Split-Screen :: The Game-Geek’s Daily Read

by Oreo

Warrior Types

• Arms
• Fury
• Protection

In the endgame instances, the traditional job of a Warrior is to tank. Warriors have a variety of abilities that give them strong threat production and damage mitigation abilities. Warriors’ strength also scale very well with gear. Dual-wield Fury Warriors are among the top damage dealers in the game.

With the continuing addition of better gear, it is becoming more common to see warriors in raids whose sole purpose is to DPS. In solo and PvP play where aggro management is irrelevant, the warriors can produce even more fearsome damage. The Arms tree also provides many important talents that help the warriors in PvP.

Popular Level 70 Builds

The Armory makes it possible to ascertain the most popular builds for level 70 warriors. The following data is provided by Kurushiro of The Build Mine and Okoloth of Armory Musings and is up to date as of the July 27, 2007. At level 70, 46 per cent of warriors specialise primarily in Protection, 39 per cent specialise in Arms, and 15 percent specialise in Fury.

Arms

The combination of Mortal Strike and Flurry using a slow two-handed weapon is most popular. In effect, 31/30/0 or a variation thereof is the second most popular warrior build overall. The template contains all the important talents, some customisation may take place (like moving the points from Improved Execute, Piercing Howl and Weapon Mastery elsewhere in the tree). Flurry is arguably the best talent for a PvP build. If players want to balance the build between high sustained damage (for group/raid environments) and burst damage (PvP), it’s possible to move some (or even all) points from Flurry away to Second Wind or Blood Frenzy. Such trades should be considered really well.

Two other popular PvP arms builds are 41/20/0 which includes some of the new high tier Arms talents brought in by the Burning Crusade expansion, and 36/25/0 which uses Slam as one of its key talents. The latter build is a good PvP/PvE tradeoff. It achieves high DPS with Slam, best using a very slow two-handed weapon. Proper usage of the Slam Rotation takes some learning effort, however.

One point of discussion in the Arms tree is which weapon specialisation to take. In theory there shouldn’t be much of a difference. Mace Specialisation used to be the talent of choice for PvP, in PvE it was rather pointless since bosses are often immune to stun. Unfortunately, stun effects have been recently nerfed in PvP too, which leads many to believe that Mace Specialisation is currently the weakest of the three.

Splammer

MS can also be combined with Slam to great effect. Warriors looking for a challenge should take a serious look at the Slam Rotation, which can deliver very high DPS in both, PvP and PvE. Builds with Improved Slam usually don’t need many points in Flurry, because Flurry can actually disturb the Slam rotation.

Fury

The most popular Fury build is 17/44/0. It’s focused on high sustained DPS. This build is configured for PvE, by moving a few points from Improved Whirlwind and Improved Execute to Piercing Howl, Improved Berserker Rage and/or Improved Overpower it becomes quite PvP friendly (e.g. 19/42/0). Fury builds like these are sometimes dubbed “RiPs” or “rippers,” derived from the phrase “rogues in plate,” since their damage-dealing potential is close to rogues though their survivability is higher.

Protection

Close to 7% of all level 70 warriors use variants of a 8/5/48 template for a Protection build, making it the most popular point distribution of all. The basic pattern is to distribute 54 points like this. Warriors built on this template are specialised for group PvE and are versatile tanks, but are less than optimal for solo PvE or PvP. The remaining seven points are most frequently spent elsewhere in the Protection tree. One may also transfer points out from Anticipation once their defense from gear reaches 490, therefore preventing level ?? (really 73) raid bosses from hitting the warrior with a critical strike.

The most popular variations take Improved Defensive Stance and Improved Shield Wall. Warriors tanking five- or 10-man instances often take Improved Revenge and Improved Shield Bash, but warriors tanking 25-man instances often find that the mobs are immune to these talents and choose accordingly.

