Fires of Heaven Guild Message Board - View Single Post - WoW

taebin · 03-25-2004, 05:44 PM

The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.
- Sun Tzu

Much anticipation has been given to the Warrior class in World of Warcraft. Thousands of Everquest veterans who struggled through their Warriors have eagerly been awaiting a new chance to play their favorite class, but with a different spin. Well that time has come, and almost all will be happy with the way Blizzard has designed the Warrior class to operate, solo and grouped, and be one of the standout classes in the game.

First my credentials. I got into the Alpha program back in early December of last year, towards the end of the Undead push. Once the Tri-Horde push began, I created a Tauren Warrior due to the good things I had heard and seen about them. Over the Christmas Holidays and New Years, I had ample time to play and test just about every aspect of the Warrior class from 1-30. I was fortunate finding good friends, and we were the first level 25's and then 30's on the server. We tested the content before most anyone else, and I saw first hand just how powerful the warrior is. In this post, I will go into great detail on each Stance, Ability, and Talents for the warrior class, and where they excel and have some drawbacks.

Unfortunately, my Warrior is currently locked out due to the Alliance Push at the moment. The information I will be relying on is from a Level 30 Warrior guildmate who was willing to provide tons of numbers and statistics for me to copy down and recite here. This post will be unable to provide exact numbers for skills in their Rank 1 or Rank 2 format, but instead give the feel of a level 30 Warrior who has purchased all his Abilities and is capped out.

Now the reason the enlightened prince and the wise general conquer the enemy whenever they move and their achievements surpass those of ordinary men is foreknowledge.
- Sun Tzu

As you begin your journey as a Warrior, you enter the world with your basic Sword and Shield. Your innate abilities include 1h Swords, 1h Mace, 1h Axe, and 2h Swords. You must visit a local Warrior trainer and place skill points into 2h Axe if you wish to use those. Each level nets you 1 skill point to use as you see fit, and these are trained in Passive abilities such as Dodge, Parry, 2h Axes, etc. The other skills that are Dynamic and require a button to be pushed to activate, cost money and can also be purchased from a Warrior Trainer.

Rage

A warriors primary source of power comes from his Rage bar. This is located underneath his health bar, and can scale from 1 to 100. Different abilities generate and cost certain amounts of rage, and different Stances gain Rage in different ways. The exact formula for Rage being calculated is still a bit of a mystery, but you can get a general feel of where it is coming from. Many warriors specialize in different weapons or offensive / defensive capabilities, but the one thing they can all agree upon is that Warriors live and die by Rage. It is everything to them, similar to Mana to a spellcaster. From dishing out insane amounts of damage, to Blocking a mob that is hewing you down faster than a Priest can keep you alive, Rage is the determing factor in the effectiveness of a Warrior.

Stances

A Warrior will always be in one of three stances, depending on his situation and environment. Each Stance has different abilities and skills, and generates rage in a different way. Warriors begin the game with Battle Stance, can then train Defensive Stance at Level 10, and Beserker Stance at Level 30.

Battle Stance
This is your default stance. Most casual warriors will stay here because it provides alot of offensive and defensive skills. This stance generates Rage based on both your damage done, and damage taken. Until level 30, this will be your "Offensive" stance because Beserker will be unavailable.

Defensive Stance
This is a more advanced stance, that becomes more practical for warrior's as they gain levels. Most believe that this stance is for pure tanking and keeping aggro off casters, but quite a bit of damage can be done while in Defensive. We'll go into this later, but be wary of Warrior NPC's in Defensive. They are hard to kill

Beserker Stance
Not much is known yet about this stance, because it was just added in the Alliance push. It currently has no abilities to it, but it does lower any weapon you are weilding by .3. So if your 2h Sword Frost Tiger Blade was 3.4 delay, it would become 3.1. If you 1h Sword Jade Serpentblade was 2.5 delay, it would become 2.2. I haven't gotten to test this stance yet for myself, but supposedly it generates Rage purely based on how much damage you are doing. Look for many more damage based abilities to be added to this soon.

