Charge to 70: A Warrior Leveling Guide (Updated 2/26)

Post by Archangel

I. - Introduction
Greeting to all new warriors, veteran warriors, and bi-class curious visitors! This guide is directed at new warriors and designed to help them along on their way to level 70 and beyond. Leveling a warrior is quite the feat; they are a class designed around group dynamics. As such, they excel in numbers and when they have support, yet they suffer when they are solo.

I recently leveled a warrior to 70, which is the foundation of this guide. This is not theorycrafting or a research driven writeup; this is from my experience that I hope I can pass on to you! I did not have a leveling guide, or rather, the guide that somewhat assisted me on my climb to 70 was very outdated. In point of fact, it referred to Mortal Strike as the “ultimate” in Arms and marked level 60 as endgame.

Secondly, I am assuming that you have some knowledge of this game. I have included a glossary that you can refer to if you are unfamiliar with some terms that I have used. If you are completely new to this game, I would suggest reading some basic player guides before delving into this one.

In any case, I hope that someone will find this guide useful; I put a lot of time and effort into it and it is my wish that this will shave off precious hours off of your grind. Enjoy the read and thanks for your interest!

I.a. - Table of Contents
I. Intro
__a. Table of Contents(you are here!)
__b. Disclaimer
__c. Warrior Strengths, Warrior Weaknesses
__d. Goals

II. Builds and Leveling Theory
__a. Warriors 101: Basic Mechanics
____i. Stance Dancing
__b. Leveling Builds: 2h Fury approach
____i. 2hander vs. DW vs. Sword & Board
__c.Intro to Leveling Theory
____i. Quest vs. The Grind
____ii. Instances and Experience
__d. Professions
__e. Outland & Quest Progression

III. Tactics and Techniques
__a. Stance Techniques
____i. Note on Heroic Strike
__b. Grinding Like a Pro
____i. What?
____ii. Where?
____iii. How?

IV. Outro
__a. Glossary
__b. Thanks
__c. Extra Links

I.b. - Disclaimer
Please note, that I am not responsible for any actions taken while reading this guide. I hold no responsibility for anything, bad or good, that comes from using this. This guide is merely put out as a goodwill gesture toward warriors everywhere. Use it as you see fit.

Secondly, this guide is written and maintained by Archangel of the wowhead community forums. I am in no way affiliated with wowhead or it's partners and do not express it's views. All information in this guide are my opinion alone.

I.c. - Warrior Strengths, Warrior Weaknesses
Quoted from http://www.worldofwarcraft.com;
Warriors can be a raging berserker or an iron-clad juggernaut, capable of withstanding tremendous attacks while protecting their allies from harm. They have a wide variety of attacks that do everything from cripple their enemies, to dealing massive amounts of damage in a single retaliatory blow, and enhancing their allies' fighting ability with battle shouts. They excel at fighting multiple opponents at once, gaining rage from every blow dealt or received to unleash their attacks. Warriors are a versatile class with a variety of play-styles to choose from.

The Warrior can be a defensive, shielded tank, a damage-dealing powerhouse, or a mixture of the two. Their abilities obviously pertain to the art of close combat; their stances carry with them different moves for different situations and party setups. All in all, the Warrior is one of the prime candidates to capture and hold the attention of creatures while they die to sword and spell.

Warriors have two primary job: Tanking and Spanking. Tanks are a rare commodity these days. Especially since the release of The Burning Crusade, newer players are more and more attracted to seeing big, colorful numbers pop up on their screen. As a warrior, you are one of the special breeds that can tank.

However, just as easily, you can spank. Warriors make excellent DPS'ers in late game. Though they do take some work and decent gear, they can easily vie for high positions on the charts.

Warriors can do all but one thing, which is heal. Warriors have no healing capability whatsoever, bar the few passive healing talents available. Not being able to heal lays foundation to the Golden Rule: kill your enemy before they kill you!

I.d. - Goals
This guide has a few goals; to help you level to 70 as quickly as time permits; to give you a good understanding as to the inner workings of the warrior class and how to optimize stats; to verse you in all basic forms of combat and tactics versus various mobs and other players; and finally, to teach you to turn all of the warriors weaknesses into strengths to be as efficient at what you do! Best of luck!

Post by Archangel

II. - Builds and Leveling Theory

II.a - Warriors 101: Basic Mechanics
Many new warriors make some basic mistakes over the course of leveling. Not understanding class mechanics can lead to frustration and may impede your leveling drastically. In this section I will explain the most basic warrior mechanics including rage, melee, ranged, and stances.

Rage – Warriors mana
Rage is the foundation of our combat system. It is a simple system; as a warrior attacks and is attacked, the warrior generates rage. You have a maximum of 100 rage, at which point you cannot generate any more. Most warrior skills either use rage or generate it; skills generating it, such as Charge and Bloodrage, are key skills that can be used when starting a fight or at any time in which you are at a deficiency. On the other hand, most skills that deal damage, such as Heroic Strike or Slam, consume rage.

