The Warrior Leveling Guide: Shadowlands

Warrior leveling is easy: you charge, rend, fold, spindle, mutilate, crush, kill, and otherwise destroy the opposition. Warriors don’t run, dodge, heal much, or otherwise avoid any situation where they can charge in and smash things.

At higher levels you become a whirlwind of death and destruction, what’s not to like? PvP, raiding, you can do it all and you’ll be doing it with one or two 2-handed weapons. You’re not a healer or sneaky Rogue. Your job is to crash into the enemy and destroy them.

Warriors are one of my favorite classes to level and they provide the fun gaming style of non-stop death-dealing and fast leveling. Warrior leveling is pretty easy, but because they’re always face to face smashing Warriors do need to be geared well at all times, perhaps more than most classes. Auction House gear will serve you well. Keep your weapons updated and you will level quickly and leave your enemies strewn all over Azeroth. .

Arms, Fury, or Protection doesn’t matter much. You’ll still grind the enemy to dust under your heavily armored feet.

Warrior Leveling Contents:

This Page Quick Leveling Notes (The Short Guide) Race choice for Warriors Warrior Abilities Warrior Leveling Talents Arms Fury Warrior Stats Gearing and Heirlooms tips Professions Consumables The Fastest Warrior Leveling

Other Warrior Guides Warrior home page Warrior PvP Warrior PvP Gear Arms DPS guide Arms PvP Fury DPS guide Fury PvP Protection Tanking guide

Buffs and Nerfs: As the world of Azeroth moves through this expansion and the next, all of the various classes will suffer from the buffs and cheer at the nerfs… wait a minute… reverse that. The point is that if at any point Warriors are the Gods of SMASH! or doormats isn’t something we’ll comment on here. Why? Because it will likely change in a couple of days due to a hotfix.

Look for the same buff/nerf stuff in any given expansion and the patches and expansions that come after that.

Just as an example, here are all the Warlords of Draenor Warrior Changes and here are some of the changes for Legion.   Battle for Azeroth brought a few, as well.

And yes, Shadowlands too. The biggest change is plenty of shuffling of talents and abilities. You can see a complete list or the changes here. You will also get some new abilities as you join on or another Covenent.

But you don’t care, you’ll still be smashing heads.

Feel free to “like” or “share” this page. Add any comments at the bottom.

 

Warrior Leveling – Quick Notes

This section covers the Warrior basics, much more detail is available below this section.

Wanna get to 50 fast? Blow $60 at the in-game store.

Rage is your resource. Spend it to power your main attacks. Your auto attacks and some abilities will build it back up.

Race:

Pick the one you like. They all have something that will benefit a Warrior, either in PvE, PvP, or both.

• Which is “the best” for damage? Orc or Human
• For PvP? Human (three trinkets.) Orc if you have to be Horde.
• Tanking dungeons? Night Elf (for the dodge.)

Professions:

Skip the crafting professions. Get Mining and Herbalism as the both give nice XP.  If you have to craft, then get Blacksmithing, for the gear. Beware that it’s a bit expensive.

Builds:

Should you pick Fury or Arms for most leveling? If you PvP then go Arms, otherwise it’s a matter of taste.

• Go Fury: If you like the dual-wielding style of combat. Dual-wielding two handed weapons might be a big point in favor of Fury.
• Go Arms: If you like crushing the enemy with a two-handed weapon and/or PvP.
• Go Protection:  It’s fun tanking large groups of mobs while questing, but the killing them will be a little slow. Both Fury or Arms can handle small groups and will blow them away a lot faster. Prot does do very nicely questing at lower levels, once you get higher it will feel weak, though will still handle those groups. And you’ll be able to round up much larger groups than either Arms of Fury.
• Click here to get to the level cap, fast

Gear:

• Heirlooms if you can afford them. They will be consistently better than most gear you are likely to find.
• Stats: Lots of strength and Stam , regardless of spec. Higher item level on any item with Str. is that item’s most important feature. Worry about other stats when you hit max level.
• Plate specialization at 27 means you won’t want to wear any other form of armor past that point. Plate is it.
• Weapons:
  • Two handed weapons in both hands (if you’re Fury.)
  • One 2-hander if you’re Arms.
  • One-handed weapon and a Shield if you’re Protection.
• Go here for more about Gear & Stats

Gems and Enchants:

Gem slots are rather uncommon these days and you will level fast enough to make it not really worth your while. But if you need every last bit of mightiness…

• Just get cheap Strength (or Stam) gems to put in any sockets in any gear you come across while leveling.
• Enchants: Sometimes enchant scrolls can be found for cheap on the AH. Get those that add Str, Stam, or Attack power. Don’t worry about it if you don’t have the gold, you’ll level out of that gear soon enough.
• In the end-game (raids, dailies, PvP) you can use the high end gems and enchants.

Note that you can add the highest level pre-Shadowlands enchants to any level of weapon. So go ahead and grab the highest level enchant available and add it to your level 1 item. It will scale down appropriately. I suggest that you only do this for heirloom gear, something that you will keep for awhile.

Shadowlands enchants require a minimum level of 50 and your heirlooms top out at 50.

Food, Potions, Etc.

• Always carry the best food you can afford.
• Consider keeping a stack of healing potions on your action bar.
• Scrolls of Strength can usually be had for cheap.
• More

Really basic rotation:

• Charge > Rend > strike > strike > chop off head (Execute)
• Charge, Smash, Victory Rush next opponent, smash, next, Charge, Victory Rush…
• Click here to level even faster

Goto: Top — Race — Abilities — Talents — Arms — Fury — Stats — Gear — Tips — Profs — Zygor

 

 

 

Race Choice for Warriors

Since Cataclysm, all of the WoW races can be Warriors. Of course, only Humans, Night Elves, Undead, and Orcs can be real Warriors, but there you go. Yes, even MechaGnomes, Goblins, Pandarens, and Vulpera can be Warriors.

Most of the racial abilities will make very little difference while leveling, and not even that much in the end-game. If a Gnome or Goblin works for you, then go for it. If you want some extra burst then go Orc, if you want that escape ability for PvP then go Human. Want to just look gnarly? Undead or Worgen.

When you start your new character with one of the original races, you will be at level 1 and will have the choice of starting in your own racial zone or the new Exile’s Reach zone. If you are brand new to World of Warcraft then Exile’s is where you will start. Your second character will have the option of starting in their racial starting zone.

Exile’s is a starter zone for people brand new to the game, though it’s also fine for experienced types. It will teach you some of the “how to” about getting around and using your abilities. Allied races will skip both zones.

At level 10 you will be able to choose which area you want to level in. Just talk to Chromie in your capital city (Stormwind or Orgrimmar) or check the mission board (near the front gates to the city.)

The Allied Races start at level 10, and so skip the starting zones. Shadowlands brings a nice change to acquiring  the Allied Races: You no longer have to achieve “exalted” reputation with each race, just do certain campaign quests and earn an achievement. Then hit the appropriate embassy (in Stormwind or Orgrimmar) for the final tasks to acquire the race.

• • This is the achievement to earn Void Elf: You Are Now Prepared!
  • Lightforged Draenei: You Are Now Prepared!
  • Nightborne: Insurrection
  • Highmountain Tauren: Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
  • Dark Iron Dwarf: Ready for War
  • Mag’har Orc: Ready for War
  • Zandalari Troll: Zandalar Forever! and Tides of Vengeance
  • Kul Tiran: A Nation United and Tides of Vengeance
  • Mechagnome: The Mechagonian Threat
  • Vulpera: Secrets in the Sands

Best for PvP? Orcs and Humans.

