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Ciel’s comprehensive guide to playing the Warrior class!
(Thanks for the sticky, blue)
Hi everyone, I’ve decided to start writing a guide to the warrior class. I’m a level 60 (yes, my avatar says I'm 59, but that's because I wrote this at 59) warrior, and I’ve played every other class out there, so I know the enemy (and ally, in many cases) well (relatively). Thanks to Taav for giving me the idea.
If anyone has any builds, strategies, and such they'd like to contribute, please reply in this thread and I'd be happy to post them (giving you credit, of course).
If you're going to read this guide, I suggest that you also read http://wow.azzor.com/35/warrior.php . I wrote it, and it's basically a better version of this guide here. I update it more frequently, and it has more information. The forums are limited...if you notice, I had to move around some of the sections here, because I didn't have enough room to add more stuff.
Here’s a table of contents:
I. Introduction
- The basics of the warrior class
II. PvE (Player versus Environment)
1) Solo PvE
- Where to hunt, how to do it
- Quests vs. Grinding
2) Group PvE
- Your role in a group
- How to tank effectively
III. PvP (Player versus Player)
-General information
- Strategies vs. each individual class
- Group PvP strategies
IV. Talent Options (note: I had to move this to after the other sections in
order to expand the PvP section)
- Arms
- Fury
- Protection
- Possible combinations
V. Other information
- Keeping up with the Jones
- Which stats to choose
- Professions
- FAQ
If you have any questions on lingo (I try to explain all my lingo, but I'm human...well Night Elf, but you get the picture), please refer to this guide by Blizzard: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/glossary.html
Please note that not all this information is completely my own, but rather most of the guide was heavily influenced by the feedback of others. This guide would be nothing without the feedback of the community, and I in no way claim for every single bit of information to be original. I would give everyone credit for what they have contributed, but the fact is, I couldn't even begin to list all the people who have given feedback. So, as a result, I'm not going to list all the people here, unless I actually copied and pasted their own words. I will try to thank you in replies, though.
Also, I'm a human, I make mistakes. I can be wrong about things, like everyone, so please forgive me if I say something wrong. I have changed my opinion on many things since I wrote this guide, and I may have forgotten to correct myself in some cases.
Thank you: Grondor, for two FAQ questions and the link to the macro list, by Landrain. Also, thank you to anyone else who has given me feedback and such. I'd list names, but there are so many people who have given me little recomendations that it'd take a page to list them all. More feedback is greatly appreciated; I'll be constantly updating this guide whenever I have time.
I. Introduction
So, you decided to pick up a warrior, or you’re thinking about it. Well, let me get you started. The warrior class in World of Warcraft is primarily a tank, although we have other options. What’s a tank, you ask? A tank is a class whose primary role is to keep the monsters’ attention and absorb damage while the other people in your group blast the monster with high-damage spells and heal you. The warrior is good at this as he/she can wear mail, and later plate, armor, and because he can use shields. Also, the warrior has innate abilities dealing with shields and maintaining agro (the attention of the monster, or mob).
The warrior has two bars: health and rage. Health is pretty self-explanatory; you die when it reaches zero. Rage is something unique to WoW. Instead of mana, you have rage. Rage depletes when out of combat, and you gain it mostly when dealing melee damage, and some when you take damage yourself. A two-handed weapon, for example, would give you much more rage than a one-handed weapon and a shield. The amount of rage gained per hit depends on how much damage you do compared to your level, and the amount of rage you gain when taking damage depends on how much damage you take compared to your level. You use your rage to perform special abilities, such as Battle Shout or Heroic Strike. Some abilities, such as Charge, give you rage.
There are three different weapon setups that the warrior has the option of using. A one-handed weapon and shield, a two-handed weapon, and dual-wield (availible at level 20...even if you don't plan on duel-wielding, I advise you train the talent anyway, so if you get disarmed you can still use both fists). Using a two-handed weapon or dual-wield is designed to deal 20% more damage, but you lose the armor/block bonus of the shield (and all the abilities that come along with it, such as shield block). Because of the added damage (that you deal and you take), two-handed weapons and dual-wielding both generate more rage than the one-handed/shield combo. Dual-wield actually gives more rage than a two-handed weapon, but you will find that more warrior abilities are geared towards slow, high-damage 2h weapons, and dual-wield has a much higher miss rate (roughly 19% more). This more or less balances the two builds, although this is being disputed and many warriors would say two-handed weapons are much better at the "endgame."
