Action Bars

The most underrated DPS upgrade for any warrior is a clean bar layout with stance-locked abilities on the right stance bar. Default UI gives you three stance bars (1, 2, 3) that auto-swap when you change stance — use them.

Default WoW UI bars: Action Bar 1 (1-12, default keys 1-=) is your stance-aware main bar — it changes when you swap stance. Bottom bars (Bar 2, 3, 4, 5) stay constant. This guide assumes the default layout.

Icon source: all ability icons below are linked to their Wowpedia article and rendered from the Wowhead CDN (wow.zamimg.com). Hover any ability link in your browser for a tooltip with the full WotLK 3.3.5a values.

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Arms (DPS) bar layout

You spend ~95% of fights in Battle Stance. Berserker for Intercept / Berserker Rage / Bladestorm. Defensive only when you need Spell Reflection.

Battle Stance (main bar)

Slot	Icon	Ability	Suggested key
1		Charge	1
2		Mortal Strike	2
3		Slam	3
4		Overpower	4
5		Execute	5
6		Rend	6
7		Heroic Strike	Q (or shift-1)
8		Cleave	E
9		Hamstring	R (rare use)
10		Mocking Blow	G (DPS rarely needs)
11		Sweeping Strikes	T
12		Retaliation	Y

Berserker Stance (auto-swaps when you press Berserker Stance)

Same bar slots, different abilities — this is the magic of stance-aware Bar 1.

Icon	Ability	Notes
	Intercept	In-combat charge replacement
	Bladestorm	Capstone — use slot 3 (overwrite Slam)
	Whirlwind	AoE filler
	Pummel	Interrupt
	Berserker Rage	Fear immunity / rage gen
	Recklessness	Major DPS CD
	Death Wish	Fury talent — pair with Recklessness

Defensive Stance (rarely visited as DPS)

Only swap when you need:

Icon	Ability	Why
	Spell Reflection	Reflect a single spell — huge vs HoR Phantom Mages, MgT Pyroblast
	Shield Block	Solo emergency only — DPS shouldn’t pull threat
	Shield Wall	Same

You’ll typically have a shield in your bag for Spell Reflection emergencies — swap, equip, cast, swap back.

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Cross-stance bottom bars (constant)

Put these on Bar 2 (default Shift+1 to Shift+= keys, or move to Bar 3 below your main bar). They don’t depend on stance.

Icon	Ability	Use
	Battle Shout	Refresh every 2 min
	Commanding Shout	Swap if no other AP buff in group
	Bloodrage	Pre-pull, every pull
	Demoralizing Shout	Boss debuff
	Sunder Armor	Apply 5x on bosses if no Prot warrior
	Heroic Throw	Ranged opener — pull from 30yd
	Shattering Throw	-20% armor for 10s, 5min CD — boss CD
	Battle Stance	Swap
	Berserker Stance	Swap
	Defensive Stance	Swap
	Intimidating Shout	DON’T use in dungeons — fears mobs into other packs. Solo only.
	Challenging Shout	AoE taunt — emergency only

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Recommended keybind philosophy

The “10-key” rule

Anything you press more than once per pull should be on a modifier-free key reachable from WASD. That’s:

1 2 3 4 5
Q W E R T
A S D F G
Z X C V B

Don’t put Mortal Strike or Bloodthirst on 9 or 0 — your pinky has to leave WASD to press them, you’ll miss GCDs.

Suggested core warrior bind layout

Key	Ability
1	Charge / Intercept (stance-aware)
2	Mortal Strike (Arms) / Bloodthirst (Fury)
3	Slam / Bladestorm
4	Overpower / Whirlwind
5	Execute
Q	Heroic Strike (rage dump)
E	Cleave (AoE rage dump)
R	Hamstring / Pummel (interrupt)
T	Sweeping Strikes
F	Berserker Rage
G	Recklessness
Shift+1	Battle Stance
Shift+2	Berserker Stance
Shift+3	Defensive Stance
Shift+4	Bloodrage
Shift+5	Battle/Commanding Shout
Shift+Q	Death Wish (Fury)
Shift+E	Heroic Throw
Shift+R	Spell Reflection

Mouse buttons

If your mouse has thumb buttons (4 and 5), great places to bind:

• Mouse4: Bloodrage (pre-pull, often)
• Mouse5: Heroic Strike (rage dump on white-swing replacement)

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Tank (Protection) bar layout

If you’re running Prot, the layout flips around Defensive Stance.

Defensive Stance (main bar — 99% of pulls)

Icon	Ability	Key
	Charge (Battle stance, swap)	1
	Shield Slam	2
	Revenge	3
	Devastate	4
	Heroic Strike	5
	Thunder Clap	6
	Shockwave	Q
	Concussion Blow	E
	Cleave	R
	Taunt	T
	Shield Block	F
	Spell Reflection	G

Cooldown bar (Bar 2, shift bar)

Icon	Ability	Key
	Last Stand	Shift+1
	Shield Wall	Shift+2
	Vigilance	Shift+3
	Disarm	Shift+4
	Bloodrage	Shift+5
	Battle Shout / Commanding Shout	Shift+Q
	Demoralizing Shout	Shift+E
	Heroic Throw	Shift+R
	Challenging Shout	Shift+T
	Intervene	Shift+F

Berserker Stance (rare — for Berserker Rage fear-break)

Icon	Ability
	Berserker Rage — clear fear, immune for 10s
	Intercept — gap-close to runners

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Add-ons that help

The default UI is workable but these are widely used:

Add-on	What it does
Bartender4	Fully customizable action bars — better stance bar handling
Dominos	Lighter-weight bar replacement, similar features
WeakAuras	Track procs (Sudden Death, Bloodsurge, Taste for Blood Overpower) on screen
OmniCC	Cooldown numbers on every ability icon
Deadly Boss Mods (DBM)	Boss timers and warnings — required for any heroic
TidyPlates: Threat Plates	Color-coded nameplates by threat level — tank essential
GTFO	Audio alarm when you stand in fire

Install any modern add-on manager (e.g. CurseBreaker) or manually install from WoWInterface for 3.3.5a versions.

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Common bar mistakes

1. Heroic Strike on 1. It’s pressed 10x per fight — needs to be on Q or Mouse5. Don’t waste your premium key on a rage dump.
2. No interrupt on a key you can hit fast. Pummel/Shield Bash should be R or thumb mouse button. Reaching for 4 to interrupt a critical cast loses pulls.
3. Stance swaps unbinded. Mash-able Shift+1/2/3 (or F1/F2/F3) is the cleanest. Tactical Mastery 3/3 keeps your rage when you swap, so swap freely.
4. No keybind for Bladestorm. It’s the highest-DPS button you have at 60+. Don’t click it — bind it to 3 or T.
5. Death Wish off the main bar. It’s a 3-min CD; should be on Shift+1 or similar so it goes off every time it’s available.

Sources

Icon filenames verified via Wowpedia (the canonical Warcraft community wiki) and rendered from the Wowhead CDN. Spell links point to Wowhead’s WotLK Classic database.

• Wowpedia — Warrior abilities (Classic)
• Wowhead WotLK — Warrior Abilities
• Wowhead — Arms Warrior Action Bar Discussion
• Wowhead — Tank Action Bar Setup