As a dedicated Fury Warrior focused on PvE and especially Mythic+ content in The War Within, I wanted to provide some constructive feedback regarding the upcoming May 6th class tuning.
The announced changes are as follows:
Fury:
Bladestorm damage increased by 30%.
Slayer: Reap the Storm damage increased by 30%.
(Does not apply to PvP combat)
While any buff is appreciated, these changes unfortunately miss the mark for Fury in Mythic+, where our AoE profile is still significantly underperforming compared to other melee specs.
Key issues:
Bladestorm is not a core part of Fury AoE in M+ builds â especially for Mountain Thane, which is one of our major builds this season. Most Fury Warriors do not spec into Bladestorm in dungeons because it doesnât synergize well with our core rotation or cooldown flow. Buffing a rarely-used talent in Mythic+ wonât meaningfully shift our position in the meta.
Reap the Storm is undertuned in practical AoE scenarios â Even with a 30% buff, this capstone talent does not perform at the level needed to compete with other melee specsâ AoE throughput in 10+ target scenarios or during short trash pulls, which are the bread and butter of Mythic+ content.
This feels like a raid buff, not a Mythic+ buff â These changes seem clearly aimed at improving Furyâs single-target and priority cleave in raid settings, which leaves us wondering: why are we receiving a raid-focused buff when our most pressing need is AoE viability in Mythic+? Our spec is not underperforming in raids to the same degree it is in dungeons, and this tuning does not address our key weakness.
Sustained AoE and burst cleave are both lacking â Fury currently suffers in both sustained AoE damage and on-demand burst cleave, two pillars that are essential in high M+ keys. Specs like Enhancement Shaman, Havoc DH, and Unholy DK bring stronger tools for both, alongside better utility.
Suggestions:
Buff core AoE tools like Odynâs Fury or Thunderous Roar cleave interactions to give Fury better sustained AoE presence.
Consider reducing cooldowns or increasing uptime on key AoE buttons that are commonly used in dungeons.
Improve Mountain Thane synergy with AoE talents so it can scale better with larger pulls.
We appreciate the effort to improve Warrior DPS, but respectfully ask that future tuning be more targeted toward the actual problems affecting our performance in Mythic+ environments, rather than only addressing raid throughput.
Thanks for reading, and we hope Fury can find its rightful place as a competitive M+ melee spec this season.
The meatcleaver mechanic is a holdover from the awful design choices they made when target capping specs to be better at different cleave/aoe niches (2 target, spread, 5 target, mass etc).
However tuning and design since then has not kept in line with their initial choices as everyone is good at all levels of cleave, but target capped specs donât get to have fun post X targets and furyâs unfortunately never had itâs AoE kit reworked since so itâs stuck in a vestigial design standpoint until they finally grace fury with the rework it needs to itâs AoE toolkit to not be so tied up to itâs ST and that it can stand on itâs own for easier balancing going forward.
Because weâre spiteful, and in a group of 30 mobs, we only want to hit THOSE 5 mobs in particular?
Idk man. Warrior tuning has been comically out of touch with the basic functions of the class across the board for the better part of 2 expansions now. Either nobody on the team actually plays Warrior, particularly Fury, or theyâre so cemented in the âfUry iS tHe 5 taRgEt cLeAve ClASsâ camp that theyâre bullishly refusing to do anything to help us.
Thanks to everyone whoâs chimed in so far â especially Greil, who made a solid point about Furyâs AoE kit being stuck in an outdated design. That said, I wanted to follow up with some practical suggestions for how Blizzard could improve Meat Cleaver in the current build without requiring a full rework and without making Fury overpowered in raid content.
Right now, Meat Cleaverâs target cap and damage tuning feel like a relic from a time when AoE scaling was intentionally limited. But todayâs Mythic+ environment often demands 6â10 target cleave just to stay competitive â something Fury simply canât deliver under current limitations.
Proposal: Improve Meat Cleaver and Add Synergy with AoE Cooldowns
Two simple changes could make a huge difference:
Buff Meat Cleaverâs effectiveness directly, and
Let Odynâs Fury and Thunderous Roar interact with it during cleave windows.
These are small, targeted adjustments that would let Fury finally compete in AoE without disrupting raid or PvP balance.