Note that 1% damage reduction means that a hit that would normally do 1,000 damage to you now does 990. Ooooo….

Pandarian

Besides being Cute, Fuzzy, and Cuddly, the Pandarians get to choose whether they will join the Horde or the Alliance or be Neutral, once they leave the starting area.

• • With a quick strike of your Quaking Palm you can stun an opponent for 4 seconds. Useful for warriors.
  • Your Inner Peace gives you improved Rest XP makes for faster leveling.
  • Being Bouncy you take less falling damage, which can be useful. Cliff jumping maybe?
  • Pandarens get better buffs from food with the Epicurean ability
  • Naturally you’re good with cooking, via their cooking ability.

Alliance Warrior Racials

Human

• • Your Every Man for Himself ability removes all stun effects (no other effects are removed,) so is something like a PvP trinket. This effect shares a 90 sec cooldown with other similar effects.
  • The Human Spirit: You gain 2% more of all secondary stats (Haste, Critical Strike, Mastery, Versatility) from all sources.
  • And since you are skilled at Diplomacy you have a faster rep gain with everyone than does any other race.

Kul Tiran

• • Wind up, then unleash your mighty Haymaker upon your foe. Doesn’t hurt much, but does stun then for 3 sec and knocks them back substantially.   2.5 minute cooldown. Knock him back then Charge.
  • Brush It Off – Increases Versatility by 1%. When you take damage, heal for 2% of that amount over 4 sec.
  • Your Child of the Sea ability lets you swim a bit faster and hold your breath longer than anyone who is not Undead.
  • You are a Jack of All Trades  which increases all of your Tradeskills by 5. Unfortunately it does not give you free tradeskills, just a boost to the ones you actually learn
  • Many generations of seafaring experience have earned you the Rime of the Ancient Mariner ability, and so you take 1% less from Frost and Nature damage.

Night Elf

• • Shadowmeld: Activate to slip into the shadows, reducing the chance for enemies to detect your presence. Lasts until cancelled or upon moving. Any threat is restored versus enemies still in combat upon cancellation of this effect. Against certain spells, if you have really good timing, you can S’meld after it’s cast and then it will miss.
  • A bit more Dodge and movement speed (2% of each,) via your Quickness.
  • Wisp Form: Get back to your body faster.
  • Touch of Elune gives you a bit more Crit by day and Haste by night.

Draenei:

Winners of the interstellar bodybuilding contests. All of them.

• • You have the extra Strength, your best stat, from Heroic Presence, that one might think you’d have from the body-building work. This strength scales up as you level.
  • The Gift of the Naaru (a Heal Over Time for 20% of your health) acts as a secondary bandage every 3 minutes and, like a bandage, it can also heal an ally. Any Warrior heal is a good thing.
  • Your skill at Gemcutting gives you +10% to your Jewelcrafting skill.
  • Being a devout follower “of the light” you have Shadow Resistance , for 1% less Shadow Damage.

Lightforged Draenei

• • You have two area effect attacks, Light’s Judgment and Light’s Reckoning. The former lets you call down a strike onto enemies close to you, with a three second delay. Reckoning causes you to unleash the Light upon dying, damaging enemies within 8 yards and healing any allies for the same amount.
  • Your passion for killing demons (Demonbane) is reflected in your earning an extra 20% experience from that action. Mostly only useful in the Legion zones, pops up occasionally elsewhere.
  • Not only do you get +10% to your Blacksmithing skill, you can summon a Forge of Light.
  • Naturally you are a bit more resistant to holy damage than others, taking 1% less damage from the stuff with your Holy Resistance .

Dwarf:

• • You can become one with the stone via your Stoneform. This removes all poison, disease, curse, magic, and bleed effects and reduces all physical damage taken by 10% for 8 sec. Cooldown is 2 minutes.
  • Your Might of the Mountain ability increases the damage and healing from your critical strikes by 2%
  • You are also an Explorer and so are better at Archeology than others.
  • Being naturally cool, you have a bit (1%) of Frost Resistance .

Dark Iron Dwarf

• • Your Fireblood removes all poison, disease, curse, magic, and bleed effects, just like your Dwarven “brethren,” but your ability increases your primary stat (Strength) by 600(!) (scales with level) +200 for for each additional effect removed. Lasts 8 sec. with a 2 min cooldown. Pretty nice for Warriors.
  • You’re a tunnel dweller and Dungeon Delver and you’ve learned how to move 4% faster while indoors, plus your people have the Mole Machine: While outdoors you can summon a Mole Machine that tunnels through the earth and can pop you up in a variety of places.
  • Being tough you have your Forged in Flames ability, and take a bit less physical damage.
  • Having spent your life working in the forges you have a Mass Production skill , giving you +5 to your blacksmithing skill and letting you work 25% faster.

Gnome

• • Your Escape Artist ability allows you to break the effects of any immobilization or movement speed reduction effect. 1 min. CD.
  • Plus, with your Nimble Fingers you have +1% Haste.
  • Expansive Mind: Your maximum Rage is increased by 5%.
  • Your Engineering Specialization gives you +15% to that skill.
  • You also have a bit of Arcane Resistance , and so take 1% less damage from the stuff.

Mechagnome

• • Hyper Organic Light Originator summons a couple of images of you to distract your foes. A little added damage or use it to give yourself a moment to set something up. See it in action here.
  • And you get some Racial Passives:
    • Combat Analysis: You gather and analyze combat data every 5 sec, increasing your Strength by 25, stacking up to 10 times. The data decays while out of combat.
    • Mastercraft: You function as a personal Blacksmithing Anvil, Cooking Fire, and Mining Forge. In addition, your limbs include every profession tool.
    • Emergency Failsafe: When you fall below 20% health, heal for 15% of your maximum health. This effect cannot occur more than once every 2.5 min.
    • Skeleton Pinkie: Allows opening of locked chests and doors on a level similar to yours.

Void Elf

• • Your abilities have a chance to empower you with the essence of the Void, Entropic Embrace, which increases your damage by 5% for 12 sec. It has a 33% proc chance with 60 seconds internal cooldown. Nothing like a bit of Void energy added to your attacks, right?
  • Spatial Rift: Tear a rift in space. Reactivate this ability to teleport through the rift. 30 yd range. 3 min cooldown. You can activate this, then change direction, hit it again, and be back to the original spot. Experiment with direction and elevation changes.

Worgen

• • Darkflight allows periodic quick movement, which is always useful,
  • Increased crit chance (viciousness) is a good stat for you.
  • Flayer boosts your skinning skill.
  • Run Wild – Drop to all fours and run.
  • Aberration provides resistance to Shadow and Natures damage.

The Horde Warrior Racials

Orc

• • Enrage (Blood Fury) to increase damage every 2 min, which is generally useful and quite nice for leveling. Drop this into a macro to use with your opener.
  • Your Hardiness makes you resistant to stuns (20% shorter duration, about 1 second off a 5 second stun) – Useful in PvP, but also nice at times while leveling/raiding.
  • If you could have a pet then your Command ability gives that pet 1% more damage.

Tauren

• • Your most useful ability is War Stomp, usually a PvP ability, but also useful for leveling, that gives Tauren Warriors a crucial short range AoE stun. This can also interrupt trash mobs when dungeoning/raiding. Charge and Stomp!
  • Your mighty Endurance gives you a 5% increase to base health, which is pretty nice for any melee class, such as you.
  • Brawn: Critical strike bonus damage and healing increased by 2%. This is not crit rating, just extra damage.
  • Cultivation: Herbalism skill increased by 15 and you gather herbs faster than other herbalists.
  • You also have a bit of Nature Resistance , taking 1% less Nature Damage.

