Warrior

Overview

A tough front-line fighter that builds Rage by hitting and getting hit, and can tank or deal heavy melee damage.

Warriors switch stances to unlock different abilities and spend Rage on attacks. In WoW Forever they keep 10 Rage when changing stances from level 14, heal themselves with Victory Rush after kills, and get more Rage from critical strikes. Recovering from heavy damage is still their weak spot.

Specs

• ArmsMelee DPS

  Two-handed weapon damage. Weapon specializations are merged into one talent, Weaponmaster, and Spearing Strike adds a hard-hitting dismount at 16 points.

  Full build coming after launch
• FuryMelee DPS

  Dual-wield damage. Raging Blows makes Whirlwind hit with both weapons, and Bloodthirst now gives movement speed instead of healing.

  Fury build and talents →
• ProtectionTank

  Shield tanking. Blocks generate much more Rage, and Vanguard lets you Charge in Defensive Stance.

  Full build coming after launch

What changed from Classic

• Changed
  Defensive Stance threat

  Defensive Stance increases threat by 80% (was 30%) since November 2. Defiance now adds 7/13/20%.

• New
  Victory Rush (level 20)

  An instant attack you can use for 20 seconds after killing a worthwhile enemy. It scales with Attack Power and heals you for 10% of your maximum health.

• Changed
  Tactical Mastery is baseline at level 14

  Every Warrior keeps 10 Rage when switching stances. The Arms talent Improved Tactical Mastery raises it further, up to 25 (now 3 points instead of 5).

• Changed
  Rage from critical strikes

  Critical strikes give extra Rage (100% more after the October 8 beta update), and Rage from dealing damage now depends on weapon speed. Rage gains were rebalanced for questing as well as tanking.

• Changed
  Big cooldowns no longer shared

  Recklessness, Retaliation and Shield Wall each have their own cooldown. Retaliation and Shield Wall are now 15 minutes.

• Changed
  Thunder Clap and Rend scale with Attack Power

  Both now grow with your gear. Thunder Clap also works in Defensive Stance, with a 6-second cooldown and less threat.

• Changed
  Battle Shout is raid-wide

  Its Attack Power bonus is lower, but the old Improved Battle Shout bonus is built in and it now reaches the whole raid.

• New
  Weaponmaster (Arms)

  Replaces the four separate weapon specialization talents with one talent whose bonus depends on the weapon type you use.

• New
  Spearing Strike (Arms, 16 points)

  An instant weapon attack that knocks the target off its mount and deals double damage to mounted enemies, dragons and giants. Requires Battle Stance.

• Changed
  Bloodthirst (Fury)

  No longer heals. It now grants 10% movement speed for 10 seconds, with its damage rebalanced. Since November 2 it requires Death Wish.

• New
  Raging Blows (Fury, 16 points)

  Whirlwind strikes with both weapons when dual-wielding, and Cleave and Whirlwind cost less Rage.

• New
  Reckless Swings (Fury)

  Added November 2. Costs 25% of base health: your next 4 melee attacks generate 5 more Rage. 15-second cooldown.

• New
  Improved Whirlwind (Fury)

  Added November 2. Cuts Whirlwind's cooldown by up to 2 seconds and increases its damage to the closest enemy by up to 30%.

• New
  Vanguard (Protection, 16 points)

  Lets you use Charge in Defensive Stance, so tanks can open pulls without stance dancing.

• Changed
  Shield Specialization (Protection)

  Blocks now generate 5 Rage instead of 1, a big boost to tank Rage.

• Removed
  Weapon specialization talents

  Axe, Mace, Sword and Polearm Specialization are gone, merged into Weaponmaster.

• Removed
  Several talents made baseline or cut

  Improved Battle Shout, Improved Demoralizing Shout, Improved Shield Block and Improved Taunt are now baseline. Boundless Rage, Improved Cleave and Toughness were removed during beta. Since November 2, Flurry no longer requires Death Wish and is a 3-point talent (30% attack speed for 3 swings after a crit).

Abilities