This article contains a complete list and analysis of all Warrior abilities.
Heroic Strike
- All Stances - 15 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: A strong attack that increases melee damage by 208 and causes a high amount of threat. Causes additional damage against Dazed targets.
- Talent References: Improved Heroic Strike, Focused Rage
Description: One of your first attacks, and one of the most versatile ones. It turns your next autoattack into a special (or yellow damage) attack that deals additional damage, as well as causing additional threat. Because it is a special attack, however, you will gain zero rage from that attack - and because it's an on-hit ability, it effectively consumes whatever Rage you would have generated on that attack normally. This leaves Heroic Strike with a deceptively low listed Rage cost compared to the actual amount of Rage you spend.
Heroic Strike has two distinct uses, depending upon if you're using a two-hand weapon, dual wielding or a sword and board. If you're using a two-hand weapon, this ability is usually fairly useless. It costs a great deal of Rage as it absorbs your next attack, and that Rage is almost always better spent on other attacks. Typically you'll only use this with a two-handed weapon in true unlimited Rage situations (such as being focus-fired in PvP) or before you have access to any other real attacks.
Heroic Strike becomes considerably stronger when dual wielding, largely as a result of the same issue that makes it mediocre with a two-hander; it turns your attack into a special (yellow) attack. As a result, this swing ignores the dual wield penalty and uses the much more favorable 5% base chance to miss for special attacks. Additionally, special attacks cannot glance, which gives this ability an even greater damage bonus. For more details, see hit table.
Finally, when using a sword-and-board it's an effective threat generation ability that does not trigger the global cooldown. This allows you to increase your threat output in situations where you are able to keep your normal threat rotation on cooldown regardless.
Cleave
- All Stances - 20 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: A sweeping attack that does your weapon damage plus 70 to the target and his nearest ally.
- Talent References: Improved Cleave, Focused Rage
Description: Much like Heroic Strike, Cleave is an on-next-hit ability that will increase the damage dealt. It costs more Rage than Heroic Strike (although not to the same degree as Heroic Strike will) and adds less damage with the same caveats. So why use it? Because it will also make your next attack hit another target that is close to you. When you're in an AoE situation this is really,
really useful since you're doing slightly more than doubling your normal attack damage, and it includes the same
hit table functionality that can make Heroic Strike so nice. Additionally, Cleave does cause some additional threat despite what the tooltip says, making it very useful for tanking multiple mobs. A very handy ability that should be used whenever the situation permits.
Battle Shout
- All Stances - 10 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: The warrior shouts, increasing the melee attack power of all party members within 20 yards by 305. Lasts 2 minutes.
- Talent References: Booming Voice, Improved Battle Shout
Description: Battle Shout is one of the Warrior's main buffs, and it is the single greatest increase to melee DPS
[1] in the game. It gives your entire group massive amounts of melee attack power (with full talents, 381 AP - or increasing melee DPS by 27.2) for a paltry rage cost. It should be up ALL the time until you get Commanding Shout, and even then in most situations you're often better off keeping Battle Shout active. A truly amazing ability.
Commanding Shout
- All Stances - 10 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Increases total health of all party members within 20 yards by 730. Lasts 2 minutes.
- Talent References: Booming Voice
Description: Commanding Shout is a very handy ability that is somewhat hampered by the fact that you cannot use both it and Battle Shout at the same time unless there are two Warriors, one providing each. It's worth noting that from an item-level standpoint, the benefit it provides isn't as strong as Battle Shout's - it provides the equivalent of 73
Stamina to the group, whereas Battle Shout provides the equivalent of 152.5
Strength.
Most useful in groups where some or all of your party members will not benefit from Battle Shout's attack power boost, or in tanking situations where the increased survivability outweighs the increased threat/damage from Battle Shout.
Thunderclap
- Battle and Defensive Stance - 20 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Blasts nearby enemies with thunder slowing their attack speed by 10% for 30 seconds and doing 123 damage to them. Will affect up to 4 targets.
