leveling 40 -> 49 as a warry in pvp

[Bansil]

hey there,

currently i'm playing a warry in XP BGs. i just hit lvl 40 and got the two archaedas weapons (stoneslayer/rockpounder). i was arms since i was able to spec 3/3 TfB, but atm i think it is time for a change.



while the two 2H weapons are great for a lvl 40 arms warry, i think it could be a good idea to try fury once again (had a 29 fury in BC). mortal strike is nice to have, but i find myself a lil squishy. since juggernaut and unrelenting assault is out of reach atm i think i can benefit from bloodthirst (glyphed) and blood craze a lil more.



in random XB BGs there is not much heal incoming, so i rely on CD usage to survive. 6% HP every 4sec + blood craze sounds pretty awesome. in combination with death wish and lot's of rage i think i can make a good use of zerker stance.



opinions?



i know that fury also depends a lot on your weapon...well, i have the MZF/sader + the 38 WSG sword (as human). i can't get much help with farming gear, so i don't think i will get the gryphon hammer instantly. i have the vanquisher too, but i think the slower speed/higher topend of WSG sword makes it superior.



i would love to try prot, but i miss a viable shield (got marbled buckler/18stam) + it is even more kiteable than arms.



so what do you guys think is the best bet when just hit lvl 40?

goin fury or prot until juggernaut + more gear + maybe a cleaver hits the game?

 

[Falkor]

i would just stay arms.



fury is the weakest 49 spec, and @ 40 you will be missing WAY too much.



prot is good, but you admit you lack the gear. even with your shield it adds survivability...but i would prolly just stick with arms

 

[Ohpee]

I actually just did this, leveled my semi 39 (ex 29) twink war up through bgs. First thing i did was pug Ulda, honestly i was hoping for the mace but the sword dropped instead... BEST bad luck ever lol.



I tried all specs, including 2h fury (ugh...) and arms is just too good to pass up. Yes juggernaut is godly and it makes arms just a dream to play but you can get by just fine with intercept (lookup arenajunkies for a awesome automatic battle charge > fury intercept one button macro).



Sword spec is alot better than i expected tbh and ive had some insane mortal strike > auto attack > sword spec triple crits which drops just about anything. MS hits harder than bloodthirst by a lot and tbh the extra healing from that + bloodcraze didnt seem to make awhole lot of difference (i actually notice second winds healing more... maybe cause i like to beat on mages/druids).



Prot was ok but to get the most out of it you really have to invest the gold for enchants/gear and i wasnt really willing to go any further than a crusader enchant on my current weapon considering im leveling (and damn fast, alliance win ratio is like 90% on BG9).



I had an insane amount of fun though and i dreaded leaving the bracket for fear of being dominated by dks all day long. Thankfully, atleast in my bg, dks seem to be dying off in 59s and ive had several games without even one .

 

[Bansil]

well, i did it today.

everytime i entered a BG i said to myself "the next one, you'll be fury"... and the it happened, i picked up the gryphon hammer, got sader on it (using it together with MZF/sader), changed the spec and glyphes and entered the battles.



tbh, fury is able to blast out a HUGE amount of burst if you are able to start the fight with full rage and in zerker. but thats it. no stance dance, no control, no burst... nothing. im not goin to test prot after that... i will just wait for juggernaut. period.



tomorrow ill switch back to arms again!



whats your opinion rockpounder <-> stoneslayer?

i used the sword, but i would like to see the performance of the mace. but it needs another enchant, so is it worth it?

 

[Falkor]

i liked stoneslayer with sword spec. the proc rate didnt blow me away, but it was decent.



my prefered wep is the BoA axe.



mace spec is nice since you get 15% armor pen from talents and 10% from battle stance which means you get a bit less than 25% armor pen w/o even gearing for it. very nice for druids in bear/plate wearers etc.

 

[tweedledum]

[item]The Judge's Gavel[/item] + pre-wrath mace spec was lol, mini-stormherald go go

 

[Bansil]

atm im testing out the mace/sav with a hamstring build...but tbh, i think the sword with a trauma build is the better choice. just a feeling, did not test it in theramore.

 

[Ohpee]

You specced for trauma? Can i ask why?



War Build



Was my build at 49, using stoneslayer. I suppose i could of dropped the 2 in imp MS for trauma (?) but i had MS glyph which stacks nicely... Erm. My rends ticked for oh, bout 150ish and deepwounds bout 35ish... +30% doesnt seem worth it... Perhaps i missed something.



I liked sword spec, the proc rate isnt omgoverpowered or anything but it was enough to make me not waste money on executioners/kang. I should mention that im playing a dranei war with herbalism so survivability/healing wasnt usually an issue (speaking of overpowered, shieldwall + gift of naru + lifeblood = going from 10% hp to 100% while a rogue or two continues to beat on you).



