The Warrior is a very “Item Dependent” class, you need to keep your armor and your weapons very close to your level or risk being “gimped”. If you are a player that likes to be in a group then, your items will be even more important as the group will expect you to take and HOLD agro.
Race played = Tauren
Level obtained = 20
Armor = cloth, leather, mail, (use mail if you have a choice) at level 40 you may use plate (with training)
Weapon of choice = Ax/Shield
Leveling Difficulty = Medium
NOTE: the cost to buy each skill is listed next to its name. The Warrior Leveling 1-15
The Warrior is a very “Item Dependent” class, you need to keep your armor and your weapons very close to your level or risk being “gimped”. If you are a player that likes to be in a group then, your items will be even more important as the group will expect you to take and HOLD agro. In the MMORPG Shadowbane a good tank was just about impossible to solo with any class, in DAOC, a S/S(S/S = Sword/Shield) tank could hold his own in PvP but really did not shine in any particular form. In WOW it is really going to be your choice, do you want to deal massive damage up front and in a mob’s face? If so then go 2 handed putting full talent points in “arms” and “fury”, want to play the shy defensive type? Then go 1 hand/Shield putting most of your points in the “protection” talent tree. As the end of Open Beta approached there was a LARGE number of debates going on about the Warrior class as allot of peeps simply felt that the warrior could not stand on its own as it it was built, regardless of the skills it used or the talents it took. The Warrior I played went Ax/Shield and although I had no problems soloing to level 15, I did start to see some weaknesses in the level 15-20 range, the problem was not damage output but rather being able to take damage, I am very used to a “block” with a shield being a “block”, however in WOW a “block” with a shield simply reduces the damage taken it does not erase it completely. Anyway I am not complaining about the Warrior class as that is not what I am here to do, I just mention it now because you might want to wait a few weeks, before playing this class as I am sure if Bliz sees the Warrior population being very tiny they will make some changes to get more people to play this class. nerf…( I don’t know what to nerf maybe ALL the mobs - lol) The first thing you want to do is open your inventory and right click on the scroll, or other object that will open the quest window on the left side of the screen and give you your first quest, accept the quest and if you look on your minimap you should see a little yellow dot this dot represents the NPC that you talk too to complete your first quest.(You may have to walk a little ways, but just starting off the quest NPC is usually very close to your starting location) For future reference anytime you see a little yellow dot on your minimap this is the location of an NPC that you have completed a quest for. When you get to level 5 you may take a trade skill, which may also show you little yellow dots on the minimap, these will either represent a “mine node” (if you have the skill “mining”)that can be mined or a “herb plant”(if you have the skill “herbalism”) that can be harvested.
Leveling 1-4
From level 1-4 you will have the following skills available:
Heroic Strike Level 1(free/quest)
Cost = 15 Rage —– Activation = Next melee attack —– Must have melee wep equipped. (Stance? SEE PARAGRAPH BELOW)
A Melee attack that raises melee damage by 10.
Battle Stance(free)
Cost = 0 —– Activation time = Instant —– Wipes out 100% of rage(there is a talent that will allow you to keep some rage while changing stances.
This “stance” is the normal stance at the lower levels and generates rage when you get hit and when you cause damage.
Battle Shout Level 1(10 copper)
Cost = 20 Rage —– Activation time = Instant
This ability raises the groups attack power by 19.(It will raise yours as well if solo)
Ability last 2 min..(This time can also be increased with the use of talents)
A caster in WOW starts out with health and mana, a Rouge starts out with health and 100 energy, a Warrior starts out with health and an empty “rage” bar. As the warrior hits a mob the rage bar will start to fill,(it has been my experience that the more damage the mob takes from your hit the more rage you receive) and you will also gain a very small amount of rage when you are hit. You can think of “rage” as a casters mana bar but it starts on empty, as it fills you have enough “rage” to use skills such as Heroic Strike. At this level you only have 1 “stance” so you will in that stance all the time that you are online. A typical combat until you get more skills is simply to close to melee range with a mob and click on the skill Heroic Strike anytime that you have enough rage to do so. The skill Battle Shout, should only be used if you know that within the next 2 minutes you will be in another melee combat. If you find that any skills are mentioned here or later in this article then simply open up your abilities window and left click on the skill then drag it to your hotbar and left click it again. To start combat simply right click a mob and move into melee range. At the lower levels you will only experience the “melee” type mob’s, later on you will face mobs that once you attack them they may start casting a spell on you. As you noticed above there is a message to “see paragraph below” this is in reference to numerous changes Bliz has made in the days(and with the last patch within hours) to the warrior class as of the close of Open Beta. Although this guide is only to get you to level 15, so for the most part you have nothing to worry about for now. But later on you will need to check with your trainer and see what skills require what stances, this will be very important to check BEFORE you start throwing points into talents. Remember, talent points are a “bonus” to your combat abilities, and you are not forced to place them when you start getting them at level 10, it is far better to save them for a few levels until you get clarification on topics such as required stances and such, then to place the talent points and have to pay 10 gold to get them untrained… From now until level 4 simply get within melee range and just whack him with your weapon a few times and he should die. By now you should be getting to level 4.
