Home WotLK Classic Classes WotLK Classic Warrior Guide

Warrior as a classical fantasy class is well-known in World of Warcraft too. Playing this class you can’t use magic or count on blessings from a greater power. Just you, your weapons, plate armor, and enemies around. In our WotLK Classic Warrior guide below you can find all you need to know to start to play on the character of this class in Wrath of the Lich King, starting from the specializations overview and ending with gear BiS lists and useful macros.

WotLK Classic Warrior Overview

Some things never change, you know? So and Warriors in every expansion look the same. They wear heavy plate armor, can use almost all available in the game weapon, and be melee DPS or Tanks in raids. Someone can say, that warriors a kinda boring, but it’s worth taking a closer look at this class’ specializations to convince himself otherwise.

Warrior Spec Choice

Like all other WotLK classes, Warrior has three specializations for choice, Arms (DPS), Fury (DPS), and Protection (Tank).

Arms

WotLK Classic Warrior Guide

Arms Warrior fights using bleeding abilities and focuses on two-three targets in most cases. But also can provide you with great AoE damage using cleaves and spells like the brand-new Bladestorm.

StrengthsWeaknesses
  • Gives WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Blood Frenzy to all teammates;
  • Great Cleave DPS will help you in the fights with 2-3 targets;
  • Very effective burst AoE damage.
  • Weak scaling because of rotation based on bleeding;
  • Not the best defensive abilities.

Fury

WotLK Classic Warrior Guide

At first, in WotLK Fury Warrior is still the only spec in the game that can use pair of two-hands weapons at one time. At least, it looks impressive, like we want to play a fantasy RPG. Also, specialization has pretty good cleave damage and totally scary in single-target fights because of such Warrior abilities as Death Wish.

StrengthsWeaknesses
  • Rampage physical critical buff for the raid;
  • Commanding Shout strong survival ability that can save your raid from death;
  • Great single-target and cleave damage;
  • High mobility that won’t affect your DPS.
  • Good scaling, but for great DPS you should have great gear;
  • Not the biggest number of raid utility and defensive options;
  • You can forget about good AoE damage because of cap of targets (just 4).

Protection

WotLK Classic Warrior Guide

Most classical and brutal tanks, use no magic shields and face all enemies with their own plate-armored bodies.  Protection Warriors is about high threat tanking, great damage including AoE specifics, good mobility, and a lot of fun.

StrengthsWeaknesses
  • You shouldn’t worry about threat;
  • Good DPS including powerful AoE abilities;
  • Engaging rotation around Shield Slam and it’s randomly refreshing;
  • High mobility and a lot of control options like multiple stuns, kicks, silences, and disarm;
  • Helpful buffs and de-buffs like WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Sunder Armor and WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Shattering Throw
  • Bosses that use magic can be a problem because of Protection Warrior’s reliance on block rating;
  • It will be hard to survive without raid support because of a limited number of defensive cooldowns.

WotLK Classic Warrior Changes

In Wotlk Classic every Warrior specialization gets some new abilities and talent changes, that can improve your gameplay experience, but now we should talk about the general changes that depend not on current specs.

  • No more “stance dance”, so you don’t need to switch between three poses (Combat, Defensive, and Berserker) so often. Also, all these poses also get some changes;
  • Combat Stance now gives you +10% to Armor Penetration with all attacks (expansion before this was stance without bonuses or penalties);
  • Defensive Stance reduces taken damage by 10%, giving players an additional 45% threat. Also, now this stance reduces your damage only by 5% (instead of 10% before);
  • Berserker Stance gives you a 3% Critical Strike chance and increases your taken damage by 5% (before it was 10%);
  • Berserker Rage in WotLK can be used in all three stances (instead of only in Berserker stance);
  • Recklessness (the best offensive), Protective Wall, Retaliation (the best defensive) CDs get cooldown reduced from 30 minutes to 5 minutes;
  • Battle Shout and the Command Shout now get 30 meters range (20 before) and 4 minutes duration (instead of 2);
  • Also, the Warriors get another two powerful skills, the Enraged Regeneration healing option, and the Smashing Throw strong attack ability.