If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.
- Sun Tzu

Skills
The meat of the Warrior class. These are what every EQ warrior has always wanted and dreamt about. This will seperate the wannabes from the true players. How you spend your rage and what skills you use and when, will make or break your group. It will also determine whether you kill a mob with half hit points left smiling all the way to the next level, or come to the forums asking "Why can't I solo mobs MY level???" I will list skills in order starting with Battle Stance Skills, followed by Defensive Stance, then ones that can be performed in Any Stance. For further clarification, each will be appended with the Stance in italics.

Strike - Battle - Rank 3 of this ability adds +60 damage to your base weapon damage on each melee attack. It will be your primary source of damage.

Hamstring - Battle - Rank 2 of this ability causes 20 damage and snares the target for 30 seconds. This is a very practical skill when in tight quarters and fleeing mobs can cause trains.

Rend - Battle - This ability is the melee form of a DoT. Rank 3 causes 150 damage over the course of 15 seconds. Great to lead a fight with this, so additional damage can be done while meleeing.

Recklessness - Battle - Rank 1 of this ability makes all attacks from the Warrior that land a Critical Strike. It has a 15 second duration and 30 minute cooldown. It also lowers the Warrior's armor by 50.

Thunderclap - Battle - This is an AE spell that is centered around the warrior and can affect up to 4 targets nearby. Rank 3 of it slows the mobs by 10% for 10 seconds and causes 40 damage to each one.

Pummel - Battle - Rank 2 of this ability causes 16 damage and has a 75% chance of interrupting any spell casting. Excellent for taking out casters who are low hit points and armor. One or two interrupts and they are down for the count.

Punishing Blow - Battle - This is an interesting ability and used to save groupmates from death. Rank 2 of it causes 30 damage and forces the target to face and attack you for 6 seconds. The only drawback is it must be used from behind. It has a 2 minute cooldown

Charge - Battle - As a warrior, you will use this ability a ton. Rank 2 of it generates 15 rage upon use, and stuns the target for 4 seconds. It must be used from about a 5 yard distance, and cannot be used in the middle of combat.

Disarm - Battle - Your typical disarm ability. Causes enemy weapon loss for 10 seconds. Unlike EQ, your weapon doesn't appear in your inventory, it simply cannot be used. Gogo Unarmed Fighting!

Overpower - Battle - Rank 2 of this causes +25 dmg to your base weapon damage against a target, but must be followed by an enemies Blocking, Parry, Deflect, or Dodge. Have to be paying attention to battle to get full use of this.

- Begin Defensive Skills -

Sundering Strike - Defensive - Rank 2 of this lowers the enemies Armor by 75 each strike, and can be stacked up to 5 times. Lasts 30 seconds.

Shield Block - Defensive - Possibly the most important skill for a Warrior in game. This was so powerful it had to be nerfed, because warriors were able to spam shield block and never be hit. Rank 1 of this now causes 75% of the next enemy attack to be blocked, and has a 5 second cooldown. Can only be used for 1 incoming attack.

Shield Bash - Defensive - This is a great offensive tool while in defensive stance. Rank 3 of it causes 40 damage and has a 75% chance to interrupt spellcasters. Similar to Pummel, but more damage.

Taunt - Defensive - Just as the name implies, Rank 2 creates a medium amount of threat. Important to note that this ability can only be used in defensive stance, and it can also be spammed given you have enough rage. Unlike EQ, this gets the job done 95% of the time, unless the mob is 10 or more levels higher than you and resists alot.

Blood Rage - Defensive - Rank 1 of this ability generates 20 rage over a 10 second period, at the cost of 100 health. It also acts as a taunting mechanism, because mobs don't seem to like it that a warrior is gaining rage. Great for holding aggro.

Shield Wall - Defensive - Rank 1 of this ability reduces all incoming melee and spells by 75% for 10 seconds. It has a 30 minute cooldown timer. Basically its used as last second "get the hell outta Dodge" type of manuver, but can also be strategically used if you can time a mobs special attack or flurry.

Revenge - Defensive - This is Overpower's twin bother. But instead of using it after the mob deflects, the Warrior uses it after HE blocks, deflects, parries, or dodges. Rank 2 is an instant counterattack causing +20 dmg added to your base weapon damage. Great when used in conjunction with Shield Block.