II. PvE
1) Solo
The warrior class is decent at solo: not great, but not horrible either. This,
of course, will depend on your talent choices, but we’ll get into that
later.
From your early levels on, you’ll notice that using a two-handed weapon or dual-wielding is much faster than a one-handed weapon and shield. Unless you become a protection warrior (again, we’ll get into talents later), I suggest using a 2h/DW for soloing, as you already have heavy armor that can absorb a lot…what’s the point of slowing down yourself further? You already are a meat shield!
When hunting, typically try to hunt mobs about 2-4 levels lower than you, as this reduces downtime (I can go for several mobs at a time without having to take a break to bandage). You can kill equal level mobs, but when grinding (killing mobs solely for XP), try to stick to lower ones. There are many different zones, so just go with the flow and move on as the old zone becomes too low for you.
One question is often asked: should I quest, or should I grind? The answer is simple: both. At low levels, you will find questing to be far more effective, but as you level up and quests become scarcer, you will find grinding to me the only way to go (or at least the most effective). For example, in the late 50s, quests may not be worth it, as they require traveling across continents and provide little reward. But until your 50s, I definitely recommend questing. Here are some places in which I liked to grind for the later levels, though:
40-50: Trolls in the Hinterlands
50-56: Skeletons/Ghouls at Sorrow Hill
56-60: Yetis in Winterspring
Throw in a few quests here in there, and that’s how it’s done. Just remember, don’t waste too much time fiddling around. Also keep in mind, though, you’re playing to have fun. If things get too repetitive, play an alt for a day or two to take your mind off the grind. I know that things may get boring.
2) Group
Your role in the group is simple: Tank. There are situations where, if you have
talent geared towards dealing damage, you may be a secondary damage dealer and
secondary tank, rather than primary tank, but this is rare (and only happens
if you have a defensively geared warrior, usually). So for this reason, I’ll
cover basic tanking.
First off, no matter what your specialization, always carry a one-handed weapon and shield that is current to your level with you. You will 90% of the time have to tank an instance dungeon (a special type of area, read the info on instances at worldofwarcraft.com for more information), so not carrying a shield and 1h weapon is a death wish.
When you tank, here are some things to keep in mind:
- Use defensive stance, and, if you have the talent Tactical Mastery, switch
between stances to utilize them to their fullest potential.
- Use demoralize shout not only to reduce the attack power of the mobs, but
to gather the agro of multiple mobs onto you.
- Thunderclap is also excellent for gather multiple mobs’ agro.
- For most of the fighting, you will primarily be switching between using sunder
armor (to reduce the armor of the mob and produce threat, letting you hold agro),
shield block (helping to mitigate damage and set up for revenge), and revenge
(to provide threat, a small amount of damage, and, if you have points in improved
revenge, stun)
- Always protect the priest or primary healer at utmost costs. Taunt is your
friend, but follow that taunt with a sunder. Remember, you are expendable; the
rezzer (person who has the ability to resurrect) is not.
III. PvP
The warrior in PvP tends to do differently vs. different classes. In group PvP, you will find that few people target you, but rather gun for the mages and priests. Use this to your advantage.
