Warrior

The warrior is World of Warcraft's master of arms: a melee fighter in heavy armor who fuels his attacks with rage instead of mana. In Classic (patch 1.12) warriors were the game's main tanks, holding raid bosses in place for the healers, and also some of its strongest damage dealers once they were well geared. Every race could be one, so warriors were a common sight on both sides.

Role and identity

A warrior fights in close with a weapon and armor, with no spells to fall back on. Rage is the warrior's resource: it starts empty, fills when the warrior deals or takes damage, and drains away out of combat. That makes the class slow to start a fight and strong once one is going, and it ties the warrior's power closely to the quality of its gear, since a better weapon hits harder and so produces more rage.

Every warrior fights in a stance, and each ability can only be used in some of them. Battle Stance is the starting stance for attacking. Defensive Stance, learned at level 10, lowers the damage the warrior deals and takes and increases the threat its attacks generate, which is what tanks use. Berserker Stance, learned at level 30, raises critical strikes and the damage the warrior takes. Switching stances costs most of the warrior's stored rage, so much of the class's skill lies in knowing when to switch.

Races

All eight Classic races can be warriors: on the Alliance, humans, dwarves, night elves and gnomes; on the Horde, orcs, undead, tauren and trolls. Racial traits matter more for warriors than for most classes. Humans gain extra skill with swords and maces, orcs with axes, and orcs also resist stuns. Tauren have 5% more health and night elves dodge more often, both of which suit tanks.

Talent trees

At level 10 a warrior starts earning a talent point per level, 51 in all by level 60, to spend in three trees. They can be planned with our talent calculator.

• Arms is about two-handed weapons and specialization in one weapon type. Its 31-point talent is Mortal Strike, a heavy strike that also reduces healing on the target by half, which made it the standard choice for PvP. Arms also holds Sweeping Strikes, which lets attacks hit a second enemy.
• Fury is about raw damage and critical strikes, including fighting with a weapon in each hand. Its top talent, Bloodthirst, hits hard and heals the warrior. A Fury warrior with two fast weapons was one of the strongest damage dealers in Classic raids.
• Protection is about tanking: more armor, more blocking and more threat. Its top talent is Shield Slam, and the tree also has Last Stand for emergencies. Many raid tanks took a mix of Protection and Fury rather than the deepest Protection talents.

Leveling

Warriors were often called the hardest class to level in Classic. They have no way to heal themselves, no ranged pulls apart from a thrown weapon, gun or bow, and they depend heavily on their weapon. Most warriors leveled as Arms with the best two-handed weapon they could find, and leaned on bandages from first aid and food between fights. In groups the picture changes: a warrior who can tank dungeons is always in demand.

Key abilities by level

Class quests

Warriors have a set of class quests tied to their stances and a famous weapon quest.

• Defensive Stance (level 10). Each race's trainer sends the warrior on a short quest, such as Bartleby's Mug for humans or Path of Defense for orcs and trolls, which teaches Defensive Stance.
• Berserker Stance (level 30). The Islander sends the warrior to Fray Island in The Barrens, where The Affray pits it against a series of fighters and teaches Berserker Stance.
• The Whirlwind weapon (levels 30 to 40). The Windwatcher leads to Bath'rah the Windwatcher in the Alterac Mountains. After gathering components, the warrior summons and defeats the air elemental Cyclonian in The Summoning, then turns in Whirlwind Weapon for a choice of three weapons. Most took the [Whirlwind Axe], a two-handed axe that many warriors carried for much of the way to level 60.

In raids

In Classic raids the warrior was the tank. The main tank holds the boss with Defensive Stance, Sunder Armor (applied five times), shield blocks and Taunt, while off-tanks hold the boss's helpers. A strong main tank needs gear that prevents critical hits, which made items like Quel'Serrar and Thunderfury prized by tanks. Shield Wall and Last Stand save the raid when healing falls behind.

Damage-dealing warriors, mostly Fury, became one of the top damage classes in later raids such as Blackwing Lair and Naxxramas, especially in Horde groups with a shaman's Windfury Totem. Their damage depended entirely on gear, so they were also among the most loot-hungry classes in a guild.

In PvP

Warriors in PvP are powerful but depend on others. Mortal Strike's healing reduction makes an Arms warrior a menace to any healer, and Charge, Intercept and Hamstring keep enemies close. On their own they struggle against classes that can slow or root them and kite them from range, such as mages and hunters, which is why a warrior paired with a healer became a classic battleground team in Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley.

Tier sets

The warrior's raid sets are among the most recognizable armor in Classic. See Tier Sets for how they drop.

• Tier 0: Battlegear of Valor, such as [Breastplate of Valor].
• Tier 1: Battlegear of Might from Molten Core, such as [Helm of Might].
• Tier 2: Battlegear of Wrath from Blackwing Lair, such as [Breastplate of Wrath].
• Tier 3: Dreadnaught's Battlegear from Naxxramas, such as [[forever:item:22416]].

Battlegear of Wrath's set bonuses focused on threat and survival, so it became the tanks' set of choice.

Trivia

• The Arcanite Reaper, a two-handed axe made by blacksmiths, was the dream weapon of many leveling warriors.
• Warriors can train every melee weapon type in Classic, and every ranged one except wands.
• Several of the game's great characters are warriors, among them Varian Wrynn, Grom Hellscream and Varok Saurfang.

Sources

• Warrior (Classic) on Warcraft Wiki
• Whirlwind Weapon on Warcraft Wiki