- Begin Any Stance Skills -

Inner Rage - Any - Rank 1 of this ability generates +50 rage automatically. Typically this is used when the shit hits the fan, and you need rage Now. Has a 5 minute cooldown.

Battle Shout - Any - Rank 3 of this shout causes all party members' melee and range damage to be increased by 6 for 2 minutes. Good thing to keep this up at all times, because it pays off.

Demoralizing Shout - Any - Rank 2 of this shout causes all nearby enemies damage to be reduced by 10 for 30 seconds. Very effective when 2-3 mobs are pulled, cutting all the mobs melee down by quite a bit.

Intimidating Shout - Any - This is a great ability to use when in trouble. It causes all nearby enemies to flee, and stuns your current target for 8 seconds. Typically used on a multi pull in an open area, or if you are gonna try and run away. Has a 10 minute cooldown.

Challenging Shout - Any - The AE taunt for the Warcraft Warrior. Similiar to EQ, used when mobs are scattered everywhere attacking casters and the priest, gets them on you very fast.

There are but two powers in the world, the sword and the mind. In the long run the sword is always beaten by the mind.
- Napoleon Bonaparte

Talents

The Warrior can beat himself by improperly using his talents and equipment. The two key stats for a Warrior are Stamina and Strength. Every Warrior gets a 20 hit point return on each point of Stamina gained. This is superior to every other class and it starts adding up quick. Strength is important because the amount of rage generated in Battle and Beserker Stance is based on the amount of damage you are doing. Strength increases the damage dealt by quite a bit, so More Strength = More Rage.

Other talents a Warrior will look at when spending his points includes defensive ones. The Toughness talent adds a raw amount of armor to your base armor, and Lightning Reflexes boosts your Defensive Skill by 1. Once Lightning Reflexes Rank 3 is achieved, Evade can be trained which boosts your Defensive Skill by 3. Another important ability is Shield Blocking. Rank 1 is an innate ability that makes you naturally block 2% more when a shield is equipped. It requires Shield Defense Rank 3 to train, and each rank of that boosts your armor by a raw amount when a Shield is equipped.

Specializing in weapons is another way to go. It's hard for a typical warrior to commit to a certain weapon type the way Rogues can commit to daggers. You never know when some awesome 1h Axe will drop that you can't pass up using, when you've already spent 70 Talent Points making 1h Swords your Specialization. Once a certain rank in a Weapon Specialization is achieved, you can train in other weapon specialties. Such as 1h Sword Power, which will give you a 2% higher chance to land criticals when using 1h Swords. Or 2h Axe Finesse, which gives you a 2% extra chance to Parry when using 2h Axes.

As you can see, the talents for a Warrior are numerous, and opens up the door for different types of Warriors. You can go huge damage and specialize in 2h Swords, making your damage scale quite high. Or go defense, and train points into Stamina, Toughness, Lightning Reflexes, and Shield Blocking. There are many avenues in which you can pursue achieving the type of Warrior you always envisioned.

Equipment

Warriors are the kings of Equipment in Warcraft, because they can use almost every single piece out there. Any type of weapon (except Staffs and Wands), any material of armor, be it cloth, leather, mail, or plate. A warrior is right at home when deciding which piece of armor will best benefit him, and has the luxury of having multiple options. I will give an example found in todays game. Two high level Breastplates are the Green Iron Hauberk, and the Golden Scale Cuirass. The Hauberk is 75 Armor 9 Stamina 3 Strength. The Cuirass is 78 Armor 11 Strength. Both have very high returns on there key stat, and will change a warrior greatly. 11 extra strength may improve your DPS by 3-4 points, but an extra 9 Stamina is 180 hit points. Sometimes you base your equipment on what other pieces you already have. For instance, if your Stamina was high from your Legs and Gloves, you might opt for the Cuirass to gain more strength. And the flipside is true, in that if you are lacking hit points but have a large Strength pool, the Hauberk is the obvious choice. Many decisions like this are made on a daily basis, depending on what new items you get from questing, random drops, or purchasing in Trade.

Weapons are one of the most heated topics in Warcraft at the moment. The vast majority of high end Warriors use 1Handed weapons, simply because being able to use a Shield is Very important. Abilities like Shield Block and Shield Bash, to any extra talents you have trained such as innate Shield Block all require you to equip a shield. On top of that, the current way damage is calculated rewards faster weapons alot more. I won't go into great detail here, but I'll give a quick example.

