Talent Tree (Arms):
http://www.wowhead.com/talent#LGoffMrRurkhb0o
Rotation:
http://www.noxxic.com/warrior/arms/dps-rotation
Stats and Gemming Priority:
Hit Cap: Hit Cap at level 85 for the Arms Warrior is currently 8%, which is equivilant to exactly 961 hit rating.
This would imply that exactly 1% hit at level 85 is equivilant to roughly 120.125 hit rating.
The Draenei racial Heroic Presence boosts the individual Draenei's hit rating by 1%, which makes the Draenei hit cap 7%. This would imply that rather than 961 hit rating, the Draenei Arms Warrior hit cap is equivilant to roughly 840.875--rounded up to 841 hit rating.
Expertise Cap: Expertise cap at level 85 is still 26 rating, which equals around 792 expertise rating required for cap. This would imply that exactly 1% expertise at level 85 is equivilant to roughly 30.462 expertise rating.
*The Human/Dwarf Racial, with each races' respective weapon equipped to activate the specialization, is 3 expertise rating. This would imply that rather than 792 expertise rating, the Human/Dwarf Arms Warrior expertise cap is equivilant to roughly 700.626--rounded up to 701 expertise rating.*
*The Orc Racial, with a two-handed axe equipped to activate the specialization, is 3 expertise rating. This would imply that rather than 792 expertise rating, the Orc Arms Warrior expertise cap is equivilant to roughly 700.626--rounded up to 701 expertise rating.*
Strength: In comparison to the other stats, there is not much to discuss pertaining to strength. It is the warrior's primary stat, wearing plate gear increases strength by an additional 5%, and finally it is on virtually every piece of gear warrior's desire. Anywhere that you can grab strength, you want to, pertaining towards the actual stats on the gear.
With gems however, you must factor in hit/expertise cap. Generally speaking, most sockets you will encounter will have a bonus of strength, red sockets will of course want pure strength gems. The only viable Dps option for blue gems is strength/hit, which if you're hit capped, is generally worthless. Unless the bonus on that armor piece is so amazing that you must resocket a few gems to balance your hit cap as close as you can towards the exact 8% (since any additional hit rating on your gear beyond the cap is wasted), you'll at later stages possibly override the socket for pure strength gems. Finally yellow sockets, you always stick with the rule that if the socket bonus is worthwhile, gem for it (gems would be strength+crit/mastery).
Critical Rating: What can be said about crit. It is definatly one of our priority stats, simply because virtually every 'attack' we use can crit. We not only have the Deep Wounds talent adding an additional DoT on our target(s) but also Impale following that talent to further increase our primary abilities critical strike damage bonus by an additional 20%. Not to mention the several talents in addition to those previous two that further buff our critical rating. Taste for Blood increases the critical chance of Overpower by 60% (effectively making the softcap for critical rating as a warrior 40%), Wrecking Crew that increases our damage by 10% after recieving a Mortal Strike critical hit, Juggernaut that increases both Slam's/Mortal Strike's critical chance by 25% after a charge, Cruelty buffing Mortal Strikes Critical Hit Chance by an another 10%, and finally Incite that increases Heroic Strikes critical chance by 15% and if it manages to get a critical strike--its will have another guaranteed second critical strike! Needless to say, Arms Warriors are extremely reliant on crits for overall damage since every other talent contributes to buffering that stat further. After obtaining hit/expertise cap crit is your next priority, however do not allow crit to greatly outscale your next priority stat: mastery, since mastery is roughly equivilant in damage increase as crit.
Mastery Rating: Although critical strike rating is an important attribute, mastery does not fall far behind in terms of stat preference. With each single point gained towards mastery, you gain an additional 2% chance to activate Strikes of Opportunity (SoO) which triggers a second instantaneous melee strike dealing 100% normal white damage. Nice bonus of this additional swing is that it can also crit! That means with additional white hits being dealt, there then can by a higher proc rate of Sudden Death thus a higher up time of Colossus Smash (meaning a significant Dps increase). For these two reasons alone it is essential that both critical and mastery rating remain relatively close in standing
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