Warriors are the melee-centered class. These characters are tough as nails and masters of weaponry and tactics. The special abilities of the Warrior are naturally combat-oriented. The Warrior is the ultimate toe-to-toe fighter with the most options available to him. Unlike other Warriors you might have played in other games, the Warrior of World of Warcraft has many different options and abilities to use during combat. - Blizzard Entertainment  

Warriors are ever-present across the battlefields of the WarCraft world. So long as wars are fought, foot soldiers are a necessity. Horde and Alliance alike all employ Warriors who comprise the majority of their forces. Their strength, characteristic heavy armour plate and weapon prowess make their presence known on the frontlines, where blows and blood are exchanged in a frightening fury. Experience in battle has hardened their bodies against damage and disciplined their minds to keep cool under pressure and rally their brethren to victory.

The Warrior is the melee guru of WoW. They are adept at ‘tanking’ for a group and dealing back damage of their own with any one of their many weapon choices. Another tool of their trade are their shouts, which can temporarily buff their teammates and grant them a limited amount of crowd control. Different stances are available to suit any situation a Warrior may find themselves in, whether they’re soloing or with a group. And lastly, a plethora of combat abilities are at their disposal that have a range of a effects from plain direct damage to stuns and damage over time. The World of WarCraft Warrior is definately a step in the right direction for melee classes of MMORPGs.

Available in which Races & their Racial Bonuses

Alliance

Dwarf

• Stoneform: While active, grans immunity to Blood, Poison and Disease effects. In addition, Armor increased by 10%. Lasts 8 secs. 3 minute cooldown.
• Gun Specialization: +5 to gun skill
• Frost Resistance: +10 Cold Resistance
• Treasure Finding: Activate to see treasure chests on mini map - lasts until canceled - no cool-down.

Gnomes

• Escape Artist: Escape the effects of any immobilization or movement speed reduction effect. 0.5 sec cast. 1 min cooldown.
• Expansive Mind: +5% to intelligence
• Arcane Resistance: +10 to Arcane Resistance
• Engineering Specialist: 15 skill bonus to Engineering

Humans

• Perception: Increased detection bonus - lasts 20 sec. 3 min cooldown
• The Human Spirit: +5% to Spirit
• Diplomacy: 10% bonus to faction point gain
• Sword Specialisation: +5 to Sword Skill
• Mace Specialisation: +5 to Mace Skill

Night Elf

• Shadowmeld: Activate while immobile and out of combat to enter stealth mode. Lasts until canceled. 10 sec cool down
• Quickness: +1% to Dodge
• Wisp Spirit: Become a wisp when dead with movement speed increase of 50% (25% faster than other races)
• Nature Resistance: +10 to Nature Resistance

Horde

Orc

• Blood Fury: Increases base melee attack power by 25% for 15 seconds and reduces healing effects on you by 50% for 25 sec.
  Hardiness: +25% resistance to stun effects
• Command: Pet melee damage increased by 5%
• Axe Specialization: +5 to Axe skill

Tauren

• War Stomp: Activate to stun up to 5 opponents within 8 yards. Lasts 2 mins. 2 min cool-down.
• Endurance: +5% to Max Health (after items)
• Cultivation: 15 skill bonus to Herbalism
• Nature Resistance: +10 to Nature Resistance

Troll

• Berserking (active): Increases your melee, ranged, and casting speed by 10% to 30%. The value scales upwards towards 30% depending how low your health is when you activate the ability. Requires a small amount of mana, rage, or energy (depending on your class) to activate. Does not require being struck by a critical to activate. Lasts 10 seconds with 3 minute cooldownd but no global cooldown.
• Regeneration (passive): Increase health regen bonus by 10%. 10% active in combat.
• Beast Slaying (passive): Increase damage bonus to Beasts by 5%
• Throwing & Bow Weapon Specialization (passive): Increase Throwing Weapon skill by +5 and +5 to Bows

Undead

• Will of the Forsaken: Activate to become immune to fear, sleep, and charm effects and can be activated whilst under the effects of fear or sleep. Lasts 5 sec. 2 min cool-down
• Cannibalize: Increase health regeneration by 7% of total health every 2 sec while consuming human/undead corpses. Lasts 10 sec. 2 min cool-down
• Underwater Breathing: Underwater breath  +300% longer than normal
• Shadow Resistance: +10 to Shadow Resistance

Resources Used

• Health & Rage

Starting Statistics

Below are the starting stats and attributes of the Warrior. Warriors can learn to use other weapons at a weapon trainer and locations of those can be found in the Trainers page.

