Updated for 4.3

Single Target DPS
AoE DPS

Note: Some aspects of this guide may not apply to your Warrior until you reach higher level. If you need to get your character to max level quickly, take a look at this leveling guide, now.

Glyphs come in three varieties, Prime, Major and Minor. Prime glyphs enhance core aspects of your class and generally provide the greatest benefit of the three types.

Major Glyphs, while not quite as powerful as Prime Glyphs, are still useful and continue to provide a myriad of benefits.

Minor Glyphs often times provide small quality of life improvements or visual changes, such as the Glyph of Shadow Form for priests which makes the character more visible through Shadow Form. However, a few are known to provide more significant benefits such as the warrior glyph of Berserker Rage.

Prime Glyphs:

Major Glyphs:

Minor Glyphs:

Here are your highest priority abilities.

You should begin an encounter by applying Rend and then using Colossus Smash. Unless someone else is applying sunder armor already, you should do so to three stacks and refresh it using Colossus Smash as normal.

Slam is used when Mortal Strike and Colossus Smash are on Cooldown and Overpower is unavailable.

Rend and Overpower are used in Battle Stance while Slam, Mortal Strike, Execute and Colossus Smash should all be used in Berserker Stance.

Execute should only be used after both Mortal Strike and Colossus Smash are on Cooldown, preferably in place of Slam in your rotation.

AoE Rotation

When dealing with two mobs, simply use your single target rotation with Sweeping Strikes. If you’re fighting three targets or more begin using Cleave instead of Heroic Strike, as well as using Rend followed by Thunder Clap if you have the Blood and Thunder talent as a way of spreading rend to all targets.

Bladestorm should be used as often as possible, and preferably in addition to other Cooldowns.

Rend and Thunder Clap are used in Battle Stance, Bladestorm and Cleave are used in Berserker.

Cooldowns

The most important aspect of managing your cooldowns as a damage dealer is making certain to use them whenever they’re avaliable. Don’t be afraid to use them during any fight, even against trash mobs, as the higher the uptime you have with them, the greater your overall damage will be so long as you aren’t using them when a fight is about to end.

The only time to hold off on using your cooldowns is when you’ll be unable to attack the boss due to fight mechanics, such as during Morchok’s Black Blood of the Earth ability or when Hagara is about to cast Water Shield and become immune to all damage.

Melee DPS will have to watch out for this more than ranged, as they are far more vulnerable to situations where an encounter requires constant movement or the boss is utilizing some form of AoE attack that makes fighting in melee range impossible.

Stat Priorities:

Strength > 8% Melee Hit > (26) Expertise > Critical > Mastery > Haste

• Strength: This is your main stat as it increases all your damage output. As long as you have your 8% hit and 26 Expertise you want to get as much strength as possible.
• Melee Hit: 8% melee hit is really the first and most important thing to get. This is enough hit to keep your special attacks from missing level 85 mobs. More misses = less DPS. So this is very important. Note: Hit rating beyond 8% has zero value.
• Expertise: The 26 Expertise will make monsters unable to dodge your attacks from behind. So you can just stand behind them and beat away.
• Crit: After you have your 8% Hit and 26 Expertise you will want to reforge everything else to get as much crit as possible.
• Mastery: Mastery will increase your chance to get an extra melee attack. Extra attacks are of course always a good thing.
• Haste: Reforge this into better stats
• Other Stats: Agility, Int, Spirit, Hit above 8%, and Expertise above 26 are of no use to you.

Reforging

When reforging gear, it’s important that you look to reforge from your least effective stat into the most effective for whatever gear goal you are currently aiming for. See our stat priority list for more information.

8% Hit > Expertise (26) > Critical

Reforging

• Haste into Hit (to8%) then Expertise (to 26) then crit.
• Mastery can also be reforged into better stats.

When you’re both Hit and Expertise capped you can optimize your gear by reforging the weakest stat on each piece into the strongest possible stat, preferably critical strike chance unless it’s already present.

Gems

If the socket bonus on your gear is Strength you should try to match the socket color if possible. If the socket bonus is something else you should just put in a red Strength gem.