I also find imp hamstring extremely situational... Again maybe its just me but once i got someone in hamstring they werent going anywhere anyways. Aside from faps/HoF which imp hamstring wouldnt help anyways. I GUESS it could be usefull vs hunters (can they disengage while imp hammied?) but meh.

 

[Bansil]

mh, i never tried the hamstring talent and the glyph, so i picked both just to see if it is cool enough...but it isnt after some BGs of testing.



i used to run around with glyph of rending, which increases its duration by 6secs. with a sader proc and trauma thats some pretty decent dmg while getting kited. if not getting kited my chances to win are pretty good anyways^^



and is imp MS really that useful? i almost just use it for the debuff... it is way to expensive imo. i use to joust with OP and WW most of the time, as there are more than one target in range anyways. 6% more dmg on MS is nice to have, but im not sure if it is worth the 2 points.



1/3 tactical mastery is a no go for me...while it grants an instant disarm, it does not grant stance dance WWs.



well, maybe ill finish this bracket as an arms/sword warry. seems to work best after all. if i can get a cleaver ill go for the hit, but im not willing to pay lots of gold for it + enchant.



are DKs a really big prob in 59? or is the next fun accessible at lvl 60 or due to a new char?

 

[Falkor]

trauma is win.

imp ms sucks balls.

talenting/glyphing for hamstring can be ok, but i was never a fan (also remember the talents&glyph are actually a bit less than 25% chance per application, but still pretty high if you like to spam it)



standard warrior build for me Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft for other wep. specs, just switch axe spec out.



i leveled through the 59s recently and no DKs are not a big problem. they are not as prevalent as when LK 1st launched and were actually pretty rare from my experience. of course your experience will vary based on BG and such...but overall, no they're not an issue

 

[Ohpee]

Playstyle preference i suppose. I use MS ALOT so for me the extra damage and the cd reduction were a good choice. Personally i only use zerk stance for intercept and the occasional pummel (though with stance swap macros i find defence > shield bash to work better). I dont rate whirlwind very high in 49s, 59s its fun to pop reck > sstrikes > whirlwind but even then its for the luls.



Weapon mastery? Seems like the +2% chance to not get dodged just hurts your overpower procs which is ultimately what arms is all about at this level. Granted the -50% duration on disarm is nice, especially vs luldismantle.



Rend glyph + trauma, i can see the logic in that... I just cant bring myself to get rid of glyph of overpower and again, mortal strike glyph. With my racial and lifeblood i found i was able to solo fcs with multiple healers. For that to work i needed the very best damage, rage generation and for MS to be up as much as possible.



Falkor is right about dks in 59s. I thought they were gonna be a huge issue but it seems not. No longer are you flooded with budget 59 twink dks in the bracket.

 

[Falkor]

Playstyle preference i suppose. I use MS ALOT so for me the extra damage and the cd reduction were a good choice.

i use MS every CD but the points still where never worth it, id rather use the glyph & get 10% more damage and put the points where i feel they're better

Weapon mastery? Seems like the +2% chance to not get dodged just hurts your overpower procs which is ultimately what arms is all about at this level. Granted the -50% duration on disarm is nice, especially vs luldismantle.

fail logic. we already get plenty of overpowers from dodges AND now from rend ticks. i would much rather take a 2% chance less to be dodged b/c white damage that can crit is better than a dodge and an OP. and the disarm reduction is crucial since every rogue will dismantle you, and other classes can too

Rend glyph + trauma, i can see the logic in that... I just cant bring myself to get rid of glyph of overpower and again, mortal strike glyph. With my racial and lifeblood i found i was able to solo fcs with multiple healers. For that to work i needed the very best damage, rage generation and for MS to be up as much as possible.

i typically use ms glyph + rapid charge, or ms + overpower...glyphing rend is pretty much wasted b/c unless your target has a bad ass, dedicated, healer they will be dead in one rend usage, no need for 6 more secs

 

[Ohpee]

Fail logic. we already get plenty of overpowers from dodges AND now from rend ticks. i would much rather take a 2% chance less to be dodged b/c white damage that can crit is better than a dodge and an OP. and the disarm reduction is crucial since every rogue will dismantle you, and other classes can too.

How is a white hit with (assuming average gear, sword spec and battle stance) 18% crit better than a overpower with 68% chance to crit? With unrelenting assault your overpower has virtually no cooldown anyways... I wont even go into swing timers and the such.



