faust
New Member
I have been working on what I hope to eventually become a warrior talent guide that will be stickied on the Blizzard warrior forums. This is a work in progress. I am posting this here as I am interested in getting your feedback.
I completely discounted any talent in the arms and fury trees at tiers 5+, as they would detract too much from more vital talents in the protection tree. If you feel that this assumption is not true I would be interested to hear your thoughts.
Any talents being discussed that are not in the Protection tree will have the tree in parenthesis after the talents name. For example: Deflection (Arms).
Tanking Talents
Must have talents
Shield Spec (5/5) -- Bonus rage, additional 5% more block, sets up imp shield block
Imp Shield Block (1/1) -- Grants an additional block whenever you use shield block (which is often, especially on boss fights).
Defiance (3/3) -- 15% additional threat in defensive stance
Last Stand (1/1) -- There are times when you need to be proactive about helping the priest keep you up. This single talent can save wipes.
Imp Sunder Armor (3/3) -- Sunder armor is a common ability used to initially generate threat.
Toughness (5/5) -- Scales with gear, and increases one of our most vital statistics... armor.
Deflection (Arms) (5/5) -- 5% additional parry, means 5% melee damage taken
Nice to have talents
Imp Bloodrage (2/2) -- When you need rage, you need all you can get
Anticipation (5/5) -- While +defense does suffer from diminishing returns at some point, for many this is highly useful
Imp Taunt (2/2) -- More taunts, more often. While primarily useful against trash mobs, it can save wipes when things go wrong.
Concussion Blow (2/2) -- A 5 second stun on a 45 second cool down, an excellent ability that has a number of applications. Does not work against bosses, otherwise it would be considered a must have.
Shield Mastery (3/3) -- Increases amount of damage blocked by 30%, a very solid tanking ability.
One Handed Weapon Specialization (5/5) -- More damage helps hold aggro when you sword and board.
Imp Defensive Stance (3/3) -- Reduces magic damage taken in defensive stance by 6%. Since many bosses and trash mobs use magical attacks, this is an excellent ability. Some would consider this a must have talent.
Focused Rage (3/3) -- Reduces the rage cost of all offensive abilities by 3 rage, an incredible talent.
Shield Slam (1/1) -- This ability is the fastest threat generation ability we have (threat/second), an excellent rage dump.
Devastate (1/1) -- Once all 5 sunders have been applied, it not only resets the time at which the sunders will expire, but it also generates more threat/rage and threat/sec than sunder armor. Additionally it allows you to help do more damage to the target.
Cruelty (Fury) (5/5) -- More critical hits help generate additional rage and threat.
Unbridled Wrath (Fury) (5/5) -- Additional rage allows you to perform more actions
Piercing Howl (Fury) (1/1) -- An AoE daze (slows mobs) and threat generator that does not break crowd control.
Imp Thunder Clap (Arms) (3/3) -- Increases the damage (threat) and rage cost of thunder clap, our stample AoE aggro generation ability.
Anger Management (Arms) (1/1) -- Grants 1 rage / 3 seconds.
Other useful talents
Tactical Mastery (*/3) -- There are only two abilities that warriors might want to use while tanking that can't be used in defensive stance: overpower and execute. Overpower shares a cool down with revenge, which marginalizes it's utility. Execute is far more situationally used to help kill bosses quickly (when quickly killing a boss that is already below 20% health is a must).
Imp Revenge (3/3) -- 45% chance to stun is nice, but only works on trash mobs. Stunned mobs don't hit you, reducing your rage generation.
Imp Disarm (3/3) -- An additional 3 seconds of disarm, only works on some trash mobs. Many see this as a waste of talent points.
Imp Shield Wall (2/2) -- Increases the length of shield wall by 50% (5 seconds), too bad it's on a 30 minute cool down.
Imp Shield Bash (2/2) -- 100% chance to silence target for 3 seconds. Useful against some bosses and trash mobs.
Vitality (5/5) -- More stamina and strength, never a bad thing.