Many warriors also choose not to take Improved Thunder Clap (5/5/51) or Cruelty (8/0/53), and instead use the freed talent points for Protection talents. Both of these talents are useful in many contexts, however, and one should always consider whether the extra Protection talents are worth their loss. A final popular variation is to also take Improved Heroic Strike or Anger Management, both found in the Arms tree. This variant gives warriors more opportunities to add a layer of Heroic Strikes to their threat-ability rotation, thus maximising threat per second.

Other Level 70 Builds

Arms

Arena Only Build [45/5/11]

With the emergence of the patch 2.3, a new PVP build was perceived to be far superior in arenas. This build (45-5-11) gives far greater durability and higher burst damage than other builds since warriors are so often kited or cc’ed.

Tactical Mastery allows warriors to stance-dance when encountering that rogue/druid/hunter that is waiting to be overpowered, then switch back to Berserker Stance and intercept another target. The choice of weapon mastery is totally up to the warrior. It is more beneficial for warriors to go with Mace Spec only if they have Deep Thunder or Stormherald since the recent nerf causes stuns to proc 2-3% less.

Sword Spec warriors have more burst damage from spamming hamstring, because they benefit from the extra swing. Improved Hamstring stops runners dead on their tracks, literally.

Toughness gives an extra 10% armor and allows warriors to take more physical damage. Last Stand gives warriors the flexibility of awaiting that critical moment for a big heal to hit after getting Presence of Mind/Pyroblast or avoid executes and Hammer of Wrath.

The downside of this build is that it is not as practical in Battlegrounds due to the long cool down of Last Stand and Death Wish. Other significant losses are improved shouts (Commanding Presence), enrage and in some cases Flurry. The loss of enrage is not as significant due to resilience, Death Wish no longer stacks with enrage and Warriors are seldom zerged in arena fights, especially in 5v5.

However the benefit gained from Endless Rage outweighs the loss of Flurry to generate enough rage to use improved Mortal Strike every 5 seconds.

MS with Tankage Build [35/0/26]

This spec is based on being able to tank effectively, and PvP and DPS even more effectively. (Tanking uses only heroic strike, sunder is for when your rage is high. That’s right, I turned tanking on it’s head.) (**While a nice idea, tanking without using Sunder Armor is NOT recommended by any credible source of information on tanking as a warrior).

PvP: Other than Improved Heroic Strike and Deflection, the entire arms part is for PvP. In the prot tree, Improved Bloodrage, Last Stand, and most of all Concussion Blow are all good for pvp.
Tanking: Improved Heroic Strike, Deflection, Sword Specialisation, and the prot talents all help.
Moveable talents: Heroic Strike can moved to Improved Thunder Clap if you think you’ll actually need it. The specialisation can be moved to whichever specialisation you’d like. And if you only think you’ll tank non-heroic 5 mans, you can move Anticipation to either Improved Mortal Strike or Cruelty.

Dual Wielding with MS (31/30/0)

The idea behind this build is that using two one handed swords with the almost required talents of flurry and Enrage, coupled with the additional attack chance of the Sword Specialisation talent in Arms, you will be capable of doing 4 hits instead of one, should you strike lucky. It is most effective, in theory, if both your swords can proc an additional attack. Here’s how it would go, in the best scenario:

1-First sword attacks, weapon’s proc effect triggers. 2-That effect procs the additional attack via your talent. 3-Same thing, except your offhand weapon does it.
So instead of 2 attacks, you get 6!

Some notes about doing this: 1. Fast hits means your weapon durability will degrade VERY rapidly so it is not suggested for long instances or raids. 2. Additional weapon hits ALWAYS are calculated with the main hand, thus if your off-hand procs a free swing on your next attack it will be calculated using your main hand’s damage. 3. Blizzard has a way of changing things and not writing it down in public. I believe additional hits can no longer proc additional hits as though it was in reality another normal attack.

Fury

Example Leveling Spec

This leveling spec, (13/43/5), is based on doing damage fast and hard, without being too reliant on bandages and food. With Blood Craze and Blood Thirst it is possible to keep a warrior’s life high enough that one can pull many times in a row without needing to rest, thereby speeding up the leveling process. This build works especially nicely with the Mark of Conquest, since its heal proc rate is actually quite high.

