Warrior Class Overview

Warriors are a melee oriented class, having a unique resource system called Rage. Rage is generated through combat from both dealing and taking damage. The more damage you deal or take, the more Rage you generate. Most of the abilities available to Warrior cost Rage to use, so always be mindful of how much you have available at all times.

In addition to Rage, Warrior also has a second unique mechanic, stances. Each of these stances offers a different buff and has a general, unique purpose. Mastering these stances and utilizing them properly is required to unlock the full potential of your Warrior. Battle Stance is mainly used while leveling, and by the Arms specialization. Defensive Stance is almost exclusively used by Protection Warriors. Berserker Stance is the main stance used when speccing into the Fury talent tree. Regardless of the specialization you choose, you will want to know about all three of your stances and use them at the appropriate times.

Warriors can fulfill either the damage dealing role, or the tanking role depending on which specialization you choose. Having the option to tank if needed can make it much easier to find groups, as the tanking role is often in short supply. Warrior is able to choose from three specializations: Arms, Fury, and Protection.

• Arms — Seasoned experts of two-handed weapons, utilizing devastating attacks and intense ferocity to vanquish their adversaries.
• Fury — Enraged berserkers brandish a weapon in each hand, unleashing a rapid onslaught of strikes to dismantle their adversaries.
• Protection — Resolute guardians who choose to arm themselves with a shield to defend their allies from harm.

Each specialization available to Warrior is unique and has its' own playstyle. Ultimately the spec that you find the most enjoyable to play will come down to your own personal playstyle; we recommend trying out each spec on your own to get a feel for them and see how much you enjoy them.

Arms is the primary spec in Cataclysm for both PvE and PvP content, focusing on dealing damage with 2-handed weapons. This spec has multiple different procs, giving it a very active playstyle that will keep you always watchful and ready to act. In addition, this specializations playstyle revolves around small "burst windows", where you will have multiple, powerful abilities ready to use back-to-back. This makes Arms especially deadly in PvP, as you can easily burst down your target by catching them off guard.

Rather than using a single weapon, Fury chooses to wield a weapon in each hand. You can choose between Titan's Grip, which allows you to wield a 2-handed weapon in each hand, or Single-Minded Fury, which increases your damage dealt when wielding two 1-handed weapons instead. Fury has a very active playstyle, always having an ability ready to use. Unfortunately, this spec does not start off strong and requires very high end-game gear to fully unlock its potential.

Protection is the tank specialization, where you will focus on taking damage as your primary goal rather than dishing it out. Protection can be classified as easy to learn, hard to master. This spec only has a few main abilities in its rotation, but it also has multiple procs that require quick reactions to utilize. The nature of a tank also requires high awareness of the situation at all times, as you will need to be ready to adapt to anything the content throws at you.

Warrior is very viable in Cataclysm. Arms is one of the strongest DPS classes in the game throughout all phases. Fury is fairly weak starting out and only really does well towards the end of the expansion in full end-game gear, but remains a decent "middle ground" DPS option otherwise. Protection is strong enough to clear all content in the game, but falls behind other tanks due to a low number of defensive cooldowns, limited utility, and generally are lacking crucial stats until obtaining later raid gear.

Warriors are the only class in the game that can be played as any race, giving you a very wide selection of options to choose from.

• Dwarves have a few notable racials. Mace Specialization grants 3 expertise skill when wearing a mace. At level 85 it takes 30 expertise rating to equal 1 expertise skill, making this racial only worth 90 stats, being on the weaker side of racials. The main appeal of this race is Stoneform which removes all poison, disease and bleeds when activated and reduces all damage taken by 10% for 8 seconds, making this an extremely powerful race for Protection.
• Humans are weaker overall in Cataclysm compared to previous expansions. They still have Mace Specialization and Sword Specialization, giving 3 expertise skill when wearing a mace or sword. As mentioned before, 3 expertise is 90 expertise rating at level 85, making this a weaker racial at max level when compared to others. Will to Survive remains as a PvP trinket and keeps Humans as one of the best races overall for PvP gameplay.
• Night Elves are the best race for the Protection spec as they have Quickness, helping them reach the 102.4% easier and increasing your critical block chance.
• Worgens are one of the two new races added in Cataclysm. Viciousness is the main racial offered, granting 1% crit chance. At level 85, 1% crit chance is 180 stats, making this the best racial for both Arms and Fury Warriors on Alliance. You will also get Darkflight, giving you a 2 minute movement speed cooldown.

• Goblins are one of the two new races added in during Cataclysm. Their main racials are Rocket Jump and Rocket Barrage. Both of these abilities share a cooldown and are on the global cooldown, which makes Rocket Barrage almost completely useless. Rocket Jump is a powerful movement cooldown that will come in handy whenever a boss encounter has high movement mechanics. Goblins also have Time is Money, giving 1% attack speed, but this is a weak stat for Warriors. Protection has no real best race for Horde, making Goblins a good choice for the additional movement ability from Rocket Jump.
• Orcs remain the preferred choice for Horde DPS Warriors. They offer Axe Specialization and Blood Fury; Axe Specialization gives 3 expertise skill, which is 90 stats at level 85, making this a fairly weak stat value. Blood Fury gives 1169 Attack Power at level 85 and can be used with other cooldowns. Overall Orc is the best option for maximizing DPS for both Arms and Fury Warriors because of the Blood Fury cooldown. Axe Specialization has minimal value as none of your best in slot weapons are Axes.
• Taurens are technically the best tank race for the Protection spec, as they offer Endurance, giving you 5% base health. Note that the base health is only the raw health that you gain from levels and does not scale with your gear at all, making this only about a 1% increase in total health at maximum level in raiding gear. War Stomp is also a handy AoE stun that you can use when tanking trash in dungeons or raids.

Warriors are able to wear Cloth, Leather, and Mail armor by default, and are able to wear Plate after reaching Level 40. While you can wear any armor, you will want to primarily focus on wearing Plate armor exclusively to take advantage of either Plate Specialization if you are specced as either Arms or Fury, or Plate Specialization if you are playing as Protection.

Warriors are able to equip all weapons in the game aside from Wands. This allows many different weapon choices, such as choosing a weapon that matches your specific racial bonuses, if you have any. In Cataclysm you will typically want to aim for the highest item level weapon with Strength on it as this will usually be the highest DPS weapon you can get.

Both Arms and Fury Warriors desire the same stats, letting you mostly use the same gear if you are interested in playing both specs. Your main stat priority will be: Strength > Hit Rating (8%) > Expertise (26) > Critial Strike > Mastery. Following these stats will grant you the highest damage output possible and truly maximize your character.

Protection Warrior will want to focus on tank stats exclusively, following a main stat priority of: Stamina = Mastery > Parry > Dodge. Threat is no longer an issue in Cataclysm as Defensive Stance has been buffed to increase all threat generated by 500%, making threat stats no longer needed, letting you entirely focusing on defensive stats.

Addons and Macros can greatly improve your quality of life during Cataclysm. Listed below are some of our recommendations on Addons and Macros to help get the most out of your time playing the game.