Here are strategies vs. each individual class when you encounter them alone. The warrior is thought by many to be "gimped" by some players, but this does not mean that the class is not viable for PvP. I will simply attempt to give you best way to compete vs. other classes, regardless of the status of the class, as it will change from patch to patch. You can win, you just need to play well and hope you don't encounter a miss streak (this applies to most classes). These strategies are aimed towards higher level players (and assumes you are using the Arms/Fury spec that I use, listed later), but can generally be applies to most levels:
(These strategies will become out of date as new patches come, and it may take
me a while to update them. However, I am always sure to update the talent strategies
of the Azzor Warrior section, so check them out for the most up-to-date strategies:
http://wow.azzor.com/40/warrior_talents.php)
Druid:
Druids are quite different from any other class. Imagine fighting a Warrior
for a while, then all of the sudden fighting a Priest. Most Druids will lead
off the fight by rooting you and nacking on a few damage spells, and then they
switch to bear form to melee you. When meleeing them, fight them just as you
would a Warrior (see the Warrior PvP later down the page). However, when they
get around half health, or maybe a little less, they will likely switch to Druid
form to heal themselves. Some will root you and go back to heal, and some will
just heal right there. It's important that you pummel whatever comes up, heal
or root (they hands will glow green), and get a Mortal Strike on them so they
heal at 50% effectiveness (if you have Mortal Strike). If you have a free action
potion or the Corporal PvP trinket, use it when you're rooted. That can be game
over for the Druid if he can't heal. If you let them get off the heal, however,
they can just rinse and repeat, because you'll never outlast them like that.
Hunter:
Until you get Intercept (at level 34 or so), hunters are quite hard. After that,
they become much easier. The trick is, keep them moving slowly with improved
hamstring and close any distance that does happen with intercept. Watch out
for the freezing ice trap, though; it's always a killer. Also, use imtimidating
shout on them, so their pet runs away, or on their pet (make sure not to cause
damage to it, though) so they run, hamstrung, while you beat on them and their
pet cowers in one place. Rend is good, and since they use mail (DOTs aren't
affected by armor) it's pretty efficient. A well-played Hunter can make use
of the freezing traps very well, so that it is very hard to get many hits off.
If possible, avoid the traps, and use imtimidating shout (if possible) when
you will intially be frozen, so that he doesn't get to move out and set another
trap. If you can achieve this, and get the initial Charge, the fight will ussually
be fairly easy. Otherwise, be ready for a hard fight.
Mage:
Usually one of your toughest opponents. The problem with mages seems to be they
will always be one step (or blink) ahead of you, so you’re never in melee
range. A mage will often, after you charge, blink away and polymorph you. They
will often proceed to caste a HUGE nuke for ~600-900 damage, ~1200 or more if
it crits. There's not much you can do it prevent this, except by being quick
on Intercept, pummel, and your PvP trinket. However, if you know they are going
to poly you and can't do anything about it, use Bloodrage (it costs a bit of
health, but it will give you 20 rage and the health will be regained while in
sheep form). But once that happens, quickly intercept and hamstring them. If
they use frost nova, which freezes you, you should shoot them with your bow/gun
while they nuke you, or throw a bomb if you're an engineer. Also, if you have
a quick finger, consider using intimidating shout to root them until your nova
wears off (turn off attack until it does wear off). This will effectively negate
the root. Get ready to run up to them again if you don't get that shout, and
use MS until you can execute. Mages can be a sinch if you close the distance
between them, as they are quite soft. The challenge is closing the distance.
Paladin:
Paladins can be nearly impossible to beat unless you catch them when their shields
are on cool down. And even then, they can prove to be tough. With their plate
armor and healing, you’re in for a long fight. The strategy is pretty
simple...demoralizing shout, rend, just as you would fight a mob. Also use disarm.
After you've done that, just Mortal Strike until the execute. However, you will
often find that you die before you get a chance to execute. Paladin fights are
pretty predictable. Keep to berserker stance to pummel if they try to heal unshielded
when you’re not stunned, and if you could use a bandage and they don’t
have a rend/deep wounds on, use intimidating shout, turn off attack, and bandage
yourself. Whenever they shield, take a few steps back and bandage. Bandaging
yourself while they shield is essential.
Priest:
Shadow Priests are regarded by many players as the best PvP class, and, like
paladins, can be very tough, even for the most skilled warrior, to beat. They
are often regarded as THE best PvP class. Other priests, though, will prove
to be much easier. Against any priest, though, your first action (after charging)
will be to switch to berserker stance in preperation for the physic scream (AoE
fear). Once he uses the fear, just use berserker rage to break it. Your strategy
is simple: mortal strike and execute. Pummel holy spells if they are not a shadow
priest (you can tell because shadow priests will always have shadow form on,
which looks semi-transparent and has little shadow stuff at their feet), and
shadow spells if they are a shadow priest. Holy spells look like yellow light,
and shadow spells look blackish purple.