Auto attacks are your most profitable rage generating technique*. Every time you deal white damage to an enemy, you will gain x amount of rage, depending on the damage dealt. Two-handed weapons attack less often, but will award more rage than a fast striking weapon per hit**. It is very important that the warrior maintain melee range so that white hits can be completed. Rage is the cornerstone of combat as a warrior; with it, you will succeed, without it, you will fail.

*Note: only auto-attack(white damage) will generate rage. Any time you use an ability that consumes rage, it will not generate rage from the damage dealt.

**Note: rage generation is normalized, so no matter the speed of your weapon, you will generate the same rage per minute. For instance, a 4.0 sword may generate 10 rage per hit, but a 2.0 sword would generate 5, meaning they both generate the same amount over time.

Melee – Charge it, smash it, loot it!
Warriors are melee classes. With the exception of a single ranged skill, all warriors combat abilities are set at the melee range of 0-5 yards. Auto attacks and all special skills are within this range. Maintaining melee range take practice. In PvE this is not such a problem as mobs tend to stay in one place and let you smash them, but PvP is a different story.

Warriors are fairly unique amongst the classes as having few casted skills. Most warriors skills are instant cast, with very few exemptions. This is another strength of the warrior; you rarely ever have to maintain position. You can move and run around at will. This is key in PvP and a few select PvE encounters. Remember, mobility is a great ally; being snares or rooted is a warriors nightmare!

Ranged – Pulltastic!
Warriors get a single ranged ability; shoot. Technically, you have two, one being for ranged weapons like bows, crossbows, and guns, while the other is throw for thrown weapons. However, they all function similarly. This skill is for one reason; pulling. There will be many times in the course of leveling that you will need to pull a single mobs because charging in will aggro many. Use it wisely and liberally. Arrows/bullets are cheap, so don't be stingy.

Stances – Berserker, Battle, and Defensive
Stances are unique to the warrior class. The stances themselves are simple, but the abilities that can be used between them are not. Your first stance will be at level 1 where you are equipped with Battle Stance. Battle Stance is a basic, balanced stance; you gain no bonuses or penalties for using it and you can use a plethora of abilities while in it. Most of your fights will be using this stance.

At level 10 you will have a quest to get Defensive Stance. Defensive stance reduces all incoming damage by 10% at the cost of -10% damage that you cause. This is your primary tanking stance and while using it will open up many shield-only abilities that can only be used in it.

At level 30, you will have a quest for your final stance; Berserker. This is an offensive stance most commonly used by Fury warriors who are dealing damage. While in Berserker Stance, you will gain a passive +3% chance to critically hit as the cost of taking 10% additional damage from all sources. You must be careful with this stance as +10% damage taken is painful.

II.a.i - Stance Dancing
Stance Dancing is the term used by the warrior community to imply switching stances in combat for various reasons. There will come times when you need to use a certain ability and not be able to due to your current stance. At these times, you can “stance dance” to the appropriate stance and use the ability you want.

Naturally, you lose all rage when you change stances. At level 20, however, you gain a passive skill that allows you to retain 10 rage when changing stances. There is also a talent in Protection, first tier, that allows you to retain an additional 15 rage upon changing. I'll cover this in more detail in the Builds section.

The following macro is very important. To make a macro, type /macro into you chat box. A window will open up. Press "new" and select the "?" for your icon. This will make it so it shows whichever stance it will be when pressed. Once you have the new macro named and have the "?" icon selected, copy and paste the following text into it;

/cast Berserker Stance;Defensive Stance;Battle Stance

Drag the macro icon down to your hotbar. Once you close the macro window, it will change icons to whichever stance it will change too. By using this, you can get to any stance with maximum 2 keybind clicks.

See "Tactics and Techniques" for more macro information.

II.b. - Leveling Builds: 2h Fury approach
Once you get to 30, you'll learn a very important leveling skill; Slam. Slam is an odd skill. The only spell in a warriors spellbook that has a casting time. Untalented, this skill is a 1.5 second un-interruptible melee attack which deals weapon damage +some. However there is a talent in the fury tree that yields -1 second cast on it.

The 2h-Fury approach was, in my opinion, the fastest leveling build. I knew little about warriors when I leveled mine and was level 43 before I decided to try it. My DPS improved by almost 50%! The problem with the build is that it requires some practice to master, and until much later levels you will not have access to an instant attack like Bloodthirst or Mortal Strike. However, as far as PvE goes, this is an excellent approach.

So why is this important? Well, it basically makes your weapon have a .5 second swing time and deal additional damage. I can be difficult to use, but once you get the hang of it it is excellent for cutting through mobs. Here is the level 30 build; http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=LZVVkh0go

Technically, this is level 32, but you get the idea; Imp. Slam is the cornerstone to this build. Using it in combat is a little unintuitive. Slam resets the swing timer when you use it, so it should be used directly following a white weapon swing to get max effectiveness. Here is an example combat using Slam and a 3.5 speed weapon over the course of 10 seconds;
0.0 Start Combat
0.0 White Swing
3.5 White Swing
4.0 Slam
7.5 White Swing
8.0 Slam
10.0 Slam

This is a basic rotation. From here, visit http://www.wowhead.com/?forums&topic=3890 for an excellent breakdown on maths and numbers.