The optimal means of using this build is through the following procedure: (1) Charge a mob, (2) use Demoralising Shout and Thunder Clap, then (3) switch to Berserker Stance. If presented with the opportunity to use Rampage and Overpower, then do so. If it becomes necessary to heal, use an Intimidating Shout and bandage, then run a short distance from the mob and use Intercept. If this fails attempt to use Piercing Howl.

Fury with a Weapon Spec

This build (26/35/0) is specifically designed for using an one-handed axe in the main hand and off-hand. It is a useful build for killing multiple mobs without losing health too quickly. Indeed, if properly executed this build permits warriors to easily handle at least three non-elite mobs on your own without using potions! This build also provides a substantial crit chance to keep Flurry active at almost all times.

The optimal means of using this build is through the following procedure: (1) Charge a mob. With Improved Charge one will have the necessary rage to (2) use Improved Thunder Clap and to (3) use Improved Demoralising Shout. Once this is done (4) spam with Heroic Strikes and Bloodthirst, or (5) Sweeping Strikes if facing multiple enemies.

Fury/Protection [5/41/15]

This 5/41/15 is an alternative hybrid build that focuses primarily on the Fury tree to provide strong offensive abilities while at the same time points invested in Protection tree allow better damage mitigation and increased threat in tanking role. This build also generates threat better than Arms/Protection build because of increased damage due to Flurry and Enrage proc effects. Rage generation is also one more strong side of this build because it grants access to both Unbridled Wrath and Shield Specialisation.

Protection Tree

Basic Tanking Build [5/5/45]

This build will work for any Warrior looking to tank endgame 5man instances through heroics through Karazhan and beyond. There are 6 points left unspent at level 70, they are best spent on some combination of Improved Heroic Strike, Improved Demoralising Shout, Improved Thunder Clap, or Improved Shield Bash depending on personal preference. (I used this 11/5/45 build for a long time, but there are a lot of other possible combinations that will work just as well). It is also possible to spend them on solo PvE or PvP abilities, but this is not recommended for committed tanks.

Key talents include Deflection in the Arms tree for increased mitigation and threat generation, Cruelty in the Fury tree for increased threat generation, and in the Protection tree: Shield Specialisation and Improved Shield Block for increased mitigation and Rage generation, Defiance and Shield Slam for increased threat generation, Focused Rage for Rage efficiency, and Devastate to replace what pre-endgame is the bread-and-butter Warrior tanking ability (Sunder Armor) and is also very useful in solo PvE.

Some do not choose to take Improved Revenge, however if this is the case at least one point will need to be moved into Improved Bloodrage, Tactical Mastery, (especially popular for novice tanks) Improved Taunt, Improved Shield Bash, or (highly discouraged for pre-raiding tanks) Improved Shield Wall.

Multiple Mob Tanking Build

This build (8/12/41) is made for main tanking with specific emphasis on the “weak spot” of warrior tanks: namely, multiple-mob tanking. To better take and keep the aggro of multiple mobs this build sports Improved Thunder Clap and Improved Cleave, while also using Unbridled Wrath in order to obtain rage early into a fight. Stun moves, such as Improved Revenge and Concussion Blow, also help when trying to keep multiple mobs under control.

Stance Dance Tank Build

This build (8/5/48) is a standard stance dancing tank build for sword and board warriors. It is designed to take full advantage Bloodrage, Charge, and Berserker Rage to generate enough rage to Thunder Clap, Shield Block, Devastate, and use Demoralising Shout in less time than it takes to swing a weapon twice. With this build your tank gets an early threat building lead that keeps you in control of mobs and maximizes threat per rage. It comes with all the standard pitfalls of the basic tanking build and can be considered a variant.