Rogue
A good stun-lock rogue (one that keeps you stunned almost the whole time) can
be very difficult to beat, but a poorly played rogue can be a walk in the park.
But any rogue is beatable; much of WoW is luck. Crits, misses, etc. Many Warriors
have lost to stunlock rogues without them taking more than a 25% loss of health,
but many have also beaten them with 50% health left because of their missed
cheap shot, etc. Because rogues can sneak up on you, there is no real “formula”
for fighting them, but here are the first things you should do:
Hamstring. This will prevent the rogue from moving around you and getting a backstab in. Second, overpower whenever you get a chance. Overpower is a great skill, especially with improved overpower, deep wounds, and impale. Third, rend. This prevents them from vanishing for the ultimate stun-lock combo. So make sure they’re always bleeding with either rend or deep wounds. Another key ability is disarm. All their abilities require a main hand melee weapon (most do, anyway), so disarm takes away those abilities. Keeping those four tactics in mind, try to keep them with demoralizing shout on, keep battle shout up (keeping battle shout up should apply to all classes), and mortal strike away. If it looks like you’ll lose, remember retaliation. For every one of their ultra-fast swings, you get one hard-hitting one. Unfortunately, you can not rely on this skill because of the long cooldown.
Should you ever get the charge, the rogue will almost indefinitely lose. If they get the jump, however, things are more balanced. It all depends on the Rogue.
Shaman:
Shamans are somewhat jacks of all trades. They have mail and can wear a shield,
so they're not soft. They can heal, so that's that. In addition, they have potent
damage spells and weapon-enhancing spells, so you could be taking quite a bit
of damage. Most shamans will lay down a totem and try to melee you. Depending
on what totem they lay down, you may or may not want to destroy it (generally,
two-handed weapon users will not want to destroy the totem, while dual-wield
users will...you can use Hamstring on the totems to destroy them, however, for
only 10 rage). When you fight the Shaman, though, fight them as you would a
Paladin, remembering that they're a bit softer, but (generally) do more damage
and have no damage shields. A shock spell, an instant high-damage spell, could
instantly take away 800 health. Be ready for things like this. Make sure to
pummel their heals and keep them with the MS effect on, so when they do heal,
it's at 50% effectiveness. If you can manage to get them into execute range,
you should win. Disarm helps.
Warlock:
Warlocks can be easy or hard, depending on their build and pet choice. A good
warlock will use their succubus demon minion to seduce you (10 seconds of you
while you cannot perform any actions) while they get off free castes, and they
will fear you while your berserker rage is on cool down. But still, they are
very soft, and there are diminishing returns linked to seduce and fear. Remember
to use switch to berserker stance from the start to break the fear. You will
probably get feared and not be able to help it, so intercept to close distance.
You can learn what the difference between a fear caste and another shadow spell
is, and pummel only the fears. Still, the warlock will have a small window of
opportunity to fear you. Ignore the demon. The toughest of Warlocks will have
a Demonology build that effectively grants them 10,000 life. Yes, that is ten-thousand
hit points. Even those Warlocks are beatable, though. Like when fighting Hunters,
using Imtimidating Shout on the Warlock (so the demon runs away) is vital.
Other warriors:
Your strategy vs. other warriors is somewhat like your strategy vs. rogues and
vs. paladins combined...remember, disarm is nice, as it is vs. rogues, and maneuvering
plays a big role. Keep them hamstrung, so you can have the mobility advantage.
Just fight them like you would a mob, basically. Use your instinct; you should
be fairly adept at fighting warriors, since you play one.
One thing to remember when fighting all classes is to utilise all your stances.
Tactical Mastery is a must, no matter what talent build you choose.
One thing to remember in general is the usefulness of hamstring. Having the mobility advantage is useful against ALL classes. The first thing I do (or second) against most classes is Hamstring.
