The Definitive Warrior Class Guide, from 1-70 and beyond:
Index:
1.0 - Introduction
2.0 - Class Basics
3.0 - The 1-60 Grind, Leveling
4.0 - 60-70, Outland
5.0 - 70 and Beyond
6.0 - PvP vs PvE
7.0 - Gear Guide
1.0 - The Introduction, why a warrior? why not?
Why roll a warrior? This is a question I encourage anyone even thinking of rolling any class whatsoever in this game to consider, present to yourself what entices you to this quest of leveling and character development, and equally, what might halt you in your tracks during this. Warriors are something of a problem class in WoW, at times seemingly the most powerful and at others perhaps the worst of all, it indeed varies based upon experience, the current patch, and most of all, gear.
Warriors are an extremely gear dependant class, out of all the classes they in-fact rank numero uno, number one, for gear dependancy. This is both a blessing and a curse, an example would be that in the case of a mage, a new staff will, if not drastically higher level or some other such circumstance, improve the mage to a minor amount in overall visible effect. A warrior however, upgrading his weapon to something new and even slightly better, will see a definitive increase, everything from a minor yet noticable to an extremely major change in damage and his overall effectiveness.
As an aspiring warrior, perhaps of levels below 70, or even one just recently achieving the max level, you will find yourself quite weak in comparison to all others around you. Don't take it to heart, if you truly work hard and find, make, or otherwise gain access to better gear you'll suddenly find yourself in another world of power. Another major method of improving yourself is to find a healer, such as priest or a druid and even paladins for PvP, your already quite enticing damage capabilities sky-rocket as you find yourself free of the previously confining debuff's, DoT's, and able to gain massive amounts of rage without losing an equally massive amount of health.
During the leveling period I recommend equipping your warrior as best as possible, if you lack a main or other source of income leveling will be quite a painful experience. Given warriors extreme gear dependancy leveling is quite the chore, replacing gear every 2-3 levels simply to maintain a good rate of experience will grow tiring. Perseverance is necessary to endure the hardships of leveling a warrior, that and a healthy dosage of sanity that you're willing to part with.
2.0 - Class Basics of a warrior, also known as "How Warriors Work"
As you've most likely perceived from the above paragraphs detailing the relative ups and downs of warrior-hood and continued on, most likely you wish to find out a bit more about warriors, such as the basics of how one works in combat, PvP, instances etc.
Warriors are, when played right, one of the most active classes in the entire game, right next to rogues really. To actually dish out reasonable damage and proceed to bring the hammer(or weapon of choice) down requires you to use your abilities wisely. Warriors have a whole slew of talents and attacks that all sound very nice, using each or even all of them is not exactly the wisest however.
Due to warriors limitations upon when exactly they can use abilities, your rage bar, you often are required to pick and choose what you want to use regularly and leave all the rest out. Unlike other classes warriors need to actually engage in combat to fuel their abilities and thus are often left without the rage to utilize all the skills we possess fully.
At higher levels rage often becomes rather more easy to obtain, this is counterbalanced by the fact that we require more abilities to actually kill a target however. You will most likely find yourself rage-starved at lower levels, it's painful indeed, but you're going to have to bear with it and hope for better at the later levels. PvP can be extremely fun or a living hell, our nemesis being hunters and frost mages mainly, though any good caster can give you a run for your money.
I highly suggest you familiarize yourself with every single last use of warrior abilities, fighting any of our weaker match-ups, such as the previously mentioned frost mages, will require your acute knowledge to win. An example of one ability we always want to use though would be hamstring, a lovely snare allowing us to often do what we do best, hit things for big numbers. All the rage and damage dealing capabilities in the world are rendered useless if you can't reach melee range on the opponent, AI monster or player.
3.0 - The 1-60 Grind, If you think leveling is hell then warriors populate the ninth level
Leveling a warrior in painful, extremely painful, if you cared to read the above text then you'd know a bit of my opinions on warrior's leveling capabilities, not pretty. After leveling more than 7 characters past the 60 mark and many more to at least 30 or 40 i've learned a fair bit about the process as well, new players will often find the first time easier due to a relative lack of knowledge concering the world and such, the second and the third wear you down however.
Regardless, if you're intent upon this then you'll want to know a few things first, one of them is to go down the fury talent tree. I've met far too many warriors who think that two-handers can in any way whatsoever hold a candle to fury dual-wield for leveling, if you really want to reach 60 and then 70 as fast as possible then go fury. Warriors are already quite slow, fury makes this bearable and can at times even make us quite viable for leveling, you simply need to keep the equipment up to date and a healthy supply of food/bandages handy.
