DPS warrior four-piece updated.

Following on from the tweaking of many a set bonus, DPS warriors got another change to their tier 13 four-piece. It's been a rollercoaster jumping between "bad" and "terribad" until now, so what's the change?

"Item - Warrior T13 Arms and Fury 4P Bonus (Colossus Smash) now has a 6% chance to proc from Bloodthirst and 13% from Mortal Strike. No longer procs from Raging Blow."

Roughly translated, Fury gets a 6% chance to reset the cooldown on Colossus Smash every time you use Bloodthirst (which will be every 3 seconds). I was originally sceptical of how this would play, but Landsoul has already worked it out to be an increase of 2.7% on your GCD attacks and 3.0% from white attacks at worst, with 2.8% to 3.4% at best. This takes into account the "clipping" of previous procs in the worst case scenario, meaning that the difference is actually very small and we're looking at a pretty strong and unambiguous DPS buff that favours neither Titan's Grip nor Single Minded Fury.

Job done for the 'zerkers.

The problem, of course, is Arms. In a spec already underperforming, this four-piece affects it very little because Sudden Death works in exactly the same way. Not only is the potential for clipping a lot higher as a result, Fury gets the added benefit of being able to fill a dead GCD with a significantly better option, significantly more often. I've no doubt this will still result in a boost to Arms, but it's a heck of a lot weaker than it is for Fury and will only exasperate the inherent difference between the two specs in top end gear.

I assume Blizzard must know this.

And if I assume Blizzard must know this, can I logically advise career Fury warriors to batten down the hatches? The calamitous crab has already passed his chilling verdict to Fury directly. This set bonus, quite possibly, heralds the arrival of even more savage nerfs than currently feared. A strong set-bonus, tied to a melee-wide attack power buff, and accompanied by a spec already considered to be overperforming, is as big a warning as you can get.

The whispers from my tinfoil hat warn me that warrior changes on the PTR have been delayed so long because they're going to be VERY painful.

I wouldn't plan on playing Fury when freshly dinged, if I were you.