HighMountain Tauren 

• • Bull Rush is a short (6 yard) charge forward that knocks those enemies down. Then you kill them.
  • Being versatile you get +1% Versatility (Mountaineer) and also take a bit less damage (Rugged Tenacity.) Both are nice passives for any Warrior.
  • Your Pride of Ironhorn allows you to mine faster and adds 15% to your mining skill.
  • Having gone to survival school your philosophy is Waste Not, Want Not , so you have a chance to gather more meat and fish from appropriate situations.

Troll

• • Berserking increases your Haste by 10% (for 12 seconds) – a generally useful ability which will also reduce, by a small amount, the time till your next cooldown is available.
  • Your regeneration is increased, but it’s trivial.
  • You get a 20% XP increase when Beast Slaying. This only applies to beasts, not humanoids or other non-beasts. You’ll be chopping up lots of beasts while leveling, so this is a nice bonus.
  • Da Voodoo Shuffle gives you a nice 20% reduced duration of movement impairing effects, such as snares, slows, etc. Not stuns or any other “crowd control.”

Zandalari Troll

• • Your Embrace of the Loa ability allows you which Loa you are associated with. 5 day cooldown.
    • Embrace of Bwonsamdi – Your damaging abilities have a chance to deal Shadow damage and heal you for 100% of the damage done. Pretty good general ability.
    • Embrace of Kimbul – Your damaging abilities have a chance to cause the target to bleed over 6s. This effect stacks up to 3 times. More blood is always good.
    • Embrace of Pa’ku – Your abilities have a chance to grant you +4% critical strike for 12 seconds. Live by the crit? This is for you.
    • Embrace of Krag’wa – Taking damage has a chance to grant you additional Health and 66 Armor. Good tanking ability.
    • Embrace of Akunda – Your healing abilities have a chance to heal their target. A Warrior, with healing abilities? Hmmm…
    • Embrace of Gonk – Increase movement speed by 5%.
  • Regeneratin’ – Regenerate 100% of your maximum health over 6 sec, interrupted by damage. 2.5 min cooldown.
  • Pterrordax Swoop – Slows your fall for two minutes. Time for some serious cliff jumpin’.

Blood Elf

• • Well ok, Blood Elves look good. A truly devastating Warrior ability.
  • Your Arcane Torrent removes one beneficial effect from any nearby enemies (up tp 8 yards) and restores 15 Rage. 2 minute cooldown.
  • And your Arcane Acuity gives you a bit more crit (1%.)
  • Naturally your Arcane Affinity gives you +10% to the Enchanting skill.
  • And your Arcane Resistance allows you to take 1% less Arcane damage.

Undead

• • Your Will of the Forsaken removes fear, sleep, and charms. Definitely useful in PvP and of occasional use elsewhere.
  • Your Touch of the Grave is a passive ability that will add a small amount to your overall damage and self-healing.
  • Cannibalize is a nice “in your face” ability for PvP and eliminates the need to use a bag slot for regular food (you’ll want to keep any foods that provide buffs.) Just go full zombie mode and eat what you kill. Humanoids only. Well, maybe you should carry food, depending on where you’re leveling.
  • You also have a bit of Shadow Resistance , taking 1% less damage from those shadows.

Goblin

• • Can Rocket Jump forward, or away, so is a bit like the hunter ability disengage.
  • Speaking of rockets… Rocket Barrage!!! The perfect Goblin ability. Can launch rockets at enemies. Damage is trivial, but you can probably find a use for it.
  • Haste adds 1% to your Haste, a “meh” stat for Warriors.
  • Personal Bank is definitely useful at times, you can check your bank stash from anywhere. A deadly ability. 
  • Vendor Discounts (lower prices) are always appreciated.

Nightbourne

• • You can do an Arcane Pulse , which damages all nearby enemies and reduces their speed for 12 seconds. Note that this will break most “crowd control” effects that might be on those enemies. 3 minute cooldown.
  • Can read your mail from anywhere, with your Cantrips ability. Get a note while you’re in the middle of nowhere? No problem.
  • Your love of lore and Ancient History give you +15 to your Inscription skill.
  • Your Arcane Resistance   allows you to take 1% less damage from Arcane energy and you also have a Magical Affinity which allows you to do 1% more magical damage.

Mag’har Orc

• • Your Ancestral Call will boost a random secondary stat (crit, haste, versatility) for 12 seconds on a 2 minute cooldown. The boost scales with level.
  • Your love of the open skies increases your mounted speed by 10%.
  • Savage Blood, you barbarian you, reduces the duration of curses, poisons, and diseases by 10%.

Vulpera

• • Bag of Tricks: Cunning thing that you are you can use a trick on an enemy to damage them or on an ally to heal them.
  • Make Camp: Set your camp location outdoors and then you can use Return to Camp, which teleports back to your camp location. Basically another hearthstone.
  • Nose For Trouble: Take a little less damage from the first strike inflicted by an enemy.
  • Your  Alpaca Saddlebags  increase the total size of your backpack by 8 slots.

 

Goto: Top — Race — Abilities — Talents — Arms — Fury — Stats — Gear — Tips — Profs — Zygor 

 

Warrior Leveling and Abilities

Just a note on leveling builds – the idea is to kill mobs ASAP, with as little downtime as possible. This means that your leveling build might not be the same as your max level PvP or Raid builds.

When you hit level 10 you pick from one of the three specializations: Arms, Fury, and Protection.

Any Warrior can use a weapon and shield combo, but the might not be wha’t sbest for your specialization (spec.)

Arms will, from level 10, be using a 2-handed weapon.

Fury will, from level 10, be using two 2-handed weapons and is the only warrior to dual-wield weapons.

Protection can use 1 or 2-handers, but will generally be using a 1-hander and a shield, for the greater defensive ability. Tanking, of course, requires major damage mitigation skills and the ability to keep the Boss’ attentions away from everyone else.

In a Raid setting you will, as Fury or Arms, focus far more on damage and much less on survivability talents, since some healer will be keeping you healthy.

PvP requires more survivability and control and is more for Arms than Fury or Prot.

For leveling (questing) you want some survivability and as much damage as you can get.

You can change from one to the other at any time you are out of combat. Your talents can only be changed in a “rest XP” area, such as the big city or any inn.

All Warriors share the following abilities

CD = Cooldown

1. Slam (level 1) is your basic attack.

2. 

   Charge (2) to your enemy, do a bit of damage, and root it for one second. Generates 10 Rage.

