Rogue or Warrior for someone who hasn't played either?

i almost NEVER play melee in WoW. idk why tbh ive been playing for maybe 10 years now most if not all my toons have been casters/ranged i’ve leveled melee to an extent but just spaming dungeons mindlessly not really maining one and learning.

Of the 2 classes i was wondering for someone who is like me which would appeal more you think? Warrior or rogue?

Warrior i like the big 2handers, i can tank but again never tanked much before, idc how hard it is for them to level either or slow. Rogue; honestly never cared for the energy system the only class i think that has a similar system that i did love was a windwalker monk.

any suggestions? im open to both classes please give reasons as well. i have no lv 60’s no gold or nothing to fund me just a leveling guild im in which has helped me no knowledge of classic/vanilla in those times though only cata+

Warrior: Tanking is permanently in demand, since it’s a less glorified role until later expansions. While leveling sucks due to stat dependency that can’t be sated until 50s+, they are good all around at level cap. While they’re a poor solo class (soloing some of those Silithus elites is annoying), they’re great when assisted.

DPS is top tier, and they have strong cleave, though weak AoE. Protection is solid for tanking with low gear before Fury/Prot becomes a thing, and you can effectively DPS without being full Fury (or Arms). You can also spec 31/5/15 for an Arms tanking build to also use a 2h, so you can PvP well and tank okay, though you won’t be specializing here.

If you choose warrior: Get a swing timer, so you can monitor your rage. I also advise leveling as Arms or Fury; the debate on which is better depends on how you choose to level. Fury mows down green mobs, and Arms is pretty worthless before Sweeping Strikes (and arguably Whirlwind at 36, or Mortal Strike at 40). The math says they’re equal at lower levels, with Fury being potentially better when fighting lower mobs. I leveled Fury from start to finish, and it wasn’t bad at all, but you’ll get irritated by the parries and misses. You can actually go into Arms and dual wield (spec doesn’t matter early for DW) to get Improved Overpower, Impale, and Tactical Mastery. With DW, you will have more hits to get dodged for the sweet Overpower crits (additionally more powerful by Impale).

Rogue is… eh. Cooldown-centric in classic for huge power spikes. They’re safe and versatile, and get a LOT of free melee stats in Combat. But they aren’t special at low levels, and you have gear competition against hunters and warriors in many, many cases. Nowadays, raiders are plenty geared, though, so it should be much friendlier. In a warrior’s case, tanking plate is automatic to them, though.

For both classes, you want to farm a Hand of Justice, which sucks. Rogues can solo it with enough gear, but not a warrior. Warriors can (thankfully) skip SGC nowadays with ZG, and the advent of AQ opening.

Not anymore, HoJ has been moved to Emperor’s loot table as of Phase 5.

You don’t really need it anymore at this point though, to be honest.

Oh, yeah. I forgot they pushed that change through. That’s a huge negative for farming it, but you also have the potential to get Ironfoe, I guess. They aren’t terribly apart in drop chance, with both being strong items into even Naxx; granted, they aren’t BiS, either.

Rogue is more fun, warrior is way easier, but overall both are very fun in Classic, been playing a bit of warrior myself now days because its just so damn good in PVP. Bring a healer and you are a god.

warriors can deal dps at the level that rogues can

warriors can also tank

rogues have a few key abilities that makes them valuable however. im not too knowledgeable on that aspect, but trust me.

It really comes down to a few things, because the best DPS specs for both are dual wield DPS.

Basically, do you like having stealth?

Do you like having the flexibility of playing a second role (tank)?

Rogues are only DPS but they get a few cool flavor things like stealth, poisons, lockpicking, which gives you a few extra things to do and some other possibilities at max level. They rely on cooldowns sometimes. Stealth is okay for PvE but honestly in Classic it’s better to kill your way to an objective for the EXP than it is to sneak past everything.

Warriors have a second role in tank. I would say combat and fury FEEL similar with combat probably being more up/down with the spending/regenerating mechanic of energy. Fury is a little more fast-paced because you build rage quickly once you get sufficient hit and crit chances.

If you like 2-handers, unfortunately two hand builds aren’t AMAZING at endgame as far as warriors are concerned. Arms is basically nonexistent in PvE endgame but is amazing at PvP if you are into that. Mortal strike is a unique, important debuff. I don’t know the validity of 2H fury.

If you don’t have gold, it’s not a big deal. As a warrior you can use like any blue 2-hander while leveling, even staves with good damage ranges. At 30 you can get your guild to help you with the whirlwind weapon quest, and then at 40 you can do the scarlet monastery quest and later on you can grab a gatorbite axe out of Maraudon for pretty consistent good warrior weapons while leveling that don’t break the bank.

I would definitely recommend arms for leveling because you only have to find one good weapon as opposed to two, and blue 2-handers aren’t too hard to come across. Sweeping strikes basically allows you to almost kill two mobs at once, and fury dual wield will miss a lot until you get some hit which isn’t common until max level.

If you go 2H fury, you pretty much have to go Horde (orc preferably since a lot of good raid 2h’ders are axes) or get used to having Obsidian Edged Blade as your BiS item forever. There’s no armor that gives weapon skill for any 2H weapon unlike 1H’ders do with Edgemasters/Expert Goldminer’s Helmet/ACLG/etc, so OEB is your only real option unless you go orc.

You’re also going to be pretty dependent on having Windfury Totem, because that’s the only way it can compete with DW Fury and rogues.

2H Fury as alliance is probably not viable period.

lol hwut?! HoJ is bis FOREVER. dft is the one thing that can replace it and thats only if you need more hit, if youre already at 7-8% hit hoj is still your go-to boss trinket. honestly i dont see why so many melee obsess over dft so much, its much more beneficial for tanks than it is for dps

QFT

HOJ

BIS into BC yes?

i never played tbc so cant really say

I say war for you. You can tank and dps in full fury dps spec. Orc for two handers and axes and human for dw swords. Egdemaster if you want something else. Mc and bwl is easy gear now.

Well I would say Warrior is objectively better in every situation besides solo or world PVP if you care about that sort of thing but honestly Rogue is still a very good class and you will never feel like you gimped your team by playing one.

It’s really subjective on which you will enjoy tho. I think Warrior is something that everyone should give a shot because it’s sort of like the ‘main character’ of classic WoW.

Ehhh…

I didn’t really feel like a rogue until 34. You don’t even get cheap shot until 26. Same with Warrior…they change a lot from 20-40, though not as much as rogue.

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