Post by Archangel

II.b.i - Two-hander vs. Duel Wielding vs. Sword & Board
As a warrior, you will need to have two weapon sets on you; a sword and shield set as well as a damage/soloing weapon set. For example, a Fury warrior will keep a tanking weapon, a shield, and a matching set of DPS weapon on him. Many abilities require a shield, so it is a must to keep one on you. In addition, even a warrior specced for damage can tank very well. As such, it is often taken for granted that a warrior can tank. Get used to it!

Two-handed weapons are the most basic of damage dealing weapons. They're slow, hit hard, and cause great burst damage. Assuming weapon skill is at it's highest, you will have a base 5% chance to miss your target while swinging at it. Two-handers are generally better for leveling because at lower level there is very little +hit gear that will make up the damage gap between duel wielding and the two-hander.

Duel wielding is another option for damage. Mostly used by Fury warriors, duel wielding is noted for it's high Rage generation. The more you hit the mobs/player, the more Rage you generate, making duel wielding a very desirable technique. Warriors gain the duel wielding skill at level 20. Before that point, most warrior use a two-hander.

Sword & Board is the cornerstone to tanking. Shields provide excellent armor bonuses as well as the ability to block attacks, reducing their damage. There are also many abilities that require you to use a shield, such as Shield Block and Shield Bash. It is always advisable to have a Sword and Shield available for use for hard mobs and tanking dungeons.

II.c. - Intro to Leveling Theory
This section may seem odd, but I deem this the most important section. As a leveling warrior, you must be concerned with maximum leveling efficiency. Efficiency is our number one priority; since our class is already one of the more difficult to level due to the inability to heal, we must make some of this slack up in our experience generation.

There are three primary ways to gain experience, and thus level up; Questing, Grinding, and Groups. Questing is the cornerstone of leveling; various non-playing characters will ask you to do tasks for them, generally killing mobs in the world. After you have completed the requirements for the quest, the quest-giver will yield to you a large amount of experience and money or item rewards that you can use.

Grinding is what goes on in between quests. Since killing mobs yields a certain amount of experience, some players just prefer to kill mobs until they level. This is a grueling task, quite boring, but it yields decent experience rewards and good items and money.

Finally, you can do group quests. Most common group quests are dungeons. Dungeons, also called instances, are places where multiple people can go to take on enemies that no single person could do by themselves. By adding the strength of five or ten people, you can do many things that would otherwise be impossible. Instances usually have a bunch of smaller mobs with a boss at the end. The small, or trash mobs, are usually easy to handle and don't drop anything but money or cloth, but bosses offer excellent drops ranging from rare(blue) to epic(purple) quality items. Bosses can be hard, though, and in later levels and Outland they can be real tough!

Quest Hubs
In each area there is generally a “Quest Hub” for each faction. These places will have many NPC's that will give you a plethora of quests to complete. It is very important that you take as many as you can because quests will often be able to be completed in the same location as others. This goes back to efficiency.

Here is how areas generally work; every ten levels a new area opens up. For instance, on the Alliance side, a Human Warrior would start in Elwen Forest, at level 10 he could progress to Westfall, at 20 he could move on to Duskwood and the Wetlands, at 30 he could go to Arathi, at forty he could go to Tanaris, and at 50 he could go to Winterspring.

It is a good idea to be at least one or two levels higher than the area you are starting to quest in. For instance, just because quests become available in Westfall at level 10, they are more aimed toward the level 11-12 range. Completing them at level 10 is possible, but you lose much efficiency because the quests are hard.

II.c.i - Questing vs. Grinding
Consumables
Consumables are items that players can use for various effects. Most common is food; while out of combat you can eat food to restore health. Also available are Potions, which restore a good chunk of health instantly, and bandages, which take time to use them, but heal a lot of damage and can be used in combat.

As a warrior, it is very important to keep a good stock of food, bandages, and potions. Since we lack healing, we have to make up for it. Potions are important for times when you will not be able to win a fight with your current health; other classes could heal themselves and continue fighting, but warriors cannot. They can, however, use a potion and finish the fight.

Another technique when you get low on health is bandaging. Now, any time you take damage, the bandage effect will stop, so the mob attacking you must be fleeing or incapacitated. When you drop low on health;

Check enemy for DoTs such as Rend or Deep Wounds. If he has them, this is a no-go.
Make sure you have no DoTs! If you get damage while bandaging, it will be interrupted!
Assuming both 1. and 2. criteria are met, cast Intimidating Shout*, stop attacking, and engage your bandage! Most bandages can heal completely during the Intimidating Shout duration.

*Check the "Tactics and Techniques" section for a good Intimidating Shout macro which will stop auto attacking immediately.

Maximum Efficiency
In order to maintain maximum leveling efficiency, you must combine Questing and Grinding. There are some guides out there with this specific nature, but this one is more general. Specific leveling guide are difficult because of the various races/classes; some races progress through different areas than others.

