Warrior Abilities (WoW)  

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This page will contain a list and analysis of each warrior ability.

Warrior Abilities

General/Mixed-Use Abilities

• Heroic Strike

• All Stances - 15 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: A strong attack that increases melee damage by 208 and causes a high amount of threat. Causes additional damage against Dazed targets.
• Talent References: Improved Heroic Strike (Arms), Focused Rage (Protection)
• Description: One of your first attacks, and one of the most versatile ones. It turns your next autoattack into a special (or ‘yellow damage’) attack that deals additional damage, as well as causing additional threat. Because it is a special attack, however, you will gain zero rage from that attack - and because it's an on-hit ability, it effectively 'consumes' the next autoattacks rage generation, leaving this ability with a deceptively low rage cost compared to the actual cost of using the ability. After level 60, the new ranks of Heroic Strike will cause double bonus damage against Dazed targets (i.e. adds 416 instead of 208 at max rank).

Heroic Strike has two distinct uses, depending upon if you're using a two-hand weapon, dual wielding or a sword and board. If you're using a two-hand weapon, this ability... is as close to useless as you can possibly get. The only reason to use it with a two-hand weapon is when you don't have anything better, which is a good description of your situation until you can get Mortal Strike (or Bloodthirst, or Slam, or... almost anything) or in a situation where Rage is absolutely unlimited (being focus fired in PvP).

With a dual wield setup you still gain no rage on the next attack - HOWEVER, because it is a special attack it bypasses the normal base miss rate of 24% while dual wielding, and instead uses the much more favorable 5% base miss rate for special attacks - leading it to create a much larger damage difference than appearances would lead you to believe.

Finally, while using a sword-and-board it's a fairly effective threat generation ability that does NOT trigger the global cooldown - allowing you to help dump your rage in a high-damage tanking situation where you have more rage than you really know what to do with, which is a pretty good description of most multi-mob or boss tanking situations.

• Cleave

• All Stances - 20 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: A sweeping attack that does your weapon damage plus 70 to the target and his nearest ally.
• Talent References: Improved Cleave, Focused Rage
• Description: Much like Heroic Strike, Cleave is an on-next-hit ability that will increase the damage dealt (although not to the same degree as Heroic Strike will) with the same caveats, and it costs more Rage. So why use it? Because it will also make your next attack hit another target that is close to you. When you're in an AoE situation this is... really, really useful since you're doing slightly more than doubling your normal attack damage. Additionally, Cleave does cause some additional threat despite what the tooltip says, making it very useful for tanking multiple mobs. A very handy ability that should be used when possible for some nice double damage.

• Battle Shout

• All Stances - 10 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: The warrior shouts, increasing the melee attack power of all party members within 20 yards by 305. Lasts 2 minutes.
• Talent References: Booming Voice, Improved Battle Shout
• Description: Battle Shout is amazing. It gives your entire group massive amounts of melee attack power (with max talents, 381 AP - or increasing DPS by 27.2) for a paltry rage cost. It should be up ALL the time until you get Commanding Shout, and even then in most situations it will behoove you to keep using Battle Shout. (For a more detailed explanation of why, see below). A truly wonderful ability.

• Commanding Shout

• All Stances - 10 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Increases total health of all party members within 20 yards by 730. Lasts 2 minutes.
• Talent References: Booming Voice
• Description: Commanding Shout is a very handy ability, although there are some factors that will prevent you from using it in all situations; namely, it precludes the use of Battle Shout, at least from the same Warrior (you can only have one shout up at the same time - two warriors in one group can keep both shouts active). Moreover, the benefits it provides aren't as strong as Battle Shout's - it provides the equivalent of 73 Stamina to the group, whereas Battle Shout provides the equivalent of 152.5 Strength.

Most useful in groups, where others may not benefit from Battle Shout’s attack power boost, or in tanking situations where the increased survivability outweighs the increased threat/damage from Battle Shout.