- Talent References: Improved Thunderclap, Focused Rage
Description: Thunderclap is one of the best Warrior abilities. At its base rank it deals some fairly middling damage to up to four targets within 8 yards and slows their attack speed by 10%. However, when combined with the Improved Thunderclap talent it becomes extremely strong - dealing moderately impressive damage and slowing all of the targets it hits by 20%, which significantly reduces the damage you'll be taking from the mobs. It's worth using in grinding even on solo mobs, but once you start getting more than one it's almost always worth keeping up.
More to the point, in groups this ability (along with Cleave) is one of your primary sources of multiple-mob aggro in addition to the mitigation effects. See threat values.
Bloodrage
- All Stances - Generates 10 Rage, then 10 Rage over 10 Seconds
- Max Rank Tooltip: Generates 10 rage at the cost of health, and then generates an additional 10 rage over 10 seconds.
- Talent References: Improved Bloodrage
Description: One of the few ways that a Warrior can generate Rage on demand (the others being Charge, Potions or Improved Berserker Rage), this ability is especially handy while tanking where you may often be starved for rage and/or unable to Charge. Additionally useful because Rage gains cause a substantial amount of
AE threat, which lets you use this ability on a pull to ensure all mobs come to you as well as giving you the ability to lead off with an attack when they do.
Intimidating Shout
- All Stances - 25 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: The warrior shouts, causing the targeted enemy to cower in fear. Up to 5 total nearby enemies will flee in fear. Lasts 8 seconds.
- Talent References: None
Description: A very,
very useful ability that most people don't know how to use properly. The spell actually has two effects; the first will fear up to 4 targets within 8 yards of you. The second effect gives any single target within 10 yards of you the "Intimidating Shout effect", which acts as an
Incapacitate in the same vein as Gouge. The target will stand there, unable to move or use any abilities, until they take damage of some kind (and yes, Rend/Deep Wounds will break the effect). So, what's so useful about this?
Intimidating Shout has a 10 yard range. It's a ranged gouge. Mage Frost Nova'd you then backed out of range? Intimidating Shout him and you can stroll over and smack him in the face once Frost Nova wears off. Hunter annoying you? Intimidating Shout his PET, then follow the Hunter around while the pet stands there looking like an idiot and you beat the crap out of his master (this also works with Warlocks or Mages with Frost Elementals!) Rogue trying to Rupture kite you? Zing, Intimidating Shout, ker-pow! [2] Moreover, because it's a Gouge effect even against one target (assuming there's no bleed effects) it can buy you some precious time... namely, enough time to use a full bandage (or close to a full bandage), which will help immensely when trying to kill difficult monsters or other players.
Berserker Rage
- Berserker Stance - Free
- Max Rank Tooltip: The warrior enters a Berserker Rage, becoming immune to Fear and Incapacitate effects and generating extra rage when taking damage. Lasts 10 sec.
- Talent References: Improved Berserker Rage
Description: A fantastic tool for PvE and PvP. Berserker Rage will make you immune (or remove any current)
Fear,
Incapacitate or
Disorient effects from you. Additionally, you generate more Rage from incoming damage while under the effects of Berserker Rage, giving you considerably more Rage (and therefore, options) to work with. This ability, more than anything else, is why as a Warrior you will be in Berserker stance 90% of the time in PvP - so as to have access to your fear break when needed. Moreover, it's useful in PvE so as to break or prevent fears against
bosses that use that ability as well as to provide huge amounts of Rage when in an AoE situation.
Shield Bash
- Battle and Defensive Stance - 5 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Bashes the target with your shield for 63 damage. It also dazes the target and interrupts spellcasting, preventing any spell in that school from being cast for 6 seconds.
- Talent References: Focused Rage, Improved Shield Bash
Description: Shield Bash is your only available interrupt until you receive Pummel, and thus very useful against casters. Unfortunately, the requirement for the shields makes it rather tricky to use when not tanking (read: PvP or solo grinding). It provides a long interrupt against a single spell school, although the longer cooldown than Pummel balances this out somewhat. It's worth noting that the cooldowns for this and Pummel are linked, and using either triggers the same cooldown (10s if Pummel is used, 12 if Shield Blash) on both. Past level 60, Shield Bash will trigger a Daze effect on the target - increasing the damage done from some abilities (only Heroic Strike for Warriors) as well as providing a 50% snare. See ''
Warrior Macros (WoW)#Interrupt Pro for a good way to combine this and Pummel into a single, smart button.
