random (this makes it less boring but it can make some people tunnel vision easily)
No strong DPS cooldowns other than shattering throw (bladestorm isn't as strong of a cooldown as death wish imo)


Fury Pro's:
Scales well with gear
stronger DPS cooldowns (opinion)
more consistant DPS rotation (more boring for some but you can get it to purely muscle memory and pretty much eliminate the chance of tunnel visioning completely)
better sustained AoE DPS
5% crit buff is very important if you don't raid with feral druids

Fury Con's:
very gear/buff dependant (not having WF will murder rage generation and therefore your DPS, 10mans can be rough)
much more of a hassle to use shattering throw (personal DPS loss for an overall raid DPS increase though)
takes more damage than arms (berserker stance damage increase ftl)
micro management (all about managing your rage instead of managing procs)

these are only ones I came up with in the process of writing this post, there are more that I didn't mention but these are some of the more major ones

[DeviousOne]

Rotation wise, Arms is whack a pole priority system, you hit things as they come up, Fury is set priority, with one reaction based proc.

The simple truth is that Fury does far, far more dps than Arms does, and with TOC 25man gear, Fury personal dps probably outweighs Arms raid buffs (if you have a feral tank/combat rogues, Arms raid buffs=nil). It's easier to sunder as Fury as well.

Once you get two good Ulduar 25man+ weapons, and can get hit/expertise capped, go Fury. Arms just lags behind on damage too much.

[Kilrum]

Appreciate the responses. I wonder, though, if there is anything being said about either buffing arms or nerfing fury anytime soon? I can deal with the poor cousin of the warrior dps family if it will get evened out sometime soon. And since I am mostly tanking anyways, my dps should not make or break a raid.

Also, does anyone have profiles I can view in the meantime? I would like to see just how a real dps spec compares to mine

Tanks again :P

[geros]

I think one of the cons not listed under fury would be:
-gets bearbagged following deaths by resident feral druids instead of immediate resurections.

[Khue]

I agree with Devious on this one. Fury is 100% iLVL capped. If you have low iLvl gear you may as well go Arms. The buffs to the raid will essentially make you more of an asset. While the buff does help Feral cats, it's marginal when everyone is ToC geared. My feral druid pushes 8.5k without an arms warrior. On top of that MS isn't as big of a deal anymore because other classes have the ability now (hunters for example). With gearing you are more of an asset to your guild with Fury. CDs are free for sunders and improved shouts are awesome.

[DeviousOne]

Armory Brakthir. Note that this is an aoe spec for Anub 25man hard mode, and I really, really wanted heroic fury, so I put in 2/3 Cleave instead.

[Khilbron]

Rotation wise, Arms is whack a pole priority system, you hit things as they come up, Fury is set priority, with one reaction based proc.

The simple truth is that Fury does far, far more dps than Arms does, and with TOC 25man gear, Fury personal dps probably outweighs Arms raid buffs (if you have a feral tank/combat rogues, Arms raid buffs=nil). It's easier to sunder as Fury as well.

Once you get two good Ulduar 25man+ weapons, and can get hit/expertise capped, go Fury. Arms just lags behind on damage too much.

Honestly Fury is more of whack-a-mole than arms, Furys rotation is Whirlwind, Bloodthirst(if you cant whirlwind), and Slam on proc(if you cant bloodthirst or whirlwind), all while queuing Heroic Strike as much as you have rage for. The Arms rotation has more to it than hit shit as it comes available, if thats all your doing, than thats why your arms dps is lacking. Keep rend applied, MS as its available, Fill gaps with slam unless MS is under 1s from becoming available, dont overpower until you have 5s remaining on the TfB proc, Execute unless there is .5s left on MS, only use HS if you have >70 rage. Personally ive played fury and arms in full ToC25 gear, and my arms dps averages around 6500-7500 depending on the fight, which is right around where my fury is. Plus Arms has very nice raid buffs for any melee, and any class who applies bleed effects. That and you want a reliable MS effect for Anub'arak

[DeviousOne]

I play Arms occasionally. I know how to play it well. 7-7.5k is around what I can get as Arms. I can hit 8.5 with Fury.

Fury isn't whackamole, all its attacks are right there, with the exception of slam. Not to mention with Deathwish, they have amazing burst damage when needed (burn phases, twin shields). Plus, bloodlust helps Fury dps in a huge amount. it doesn't for arms.

[Zerou]

I just switched to Arms becuase Fury dps was getting abit to erratic. Sometimes i do 5k and sometimes i do 2.8-3k depending on the mobs being x3 cleavable, my dps lagged abit as Fury in Totc becuase of the whirlwind issue of not being able to hit Cobalts so its basically melee or heroic strike and slam. I'm still using Edge of Ruin because its hard for a pugger to happen to come across a good weapon, but now as arms and with abit better gear besides the axe i do 3.8-4.5k Single target dps depending on how much movement is in the fight.

Also Arms is abit more fun cause you don't have a set rotation, i also havent gotten used to using Bladestorm and Sweeping strikes in the begging of a battle yet because of the Agro issue and by the time i think its safe to use it the mobs are half or almost all dead. Once I do find better weapons i will probably go back to Fury but being a pug that might take awhile. And Blizz said so themselves when they discussed the future for each class, Fury will probably surpass Arms in dps once they get decent gear and very good weapons.

As for the Whackamole thing, Arms would be it because its keeps you more on your toes while Fury is a set pattern with a conditional slam. I can dps as fury half assleep and only being aware to interupt or otherwise once i hear the run away lil girl from DBM or the alert noise. Being Arms its like oh shit stance dance berserker and/or interupt, and using the mouse pad on my laptop to do that makes me miss my days as a lazy Fury warrior, but being less raid buff dependant, mostly for haste, is a good thing so its Arms till i get the Legendary Axe x2 thats comin out with IC or atleast Justicebringer....rofl yea right unless i find a Raiding guild who raids every other day man college is such a drag esp night classes.