• Thunderclap

• Battle Stance - 20 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Blasts nearby enemies with thunder slowing their attack speed by 10% for 30 seconds and doing 123 damage to them. Will affect up to 4 targets.
• Talent References: Improved Thunderclap
• Description: Thunderclap is one of the best Warrior abilities. At its base rank it deals some fairly middling damage to up to four targets within 8 yards and slows their attack speed by 10%. However, when combined with the Improved Thunderclap talent it becomes extremely strong - dealing some rather efficient damage and slowing all of the targets it hits by 20%, which significantly reduces the damage you'll be taking from the mobs. It's worth using in grinding even on solo mobs, but once you start getting more than one it's always worth keeping up. As of 2.0.10, this ability has been useable in Defensive Stance, making it a truly fantastic AoE threat tool that Warriors otherwise lack. Imp. Thunderclap is a tanking and grinding necessity, and very nearly no build should be without it.

• Bloodrage

• All Stances - Generates 10 Rage, then 10 Rage over 10 Seconds
• Max Rank Tooltip: Generates 10 rage at the cost of health, and then generates an additional 10 rage over 10 seconds. The warrior is considered in combat for the duration.
• Talent References: Improved Bloodrage
• Description: One of the few ways that a Warrior can generate Rage on demand (the others being Charge, Potions or the Improved Berserker Rage), this ability is especially handy while tanking where you may often be starved for rage and/or unable to Charge, usually because it will lead to you getting your ass handed to you by some irate mobs you didn't REALLY mean to pull with that pack. Useful for soloing and PvP as well because... well, it's additional Rage and the health cost isn’t extremely high. A very handy ability.

• Intimidating Shout

• All Stances - 25 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: The warrior shouts, causing the targeted enemy to cower in fear. Up to 5 total nearby enemies will flee in fear. Lasts 8 seconds.
• Talent References: None
• Description: A very, very, VERY useful ability that most people don't know how to use properly. It will fear targets near you, but it also provides an Intimidating Shout effect to your current target that works the same way Gouge does. The target will stand there, unable to move or use any abilities, until they take damage of some kind (and yes, Rend/Deep Wounds will break the effect). So, what's so useful about this?

Intimidating Shout has a 10 yard range. It's a ranged gouge. Mage Frost Nova'd you then backed out of range? Intimidating Shout him and you can stroll over and smack him in the face once Frost Nova wears off. Hunter annoying you? Intimidating Shout his PET, then follow the Hunter around while the pet stands there looking like an idiot and you beat the crap out of his master (this also works with Warlocks or Mages with Frost Elementals!) Rogue trying to Rupture kite you? Zing, Intimidating Shout, ker-pow! (Yes, PvP really is like old Batman reruns). Moreover, because it's a Gouge effect even against one target (assuming there's no bleed effects) it can buy you some previous time... namely, enough time to use a full bandage (or close to a full bandage), which will help immensely when trying to kill difficult elite mobs.

• Berserker Rage

• Berserker Stance - Free
• Max Rank Tooltip: The warrior enters a Berserker Rage, becoming immune to Fear and Incapacitate effects and generating extra rage when taking damage. Lasts 10 sec.
• Talent References: Improved Berserker Rage
• Description: A fantastic tool for PvE and PvP. Berserker Rage will make you immune (or remove any current) Fear or Disorient (sap, gouge) effects from you, which is... rather handy, for obvious reasons. Additionally, you generate more Rage from incoming damage while under the effects of Berserker Rage, giving you more damage tools to work with. This ability, more than anything else, is why as a Warrior you will be in Berserker stance 90% of the time in PvP - so as to have access to your fear break when needed. Moreover, it's useful in PvE so as to fear-break against bosses that use that ability as well as to provide huge amounts of Rage when in an AoE situation. Get used to using this one, a lot.

• Shield Bash

• Battle and Defensive Stance - 5 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Bashes the target with your shield for 63 damage. It also dazes the target and interrupts spellcasting, preventing any spell in that school from being cast for 6 seconds.
• Talent References: Focused Rage, Improved Shield Bash
• Description: Shield Bash is your only available interrupt until you receive Pummel, and thus very useful against casters. Unfortunately, the requirement for the shields makes it rather tricky to use when not tanking (read: PvP or solo grinding). It provides a long interrupt against that spell school (a full six seconds), although the longer cooldown than Pummel balances this out somewhat. (It's worth noting that the cooldowns are indeed linked - but Pummel only has a 10 second cooldown, Shield Bash will trigger the full 12 second cooldown). Past level 60, Shield Bash will trigger a Daze effect on the target - increasing the damage done from some abilities (only Heroic Strike for Warriors) as well as providing a temporary snare.