Leveling 4-6
At level 4 you may buy these skills:
Rend Level 1(50 copper)
Cost = 10 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– range = melee —– Must have melee wep equipped
Bleeds the target for 15 damage over 9 seconds.(a Minor DOT)
Charge Level 1(50 copper)
Cost = 0 —– Range = 10-25 yards —– Cooldown = 15 secs.
Charges at an enemy, stunning it for 2 secs and generating 9 rage, cannot be used while “in combat”.
Pummel Level 1(1 silver)
Cost = 10 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– Range = melee —– Cooldown = 10 secs.
Slams the target for 4 damage and interrupts the spell being cast for 5 secs.
NOTE: I will mention this skill here, but one of the last things I heard in the Closing of the Open Beta was that this skill was removed, check with your trainer as soon as you can in game. This is a “caster killer” skill witch interrupts spell casting, if you are equipped with a shield there is a skill called “Shield Bash” that you get at level 12 that does the same thing, interrupts spell casting.
Now you are a little better off, your new combat drill will be: Charge, Rend, Heroic Strike, Heroic Strike, Rend, Heroic Strike.(Don’t forget Battle Shout if you are going to be “chain pulling”(chain pulling is when you engage another mob within seconds of finishing the first mob you were fighting, at low levels this is fine, but do not try to do this at higher levels with mobs that are your same level if you are solo.) A Warrior does not have mana so it does not need to keep “drinkable” items in his inventory so either sell them or give them to a caster friend, however to lessen downtime between pulls always have a supply of food on hand, at later levels you will find drinks that give you stat adds these you may want to consume instead of selling them or giving them away. Another thing to keep in mind is that you Charge skill can be activated quite a distance away from your target so start getting closer to your target as you watch the slot that your Charge skill is in, when the number in the slot box turns from red to white you are close enough to activate this skill. Continue on to level 6, at level 6 you will most likely leave the “noob” town and make your way to another town to get new quests and higher level mobs. Up to now when you see a mob it was most likely yellow which means that these will not attack you if you get too close, however if see a mob that is red then this mob will attack you if you get to close, this is commonly called “agro”.
Leveling 6-8
At level 6 you may buy the following skill(s):
Thunderclap Level 1(1 silver)
Cost = 20 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– Cooldown = 4 secs.
This is a PBAEO Thunder attack that will slow your enemies attack speed by 10% and do 7 Nature damage to them, this will last 10 seconds and will affect up to 4 targets.
I did not find the Thunderclap spell very useful, so I really did not use it, continue to complete all the quests you can and keep obtaining the best armor and weps you can without directly buying them from a merchant, for example: When doing a quest that offers you armor pieces as a reward always take the armor piece that will “add” the most armor value to your character, this is not always the highest piece offered. If you have a choice of a “50 armor chest piece” and a “30 armor pair of boots” and you are wearing a “45 armor chest piece” and a “5 armor pair of boots” take the new boots! By now you should be pretty familiar with the quest system as well as knowing what level mobs you can handle. It has been my playing experience that you should only kill mobs your level or 1-2 levels higher as anything else is going to cause too much down time and too much food consumed or a possible death, and you will find that the exp is not worth it at all, after you figure in the risk and the downtime needed to recover from the lost health. Also if you are going to take any trade skills get them now, even if you have to take some time to walk to your nearest capitol,(which is pretty close to you now, regardless which race you have chosen) You can get your 2 main tradeskills at lvl 5.
Leveling 8-10
At level 8 you may buy the following skills:
Hamstring Level 1(2 silver)
Cost = 10 Rage —– Range = melee —– Must have melee Wep equipped
Hits the enemies legs for weapon damage + 5 additional damage, also slows the enemies movement by 60% for 15 secs.
Heroic Strike Level 2(2 silver)
Costs = 15 Rage —– Activation = Next melee attack - Must have melee wep equipped.