Imp Demoralizing Shout (Fury) (5/5) -- Reduces the attack power of all melee mobs by an additional 120 AP (@ 70).
Blood Craze (Fury) (3/3) -- Restores 3% of health over 6 seconds when a mob critically hits you.
Enrage (Fury) (X/5) -- Increases your damage done by x*5% over the next 12 seconds/swings whenever you are critically hit.
Imp Heroic Strike (Arms) (3/3) -- Makes this rage dump more rage efficient.
Imp Charge (Arms) (2/2) -- Grants an additional 6 rage when you can charge, situational as many pulls do not allow warriors to charge.
Tanking Talent Specs
Arms 5/Fury 0/Prot 54 + 2 Deep Protection
This spec is all about maximizing the warrior's protection abilities. I think that some compromises can be made from this spec that add additional utility (as shown in later specs).
Arms 8/Fury 5/Prot 47 + 1 Deep Protection + Imp Thunder Clap
With thunder clap becoming usable in defensive stance, this ability becomes more important than ever for multiple mob pulls. It also increases the warrior's crit chance by 5% which not only increases damage, but more importantly means more rage and threat generation.
Arms 11/Fury 5/Prot 42 + 3 Deep Protection + Imp Thunder Clap + Anger Management
This spec is much like the one above, except that it sacrifices vitality to get anger management. I am not sure, but I strongly suspect that 10% more strength will give the warrior more rage over time than is provided by anger management when the warrior is able to hit his target. In situations where the warrior is stunned or otherwise under crowd control a great deal anger management will be superior. However it is also important to note, that the warrior is sacrificing both stamina and will have a smaller block value on each shield block.
Arms 5/Fury 14/Prot 41 + 1 Protection + Piercing Howl + Blood Craze
Sacrifices both Vitality and Devastate in order to gain piercing howl, unbridled wrath, and blood craze. Blood craze gives the warrior a form of regeneration, which can help ease the healer's job.
Arms 5/Fury 19/Prot 37 Protection + Enrage
Since you will be critically hit a great deal, this compromises additional talents in the protection tree in order to deal additional damage, which in turn generates additional threat and rage generation.
I completely discounted any talent in the arms and fury trees at tiers 5+, as they would detract too much from more vital talents in the protection tree. If you feel that this assumption is not true I would be interested to hear your thoughts.
Any talents being discussed that are not in the Protection tree will have the tree in parenthesis after the talents name. For example: Deflection (Arms).
Tanking Talents
Must have talents
Shield Spec (5/5) -- Bonus rage, additional 5% more block, sets up imp shield block
Imp Shield Block (1/1) -- Grants an additional block whenever you use shield block (which is often, especially on boss fights).
Defiance (3/3) -- 15% additional threat in defensive stance
Last Stand (1/1) -- There are times when you need to be proactive about helping the priest keep you up. This single talent can save wipes.
Imp Sunder Armor (3/3) -- Sunder armor is a common ability used to initially generate threat.
Toughness (5/5) -- Scales with gear, and increases one of our most vital statistics... armor.
Deflection (Arms) (5/5) -- 5% additional parry, means 5% melee damage taken
Nice to have talents
Imp Bloodrage (2/2) -- When you need rage, you need all you can get
Anticipation (5/5) -- While +defense does suffer from diminishing returns at some point, for many this is highly useful
Imp Taunt (2/2) -- More taunts, more often. While primarily useful against trash mobs, it can save wipes when things go wrong.
Concussion Blow (2/2) -- A 5 second stun on a 45 second cool down, an excellent ability that has a number of applications. Does not work against bosses, otherwise it would be considered a must have.
Shield Mastery (3/3) -- Increases amount of damage blocked by 30%, a very solid tanking ability.
One Handed Weapon Specialization (5/5) -- More damage helps hold aggro when you sword and board.
Imp Defensive Stance (3/3) -- Reduces magic damage taken in defensive stance by 6%. Since many bosses and trash mobs use magical attacks, this is an excellent ability. Some would consider this a must have talent.
Focused Rage (3/3) -- Reduces the rage cost of all offensive abilities by 3 rage, an incredible talent.