   • 20 Rage at level 14+. 20 second CD.
3. Shield Slam (3) slams your shield into the enemy’s face, making it unhappy.
4. Hamstring (32) is not just for Arms anymore. It does a little damage and restricts your opponent’s movement by 50% for 15 seconds.
5. Victory Rush (5) for 20 seconds after you kill and enemy you can use this to do some damage and get some (10%) healing.
   • At 11 that is bumped to 20% healing.
6. Shield Block  (6) lets you raise your shield and defend against melee attacks for 6 seconds. 16 second CD.
   • 2 charges at level 22.
7. Pummel (7) – your weapon hilt impacting the caster’s jaw stops the current spell. 15 second CD.
8. Taunt (8) – Insult a non-player enemy (mob) causing it to pay attention to only you. Useful for pulling mobs out of a group. Well, ok, you’ll grab the whole group, but you’re a Warrior, you can handle it.
9. Wirlwind (9) is not just for Fury anymore. Hits up to 5 targets within 8 yards.
10. Execute (10) is now for all Warriors.  You try to finish the enemy off when it hits 20% health or less.
11. Ignore Pain (17) lets you ignore up to 50% of damage incoming. 12 sec. CD.
12. Heroic Throw (24) – Same as taunt, but you throw your weapon instead of insults, and it hurts more.
13. Plate Specialization (27) Arms and Fury gain 5% to their Strength if wearing only Plate armor, Protection gains 5% Stamina instead.
14. Berserker rage (29) gives you 6 seconds of immunity to various Crowd Control effects and breaks your free of any that are already on you. Works on fear, sap, and incapacitate effects. Not stuns or slows.
15. Heroic Leap (33) – Leap up to 40 yards away, lightly damaging all enemies within 8 yards as you land. That’ll get their attention, right? If you’re Protection then it resets the CD on your Taunt.
16. Intimidating Shout (34) causes the target to cower for 8 seconds, while up to 5 others run away.
17. Battle Shout (42) increases the attack Power of your entire group (dungeon, raid, etc) by 5% for an hour. Or yours, if you are soloing. Have this up at all times. 15 second CD.
18. Shattering Throw (41) does damage, allows you to remove magical immunities, and deals up to 500% increased damage to their Absorb Shields.
19. Intervene (43) is, once again, usable by all Warriors.
20. Rallying Cry (46) gives your whole team (with 40 yards) +15% health for 10 seconds. 20% at level 56.
21. Spell Reflection (47) allows you to reflect spells and reduce incoming magical damage by 20%. Lasts 5 seconds (or until a spell is reflected) and has a 25 sec. CD.
22. Challenging Shout (54) let’s you play the tank, sortof, as it will taunt all enemies within 10 yards for 6 seconds.

 

Abilities for Arms and Fury.

For Protection abilities and such see our Protection Warrior page.

CD = Cooldown, P = Passive ability.

Fury Abilities At level 10 you can Dual Wield 1-handed weapons. At 14 you can dual the 2-handers. Bloodthirst (10) whacks the target, restores a bit (3%) of your health, and generates 8 Rage. Can Enrage you, 30% chance. At 48 you get a 30% damage boost. Enrage (10) increases your damage by 11%, Haste by 15% and movement speed by 10%. Lasts 4 seconds. At 20 your Haste is increased by another 15%. At 49 you movement speed gets a +10% boost. Mastery (10) allows you to do 11% more damage while enraged Raging Blow (12) hits hard, generates 12 Rage and, at level 27, has a chance 20% to reset its own CD. 8 second CD. At 42 it has 2 charges. Execute, rank 2 (13) eliminates the Rage cost of your Execute. At 18 it generates 20 Rage. At 58 it does +15% more damage. Titan’s Grip (14) lets you wield 2 handed weapons in each hand. Smash! Also notes that you get more stats (Str, etc.) for using two 2-handers. Single Minded Fury (14) is for those who want to use 1 handed weapons in both hands. While doing so you do 12% more damage and have +5% movement speed. Rampage (19) enrages you, hits hard, and quickly smacks the opponent upside the head 4 times. At 28 it causes you to become Enraged.  At 44 you do 20% more damage. Piercing Howl (21) snares all opponents within 12 yards and cuts their movement speed by 70% for 8 seconds. Whirlwind, rank 2 (22) no longer costs rage. It generates 3 Rage, +1 per target hit, for 8 Rage max. At level 37 it causes your next two single target attacks to strike up to 4 additional targets for 45% damage. Enraged Regeneration (23) has a 3 min CD, reduces damage by 30%, increases your Bloodthirst healing by 20%, and is usable while stunned. Last 8 seconds. This will be quite valuable in PvP and a few other situations. Elites and Rares, to name two. At 32 the CD becomes 2 minutes, from 3. Recklessness (50) You change from your peace-loving ways and go berserk, increasing Rage generation by 100% and your abilities have a +20% crit chance. Lasts 10 seconds with a 1.5 minute CD. At 52 it lasts 12 seconds.

Arms Abilities As Arms you cannot dual-weird, but you can use a 1-handed weapon and a shield. Why? Who cares. You can, but you won’t. That big 2-hander has your name on it. Mastery (10) allows your Colossus Smash and your Bladestorm to inflict Deep Wounds. This bleeds the target for 12 seconds and increases the damage that the target takes from you. Mortal Strike (10) is a hard strike and reduces the target’s healing by 50% for 10 seconds. 20% more damage at level 44. Overpower (20) whacks the target and the hit cannot be parried, blocked, or dodged. 12 second CD. At 28 it increases the damage of your next Mortal Strike or Cleave by 20%. At 49 that damage bonus can stack twice. Execute, rank 2  (13) removes the CD from your Execute. Execute, rank 3 (18) refunds 20% of the Rage spent if your target survives the hit. Colossus Smash (19) damages the enemy’s armor, causing you to do 30% more damage to them for 10 seconds. 1.5 min. CD. At 37 the CD is reduced to 45 seconds. Slam, rank 2 (20) lets you whack the target 60% harder. And another 25% at 48. Piercing Howl (21) snares all opponents within 12 yards and cuts their movement speed by 70% for 8 seconds. Sweeping Strikes (22) causes your single target strikes to hit one other target for 3/4 damage. Lasts 12 seconds with a 45 second CD. At 42 the CD becomes 30 seconds. At 58 the duration increases by 3 seconds. Die by the Sword (23) has a 3 min. CD, reduces all damage taken by 30%, and increases your Parry chance to 100%. Lasts 8 seconds. Nice for those situations. At 52 the CD is reduced to 2 minutes. Seasoned Soldier (27) causes your auto attack crits to generate 30% more Rage. Tactician (32) gives your Rage using abilities a chance to rest the CD on Overpower. The more Rage spent, the higher the chance. It is a 1.4% chance per point of Rage. Spend 10 Rage and 14% chance. Bladestorm (38) – 1.5 minute cooldown, deal a good amount of AoE damage to up to 8 targets over 6 seconds. You are also immune to crowd controlling effects during the duration of the storm.

Goto: Top — Race — Abilities — Talents — Arms — Fury — Stats — Gear — Tips — Profs — Zygor

 

Warrior Leveling Builds

Changing talents is easy, for example: if you feel that Talent A is of more use in a particular situation than Talent B then just click the row and follow the instructions in the window that pops up.

The leveling builds below are for Arms or Fury, and are our suggested picks. YOUR game might be different, and Warriors have a lot of flexibility with talents. For example, if you do a lot of PvP and/or dungeons Vs. just questing. OR have max gear vs just quest gear.

If you’re Protection then you might want to check out our Protection tanking page.

In Legion and later you can change your specialization (spec) at any time that you are out of combat. See a big group that you can round up and smash? Switch to Protection. Gotta gank that guy over there or drop into a BG or arena? Switch to Arms. Back to questing? Switch over to Fury or stay with Arms. No reagents or trainers or special abilities required. Just switch whenever you like.

Talent switching, on the other hand, requires that you be in a “rested XP area,” such as an Inn, the big city, or your Garrison. Again, no reagents or trainers or special abilities required.