A melee attack that raises damage by 18.
Parry(2 silver)
Costs = 0 —– This is a passive skill, to see your actual Parry chance open your abilities window and click on the general tab then look at the skill named Parry.
Here you receive the skill Hamstring, because of my playing style I really did not use this, because at level 10 I trained in throwing knives, so if the mob ran away I would just chuck a knife or 2 at him and he would come running back.(If he did not run into hi friends and bring additional agro, lol) The Parry skill is useful even if you want to go 2 handed as this ability would also give your 2 handed wep a chance to parry. The next rank of Heroic Strike is here to help boost your damage output as well. It should be noted however that you could use Hamstring as an “emergency” skill, simply activate it and if it hits run as the mob would be too slow to keep whacking on you. By now you should have visited your capitol or have a quest that leads you to your capitol for your race. At level 10-11 you will most likely leave the level 5-10 “area” and be sent on a quest to visit a new location, this is also the level at which you may be introduced to your first “elite” quest. Elite quests are not meant to be done solo and no you cannot solo an “elite” mob that is your same level in most cases. I believe Bliz did this to encourage “grouping” after level 10 if you so desire. You can easily tell an “elite” mob from a normal mob by the word “elite” in the mobs name or the wreath around the mobs pic when you left click it. You can safely left click a mob to get info however if you right click it then you enter combat mode with that mob.
Leveling 10-12
At level 10 you may buy the following skills:
Punishing Blow Level 1(3 silver)
Cost = 10 Rage —– Cooldown = 2 minutes —– Must have melee wep equipped.
A brutal attack that raises damage by 7 and causes allot of threat to yourself, lasts for 6 secs.
Defensive Stance(quest reward)
Cost = 0 —– Activation time = Instant —–Wipes out 100% of rage(there is a talent that will allow you to keep some rage while changing stances)
This is the Next stance you get after Battle Stance, you still generate rage when you hit and when your receive a hit but this Stance raises your Defense by 10 and allows some Stance restricted moves that you will obtain later
Blood Rage Level 1(3 silver)
Cost = 0 —–Cooldown = 20 secs —–requires defensive stance(I believe this requirement was changed recently check with your trainer)
This ability will generate 20 rage over 10 secs, BUT will take a chunk of health from you instantly, the warrior is also considered “in combat” so you cannot charge if you use this.
Taunt Level 1(silver)
Cost = 5 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– Must be in Defensive Stance for this ability
Teases the target to attack you, increasing threat.
Punishing Blow I did not use as I was always solo, so there was simply nothing more I could do to make the mob attack me besides whacking him upside the head wit my ax, this is a “group” skill to try and get the agro off a healer or other caster. Defensive stance is the stance that I used most as this seemed to work the best for me, as I have stated earlier I never had a problem with damage output just being able to take damage even with the above average hit points. Blood Rage is really 2 sided, as it does give you the 20 rage but the health you lose is instant and it seemed to be about 10% of my hits, so as far as I am concerned this is really a toss up, if you use this in a tight battle I hope you have a big heal potions on your hotbar… Taunt, this is another skill I did not use since I was solo, however I have heard numerous problems with this, mainly as the warrior not being able to hold enough agro regardless if using it or not, not to cause a fuss but WOW is really new, which means we are all noobs playing it, and in my experience in past MMORPG’s I have seen many clerics spam casting large heals in battle, and then screaming when they get agro and cant figure out why and simply blame it on the tank that is supposed to be holding the agro, I am not saying this is the case in WOW, but I am sure this has happened here more then anyone will admit, after all it is a new game. By now you should understand the basics of playing a
Warrior, and at the capitol city you should also find your “bank” as this has numerous “slots” to store your items, before storing items see if you can “stack” them by dragging one item over the top of another items of the same type. Stackable items include: potions, food, water, crafting materials, and crafting supplies. Also depending on which type of server you are playing on PvP or PvE you may start to see enemies from the other “realm.” From level 10-20 the basics of the game and the mobs start to take you out of the “noobness” and into the full game, expect to fight “caster” mobs, “bow and arrow” mobs and mobs that will give you poison, stuns, or other negative status effects. You may also want to open your “social” window and flag yourself as “looking for a group” if that is a style of play that you desire.(You also may choose to pick a talent here, see the bottom of this post for a link to a list of the talents available.)
Leveling 12-14
At level 12 you may buy the following skills:
Overpower Level 1(8 silver)
Cost = 5 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– Range = melee —– Cooldown = 5 secs —– Must have melee wep equipped —- Must be in Battle Stance.
