Tariq is a Strength-based melee DPS in Fellowship, specializing in channeling lightning through his weapon to enhance every swing. His gameplay revolves around building Fury through sustained attacks and spending it on devastating abilities like Skull Crusher and Hammer Storm. This Fellowship Tariq guide covers his strengths, weaknesses, core mechanics, abilities, talents, rotations, and gearing priorities.
If you haven’t yet decided on what character you want to play, check out our Fellowship Best Character guide here at Overgear.
Key Takeaways
- Tariq is a Strength-based melee DPS hero.
- His damage revolves around generating and spending Fury.
- Thunder Call empowers his attacks with lightning, greatly increasing burst potential.
- Managing the Swing Timer and Fury cap is essential for consistent DPS.
4.9Tariq Strengths and Weaknesses
Tariq’s playstyle in Fellowship blends precision and aggression. He is good for close-quarters combat, balancing resource control with strong burst windows during Thunder Call.
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Excellent mix of single-target and AoE damage. | Requires precise positioning due to melee range. |
| Scales effectively into mid and late game. | Loses DPS if Fury management is poor. |
| Short interrupt cooldown, making him valuable in coordinated content. | High APM class with strict timing on Heavy Strike. |
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Tariq’s Abilities
Tariq’s abilities in Fellowship revolve around generating Fury and using it to unleash empowered lightning attacks. His abilities mix physical strikes with storm-infused magic damage for hybrid scaling. Here is the full list of abilities that Tariq has in Fellowship:
| Ability | Effect |
|---|---|
| Chain Lightning | Conjure an arc of lightning onto the target enemy that chains between you and other enemies until it has dealt damage 5 times. Each hit of Chain Lightning deals 85% Strength damage. Chain Lightning does not deal damage to you. Thunder Call: Chain Lightning requires you to have Thunder Call Active. Generates Fury relative to damage dealt. |
| Culling Strike | Instantly deal 200% Strength damage to target enemy. Culling Strike spends up to 20 Fury, increasing its damage by 20% for each Fury spent up to 300%. Culling Strike has no effect on the Swing Timer Execution: Can only be used against enemies that have 30% or less health. |
| Face Breaker | Instantly attack target enemy dealing 275% Strength damage. Face Breaker can only be used after one of your attacks Misses or is Dodged by an enemy. Generates Fury relative to damage dealt. Can be used during Global Cooldown. |
| Focused Wrath | Your next two casts of Skull Crusher or Hammer Storm cost 50% less Fury and deal 50% increased damage. Can be used during Global Cooldown |
| Hammer Storm | Spin with your Hammer, dealing up to 224% Strength damage over 2.8 seconds to all nearby enemies. Hammer Storm has an initial cost of 26 Fury, and an additional 8 Fury every 0.7 seconds until you have spent a maximum of 50 Fury per use. Hammer Storm resets the Swing Timer Thunder Call: Hammer Storm causes lightning to strike you as you spin, shocking enemies hit for an additional 179% Strength damage over 2.8 seconds. |
| Heavy Strike | When Heavy Strike is queued up, your next Auto Attack deals 240% increased damage. Swing Timer: Your swing timer is displayed as a bar to the right of your hero. When you see the red area light up on the swing timer, it is time to queue your Heavy Strike and wait for it to finish. Queueing Heavy Strike: Heavy Strike’s queue is displayed as a golden border around the ability icon on your action bar. The queue is canceled when you use any other ability, so make sure the last button you press before the swing timer reaches the end of the red area is Heavy Strike. Thunder Call: Heavy Strike also charges the ground in front of you with lightning, dealing 173% Strength damage to enemies near the target. Generates Fury relative to damage dealt Can be queued during Global Cooldown |
| Intimidate | Instantly intimidate up to 8 enemies around you for 10 seconds. If an Intimidated enemy takes damage equal to 2000% of your Strength, they will break out of the effect. |
| Leap Smash | Instantly Leap to target area and smash the ground, dealing 347% Strength damage to all nearby enemies. Generates 25 Fury Can be used during Global Cooldown |
| Pummel | Instantly interrupt target enemy’s spell cast, and silence them for 4 seconds. Can be used during Global Cooldown |
| Skull Crusher | Instantly deal 340% Strength damage to target enemy. Skull Crusher resets the Swing Timer Thunder Call: Skull Crusher beckons a thunder bolt to strike the target from above, dealing 272% Strength damage. |
| Thunder Call | Call on Thunder to charge your hammer with immense power, enhancing your abilities for 20 seconds. Can be used during Global Cooldown |
| Unbreakable Will | You take 40% reduced damage for 4 seconds. Can be used during Global Cooldown |
| Wild Swing | Swing your hammer in a wide arc toward target enemy dealing 62% Strength damage to them and any nearby enemies. Recklessness:Enemies have an increased chance to Dodge Wild Swing. Wild Swing cannot Critically Strike. Damage of Wild Swing is increased by an amount equal to your Critical Strike chance percentage. Generates Fury relative to damage dealt |
| Raging Tempest | You gain an enhanced version of Thunder Call for 20 seconds. Raging Currents: In addition to its normal effects, Raging Currents strike a random nearby enemy every 0.5 seconds, dealing 99% Strength lightning damage. Each time Raging Currents hits an enemy, your Critical Strike chance is increased by 1%, stacking up to 20 times. Spirit Ability: When you activate your Spirit ability you gain Spirit of Heroism, granting +30% Haste for 20 sec. Can be used during Global Cooldown |
Fury Mechanic
Fury is Tariq’s primary resource. Every attack and ability generates it, and finishing moves consume it. Managing Fury effectively is very important for consistent damage. Here are some tips on how the Fury mechanic works:
- Generate Fury through Stormstrike, Thunderclap, and Eye of the Storm.