Weapon A is a 1h Sword - that is 32-44 Damage and 1.5 Delay. A 2h Sword of equal level is 90-110 Damage and 3.0 Delay. If you just look at this data, they appear balanced, with Sword A causing 74 damage every 3 seconds and Sword B causing 100 Damage every 3 seconds (The 1h will swing twice, the 2h once). However when you factor in Raw +Damage effects, such as Strength, Battle Shout, Paladins Seal of Might (see Furor post), Potions, Sharpening Stones, and Weapon Specialization, the 1h Sword catches up very fast to the 2h. So if you add +50 damage to each swing, the 1h becomes 176 damage (38 + 50 = 88 x 2) every 3 seconds, and the 2h becomes 150 damage (100 + 50) every 3 seconds. As you can see, the current system vastly favors fast weapons, and is creating quite an imbalance currently. The way Armor is calculated just underwent a Huge revision and has helped quite a bit, but a discrepency is still evident. Blizzard developers I've talked to and seen post have said that a current weapon overhaul is in the works, so this is bound to change.

Wrap Up

From this post, you can see the Warrior class is a very intricate piece of work. No longer can you mash 1 for Auto Attack and 2 for Taunt. Well you can, but other warriors who pay attention and are smart about there abilities will outshine the simple two button pushers. The warrior class that Blizzard has built is what I personally have always thought Warriors should be, a great source of damage and perhaps the best class at killing something straight up, but also a centerstone for absorbing damage and tanking while other classes do their thing. For these reasons, the Warrior class in Warcraft will be one of the most popular classes in the game, and will be envied in different respects by every other class.

- Smoke - Level 30 Tauren Warrior
- Riddick - Level 30 Human Paladin

Appendices
I'd like to give a big big shout out to Pike for taking time to go over all the numbers with me and keep me up to date with any warrior changes since the Alliance push. Thanks alot bud

And as everyone knows, this game is in beta. This information is bound to change as time goes on and more phases of beta are released.

