-Talents -
Introduction
You can begin customizing your warrior once you reach level 10. By choosing a particular Talent, each time you level, you can help your character do more damage, last longer in a fight, or even attack faster. While abilities cost money to learn, Talent Points are free unless you want to wipe your previous choices and select new ones.
Talents
Looking at the Talents for any class can be confusing. Which one do I choose first? This one looks cool but how much will it really help me? These are questions that all Warriors ask themselves. With three different Stances: Battle/Defensive/Berserker and three different Talent Trees: Arms/Fury/Protection, it can get overwhelming.
Talents even have different numbers of points that you can spend in them. Some just have room for one point, while others can hold up to five. It is recommended that if you choose a talent you should fill it completely so you get the maximum benefit from it.
Below we will review the more noteworthy talents you can pick as you level.
• In order to help you choose a rating has been added in addition to comments.
o Not Recommended = Do not spend your talent points on this.
o Nice But Not Needed = You can safely skip spending points here unless you plan to use it a lot.
o Recommended = Spending your talent points here is a good investment.
o Highly Recommended = Are you nuts? Put points in here as soon as you can if not sooner!
Tier
What is a Tier? You will often hear or read a talent refered to as Tier 1 or Tier 5 etc... All this indicates is how far into a Talent Tree that Talent is. Look at this following link.
Talent Calculator
Looking at that page Tier 1 is the top row. So Improved Heroic Strike, Deflection, etc... would be Tier 1 Talents. Counting down you will see that Last Stand is a Tier 3 Talent while Death Wish is a Tier 5 Talent.
So that is what a Tier is, a quick way of letting others know how far down a Talent is in its Talent Tree.
Level 10-19 (1-10 Points)
What will you spend your first 10 talent points on?. Usually warriors spend these on the Tier 1 Talents. This provides a solid foundation to create a Talent Build on.
Arms
• Improved Heroic Strike Tier 1(Max of 3 Points)- This talent makes your Heroic Strike ability cost less Rage to use.
o Since the Heroic Strike ability is not an instant attack, like Rend, you have to wait until you can attack again. When you click on its icon it stays highlighted until your next attack. However it will cost less Rage with this talent so you can use it more often.
o When you are in your early levels this is a good talent to have. Later on it is of less value to Arms Warriors trying to get Mortal Stike, MS, as soon as possible. This is because you want to have enough Rage to use MS whenever its available so you don't want to be wasting any Rage on Heroic Strike. Yet for Fury(to use up extra Rage) and Protection(for more DPS) Warriors, who don't have MS, this talent is still valuable.
o Nice But Not Needed
• Deflection Tier 1(Max of 5 Points)- This increases the chance to Parry an enemy's attack.
o A good talent for anyone who wants to take damage less often.
o Deflection is very valuable to warriors who plan to Tank in Instances. This Talent also helps any warrior in Defensive Stance since the Revenge ability requires that you dodge, block, or parry an attack before you can use it.
o Recommended
• Improved Rend Tier 1(Max of 3 Points)- Makes your Rend ability cause more DoT, damage over time.
o A nice ability early on that loses some of its value as your level increases.
o Rend makes your target bleed for a while and it is an instant attack so you don't have to wait until your next timed attack.
o Its kind of a rush to see a mob, monster/npc, run off after immobilizing you and die anyway from your Rend. There are various mobs that are immune to it, like Rock Elementals (no blood), but even some undead, like Zombies, are not.
o As your level climbs, the damage caused by Rend doesn't keep up very well. So while its great to increase the damage with Improved Rend the ability is not keeping up with the damage you would expect it to cause to begin with.
o Nice But Not Needed
Fury
• Booming Voice Tier 1(Max of 5 Points)- This talent increases how far away your Battle Shout and Demoralizing Shout abilities reach and how long they last.
o Increasing how far your Demoralizing Shout reaches is not always a good thing. If you are solo PVE'ing and you are fighting a tough mob the last thing you want to do is aggro(cause them to attack you) more of them. If nearby mobs are affected by your Demoralizing Shout then they will start attacking you. So while increasing its duration is nice it is not nice enough to spend your first few talent points on.
o Not Recommended
• Cruelty Tier 1(Max of 5 Points)- Increases your chance to deliver a Crit/Critical Strike, double damage, on your target.
o The more damage you deliver the faster you will kill that mob or enemy player.
