Warrior Guide for WoW Forever: How Arms, Fury and Protection Play

The WoW Forever warrior plays like the Classic one, but with fewer penalties: Rage is no longer lost by wearing plate, critical hits give double Rage, and a new attack, Victory Rush, heals you after every kill. There are three trees: Arms (two-handed weapon), Fury (dual wield) and Protection (shield and tank). This guide explains how each one plays, what you learn along the way, what to look for in gear and how to level. It does not say which one is "the best": all three reach 60 and all three have a place in a group.

Everything comes from the beta client (build 1.60.1.70170, level 30) and from what Blizzard has explained. It may change before November 4.

In short

Rage in Forever

This is what changes the most and what you will notice the most.

• From taking damage: the usual formula, but without counting your armor. Wearing plate no longer costs you Rage.
• From hitting: it depends on weapon speed. Critical hits from basic attacks give 100% more Rage (Blizzard raised it from 75% on October 1).
• With two weapons there was a Rage bug that Blizzard confirmed; Dual Wield Specialization gave hit to both hands by mistake and has been fixed. If you tried Fury before October 1, what you felt was not the good version.
• When you leave combat Rage decays as usual, unless you have Lingering Rage (Fury), which keeps it for up to 10 seconds longer.

Tactical Mastery is learned by default at level 14: you keep 10 Rage when you change stance (up to 25 with the Improved Tactical Mastery talent in Arms). Changing stance mid-fight no longer costs as much.

What you learn from 1 to 40

The trainer teaches you this at each level (new ranks of what you already have aside). All of it with its cost and text in the warrior spellbook.

Blizzard says Berserker Rage is learned at 30; the client has it at 32.

Arms

How it plays: a slow two-handed weapon, big hits and bleeds. You open with Charge, apply Rend and spend Rage on heavy hits; Overpower comes up when the enemy dodges. It is the comfortable tree for leveling solo: you take more punishment than with two weapons and every hit lands hard.

Talents that define it in Forever:

• Bloodthrill (fifth row): your hits against enemies with Rend can give you Overpower without them dodging. Rend becomes part of your damage, not just a bleed.
• Weaponmaster (fifth row): one talent that gives a different effect depending on the weapon: axe or polearm, +5% critical strike chance; mace or staff, you ignore 15% of armor; sword, extra attacks.
• Spearing Strike (fourth row, 16 points): a strike that does much more to giants, dragons and mounted enemies. Since October 1 it no longer requires a two-handed weapon, but it does require Battle Stance.
• Deep Wounds: your critical hits bleed. More critical strike chance, more bleeding.
• Mortal Strike (31 points, beyond level 30): the usual attack, which halves the target's healing received.

Fury

How it plays: two weapons, lots of hits, lots of Rage and lots of critical strikes. This is the tree Blizzard reworked on October 1 with leveling in mind, not just level 60.

Talents that define it in Forever:

• Cruelty (+5% critical strike chance) and Unbridled Wrath (more Rage when you hit): the usual first two rows, and with critical hits giving double Rage they are more noticeable than in Classic.
• Lingering Rage (new, second row): Rage takes up to 10 seconds longer to decay when you leave combat. You arrive at the next fight with Rage.
• Furious Precision (new, third row): more hit chance with the left hand.
• Dual Wield Specialization: more damage and Rage with the left hand.
• Raging Blows (16 points): Whirlwind hits with both weapons and Cleave costs less.
• Gore Drinker (new, sixth row) and Bloodthirst (31 points): small heals after your Fury effects, and an attack that no longer heals but gives you speed.

Protection

How it plays: shield, Defensive Stance and threat. Your job is to make enemies hit you: Sunder Armor and Revenge to hold them, Thunder Clap and Demoralizing Shout for groups, Taunt if one runs off. Blizzard opened the tree on October 1 to people who do not wear a shield all the time.

Talents that define it in Forever:

• Shield Specialization and Master of Defense (new): you gain Rage when you block, dodge or parry with a shield. Tanking gives you Rage even when you are not being hit hard.
• Anticipation: +20 Defense, the stat that prevents critical hits from bosses.
• Defiance: more threat in Defensive Stance.
• Vanguard (new, 16 points): you can Charge in Defensive Stance. You reach the group without changing stance.
• Focused Rage (new) makes your attacks cheaper; Bastion (new) raises your damage with a shield. That way Protection is also good for leveling solo.
• Thunder Clap can be used in Defensive Stance, and Shield Wall and Retaliation no longer share a cooldown.