Shield Slam (1/1) -- This ability is the fastest threat generation ability we have (threat/second), an excellent rage dump.
Devastate (1/1) -- Once all 5 sunders have been applied, it not only resets the time at which the sunders will expire, but it also generates more threat/rage and threat/sec than sunder armor. Additionally it allows you to help do more damage to the target.
Cruelty (Fury) (5/5) -- More critical hits help generate additional rage and threat.
Unbridled Wrath (Fury) (5/5) -- Additional rage allows you to perform more actions
Piercing Howl (Fury) (1/1) -- An AoE daze (slows mobs) and threat generator that does not break crowd control.
Imp Thunder Clap (Arms) (3/3) -- Increases the damage (threat) and rage cost of thunder clap, our stample AoE aggro generation ability.
Anger Management (Arms) (1/1) -- Grants 1 rage / 3 seconds.
Other useful talents
Tactical Mastery (*/3) -- There are only two abilities that warriors might want to use while tanking that can't be used in defensive stance: overpower and execute. Overpower shares a cool down with revenge, which marginalizes it's utility. Execute is far more situationally used to help kill bosses quickly (when quickly killing a boss that is already below 20% health is a must).
Imp Revenge (3/3) -- 45% chance to stun is nice, but only works on trash mobs. Stunned mobs don't hit you, reducing your rage generation.
Imp Disarm (3/3) -- An additional 3 seconds of disarm, only works on some trash mobs. Many see this as a waste of talent points.
Imp Shield Wall (2/2) -- Increases the length of shield wall by 50% (5 seconds), too bad it's on a 30 minute cool down.
Imp Shield Bash (2/2) -- 100% chance to silence target for 3 seconds. Useful against some bosses and trash mobs.
Vitality (5/5) -- More stamina and strength, never a bad thing.
Imp Demoralizing Shout (Fury) (5/5) -- Reduces the attack power of all melee mobs by an additional 120 AP (@ 70).
Blood Craze (Fury) (3/3) -- Restores 3% of health over 6 seconds when a mob critically hits you.
Enrage (Fury) (X/5) -- Increases your damage done by x*5% over the next 12 seconds/swings whenever you are critically hit.
Imp Heroic Strike (Arms) (3/3) -- Makes this rage dump more rage efficient.
Imp Charge (Arms) (2/2) -- Grants an additional 6 rage when you can charge, situational as many pulls do not allow warriors to charge.
Tanking Talent Specs
Arms 5/Fury 0/Prot 54 + 2 Deep Protection
This spec is all about maximizing the warrior's protection abilities. I think that some compromises can be made from this spec that add additional utility (as shown in later specs).
Arms 8/Fury 5/Prot 47 + 1 Deep Protection + Imp Thunder Clap
With thunder clap becoming usable in defensive stance, this ability becomes more important than ever for multiple mob pulls. It also increases the warrior's crit chance by 5% which not only increases damage, but more importantly means more rage and threat generation.
Arms 11/Fury 5/Prot 42 + 3 Deep Protection + Imp Thunder Clap + Anger Management
This spec is much like the one above, except that it sacrifices vitality to get anger management. I am not sure, but I strongly suspect that 10% more strength will give the warrior more rage over time than is provided by anger management when the warrior is able to hit his target. In situations where the warrior is stunned or otherwise under crowd control a great deal anger management will be superior. However it is also important to note, that the warrior is sacrificing both stamina and will have a smaller block value on each shield block.
Arms 5/Fury 14/Prot 41 + 1 Protection + Piercing Howl + Blood Craze
Sacrifices both Vitality and Devastate in order to gain piercing howl, unbridled wrath, and blood craze. Blood craze gives the warrior a form of regeneration, which can help ease the healer's job.
Arms 5/Fury 19/Prot 37 Protection + Enrage
Since you will be critically hit a great deal, this compromises additional talents in the protection tree in order to deal additional damage, which in turn generates additional threat and rage generation.
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We'll see though, I'm falling in love with Arms more & more.