Pummel
- Berserker Stance - 10 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Pummel the target for 50 damage. It also interrupts spellcasting and prevents any spell in that school from being cast for 4 sec.
- Talent References: Focused Rage
Description: Pummel will be your primary interrupt from the moment you get it. It doesn't require a shield, and thus is much more likely to be available for use in most situations. It has a shorter cooldown (and a shorter spell-school stoppage) than Shield Bash, and is far easier to use. And... well, it's an interrupt - nothing more or less complicated than that. See ''
Warrior Macros (WoW)#Interrupt Pro for a good way to combine this and Shield Bash into a single, smart button.
Charge
- Battle Stance - Generates 15 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Charge an enemy, generate 15 rage, and stun it for 1 seconds. Cannot be used in combat.
- Talent References: Improved Charge (Arms)
Description: One of your best abilities, Charge will stun your current target for one second which in practice means they stop moving just long enough for you to reach them and use the game's admittedly often buggy
pathing system to put you next to your target. Moreover, it will instantly get you started with fifteen rage to begin the fight with. The only downside to the ability is that you have to be out of combat in order to use it - which is less of a hinderance in PvE than it is in PvP, where you can be put into combat from well outside the range of your charge ability. Still, it's one of the cornerstones of a Warrior's grinding ability, letting you continuously fight monsters without having to run between them or start without Rage.
Intercept
- Berserker Stance - 10 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Charge an enemy, causing 105 damage and stunning it for 3 seconds.
- Talent References: Improved Intercept, Focused Rage
Description: One of the Warrior's most useful abilities in PvP - it will bring you to your target, stun it for three seconds and deal some piddling damage. This stun is rather useful, as your target cannot dodge or parry while stunned, letting you open with some strong damage. This is also very useful for tough solo mobs (hamstring, back up, Intercept) and group play (intercept a mob heading for the healer or the overnuking mage), and the utility in PvP is absolutely enormous. Shutting down anyone trying to kite you
and stunning them is very, very strong.
Rend
- Battle and Defensive Stance - 10 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Wounds the target causing them to bleed for 182 damage plus an additional (.052 * Weapon Damage) over 21 seconds.
- Talent References: Improved Rend, Focused Rage, Blood Frenzy
Description: Rend is rather useful in your lower levels, but its value becomes progressively worse and worse the higher in level you go. In the lower levels it will provide some significant damage relative to the rage cost - once you get past around level 40 or so, though, the damage starts to become so pitiful it's not worth using. It does now scale - slightly - with your weapon damage, but as you can see from the formula the degree of scaling is absolutely terrible. It does still have its uses, however - in PvP it will prevent Rogues or Cat Druids from restealthing, as well as classes with effective crowd control (Hunters, Warlocks and Mages) from using some form of CC on you and then bandaging themselves because the DoT tick will interrupt it. If you have the Blood Frenzy talent and cannot seem to get a crit off, it will trigger that 4% bonus to all physical damage that you can otherwise get with Deep Wounds.
Hamstring
- Battle and Berserker Stance - 10 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Maims the enemy, causing 63 damage and slowing the enemy's movement to 50% of normal speed for 15 seconds.
- Talent References: Focused Rage, Improved Hamstring
Description: One of the Warrior's most useful abilities in PvP, as well as being rather handy in PvE. It is, rather simply... a snare. It deals some small damage and snares your target, which makes it almost always the first ability you should use in PvP. It also has uses in solo or group PvE to slow down targets that run at low health (although Execute is typically your most effective weapon there) as well as to allow you to kite harder targets - Hamstring, run away and Intercept back in to get a free stun in on the target, or to bandage yourself.
Hamstring also has use in high-end DPS because it can proc extra attacks (through Sword Specialization) as well as trigger trinkets, which makes it rather handy in situations where you have quite a large amount of rage but your other abilities are on cooldown.
Execute
- Battle and Berserker Stance - 15 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Attempt to finish off a wounded foe, causing 925 damage and converting each extra point of rage into 21.0 additional damage. Only usable on enemies that have less than 20% health.
