Warrior Basics

style="width: 590px; height: 124px; background-image: url('http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/79057');"> style="margin: 0pt; width: 148px; height: 103px; background-image: url('http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/75833');">

Getting
Started

It’s very important
for any class to set the right foot forward when they begin the game.
All race and class combinations within World
of Warcraft are viable but many
are not for everyone. It’s up to you to pick the right
combination of both Race and Class to make the perfect character both
visually and to suit your personal playstyle.

The first thing to do is
consider whether the Warrior class is right for you. There are a lot of
great things about the class, but not every class is right for
everyone. Warriors are the down and dirty brawlers in style="font-style: italic;">World of Warcraft.
They know how to fight with almost any weapon and have no hesitation
about facing off against almost anything in the game. In fact more
often than not they charge in with little regard to their own safety.
To help you get a better idea about the class we have compiled a list
of what makes up the class, what it's good at and what it's
shortcomings are.

Warriors
are a hybrid Melee DPS / Tank class Warrior Tanks are in high
demand to lead groups and raids, while as DPS you can put out some big
damage.
Warriors can wear any kind
of armour they choose and can equip shields. This gives them a great
amount of choice and very high survivability in plate armour later in
the game (past level 40).
Warriors in PvP combat are
deadly due to their Mortal Strike ability, especially in small scale
combat such as Arenas. In arenas, Warriors are in high demand due to
their survivability, DPS output, intercepts, charges, and mortal
strikes.
Warriors can taunt enemies
off lesser armoured classes.
Warriors use Rage to power
abilities and generate Rage by causing damage or taking it, meaning
they are very rarely unable to use their abilities.

So in summary, the Warrior
class can fulfill either a primary Tank or DPS role. If you like
taking a beating or dishing one out, a Warrior may be for you. If
you’re not sure that a Warrior is the class for you, the best
thing to do is to try it out. The low levels don’t showcase
everything about a class, but it’s a good way to get a basic
idea of how a class will work.

Race
Selection

There really is no perfect race
combination for a Warrior and since every race can be one with the
current exception of Blood Elves, the choice
is really up to you. You can pick your race depending on the look you
like or on the racial bonuses that you get. There are however benefits
for selecting certain races depending on your play style. For example
if you PvP then Undead or Human may be beneficial for their abilities.
If you are planning on Tanking and are a Horde player you should
Strongly Consider a Tauren due to their extra health.

Alliance

Dwarf
- Dwarves get bonus expertise with maces, which are a useful tanking
weapon. They also get Stoneskin which is a great tanking ability as it
reduces incoming damage and removes poisons. Human
- Humans are a great class to select as a Warrior, especially if you
PvP. Humans get the "Every Man for Himself" ability which works like a
PvP trinket to get them out of snares, fears, and other control
removing abilities. Humans also receive a bonus to their expertise when
using a sword or mace which are both viable weapons. Lastly Humans get
a bonus to reputation earned which is great for any class. Gnomes
- Gnomes have the
Escape artist ability that can help in PvP. Besides that they are much
smaller than the other races, which can be a benefit as other players
can
either see over you in PvE or may miss you in PvP. Draenei
- As a Draenei you gain
a small heal ability, but not a great one. More importantly Draenei
grant themselves and everyone in their party an extra 1% to hit through
their Heroic Presence ability. 1% doesn't sound like a big deal but in
end game raids it allows players to focus more on other player stats. Night
Elves - Shadowmeld allows
you to hide in solo of PvP situations which is a very nice ability.
Also Quickness gives you a 2% chance to avoid being hit, which is great
in a Tank or DPS role.

Horde

Orcs
- Orcs gain expertise
with Axes which allows them to save a bunch of itemization points later
in the game if they end up using axes. They also have a racial that
reduces stun duration and another that gives them a temporary boost to
attack power, much like an on use trinket. This boost to attack power
makes them a good DPS choice. Trolls
- Trolls have an amazing talent called Berserking which boosts their
attack speed by 20% for 10 seconds. This is great for DPS and even
better in PvP where you need to bust someone down quickly. Undead
- Undead have one of the best racial's, tied with the Humans "every
man", that is called Will of the Forsaken. It removes any fear, charm,
or sleep instantly, giving you a great ability to use in PvE or PvP.
They also have cannibalize, which allows them to eat nearby dead bodies
restoring health quickly and easily. Tauren
- Taurens are great tanks since they gain extra stamina and will have
the highest health of any warrior tank. They also gain War Stomp which
stuns all nearby enemies. Taurens are therefore your best tank choice
if you are Horde.

If you are still unsure of what
race to pick then check out our detailed list of races href="http://wow.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&file=index&func=display&ceid=9&meid=3">right
here. In this list
you’ll be able to see the various abilities each race has
along with how they look.

Picking
a Profession

While professions will not make
or break any character there are some nice benefits to many of the
professions that make them attractive to a Warrior. Some of the ones to
consider are as follows.