- Spend Fury on Tempest Slash or Chain Discharge to prevent overcapping.
- Spirit Ability windows boost Fury. Use them to burst without running out of Fury.
The best Tariq players keep Fury between 40 to 80 most of the time. This is high enough for a finisher, but low enough to keep generating Fury without wasting it.
How to Play Tariq
Tariq’s gameplay in Fellowship is all about generating and spending Fury. You try to fill your bar with Fury, then dump it before it gets full.
Always keep Static Charge active before big damage windows. It doubles your basic hits and spikes Fury generation. Use Eye of the Storm when surrounded by multiple enemies to both deal AoE damage and top off your Fury quickly.
Leap of Wrath is your main engage and gap closer tool. Avoid wasting it for damage unless you know you will not need mobility soon. When you activate Storm Reaver, unload everything. Fury spenders cost less, and all damage gains an additional lightning strike. This is letting you chain together massive bursts. During this window, prioritize Tempest Slash and Chain Discharge.
Tariq Talents in Fellowship
Tariq’s talents focus on improving Fury efficiency, boosting lightning damage, and giving him better cleave options. Early tiers help maintain rotation flow, while higher tiers define your playstyle — between burst-heavy or sustained approaches.
Tier I
- Left Hand Path: When Face Breaker deals critical strike damage, 30% of the damage dealt is also dealt to enemies near your target, reduced beyond 5 targets. Face Breaker’s critical strike chance is increased by +50%.
- Concatenation: Your Attack Speed is increased by 50%.
- Blood & Thunder: Your Heavy Strike has a chance to cast a free Chain Lightning at the target
Tier II
- Bloodline: You generate 1 Fury every 1 second. You no longer lose Fury while out of combat.
- High Road: When your Leap Smash ability does not hit an enemy, its cooldown is reduced by 14 seconds and your movement speed is increased by 50% for 4 seconds. Your Leap Smash has +20% increased critical strike chance. You now only generate Fury with Leap Smash when it deals damage to an enemy.
- Ride the Lightning: Your Thunder Call generates 60 Fury over its duration.
Tier III
- Them Bones: Your Skull Crusher has a 30% chance to have +100% increased critical strike chance. Grievous Critical Strike: Any critical strike chance you have beyond 100% causes a grievous critical strike. Grievous critical strikes increase the base damage of the hit by an amount equal to the overflowing critical strike chance.
- Kill ‘Em All: Your Hammer Storm now spins 3 times per use for the same Fury cost, but each consecutive spin deals 35% more damage.
- Thunderstruck: Your Chain Lightning bounces 3 additional times.
Tier IV
- Pneuma: While Thunder Call is active, you take 10% reduced damage. Additionally, you are healed for 5% of all damage you deal during Thunder Call.
- Far Beyond Driven: Each time you use Heavy Strike, you gain 1 stack of Far Beyond Driven for 20 seconds, increasing your Spirit by +2%. Far Beyond Driven stacks up to 5 times.
- Magic Ward (Tariq): You take 10% reduced Magic damage.
Tier V
- Mouth for War: When your Leap Smash ability deals damage, you are granted 1 charge of Focused Wrath.
- Schism: Your Skull Crusher has a chance to make your next Hammer Storm deal 300% increased damage. Your Hammer Storm has a chance to make your next Skull Crusher deal 300% increased damage.
- Square Hammer: Wild Swing, Face Breaker, Leap Smash & Chain Lightning each grant you 1 stack of Square Hammer, up to 5 stacks. Square Hammer stacks: Your next Heavy Strike consumes all stacks of Square Hammer and deals 30% more damage per stack consumed.
Tier VI
- Spit It Out: Your Critical Strike Power is increased by 10%.
- Spirited Fortitude (Tariq): You take 10% less damage from Area of Effect attacks.
- Crack the Sky: Your Lightning damage has +25% increased critical strike chance.