- Talent References: Focused Rage, Improved Execute
Description: Execute is one of the most iconic Warrior abilities. Execute can be used on any target at 19% or lower health ('weakened' opponent) and will turn all of your rage into pure damage. Execute can and does hit very, very hard, and will in most cases (if you have a little rage saved up) end a fight immediately in solo PvE or PvP. It's also very good against bosses with huge amounts of HP, since it does massive amounts of damage for very little rage cost and you can 'Execute spam' until it dies, giving you quite a bit of DPS.
Note, though, that your best bet for Execute is to use lots and lots of 'small executes' rather than a few big executes, as the bonus rage->damage conversion is rather weak. A 15 Rage Execute will hit for 925 but doubling that to 30 Rage will only make Execute hit for 1,240. If you're going to use Execute against a boss, hit it as often as possible. Against weaker targets, you'll probably just want to ensure you have enough rage to end the fight once they get low enough, rather than worrying about the spamability of Execute.
Overpower
- Battle Stance - 5 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Instantly overpower the enemy, causing weapon damage plus 35. Only useable after the target dodges. The Overpower cannot be blocked, dodged or parried.
- Talent References: Improved Overpower, Focused Rage
Description: One of the Warrior's most feared tools in PvP, and an absolutely superb grinding tool. Assuming that your hit rating is high enough to negate the standard miss chance (i.e. 5% versus an equal level opponent) it's guaranteed damage - more importantly, with Improved Overpower it's guaranteed-and-very-likely-to-crit damage. This will be your primary tool against Rogues (and, to a lesser extent, Hunters and Feral Druids) because it can punch through their evasion and deal some serious damage. It's also incredibly useful when grinding, since it seems to light up nearly all the time (a factor of fighting higher level mobs for quests is their higher dodge rates). A fantastic damage tool that is largely unused in raids or high-end PvE because you can either reduce the enemy's dodge chance or are never in Battle Stance.
Slam
- All Stances - 15 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Slams the opponent, causing weapon damage plus 140.
- Talent References: Focused Rage, Improved Slam
Description: A rather interesting ability, Slam. It, unlike nearly every other Warrior ability, has a casting bar. And, more than that, it even resets your swing timer when used, which is rather unfortunate. It provides good damage, but because it DOES reset your swing timer you have to be careful in your use of it. Effective use of Slam requires you to use it immediately after a normal autoattack swing, with use of a
swing timer mod being highly reccomended. Proper Slam play requires attention to detail and watching yet another bar in combat, which may not appeal to many, but when used properly Slam provides astounding DPS possibilities for a two-hand Warrior. When directly after an autoattack, it also provides the highest damage per rage conversion rate of any non-AoE Warrior ability. For more information, see
Warrior rotation.
Whirlwind
- Berserker Stance - 25 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: In a whirlwind of steel you attack up to 4 enemies within 8 yards, causing weapon damage from both melee weapons to each enemy.
- Talent References: Focused Rage, Improved Whirlwind
Description: A very handy Warrior ability, to be sure. Whirlwind is fairly effective against a single target, causing weapon damage - but the best use is against multiple targets, where the Whirlwind damage starts to really pick up. It provides mass amounts of DPS, is one of the few weapon-damage abilities available outside of talents, and... well, it hits hard and it doesn't require all that much Rage to use. Use it often. It's even stronger when dual-wielding than with a two-hander because it now hits with both of your melee weapons, dealing a rather impressive amount of damage.
Victory Rush
- Battle or Berserker Stance - Free
- Max Rank Tooltip: Instantly attack the target causing (AP * .45) damage. Can only be used within 15 sec after you kill an enemy that yields experience or honor. Damage is based on your attack power.
- Talent References: None
Description: Victory Rush is one of the better TBC abilities, and it becomes 'light up' (active) whenever you get the killing blow on a mob or player that is green or higher to you. A simple grinding ability, although it can be hard to use depending upon how far you have to travel between mobs. It hits fairly hard (tooltip regardless - the actual damage is 45% of your Attack Power) although not excessively so... but best of all is that it's free. Use it whenever you can for the free damage, but don't worry about it excessively - if you have to bandage after a pull, doing so is likely to end better than trying to hit that mob and get that Victory Rush in.