• Pummel

• Berserker Stance - 10 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Pummel the target for 50 damage. It also interrupts spellcasting and prevents any spell in that school from being cast for 4 sec.
• Talent References: Focused Rage
• Description: Pummel will be your primary interrupt from the moment you get it. It doesn't require a shield, and thus is much more likely to be available for use in most situations. It has a shorter cooldown (and a shorter spell-school stoppage) than Shield Bash, and is far easier to use. And... well, it's an interrupt - nothing more or less complicated than that.

• Offensive Abilities

• Charge
• Battle Stance - Generates 15 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Charge an enemy, generate 15 rage, and stun it for 1 seconds. Cannot be used in combat.
• Talent References: Improved Charge (Arms)
• Description: One of your best abilities, Charge will stun your current target for one second (in practice, just about long enough to actually travel to your target) and use the game's admittedly often buggy pathing system to put you next to your target. Moreover, it will instantly get you started with fifteen rage to begin the fight with. The only downside to the ability is that you have to be out of combat in order to use it - which is less of a hinderance in PvE than it is in PvP, where you can be put into combat from well outside the range of your charge ability. Still, it's one of the cornerstones of Warrior's grinding, since it lets you get the fight started without having to wait to start using abilities.

• Intercept

• Berserker Stance - 10 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Charge an enemy, causing 105 damage and stunning it for 3 seconds.
• Talent References: Improved Intercept, Focused Rage
• Description: One of the Warrior's most useful abilities in PvP - it will bring you to your target, stun it for three seconds and deal some piddling damage. This stun is rather useful, as your target cannot dodge or parry while stunned, letting you open with some strong damage. This is also very useful for tough solo mobs (hamstring, back up, Intercept) and group play (intercept a mob heading for the healer or the overnuking mage).

• Rend

• Battle and Defensive Stance - 10 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Wounds the target causing them to bleed for 182 damage plus an additional (.052 * Weapon Damage) over 21 seconds.
• Talent References: Improved Rend, Focused Rage, Blood Frenzy
• Description: Rend is rather useful in your lower levels, but its value becomes progressively worse and worse the higher in level you go. In the lower levels it will provide some significant damage relative to the rage cost - once you get past around level 40 or so, though, the damage starts to become so pitiful it's not worth using. It does now scale - slightly - with your weapon damage, but as you can see from the formula the degree of scaling is absolutely terrible. It does still have its uses, however - in PvP it will prevent Rogues or Cat Druids from restealthing, as well as classes with effective crowd control (Hunters, Warlocks and Mages) from using some form of CC on you and then bandaging themselves because the DoT tick will interrupt it. If you have the Blood Frenzy talent and cannot seem to get a crit off, it will trigger that 4% bonus to all physical damage that you can otherwise get with Deep Wounds.

• Hamstring

• Battle and Berserker Stance - 10 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Maims the enemy, causing 63 damage and slowing the enemy's movement to 50% of normal speed for 15 seconds.
• Talent References: Focused Rage, Improved Hamstring
• Description: One of the Warrior's most useful abilities in PvP, as well as being rather handy in PvE against tough targets or humanoids, which I'll get to in a minute. It is, rather simply... a snare. It deals some small damage and snares your target, which makes it almost always the first ability you should use in PvP. It also has uses in solo PvE to slow down targets that run at low health (although Execute is typically your most effective weapon there) as well as to allow you to kite harder targets - Hamstring, run away and Intercept back in to get a free stun in on the target.

Hamstring also has use in high-end DPS because it can proc extra attacks (via Windfury or Sword Specialization, to name a few) as well as to proc Flurry should it crit, which makes it rather handy in situations where you have quite a large amount of rage but your other abilities are on cooldown. With enough chance to get an additional attack ( i.e. having Windfury), it can actually on average generate more rage than you put into the ability.