Attributes	Dwarf	Gnome	Hum	Elf	Orc	Tau	Tr	U
Strength	25	18	23	20	26	28	24	22
Agility	16	23	20	25	17	15	22	18
Stamina	25	21	22	21	24	24	23	23
Intellect	19	24	20	20	17	15	16	18
Spirit	19	20	21	20	23	22	21	25
Armor	34	53	47	57	36	32	51	43
Melee Attack	1	1	6	1	6	1	1	1
Power	33	19	29	23	35	39	31	27
Damage	9-12	3-6	4-7	4-7	10-13	11-14	5-8	4-7
Ranged Attack	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	6	N/A
Power	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	25	N/A
Damage	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	4-7	N/A
Class Skills
Arms	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Weapon Skills
Axes	X		X		X	X	X
Daggers		X		X			X	X
Defence	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
1-hand Maces	X	X	X	X		X
Swords		X	X	X	X			X
Thrown							X
2-hand Axes	X				X
2-hand Maces						X
2-hand Swords								X
Unarmed	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Armour
Cloth	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Leather	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Mail	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Shield	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X

Strengths

• The warrior can take a lot of punishment, which while good in itself, also means that there is more chance of him escaping safely from mobs.
• The warrior does not need to recharge anything other than his health, and he is ready for battle.
• The warrior can control crowds by taunting.
• The warrior excels as a close combat tank, being able to take more punishment that other melee classes.
• The warrior has a series of shouts which help all nearby party members.
• The warrior is designed for taking o­n more than o­ne enemy simultaneously if needs must.
• The warrior can use the toughest and strongest armour.

Weaknesses

• The warrior has to expend lots of saved up points to obtain a ranged attack (e.g bow).
• The warrior has a hard time “pulling” specific creatures, due to his close combat nature.
• The warrior has to build rage to use his best abilities.
• The warrior cannot output as much damage as some other classes (such as mage or rogue).
• The warrior abilities are all focused o­n close combat fighting.

Warrior Abilities

Understanding the Rage Bar

So just what is the rage bar? The red rage bar replaces the mana bar many of us are familiar with from almost all RPGs right under our health bar and functions in a different, almost reversed way. The basic principle is still the same, this is the pool you draw from to cast your spells and use your abilities. However, when a Warrior is at rest, the rage bar is empty. Rage is generated during combat by damage you cause, receive or block and there are also abilities that can raise your rage instantly, should you find yourself low in a tight situation.

Once rage is generated, you can then use this rage to activate your abilities just as you would use mana. After combat, rage will slowly fade to 0 and you’ll have to build it back up again to continue using skills. Rage is instantly reset to 0 when switching stances, as well.

Rage Tips

• When switching between stances, all accumulated rage is reset! Keep this in mind, plan ahead and choose your stance carefully so you don’t have to start from scratch in mid battle!
• Rage slowly resets to 0 after battle so try to get back into combat quickly to keep up the momentum you gained from your last fight

Understanding Stances

Stances are a nifty feature of the Warrior that allow them to adapt to whatever play style they are in the mood for. Currently, there are three available: Battle, Defensive and Berzerker. Located above the action bar you’ll find the button used to switch your stance. Each stance has i’s own set of icons you can set for it, so you’ll be ready with the skills you prefer for that stance when you switch to it.

Stance Tips

• All accumulated rage is reset to 0 when switching stances, however stance switching in combat is a viable way to slay your foes. If you are say, in a group, you could begin attacking enemies in Battle Stance with DOT attacks like Rend, expend all rage you’ve acquired through direct damage attacks then switch over to Defensive Stance to begin tanking.
• Rage slowly resets to 0 after battle so try to get back into combat quickly to keep up the momentum you gained from your last fight.

Understanding Shouts

Shouts function much like Diablo II Barbarian Warcries. Once cast, these spells have a range of effects. They can temporarily buff you or your teammates, de-buff your enemies or allow you to control a crowd by drawing some or all monsters to you and away from your group. All shouts require rage.

