Chops
Soccer Dad
This guide is intended to serve as a comprehensive look at pure f2p warriors. We will look at everything from race selection, spec and talent choices, stat priorities and gear, and play style tips. While the guide will primarily focus on Warrior performance with an eye towards pvp, considerations for pve will be given where they are relevant. So, without further ado... lets go!
Race Selection:
Every race in World of Warcraft can be a warrior, and we're gonna go through all of them. So this is gonna get long. Grab a drink.
Alliance:
Human - Every Man For Himself clears all stuns, has a 2 min cooldown and shares a 90 second CD with similar effects. This will give you a slightly faster trinket effect, provided every second CC you want to clear is a stun. The extra 2% secondary stats from all sources is so small it might as well not even exist.
Dwarf - Stoneform is an excellent defensive CD and, as well, can be used to clear roots so you can save your trinket for stuns/fears. Dwarves also get a 2% dmg/healing increase to crits. Further, Dwarf starting stats are some of the highest for warriors.
Gnome - Escape Artist is a strong racial on a short cooldown. And the 1% haste buff gnomes get cant be ignored. But they start with lower strength and stam numbers than other races. The haste makes up for it if you're speccing Fury, but if you're building around big crits, that might make Gnome a nonstarter.
Worgen - Darkflight is a 10 second sprint on a 2 minute cooldown, which works great as an engage/disengage tool as well as the obvious chase utility. The 1% extra crit chance aint shabby either.
Night Elf - While Shadowmeld is extremely gimmicky, it does cause your opponent to drop you as a target which can be used as a soft "interrupt" which F2P warriors dont otherwise have. This can be a game winner in arena, though its efficacy in BGs is significantly reduced. The 2% chance to dodge can be pretty decent mitigation, and the 2% movement speed that closes the gap between F2Ps and the speed enchants vets/29s have. The bonus to crit/haste (depending on time of day) is a nice perk too.
Draenei - Gift of the Naaru is a decent heal but its on a 3 min CD, which means it cant really be seen as a part of your kit. And the bracket is so bursty, its never going to save you. The extra 3 strength you get from Heroic Presence is silly too. Dont roll a Draenei warrior.
Horde:
Orc - Blood Fury provides a meager 13 extra attack power on a 2 minute CD. But the glowy red effects scare people and they tend to panic when you use it, so there's that. The real kicker here is Hardiness, which reduces stun duration by 20%. A solid percentage of the CC in our bracket is stuns, so this is a great racial. 20% is huge. You're gonna eat rogues for lunch.
Undead - Will Of The Forsaken will clear fears, charms and sleeps and shares a 30 second CD with similar effects. This is actually pretty good because the shared CD isnt super long like Every Man For Himself and getting feared is decently rare enough that you should have this up every time. Touch Of The Grave is another compelling racial. Its essentially a small lifesteal that scales off your attack power and versatility, which can add a little bit to a fury warriors already decent sustain.
Tauren - War Stomp is one of the best CC tools in the bracket, especially if you dove into the thick of things. F2P warriors lack any kind of CC, so this very nicely fills that gap. As well, Tauren receive a bonus 8 stam and a 2% bonus to crit dmg and heals. Plus you just look super cool.
Troll - Trolls get a native 20% reduction to roots, snares and slows which is pretty sick and then Berserking gives you a 10% haste buff for 12 seconds. It sucks that this is on a 3 minute CD, but its still a hell of a damage buff, especially for Fury warriors.
Blood Elf - No
Goblin - Rocket Jump is an exceptional ability for a warrior looking for a bit more mobility. Or, if you goof up, it makes for a great disengage tool. Like their counterpart gnomes, goblins also get a 1% haste bonus. Both of which make for a solid warrior choice.
Both:
Pandaren - As I've mentioned, F2P warriors lack any meaningful CC, so Quaking Palm nicely fills that gap. As well, Pandaren get a 100% bonus to well fed effects, meaning food buffs are doubly as good, which can provide a stout amount of stam and vers from various foods.
Every race in World of Warcraft can be a warrior, and we're gonna go through all of them. So this is gonna get long. Grab a drink.