o Cruelty is a passive talent that is always on. Any time you deliver damage to a target there is a chance that it will be a Crit and do double its normal damage. Increasing that chance is a wonderful thing for a class that wins or loses based on how much physical damage it can give and how much damage it can take.
o The closest thing to a required talent for all warriors.
o Highly Recommended
Protection
• Improved Bloodrage Tier 1(Max of 2 Points)- Generates more rage when you use the Bloodrage ability.
o Since most warriors will be using the Charge ability for an initial rage burst and Bloodrage actually costs you HP, hitpoints, this is hardly a required talent.
o While it might be nice to get a Rage boost when you really need it, to use an ability, it is also lowering your HP further and hurting your chance to survive the fight.
o An ability to use with caution to begin with so why spend your first few talent points on it?
o Nice But Not Needed
• Tactical Mastery Tier 1(Max of 3 Points)- Allows you to retain more rage when you change Stances.
o When you change Stances, Battle, Defensive, and Berserker you lose all of your Rage and have to start building it up again through damage given and taken.
o Why bother? You can get Defensive Stance from a quest at level 10 but you cannot get Berserker Stance, through another quest, until level 30. Once you are in your 30's this would be a useful Talent for Stance Dancing, changing stances while in combat, but until then you will be in Battle Stance most of the time and using Defensive Stance only in the early Instances.
o At level 20 you can train the Stance Mastery ability that causes you to retain up to 10 Rage whenever you change stances.
o Not Recommended
• Anticipation Tier 1(Max of 5 Points)- Increases your Defense Skill which increases your chance to dodge, block, or parry and decreases your chance of getting hit or being the victim of a Critical Strike.
o Anything that helps you take less damage is a good thing. However we again run in to Is it worth spending my first few talent points on?
o Nice But Not Needed
Level 20-29 (11-20 Points)
The 20's is when most warriors start going further into one of the Talent Trees. Getting those more valuable talents that start defining your character as an Arms, Fury, or Protection Warrior.
Some choose to only spend five points in Tier 1 and then started filling in a Tier 2 talent but, for most, now is when they start with the Tier 2 and Tier 3 talents.
Arms, Fury, or Protection?
Which tree should I be spending my points in now? Once you hit level 21 you have probably spent all the points in the Tier 1 talents that you are going to spend until you respec or backfill. However you are now at a crossroads, no not the one in The Barrens. You have three different trees to choose from: Arms, Fury, and Protection. Which one gives you the most bang for your buck?
Well the short answer to that question is Arms. The longer answer is Arms or Fury. The longest answer is Arms for now, Fury for later, and Protection for when you have, or are trying to get, that amazing gear you see on the level 60's and 70's waiting for the next Raid or Instance by the Orgrimmar bank and auction house.
A not so short answer would also be Arms if you like to use a slow two-handed weapon and Fury if you like to use two fast one-handed weapons. Remember you should still have a descent, for your level, shield (+ one-handed for you Arms warriors) in your backpack for any tanking.
Honestly you won't really need many talents in Protection until the Instances, Dungeons, you'll be asked to tank in the 50's. Until then Arms or Fury, along with Anticipation and Toughness at some point, will be able to handle just about anything you'll run into. Of course you will still be using the Defensive Stance a lot in these Instances you just don't need to sink that many points into the Protection Tree.
Now there are exceptions to the Arms/Two-Handed and Fury/2-One-Handed rule. However while you are working your way up to level 50 and 60, level 70 with the expansion pack, this rule of thumb is pretty accurate.
Reminder: All talents are not listed only the more noteworthy ones.
Arms
• Improved Charge Tier 2(Max of 2 Points)- Increases amount of Rage generated by the Charge ability.
o Since you cannot get the Berserker Stance until level 30 you are still spending most of your time, outside of Instances, in Battle Stance. Beginning your attack on a poor and unsuspecting, shame on you, mob or enemy player with a Charge that generates even more rage lets you use your abilities sooner.
o Do you really need that extra Rage? Depending on the circumstances probably not.
o Nice But Not Needed
• Improved Thunder Clap Tier 2(Max of 3 Points)- Reduces the Rage cost, damage done, and slowing debuff of Thunder Clap ability.
o Remember that this ability reduces the attack speed not movement speed of enemies. Slowing them more means they are swinging less often, which means they are hitting you less often, which means you are taking less damage.
o The Thunder Clap ability, along with Battle Shout, and Demoralizing Shout should be used in every fight you have. So improving the cost, damage, and effect is a good thing.
o This talent does not make the ability reach out farther like Booming Voice.