03-25-2004, 05:44 PM	#1 (permalink)
taebin Fading, falling, lost in forever Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 240 -1 Internets	WoW - Warrior Overview The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom. - Sun Tzu Much anticipation has been given to the Warrior class in World of Warcraft. Thousands of Everquest veterans who struggled through their Warriors have eagerly been awaiting a new chance to play their favorite class, but with a different spin. Well that time has come, and almost all will be happy with the way Blizzard has designed the Warrior class to operate, solo and grouped, and be one of the standout classes in the game. First my credentials. I got into the Alpha program back in early December of last year, towards the end of the Undead push. Once the Tri-Horde push began, I created a Tauren Warrior due to the good things I had heard and seen about them. Over the Christmas Holidays and New Years, I had ample time to play and test just about every aspect of the Warrior class from 1-30. I was fortunate finding good friends, and we were the first level 25's and then 30's on the server. We tested the content before most anyone else, and I saw first hand just how powerful the warrior is. In this post, I will go into great detail on each Stance, Ability, and Talents for the warrior class, and where they excel and have some drawbacks. Unfortunately, my Warrior is currently locked out due to the Alliance Push at the moment. The information I will be relying on is from a Level 30 Warrior guildmate who was willing to provide tons of numbers and statistics for me to copy down and recite here. This post will be unable to provide exact numbers for skills in their Rank 1 or Rank 2 format, but instead give the feel of a level 30 Warrior who has purchased all his Abilities and is capped out. Now the reason the enlightened prince and the wise general conquer the enemy whenever they move and their achievements surpass those of ordinary men is foreknowledge. - Sun Tzu As you begin your journey as a Warrior, you enter the world with your basic Sword and Shield. Your innate abilities include 1h Swords, 1h Mace, 1h Axe, and 2h Swords. You must visit a local Warrior trainer and place skill points into 2h Axe if you wish to use those. Each level nets you 1 skill point to use as you see fit, and these are trained in Passive abilities such as Dodge, Parry, 2h Axes, etc. The other skills that are Dynamic and require a button to be pushed to activate, cost money and can also be purchased from a Warrior Trainer. Rage A warriors primary source of power comes from his Rage bar. This is located underneath his health bar, and can scale from 1 to 100. Different abilities generate and cost certain amounts of rage, and different Stances gain Rage in different ways. The exact formula for Rage being calculated is still a bit of a mystery, but you can get a general feel of where it is coming from. Many warriors specialize in different weapons or offensive / defensive capabilities, but the one thing they can all agree upon is that Warriors live and die by Rage. It is everything to them, similar to Mana to a spellcaster. From dishing out insane amounts of damage, to Blocking a mob that is hewing you down faster than a Priest can keep you alive, Rage is the determing factor in the effectiveness of a Warrior. Stances A Warrior will always be in one of three stances, depending on his situation and environment. Each Stance has different abilities and skills, and generates rage in a different way. Warriors begin the game with Battle Stance, can then train Defensive Stance at Level 10, and Beserker Stance at Level 30. Battle Stance This is your default stance. Most casual warriors will stay here because it provides alot of offensive and defensive skills. This stance generates Rage based on both your damage done, and damage taken. Until level 30, this will be your "Offensive" stance because Beserker will be unavailable. Defensive Stance This is a more advanced stance, that becomes more practical for warrior's as they gain levels. Most believe that this stance is for pure tanking and keeping aggro off casters, but quite a bit of damage can be done while in Defensive. We'll go into this later, but be wary of Warrior NPC's in Defensive. They are hard to kill Beserker Stance Not much is known yet about this stance, because it was just added in the Alliance push. It currently has no abilities to it, but it does lower any weapon you are weilding by .3. So if your 2h Sword Frost Tiger Blade was 3.4 delay, it would become 3.1. If you 1h Sword Jade Serpentblade was 2.5 delay, it would become 2.2. I haven't gotten to test this stance yet for myself, but supposedly it generates Rage purely based on how much damage you are doing. Look for many more damage based abilities to be added to this soon. If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles. - Sun Tzu Skills The meat of the Warrior class. These are what every EQ warrior has always wanted and dreamt about. This will seperate the wannabes from the true players. How you spend your rage and what skills you use and when, will make or break your group. It will also determine whether you kill a mob with half hit points left smiling all the way to the next level, or come to the forums asking "Why can't I solo mobs MY level???" I will list skills in order starting with Battle Stance Skills, followed by Defensive Stance, then ones that can be performed in Any Stance. For further clarification, each will be appended with the Stance in