If i was going to argue the point for weapon mastery id have said -2% chance for your mortal strike to be dodged (better point). However youve sacced imp MS (6% MS dmg) and 2h mastery (6% dmg with 2h'ers which includes white dmg, MS and overpower) anyways so your MS is hitting 12% softer than mine to begin with.



Ill agree that the disarm reduction is nice but your assuming A) that said warrior isnt switching to a 2nd weapon + chain against rogues and B) every rogue/warrior is trying to disarm you. In xp-bgs im finding the general ability of most people i fight pretty low... I still get dismantled occasionally but rarely does a warrior attempt to disarm me (usually they just dmg race me to the death).



Like i said, all pretty dependant on the skill level of the people your vsing and how comfortable you are with your own individual settup. I like mine, you like yours, different folks different strokes.

 

[tweedledum]

you need the rage from your white hits aswell.

 

[Bansil]

first: you need the rage granted by whites.

second: jousting.

third: kiting.



there is no need to get more than 3 hits on a joust. white + OP + MS/WW. if you are able to spam more than this, your opponent will die anyway. on some cases you will be able to execute... again, no need for another OP.



you are right, getting as much OP as possible is cool, but it is not worth it to miss good talents just to get dodged.

 

[Falkor]

How is a white hit with (assuming average gear, sword spec and battle stance) 18% crit better than a overpower with 68% chance to crit? With unrelenting assault your overpower has virtually no cooldown anyways... I wont even go into swing timers and the such.

lol you only have 18% crit

first off that white attack can either hit or crit. either way it adds more dps and rage than a dodged attack. not to mention maybe the dodged attack was a special like hamstring or ms.

even with 80% overpower crit it doesnt happen everytime, id much rather not be dodged than to light up overpower (which is always up from rend anyways)



you sound like a person who would go on the forums and tell warriors not to be expertise capped b/c being dodged is so gud.

Ill agree that the disarm reduction is nice but your assuming A) that said warrior isnt switching to a 2nd weapon + chain against rogues and B) every rogue/warrior is trying to disarm you. In xp-bgs im finding the general ability of most people i fight pretty low... I still get dismantled occasionally but rarely does a warrior attempt to disarm me (usually they just dmg race me to the death).

Like i said, all pretty dependant on the skill level of the people your vsing and how comfortable you are with your own individual settup. I like mine, you like yours, different folks different strokes.[/QUOTE]



well your bgs arent very good then, but what would u expect from xp ones. rogues warriors mages all have disarms and they come frequently and rather then switch to an inferior wep with a chain i'd rather talent for it (chains dont make you immune anymore btw)



you also assume that -2% dodge is really that big...rogues will still be dodging as will every other class. just b/c you have that talent doesnt mean that suddenly overpower will never light up. not to mention you still have it from rend. being dodged kills rage gen and dps, getting an overpower doesnt make up for it (especially if it misses - think not hit capped/fighting a NE)

 

[Ohpee]

Weeeeell i was just giving my opinion, this is turning into quite the little e-argument so ill just give in i think lol.



@Tweedledum. Your absolutely right. I guess i just never noticed a lack of rage thanks to imp charge + bloodrage.



@Bansil. This thread is about xp battlegrounds. I dont know if you play xp-bgs but jousting is far from needed. Most of your opponents are key board turning mouth breathers in lvl20 greens. Ive also only got 1 tactical mastery so WW is a nogo for me.



@Falkor. No need to get so uppity about white hits vs overpower. Im glad weapon mastery works for you, i personally dont rate it as highly as you... obviously. 18% crit is very resonable "(assuming average gear, sword spec and battle stance)". Perhaps youve been living in the land of axe spec too long?



I play in US BG9, to say its not a very good battlegroup is a little off... Though i agree and have said many times myself that the skill level of xp-bgs is pretty low regardless of your battlegroup... As a matter of fact im pretty sure i used that as part of the reasoning behind my talent choices.



Anywhos... Pretty sure by now the op has leveled in and out of 49 battlegrounds so i hope he got some helpfull information from everyones posts.

 

[Bansil]

sry, im not gearing/talenting towards pwning nubs...

no matter if i play xp or non xp i want to win the fights that COUNT.



there is allways a 1v2 or a pally to encounter^^



im 49 right now. soon ill go for the AV weapon at 51 and stick to arms in 59...hope it works out nicely.



btw, i tried prot now and it is ok...but at 51 with 2 more talentpoints i will test it again.

 

[Falkor]

with warbringer prot is pretty amazing....

sick damage and mitigation

 

[Bansil]

yes. and the possibility to apply sunder together with weapon damage+x is pretty sick too^^



lvl 51 will be a tough one...havin the AV weapon + 42 talent points...gladly i had a lucky drop and was able to buy dualspec for my char at 48 ;-)