I’m not sure if this is the right area to post a question to other classic warriors, the warrior specific forum has all retail stuff, but here goes.
I have played a bunch of classes in classic already and am aware TBC is coming more than likely. I have been leveling classes up and gonna pick a new class in TBC. Took up Warrior a week ago and am struggling a little bit with stuff like the stances and talents. Looked at icy veins/wowhead and just need some clarification on a few things from some seasoned warriors/knowledgeable folks.
-
Talents- Not sure what to do with the talents. My gameplay is mostly quests but a like to tank a dungeon when I feel like it and when my healer friend runs with me. Was looking at icy veins arms leveling build as they said it was the most popular choice:
https://www.icy-veins.com/wow-classic/arms-warrior-leveling-guide-1-60
If I just throw on a shield and switch into defensive stance will I be okay tanking with these talents? I know the talents are pretty loosey-goosey, pick what you want, but I like to get a good idea where to start and why some talents may be better than others.
-
Stances- Real simple, if I’m tanking do I have to do the stance swapping thing I hear other people talk about or can I just sit in defensive? Is there a lot of value to swapping stances for certain abilities in dungeons or even in the world?
I know it’s pretty late in Classic, but I’m just now getting the time to do a warrior and just want to get one to 60, no special plans or anything. All responses are appreciated and any other resources to learn more about warrior tips/tricks would be helpful.
You can tank low level dungeons in any spec
1 Like
At lower levels, arms is perfectly capable of handling all aspects of the game and provides you with the most useful talent you can get which is tactical mastery. This is the only talent that allows you to stance dance and make full use of your tool kit by letting you keep 25 rage when switching. Arms and fury are both good but with a lack of hit available, arms often provides a more sustainable dps at lower levels until you get gear.
As far as stances go, there are some things that you will want to become comfortable with when tanking. Defensive stance is what you will primarily be in as it’s the only stance that gives you access to revenge which is one of your best threat abilities per rage point. In lower dungeons you’ll often be rage starved so use it a lot. Berserker rage in berserker stance gives you more rage when you are hit so it’s good to pop that and then switch back to d stance. Save it for bosses with fear though. Intercept is another big one for mobs that you lose agro on. Make a macro for /cast berserker stance /cast intercept for a one button push to get to a mob running.
Mocking blow is a talent only usable in battle stance which gives you temporary agro for 5 seconds. It doesn’t work like taunt but can save someone if taunt is on CD. Taunt will put you at the same threat as the person it’s on but mocking will only give you agro for 5 seconds before it diverts to whoever is top threat again.
At 36 you get whirlwind which is only usable in berserker stance. A big part of warrior leveling is cursing at the mob because it keeps dodging or parrying you which makes using overpower so important. Overpower is only usable in battle stance so for fluidity you’ll want to make a macro /cast battle stance /cast overpower and the same for whirlwind /cast berserker stance /cast whirlwind. Disarm is another very useful talent only usable in defensive stance. Same thing for that make a macro. Eventually you’ll want to identify the stance specific talents and bind them to a key you can hit no matter what stance you are in. It makes warrior so much more fluid to play.
2 Likes
if you make a punch of macros its best to make them right the first time so look up mouse over macros
something like this for example
#showtooltip Pummel
/cast Berserker Stance
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][harm,nodead] Pummel
1 Like
Approx when do I hit the point where I need to start weaving in different abilities? Around what level? I have mocking blow currently
You won’t have to worry about it much in the world until you get berserker stance. You’ll pretty much be in battle stance almost the whole time until you get berserker stance and the ability to pummel which is early 30s
When i get this ability it will switch me to berserker stance, will i just click the icon to go back to a different stance after that? or will I have multiple macros for the same ability just to switch to different stances depending on the one im in?
That macro will leave you in berserker stance after pummeling. One thing about mouse over pummels is you have to know where your mouse is before you hit it. It’s really good if you have multiple adds stacked up as you don’t have to tab target the other one to interrupt it. You will have to bind your stances and switch manually at times.
1 Like
yeah what exeqt says its good to use mouse over from the start, because some people get used to not having to think about where their mouse is and then its hard to change over, but having it is really good if you are used to it. Like if you are fighting one guy and you see a cast from another u can just put your mouse on the caster and pummel it without changing your target.
The macro will show for abilities that are in different stances? Say im in defensive and put the pummel macro, will i be able to use it?
Yes but that is why you assign it to a bar that isn’t related to the main bar as that changes with every stance. You want to be able to see it no matter what stance you are in. #showtooltip in a macro will display the talent just as if you had it normally. If you are in defensive/battle stance with a shield you can also shield bash which is a 6 second lock out on 12 sec CD as opposed to pummels 4 sec with 10 sec CD. So you may not even have to switch. It’s all reading the situation.
1 Like
so probably stuff like interrupts, taunt, and niche abilities like mocking blow/whirlwind etc that are useful any stance, keep off the main bar
Yup you can still map them with keys you are comfortable with just keep it on a secondary bar.
Thanks for the suggestions! Gotta get some more levels and look at my key mapping/macros 
1 Like
Back in the first couple of weeks after launch, Elite wrote a Classic Warrior Instance Tanking guide that has aged pretty well.
It’s a great starting point for getting started with stances, macros, and warrior instance tanking while leveling, imo.
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/elites-warrior-tanking-guide/300443
1 Like