WotLK Classic Warrior Leveling

If you decide to level your Warrior, you must very carefully and meticulously go to the choice of specialization. Not every spec is well suited to this task:

  • Arms with bleeding rotation looks good in all stages and get additional AoE options closer to the highest levels;
  • Fury is not the best choice because this spec depends on gear;
  • Protection is not the quickest way for solo leveling but for Warrior Dungeon leveling it’s the best option.
WotLK Classic Leveling!
Get any level you want!
WotLK Classic Warrior Guide 5.0

WotLK Warrior Talents and Glyphs

In WotLK Warrior specializations got many interesting new talents, which improve Arms, Fury, and Protection Specs. Some more opportunities provide us with new Warrior Glyphs, that change and bring to a new level the classes’ key abilities. Or in the case of Minor Glyphs we got some nice cosmetic effects.

Arms [55/8/8]: the best option for early gear levels builder around Incite talent.

WotLK Classic Warrior Guide

Fury [18/53/0]: this specialization doesn’t have many specific builds, but you can change this one for yourself. Fury Warrior WotLK talents build around Bloodthirst and WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Bloodsurge and provide you high single-target and cleave damage, but truly reveal with high-level gear.

WotLK Classic Warrior Guide

Protection [15/5/51]: standard WotLK Prot Warrior talents suitable for almost all raid situations, that provides you also with good single-target and AoE damage.

WotLK Classic Warrior Guide

WotLK Classic Warrior Stats

It is good to know the most valuable stats for your class before you end leveling and start pre-raid preparation or PvP adventures. Collecting gear with the most suitable stats will make your character much more powerful.

ArmsFuryProtection
  1. Hit Rating (up to cap at 263)
  2. Strength
  3. Armor Penetration/Critical Strike Rating
  4. Expertise
  5. Agility
  6. Haste Rating
  7. Attack Power
  1. Hit Rating (up to cap at 263 without Precision talent)
  2. Strength
  3. Armor Penetration
  4. Critical Strike Rating
  5. Expertise
  6. Agility
  7. Haste Rating
  8. Attack Power
  1. Critical Strikes immunity
  2. Survivability
  3. Expertise (soft cap at 213)
  4. Hit cap (up to cap at 264)
  5. Strength
  6. Critical strike
  7. Block Value

WotLK Classic Warrior Best Race

In WoW classic race choice also impact your character. Some races don’t give you any benefits, but others can give you nice buffs or passive abilities.

Arms

AllianceHorde
  1. Draenei should be your first choice because of Heroic Presence passive (which gives 1% hit to you and your entire party). It will help you achieve the Hit cap and be more flexible with gearing;
  2. Human has good abilities like Sword Specialization and WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Mace Specialization which provide you increased DPS. Also, in PvP Human Warrior should be great with useful Will to Survive racial ability.
  1. Orc race with WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Axe Specialization and WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Blood Fury the strongest choice for the Horde.
  2. Troll is an option if you don’t like Orc because of the Haste buff.

Fury

AllianceHorde
  1. Human with arms specializations and Will to Survive is a good choice for Fury Warriors in WotLK;
  2. Draenei is also a strong choice because of racial passive;
  3. Dwarf can be an interesting option because of Mace Specialization, if you want to see your character with two maces.
  1. Orc gives identical bonuses for Arms and Fury, so it’s the best choice for both specs;
  2. Troll looks the same, just a second minor option.

Protection

AllianceHorde
  1. Draenei is first one more time;
  2. Human – the same;
  3. Night Elf is your option if you searching for survivability with Quickness passive;
  4. Dwarfs also can be useful because of mace specialization and additional armor buff Stoneform.
  1. Orc and Troll are almost fully equal as choice for the Protection Warrior because of their racial abilities we talk about above.

WotLK Classic Warrior Consumables, Chants & Gems

All good players try as hard as they can to improve their character in all possible specific options. Right consumables, chants, and gems in total can bring you to another level on PvP, Dungeons, and raid runs.

Arms

GemsChantsConsumables

Fury

GemsChantsConsumables

Protection

GemsChantsConsumables

WotLK Classic Warrior Best Professions

As you can notice before, Arms and Fury specialization have a lot of similar options in various moments from stats to best races. The same and with profession choice, but in this time, Protection spec also has a similar option:

WotLK Classic Warrior Rotation

Now it’s time to get a simple overview of basic rotation for every specialization. Of course, feel free to change these lists if you want to change your gameplay, but if you doing your first steps for this class, try to start from the basics.