The Current Issues:
1. Meat Cleaver Feels Weak and Too Limited
The current cleave damage modifier is low â 55% of the single-target abilityâs output.
Itâs capped at 5 targets, which limits its effectiveness in common 6â10 target Mythic+ pulls.
Even when using proper Whirlwind windows, your cleave feels soft â especially compared to the full-on uncapped AoE of other melee specs.
These abilities are soft capped at 5 targets, dealing reduced damage beyond that.
Even if you prep with Whirlwind â Meat Cleaver, they gain no benefit â unlike Rampage or Bloodthirst.
As a result, they feel underwhelming in large trash packs, despite being our supposed AoE cooldowns.
Suggested Fixes:
A) Buff Meat Cleaver:
Raise the cleave damage from 55% to ~70â75% of the single-target ability if thunderclap or WW hits 3 or more targets (this would leave the arms 2 target niche alone in raids and boss fights, and it would bring fury closer to arms in heavy AOE like m+)
Expand the cap from 5 â 8 targets (or tie it to a talent like Titanic Rage for control).
This would not make us overpowered â it would simply let Fury scale appropriately with pull size like other specs already do.
B) Add Synergy to AoE CDs:
When Meat Cleaver is active, allow Odynâs Fury and Thunderous Roar to:
âAlso cleave 3â5 additional enemiesâ
or
âDeal reduced damage beyond 10 targets, instead of 5â
This adds depth to the rotation and finally gives us AoE burst that matters in large packs.
Why This Works:
No need for a rework â uses tools already in the spec.
Buffs M+ performance while keeping raid/ST tuning intact.
Encourages skill expression via Whirlwind â CD timing.
Keeps Armsâ 2-target Sweeping Strikes niche intact â this isnât about cleaving a boss add, itâs about thriving in 8-target trash pulls.
This wouldnât push Fury to the top â but it would bring us up to par, and make the spec feel more responsive and impactful in M+ content, where itâs currently struggling.
Just a few thoughtful tweaks to unlock the potential of the tools we already have.
I donât think Blizz intended to buff fury, just buff the underperforming Slayer tree so that maybe more people will consider using it in keys. Fury does need buffs in general though. I want Slayer and Bladestorm to be more competitive in keys, so this change is a small step in the right direction for me.
A buff to furyâs AoE abilities in general would more likely have to come from Odynâs Fury, Thunderous Roar, and/or Meat Cleaver, esp. since they are used by both Slayer and Thane fury warriors. We also need the target cap increased.
This is a very interesting idea. Something to get fury more competitive in general when tanks pull more than 5 at a time regardless of which hero tree we prefer.
This is a great OP and a thread Iâd like to jump onto to share some thoughts (also a very concerned fury enjoyer of 17years)
After the Bladestorm buffs I actually dusted off slayer fury for the first time since its ruthless nerfing in early Season 1 and played some keysâŚ
Pros:
Extremely FUN
Fast paced Frenzied Enrage gameplay is awesome
Solid ST damage
Solid prio target damage
Cons:
Comically low AOE damage
Underwhelming direct damage from Bladestorm (long renowned as one of the best and most enjoyable buttons to press in the gameâŚ)
De-syncâd cooldowns everywhere you look.
I have a small collection of ideas to âfixâ fury (particularly slayer fury but some effects would bleed to thane). Some of these ideas might seem âOPâ at first glance but I am talking about gameplay and feel, numbers can be tuned afterwards to suit.
Meat Cleaver:
Option 1: Change to soft cap at 5 targets
Option 2: Change to hard cap at 8 targets
Execute:
Include in Slaughtering Strikes and Bloodcraze talents (this will make it somewhat better to press than raging blow, rather than not at all)
Capstones:
a. Thunderous Roar should be soft capped at 8 targets or not capped at all
b. Champions Spear needs to be deleted from existence (we only played this in SL because it performed the best)
c. Onslaught should baseline give 3 stacks of Slaughtering Strikes, with the Tenderize Talent giving 2 additional Slaughtering Strikes and splash damage from the onslaught impact. Onslaught should also interact with Meat Cleaver (I canât say whether it is or not at the moment)
d. Bladestorm / Ravager> Unhinged procs needs to interact with meat cleaver stacks properly.
e. Odynâs Fury needs to have a chance at proccing or be built back into Avatar. It will never be viable on a 45s cooldown unless it is an immensely powerful button which then brings back the issues from early S1.