Always go for of the bear gear, strength and stamina are your lifeblood at this point, maximising other stats is a secondary achievement often reserved for levels 60 and beyond. Another thing is to always keep first aid maxed out, bandages provide an easily avaliable supply of healing and you can sometimes find humanoid class monsters, such as bandits or ogres, who drop the materials required to make your bandages and thus have an eternal supply of bandages whilst killing them.
We are most definitely not good at taking multiple monsters, leave that to the other classes, instead just focus on killing them one at a time, fast and efficient, leave the fancy work to everyone else. This becomes a more apparent deficiency while questing, retalitation and recklessness can help us down one important elite or otherwise stronger than normal quest mob every half-hour, other than that we possess no emergency abilities unlike practically everyone else.
As for maintaing your gear level, I recommend picking up mining and herbalism, at the very least mining, and using these to make enough money as you level to not only afford a mount at 40 but also to keep yourself in good straits gear wise. For more information on this subject I suggest you visit my grinding guide for 1-60 or 1-70, good luck fellow warrior.
4.0 - 60-70, Outland, The more relaxed zone of leveling
Wow, so you've taken my few pointers, hopefully found them helpful, and made it all the way to 60? Good things await you, not only is outland a completely and utterly superior leveling zone to anything on azeroth, it also allows you to spend more time as whatever talent build and style of combat that you like. Given the complete emphasis on questing in outland versus Azeroth's mixed grinding and questing you'll find it much easier to level regardless of your gear and talents.
So far so good right? Well not all's well in Outland, despite it's relaxed leveling requirements you'll soon notice an almost complete lack of good warrior damage/leveling gear after the first few zones. Entering the 68-70 range I was wearing stuff from 64 and 65, even 61 at times, it's a bit painful given the amazing amount of gear everyone else has access to, but it can be alleviated somewhat by running various instances and such at certain levels.
Beyond that I continued my fury warrior build, stopping off at level 68 for a quick try at an arms based talent spec before returning to fury, and found leveling to be an alright experience. Our solo capabilities are still painfully lacking compared to everyone else, I fixed this a bit by finding a good friend, a mage in-fact, to level up with at this point. Friends of any class besides warrior will be a valuable asset at the later zones, netherstorm and shadowmoon valley practically demand you team at least a tiny bit to finish all the quests.
Overall though because of the extreme increase in leveling speed versus Azeroth one will often be able to ignore the various downsides present in Outland, yet again hard work and perseverance will win over in the end, regardless how gimped you seem compared to everyone else. Keep in mind that once you reach 70 you'll have the chance to visit the heights of power that warriors gain only when wearing the best gear possible, somewhat depressing to some, but simply a goal to reach for others, such as myself.
5.0 - 70 and Beyond, also known as, So i've hit 70... what now?
It's a nice feeling, hitting the maximum level, at least for now, and thus being able to rest assured that you have no more horrid grinding or questing to go. I always found it quite a relaxing feeling, fun too, and it also opens up an entire new line of possibilities for your newly 70 warrior. Raiding, PvP, Heroic Dungeons, Tradeskills, the list goes on and on, time to take charge and fully explore all your characters capabilities, at least until the next expansion.
First things first, socketed items. Socketed items, an old friend if you happened to play Diablo 2, and an amazing way of enhancing your stats and attack/defense ratings to even higher numbers, depending on whether you favor PvP or PvE you'll find varying selection of gems avaliable to you. PvPer's can simply go for the honor point requirement gems, PvE's, whether raiders or not, can find a whole slew of gems avaliable from quests and the auction house. Either way it really helps.
Another new thing to explore, the whole new slew of enchants avaliable for that spiffy new gear obtained at level 70, everything from mongoose to savagery and alot more. Personally I found the new enchants simply heaven and perfectly suited to my new armory, some however choose to use old favorites such as Crusader and the like. It's all your choice really, as a primarily fury warrior I found mongoose the most beneficial though.
Finally, enjoy exploring the new heroic dungeons and the like, although as I've mentioned before warrior gear is sparse, what you can find is simply wonderful. A variety of new set items, such as the new "bold" warrior armor set, and even some DPS gear, populate the new dungeons. It's somewhat funny finding out that I'll get upgrades even from level 64-66 dungeons at 70, this was my most enjoyable period in outlands, I'd personally skipped all the dungeons as I leveled so returning as a 70 tank for even level 60-61 dungeons made it somewhat fun to do rather than exasperating.