Shout Tips

• Keep your party buffed with Battle Shout if possible. Especially with other tanks in your group.

Understanding Combat Abilities

Combat Abilities function much like many Diablo II Barbarian Combat Skills and Paladin Combat Skills work. Some Combat Abilities are available all the time, most others are only available in certain stances.

Warrior Talents

Each talent is assigned talent points which you gain when your character reaches a new level, starting at level 10. Each level after 10 you are assigned 1 talent point and you can then spend that point in o­ne of the trees. Some talents have prerequisites, so spend the point wisely.

The warrior class is one that can take a constant barrage of blows from a horde of enemies and keep on dealing out death to those who cross him. Warriors use their skill with a blade, cunning tactics, brute strength, and unbridled wrath to bring opponents to their knees. Every warrior has a different fighting style, from heaving giant axes to making devastating cuts with a cruel sword, but they all specialize in one field or another. Along with their chosen weapon of destruction come their chosen talents. Warrior talents can help them hit harder, last longer, attack faster, or get angrier. By choosing the right talents for your own personal style, you can become more powerful than you ever imagined.

Arms

The Arms mastery is one that will dramatically increase your damage dealt. Every ability in the Arms tree will give your opponents less time before you end their life. The Arms tree is closely tied with the Battle and Berserker Stances, but it can increase weapon damage in the Defensive Stance as well. For fighting alone against mobs of enemies, this master is a perfect choice. The best way to advance in the Arms mastery is to choose one weapon type you want to specialize in, and then put points into that weapon type and the special ability improvements. There are also three entirely new abilities, Sweeping Strikes, Mortal Strike, and Deep Wounds. All three will bring down anyone foolish enough to cross your path.

Protection

Bolster your defenses and skill with a shield by taking up the Protection mastery. A warrior customized in the Protection tree will take more punches and live much longer in battle. The Defensive Stance best accommodates the Protection mastery because it is geared toward the same combat style. For group-play, it is good to have at least a few points in this mastery. The majority of skill improvements for Protection are for the Defensive Stance skills, and are mostly for protecting a group. If you like to play the role of tank or defender, you are most suited for the Protection mastery.

Fury

Brave and fearless are those who undertake the Fury mastery. Warriors who specialize in the Fury mastery hold nothing back, assaulting their foes in a controlled frenzy of blows powerful enough to shatter any remaining fire in the eyes of your enemies. You will intimidate the sturdiest opponent as you unleash your wrath with this unique set of talents. Many of these talents will only activate after landing a critical strike, and will leave your target begging for mercy. The Fury mastery goes well with all combat stances, and will benefit anyone who chooses to customize their warrior with talents from that tree.

Warrior Trainers

To learn new warrior skills and proficiencies you will need to seek out a Warrior Trainer. New skills will become available for learning as your character increases in level. You can find a full list of all Warrior Trainers around the world here.

Further Warrior Reading & Resources

		Forum to talk with other Warriors
		Quests for Warriors
		Warrior Items
		Warrior PvE Guides
		Warrior PvP Guides
		Warrior UIs/Mods
		List of Warrior Trainers

Warrior Patch History

The history of the changes made to the Warrior class during the beta and beyond are detailed below with the most recent at the top.

Patch 1.9.3 (7 February 2006)

• Shield Block - This aura will now correctly be removed when the charges are all consumed. However, it is still possible when fighting multiple opponents to get extra blocks due to technical restrictions.

Patch 1.9.1 (10 January 2006)

• Charge – Should no longer desync characters from the server when charging from land to water.

Patch 1.9.0 (3 January 2006)

• Execute - Improved Execute and other discounts to the Execute ability will now correctly convert the resulting extra rage into damage.
• Retaliation - This ability will no longer lose charges when the attacker is behind the warrior.
• Sword Specialization - Special attacks such as Sinister Strike, and Mortal Strike now properly trigger the chance to gain an extra attack.
• Sweeping Strikes - Whirlwind and Retaliation will now correctly consume the charges from Sweeping Strikes.
• Bloodthirst - The damage component has been increased to 45% of attack power.
• Enrage - The talent will now grant 5/10/15/20/25% extra damage when enraged, instead of 8/16/24/33/40%.
• Mace Specialization - The stun effect’s duration no longer diminishes or is diminished by controlled stun abilities and spells (e.g. Cheap Shot, Hammer of Justice, Charge, etc).
• Improved Revenge - The stun effect’s duration no longer diminishes or is diminished by controlled stun abilities and spells (e.g. Cheap Shot, Hammer of Justice, Charge, etc).
• Unbridled Wrath - Only normal melee swings will trigger the rage generation from this ability.