As a general rule, before you start questing, follow this checklist;

Empty your bags – make sure you got room for drops and other items you may need!
Repair all of your gear; no sense in having to run back to repair! Wasted time!
Stock up on consumables – Food and Potions are a must, bandages are a boon and very useful. Keep at least 40 food and 5 potions for those emergency situations.
Take all the quests that you can from your hub. You will see all the NPC's that are offering quests on your minimap; they will be marked with a yellow “!” above their heads.
Head to wowhead, the best information service available, and look up the quests. Try and get an idea of where you will go first and what you need to do. This will maximize your efficiency.

You want to do as little running as possible, especially before you get your mount at level 40. Traveling between quest locations is tiresome, boring, and very time consuming. Every moment not spent killing mobs is experience lost!

Try and have at least 5 quests available and tracked at a time. Go out, do the 5 quests, return and repeat the above list. This will save you a lot of time.

Post by Archangel

II.c.ii - Instances and Experience
As a rule, instances are generally useful only for gear. Though instances will often yield a goodly amount of experience, the experience gained from these is rarely on par with that available through quests and soloing.

While you will encounter many dungeons in your travels, I urge you to do them once or twice per ten levels and then only for gear. There are quests available for them, so look up the instance on Wowhead and get them before delving into the dungeon. Do them sparingly. Also note, that as a warrior, you will be asked time upon time to tank instances; tanks are in short supply! This means that while you will almost certainly be able to get a group for them, you will also have to fend off many requests.

Notable instances for gear, by level:

Deadmines(Westfall, Alliance, 17-22): good mail drops and quests(alliance)
Scarlett Monestary(Trisfal Glades, Horde, 30-40): excellent mail drops, starting at level 30. All wings except Library hold exceptional gear for warriors.
Razorfen Down(The Barrens, Horde, 39-42): good drops, some of the first plate gear you can obtain.
Zul'Farrak(Tanaris, contested, 42-48): some decent plate and weapons. The two one-handed weapons are good for duel-wielding and tanking.
The Sunken Temple(Swamps of Sorrow, contested, 50-55): few decent drops, but worth noting for your classes level 50 quest.

II.d. - Professions
Professions are skills available to your characters from level 5. There are several professions available, some useful and some not. I will cover the basics for warriors and levelers.

If you are set on leveling as fast as possible, have a main to support your warrior financially, then it is advisable not to take any professions at all. They do slow you down, even gathering professions. If you are hardcore about getting to 70 asap, skip professions.

However, many of us do not have the luxury of unlimited gold. As such, I would suggest two gathering professions. Mining and Skinning, Herbalism and Skinning, Skinning and Enchanting all work well. The reason for doing this is because you can simply sell all the materials that you gather for a boost in money. Warriors are expensive due to all the consumables you need, so gathering professions are a good boost! Note that most metals and herbs and skins can be sold on the Auction House for a considerably better profit than selling them to NPC vendors. You can find a multitude of guides to selling items elsewhere.

Finally, if this is indeed your first and only character, I would advise a gathering profession and a crafting profession. Here are the profession combos that work well with warriors;

Mining/Blacksmithing – this combo helps you keep your gear up to date. It will slow your leveling because you often need to grind materials beyond what you run into, but it is well worth it.
Mining/Jewelcrafting – at lower levels this combo is excellent for keeping your rings and necklaces up to date. Jewelry like this is not very common at low levels. Also, you can start making trinkets called “Figurines” starting at level 35. Trinkets are another uncommon commodity, so making your own is quite helpful.
Herbalism/Alchemy – This combo is excellent for warriors because of the constant stream of buffs you will make. Elixirs help with combat and the health potions you can brew are invaluable and will help recoup some of the cost of purchasing other consumables.

There are also secondary professions available. Cooking, First Aid, and Fishing can all be taken in addition to your primary professions. All three should be taken as a warrior; First Aid is most important. It allows you to make your own bandages for much less downtime while questing and grinding. Cooking is helpful for turning all that worthless meat you get from beast mobs and turning it into something tasty! Good way to stay on top of your food supply. Finally, Fishing allows you to get edible fish from lakes and oceans. Good in conjunction with Cooking. You can also get some other fun items from Fishing.

II.e. - Outland & Quest Progression

On Tanking
Upon reaching level 58, you will be allowed to access the portal to Outland through the Blasted Lands. It is recommended that you go there as soon as you can; the experience and gear available is dramatically better than what is offered in Azeroth.

In outland, more emphasis is put on instances than in the Old World. You will almost certainly be asked to tank every instance available to your level. As such, I suggest this build; http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=LZZfVzoh

These 15 points into protection will help your tanking dramatically! It is almost necessary for basic tanking without good gear. I would also buy some basic tanking gear should you not have any; just greens off of the auction house to fill in your slots. Anything "...of the Champion" or "...of the Beast" will be good for tanking. High armor and defense are primary. From there, I'll refer you to this most excellent tanking guide; http://www.wowhead.com/?forums&topic=2399

Quest Progression
It is much easier to write up quest progression in outland than in Azeroth. All races and classes basically have the same areas/quests to complete. Below are the lists of areas and quest hubs available in the various Outland areas as well as map locations;

Hellfire Peninsula(level 58-62, 70) - http://www.wowhead.com/?zone=3483
Alliance
Honor Hold – 45, 62
Temple of Telhamat – 23, 40