This skill cannot be blocked, parried, or dodged, however you may only use it after your target dodges your attack, cause wep damage + 5.
Shield Bash Level 1(8 silver)
Cost = 10 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– Range = melee —– Cooldown = 10 secs —– Must have Shield equipped —– Must be in defensive stance
Slams the target for 6 damage with your shield, cancels the spell being cast for 8 seconds.
Battle Shout Level 2(8 silver)
Cost = 20 Rage —– Activation time = Instant
The next level in your battle shouts increasing your attack power by 35 as well as your groups attack power.
Skill lasts 2 minutes.
Overpower is a very useful skill IF you have your eyes glued to the hotbar to see when it lights up so you can use it. Shield Bash is the skill I mentioned earlier that is a necessity to use against caster class mobs, and battle shout now deserves a little more attention as the attack power increase will now be noticeable in the damage you do. I would set up a typical combat here but I have no idea how your are going to spec your character… Maybe you are going to go Dual Wield @ lvl 20, maybe you are using 2 handed weps by now, I believe the most important thing to remember is simply remembering to keep your armor and wep up to the closest you can to your level without wasting coin at the vendors, check the auctions,(located in Orgrimar for the Horde) I guess regardless how you play your warrior some fundamentals would be to STAY AWAY from casters, yeah you can run in and charge one, but what happens if you agro another caster close by? You will be getting nuked from a distance and if you run you will be getting nuked by the one you agroed and the one that you were fighting. At level 10 I went and bought the “thrown” skill for 10 silver and if I ever had to pull a caster mob for a quest I would throw a knife at it then run away, the caster mob would run after me and when it got far enough away for the other casters mobs I turned around and ran straight at it, I could not charge it since I was already flagged for combat but I was able to close and use my shield bash every chance I could, this worked out rather well for me. Another mob you want to stay away from if you can is a bow mob as these again have ranged attacks and you will face the same problem as if you were facing a caster class, and a caster that can heal itself is double trouble to a Warrior. For now it is probably best if you move on, if you are on the horde side and you are a Tauren, Orc or troll you should be at the crossroads(that’s a town), if you are Undead then you should be at the sepulcher. Here you will start to find that you are not in the lobie noob zones anymore. The majority of the mobs are aggressive(red con) and if you pull them and they have buddies nearby they will come also. You will also find mobs that “call” other mobs if they get hurt and are close to death, so if there are other mobs close by that are of the same type do not be surprised if they agro you when you have the mob you are working on almost dead. The best way to see this is to mouse over your chat window, go to the tab that says “combat” left click and hold and drag it to the right side of your screen to separate it from the chat window, now you can review all the damage and other combat related actions taken by you and the mob you were in combat with, as well as seeing any new chat messages in the chat window. At this level you really need to be paying full attention to your surroundings. If you are Undead and hanging around the sepulcher. Doing quests you may run into a unique mob named “son of aragul” this mob will agro you from far away, and will kill you in one to 2 hits, if you see him run, do not investigate unless you need a free trip to the graveyard… If you are Orc, troll or Tauren stay away from the “dinosaur looking” lizards south of the crossroads as they are melee and casters, and will zap you with lightning damage. Needless to say, now is a good time to get in a group. Also at the crossroads I am 99.9% sure you will experience your first PvP encounter… If you are Undead and want to go to the crossroads simply go to the “airport” a little north of the Undercity, look up and you might see one of the airships flying in to dock. Climb the stairs to the tower and take the “west” airship this will take you right outside of Orgrimar the Orc main city, after you get off the city id to the west about a 1 minute run. The trip in Open Beta was free, as you just walk onto the airship. Do not take the “east” airship as this takes you down close to
Leveling 14-20
At level 14 you may buy the following skills:
Revenge Level 1(12 silver)
Cost = 5 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– Range = melee - Cooldown = 5 secs —– Must be in Defensive Stance
This skill Instantly strikes back at an opponent for 12-14 damage, however it can only be activated after you block, dodge or parry.
Shield Block(12 silver)
Cost = 10 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– Cooldown = 5 secs. —–Must have shield equipped —– Must be in defensive Stance.
Raises your chance to block by 75% for 5 seconds, but will only block 1 attack.
Demoralizing Shout Level 1(12 silver)
Cost = 10 Rage —– Activation time = Instant —– Cooldown = 5 secs.
Lowers nearby enemies attack power by 30
Ability lasts 30 seconds.
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