Patch 1.8.0 (11 October 2005)

• Concussion Blow - Will now initiate combat when used.
• Shoot Bow/Crossbow/Gun - Fixed a bug where these abilities could be used faster than intended.
• Throw - Use of this ability will now only cause a cooldown with Shoot abilities.
• Mortal Strike - Now uses normalized attack power.
• Overpower - Now uses normalized attack power.
• Whirlwind - Now uses normalized attack power.
• Warriors can immediately Intercept after using trinkets to remove immobilizing effects.
• Camera angles when using Charge should be improved.
• Instant Attacks
  • The mechanics of most instant melee attacks have been modified to improve item balance. Previously, instant melee attacks did damage based on the damage range of the weapon, plus a bonus for the player’s attack power. This bonus was then multiplied by the speed of the weapon. As a result, slow weapons did more damage than was intended, and fast weapons were considered inferior by most players. We have changed the way the attack power bonus is calculated for instant attacks. This change does NOT affect attack power calculations for normal melee attacks. Instead of multiplying by the speed of the weapon, the attack power bonus is now multiplied by a fixed number pulled from the following table:
    

    Two-handed weapons: 3.3
    Daggers: 1.7
    All other one-handed weapons: 2.4

  As a direct result of this, many weapons have shifted position in their relative power. In particular, many Epic (purple) quality items are now more powerful than slower Superior (blue) weapons.

  This change was not made to reduce the power of instant attacks, but to correct the relative imbalance of weapon itemization. At a given level requirement, epic quality weapons should always be more powerful than superior quality weapons.

  Please also note that all normal weapon swings will be completely unaffected by this change. The following abilities are affected by the design change: Whirlwind, Mortal Strike, and Overpower.

Patch 1.7.0 (13 September 2005)

• Deflection - Will now increase parry chance when using Fist Weapons.
• Retaliation - Will now cause a maximum of 30 retaliatory strikes in 15 seconds. In addition, retaliatory strikes will not be possible while stunned.
• Improved Revenge - The stun effect can now be resisted.
• Mace Specialization - The stun effect can now be resisted.
• Retaliation, Recklessness and Shield Wall will no longer be cancelled if you switch stances while the effect is active.
• Shield Slam - Threat caused increased.
• Shoot Bow/Gun/Crossbow - Should no longer cause a global cooldown on all other abilities.
• Sweeping Strikes will now ignore dead targets, and will ignore PvP enabled targets if you are not PvP enabled.

Patch 1.6.1 (2 August 2005)

• Improved Shield Block - Fixed a bug where Rank 3 of the talent was not granting the extra block.
• Bloodthirst - Damage bonus increased to 40% of attack power.

Patch 1.6.0 (12 July 2005)

• Due to significant talent changes, Warriors will have all talent points refunded and can be respent.
• Hamstring - Will now cause damage to targets immune to movement slowing effects. Movement slowing effect improved.
• Improved Hamstring - Design changed. No longer improves the movement slowing effect. It is now a 3 point talent that gives a 5/10/15% chance to immobilize the target for 5 seconds.
• Booming Voice - In addition to increasing duration, this talent will now increase the area of effect of Battle Shout and Demoralizing Shout by 10/20/30/40/50%.
• Battle Shout - Tooltip updated to display area of effect (in yards).
• Demoralizing Shout - Tooltip updated to display area of effect (in yards).
• Improved Berserker Rage - No longer increases the duration of the effect. The talent will now generate 5/10 rage when Berserker Rage is used.
• Improved Demoralizing Shout - Effectiveness increase from talent increased to 8/16/24/32/40%.
• Piercing Howl - No longer has a prerequisite (Improved Demoralizing Shout).
• Deathwish - Is now usable while under a Fear effect, which will also remove the Fear effect.
• Bloodthirst - Design changed. Bloodthirst is now an instant melee attack that causes damage equal to 30% of the warrior’s attack power. In addition, the next 5 successful melee attacks will restore health.
• Concussion Blow - No longer requires purchase of the Improved Revenge talent.
• Shield Discipline - Removed and replaced by the new talent Shield Slam.
• New Talent: Shield Slam - Slam the target with your shield, causing damage and has a 50% chance to dispel 1 magic effect on the target. Also causes a moderate amount of threat. Requires the purchase of the Concussion Blow talent.
• Heroic Strike/Sunder Armor/Revenge/Mocking Blow - Tooltips updated to indicate the additional threat caused by these abilities. There have been no changes to the amount of threat caused.