In group PvP, remember that you are a warrior. You wear plate, and have more HP than any other class. Not only this, but your DPS isn’t as formidable as, say, a mage or rogue. So because of this, people won’t be focusing much on you. Use this to your advantage. Go for the mage, priest, warlock, rogue, or druid while they’re trying to focus on your mage, priest, warlock, rogue, or druid. Chances are, you’ll catch them unaware and cut into them like butter :).
V. Other InformationOne important thing to keep in mind when playing the warrior is how gear-dependent we are. A warrior with outdated gear can be effectively a couple levels lower. So while it is important to level, spend a little time getting new gear. Instances are great for this. Use the Auction House, too (located in either Ironforge for the Alliance or Orgrimmar in Horde).
When getting new equipment, it is important to keep in mind which statistics to choose. A piece of armor with 100 more armor and +5 strength is much worse than a piece of armor with +5 agility and +15 stamina. For most warriors, stamina is the most important stat for a warrior. Strength only becomes important for the long run (fights of about one and a half minutes or longer). Agility comes second to strength, as the increased critical chance actually results in slighty more of a damage increase than strength, and when you take deep wounds, impale, and fury into account, it becomes a lot more. Add in the dodge (and meager 2 armor per agility) and you have a clear winner. For many “crit” warriors, often the Arms/Fury build warriors, agility overtakes stamina. It can be a hard choice, but I’d just take agility over stamina, although a balance is important.
Now, professions. Which ones should I choose? Well, there are a few possibilities. Do you want to make lots of money? Do you want awesome equipment? How about a good supply of potions? Well, here are some choices:
A combination of two gathering supplies, i.e. Skinning/Herbalism or Skinning/Mining - This would be a great idea if this is your first character, and you just want to make money for that equipment and mount. Make sure you don’t do Herbalism/Mining, as you can only have one “find” type at one time, i.e. find minerals or find herbs.
Mining/Blacksmithing - Great if you want to keep up to date with your equipment
Herbalism/Alchemy - Especially good if you solo a lot, and all those elixirs and healing potions are great.
A gathering profession/Enchanting - Could be nice, using the gathering profession to pay for the enchanting cost.
Mining/Engineering - Very good for PvP, since there are so many useful devices you can use (bombs, net-o-matic, death ray, etc.).
Take your pick. Whatever you choose, I don’t recommend changing your mind later on, because all professions are viable in the endgame, and it’s not worth it to start from the beginning. It should also be noted that First Aid is essential to warriors. Take it up; you’ll be sorry if you don’t.
Anyway, this concludes my warrior guide. I hope you enjoyed it and learned a lot. I spent several hours on it.
FAQ Section:
Q: What are all our stances, and when do we get them?
A: We begin with Battle Stance, at level 10 there is a quest for Defensive Stance,
and at level 30 there is a quest for Berserker Stance. Your trainers give the
quests, and you should be able to solo them.
Q: Do we get to wear anything other than mail armor?
A: Yes, at level 40, you can train Plate Armor for a gold or so at your trainer.
Q: Can we be an effective ranged damage dealer?
A: No. Hunters are the only effective ranged damage dealers; you will use your
bow/gun primarily to pull. Melee is the warrior's specialty.
Q: What's the best race for the Warrior?
A: The starting statistics matter very little at the endgame, so just choose
whatever you think would be the coolest. The racial abilities have their ups
and downs; some are better suited to the warrior than other classes. I personally
like the Tauren abilties (more health and war stomp), but I'm a Night Elf, because
I think the cows are ugly :). If you're really don't care about the looks of
your race and only want the best race for the warrior, I'll give a short summary
of each race...also, read this for specifics: http://worldofwarcraft.com/info/races/
Human: They get perception, which can be useful in PvP, the human spirit, which is useless, diplomacy, which is somewhat useful for getting another race's epic mount or just gaining faction reputation, and sword/mace spec, which is good if you plan on using swords or maces.
Night Elf: Shadowmeld is wonderful if you're on a PvP server like me (and useless otherwise), quickness is alright, wisp spirit is nice, and nature resistance is nice.
Dwarf: Stoneform is just a PvE deal (it's ok for PvE), gun spec is almost useless, frost resistance is nice, and treasure finding is pretty bad (especially if you're and herbalist or miner).