Arms

StandardAoE
  1. Keep WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Rend active on our main target;
  2. WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Sunder Armor use every time you don’t have other options to stack the effect;
  3. Use WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Overpower, especially after WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Taste for Blood procks;
  4. WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Bladestorm is the best DPS cooldown, try to use in combination with your trinkets;
  5. Use WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Execute above 20% HP when WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Sudden Death provides you with this option;
  6. WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Slam is main filler you will use between other abilities;
  7. Spend extra rage on WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Heroic Strike;
  8. Use WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Mortal Strike when you moving or can’t use Slam.
  1. Keep WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Rend active;
  2. Use WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Sweeping Strikes to replicate 5 melee swings;
  3. Use WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Overpower every time you can;
  4. Spam WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Thunder Clap for AoE damage;
  5. Combine WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Bladestorm with your trinkets;
  6. Use WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Cleave if you have the excess rage to deal with AoE situations;
  7. Spam WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Slam if you don’t have the best options.

Fury

StandardAoE
  1. Use WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Bloodthirst every time you can;
  2. Your second option WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Whirlwind affects up to 4 targets;
  3. Use WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Slam every time you can, especially if you can do instant cast;
  4. WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Heroic Strike should be cast only if you have excess rage;
  5. WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Execute is the lowest priority ability, even in execute phase.
  1. Whirlwind is your key choice for AoE fights;
  2. WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Bloodthirst is not so good in AoE, but still a nice option;
  3. Spam WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Slam when you can;
  4. Prefer WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Cleave to WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Heroic Strike in AoE situations;
  5. WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Execute is still a low priority.

Protection

  1. Shield Slam is your first option, especially if CD was refreshed;
  2. Also with WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Revenge;
  3. Use WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Shockwave for AoE damage;
  4. Stack WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Devastate every time you can;
  5. Cast WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Heroic Strike when you have extra rage.

WotLK Classic Warrior Phase 1 BiS

Even the biggest master of Warrior class can’t be the best without well-chosen gear. Below you can find lists that help you get pre-raid BiS and Phase 1 BiS.

WotLK Warrior Pre-Raid BiS

ArmsFuryProtection

WotLK Warrior Raid BiS

ArmsFuryProtection

WotLK Warrior PvP

If you are more interested in PvP, in WotLK you should take a look at Arms and Protection Warrior specialization, because Fury Warrior is still too weak for confrontations with opposite factions.

Arms

Arms Warrior has a great DPS and can help teammates with various utilities. Also, Bladestorm and WotLK Classic Warrior Guide Mortal Strike combined with other damage abilities and talents, make Arms Warrior a true machine of death.

2v2 comps3v3 comps
  • Warrior/ Paladin
  • Warrior / Warlock / Druid
  • Warrior / Paladin / Death Knight
  • Warrior / Paladin / Healer

Protection

Protection Warrior mixes high mobility and useful utilities with high defensive capabilities and good damage into a single target. Also, this spec has a wide pool of stuns, kicks, and other crowd control abilities that makes Prot Warrior in WotLK a more than a suitable teammate in various situations.

2v2 comps3v3 comps
  • Warrior/ Paladin
  • Warrior/ Rogue
  • Warrior/ Arms Warrior
  • Warrior/ Shaman
  • Warrior/ Paladin
  • Warrior/ Hunter/ Paladin
  • Warrior/ Shaman/ Paladin
  • Warrior/ Arms Warrior/ Paladin

WotLK Warrior Macros

Finally, little advice about macros that will be helpful in various situations regardless of your specialization.

Auto-Attack Macro

The main feature of every Physical DPS class helps you control effectively of your auto-attack realization:

#showtooltip Mortal Strike
/cast Mortal Strike
/startattack

Above you can see an example that should be added for every your ability.

Mouseover Sunder

This macro helps you cast Sunder Armor without target changing:

#showtooltip Sunder Armor
/cast [@mouseover] Sunder Armor


We hope this information helps you to choose your warrior’s way. Don’t forget to give us feedback if our WotLK Warrior guide was helpful for you.

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