Patch 1.5.0 (7 June 2005)

• Overpower - Fixed a bug where the ability was sometimes blocked.
• Improved Cleave - Now increases damage bonus by 40/80/120%.
• Blood Craze - Talent design changed. It now regenerates 1/2/3% of the warrior’s total health over 6 seconds after being the victim of a critical strike.
• New Fury Talent: Dual Wield Specialization - Increases damage with the off-hand weapon by 5/10/15/20/25%. Note: the additional damage also increases rage generation significantly.
• Iron Will - Fixed a bug that caused many abilities to ignore the additional resistance.
• Enrage - Increased the number of charges to 12. Decreased the duration to 12 seconds. The new duration is the limiting factor for slower weapons (e.g. Arcanite Reaper will typically get one less swing), while dual wielding and faster weapons will make better use of all of the charges over the duration of the ability.
• Concussion Blow - Changed to an instant, stunning attack and removed the damage portion.
• Shield Specialization - In addition to increasing % chance to block, it now gives the warrior a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to generate 1 rage on a successful block.

Patch 1.4.0 (20 April 2005)

• Thunder Clap - Visual and animation changed.

Patch 1.3.0 (22 March 2005)

• Training costs adjusted. Total training cost was slightly increased.
• Battle Shout - Rage cost reduced.
• Bloodrage - Health cost reduced.
• Heroic Strike - Damage increased.
• Parry - Moved to level 6.
• Thunder Clap - Now causes Physical damage instead of Nature damage; damage increased; duration increased with each new rank.
• Improved Sunder Armor - Now decreases rage cost by 1/1/1. Improved Thunder Clap - Now decreases rage cost by 1/1/2.
• Execute - Full rage is no longer consumed when the ability does not hit.
• Overpower - Should now be usable when a special attack is dodged.
• Fixed a bug where rage was not being generated when normal melee attacks were parried, dodged, and blocked.
• Charge has been improved so it will work through doorways and won’t path you through an entire dungeon.
• Sweeping Strikes bug fixed. It will hit more reliably and show up in combat log correctly.
• Added a visual to Sword Specialization “proc” that will now show up in the combat log as well.

Patch 1.2.0 (21 December 2004)

• Warriors will start swinging after performing a Slam attack.
• New Ability: Pummel (Berserker Stance) (Level 38) - Instant attack that causes damage and interrupts spell casting for a short duration.
• Shield Bash: No longer usable in Berserker Stance.
• Intercept: Cost reduced from 15 rage to 10 rage, damage reduced accordingly.
• Bloodrage: Now generates 10 rage immediately and 10 rage across the duration.
• Improved Bloodrage: Now reduces the health cost of Bloodrage by 25% (rank 1) and 50% (rank 2).
• Berserker Stance: Now increases critical strike chance by 3% instead of granting 10% melee haste. Extra damage taken reduced from 20% to 10%. Talent Changes
• Damage bonus for the Warrior’s One-Handed Weapon Specialization (Protection tab) increased to 2% per rank.
• Amount of threat generated by Shield Bash when Shield Discipline is active has been increased.
• Mortal Strike changed to deal weapon damage + a flat amount (85, 110, 135, 160) instead of percentage-based damage.
• Additional ranks available on Warrior trainers.

Patch 1.1.1 (17 November 2004)

• Defensive Stance has been improved to hold aggro more effectively.Taunt: removed rage cost and global cool down.
• Polearm proficiency can now be learned by Warriors.