Taunt
- Defensive Stance - Free
- Max Rank Tooltip: Taunts the target to attack you, but has no effect if the target is already attacking you.
- Talent References: Improved Taunt
Description: Taunt is one of the most useful Warrior tanking abilities. It will instantly give you 'snap aggro' on your current target and KEEP it stuck on you for several sections. Moreover, as of 1.11 you no longer need to overcome the 'threat gap' in order for the mob to remain stuck on you - see the vastly expanded section in the Guide To Tanking on the uses and math behind this ability. Suffice it to say that, as the tooltip says, it's utility when use a mob already attacking you is limited - but it will simply grab your target and stick it on you if he's not already smacking you. For more details on how Taunts work, see
taunts.
Mocking Blow
- Battle Stance - 5 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: A mocking attack that causes 114 damage, a moderate amount of threat and forces the target to focus attacks on you for 6 seconds.
- Talent References: Focused Rage
Description: Much like Taunt, this ability will force your current target to 'stick' onto you for the duration of the effect. Unlike Taunt, however, Mocking Blow does not 'set' your threat to a higher level - once the debuff wears off, the mob is likely to go back to its original target unless you've managed to outpace their threat by that point through other means. A handy ability to use when a pull goes wrong and multiple mobs go running off towards your healer - Taunt one, Mocking blow another, Sunder the third and you'll get them stuck onto you, at least temporarily, and give you time to generate threat and prevent them from returning to their original target. Also useful against mobs with
Non-standard hate structures|resetting hate lists because for the duration they are forced to attack you unless they're immune to the effect.
Challenging Shout
- All Stances - 5 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Forces all nearby enemies to focus attacks on you for 6 sec.
- Talent References: None
Description: Essentially an area of effect Mocking Blow with a longer cooldown. Very useful on large pulls where you'll want someone to AoE (and, preferably, not die an immediate, horrible death) to keep the mobs off them. However, as with Mocking Blow it provides no real additional threat - once the debuff wears off, the mobs are likely to go look for other, squishier targets unless you've found another way to generate the threat needed to keep them on you.
Sunder Armor
- All Stances - 15 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Sunders the target's armor, reducing it by 520 per Sunder Armor and causes a high amount of threat. Can be applied up to 5 times. Lasts 30 seconds.
- Talent References: Improved Sunder Armor, Focused Rage, Devastate
Description: A Warrior's primary threat-building ability, as well as one that is useful for the simple fact that it reduces the target's armor (and, therefore, increases all physical damage against that target). It will stack up to five times, and (contrary to 'common knowledge') will provide the threat bonus every time it's applied, even if Sunder is fully stacked against that target. Not, in most situations, useful in solo play but something you will be using almost all the time when grouped. A useful trick with Sunder Armor is using it on a CC'd mob without targetting the mob, which will let you build aggro on it without breaking the crowd control; for a macro that will accomplish this for you, see
Warrior Macros.
Revenge
- Defensive Stance - 5 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Instantly counterattack an enemy for 414 to 506 damage and a high amount of threat. Revenge must follow a block, dodge or parry.
- Talent References: Focused Rage, Improved Revenge
Description: One of your most useful tanking abilities - it can only be triggered after evading an incoming attack, but especially with Shield Block it should almost always be up assuming you're getting hit by a mob. Revenge causes a VERY high amount of threat for very little Rage cost, and should be used... often. Very, very often. Improved Revenge is a rather nifty ability, as it allows almost a "Warrior stunlock" to take place if it procs, although it's nearly useless in most raid situations as the important targets are likely to all be immune. Still. Revenge rocks.
Shield Block
- Defensive Stance - 10 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Increase chance to block by 75% for 5 sec, but will only block 1 attack.
- Talent References: Improved Shield Block
Description: A simply incredible ability. It will boost your block % to the point where, assuming you're not wearing terrible tanking greens, you should have every incoming attack either parried, dodged or blocked. This has some very important implications because, at least in PvE, a blocked attack cannot crushing or crit. This is hugely significant in terms of mitigation, as it's one of the only ways to mitigate crushing blows from higher level mobs and will greatly reduce the chance of a critical strike. Improved Shield Block bumps this to two blocks per cycle - and since a 'cycle' is only five seconds, this means it should be up nearly all the time. Moreover, Shield Block does not trigger the global cooldown and can be used independently of it, allowing you to use it every five seconds without fail while still generating threat. For a discussion of why Shield Block is important when tanking, see
Threat.