• Execute

• Battle and Berserker Stance - 15 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Attempt to finish off a wounded foe, causing 925 damage and converting each extra point of rage into 21.0 additional damage. Only usable on enemies that have less than 20% health.
• Talent References: Focused Rage, Improved Execute
• Description: Ahh... one of the best Warrior abilities. Execute can be used on any target at 19% or lower health ('weakened' opponent) and will turn all of your rage into pure damage. Execute can and does hit very, very hard, and will in most cases (if you have a little rage saved up) end a fight immediately. It's... awesome, honestly. It's also very good against bosses with huge amounts of HP, since it does massive amounts of damage for very little rage cost and you can 'Execute spam' until it dies, giving you quite a bit of DPS. Note, though, that your best bet for Execute is to use lots and lots of 'small executes' rather than a few big executes - given that a 15 Rage Execute will hit for 925 but doubling that to 30 Rage will only make Execute hit for 1,240. If you're going to use Execute against a boss, hit it as often as possible. Against weaker targets, you'll probably just want to ensure you have enough rage to end the fight once they get low enough, rather than worrying about the spamability of Execute.

• Overpower

• Battle Stance - 5 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Instantly overpower the enemy, causing weapon damage plus 35. Only useable after the target dodges. The Overpower cannot be blocked, dodged or parried.
• Talent References: Improved Overpower, Focused Rage
• Description: One of the Warrior's most feared tools in PvP, and an absolutely superb grinding tool. Assuming that your hit rating is high enough to negate the standard miss chance (i.e. 5% versus an equal level opponent) it's guaranteed damage - more importantly, with Improved Overpower it's guaranteed-and-very-likely-to-crit damage. This will be your primary tool against Rogues (and, to a lesser extent, Hunters and Feral Druids) because it can punch through their evasion and deal some serious damage. It's also incredibly useful when grinding, since it seems to light up nearly all the time (a factor of fighting higher level mobs for quests - higher dodge rates). A fantastic damage tool.

• Slam

• All Stances - 15 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Slams the opponent, causing weapon damage plus 140.
• Talent References: Focused Rage, Improved Slam
• Description: A rather interesting ability, Slam. It, unlike nearly every other Warrior ability, has... a casting bar. And, more than that, it even resets your swing timer when used, which is rather unfortunate. It provides good damage, but because it DOES reset your swing timer you have to be careful in your use of it. Effective use of Slam requires you to use it immediately after a normal autoattack swing (use of a swing timer mod is highly recommended). Proper Slam play requires attention to detail and watching yet another bar in combat, which may not appeal to many, but when used properly Slam provides astounding DPS possibilities for a two-hand Warrior. When directly after an autoattack, it also provides the highest damage per rage conversion rate of any non-AoE Warrior ability.

• Whirlwind

• Berserker Stance - 25 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: In a whirlwind of steel you attack up to 4 enemies within 8 yards, causing weapon damage to each enemy.
• Talent References: Focused Rage, Improved Whirlwind
• Description: A very handy Warrior ability, to be sure. Whirlwind is fairly effective against a single target, causing weapon damage - but the best use is against multiple targets, where the Whirlwind damage starts to really pick up. It provides mass amounts of DPS, is one of the few weapon-damage abilities available outside of talents, and... well, it hits hard and it doesn't require all that much Rage to use. Use it often. It's strong even when dual wielding, at least with a slower weapon, but when using a two-hand weapon the damage it puts out skyrockets.

• Victory Rush

• Battle or Berserker Stance - Free
• Max Rank Tooltip: Instantly attack the target causing (AP * .35) damage. Can only be used within 15 sec after you kill an enemy that yields experience or honor. Damage is based on your attack power.
• Talent References: None
• Description: Victory Rush is one of the better TBC abilities, and it becomes 'light up' (active) whenever you get the killing blow on a mob or player that is green or higher to you. A simple grinding ability, although it can be hard to use depending upon how far you have to travel between mobs. It hits fairly hard (tooltip regardless - the actual damage is 35% of your Attack Power) although not excessively so... but best of all is that it's free. Use it whenever you can for the free damage, but don't worry about it excessively - if you have to bandage after a pull, doing so is likely to end better than trying to hit that mob and get that Victory Rush in.