italics. Strike - Battle - Rank 3 of this ability adds +60 damage to your base weapon damage on each melee attack. It will be your primary source of damage. Hamstring - Battle - Rank 2 of this ability causes 20 damage and snares the target for 30 seconds. This is a very practical skill when in tight quarters and fleeing mobs can cause trains. Rend - Battle - This ability is the melee form of a DoT. Rank 3 causes 150 damage over the course of 15 seconds. Great to lead a fight with this, so additional damage can be done while meleeing. Recklessness - Battle - Rank 1 of this ability makes all attacks from the Warrior that land a Critical Strike. It has a 15 second duration and 30 minute cooldown. It also lowers the Warrior's armor by 50. Thunderclap - Battle - This is an AE spell that is centered around the warrior and can affect up to 4 targets nearby. Rank 3 of it slows the mobs by 10% for 10 seconds and causes 40 damage to each one. Pummel - Battle - Rank 2 of this ability causes 16 damage and has a 75% chance of interrupting any spell casting. Excellent for taking out casters who are low hit points and armor. One or two interrupts and they are down for the count. Punishing Blow - Battle - This is an interesting ability and used to save groupmates from death. Rank 2 of it causes 30 damage and forces the target to face and attack you for 6 seconds. The only drawback is it must be used from behind. It has a 2 minute cooldown Charge - Battle - As a warrior, you will use this ability a ton. Rank 2 of it generates 15 rage upon use, and stuns the target for 4 seconds. It must be used from about a 5 yard distance, and cannot be used in the middle of combat. Disarm - Battle - Your typical disarm ability. Causes enemy weapon loss for 10 seconds. Unlike EQ, your weapon doesn't appear in your inventory, it simply cannot be used. Gogo Unarmed Fighting! Overpower - Battle - Rank 2 of this causes +25 dmg to your base weapon damage against a target, but must be followed by an enemies Blocking, Parry, Deflect, or Dodge. Have to be paying attention to battle to get full use of this. - Begin Defensive Skills - Sundering Strike - Defensive - Rank 2 of this lowers the enemies Armor by 75 each strike, and can be stacked up to 5 times. Lasts 30 seconds. Shield Block - Defensive - Possibly the most important skill for a Warrior in game. This was so powerful it had to be nerfed, because warriors were able to spam shield block and never be hit. Rank 1 of this now causes 75% of the next enemy attack to be blocked, and has a 5 second cooldown. Can only be used for 1 incoming attack. Shield Bash - Defensive - This is a great offensive tool while in defensive stance. Rank 3 of it causes 40 damage and has a 75% chance to interrupt spellcasters. Similar to Pummel, but more damage. Taunt - Defensive - Just as the name implies, Rank 2 creates a medium amount of threat. Important to note that this ability can only be used in defensive stance, and it can also be spammed given you have enough rage. Unlike EQ, this gets the job done 95% of the time, unless the mob is 10 or more levels higher than you and resists alot. Blood Rage - Defensive - Rank 1 of this ability generates 20 rage over a 10 second period, at the cost of 100 health. It also acts as a taunting mechanism, because mobs don't seem to like it that a warrior is gaining rage. Great for holding aggro. Shield Wall - Defensive - Rank 1 of this ability reduces all incoming melee and spells by 75% for 10 seconds. It has a 30 minute cooldown timer. Basically its used as last second "get the hell outta Dodge" type of manuver, but can also be strategically used if you can time a mobs special attack or flurry. Revenge - Defensive - This is Overpower's twin bother. But instead of using it after the mob deflects, the Warrior uses it after HE blocks, deflects, parries, or dodges. Rank 2 is an instant counterattack causing +20 dmg added to your base weapon damage. Great when used in conjunction with Shield Block. - Begin Any Stance Skills - Inner Rage - Any - Rank 1 of this ability generates +50 rage automatically. Typically this is used when the shit hits the fan, and you need rage Now. Has a 5 minute cooldown. Battle Shout - Any - Rank 3 of this shout causes all party members' melee and range damage to be increased by 6 for 2 minutes. Good thing to keep this up at all times, because it pays off. Demoralizing Shout - Any - Rank 2 of this shout causes all nearby enemies damage to be reduced by 10 for 30 seconds. Very effective when 2-3 mobs are pulled, cutting all the mobs melee down by quite a bit. Intimidating Shout - Any - This is a great ability to use when in trouble. It causes all nearby enemies to flee, and stuns your current target for 8 seconds. Typically used on a multi pull in an open area, or if you are gonna try and run away. Has a 10 minute cooldown. Challenging Shout - Any - The AE taunt for the Warcraft Warrior. Similiar to EQ, used when mobs are scattered everywhere attacking casters and the priest, gets them on you very fast. There are but two powers in the world, the sword and the mind. In the long run the sword is always beaten by the mind. - Napoleon Bonaparte Talents The Warrior can beat himself by improperly using his talents and equipment. The two key stats for a Warrior are Stamina and Strength. Every Warrior gets a 20 hit point return on each point of Stamina gained. This is superior to every other class and it starts adding up quick. Strength is important because the amount of rage generated in Battle and Beserker Stance is based on the