If you are in the raid/dungeon and need to change talents (or Azerite Essences) before the next fight? Buy or make (with Inscription) a stack of Tome of the Quiet Mind, which will work up to level 59. From 51 to 60 you can use a Tome of the Still Mind. That will give you one minute to switch up.

The talents below are picked with the assumption that you’re mostly questing. So things that give damage right now, improve mobility, and so on are picked. For dungeons or PvP you will want to change a couple of things.

There are some of those notes in the descriptions below.  Dungeons and PvP will change your picks.

Arms Warrior Leveling Build

Arms is a solid spec for questing, dungeoning, and PvP.  Check out skill-capped for serious Warrior PvP.

Talents marked with a “Z” are Zygor’s picks. Our picks have a check, , in the descriptions below.

Tier 1 Talents, Level 15

• 1.  War Machine – No, you don’t become Iron man’s buddy, but your auto-attacks generate 20% more rage. You also get a 30% speed buff for 8 seconds, and +10 Rage, when you kill something. More consistent rage generation
  2. Sudden Death – You get the occasional free, high damage Execute, usable on targets with any level of health. Less predictable than the other two, but maybe more fun.
  3. SkullSplitter – Whack him upside the head and generate 20 Rage when you do it. 20 second CD.

Tier 2 Talents, Level 25

All are good choices, it depends on what you need.

• 1. Double Time – You get +1 charge of Charge, and the CD is reduced by 3 seconds. So more mobility and smashing.
  2. Impending Victory – Whack the target and get a 30% heal. 30 second CD, but kill him and the cooldown resets. Replaces your Victory Rush.
  3. Storm Bolt – A ranged stun, 20 yards, lasts 4 seconds, and hits one target. 30 second CD. Nice in PvP or anywhere. Stun and charge in.

Tier 3 Talents, Level 30

• 1. Massacre – You can now use Execute when the opponent is at 35%  health, rather than 20%.
  2. Fervor of Battle – Your Whirlwind slams your primary target. The best overall talent in this row, thought the others have their uses. Switch up as necessary.
  3. Rend – Instant, 12 rage. Wounds the target, causing moderate bleed damage. Nice for those targets that run away, or try to. Also keeps them from dropping back into stealth. The bleed lasts 15 seconds. Also, any critical damage you do is increased by 10%.

Tier 4 Talents, Level 35

• 1. Second Wind – Restores 6% of your health every second when you have not taken damage for a few seconds. Very nice for leveling. you’ll probably be fully healed by the next fight. If you’re tough and do not need this heal, then take Bounding Stride.
  2. Bounding Stride – This reduces the cooldown on your Heroic Leap by 15 seconds (down to 30 seconds.) Also, after you use Heroic Leap your run speed is increased by 70% for 3 seconds. More leaps, more running, very nice overall mobility talent.
  3. Defensive Stance – Instant, 6 second cooldown, lasts until you cancel it. For those times when a lot of damage is coming your way (dungeons and raids) and you need an extra defensive measure. You take 20% less damage and also DO 10% less when this is up, but you’ll live to get revenge. Consider this one if you’re the Arms Tank.

Tier 5 Talents, Level 40

• 1. Collateral Damage – Passive ability. While your Sweeping Strikes is active each ability you use, that damages a second enemy, will increase the damage of your next Whirlwind by 25%.
  2. Warbreaker replaces your Colossus Smash. You or the tank has rounded up a group and now you can smash the ground and blast them all. Also increases damage you do to them by 30% for 10 seconds. Follow it up with Bladestorm. Basically makes Colossus Smash into an area effect attack. 45 seconds cooldown.
  3.  Cleave – Hits up to 5 enemies in front of you, inflicting Deep Wounds to all of them. If you have an Overpower effect then Cleave will consume it for more damage. . Great for small groups. Runners will bleed out.

Tier 6 Talents. Level 45

• 1. In for the kill – Get a 10% haste buff for 10 seconds when using your Colossus Smash.  20% if the target is under 20% health. Lasts 10 seconds.
  2. Avatar – Warrior Smash! Also good for PvP with its root & snare breaker. Become a colossus, generate 20 Rage, and do 20% more damage.  1.5 minute CD.
  3. Deadly Calm – reduces the rage cost of your next 4 abilities by 100% for 6 seconds. Also increases your max Rage by 30. 1 minute CD. Great for those times when you just have to pound something’s head in.

Tier 7 Talents, Level 50

• 1. Anger Management – Using Rage reduces the cooldowns of Colossus Smash and Bladestorm.  20 Rage spent gains 1 a second reduction.
  2. dreadnaught – Two charges of Overpower and using Overpower drives a seismic wave in a 10 yard line in front of you, doing damage to up to 5 enemies.
  3. Ravager – Throw a whirling blade at a location up to 40 yards away that chases nearby enemies and also applies Deep Wounds to up to 8 enemies. Lasts 12 seconds and replaces your Bladestorm, You gain the range, but you lose the “immune to crowd control” aspect.

Arms PvP (War Mode) Talents

Like to live dangerously? Such as leveling with War Mode on? You gain +10% XP, and as high as +30% if you side is greatly outnumbered on your server.

The talents suggested here are for general questing and are not optimal for PvP. Of course, like any other talents, you can change them whenever you are in a “rested XP” area, such as an Inn. You can also turn War Mode off there.

Grab them in the order that works best for you. You can choose PvP talents at 20, 30, and 40, though certain talents require other levels.

1. 1. Shadow of the Colossus: Your Charge resets the CD of your Overpower and increases the Rage gained from your Charge by 15. Good way to start a fight. Requires level 20.
   2. Sharpen Blade: For 6 seconds your next Mortal Strike does +15% damage and reduces the target’s healing by 50%, up from 25%. 25 Second CD.  Some extra burst damage. Requires level 20.
   3. Storm of Destruction: Your Bladestorm and Ravager have their CDs reduced by a third and both will apply the Mortal Wounds effect (reduced healing on the target(s)). Requires level 38.

 

Fury Warrior Leveling Build

Fury is also great for questing and dungeoning and almost as good as Arms for PvP. As with Arms this is a questing build. Feel free to swap for talents that better suit what YOU are doing.

Talents marked with a “Z” are Zygor’s picks. Our picks have a check in the description.

CD= Cooldown

Row 1, level 15

1. 1. War Machine – your auto-attacks generate 20% more rage. You also get a 30% speed buff for 8 seconds, and +10 Rage, when you kill something. More consistent rage generation
   2. Sudden Death – You get the occasional free, high damage Execute, usable on targets with any level of health. Less predictable than the other two, but maybe more fun.
   3. Fresh Meat – Your Bloodthirst always enrages you with the first hit, and has a +15% chance to trigger Enrage on subsequent hits.

Row 2, level 25

All are good choices, it depends on what you need.

• 1. Double Time – You get +1 charge of Charge, and the CD is reduced by 3 seconds. For more mobility and smashing. Works very well with Furious Charge in row 4, when you get there.
  2. Impending Victory – Whack the target and get a 30% heal. 30 second CD, but kill him and the cooldown resets. Replaces your Victory Rush.
  3. Storm Bolt – A ranged stun, 20 yards, lasts 4 seconds, and hits one target. 30 second CD. Nice in PvP or anywhere. Stun and charge in.

Row 3, level 30

1. 1. Massacre – You can now use Execute when the opponent is at 35%  health, rather than 20%. And the CD is 1.5 seconds less. More Executes to your hacking and slaying.
   2. Frenzy causes your Rampage to add +2% Haste, stacking to a max of 8%. It resets if you change targets.
   3. Onslaught is a strong attack that generates 15 Rage, has a 12 second CD, and requires you to be Enraged. Do you need another attack?