Which stats to look for

For Arms, look for a slow two-handed weapon: more damage per hit and more Rage per hit. For Fury, two weapons, with the slower one in the main hand. Piece by piece and level by level, in the BiS: damage warrior and tank warrior.

How to level

• From 1 to 10: Heroic Strike, Rend and Charge. Use Thunder Clap when two or three enemies bunch up.
• From 10 to 20: almost everyone levels as Arms with a two-handed weapon. From 14, switch to Defensive Stance without fear when you get too many enemies on you: with Tactical Mastery you keep Rage.
• From 20 to 30: Victory Rush changes leveling: after every kill you have a strike that heals you for 10%. Chain fights without sitting down to eat as much.
• In a group: groups are always looking for tanks. If you feel like tanking dungeons, with Vanguard and Master of Defense Protection is easier to handle than in Classic.
• The zones and dungeons for your level are in What do I do at my level?, and the route in the 1-20 leveling guide and the 20 to 30 one.

Spend your points in the warrior talent calculator; there you will also see the role builds that have been published and the most saved on wow4ever. And once you play comfortably, ready-to-copy macros.

Talents: one build per tree at level 30

With 21 points at level 30, these are builds for the current beta, one per tree. They are checked against the calculator's rules (rows, requirements and points) and load in one click: the link opens the calculator with the points in place, and from there you can change anything and save it. They are not "the optimal build": they are a sensible starting point.

Arms

For levelling with a two-handed weapon: Rend feeds Overpower and crits bleed.

Load this build in the calculator

Fury

Two weapons, crit and Rage: what Blizzard rebuilt on October 1 for levelling.

Load this build in the calculator

Protection

For tanking dungeons: Rage from blocks and dodges, more Defense and Charge in Defensive Stance.

Load this build in the calculator

The class page also has the role builds published by people already playing the beta and the most-saved builds on wow4ever.

Useful macros

A macro packs several commands into one button. These use the official spell names and the current game's syntax, which works in the beta. To create one: type /macro, click "New", paste the text and drag the icon to your bar. All of them, with a copy button, are on the warrior page; what each piece means is in the macro guide.

Charge and attack

You charge the target and start swinging without pressing anything else. From level 4.

#showtooltip Charge
/startattack
/cast Charge

Switch to Battle Stance and charge

If you're not in Battle Stance, the first press switches to it and the second one charges. From level 4.

#showtooltip Charge
/cast [nostance:1] Battle Stance; Charge

Shield Bash on your focus

Interrupts your focus (the enemy healer, say) without switching targets; with no focus, your target. From level 12.

#showtooltip Shield Bash
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][] Shield Bash

Taunt whatever is under your mouse

Pull back an enemy that went for someone else without leaving your target. From level 10.

#showtooltip Taunt
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Taunt

Heroic Strike that keeps you swinging

Starts your auto-attack if it was off and queues Heroic Strike on the next swing. From level 1.

#showtooltip Heroic Strike
/startattack
/cast Heroic Strike

Items worth chasing

The pieces that matter most in level 30 gear, from the beta BiS list (Alliance; if the Horde uses another piece, it is listed alongside). The full set, slot by slot with alternatives, is in each role's BiS page.

Damage

See the full BiS

Tank

See the full BiS

What is still unknown

• How Rage ends up when Blizzard finishes fixing it: it said it would take a couple of weeks.
• Talents past 30: the whole tree is in the client, but the beta does not go past 30 and nobody has tested them seriously.

Frequently asked questions

How does warrior Rage work in WoW Forever?

You gain it by hitting (depending on weapon speed) and by taking damage, but your armor no longer counts, so wearing plate does not cost you Rage. Critical hits from basic attacks give 100% more Rage.

Which warrior tree is most comfortable for leveling?

Arms, with a two-handed weapon, is the one most people use to level. Since October 1 Fury is also designed for leveling, and Protection has new talents that raise its damage.

What is Victory Rush?

An attack the warrior learns at level 20 in Forever: after killing an enemy, you can use it to strike and heal for 10% of your health.

Can you tank without a shield in WoW Forever?

Blizzard reworked Protection on October 1 so that it also works without a shield all the time, and with Vanguard you can Charge in Defensive Stance. For tanking dungeons, the shield is still the usual choice.