• Defensive Abilities

• Taunt
• Defensive Stance - Free
• Max Rank Tooltip: Taunts the target to attack you, but has no effect if the target is already attacking you.
• Talent References: Improved Taunt
• Description: Taunt is one of the most useful Warrior tanking abilities, for obvious reasons. It will instantly give you 'snap aggro' on your current target and KEEP it stuck on you for several sections. Moreover, as of 1.11 you no longer need to overcome the 'threat gap' in order for the mob to remain stuck on you - see the vastly expanded section in the Guide To Tanking on the uses and math behind this ability. Suffice it to say that, as the tooltip says, it's utility when use a mob already attacking you is limited - but it will simply grab your target and stick it on you if he's not already smacking you.

• Mocking Blow

• Battle Stance - 5 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: A mocking attack that causes 114 damage, a moderate amount of threat and forces the target to focus attacks on you for 6 seconds.
• Talent References: Focused Rage
• Description: Much like Taunt, this ability will force your current target to 'stick' onto you for the duration of the effect. Unlike Taunt, however, Mocking Blow does not 'set' your threat to a higher level - once the debuff wears off, the mob is likely to go back to its original target unless you've managed to outpace their threat by that point through other means. A handy ability to use when a pull goes wrong and multiple mobs go running off towards your healer - Taunt one, Mocking blow another, Sunder the third and you'll get them stuck onto you, at least temporarily, and give you time to generate threat and prevent them from returing to their original target.

• Challenging Shout

• All Stances - 5 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Forces all nearby enemies to focus attacks on you for 6 sec.
• Talent References: None
• Description: Essentially an area of effect Mocking Blow with a longer cooldown. Very useful on large pulls where you'll want someone to AoE (and, preferably, not die an immediate, horrible death) to keep the mobs off them. However, as with Mocking Blow it provides no real additional threat - once the debuff wears off, the mobs are likely to go look for other, squishier targets unless you've found another way to generate the threat needed to keep them on you.

• Sunder Armor

• All Stances - 15 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Sunders the target's armor, reducing it by 520 per Sunder Armor and causes a high amount of threat. Can be applied up to 5 times. Lasts 30 seconds.
• Talent References: Improved Sunder Armor, Focused Rage, Devastate
• Description: A Warrior's primary threat-building ability, as well as one that is useful for the simple fact that it reduces the target's armor (and, therefore, increases all physical damage against that target). It will stack up to five times, and (contrary to 'common knowledge') will provide the threat bonus every time it's applied, even if Sunder is fully stacked against that target. Not, in most situations, useful in solo play (save for the odd soloing Protection Warrior) but something you will be using almost all the time when grouped. As with Taunt, there is some more description of the benefits and downsides to Sunder Armor in the Guide To Tanking section.

• Revenge

• Defensive Stance - 5 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Instantly counterattack an enemy for 99 to 121 damage and a high amount of threat. Revenge must follow a block, dodge or parry.
• Talent References: Focused Rage, Improved Revenge
• Description: One of your most useful tanking abilities - it can only be triggered after evading an incoming attack, but especially with Shield Block it should almost always be up assuming you're getting hit by a mob. Revenge causes a VERY high amount of threat for very little Rage cost, and should be used... often. Very, very often. Improved Revenge is a rather nifty ability, as it allows almost a "Warrior stunlock" to take place if it procs, although it's nearly useless in most raid situations as the important targets are likely to all be immune. Still. Revenge rocks.

• Shield Block

• Defensive Stance - 10 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Increase chance to block by 75% for 5 sec, but will only block 1 attack.
• Talent References: Improved Shield Block
• Description: A simply incredible ability. It will boost your block % to the point where, assuming you're not wearing terrible tanking greens, you should have every incoming attack either parried, dodged or blocked. This has some very important implications because, at least in PvE, a blocked attack cannot crushing or crit. This is hugely significant in terms of mitigation, as it's one of the only ways to mitigate crushing blows from higher level mobs and will greatly reduce the chance of a critical strike. Improved Shield Block bumps this to two blocks per cycle - and since a 'cycle' is only five seconds, this means it should be up nearly all the time. Moreover, Shield Block does not trigger the global cooldown and can be used independently of it, allowing you to use it every five seconds without fail while still generating threat.