Ripper Build

The standard RIPPER build (5/15/41) is designed for a Group/Raid Off Tank where the player has good tanking gear and very good dual wield DPS gear. The foundation is protection with the shield talent points moved to the Fury tree for increased Critical Strike, Rage, Attack Power. For fights where only one tank is needed, the RIPPER uses DPS gear in Berserker Stance for maximum DPS.

If there is an emergency while in DPS mode, the RIPPER can quickly change to Defensive Stance and/or equip a shield if needed. Threat Generation is typically equal or better than the Main tank depending on DPS. When two tanks are needed the RIPPER changes to tanking gear with shield and Defensive Stance. The Improved Battle Shout is also a huge benefit to an all melee player group. This build is also a very good for soloing. RIPPER is the best possible build for Shieldless Tanking when combined with a complete set of PVP DPS gear.

During combat, gear changes (other than weapons/shields) are not allowed and so the resilience of the PVP DPS gear is the best substitute for the high defense rating of the tanking gear.

Hybrid

Hybrid Protection Build [19/11/31]

This build, (19/11/31), mixes some damage dealing abilities with the most important Protection talents, namely Shield Slam, which is one of the most important aggro-generating and damage-dealing abilities. This build is not best used by main tanks, but it will serve well enough as tank in most 5-man instances or for off-tanking while still dealing decent DPS.

Casual Fury/Tank [13/34/14]

This hybrid build This hybrid build is for those who like to solo grind, instance DPS when they can, and tank when needed. There’s a lot of wiggle room to mix and match your favorite lower tier talents, but the deep tree core choices are Anger Management/Imp Overpower, Bloodthirst/Precision, and Defiance/Last Stand.

Impale Tank Build [19/5/37]

This is a great OT spec for warriors that will be doing more than just tanking. It will put out DPS within 10% or less that of Dual Wield Fury with similar gear. With the Shaman Windfury Totem nerf, this build will probably come out very high on DPS. The real strength of this build is rage efficiency and spammable Heroic Strikes. You also have to figure a flat 10% damage boost across the board with 1h spec. Battle stance is the only stance used when soloing, swapping out between dual wield and shield depending on the mob. When in groups and not tanking, stay in Battle Stance if you want the benefit of Improved Overpowers (more likely to happen when dual wielding) or go Beserker for the crit boost.

Deathwish/Shield Slam

This build (21/5/35) came up with moving deathwish to arms and the new Zul’Aman drops with lots of block value in 2.3, its simply an advancement to the impale tank build which allows for you to hit shield slams as hard (if not harder) than a typical Bloodthirst or Mortal strike (some crit over 3000 on average if you get you block value over 800), getting the Gnomeregan Autoblocker from heroic badges is highly recomended. Deathwish is also useful as a tank since it can be used in defensive stance. Points can be moved in arms and prot to make it more pve friendly as well.

The Semi-Tough (0/30/31)

The purpose of this build is to enable a warrior to tank when needed, while maintaining enough damage to solo and quest without frustration. It is designed for the warrior who quests regularly and tanks regularly, but who doesn’t want to spend a great deal on respecs—like the tank who seeks to buy an epic flying mount, or grind Netherwing reputation. It therefore focuses on white damage, seeking to milk as much out the stackable One-Handed Weapon Specialization and Dual Wield Specialization, while giving the warrior access to both full Flurry and Shield Slam.

It is useful chiefly to warriors who use one handed weapon, and is meant to allow for easy transition between dual wielding and main hand plus shield. It is a very un-fiddly, un-bursty build: it lacks Death Wish and Rampage, and the only self-buff the warrior needs to maintain is Battle Shout.

A similar build is this build, which has the same intention as the build above: namely allowing for the warrior to tank or dps with only gear swaps rather than re-specs. For a 5% less chance of shield blocking, it provides the warrior with a 31 point instant attack (Bloodthirst) that can be used while either dual-wielding or with a shield (something the prior build lacks). If the loss of Shield Specialization is too much to bear, this build could suffice, though the loss of Improved Sunder Armor means less rage efficiency in the tanking process.