Horde
Thrallmar – 55, 38
Falcon's Watch – 28, 60
Spinebreaker Post - 61, 81

Neutral
Cenarion Outpost – 16, 52

Zangermarsh(level 61-63, 70) - http://www.wowhead.com/?zone=3521
Alliance
Telredor - 68, 48
Orebar Harborage - 41, 27

Horde
Swamp Rat Post – 85, 54
Zabra'jin - 32, 50

Neutral
Cenarion Refuge – 79, 65
Sporregar - 19, 49

Terrokkar Forest(level 62-65, 70) - http://www.wowhead.com/?zone=3519
Alliance
Allerian Stronghold – 57, 55

Horde
Stonebreaker Hold – 50, 45

Neutral
The Caravan – 37, 50
Cenarion Thicket – 44, 26
Sha'tari Base Camp - 31, 76

Nagrand(level 64-68) - http://www.wowhead.com/?zone=3518
Alliance
Telaar – 55, 70

Horde
Garadar – 55, 36

Neutral
Throne of the Elements – 60, 23
Consortium Outpost - 31, 58
Halaa – 41, 44
Nessingwary Safari - 71, 40

Blades Edge Mountains(level 66-68, 70) - http://www.wowhead.com/?zone=3522
Alliance
Sylvanaar – 38, 65
Toshley's Station – 60, 69

Horde
Thunderlord Stronghold – 51, 58
Mok'nathol Village – 75, 61

Neutral
Ruaan Weald – 61, 38
Ogri'la – 28, 57

Netherstorm(level 68+, 70) - http://www.wowhead.com/?zone=3523
Neutral Only
Area 52 – 32, 64
Stormspire – 44, 36
Eco-dome Midrealm – 46, 56
Kirin'var Village - 57, 85

Shadowmoon Valley(level 67+, 70) - http://www.wowhead.com/?zone=3520
Alliance
Wildhammer Stronghold – 36, 56

Horde
Shadowmoon Village – 29, 29

Neutral
Oronok Torn-Heart - 53, 23
Altar of the Sha'tar (Aldor only) - 61, 29
Sanctum of the Stars (Scryers only) - 56, 57

Post by Archangel

III. - Tactics & Techniques

Warriors are, without doubt, the most interactive class. Think a rogue, but with three levels of stealth! Stances can be a pain to master. They give power to the class, but at the same time, by limiting the speed at which abilities can be used, they can be your greatest undoing unless you master their usage!

This section will help you along with this endeavor. By using a variety of macros and hotkeys, stances can be all but unnoticed.

III.a. - Stance Techniques
There are a variety of macros that make warrior'ing much easier. Pros and newbies alike should, and do, use these powerful tools. Here I will cover a few select macros which are necessary. I urge you to try them, even if you are an old dog stuck in old ways.

Note, these are not my creations. I obtained these macros from Mozman who maintains a macro thread on the World of Warcraft community site. These are attributed to him. I merely selected the few I thought were most important/useful to display here. See "Extra Links" for more information.

Stance Dance
This is the most basic Stance Dance macro available! It comes in several vintages depending on preference, but this is the standard rotation.
#showtooltip
/cast Berserker Stance;Defensive Stance;Battle Stance

When you click it, if you're in Battle Stance you will go to Berserker Stance, if you're in Berserker you'll go into Defensive, and if you're in Defensive you'll go into Battle. Within two clicks you can be into any stance.

Overpower
This macro lets you use Overpower from any stance in two keybinds.
#showtooltip Overpower
/cast Overpower;Battle Stance

Spell Interrupt
This is a cool macro. It checks to see whether you have Sword and Shield or a two hander before deciding what you need to do to interrupt a spell. Here is a list of what it does;
Battle Stance

If a Sword and Shield is equipped: Shield Bash
If a two hander is equipped: Berserker Stance

Defensive Stance

If a Sword and Shield is equipped: Shield Bash
If a two hander is equipped: Berserker Stance

Berserker Stance

If a two hander or Sword and Board is equipped: Pummel

#show tooltip
/cast Shield Bash;Berserker Stance;Pummel;Shield Bash;Berserker Stance

Charge, Intercept, and Intervene
This is a hot momma of a macro. It handles charge, Intercept, and Intervene based on what your target is, your stance, and whether or not you are in combat.

#showtooltip
/cast Intervene;Defensive Stance;Berserker Stance;Battle Stance;Intercept;Charge

III.a.i - A note on Heroic Strike
Most basic of warrior skill, this is a staple damage ability. At lower level, pre-level 30, it is really the only ability available to deal extra damage. No Slam, Mortal Strike, or Bloodthirst to keep us warm at night! Yet as we progress, we begin to see Heroic Strike, from a damage standpoint, wither and die. Why did it die? Why does HS seem so lackluster? Well, let's tear it apart and look at it's clockwork!

Heroic Strike Rank 10
15 Rage 5 yd range
Next melee
Requires Melee Weapon
A strong attack that increases melee damage by 176 and causes a high amount of threat. Causes 61.6 additional damage against Dazed targets.