Gnome: Escape artist is wonderful for PvP, expansive mind is useless, arcane resistance is nice, and technologist is ok (if you're an engineer...but at the endgame, it doesn't really matter anyway).
Orc: Blood Fury is pretty bad, Hardiness is supposedly bugged, command is useless, and axe spec is ok (but it doesn't really make much of a difference).
Tauren: War Stomp is great for both PvP and PvE, Endurance is wonderful, Cultivation is so-so (but doesn't really matter much later on), and nature resistance is nice.
Undead: Will of the Forsaken is wonderful for PvP, Cannabilize is ok for soloing, underwater breathing is ok, and shadow resistance is ok.
Troll: Berserking can be nice if you're wounded (but it's not often that you're wounded, I think), Regeneration is ok, beast slaying is sort of bad, and throwing weapon spec is useless.
Q: What's the best weapon type to use?
A: This depends on your build entirely. Unless you are an Arms warrior and specialize
in one type of weapon, I'd recommend using all weapons. It doesn't take that
long to level your Weapons skill.
Q: What do people mean when they ask me to "pull"?
A: Pulling refers to attacking a mob with the goal of leading it back to your
party. Pulls can be done with ranged weapons such as bows and guns, or with
melee attacks. Warriors are frequently designated as the "Puller"
for a group. Pulling is good for Warriors because it generates aggro "hate"
for the mob against the Warrior. Hunters can also be very good pullers.
Q: How do I keep mobs attacking me and not other members of my party?
A: Warriors are lucky because they have special "hate" generating
abilities that allow them to force mobs to attack them. Abilities such as Taunt,
Mocking Blow, and Challenging Shout can be used to attract monsters away from
other party members.
Q: What about maintaining aggro (keeping the monster to attack you) with multiple
mobs?
A: You can use skills like Demoralizing Shout and Thunderclap for this, but
you should have the rest of your party all focus on the monster you are attacking.
This will make that job much easier.
Q: What's our endgame "class set" and where do we find it all?
A: Our class set is the Battlegear of Valor (although those lucky Horde Warriors
can use Lightforge too), and all the pieces can be found as follows:
Breastplate: General Drakkisath (Upper Blackrock Spire [UBRS])
Helm: Darkmaster Gandling (Scholomance)
Legplates: Baron Rivendare (Stratholme)
Spaulders: Warchief Rend Blackhand (UBRS)
Boots: Kirtonos the Herald (Scholomance)
Bracers: Random fighter mob Blackrock Spire (I've heard Upper only, but it looks
as if it drops in both Lower and Upper by looking at allakhazam...take a look
for yourself at http://wow.allakhazam.com/item.html?witem=16735)
Belt: Highlord Omokk (LBRS)
Gauntlets: Ramstein the Gorger (Stratholme)
There are three talent trees for the warrior: Fury, Arms, and Protection. Whichever you choose to specialize in will set your warrior in a certain direction, making you different from the rest. Each of the trees carries a different theme: Fury is a high rage generating tree (meaning more rage for abilities, causing more damage) aimed primarily towards dual-wield users, although 2h users can benefit from it; Arms is a high-damage generating tree aimed primarily towards slow, 2h weapons; Protection is the tree of mitigation and agro control, making it great for instances.
Choose your talents wisely: starting at level 10, you will gain one talent point per level, and it is quite costly to retrain your talents (you can do this at your warrior trainer), and it becomes increasingly expensive to do so each time you “respec.” So try to get it right the first time. I would personally recommend an Arms or Fury based talent line until you get to level 60, because Protection is painfully slow for grinding and questing, and then possibly respecing to Protection at 60 for the big instance dungeons that are very hard, and for which it would behoove you to be a protection warrior (protection makes it easier to tank, and therefore easier to run instances, as you will primarily be the main tank).