Alliance:
Human - Every Man For Himself clears all stuns, has a 2 min cooldown and shares a 90 second CD with similar effects. This will give you a slightly faster trinket effect, provided every second CC you want to clear is a stun. The extra 2% secondary stats from all sources is so small it might as well not even exist.
Dwarf - Stoneform is an excellent defensive CD and, as well, can be used to clear roots so you can save your trinket for stuns/fears. Dwarves also get a 2% dmg/healing increase to crits. Further, Dwarf starting stats are some of the highest for warriors.
Gnome - Escape Artist is a strong racial on a short cooldown. And the 1% haste buff gnomes get cant be ignored. But they start with lower strength and stam numbers than other races. The haste makes up for it if you're speccing Fury, but if you're building around big crits, that might make Gnome a nonstarter.
Worgen - Darkflight is a 10 second sprint on a 2 minute cooldown, which works great as an engage/disengage tool as well as the obvious chase utility. The 1% extra crit chance aint shabby either.
Night Elf - While Shadowmeld is extremely gimmicky, it does cause your opponent to drop you as a target which can be used as a soft "interrupt" which F2P warriors dont otherwise have. This can be a game winner in arena, though its efficacy in BGs is significantly reduced. The 2% chance to dodge can be pretty decent mitigation, and the 2% movement speed that closes the gap between F2Ps and the speed enchants vets/29s have. The bonus to crit/haste (depending on time of day) is a nice perk too.
Draenei - Gift of the Naaru is a decent heal but its on a 3 min CD, which means it cant really be seen as a part of your kit. And the bracket is so bursty, its never going to save you. The extra 3 strength you get from Heroic Presence is silly too. Dont roll a Draenei warrior.
Horde:
Orc - Blood Fury provides a meager 13 extra attack power on a 2 minute CD. But the glowy red effects scare people and they tend to panic when you use it, so there's that. The real kicker here is Hardiness, which reduces stun duration by 20%. A solid percentage of the CC in our bracket is stuns, so this is a great racial. 20% is huge. You're gonna eat rogues for lunch.
Undead - Will Of The Forsaken will clear fears, charms and sleeps and shares a 30 second CD with similar effects. This is actually pretty good because the shared CD isnt super long like Every Man For Himself and getting feared is decently rare enough that you should have this up every time. Touch Of The Grave is another compelling racial. Its essentially a small lifesteal that scales off your attack power and versatility, which can add a little bit to a fury warriors already decent sustain.
Tauren - War Stomp is one of the best CC tools in the bracket, especially if you dove into the thick of things. F2P warriors lack any kind of CC, so this very nicely fills that gap. As well, Tauren receive a bonus 8 stam and a 2% bonus to crit dmg and heals. Plus you just look super cool.
Troll - Trolls get a native 20% reduction to roots, snares and slows which is pretty sick and then Berserking gives you a 10% haste buff for 12 seconds. It sucks that this is on a 3 minute CD, but its still a hell of a damage buff, especially for Fury warriors.
Blood Elf - No
Goblin - Rocket Jump is an exceptional ability for a warrior looking for a bit more mobility. Or, if you goof up, it makes for a great disengage tool. Like their counterpart gnomes, goblins also get a 1% haste bonus. Both of which make for a solid warrior choice.
Both:
Pandaren - As I've mentioned, F2P warriors lack any meaningful CC, so Quaking Palm nicely fills that gap. As well, Pandaren get a 100% bonus to well fed effects, meaning food buffs are doubly as good, which can provide a stout amount of stam and vers from various foods.
Specs:
Warriors have 2 dps specs and one tank spec to choose from. F2P warriors are unable to meaningfully stack stam in any way, so ultimately trying to play prot outside of dungeon runs is folly. So we're gonna cover the differences between the DPS specs, Arms and Fury.
Arms - Blizzards stated purpose with arms is to create the feel of a seasoned soldier. Arms is your well trained, highly disciplined master of melee combat tactics and strategy. They wield a single 2 handed weapon and succeed when their dps burst is timed well. Pool your rage and use Overpower to build up 40% extra damage on your Mortal Strike. Then smash your opponent with MS and dump your rage with Slam. Hope for a Sudden Death proc and Execute your way to victory. Arms is entirely about being patient and then bursting your opponent down in a well timed window.