Heroic Strike is a “Next Melee” skill, meaning once you click it, it will hit the next time you auto-attack. HS base cost is 15 rage, but can be talented down to 9 though such a reduction requires deep specialization into the Protection tree. Base, you click it, and the next time you melee you will cause +176 damage and lose 15 rage.

This seems like a decent trade! But is it? There is a hidden cost that comes form using HS; you gain no additional rage from the auto-attack! Any two-hand using warrior can tell you that you can easily gain a ton of rage from a single auto-attack critical hit! So when you use HS, you lose 15 rage + the rage that you would have gained from the auto-attack! For a general attack with a 1h you'll gain about 5-8 rage on average. For a two-hand you'll see more like 10-15 rage. For a big two hander, you are paying just 15 rage for weapon damage + 176 + dazed modifier, right?

WRONG! Actually, you are paying more like 25+ rage for 176 + dazed modifier! The reason for this is that Heroic Strike is not considered a "white" attack; no rage will be gained from the damage dealt. This is why there is a double rage penalty; you lose the 15 rage from the strike as well as any damage the auto-attack, which was converted to yellow by HS, would have generated.

So why is HS like this? Why isn't it better for damage? Well, frankly, HS is working exactly as intended! HS is not intended to be a damage tool; it is a tanking tool, pure and simple! The extra threat is what makes HS worth the rage costs.

In conclusion, HS should only be used for two purposes; dumping extra rage and tanking. Plain and simple. As tempting as it is to use it when you bored and grinding, you should refrain, auto-attack and generate the rage, then MS/Bloodthirst/Shield Slam.

Grinding Like a Pro!
Ack! Gotta go to work! Ill finish soon!

Post by Archangel

OUTRO

Glossary
-A-
Aggro – when a mob notices you and targets you to attack.
Arms – talent tree specializing is two-handed weapons. Known best for it's PvP utility and burst damage.

-B-
Block - a mitigation effect that uses shields to block incoming damage. Usually does not block all damage. Both melee and ranged attacks can be blocked.
BT - shorthand for Bloodthirst, the 31-point talent in the Fury tree.
Build – how talent points are spent in talent trees. Also referred to as a specc.

-D-
Dodge - an avoidance mechanic which completely negates any physical damage.
DPS – damage per second. Used to indicate how much damage a particular mob or player can deal every second throughout combat.
Duel Wielding – using two one-handed weapons rather than a single one. Primary weapons coupled with a Fury build. Abbreviated as DW.

-E-
Experience – experience is points that build up as you complete quests and kill mobs. Once it reaches a milestone, your experience bar will reset and you will gain a level.

-F-
Fury – the primary damage talent tree. Specializes with duel-wielding weapons and is a primarily PvE specc.

-G-
Gear – refers to your weapons and armor.
Group - a combination of between two and five players. Usually organized to take on instances. General group composition is a tank, a healer, and three DPS.

-M-
Macro - a set of commands that can be executed simultaneously. Macros are used extensively in later game*. The macro menu can be accessed by using the slash command "/macro"
Main Tank – the primary tank in a raid. Is often the Raid Leader so that they can mark mobs. Abbreviated as MT.
MS - shorthand for Mortal Strike, the 31-point talent in the Arms tree.

*see "Extra Links" for additional information on macro usage.

-O-
Off Tank – off tanks are the right hand man to main tank. They will often tank adds that the Main Tank cannot be concerned with. Abbreviated as OT.

-P-
Parry - an avoidance mechanic used to mitigate all physcial damage. Only melee attacks can be parried.
Protection – the tanking talent tree. Focuses on using a one-handed sword and shield.
Pushback - refers to the time lost when casting due to damage taken. When a caster is casting a spell, every time he is struck and takes damage he loses concentration, causing his spell to take a little longer to cast. Note, a warriors Slam does not suffer from pushbacks.
PvE – player vs. environment. Means that players are attacking non-player characters. Opposite of PvP.
PvP – player vs. player. Indicates that players are playing against eachother. Usually horde vs. alliance.

-Q-
Quest – quests are missions given by NPC's in the world. Completing quests will often yield a bunch of experience as well as items you can use.
Quest Hub – hubs are places in areas that house many NPC's that give quests. Hubs usually also have vendors where you can buy items and repair your gear.

-R-
Rage – the reagent for warrior spells. Rage is gained through attacking and being attacked in combat.
Root - any effect which immobilizes a player. Noted roots are Entangling Roots, Frost Nova*, Imp. Hamstring/Wing Clip/Traps, and Frostbite.

-S-
Snare - any effect which hinder movement speed. Noted effects are Wing Clip, Frost Trap, Hamstring, Chill, and Earthbind.
Specc – another term for Build, used informally. Reffer to Build.
SS - shorthand for Shield Slam, the 31-point talent in the Protection tree.
Stance Dance- changing warrior stances in combat to utilize that stances abilities. Primarily a PvP tactic.

-T-
Talent Point – starting at level 10, you gain 1 talent point per level attained. Can be used to specialize in the three warrior trees.
Threat – the invisible hate that mobs keep on you. The more threat you have on a mobs combat table, the more likely they are to attack you.
TPS – threat per second. Indicates how much threat a tank is generating per second. Must match or be higher than the highest threat DPS'er or he could take aggro.