• Demoralizing Shout

• All Stances - 10 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Reduces the attack power of all enemies within 10 yards by 300 for 30 seconds.
• Talent References: Booming Voice, Improved Demoralizing Shout
• Descrpition: Demoralizing Shout is one of the basic Warrior tanking/soloing tools; reducing the attack power of your nearby targets will reduce the damage they deal to you or others, making this typicially worthwhile in both soloing (your mileage may vary) and always worth keeping up while tanking. Additionally, it's one of the only AoE threat tools a Warrior ever receives, making it worth spamming against many mobs to retain aggro on all (or at least most) of them.

• Disarm

• Defensive Stance - 20 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Disarm the enemy's weapon for 10 sec.
• Talent References: Focused Rage, Improved Disarm
• Description: A nifty ability, since most disarmed mobs (and especially players) deal rather horrible melee damage when Disarmed, assuming the mob actually has a weapon and is not immune. Worthwhile to attempt on pretty much anything that's not a spellcaster to cut your incoming melee damage. Just a forewarning - Improved Disarm is as close to a worthless talent as you can get, since the benefit is so minimal compared to the required talent point investment. One of the Warrior's most forgotten abilities in PvP, even though it shouldn't be, since very few players (save Arms Warriors) are likely to have Disarm Immunity, especially while leveling. Use it well, and you'll beat the crap out of your opponents.

• Spell Reflect

• Battle or Defensive Stance - 25 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Raise your shield, reflecting the next spell cast on you. Lasts 5 seconds.
• Talent References: None
• Description: One of the more interesting abilities that came with TBC, Spell Reflect can be either an amazing tool or a liability depending upon how it’s used. Proper use requires good attention to detail and a solid understanding of just _how_ the ability works. But guess what I’m going to give you!

The upside is that it does exactly what it says. With a shield equipped, it will reflect the next spell cast on you. Except… it goes deeper than that. There are three important factors that relate to the use of Spell Reflect and why it does more than it appears, and I’ll go into all of them.

First, it reflects the next spell cast upon you… but, much like grounding totem, if multiple spells are mid-flight at the same time _it will reflect all of them_. A short word on grounding totem; the little-understood Shaman totem has been the bane of Mages and Warlocks for some time. They’ve discovered that if they finish a spell with a flight time (Fireball, Frostbolt, Shadowbolt, Lightning Bolt, Boltbolt – just kidding) and then cast other spells _before the first spell physically arrives_, the totem will continue to absorb them. The same principle applies to Spell Reflect. If the first spell that is cast upon you has no travel time (for example, Moonfire or very nearly any debuffing spell) then it will instantly be bounced back to its point of origin and the buff will expire.

However, if the first spell _does_ have a travel time, then things get interesting. If a Mage nails you with a Fireball and then launches off a Fireblast before the Fireball lands, _both_ will be reflected back to him. If he throws off a Pyroblast, then Presence of Mind’s up another Pyroblast before the first lands _both_ will be reflected. If a Mage hits you with a Frostbolt and before it lands a Druid launches off a Moonfire, _both_ will be reflected.

If a Mage launches a Fireball at you and before it lands 80 Warlocks cast Death Coil on you… well, those 80 Warlocks are in for a surprise, and you’re in for some QQing on your server forum.

Secondly, as of 2.0.10 Spell Reflect is _not_ on the Global Cooldown. Much like Shield Block, it can be activated at any time, no matter if you’ve just used an ability or not. More importantly, it can be activated _during the weapon switching global cooldown_... which is to say, you can put a shield on and then instantly reflect a spell. For a very, very useful macro to do so, see the Macro section.

Third, and many people don’t realize this, is that you can Spell Reflect from Battle Stance. Yes, indeed; Battle Stance. This makes it much, much more potent as a potential offensive reflect, as you still retain all the useful abilities of Battle Stance (Overpower, Hamstring, Execute, no damage reduction) while being able to reflect potentially deadly spells back at their origin points. This is especially handy against Elemental Shaman and Moonkin opponents, as those matches are often pure slugging matches where you have to power through their high armor and damage to drop them before they drop you. Nothing like bouncing back one of those Lightning Bolts or Starfires to turn the tide in your favor.