Row 4, level 35

Do you need the extra healing? Extra Leaping? Or a bit less damage?

1. 1. Furious Charge – Your Charge also increases the healing from your next Bloodthirst by 250% (to 10.5%.) This is a good leveling talent, especially if you take Double Time from row 2. You’ll be very healthy through all your questing.  On the other hand… you could take:
   2.  Bounding Stride – Reduces the cooldown on Heroic Leap by 15 seconds and after you use Heroic Leap your run speed is increased by 70% for 3 seconds. Gotta love that extra mobility.
   3. Warpaint – You take 10% reduced damage while Enraged. Nice, since you will often be enraged, but less generally useful than the other two. But if you are always facing tough targets…

Row 5, level 40

1. 1. Seethe lets your Bloodthirst generate +2 rage,  +4 when it crits.
   2. Frothing Berserker – Your Rampage can refund 20 Rage on a 20% chance per use.
   3. Cruelty gives your Raging Blow 20% more damage and also a 30% chance to reset its own CD. This will only happen while you are Enraged, but Enrage has a fairly high uptime. The best of the three for general use.

Row 6, level 45

1. 1. Meat Cleaver – Your whirlwind might Enrage you (10% chance) and it generates a bit more Rage. The other two are better.
   2. Dragon Roar – 30 second CD and deals a solid amount of AoE damage to all enemies within 12 yards, but is reduced to secondary targets, and generates 10 Rage. You’ll be able to use this about twice as often as Bladestorm, but do not get any resistance to crowd control. Better for 1 or 2 targets than Bladestorm.
   3. Bladestorm  – 1 minute cooldown, deal a good amount of AoE damage to up to 8 targets over 4 seconds. You are also immune to crowd controlling effects during the duration of the storm. Generates 20 Rage over the duration. Better for groups of 3+ than Dragon Roar. Always fighting the groups, such as in dungeons?

Row 7, level 50

1. 1.   Anger Management – The Rage you spend reduces the CD of your Recklessness.  20 Rage per 1 second CD reduction.
   2. Reckless Abandon – Your Recklessness generates 50 rage and boosts your Bloodthirst and Raging Blow.
   3. Siegebreaker – deals damage and increases damage done to the target by 15% for 10 seconds and generates 10 Rage.

Fury PvP (War Mode) Talents

Live dangerously, level with War Mode on. You gain +10% XP, and might get +30% if your side is greatly outnumbered on your server.

The talents suggested here are for general questing and are not optimal for PvP. Of course, like any other talents, you can change them whenever you are in a “rested XP” area, such as an Inn. You can also turn War Mode off there.

Grab them in the order that works best for you. You can choose PvP talents at 20, 30, and 40, though certain talents require other levels.

1. 1. Enduring Rage: Your base Enrage effects lasts for +1 seconds and your Raging Blowextends it another 1.5 seconds. Helps to keep a more consistent Enraged state. Requires level 20.
   2. Slaughterhouse: Your Bloodthirst now does +50% healing and damage to targets at 50% health or lower, and its CD is reduced by 1 second. More and better Bloodthirsts. Requires level 20.
   3. Barbarian: You can now cast Heroic Leap twice in a Row, if the second is within 3 seconds of the first. The CD takes effect after that. Your Heroic Leap also does +200% damage. Requires level 33.

Goto: Top — Race — Abilities — Talents — Arms — Fury — Stats — Gear — Tips — Profs — Zygor

 

Warrior Stats

Various stats have come and gone, Hit, Expertise, Resilience, Multistrike, resilience, PvP power, and some others, as well as Reforging, are all dead.

Versatility is the newest stat to survive the cut, increasing damage (and healing,) and reducing damage taken (at half value.)

Primary Stats for Leveling:

• Strength is #1, but any Crit you find on your gear is great.
• Stamina! The more the better.
• Unless you’re Twinking (staying at one level, for PvP, and maxing out your gear) you won’t need to worry about the other stats.

All the other (secondary) Stats:

You don’t really have to worry about these until high level. If you’re tanking or are serious about PvP you might want to pay a bit more attention to those secondary stats. You can get stats from all your gear pieces, of course, plus buffs, portions, scrolls, gems, and enchants.

If you’re going to stack any stat, then stack Crit.

• Attack Power is great when you can find it.
• Crit is always good for Arms or Fury, but it’s not for Protection.
• Haste used to be a bad stat, a long time back, now it’s as good as Crit. Better, if you’re Fury.
• Mastery now starts at level 10 (was 80) and is a useful stat. Generally improving something that you do. Like smashing things.
• Versatility increases your damage and, at half value, reduces incoming damage. Currently it is your weakest stat.
• Dodge & Parry is great if you’re tanking (as Protection,) not so much if you’re not.
• Forget Agility, Int, and Spirit forever. Warriors need power, not brains, and dodging is for rogues.

While Leveling…

Note that the highest level enchants, up to level 50, can be added to even level 1 items. (This is not true for gems.) They’ll scale appropriately and will give you a nice edge. I suggest that you only do this for gear that you’ll keep awhile, even if you’re rich. Definitely do it with your heirlooms. Shadowlands enchants require level 50+.

• Enchant Stam if survival is an issue
• Str first, and then Haste (Fury) or Crit (Arms) otherwise.

If you’re in heirlooms you can pretty much ignore the rest of this section.

Al low level: stack Stamina. The one or two points of Strength that you can pick up aren’t worth nearly as much as Stam, though they frequently come with the Stam anyway. Of the Bear is good gear to look for. You can often find cheap Stam enchants on the Auction House.

Mid levels – gear with decent Strength starts to appear. Strength at this point is your first priority, it increases attack power, and in doing so, your base damage values. It also increases your Parry.

• For Arms and Fury: stacking massive amounts of strength is effective at mid levels and slowly improves up until high levels, after which Strength starts to scale up more quickly. Keep the Stam and get more if you’re constantly getting smashed (as in hit, not drunk.)
• For Protection, if you’re questing just gear up like Arms/Fury, if you’re tanking then look for gear with the defensive stats.

 

Goto: Top — Race — Abilities — Talents — Arms — Fury — Stats — Gear — Tips — Profs — Zygor

 

Warrior Leveling Gear and Heirlooms

Plate Mail is your armor, though you might occasionally find leather or chain with better stats.

At level 27 you will be using only Plate. Your Plate Specialization ability gives your +5% to your Str (and +5% Stamina for Protection, which will be superior to stats from non-plate pieces.

Ranged:  You cannot use ranged weapons, but you have Heroic Throw at 24.

Weapons: You’re fairly gear dependent, but you don’t need to be in top gear all the time. At the very least keep your weapons as up to date as possible, it will make a big difference. Other gear can slide a bit if you’re broke (and go read our gold guide if you are.)

Offense Vs. Defense? Unless you are doing a lot of PvP and/or tanking you will find the offensive stats to be much more valuable than the defensive ones. While leveling stick to the massive offense and carry enough food (unless you’re Undead) and bandages with you to minimize downtime.

Some people complain about how easy WoW has become over the years. Part of that’s due to easy availability of good gear (such as heirlooms) and partly is that it actually is easier. Are you one of that crowd? How easy/hard do you want your leveling to be?