Fury - Blizzard wants Fury to feel reckless and bloodthirsty. You swing a 2 handed weapon in each hand, using Bloodthirst and Raging Blow to build rage before you dump it with Rampage, then start over. Pooling rage and holding onto abilities will actually lower your DPS as fury. Theres no well timed window. You put the damage pedal on the floor and dont let up.
Warriors have 2 dps specs and one tank spec to choose from. F2P warriors are unable to meaningfully stack stam in any way, so ultimately trying to play prot outside of dungeon runs is folly. So we're gonna cover the differences between the DPS specs, Arms and Fury.
Arms - Blizzards stated purpose with arms is to create the feel of a seasoned soldier. Arms is your well trained, highly disciplined master of melee combat tactics and strategy. They wield a single 2 handed weapon and succeed when their dps burst is timed well. Pool your rage and use Overpower to build up 40% extra damage on your Mortal Strike. Then smash your opponent with MS and dump your rage with Slam. Hope for a Sudden Death proc and Execute your way to victory. Arms is entirely about being patient and then bursting your opponent down in a well timed window.
Fury - Blizzard wants Fury to feel reckless and bloodthirsty. You swing a 2 handed weapon in each hand, using Bloodthirst and Raging Blow to build rage before you dump it with Rampage, then start over. Pooling rage and holding onto abilities will actually lower your DPS as fury. Theres no well timed window. You put the damage pedal on the floor and dont let up.
Gearing:
Since F2P dont really have much in the way of gearing choices, saying you should "prioritize strength" is somewhat silly. Outside of a few pieces from the Krom'Gar Quartermaster, there aren't any high strength pieces we can get. And those from the quartermaster sacrifice so much in the way of survivability that they're not really worth it.
The only place you can really make the choice between strength and secondary stats is on jewelry. Necklaces and rings from random dungeon satchels will have less haste/versatility/crit (4-5 total stat points) and 4 strength. Necks and rings from dungeons will have no strength, but significantly more haste/vers/crit points (11-12 total stat points).
Arms Gearing - Your stat priority as arms is Crit > Vers > Haste. The reasoning behind this is that the entire spec is built around big, juicy damage spikes from Mortal Strike and Execute. The more these crit, the better. Haste will cause your Sudden Death to proc a little more frequently, but Haste is a little too hard to stack at this level for it to make much of a difference.
Gear set: Please note that some of these items are seasonal event rewards. You may have to wait to get them. Where appropriate, I will list "starter items" you can use while you wait for these, as well as starter items for gear slots where BiS might take some considerable random dungeon/BG farming. Also, wowhead is a little funky on level scaling and the items may not show at their correct ilvl.
Head - Blackfathom Ascendant's Helm
Neck - Winking Eye of Love, Tumultuous Necklace of the Quickblade, Hematite Tortoise Pendant (starter)
Shoulder - Turnkey's Pauldrons, Lord Pythas' Pauldrons
Back - Sporid Cape
Chest - Mutant Breastplate (starter), Front-Line Breastplate of the Quickblade (ilvl 26)
Wrist - Collarspike Bracers
Gloves - Gloves of the Greymane Wall
Belt - Cast Iron Waistplate
Pants - Domina's Deathmaw Greaves
Boots - Aku'Mai Worshipper's Greatboots,
Rings - Deep Fathom Ring, Murloc Oppressors Band, Tumultuous/Recruit's Signet of the Quickblade
Trinkets - Coren's Cold Chromium Coaster, Brawler's Statue, Swift Hand of Justice (starter)
Weapon - Reef Axe (starter), Recruits Decapitator of the Quickblade (ilvl 26)
Fury Gearing - Furys stat priority is Haste > Vers > Crit. Haste only up to a point though. You want your CD on bloodthirst to be 4 seconds. After that, you can stop adding haste. The reasoning behind this is most of Furys damage comes from Enrage. The more often you're Enraged, the better your output. Once you've hit the 4 second mark, you can either stack more haste or starting putting points into more vers. I really wouldnt worry about crit too much but hey, you do you.