Thanks
First and foremost, I'd like to thank the wowhead community and staff members for their support. Without wowhead I'd have no where to post this, nor would I have had any inclination to write it up!

My thanks also go out to Arideni and Yakra as I have referred to their stickies, posts, and information a thousand times while writing this guide.

Finally, thanks to Mozman of Aman'Thul for his excellent guide on macros which changed my warrior experience dramatically!

Extra links!
Mozman's Warrior Macro Guide
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=3168330101&sid=1

Warrior MaxDPS Calculator
http://www.maxdps.com/warrior/dps.php

World of Warcraft Warrior Forum
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=10022&sid=1

Post by 88509

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by Arideni

Good, non-technical work! Sticky, please!
-----

Archangel: I read over your guide & have some feedback for you, most of it is minor. Anyways, I have tried to help look for things that stood out to me the most (barring some grammar, spelling, etc.). As you said, it's a work in progress & I hope I can help you improve it. Thank you for both your document & your time, it will surely help many seeking advice. I wrote a list as I read through your guide, so things may be a little disheveled below this point.

The first section in your guide is split up well, but it's too long. You said it was a summation, yet I felt it dragged on after a bit. Try to remove anything not necessary. You can shorten it easily by making sure you don't repeat things, such as what the warrior class is or is not. Try to keep the paragraphs to a minimum & cover it all in one spot. Summarize the summation!

You repeated material, such as "about" the class & then used a well-written quote from Blizzard -- both aren't necessary & can conserve space (which results in less 'downtime' from reading). Many people start skimming instead of actually reading if they predict there is going to be a wall of text. Your paragraph breaking was great to alleviate this, but some paragraphs could be condensed into a single sentence or two, effectively making it smaller.

Clarify on abilities such as Heroic Strike in relation to rage generation -- make sure you disclose it doesn't generate rage, since it's a yellow attack (or rather converts an auto attack into one).

Two-handed weapons attack less often, but will award more rage than a fast striking weapon.
Over a period of time, this could be proven wrong. This needs to be re-written to prevent confusion.

There are several exceptions to your mention of abilities being limited to melee attack range (0-5 yards) only. Some examples include Charge, Intercept or even Whirlwind to name a few. Perhaps you could re-write that sentence to convey that "most" abilities work within melee range.

The section covering stances should probably include where to find the quests. For example, add a sentence about visiting a warrior trainer to get started. This also brings up a great idea for you -- the warrior quest rewards. A section on this could be very helpful, discussing the pros & cons.

Perhaps you should name the talent, Tactical Mastery, in the common builds section for reference.

The sentence about Slam in the common builds section says it is "uninterpretable." That should probably be corrected, since it may be uninterpretable to some readers, =)

Obviously, the builds section was based off your own observations or personal experience. This does indeed seem odd, so if you really want my opinion about this...change it.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=LGMckhbZV
This is arguably just as efficient as your build, for a two-hand weapon. The build you posted is indeed great for the Slam route, but not all players would like that. What I suggest is covering Arms, Fury & Protection for leveling instead of giving a single build, much less one that requires a fairly new player (to the class or the game) to get technical with rotations, etc. The average player isn't going to go to all this trouble -- he/she will simply Heroic Strike their way up.

Present options to the players to cover as many of their questions or ideas as possible. Doing that will reduce the influx of leveling posts in the forums.

The intro to leveling section is lengthy & written towards a total newbie. I thought it was stated early on, the reader has an assumed knowledge of the basic game? By keeping this section the way it is, you are encouraging a newbie to continue reading game basics here instead of in an established newbie guide. Furthermore, seasoned players will skip the entire section & wonder, "When does this guy get to the important stuff?"

The last thing I looked at was your leveling vs. grinding part & that really was great. You covered potions, bandages, & even food. Excellent. The professions part isn't bad, I disagree about skipping even gathering professions since your guide wasn't about leveling as fast as possible.

I recommend different formatting for the headings; often it was hard to distinguish between sections while scrolling or skimming quickly. Spacing or enbolded text would work wonders there. You can also use the OL tag in BBcode instead of the UL for lists. This would give you a nice, numerical system to work with, if you feel you can implement it properly.

Hm, trying to think of anything else to help you out. Oh, frequent misuse of the semi-colon as a replacement for the hyphen or colon really grated my nerves, but I don't want to nit-pick you to death! There's some great online spell & grammar checkers, just check Google. You should probably remove the "CAPS" & use italics instead for formatting. I think that's about it, good job, imo!

Post by 95950

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by 124276

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by Archangel

Thanks for the input and sticky requests =) I really appreciate the effort!

@ Arideni:
Thanks a ton for the input! I have redone the headers and formatting, hope it is easier to read now. I also adjusted many of the sections you suggested. I am also considering where I can put in a warrior Quest rewards guide. Not sure if I can, but if I cannot fit it in I will add it as an addendum =D Great suggestion!

@ All:
the tactics section is well on it's way. Needs a few more reviews than it shall be posted as well. If even one player is assisted with this guide, I am happy!