Here are a few talent combination possibilities:
The Arms/Fury MS Build (possibly the best build for PvP, although the Fury build is quite viable also):
Fury Mastery
Cruelty Rank 5
Improved Demoralizing Shout Rank 5
Piercing Howl Rank 1
Blood Craze Rank 3
Improved Battle Shout Rank 1
Enrage Rank 5
Fury Total:20
Arms Mastery
Deflection Rank 2
Improved Rend Rank 3
Improved Charge Rank 1
Tactical Mastery Rank 5
Improved Overpower Rank 2
Deep Wounds Rank 3
Two-handed Weapon Specialization Rank 3
Impale Rank 2
Axe Specialization Rank 5
Sweeping Strikes Rank 1
Improved Hamstring Rank 3
Mortal Strike Rank 1
Arms Total:31
Total
Total Points Spent: 51
Level Required: 60
Another possibility is the Fury/Arms Dual-Wield build, which consists primarily
of Cruelty, Unbridled Wrath, Improved Battle Shout, Enrage, Flurry, Bloodthirst
the Improved Rend > Impale Line, Improved Overpower, and tactical mastery.
Here is a build that I used for a while at level 60 before switching to Protection
for MC (Molten Core, a high-end 40-man raid instance), although now I'm back
to Fury again for doing damage in MC. This is pretty close to my current build,
with a few small changes that nerf me in PvP and buff me in PvE (I have 3/3
Improved Heroic Strike instead of Deflection and Improved Charge, and I have
5/5 Dual-wield spec instead of Improved Intercept...also have Improved Battle
Shout instead of Blood Craze)
Fury Mastery
Cruelty Rank 5
Unbridled Wrath Rank 5
Piercing Howl Rank 1
Blood Craze Rank 3
Improved Battle Shout Rank 1
Dual Wield Specialization Rank 3
Enrage Rank 5
Improved Intercept Rank 2
Death Wish Rank 1
Improved Berserker Rage Rank 2
Flurry Rank 5
Bloodthirst Rank 1
Fury Total: 34
Arms Mastery
Deflection Rank 2
Improved Rend Rank 3
Improved Charge Rank 1
Tactical Mastery Rank 5
Anger Management Rank 1
Deep Wounds Rank 3
Impale Rank 2
Arms Total: 17
Total
Total Points Spent: 51
Level Required: 60
Although there are other nice little variations on build, the last main build
is a Protection/Arms build (that has 5 in cruelty still, of course). I discourage
people from this build, however, as it is highly ineffective for soloing (and
no matter what build you choose, most XP will be from soloing). If you wish
to be better than average for tanking, but still be a good soloer, I recommend
the MS build, except rather than the 20 in Fury, something similar to this (this
is a type of "hybrid" build, and not the best for pure protection):
Fury Mastery
Cruelty Rank 5
Fury Total:5
Protection Mastery
Shield Specialization Rank 5
Toughness Rank 5
Defiance Rank 4
Improved Shield Block Rank 1
Protection Total:15
However, I would still recommend the previously mentioned MS build, as this build really doesn’t improve tanking significantly enough to outweigh the loss of PvP and soloing. But I play on a PvP server, so I'm sure things are different for PvE people.
Here's a Protection build to get your started. I played as a prot Warrior in my late 40s and for a while at level 60, while I was running instances to gear up. After switching back to Arms, then Fury, I am now back at Protection for running MC. This build, as it has Tactical Mastery instead of some other Protection talents, is not the absolute strongest tanking build. However, you will find those four points of Tactical Mastery to be invaluable when soloing or PvPing, so, unless you don't plan on doing anything but running instances, those four points are very useful. Plus, other options don't really help you very much.
Fury Mastery
Cruelty Rank 5
Fury Total: 5
Protection Mastery
Shield Specialization Rank 5
Anticipation Rank 5
Toughness Rank 5
Improved Bloodrage Rank 2
Last Stand Rank 1
Improved Shield Block Rank 3
Improved Revenge Rank 3
Defiance Rank 5
Improved Sunder Armor Rank 1
Improved Taunt Rank 2
Improved Shield Wall Rank 2
Concussion Blow Rank 1
One-Handed Weapon Specialization Rank 5
Shield Slam Rank 1
Protection Total: 41
Arms Mastery
Deflection Rank 5
Arms Total: 5
Total
Total Points Spent: 51
Level Required: 60
And that concludes my talent section. I hope you learned something.
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