Warrior abilities
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Warrior abilities typically revolve around their rage bar. Many abilities can only be used in a certain stance. The abilities listed below specify which stances can use which abilities. Also see more warrior tactics.
Contents |
Trainable Abilities
These abilities are available to all Warriors at the appropriate level, regardless of Talents.
| Icon | Ability | Level | Stances | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Heroic Strike | 1 | All | A massive strike dealing X additional damage to your normal attack. Causes a high amount of threat. Need to have 15 Rage to use. |
| | Battle Shout | 2 | All | Increases nearby party members' attack power by X for 2/3 minutes. Need to have 10 Rage to use. |
| | Charge | 4 | Battle Defensive* Berserker* | Charges an enemy, closing the distance between them instantly. Generates X rage. Cannot be used in combat. * - only with points spent in warbringer talent , which also allows to use Charge in combat. |
| | Rend | 4 | Defensive Battle | Wounds the target, making them bleed for X damage over 9 seconds (up to 15 seconds at higher levels). Need to have 10 Rage to use |
| | Thunder Clap | 6 | Defensive Battle | Slows nearby enemies' attack speed by 10% and deals X Physical damage. 4 targets maximum. Need to have 20 Rage to use. |
| | Hamstring | 8 | Battle Berserker | Causes X damage and reduces the target's movement speed to Y% for 15 seconds. |
| | Bloodrage | 10 | All | Generates rage over time, at the cost of health. |
| | Sunder Armor | 10 | All | Sunders the target's armor, reducing it by X per Sunder Armor and causes a high amount of threat. Can be applied up to 5 times. Lasts 30 sec. Need to have 15 Rage to use. |
| | Taunt | 10 | Defensive | Taunts the target to attack you, but has no effect if the target is already attacking you. |
| | Shield Bash | 12 | Defensive Battle | Deals minor damage and interrupts spellcasting. Also prevents any spell in that school from being cast for 6 sec. |
| | Overpower | 12 | Battle | Only usable after opponent dodges. Deals X additional damage to the standard attack, and cannot be avoided by dodge/parry/block. |
| | Demoralizing Shout | 14 | All | Reduces the attack power of all nearby enemies by X. |
| | Revenge | 14 | Defensive | Instant attack immediately after you dodge, block or parry. Deals X damage and causes a high amount of threat. |
| | Mocking Blow | 16 | Battle Defensive | Deals X damage, forces opponent to focus attacks on you for 6 seconds, and causes a moderate amount of threat. |
| | Shield Block | 16 | Defensive | Increases chance to block and block value by 100% for 10 sec. |
| | Disarm | 18 | Defensive | Disarms your opponent for 10 seconds. |
| | Cleave | 20 | All | Deals normal damage + X to both your opponent and 1 nearby target on your next swing. |
| | Retaliation | 20 | Battle | Instantly counter-attack the next 30 melee attacks for 15 seconds (excludes attacks from behind). |
| | Stance Mastery (Passive) | 20 | All | You retain up to 10 of your rage points when you change stances. |
| | Intimidating Shout | 22 | All | Causes nearby enemies to flee, except for the currently targeted mob. |
| | Execute | 24 | Battle Berserker | A finishing blow, dealing X + (Y * remaining rage) damage. Only usable on opponents under 20% health. Uses all rage. |
| | Challenging Shout | 26 | All | Taunts all nearby targets to attack you, but has no effect on targets that are already attacking you. |
| | Shield Wall | 28 | Defensive | Reduces all melee, ranged and spell damage taken by 75% for 10 seconds. |
| | Intercept | 30 | Berserker Battle* Defensive* | Charge an enemy, causing X Physical damage and stunning it for 3 seconds. * - only with points spent in warbringer talent. |
| | Slam | 30 | All | Deals weapon damage + X. |
| | Berserker Rage | 32 | All | Immunity to fear and knockouts. Generates extra rage when taking damage. |
| | Whirlwind | 36 | Berserker | Attacks nearby enemies for weapon damage. 4 targets maximum. |
| | Pummel | 38 | Berserker | Pummel the target for X damage. It also interrupts spellcasting and prevents any spell in that school from being cast for 4 seconds. |
| | Shield Slam | 40 | All | Slam the target with your shield, causing X to Y damage, modified by your shield block value, and dispels 1 magic effect on the target. Also causes a high amount of threat. Prior to Patch 3.0.2, this ability was only obtainable through a Protection tree talent; now it is available to all warriors. |
| | Recklessness | 50 | Berserker | The warrior will cause critical hits with most attacks and will be immune to Fear effects for the next 15 sec, but all damage taken is increased by 20%. |