• Easy mode: Full heirlooms, or the best dungeon gear, War Mode off.
• Moderate: Same as above, but with War Mode on.
• Hard: Only use the gear you earn from quests. No heirlooms, no gear bought from vendors or the Auction House or other players. This will make your PvP or dungeoning a lot more, ahem, interesting.
• Ironman: Only white quality gear. No, you don’t get to buy gear from that Tony Stark (the real Iron Man) Gnome. No gems, no enchants, no buffs, etc.
• Hardcore: Like Hard or Ironman, but if you die you reroll a brand new character. Just like the Diablo game.
• Completely Nuts: Hardcore with War Mode on.

Heirlooms for Warriors

About those Heirlooms: Buy a full set of heirlooms and ignore all gearing concerns until close to the cap.  if you have plenty of extra gold (and we have a gold guide, here.)

Heirlooms are as good or better than blue gear of the same level. If you want to get yourself some ‘looms then visit the Heirloom Vendor and bring some gold: 500-700 gold for the item (good till lev 60,) and a lot more if you want to skip all other gearing concerns until level 120.

Figure 9,000 gold to buy each armor or ring or trinket and 9,000 total to get it to level 120. About 13,500 for a weapon. Need gold to buy the things? Go here.

• • Be Aware: You heirlooms now live in a tab in the same pan with your mounts, pets, and toys. Click the desired item and it pops into your bags. Destroy the bagged item and the item in the heirloom box is not destroyed, however any enchants on that item are. If you enchant a ‘loom  then consider mailing it to your alt, in order to keep the enchant.
  • Alliance: Krom Stoutarm is in the Library of Ironforge, which is found on the north-eastern edge of the outer ring.
  • Horde: Estelle Gendry lurks around the south-western side of the Rogue’s Quarter of Undercity. In Battle for Azeroth you can find her atop the Gates of Ogrimmar, on the east side.

Enchants for Warrior Heirlooms 

• • Head, Trinkets: : None.
  • Neck: Mark of the Claw: Sometimes increase Crit and Haste by 16 for 6 seconds. Max item level 60.
  • Back: Binding of Strength: +3 Str. Cannot be used past item level 60.
  • Chest: Glorious Stats: +4 to all stats, max item level is 50.
  • Shoulders: Tiger Fang: +5 Str and +2 Crit., max item level is 50.
  • Cloak: Binding of Strength: +5 Str, Level 60 max
  • Legs: Angerhide: +6 Str, +3 Crit, item level 50 max.
  • Rings: Get Accord of Haste or Crit or mastery or Versatility, each adds +9.
  • Weapons: Force Multiplier: Sometimes gain +28 Str and +18 Mastery, Haste, Or Crit (it picks your highest stat.) 15 seconds.

Non-heirloom pieces

• • Gloves: Super Strength: +8 Str, 50 item level max.
  • Belt: Engineers can add some “enchants” to their own belts and Blacksmiths can add a gem socket.
  • Boots: Greater Precision, +4 Crit; Greater Haste, +4 Haste; Panda Step, +3 Mastery and slightly faster run; all max out at item level 50.
  • Wrist: Exceptional Strength: +5 Str. Max item level is 50.

Enchants For the Shadowlands, All require level 50+

• • Other armor and trinkets:: None
  • Back: Enchant Cloak – Fortified Leech: +20 Stam and +30 Leech. Or you can take one with +30 Speed or Avoidance, or one with only +30 Stam.
  • Chest: Enchant Chest – Eternal Stats: +30 to all stats
  • Rings: Enchant Ring – Tenet of Versatility: +16 vers. Mastery, Haste, and Crit are also available if you prefer.
  • Gloves: Enchant Gloves, Eternal Strength: +15 Str.
  • Weapons: Enchant Weapon – Celestial Guidance: Sometimes adds +5% to your Str. when attacking. Or perhaps Sinful Revelation, which sometimes causes the opponent to take 6% more damage form you for 10 sec.

 

Get Mounts and upgrade them when you can. If you can’t afford them then get mining and herbalism and work those skills until you can afford your mounts. They’re not that expensive. Epic (faster) Flying is nice if you can afford the price (at least 4k gold.)

Warrior Glyphs

Once upon a time the various glyphs would affect you various abilities in useful ways, but with Legion glyphs are pretty much dead. You have a few minor glyphs which are purely cosmetic, but nothing that improves or even changes your combat abilities.  For example:

• • Glyph of Burning Anger causes you ta catch fire when enraged.
  • Glyph of Falling Thunder lets you land with thunder when you Heroic Leap.
  • There are several others. Browse the Auction house for them.

Perhaps with a later expansion they will return, but as of Battle for Azeroth, they have not.

Goto: Top — Race — Abilities — Talents — Arms — Fury — Stats — Gear — Tips — Profs — Zygor

 

Tactics to Earning a Lot More Gold, Click Here to Start

 

Tips and Leveling Faster

Questing over Grinding: Do the quests, grind a bit when you find the right areas (for example, mobs are dropping loot that you want.) Grinding (endless mob mashing) is generally only worthwhile if you’re farming something.

Grab all the interesting quests (the ones you want to do) and group them so that you can knock of several at the same time in the same place. Save the city quests until you have a few, then knock them off all at once when you’re there.

Dungeons: If you have the time and interest and are Ok with groups, then dungeon leveling can add some fast XP. Just Queue up for the dungeon finder and go for it. You also will get some nice items out of it.

• Learn to tank. Your wait times will be near zero and you will be able to level all the way without leaving the city. You might have to go back and get your fly points and such later.
• Damage/DPS: Your wait times will be longer, so mix it up with watching YouTube videos or questing/grinding/farming/gathering.

PVP: If you like PvP then smash some face. Hop into the Battlegrounds. If your team wins you can get some fast XP.  See our Warrior PvP page for tips and skill-capped for serious Warrior PvP stuff.

More Tips

Bags: big bags are good, bigger bags are better. Earn the Vulpera race and your bags will be 8 slots bigger!

Banker: make an alt to live at the Auction House. That way you can mail white or better stuff to the alt instead of having to travel to the city to unload it, or dumping it at the vendor. This is a big hassle saver. Here are a few more gold tips.

More XP: Always log out at an Inn. You get the 2x “rest XP” when you come back. A longer rest = longer duration for the rest XP. If you’re Pandaren it lasts twice as long.

The Titan Panel Addon has an “XP per hour” function. This lets you know how efficient you are at picking up the XP.

Recruit a friend: 3x XP, ’nuff said. Here’s Blizz’s FAQ page for RAF.

Now, if you have full heirlooms and if you are a tank, or your buddy is one, and you are dungeon leveling and you have a buddy doing the RAF thing with you… You’re going to level fast.

Also see our Ten Fast Leveling Tips post.

 

Really basic Warrior rotations:

Keep in mind that, while questing, your opposition will frequently expire before you finish any kind of “rotation.” Too bad that doesn’t happen in PvP, hmmm?

• • Start with charge to generate initial Rage.
  • (Arms) Charge, Smash, Victory Rush next opponent, smash, Charge, Victory Rush…
  • Charge > strike > strike > chop off head (Execute)
  • (Arms) Use Hamstring whenever you’re fighting opponents that might want to run
  • (Arms) Use Victory Rush whenever you can.
  • (Fury) Rampage!
  • Warriors can fight several opponents effectively with the use of their cooldowns. Use them, do not save them “for later,” unless you have a specific fight coming up. When they activate, and it’s appropriate, use them.

Start attack macro – this will initiate your attack even if you don’t have the rage to use your opening attack. This way you can switch targets or attack new ones and start whacking them before the rage builds.