Post by ruleofthumb

Archangel, great guide!

A few more quest hubs:

Hellfire Peninsula
Horde
Spinebreaker Post - 61, 81

Zangarmarsh
Alliance
Orebar Harborage - 41, 27

Horde
Zabra'jin - 32, 50

Neutral
Sporregar - 19, 49

Terrokar Forest
Neutral
Sha'tari Base Camp - 31, 76

Nagrand
Neutral
Nessingwary Safari - 71, 40

Shadowmoon Valley
Neutral
Altar of the Sha'tar (Aldor only) - 61, 29
Sanctum of the Stars (Scryers only) - 56, 57

Just a few others worth noting.

Post by Arideni

Nice additions & changes, Archangel, =) I noticed you appreciated prior feedback & implemented a few things based on it. Thank you for allowing the community to help you improve the guide!

I read over most of your guide again & only have a couple new suggestions. The first is that the name of the Swamp of Sorrows dungeon is "The Sunken Temple" as opposed to the title you listed ("The Temple of Atal'hakkar"). The other is to include "root" and "snare" with your glossary. These two terms were included in a past revision of the document and I feel they should be added for players not familiar with the MMO/RPG environment, =P Finally, perhaps you should include a note stating that your approach to leveling is not the only approach, but your preferred method. Let players know they have options, but that you feel the Slam technique is more efficient.

That's all for now, =) Good work & I look forward to any updates in the future.
You may contact me through email (see my profile) if you wish to talk outside of these boards. My online presence has been greatly reduced as I am currently in the process of changing jobs. Take it easy!

Post by Archangel

@ Ruleofthunb - thanks a bunch =D added those areas in the guide!

@ Arideni - This guide is for the community and the more warrior experts available to yield their knowledge to me, the better! I am glad that the community has taken interest and even given me feedback.

Thanks again for the help, I adjusted more sections. I have indeed decided to input a section on Warrior Quests as well as notable Quest Rewards that aid in leveling. It should be done within a few days, so I hope to have it up soon!

I am also working on the PTR right now, seeing if the new daily quests can work at all for leveling. I am not sure, but it seems most of them are aimed toward level 70, but we'll see =) PvP dailies yield exp!

Thanks again!

Post by sYs73m

Post by Nightfalke

Quick question:

How does the 2h fury slam build work for tanking instances? My warrior is currently lvl 35, and I still would like to effectively tank those lower (< lvl 60) instances with my buddies. It seems, though, with the loss of Imp Charge, Imp TClap, and Imp HS my tanking would be severely limited when compared to my arms build I have going now.

Thoughts?

Post by Archangel

Call me crazy, but Frost Nova does indeed trigger Second Wind.

I'm almost willing to bet my account on it.

Edit: Should've said this early, but if it isn't clear from the other posts; fantastic guide. I'll critique it later on as I'm at work, I just noticed that part about Frost Nova and had to say something.

You're Crazy! No, actually you are correct. I could have sworn it were otherwise. Mistake on my part, just tested it =) Thanks a bunch for catching that!

Quick question:

How does the 2h fury slam build work for tanking instances? My warrior is currently lvl 35, and I still would like to effectively tank those lower (< lvl 60) instances with my buddies. It seems, though, with the loss of Imp Charge, Imp TClap, and Imp HS my tanking would be severely limited when compared to my arms build I have going now.

Thoughts?

To be perfectly honest, tanking pre-60 is quite simple. You really don't have to be specced for tanking so long as you have a high stamina set available. Secondly, assuming you would like to go with an Arms build or Imp. Slam for soloing, I would suggest you put at least 3 points into Tactical Mastery for the threat. Other than that, if you are concerned about Rage, take Imp. Bloodfury as well. While Imp. HS and Charge are nice, they are far from necessary. Your rage generation should be alright.

You should be fine for tanking with either Arms or 2H fury =) Just keep your gear up to date and have a solid 1hand and Shield ready to go!

Post by 120670

This post was from a user who has deleted their account.

Post by Archangel

Very Nice post, people like yourself, Arideni, and Yakra, do the Warrior Community a great deal of Justice.
Thanks for the time and effort you, you guys place into helping the rest of the Warrior world. I believe we would be at a loss without you all!! =D

Yakra, I am still anticipating the day I meet you in game too. Horde or Alliance you should be very respected anywhere, although I vote Horde lol.
"Dramaspear" ftw

Thank you for the kind words =) Maintaining this guides gives me much pride! Glad that it has helped out the community. I'll continue to update and I will also hopefully have room to add a section for level 70-80 when Wrath of the Lich King hits!

Post by Arideni

Hi, just dropping by, =) I've had the chance to go over your guide some more & love the formatting, hehe.

Anyways, I thought the section talking about Heroic Strike, did you think of HS in terms of "converting" an auto-attack into a yellow/special attack? Maybe you could use that perspective to explain things with more clarity or simplicity? If that helps, great. I just know how much a struggle it is with the 7500 character limits on posts -- I am always fighting that battle, =P

Again, good work & keep it up!

Charge to 70: A Warrior Leveling Guide (Updated 2/26)

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