| | Victory Rush | 62 | Battle Berserker | Instantly attack the target causing (AP*45/100) damage. Can only be used within 20 sec after you kill an enemy that yields experience or honor. Damage is based on your attack power. |
| | Spell Reflection | 64 | Battle Defensive | Raise your shield, reflecting the next spell cast on you. Lasts 5 sec. |
| | Commanding Shout | 68 | All | Increases total health of all party members within 20 yards by 1080. Lasts 2 min. |
| | Intervene | 70 | Defensive | Run at high speed towards a party member, intercepting the next melee or ranged attack made against them. |
| | Shattering Throw | 71 | Battle | Throws your weapon at the enemy causing X damage (based on attack power), reducing the armor on the target by 20% for 10 sec or removing any invulnerabilities. |
| | Enraged Regeneration | 75 | All | Heals the warrior for 30% hp over 10 seconds. Consumes enrage effects and prevents them from affecting the warrior during ER. |
| | Heroic Throw | 80 | All | Throw your melee weapon at a target. |
Talent Granted Abilities
Arms
| Icon | Ability | Reqs | Stances | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Sweeping Strikes | Arms 20 | Battle Berserker | Your next 10 melee attacks strike an additional nearby opponent within 10 sec. |
| | Mortal Strike | Sweeping Strikes 1 Arms 30 | All | A vicious strike that deals weapon damage plus X and wounds the target, reducing the effectiveness of any healing by 50% for 10 sec. |
| | Bladestorm | Arms 50 | All | Instantly whirlwind all nearby targets and for the next 6 sec you will perform one whirlwind attack every 1 sec. While under the effects of Bladestorm, you can move but cannot perform any other abilities but you do not feel pity or remorse or fear and you cannot be stopped unless you are killed. |
Fury
| Icon | Ability | Reqs | Stances | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Piercing Howl | Fury 10 | All | Causes all enemies near the warrior to be dazed for 6 sec. |
| | Death Wish | Fury 20 | All | When activated, increases your physical damage by 20% and makes you immune to Fear effects, but increases all damage taken by 5%. Lasts 30 sec. |
| | Bloodthirst | Death Wish 1 Fury 30 | All | Instantly attack the target causing damage equal to 45% of your attack power. In addition, the next 5 successful melee attacks will restore X health. This effect lasts 8 seconds. |
| | Heroic Fury | Fury 40 | All | Removes any Immobilization effects and refreshes the cooldown of your Intercept ability. |
| | Rampage | Bloodthirst 1 Fury 40 | All | Warrior goes on a rampage, increasing attack power by X and causing most successful melee attacks to increase attack power by X. Lasts 30 seconds. This ability can only be used after scoring a critical hit. |
| | Titan's Grip | Fury 50 | All | Allows you to equip two-handed axes, maces and swords in one hand. While you have a two-handed weapon equipped in one hand, your physical damage done is reduced by 10%. |
Protection
| Icon | Ability | Reqs | Stances | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Last Stand | Protection 10 | All | When activated, this ability temporarily grants you 30% of your maximum hit points for 20 seconds. After the effect expires, the hit points are lost. |
| | Concussion Blow | Protection 20 | All | Stuns the opponent for 5 sec. |
| | Vigilance | Conc. Blow 1 Protection 30 | All | Focuses your protective gaze on a group or raid target, reducing their damage taken by 3% and transferring 10% of the threat they cause to you. In addition, each time they are hit by an attack, the cooldown on your Taunt ability is refreshed. Lasts 30 min. This effect can only be on one target at a time. |
| | Devastate | Protection 40 | All | Sunder the target's armor causing the Sunder Armor effect. In addition, causes 100% of weapon damage plus X for each application of Sunder Armor on the target. The Sunder Armor effect can stack up to 5 times. |
| | Shockwave | Protection 50 | All | Sends out a wave of force, dealing damage and stunning all enemies in a frontal cone for 4 seconds. |
Abilities by type
Aggro management
Aggro control is a key part of being a Warrior, and abilities to aid this come in two types:
Threat
Many Warrior abilities, in addition to their stated purpose, cause various amounts of threat, an underlying in-game statistic which is used by enemies to determine which party member they will attack.
In group work, the tanking Warrior is different in that they actually want to cause as much threat as possible. Warriors engaged in high damage output, on the other hand, want to avoid causing too much threat.