You can use this with Bloodthirst, Mortal Strike, Slam, or any other attack you might use to initiate combat.

#showtooltip Bloodthirst
/startattack
/cast Bloodthirst

If you’re an Orc you can use this macro. If you’re a Troll use the Berserking ability instead of Blood Fury. See our Macros page for help in making macros. ‘use 13’ uses the trinket in your top trinket slot, if you have an “on use” trinket there. You can do ‘use 14’ for the second trinket slot.

#showtooltip Charge
/startattack
/cast Blood Fury
/use Some Strength or Rage Potion
/use 13

Targeting Macro

Have a quest to find a various enemies? This macro will target them, even if they are out of direct sight. Replace “name of mob” with whatever you are looking for. It will mark that target with a skull icon. It WILL target players, but it will NOT put the skull on them.

• • /cleartarget
  • /target [nodead] Name of Mob
  • /script SetRaidTarget(“target”,8);

 

Goto: Top — Race — Abilities — Talents — Arms — Fury — Stats — Gear — Tips — Profs — Zygor

 

Professions

Generally, skip the crafting professions while leveling, unless you have, or can generate, plenty of gold.

If you have to level a crafting skill then go for Blacksmithing and Mining. Blacksmithing will get you into some good gear, but it gets expensive. At high level you’ll be able to make some nice stuff. Alchemy is another nice skill, you’ll be able to make lots of useful potions. Mining is a great money maker that also provides raw materials for Blacksmithing, as well as Jewelcrafting and Engineering. You also get XP for all the rocks you dig up.

First Aid used to be an essential skill, but is now dead. Tailors make all the bandages and alchemists make the potions.

Here is a list of other money-making and useful professions:

• • Inscription – Besides all the glyphs you also make everyone’s high level shoulder enchants and can make items for your caster buddies.
  • Cooking – A good skill to take. You’ll be able to cook up foods that buff str, stam, and other stats.
  • Fishing – A good way to slow down your leveling speed. It does provide mats for cooking, and some fish are good gold makers (oily blackmouth, deviate fish, etc.,) but it is time consuming.
  • Gold with professions – you’ll find some tips on this page.

In Warlords your level 2+ garrison crafting building, with a follower working there, will give you some cool bonuses.

• • Alchemy – Lots of the potions/flasks/elixirs are quite nice and this gives you the ability to make what you need. You can also do various transmutes which other professions will find useful and which may sell well.
  • Blacksmithing – You can make some of your gear, stones to sharpen your weapons, and keys to open locks (don’t need those Rogues any more.)
  • Enchanting – Make all kinds of nifty enchants to enhance your gear (only weapons and rings at high levels,) break down items into magical parts and use or sell the parts.
  • Engineering – Besides various nifty gadgets you can make some funky vehicles. Rockets, shields, a stealth device, nitro boosts… what more could a Warrior want?
  • Inscription – You get some nice shoulder enchants and you can make everyone else’s, as well as glyphs and various items.  You can also make Fortune Cards which you might be able to sucker (errr… talk) other players into buying.
  • Jewelcrafting – Make nice gems and some useful jewelry. Can also make gemmed mounts.
  • Leatherworking – Nothing useful for you.
  • Tailoring – Nothing for you, unless you want a flying carpet.

Goto: Top — Race — Abilities — Talents — Arms — Fury — Stats — Gear — Tips — Profs — Zygor

 

 

Warrior Buffs, Food, Potions, Enchants, Etc.

Note on cash: Petty cash means one thing if you have 3 gold to your characters name and another if you have 100k (you’d be surprised how many do.) See Zygor or our gold guide if you need help in that area.

The better buffed you are the faster you’ll level. See a buffing class running by? Ask them, nicely, if they’ll buff you. Make a macro:

• /say Excuse me, Oh Awesome One. Can you lay upon my lowly self some of your excellent buffage?

Otherwise, can you afford the extras? If gems, enchants, etc. are petty cash then go for it. Twinks will spend hundreds of gold, or much more, on weapons and enchants for low level PvP and that enhanced gear certainly won’t hurt while leveling. If you can’t afford it then don’t worry abut it. Green gear is fine and if you keep your weapons up to your level then you’ll be Ok.

Potions & Scrolls: Buy and keep a bunch. Healing, stength, health/stamina. Troll’s Blood pots don’t look interesting at first, but in the long run they’ll save you from using a lot of bandages. Prices vary on the AH. If they’re expensive now just keep checking every now and then and buy a pile when you can. If you have the Alchemy skill you can make yourself a bunch.

In Shadowlands the cooldown for potions has been extended from 1 to 5 minutes, so not quite as useful as before. BUt when used at the right time they can save your butt, so grab a few. Here’s one for level 40+: Abyssal Healing Potion.

Scrolls of Strength are frequently dirt cheap. You can also check with an Inscriber (Scribe) and have some made for you. Scrolls and potions do not stack. You will have to use one or the other. Potions of water breathing will help with underwater quests or gathering. Usually the quest-giver will give you something, but not always.

Food: Lower level foods will buff Stamina, which is great, the highest level foods will buff strength, attack power, crit rating, etc. If they’re not readily available on the AH then it may be worth your while to get cooking or make nice with a guild member.

Enchants: Can you afford them? Get health/stam at low levels, and whatever fits your needs at the high levels.

• Str is best for any flavor of Warrior, followed by Attack Power.
• Movement speed enchants are nice.
• Sharpening stones are great for keeping your weapons up to snuff. They have returned in Shadowlands.  For example, this stone adds +4 weapon damage and +3 Crit for an hour.
• Are you tanking your way to 50+? See the Protection Warrior page for notes.

Goto: Top — Race — Abilities — Talents — Arms — Fury — Stats — Gear — Tips — Profs — Zygor

 

In-Game Warrior Leveling Guide

Go from level 1 to the Max Level fast.

One of the commonly seen questions in the forums and in the game chat is something like, “Where do I go to level…?” You can always grind endless groups of mobs, which a fury warrior does very well, and fall asleep from the tedium, or you can follow the quests as you find them, perhaps looking for quest details on some website, though the in-game help isn’t bad. Much better than it used to be.

A better option is an in-game Warrior leveling guide. Step by step, from the starting area (or anywhere else) to the end, this guide will semi-automate that entire path for your Warrior. You’ll never again wonder about where to go or what to do, even in Shadowlands. 

What if you’ve never played before, or you’re not level 1? Or you want to do some dungeon or PvP leveling along with your questing? Or you have full heirlooms and you and a pal are using Recruit-a-Friend?

No problem. Zygor’s guide will automatically adjust and send you to the right place.

You just pick your starting point and the guide automatically updates and advances to the next step as you complete each step and quest, and also sets the next waypoint arrow automatically. In addition, all of the important quest info is included in the guide window. Tasks are tracked and you’ll never need to switch back and forth from the quest log or any online site.

All you have to do is follow the arrow and check the guide (with its in-game window) to see what you have to do. You’ll knock off the quests boom, boom, boom and you’ll level with a surprising lack of stress. Get to the max level fast and join your friends and guildies in that yummy end-game content.

Grab your copy of Zygor’s leveling guide here.

 

Related Warrior Pages and Such

• Warrior home page – An overview of the Warrior
• Warrior PvP – a general page, with some tips.
• Warrior PvP Gear
• Arms DPS guide and Arms PvP
• Fury DPS guide and Fury PvP
• Protection Tanking guide
• Warlords changes to Warrior and the patch 6.2 Warrior changes (few.)