o With 2.0.10 the Thunder Clap ability can now be used in Battle Stance and Defensive Stance. This makes it a valuable talent for early warriors tanking in Instances as well as lower level warriors solo PVE'ing.
o Recommended
• Improved Overpower Tier 3(Max of 2 Points)- Increases the chance for a Crit when using Overpower ability.
o Overpower is an instant attack ability that you can use when your target dodges one of your attacks. Increasing the chance that an only 5 Rage attack will do double damage is a beautiful thing.
o Recommended
• Deep Wounds Tier 3(Max of 3 Points)- When you Crit your target it will be DoT'd, damaged over time, for a percentage of your melee weapon's average damage.
o This talent gives you a free and instant Rend-like attack whenever you Crit your target.
o Remember that some mobs are immune to these Bleed effects but most, even some undead, are not.
o If you have talents and/or gear, like Improved Overpower, that increases your chance to get a Critical Strike then this gives those big hits even more value.
o Recommended
Fury
• Unbridled Wrath Tier 2(Max of 5 Points)- Gives you a chance to generate 1 additional Rage point when you hit and damage your target.
o While it is nice to start a fight with extra rage it is also a good idea to get extra Rage while you are fighting. True it is only 1 point but if you are a Fury warrior that is dual wielding then you are, hopefully, hitting your target alot more often than using a slow two-handed weapon.
o Recommended
• Piercing Howl Tier 3(Max of 1 Point)- Makes nearby enemies dazed for 6 seconds reducing their movement speed by half.
o Tired of that Rogue running circles around you? Tired of that Hunter's pet hitting you in the back while you are chasing him down? Need to run away, yep run, to live and fight another day? If you answer yes then do we have the talent for you!
o This talent shines in PVP. PVP fighting, unlike PVE, often turns into tight jousting and spinning matches as each combatant tries to hit the other player and not get hit in return. Using this talent helps slow down multiple nearby enemies and increases your chance to be hitting them from behind or give you a headstart in bugging out.
o In PVE this talent is useful mostly for escape since mobs prefer to nuke you from a distance or run up and stand still while pounding on you. Slowing them down gives you a headstart in running away. Still if you need to run away you probably should not have picked that fight to begin with.
o Nice But Not Needed
• Improved Battle Shout Tier 3(Max of 5 Points)- Increases the Attack Power bonus of your Battle Shout ability.
o Anything that ups your AP is a good thing.
o However, if you are working your way up to Enrage and then to Flurry, bread and butter Fury Warrior talents, then Blood Craze, Piercing Howl, and Improved Cleave may be better places to spend your points.
o With 2.0.10 Improved Battle Shout is now called Commanding Presence. It now improves the attack power of your Battle Shout and the health boost of your Commanding Shout.
o Don't get to excited though, Commanding Shout is an expansion ability that isn't trainable until level 68. Beyond that, this ability does not actually give you any extra HP. All it does is raise, temporarily, the maximum number of HP that you can have.
o Nice But Not Needed
Protection
• Toughness Tier 2(Max of 5 Points)- Increases your total armor by a certain percentage.
o More armor means you last longer in a fight, most of the time. If you are going to Tank, take the most hits and keep the aggro, in an Instance then you want all the armor you can get.
o Still, why are you wasting points in Protection now instead of getting the goodies in Fury and Arms? You would be better off getting an Arms or Fury talent so you have more fun.
o Nice But Not Needed
• Last Stand Tier 3(Max of 1 Point)- Talent that makes an ability, which gives you 30% of your maximum HP for 20 seconds, available.
o If you are a Protection Warrior in the 20's, we're not here to judge just point and giggle, then Last Stand is a very important talent. When you are fighting the last boss in an Instance and your priest or shaman runs out of mana this talent might save your entire PUG, pick up group, from wiping, all dieing.
o Joking aside this is a good talent for Protection Warriors of every level. Still most warriors respec to a Protection focused build at some point instead of trying to level up that way. Since this is a 11-Pointer talent if you get it now you will have to pass up on some very nice talents in the Arms or Fury tree to get here.
o If you are respeccing to a hybrid build, at lvl 50, lvl 60, etc... then this talent gives you that extra staying power for Instance boss fights when it comes down to the wire.
o Recommended
• Defiance Tier 3(Max of 3 Points)- Increases the threat generated by your attacks.
o A great talent for non-Protection Warriors who are tanking instances. Helps make your attacks generate more hate in the mob you are hitting so there is less chance of him deciding to run off and beat up your healer or nuker instead.