Finally you'll find a new level of PvP, even arena, gear to obtain, as well as a bunch of new raid dungeons for the more hardcore players out there. I'll explore that further below.
6.0 - PvP vs PvE
Well, the somewhat eternal debate, PvP or PvE? Personally I'm an avid PvPer as well as a determined raider, but that's just me, most people I encounter find that dedicating themselves to either path as a sole method of advancement to be easier. PvP to a certain degree rewards the solo gamer, at least until you start needing the arena gear, whereas raiding is obviously going to require teamwork, friendship and communication are one of the main drawing points of an MMORPG and WoW is no exception so raiding can appeal to many through that.
My own personal experience as a warrior was that I found main-tanking, and therefore saving the entire raids butt at times, to be very rewarding. I equally found it fun to be the lead targeter and essentially the trigger of the DPS gun in an arena team, leading the way with Mortal Strike and battle shout essentially, both bring you together in a group and often leave you with long-term connections and friends.
A good compromise is to find a good raiding guild that has a few members willing to participate in the arena as well, teamwork on raid bosses definitely crosses over to teamwork in PvP. Coming in as a tried and tested team in the raiding battlefield is an immense advantage versus other less experienced teams. In the end I leave it up to you to choose, either one path or even both, good luck.
7.0 Gear Guide, What do I need to start my career as a Tank?
So, you want a few pointers on what you'll need to start tanking Karazhan hm? Well i'll have you know I never had the luxury of enjoying such a thing when I first tanked the raid dungeons. Luckily I'm not going to force you through what I endured, instead I'll tell you exactly what you need and where to find it.
The minimum requirement for tanking Karazhan, the first actual raid instance, are somewhat simple and not too hard to reach. The hard numbers are: Armor, at least 12,000. Defense, 490 minimum. Health, everywhere from 11-12,000 HP is good. Dodge and parry, combined I reached about 32%, you'll want at least 30% if not 40. For all your gear I recommend stacking the gem named "Solid Star of Elune." This provides everything you need for good tanking, stamina, stamina, and more stamina.
The actual gear list is as follows:
Helm:
Felsteel Helm - Crafted
Myrmidon's Headdress - Quest Reward
Neck:
Mark of the Ravenguard - Quest Reward
Strength of the Untamed - Reputation Reward(Cenarion Circle Revered)
Natasha's Battle Chain - Quest Reward
Back:
Devilshark Cape - Drop(Steamvault)
Cloak of Eternity - Crafted
Shoulders:
Shoulderguards of the Bold - Drop(Shadow Laybrinth)
Warchief's Mantle - Quest Reward
Chest:
Jade-Skull Breastplate - Drop(Mechanar)
Breastplate of the Warbringer - Quest Reward
Vindicator's Hauberk - Reputation Reward(Aldor Revered)
Wrist:
Sha'tari Wrought Armguards - Quest Reward
Bracers of the Green Fortress - Crafted
Hands:
Felsteel Gloves - Crafted
Thatia's Self-Correcting Gauntlets - Drop(Random BoE)
Belt:
Sha'tari Vindicator's Waistguard - Quest Reward
Girdle of the Lost Vindicator - Quest Reward(Aldor Only)
Legs:
Felsteel Leggings - Crafted
Timewarden's Leggings - Reputation Reward(Keepers of Time Revered)
Boots:
Sha'tari Wrought Greaves - Quest Reward
Flesh Beast's Metal Greaves - Quest Reward
Rings:
Protector's Mark of the Redemption - Quest Reward
Wind Trader's Band - Quest Reward
Iron Band of the Unbreakable - Drop(Old Hillbrad, Caverns of Time)
Trinkets:
Adamantine Figurine - Drop(Shadow Laybrinth)
Dabiri's Enigma - Quest Reward
Figurine of the Colossus - Drop(Shattered Halls)
Weapons:
Grom'tor's Charge - Quest Reward
Honor's Call - Reputation Reward(Honor Hold Exalted)
The Sun Eater - Drop(Mechanar - Heroic Only)
Shield:
Netherwing Protector's Shield - Quest Reward
Aegis of the Sunbird - Drop(Botanica)
Platinum Shield of the Valorous - Drop(Shadow Laybrinth)
Ranged Weapon:
Zerid's Vintage Musket - Quest Reward
Scout's Throwing Knives - Quest Reward
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