Patch 1.1.0 (7 November 2004)

• Inner Rage: Removed.
• Pummel: Removed.
• Heroic Strike: Now available in all Stances, damage increased on some ranks, decreased on others.
• Sunder Armor: Now available in all Stances.
• Shield Bash: Now available in all Stances.
• Hamstring: Now available in Battle and Berserker Stance.
• Rend: Now available in Battle and Defensive Stance, damage slightly increased on some ranks.
• Recklessness: Moved to level 50, moved to Berserker Stance, can be cancelled early, now causes the Warrior to take extra damage instead of decreasing armor.
• Bloodrage: Available in all Stances, cool down increased.
• Cleave: Moved to level 20, available in all Stances, damage reduced.
• Mocking Blow: Moved to level 16, damage increased, replaced more frequently.
• Shield Wall: Moved to level 28.
• Slam: Available in all Stances, damage reduced, casting is pushed back when hit.
• Thunder Clap: Damage increased.
• Defensive Stance: Now reduces damage taken and damage caused instead of increasing Defense skill.
  Intimidating Shout: Moved to level 22, no longer causes the targeted enemy to run in fear, but will cower in fear. The cowering effect is broken by damage.
• Warrior abilities that target one or more enemies now generate additional threat.
• Taunt: Now gives the target just enough threat to attack you. Cool down added.
• Berserker Rage: Moved to level 32.
• New Ability: Retaliation (Level 20).
• New Ability: Execute (Level 24).
• New Ability: Intercept (Level 30).
• New Ability: Whirlwind (Level 40).

Beta Patch 0.12.0 (10 October 2004)

• Taunt and Challenging Shout are now useable against targets that are immune to physical attacks.
• Hamstring - Movement slow effect reduced.
• New Spell: Berserker Rage (Level 30)

Beta Patch 0.10.0 (16 September 2004)

• Charge is no longer usable during combat. Stun duration component has been reduced, rage generation changes with each rank.
• Demoralizing Shout effect is now reduced at higher ranks.
• Pummel has had its interrupt duration reduced.
• Shield Bash has had its interrupt duration reduced; cool-down timer has been increased.

Beta Patch 0.9.0 (15 August 2004)

• Strike renamed Heroic Strike.
• Punishing Blow renamed Mocking Blow.
• Sundering Strike renamed Sunder Armor.
• Sunder Armor no longer stacks with Expose Armor, but will now stack with Faerie Fire.
• Recklessness now has a percent based armor reduction, but using it makes you immune to all fear effects for the duration.
• Dual Wield no longer requires skill points to purchase. It is available on Warrior trainers at level 20 for a monetary training cost.
• Intimidating Shout now has a chance to break when the feared target is damaged.
• Charge range changed to 8-25 yards.
• Charge minimum range reduced to 8 yards.
• Charge can now be done during combat, but the target must still be within the 8-25 yard range.
• Taunt effectiveness reduced.
  Talent Changes
• Enrage now has a max duration.
• Enrage triggers off being hit with a critical hit now, damage increases with the rank of the talent.
• Removed attack speed bonus from enrage.
• Reduced enrage damage bonus slightly.
• Moved enrage/flurry/cruelty, changed pre-requisites for each.
• Reduced rage bonus for Improved Heroic Strike.
• Mortal Strike now has a cool-down, damage has also been reduced.
• Rage bonus for Improved Charge reduced.
• Tactical mastery points distributed evenly. Players will no longer experience “diminishing returns” from putting more points into the talent.Slightly reduced the damage bonus given by 2-handed weapon specialization.
• Improved the Anticipation talent.
• Increased the amount of ranks you can have in Improved Disarm by 3.
• Reduced strength of combat endurance.
• Increased duration of Improved Battle Shout.
• Reduced Deep Wounds damage.
• Improved Hamstring slightly improved. (Note: base Hamstring ability has been slightly reduced).
• Improved Pummel is no longer a pre-req for Improved Overpower.
• Reduced chance to gain rage from Unbridled Wrath.
• Changed Taunt to improve the effectiveness of Taunt rather than reduce the rage cost.

Beta Patch 0.8.0 (7 July 2004)

• Hamstring: Duration reduced.
• Talents are now available for the Warrior class.