High Threat: Sunder Armor, Heroic Strike, Shield Slam, Devastate, Revenge, Thunder Clap
Low Threat: Slam, Rend, Hamstring, et al.
Good threat management is tricky, but essential for instance work as a Warrior. Without managing threat, one can pull the mob off the tank if you are DPSing, or lose aggro on the mob if tanking.
Taunt
In addition to threat specials, the Warrior has several temporary instant aggro abilities:
Taunt, Mocking Blow force a target to attack you for a time. Challenging Shout has the same effect on all enemies in range.
It is important to note that Mocking Blow and Challenging Shout cause little threat themselves, and the enemy will return to its original target when they expire, unless new threat is generated using other abilities. Taunt works differently by generating just enough threat to place the Warrior at the top of the enemy's hate list, making it much easier to prevent the enemy from switching back to its original target so long as additional threat generating abilities are used.
Note that currently none of the Taunt type abilities work in PvP, and Blizzard has stated that these abilities will not work, despite Distract working just fine. However, taunting does work on aggressive pets.
In addition, Intimidating Shout fears everything in its radius that isn't the target. This can be quite dangerous, but can also buy time for a hasty escape. The target will cower in fear, immobilized for the duration of the shout, but will be freed upon taking any damage. That is, if you intend to use the ability to escape combat, you should remember to stop attacking the moment before you activate it to prevent disrupting the effect.
See Tanking
Counterattacks
Warriors gain access to certain counterattacks, namely Overpower and Revenge. This requires you to be quick to react.
Damage over Time
Warriors have access to a nice DoT ability, Rend. This DoT should, as all DoTs, be applied in combats where the DoT will have time to work.
Buffs
Warriors have two long duration buffs, although they last only two minutes (three if correctly talented). Battle Shout increases attack power and Commanding Shout increases maximum health, and both of these apply to everyone in the warrior's group inside 20 yards. These buffs require rage, and since warriors don't generate rage out of combat, they cannot prepare it before fights (except if he uses Bloodrage). Altrough they have a limited amount of long term buffs compared to priests and druids, they can also gain very strong short timed buffs such as Flurry, which increases attack speed by 25% score each time the warrior scores a critical strike (fury talent) or Enrage, which increases all damage done by the warrior by 25%, activates when the warrior receives a critical strike (fury talent). All those small buffs lasts under 15 seconds, but makes the warrior a very powerful character in combat.
Debuffs
Warriors have access to quite a few debuffs, everything from enemy attack-speed reduction (Thunder Clap), attack power reduction (Demoralizing Shout, Disarm) and movement speed reduction (Hamstring) to spell interruption (Shield Bash, Pummel) and armor reduction (Sunder Armor).
In addition, Charge and Intercept could also be considered debuffs, since they stun the enemy.
Direct Damage
Warriors deal direct damage with Cleave, Execute, Heroic Strike, Intercept, Shield Slam and Slam.
Protection
Warriors can protect themselves or others with Shield Wall, Shield Block, Last Stand, Concussion Blow, and Intervene.
Shouts
Shouts generally buff or debuff multiple targets. Because of this, shouts should be used frequently but judiciously.
Timing
Certain Warrior abilities require the player to use them within a given window of opportunity. This means that extra attention needs to be paid to the hotbar, and the enemy's actions. These fall into two types:
Reactions
These hotkeys will light up when a certain condition has been met. The Warrior then has a second or two to use the ability, or it will go dark and the moment has been lost. It is worth using them whenever possible, as they either do a lot of damage, or use much less Rage than a normal attack.
Overpower - After a target Dodges.
Revenge - After a self Dodge, Block or Parry.
Execute - When target's remaining health is below 20%.
(The Revenge condition can be forced by using Shield Block beforehand. This will almost guarantee a self Block on the next enemy attack, and light up Revenge.)
Interrupts
These hotkeys are available whenever the Warrior has sufficient Rage, but are best kept for certain situations, as they will interrupt the enemy's spells. This takes some practice to get right, but can massively reduce the effort it takes to kill the enemy, either by preventing incoming damage, or stopping them healing themselves or allies.
Shield Bash - Use when enemy caster begins casting.
Pummel - As Shield Bash.
The casting charge-up noise and glowing hands effect used to be difficult to describe, but now there is an interface option to show an enemies casting bar, and the ability to silence or interrupt right before channeling completes.
Reflection
Spell Reflection - Used to reflect an enemy spell back on themselves. As for interrupts this is best kept for certain situations - eg when a high damage or Crowd Control spell is being cast on you.
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