Gear set: Please note that some of these items are seasonal event rewards. You may have to wait to get them. Where appropriate, I will list "starter items" you can use while you wait for these, as well as starter items for gear slots where BiS might take some considerable random dungeon/BG farming. Also, wowhead is a little funky on level scaling and the items may not show at their correct ilvl.
Head - Blackfathom Ascendant's Helm
Neck - Shard of Pirouetting Happiness, Tumultuous Necklace of the Aurora, Hook Charm Necklace (starter)
Shoulder - Missing Diplomats Pauldrons
Back - Cape of the Brotherhood
Chest - Flameseared Carapace (starter), Front-line Breastplate of the Aurora (ilvl 26)
Wrist - Collarspike Bracers (starter), Front-line Armplates of the Aurora (ilvl 26)
Gloves - Skeletal Gauntlets
Belt - Cast Iron Waistplate
Pants - Dominas Deathmaw Greaves
Boots - Savage Trodders (starter), Front-Line Warboots of the Aurora (ilvl 26)
Rings - Silverlaine's Family Seal, Wicked Witch's Signet, Murloc Oppressors Band (starter), Tumultuous/Recruit's Signet of the Aurora
Trinkets - Coren's Cold Chromium Coaster, Brawler's Statue, Swift Hand of Justice
Weapons - Haunting Blade, Recruits Decapitator of the Aurora (ilvl 26)
Since F2P dont really have much in the way of gearing choices, saying you should "prioritize strength" is somewhat silly. Outside of a few pieces from the Krom'Gar Quartermaster, there aren't any high strength pieces we can get. And those from the quartermaster sacrifice so much in the way of survivability that they're not really worth it.
The only place you can really make the choice between strength and secondary stats is on jewelry. Necklaces and rings from random dungeon satchels will have less haste/versatility/crit (4-5 total stat points) and 4 strength. Necks and rings from dungeons will have no strength, but significantly more haste/vers/crit points (11-12 total stat points).
Arms Gearing - Your stat priority as arms is Crit > Vers > Haste. The reasoning behind this is that the entire spec is built around big, juicy damage spikes from Mortal Strike and Execute. The more these crit, the better. Haste will cause your Sudden Death to proc a little more frequently, but Haste is a little too hard to stack at this level for it to make much of a difference.
Gear set: Please note that some of these items are seasonal event rewards. You may have to wait to get them. Where appropriate, I will list "starter items" you can use while you wait for these, as well as starter items for gear slots where BiS might take some considerable random dungeon/BG farming. Also, wowhead is a little funky on level scaling and the items may not show at their correct ilvl.
Head - Blackfathom Ascendant's Helm
Neck - Winking Eye of Love, Tumultuous Necklace of the Quickblade, Hematite Tortoise Pendant (starter)
Shoulder - Turnkey's Pauldrons, Lord Pythas' Pauldrons
Back - Sporid Cape
Chest - Mutant Breastplate (starter), Front-Line Breastplate of the Quickblade (ilvl 26)
Wrist - Collarspike Bracers
Gloves - Gloves of the Greymane Wall
Belt - Cast Iron Waistplate
Pants - Domina's Deathmaw Greaves
Boots - Aku'Mai Worshipper's Greatboots,
Rings - Deep Fathom Ring, Murloc Oppressors Band, Tumultuous/Recruit's Signet of the Quickblade
Trinkets - Coren's Cold Chromium Coaster, Brawler's Statue, Swift Hand of Justice (starter)
Weapon - Reef Axe (starter), Recruits Decapitator of the Quickblade (ilvl 26)
Fury Gearing - Furys stat priority is Haste > Vers > Crit. Haste only up to a point though. You want your CD on bloodthirst to be 4 seconds. After that, you can stop adding haste. The reasoning behind this is most of Furys damage comes from Enrage. The more often you're Enraged, the better your output. Once you've hit the 4 second mark, you can either stack more haste or starting putting points into more vers. I really wouldnt worry about crit too much but hey, you do you.
Gear set: Please note that some of these items are seasonal event rewards. You may have to wait to get them. Where appropriate, I will list "starter items" you can use while you wait for these, as well as starter items for gear slots where BiS might take some considerable random dungeon/BG farming. Also, wowhead is a little funky on level scaling and the items may not show at their correct ilvl.