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/professions/alchemy"
target="_blank">Alchemy
- This is a good profession for almost any class but especially a
Warrior since you will be using a variety of potions and flasks in your
various roles. Being a class that can not heal itself, the gold you
save on health potions alone make this a great choice. Alchemy can also
be used to make an assortment of extremely useful potions, elixirs, and
flasks that can be sold for cash or used to make combat easier. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/professions/blacksmithing"
target="_blank">Blacksmithing
- Many players find early on that creating your own weapons and armour
can be very helpful compared to trying to obtain them through quests or
the Auction House. The armour created through Blacksmithing can be very
useful to a Warrior. Blacksmiths can also add extra gem sockets to
their bracers and gloves at higher tiers. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/professions/inscription"
target="_blank">Inscriptionist
- Being an
Inscriptionist gives you access to the best shoulder enchants in the
game. This has the side benefit of letting you skip the long Sons of
Hodir reputation grind. href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/professions/jewelcrafting"
target="_blank">Jewelcrafting
- Being a Jewelcrafter
grants you access to several jewelcrafting only items and access to
better jewelcrafter only gems. These gems provide additional stats
which is welcome no matter your spec.

Which profession you take is
ultimately up to you. You should pick one that you enjoy and that works
well with the talent build you choose. Which one is the absolute best
changes from patch to patch, so don't get too worried if they change a
bit over time.

Rage

Rage is to a Warrior what mana
is to a spell caster or energy is to a rogue. It is the base resource
that a Warrior consumes to be able to use their abilities. However in
opposition to the other classes' consumable resource that starts full,
a
Warrior's Rage bar starts empty and must be built up while in combat.

After any length of time out of
combat a Warrior will have 0 rage. Once in combat they can gain rage by
using different abilities, causing damage, or receiving damage. As
combat
goes on rage will build up and can be consumed to pay for abilities.

Managing your rage is a very
important thing for a Warrior to learn to do. Warriors will learn over
time how to minimize their time out of combat so they go from one fight
to the next with an almost full rage bar. This allows them to use more
abilities in each fight.

Stances

A Warrior has 3 stances to
choose from: Battle Stance, Defensive Stance and Berserker Stance. A
warrior can switch between these stances at anytime. As they do the
abilities they can use change. The stance itself also offers various
bonuses and penalties.

Battle
Stance is the most balanced
stance with a good range of offensive and defensive abilities. While in
battle stance you gain 10% armour Penetration and generate 20% less
threat. This is also the only stance you where you can use Charge
(without
talents), Overpower, and Retaliation. Berserker
Stance is an all out
offensive stance. While in it you gain +3% chance to critically hit an
opponent but suffer 5% extra damage. This is the only stance you can
use Intercept, Berserker Rage, Pummel, Recklessness, and Whirlwind in. Defensive
Stance is your tanking
stance. While in it you suffer 10% less damage from all hits against
you, generate substantially more threat, but cause 5% less damage. In
addition while in defensive stance you can use Taunt, Shield Block,
Shield Wall, Disarm, and Revenge. If you are a tank, you will spend 99%
of your time in this stance, switching out only to use certain
abilities.

No matter which stance you find
yourself in most, you should learn about the other stances and make
sure you can use them. Also when a Warrior switches stances their
toolbar changes, so be aware of this and take the time to setup each
stance's toolbar the way you like it.

Character
Stats

Being a hybrid class Warriors
rely on many statistics, the primary ones depend on what talent build
you are working towards. If you are tanking then you are looking for
Stamina and Strength. If you are going to DPS then Strength is your
main focus and Agility can come into play while leveling.

In addition to these primary
stats there are secondary stats to worry about as well. As a Tank you
need to worry about Defense, Dodge, Parry, Block (and Block Value),
Hit, and Expertise. As a DPS Warrior you need to worry about Hit,
Expertise, and Critical Strike. If you PvP you will also need to worry
about Reliance regardless of your build. The stats you should concern
yourself with and their benefits are as follows.

Strength
- Increases your Attack Power thereby increasing your damage. Strength
also increases the damage that you can block with your shield.

Stamina
- Increases your health
points. This is critical for Warriors that are going to tank since you
will take a beating.

1 Stamina = 10 Health points

Agility
- Agility increases the
following: attack power with ranged weapons, armour, critical hit
chance and your chance to dodge attacks. The ranged weapon bonus
doesn't mean a whole bunch as your use of ranged weapons is limited.
The armour bonus is also relatively small for Warriors since we can use
plate armour. The main reason to boost agility is for the critical hit
%.

Defence
- Defence is a key stat
for Protection Warriors. The more you have the less chance an enemy
will be able to critically hit you. At level 80 you need 540 defence to
be able to tank without suffering critical hits.

Hit
- Hit is critical for DPS
Warriors, and important for Protection Warriors as well. At level 80
you need 263 Hit rating to ensure that you do not miss melee attacks
with a single weapon. This number drops to 230 if you are a Draenei or
have one in your party. Missing an attack means less damage or threat
caused, hence its importance.

Expertise
- This stat is another
critical one for Warriors. You need 214 expertise at level 80 to reach
the soft expertise cap or 460 to reach the hard expertise cap. The soft
cap prevents your attacks from being dodged, while the hard cap
prevents them from being parried as well. DPS Warriors only need to aim
for the soft cap since they should be attacking enemies from behind,
where they can not be parried anyway.

Critical
Hit - This is important
for DPS Warriors as it grants them a higher chance to cause critical
hits and therefore more damage. The more chance you have to critically
hit, the better.