Demoralizing Shout
- All Stances - 10 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Reduces the attack power of all enemies within 10 yards by 300 for 30 seconds.
- Talent References: Booming Voice, Improved Demoralizing Shout
- Descrpition: Demoralizing Shout is one of the basic Warrior tanking/soloing tools; reducing the attack power of your nearby targets will reduce the damage they deal to you or others, making this typically worthwhile in both soloing (your mileage may vary) and always worth keeping up while tanking.
Disarm
- Defensive Stance - 20 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Disarm the enemy's weapon for 10 sec.
- Talent References: Focused Rage, Improved Disarm
Description: A nifty ability, since most disarmed mobs (and especially players) deal rather horrible melee damage when Disarmed, assuming the mob actually has a weapon and is not immune. Worthwhile to attempt on pretty much anything that's not a spellcaster to cut your incoming melee damage. Just a forewarning - Improved Disarm is as close to a worthless talent as you can get, since the benefit is so minimal compared to the required talent point investment. One of the Warrior's most forgotten abilities in PvP, even though it shouldn't be, since very few players (save Arms Warriors) are likely to have Disarm Immunity, especially while leveling. Use it well, and you'll beat the crap out of your opponents.
Spell Reflection
- Battle or Defensive Stance - 25 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Raise your shield, reflecting the next spell cast on you. Lasts 5 seconds.
- Talent References: None
Description: One of the more interesting abilities that came with TBC, Spell Reflect can be either an amazing tool or a liability depending upon how it's used. Proper use requires good attention to detail and a solid understanding of just _how_ the ability works. But guess what I'm going to give you!
The upside is that it does exactly what it says. With a shield equipped, it will reflect the next spell cast on you. Except… it goes deeper than that. There are three important factors that relate to the use of Spell Reflect and why it does more than it appears, and I'll go into all of them.
First, it reflects the next spell cast upon you… but, much like grounding totem, if multiple spells are mid-flight at the same time it will reflect all of them. A short word on grounding totem; the little-understood Shaman totem has been the bane of Mages and Warlocks for some time. They've discovered that if they finish a spell with a flight time (Fireball, Frostbolt, Shadowbolt, Lightning Bolt, Boltbolt – just kidding on the last one) and then cast other spells _before the first spell physically arrives_, the totem will continue to absorb them. The same principle applies to Spell Reflect. If the first spell that is cast upon you has no travel time (for example, Moonfire or very nearly any debuffing spell) then it will instantly be bounced back to its point of origin and the buff will expire.
However, if the first spell does have a travel time, then things get interesting. If a Mage nails you with a Fireball and then launches off a Fireblast before the Fireball lands, both will be reflected back to him. If he throws off a Pyroblast, then Presence of Mind's up another Pyroblast before the first lands both will be reflected. If a Mage hits you with a Frostbolt and before it lands a Druid launches off a Moonfire, both will be reflected.
If a Mage launches a Fireball at you and before it lands 80 Warlocks cast Death Coil on you… well, those 80 Warlocks are in for a surprise, and you're in for some QQing on your server forum.
Secondly, Spell Reflect is not on the Global Cooldown. Much like Shield Block, it can be activated at any time, no matter if you've just used an ability or not. More importantly, it can be activated _during the weapon switching global cooldown_... which is to say, you can put a shield on and then instantly reflect a spell. For a very, very useful macro to do so, see warrior macros.
Third, and many people don't realize this, is that you can Spell Reflect from Battle Stance. Yes, indeed; Battle Stance. This makes it much, much more potent as a potential offensive reflect, as you still retain all the useful abilities of Battle Stance (Overpower, Hamstring, Execute, no damage reduction) while being able to reflect potentially deadly spells back at their origin points. This is especially handy against Elemental Shaman and Moonkin opponents, as those matches are often pure slugging matches where you have to power through their high armor and damage to drop them before they drop you. Nothing like bouncing back one of those Lightning Bolts or Starfires to turn the tide in your favor.