Head - Blackfathom Ascendant's Helm
Neck - Shard of Pirouetting Happiness, Tumultuous Necklace of the Aurora, Hook Charm Necklace (starter)
Shoulder - Missing Diplomats Pauldrons
Back - Cape of the Brotherhood
Chest - Flameseared Carapace (starter), Front-line Breastplate of the Aurora (ilvl 26)
Wrist - Collarspike Bracers (starter), Front-line Armplates of the Aurora (ilvl 26)
Gloves - Skeletal Gauntlets
Belt - Cast Iron Waistplate
Pants - Dominas Deathmaw Greaves
Boots - Savage Trodders (starter), Front-Line Warboots of the Aurora (ilvl 26)
Rings - Silverlaine's Family Seal, Wicked Witch's Signet, Murloc Oppressors Band (starter), Tumultuous/Recruit's Signet of the Aurora
Trinkets - Coren's Cold Chromium Coaster, Brawler's Statue, Swift Hand of Justice
Weapons - Haunting Blade, Recruits Decapitator of the Aurora (ilvl 26)
Game play:
F2P warriors have a limited kit, with no meaningful crowd control, no real disengage potential and no interrupts/silences. It's important to keep in mind that you are a pure, undiluted DPS class. So, in no particular order, here are some pvp tips that will help improve your experience.
1 - Dont use charge as an engage. A number of classes (as well as any Goblin) have an ability that will disengage. If you charge into a mage who then frost novas and blinks, you're hosed. But if you run up on said mage who then frost novas and blinks, you have a charge to close that gap. Save your charge when possible.
2 - The only damage that matters is the damage that finishes the job. You lack the burst potential of a warrior with crusader, but execute still hits like a truck. Be on the look out for targets at low health, even if youre engaged with a different one. Breaking off your target to secure a kill on a different one is a way better use of your kit.
3 - Hug a healer. Even without crusader, your damage cant be ignored. Enemies wailing on your healer OR enemy healers will have to deal with you and that can buy your team alot of opportunities. You aren't going to be the guy topping the KBs/DMG chart, so look for places where you can be useful and disruptive.
4 - Hug your team. Vet and 29 warriors can overextend and be fine. You dont have that luxury. Stay within range of your team and DONT let the enemy bait you into chasing and overextending. Play cautiously. Sure, it sucks, but this is the f2p life you've chosen.
5 - If you're arms, your best bet is to team up with whatever teammate is being responsible and locking down healers. Mortal Strikes debuff doesnt rely on enchants or gear to work, so apply it liberally.
6 - Not warrior specific but jesus, press Shift+M to bring up your minimap. Know where your team is and where objectives are.
F2P warriors have a limited kit, with no meaningful crowd control, no real disengage potential and no interrupts/silences. It's important to keep in mind that you are a pure, undiluted DPS class. So, in no particular order, here are some pvp tips that will help improve your experience.
1 - Dont use charge as an engage. A number of classes (as well as any Goblin) have an ability that will disengage. If you charge into a mage who then frost novas and blinks, you're hosed. But if you run up on said mage who then frost novas and blinks, you have a charge to close that gap. Save your charge when possible.
2 - The only damage that matters is the damage that finishes the job. You lack the burst potential of a warrior with crusader, but execute still hits like a truck. Be on the look out for targets at low health, even if youre engaged with a different one. Breaking off your target to secure a kill on a different one is a way better use of your kit.
3 - Hug a healer. Even without crusader, your damage cant be ignored. Enemies wailing on your healer OR enemy healers will have to deal with you and that can buy your team alot of opportunities. You aren't going to be the guy topping the KBs/DMG chart, so look for places where you can be useful and disruptive.
4 - Hug your team. Vet and 29 warriors can overextend and be fine. You dont have that luxury. Stay within range of your team and DONT let the enemy bait you into chasing and overextending. Play cautiously. Sure, it sucks, but this is the f2p life you've chosen.
5 - If you're arms, your best bet is to team up with whatever teammate is being responsible and locking down healers. Mortal Strikes debuff doesnt rely on enchants or gear to work, so apply it liberally.
6 - Not warrior specific but jesus, press Shift+M to bring up your minimap. Know where your team is and where objectives are.
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