Tariq Build in Fellowship
Tariq’s best build focuses on maximizing his lightning-infused damage and keeping Fury generation consistent throughout combat. This setup emphasizes Critical Strike and Haste synergy while maintaining just enough survivability for higher-tier content.
- Blood & Thunder (1C): Grants a chance to cast a free Chain Lightning when landing Heavy Strike. This is the backbone of Tariq’s AoE and single-target uptime.
- Ride the Lightning (2C): Adds Fury generation during Thunder Call, which lets you cast more Fury spenders such as Skull Crusher and Hammer Storm.
- Kill ’Em All (3B): Boosts Hammer Storm damage with each spin, amplifying your main spender and its Thunder Call–enhanced version.
- Thunderstruck (3C): Increases Chain Lightning bounce count, indirectly improving Blood & Thunder procs for more consistent AoE cleave.
- Far Beyond Driven (4B): Grants up to 10% bonus Spirit from Heavy Strike stacks, improving overall performance while allowing you to deprioritize Spirit on gear.
- Mouth for War (5A): Enhances Leap Smash, granting 1 stack of Focused Wrath when it hits. Useful for keeping pressure during mobility phases and adding synergy between burst windows.
- Crack the Sky (6C): Increases Critical Strike chance of all lightning damage — essential for pushing your DPS during Thunder Call uptime.
- Spit It Out (6A): Increases Critical Strike power, making your crits hit even harder. When combined with Crack the Sky, these two talents provide a strong late-game scaling foundation.
Both Crack the Sky (6C) and Spit It Out (6A) become even stronger as your gear improves. This is because they scale directly with your total Critical Strike.
Tariq Stat Priority
Tariq’s stat priority in Fellowship is all about the item level. However, once ilvl is optimized, secondary stats start becoming the most important part. Here is the stat priority for Tariq:
- Critical Strike – Best overall scaling. Increases the damage of Tempest Slash and Chain Discharge.
- Haste – Speeds up auto attacks and Fury generation.
- Expertise – Enhances all physical and lightning-based attacks.
- Versatility – Makes spirit ability charge faster.
In short: Critical Strike > Haste > Expertise > Spirit
Tariq Gearing Priority in Fellowship
Tariq’s gearing is all about maintaining uptime and maximizing his Fury.
- Weapon Upgrades: Top priority as it increases both physical damage and lightning scaling from his abilities.
- Legendary Enhancement: Choose bonuses tied to Storm Reaver or Tempest Slash.
- Set Bonuses: Look for effects that enhance Fury generation or reduce the cost of spenders.
- Item Level: Always take major item level upgrades, even if the secondary stats aren’t perfect.
A huge chunk of Tariq’s power revolves around having good gear. Get your hands on BiS items with our help!
Fellowship Tariq Tips
Playing Tariq well in Fellowship requires learning his timings. These quick tips will help you make the most of his Fury system and stay consistent in fights. Here are some tips that can help you out with his gameplay:
- Master the Swing Timer. Tariq’s damage heavily relies on timing Heavy Strike perfectly at the end of the red zone. Practice queueing it right before your swing connects. Canceling or mistiming it lowers Fury gain.
- Avoid Fury capping. Try to stay between 40 to 80 Fury most of the time. Overcapping means lost generation, while running dry delays your spenders. Learn to alternate between building and dumping efficiently.
- Keep Thunder Call for burst windows. Don’t pop it randomly — save it for boss burn phases or large AoE pulls where you can fully benefit from its 20-second buff.
- Use Leap Smash aggressively, but smartly. It’s both a gap closer and Fury generator. Try to engage with it when Focused Wrath is off cooldown to immediately follow up with Skull Crusher or Hammer Storm.
Keep refining your timing and positioning, and you will notice your damage climb fast.
Fellowship Tariq FAQ
If you are just starting out with Tariq or want to understand how to get the most out of this character, these answers to the most common questions will clear things up:
Is Tariq Good for Beginners in Fellowship?
He is manageable early on but has a high skill ceiling. New players can do well by focusing on Fury control and learning Heavy Strike timing. Experienced players can push his lightning bursts much further.
What’s the Best Way to Manage Fury as Tariq in Fellowship?
Keep it between 40 to 80 most of the time. Generate Fury with basics like Heavy Strike and spend it on Skull Crusher or Hammer Storm. Make sure not to overcap on Fury.
When Should I Use Thunder Call as Tariq in Fellowship?
Use Thunder Call right before burst phases or when multiple enemies are grouped.
What Stats Should I Focus on First in Fellowship?
Critical Strike and Haste are the most impactful. They increase both your burst and your Fury generation, keeping the rotation smooth.
Is Tariq Better in Single-target or AoE Fights?
He is good for both, but leans toward AoE. With the right talents, he can handle both roles effectively.
4.9Tariq starts to shine once you get a feel for his flow. Managing Fury, lining up your lightning bursts, and timing your swings just right make him feel fast and powerful. Once it clicks, his gameplay feels smooth and rewarding.