A quick caveat about PvE: Spell Reflect is oddly selective. For example, it won't reflect many, many mob abilities… but sometimes it will, for ones you wouldn't always expect. Most spells that aren't player equivalents aren't reflectable, but sometimes mob AoE volleys are (especially common in Black Morass). Quagmirran from Slave Pens (and Serpentshrine Bog Lords) can have his channeled Acid Spray reflected by a Warrior, which is extremely potent. Some Sentinels in Tempest Keep can have an Overcharge ability reflected, which helpfully hits them back for 17,000 damage (!), and some Nagas in Serpentshrine can have their Sunder Armor ability bounced back at them for a huge damage increase for your raid. Attumen the Huntsman's Curse which increases your chance to miss can be reflected, which is very useful (nothing like a boss who can't hit you at all for 12-15s). It's curious, to say the least.
Intervene
- Defensive Stance - 10 Rage
- Max Rank Tooltip: Run at high speed towards a party member, intercepting the next melee or ranged attack made against them.
- Talent References: None
Description: Intervene is an interesting new ability, although rather hard to use in its default form. When cast upon a friendly target, you will run to their location and take the damage of the next physical attack instead of the person you Intervened. The problem, of course, is that it requires you to click on the FRIENDLY target... but this is easily solvable through the use of the Macro system (see Warrior Macros for the ones I've written). It also lacks some effects that you can achieve through Intercept - namely that Intercept actually stuns the mob, which is considerably better than just absorbing the next melee attack. On the other hand, Intervene works considerably better on some finicky mobs that are Stun immune by making SURE you get to the mob and in location to taunt the mob who is moving towards your healer. Moreover, you can use them all in conjunction with each other - giving you two Intercepts that are useable from within combat, limited as one of them might be.
Retaliation
- Battle Stance - Free
- Max Rank Tooltip: Instantly counterattack any enemy that strikes you in melee for 15 sec. Melee attacks made from behind cannot be counterattacked. A maximum of 30 attacks will cause Retaliation.
- Talent References: Improved Discipline
Description: Retaliation is the first 30-minute cooldown ability you'll receive, and it causes you to automatically counterattack (read as; weapon swing) any frontal attacks. However, it should be noted that it does NOT work on any attacks that come from behind you or if you're otherwise incapacitated (stuns). It's an interesting ability, and it has some nice utility in AoE situations (Challenging Shout + Retaliation = Big numbers!). It largely gets replaced by Recklessness in terms of damage output, though, once you've acquired that ability... and this ability is not even really useful in PvP due to the addition of the huge, incredibly noticeable "don't hit me!" circle of daggers that shows up when you use the ability.
Shield Wall
- Defensive Stance - Free
- Max Rank Tooltip: Reduces the damage taken from melee attacks, ranged attacks and spells by 75% for 10 sec.
- Talent References: Improved Discipline, Improved Shield Wall
Description: Shield Wall is one of the best Warrior abilities, and it's fairly obvious why once you look at the ability. Shield Wall is a tremendous tanking asset, causing you to take extremely limited amounts of damage and giving your healers a break/letting you live through massive amounts of burst damage. It's handy as hell in PvP as well if you're attempting to defend one area (such as an Arathi Basin flag) by letting you live through pretty much anything that's sent your way, even when massively outnumbered, for the duration of the ability.
Recklessness
- Berserker Stance - Free
- Max Rank Tooltip: 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%.
- Talent References: Improved Discipline
Description: Recklessness is crazy. It will leave you with a nearly (or actual) 100% Critical Strike rate, making you immune to Fear effects for the duration, albeit also increasing your incoming damage by 20%. A very handy move, as it allows you to take on Elite mobs that may otherwise be FAR too difficult for you to kill alone through the application of massive burst damage, as well as letting you obliterate opponents in PvP. The infamous Recklessness Execute bomb is a common feature of most raid PvE situations as well, letting you output massive amounts of damage to finish off a boss by spamming critical executes.
This page last modified 2008-06-13 10:30:08.