A quick caveat about PvE: Spell Reflect is oddly selective. For example, it won’t reflect many, many mob abilities… but sometimes it will, for ones you wouldn’t always expect. Most spells that aren’t player equivalents aren’t reflectable, but sometimes mob AoE volleys are (especially common in Black Morass). Quagmirran from Slave Pens (and Serpentshrine Bog Lords) can have his channeled Acid Spray reflected by a Warrior, which is extremely potent. Some Sentinels in Tempest Keep can have an Overcharge ability reflected, which helpfully hits them back for 17,000 damage (!), and some Nagas in Serpentshrine can have their Sunder Armor ability bounced back at them for a huge damage increase for your raid. Attumen the Huntsman’s Curse which increases your chance to miss can be reflected, which is very useful (nothing like a boss who can’t hit you at all for 12-15s). It’s curious, to say the least.

• Intervene

• Defensive Stance - 10 Rage
• Max Rank Tooltip: Run at high speed towards a party member, intercepting the next melee or ranged attack made against them.
• Talent References: None
• Description: Intervene is an interesting new ability, although rather hard to use in its default form. When cast upon a friendly target, you will run to their location and take the damage of the next physical attack instead of the person you Intervened. The problem, of course, is that it requires you to click on the FRIENDLY target... but this is easily solvable through the use of the Macro system (see Warrior Macros for the ones I've written). It also lacks some effects that you can achieve through Intercept - namely that Intercept actually stuns the mob, which is considerably better than just absorbing the next melee attack. On the other hand, Intervene works considerably better on some finicky mobs that are Stun immune by making SURE you get to the mob and in location to taunt the mob who is moving towards your healer. Moreover, you can use them all in conjunction with each other - giving you two Intercepts that are useable from within combat, limited as one of them might be.

• 30-Minute Cooldowns

• Retaliation
• Battle Stance - Free
• Max Rank Tooltip: Instantly counterattack any enemy that strikes you in melee for 15 sec. Melee attacks made from behind cannot be counterattacked. A maximum of 30 attacks will cause Retaliation.
• Talent References: Improved Discipline
• Description: Retaliation is the first 30-minute cooldown ability you'll receive, and it causes you to automatically counterattack (read as; weapon swing) any frontal attacks. However, it should be noted that it does NOT work on any attacks that come from behind you or if you're otherwise incapacitated (stuns). It's an interesting ability, and it has some nice utility in AoE situations (Challenging Shout + Retaliation = Big numbers!). It largely gets replaced by Recklessness in terms of damage output, though, once you've acquired that ability... and this ability is not even really useful in PvP due to the addition of the huge, incredibly noticeable "don't hit me!" circle of daggers that shows up when you use the ability.

• Shield Wall

• Defensive Stance - Free
• Max Rank Tooltip: Reduces the damage taken from melee attacks, ranged attacks and spells by 75% for 10 sec.
• Talent References: Improved Discipline, Improved Shield Wall
• Description: Shield Wall is one of the best Warrior abilities, and it's fairly obvious why once you look at the ability. Shield Wall is a tremendous tanking asset, causing you to take extremely limited amounts of damage and giving your healers a break/letting you live through massive amounts of burst damage. It's handy as hell in PvP as well if you're attempting to defend one area (such as an Arathi Basin flag) by letting you live through pretty much anything that's sent your way, even when massively outnumbered, for the duration of the ability.

• Recklessness

• Berserker Stance - Free
• Max Rank Tooltip: The warrior will cause critical hits with most attacks and will be immune to Fear effects for the next 15 sec, but all damage taken is increased by 20%.
• Talent References: Improved Discipline
• Description: Recklessness is crazy. It will leave you with a nearly (or actual) 100% Critical Strike rate, making you immune to Fear effects for the duration, albeit also increasing your incoming damage by 20%. A very handy move, as it allows you to take on Elite mobs that may otherwise be FAR too difficult for you to kill alone through the application of massive burst damage, as well as letting you obliterate opponents in PvP. The infamous Recklessness Execute bomb is a common feature of most raid PvE situations as well, letting you output massive amounts of damage to finish off a boss by spamming critical executes.

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