Single Minded Fury:
Abolish this talent and make a passive in the fury spec to the tune of âif a 1handed weapon is equipped attacks made with this weapon deal X% additional damage (with a scale factor based on weapon DPS difference between 1h and 2h weaponsâ. The additional stats from a 2h are not gained, but offset by a higher melee swing speed and in turn higher rage generation.
Mountain Thane Specific:
a. Add power to Thunder Strikes and Thunder Blast, lean heavily into the theme here for both style and throughput points.
Slayer Specific:
a. Reap the Storm should be 20% chance per enemy hit. AKA if you are fighting 5 targets and hit Bloodthirst it should always proc. This almost sounds what the talent should have been from the start.
b. Slayerâs Strike ICD needs adjusting to be a more steady proc rate. Dropping Ashen Juggernaut stacks because your Sudden Death nor the forced execute proc from slayer strikes has come up just feels awful.
c. The de-syncâing of cooldowns in Slayer Fury (and Arms) is diabolical. I think the cooldown reduction from Unrelenting Onslaught could also affect Recklessness at a minimum if not Avatar as well. This would open up Reckless Abandon gameplay again for even more customisation.
I got a bit carried away here and this post is massive. Thanks for anyone who actually read it and keen to see further discussions.
While I appreciate how in-depth your analysis is and do not disagree with any of it, this all seems more like a rework level solution. As much as I would love to see them rework Fury and Warrior as a whole( in some respects like a talent tree). I believe weâre looking more at triage(targeted buffs through modifiers) to stabilize at this point. That said, here are my suggestions.
Soft cap at 5 targets the following Meat Grinder, Ravager/BS, Dragon roar. This can always be changed to a hard capped at 8 if it does not yield the results needed.
Buff Thunder blast/lightning strikes and execute dmg by 30%. This adds something for both hero specs that will provide an increase in performance in raid without breaking them. (Buff cleave by 15-20% to compensate Arms).
Reduce OF cd to 20 seconds. This would seem much more appropriate with the current dmg tuning as itâs supposed to be our âsignature big dmgâ thing Blizz has stated. It also puts it on a more non-traditional cd in regard to raid mechanics so some thought would need to be put into when to use/hold.
Leave changes in for 2-3 weeks then re-access. This is an important step since no changes should take a spec for C tier to S tier(or the opposite) but more so in line with the largest grouping of specs.
Itâs not even the tier list non-sense. Tier lists are kinda stupid and really screw over perception. Unholy was OP, thatâs why itâs seen nerfs. Classes down bottom, Aug, Fury, etc. They usually have some sort of fundamental issue keeping them from being competitive.
Fury right now is still stuck in this awful state of being super nerfed from S1. The target caps, some abilities/talents being made worthless, and so on. Once they fix those things, we might be on even playing field.
when I first read that patch note I laughed my butt off, like really?
u buff Bladestorm and not touching the âpowerfulâ and âsignatureâ ability : Odynâs fury like the developer note you put in the patch note earlier?
there are so many thing wrong with the fury talent tree at the moment
soft-locked everyone to use Ravager or Bladestorm since the other talents are so weak
the avatar and Titan torment changes that gives 0 synergize with the new talent tree
for example : the reworked blood crazed that used to cause spamming bloodthirst increase it crit rate, but now u have to spam raging blow to make bloodthirst crit - conflicts with the titan torment badly, now if you pair it with the âBurst of Powerâ in Mountain Thane hero tree itâs almost makesense - almost.
another is the âauto-attackâ boost ability like the dancing blade, now have no real meaningful usages apart from generating rage while damage of auto-attack is stupid despite fury was one of the highest auto-attack and hard-hititng class in wow especially since annihilator got removed because âwe want you to use raging blow moreâ
location swapped between the Odyn Fury and Ravager/Bladestorm, and Onslaught or the bottom talent row in general were really not the right move.
the wrecking throw/shattering throw or intimitating shout talent have to spend so many point to use them outside of pvp
listen to this man