amount of damage you are doing. Strength increases the damage dealt by quite a bit, so More Strength = More Rage. Other talents a Warrior will look at when spending his points includes defensive ones. The Toughness talent adds a raw amount of armor to your base armor, and Lightning Reflexes boosts your Defensive Skill by 1. Once Lightning Reflexes Rank 3 is achieved, Evade can be trained which boosts your Defensive Skill by 3. Another important ability is Shield Blocking. Rank 1 is an innate ability that makes you naturally block 2% more when a shield is equipped. It requires Shield Defense Rank 3 to train, and each rank of that boosts your armor by a raw amount when a Shield is equipped. Specializing in weapons is another way to go. It's hard for a typical warrior to commit to a certain weapon type the way Rogues can commit to daggers. You never know when some awesome 1h Axe will drop that you can't pass up using, when you've already spent 70 Talent Points making 1h Swords your Specialization. Once a certain rank in a Weapon Specialization is achieved, you can train in other weapon specialties. Such as 1h Sword Power, which will give you a 2% higher chance to land criticals when using 1h Swords. Or 2h Axe Finesse, which gives you a 2% extra chance to Parry when using 2h Axes. As you can see, the talents for a Warrior are numerous, and opens up the door for different types of Warriors. You can go huge damage and specialize in 2h Swords, making your damage scale quite high. Or go defense, and train points into Stamina, Toughness, Lightning Reflexes, and Shield Blocking. There are many avenues in which you can pursue achieving the type of Warrior you always envisioned. Equipment Warriors are the kings of Equipment in Warcraft, because they can use almost every single piece out there. Any type of weapon (except Staffs and Wands), any material of armor, be it cloth, leather, mail, or plate. A warrior is right at home when deciding which piece of armor will best benefit him, and has the luxury of having multiple options. I will give an example found in todays game. Two high level Breastplates are the Green Iron Hauberk, and the Golden Scale Cuirass. The Hauberk is 75 Armor 9 Stamina 3 Strength. The Cuirass is 78 Armor 11 Strength. Both have very high returns on there key stat, and will change a warrior greatly. 11 extra strength may improve your DPS by 3-4 points, but an extra 9 Stamina is 180 hit points. Sometimes you base your equipment on what other pieces you already have. For instance, if your Stamina was high from your Legs and Gloves, you might opt for the Cuirass to gain more strength. And the flipside is true, in that if you are lacking hit points but have a large Strength pool, the Hauberk is the obvious choice. Many decisions like this are made on a daily basis, depending on what new items you get from questing, random drops, or purchasing in Trade. Weapons are one of the most heated topics in Warcraft at the moment. The vast majority of high end Warriors use 1Handed weapons, simply because being able to use a Shield is Very important. Abilities like Shield Block and Shield Bash, to any extra talents you have trained such as innate Shield Block all require you to equip a shield. On top of that, the current way damage is calculated rewards faster weapons alot more. I won't go into great detail here, but I'll give a quick example. Weapon A is a 1h Sword - that is 32-44 Damage and 1.5 Delay. A 2h Sword of equal level is 90-110 Damage and 3.0 Delay. If you just look at this data, they appear balanced, with Sword A causing 74 damage every 3 seconds and Sword B causing 100 Damage every 3 seconds (The 1h will swing twice, the 2h once). However when you factor in Raw +Damage effects, such as Strength, Battle Shout, Paladins Seal of Might (see Furor post), Potions, Sharpening Stones, and Weapon Specialization, the 1h Sword catches up very fast to the 2h. So if you add +50 damage to each swing, the 1h becomes 176 damage (38 + 50 = 88 x 2) every 3 seconds, and the 2h becomes 150 damage (100 + 50) every 3 seconds. As you can see, the current system vastly favors fast weapons, and is creating quite an imbalance currently. The way Armor is calculated just underwent a Huge revision and has helped quite a bit, but a discrepency is still evident. Blizzard developers I've talked to and seen post have said that a current weapon overhaul is in the works, so this is bound to change. Wrap Up From this post, you can see the Warrior class is a very intricate piece of work. No longer can you mash 1 for Auto Attack and 2 for Taunt. Well you can, but other warriors who pay attention and are smart about there abilities will outshine the simple two button pushers. The warrior class that Blizzard has built is what I personally have always thought Warriors should be, a great source of damage and perhaps the best class at killing something straight up, but also a centerstone for absorbing damage and tanking while other classes do their thing. For these reasons, the Warrior class in Warcraft will be one of the most popular classes in the game, and will be envied in different respects by every other class. - Smoke - Level 30 Tauren Warrior - Riddick - Level 30 Human Paladin Appendices I'd like to give a big big shout out to Pike for taking time to go over all the numbers with me and keep me up to date with any warrior changes since the Alliance push. Thanks alot bud And as everyone knows, this game is in beta. This information is bound to change as time goes on and more phases of beta are released.