o Aggro, threat, and hate are about getting a mob to attack you and make it stay on you instead of deciding it doesn't like one of your buddies more and go after them. Face it, when you are tanking, the rogues, mages, shamans, and even hunters are probably doing more damage to whatever mob you are fighting than you. Your healer is also healing you, which really ticks mobs off, afterall they are trying to kill you. However they, almost always, have less hit points than you and a lot less armor than you. Anything you can do to keep the mobs madder at you than your buddies is, therefore, a good thing.
o Recommended
Level 30-39 (21-30 Points)
In the 30's you open up the Berserker Stance, through a quest, and Stance Dancers will often backfill their Talent Tree by filling the Tactical Mastery talent.
From level 30 through 39 is when many characters really get rolling as an Arms, Fury, or Protection Warrior. The Tier 4 and Tier 5 talents start to be filled tapping some talents that make your warrior much more lethal in combat.
Arms
• Impale Tier 4(Max of 2 Points)- Increases the amount of damage dealt by a Crit.
o Requiring the Deep Wounds talent to be filled first it is almost a no brainer to go after this talent next.
o Making your double damage attack do even more damage is good for you, very good for you.
o Highly Recommended
• Sweeping Strikes Tier 5(Max of 1 Point)- Next five melee attacks attack an additional enemy if one is in range.
o Being able to hit more than one enemy at a time is a good thing.
o Since it is also a buff you can use other abilities with it to pile even more damage on the foolish mob/enemy who decides to stand next to your target.
o Still its biggest plus is that you have to get this talent before you enjoy Mortal Strike.
o Recommended
Fury
• Dual Wield Specialization Tier 4(Max of 5 Points)- Increases the damge done by the weapon in your left hand.
o Dual Wielders have to live with a penalty for for using two one handed weapons at the same time. This talent helps to make up for that.
o An important talent for warriors dual wielding but basically useless to warriors using a two-handed weapon or one-handed and shield.
o Highly Recommended Only For Dual Wielding Warriors
• Death Wish Tier 5(Max of 1 Point)- Increases melee damage, immunity to Fear, increases damage taken, and lasts 30 seconds.
o While increasing the damage you take is not great, increasing the damage you deliver and making you immune to Fear effects is great in group PVP.
o Since you have to have Death Wish before you can get Fury's 31-Pointer, Bloodthirst, this talent is basically required for Fury Warriors.
o Recommended
Protection
• Improved Disarm Tier 4(Max of 3 Points)- Disarmed mobs/enemies stay disarmed for a little longer.
o While it sounds nice and helps reduce the damage you take from mobs/enemies the bosses you usually end up Tanking are immune to it.
o Nice But Not Needed
• Concussion Blow Tier 5(Max of 1 Point)- Instant attack that stuns target for 5 seconds.
o Not to sound too repetitive but most warriors who do any PVP or PVE outside of instances, read 99% of them in these levels, are not sinking most of their points into the Protection Tree. It's just not as fun as Fury and Arms in the 30's. Still if you are going this far into Protection already this talent can really be a lifesaver.
o Since this talent is a requirement for Shield Slam then it is required if you are going after the Protection tree's 31-Pointer.
o Recommended
Level 40 (31-Pointer!)
Each Talent Tree has a 1 Point talent that requires 30 points to already be within that tree. These three talents also give you an ability that you cannot use without filling it. Since this is the lowest level that you can get the 31-Pointer many warriors choose to respec, pay trainer to clear their build, now so they can reselect their talents and include this ability.
There are other talents that require 30 points in their tree, but only three give you an ability.
Arms
• Mortal Strike Tier 7(Max of 1 Point)- An instant attack that delivers weapon damage plus 85, at Rank 1, and reduces any healing effects by half for 10 seconds.
o Wow! Given the Protection trees reputation for not being a good tree to invest in outside of Instances, most warriors invest in the Arms or Fury trees. Mortal Strike gives Arms warriors, arguably, the single greatest physical instant/debuff(penalty) attack in the game.
o When used with a higher damage/slower swing two-handed weapon and a descent Crit, double damage, stat this attack can be simply devastating in PVE and PVP.
o Must already have the 21-Pointer Talent, Sweeping Strikes, for Mortal Strike to be selectable.
o Highly Recommended
Fury
• Bloodthirst Tier 7(Max of 1 Point)- An instant attack that delivers damage equal to 45% of your Attack Power, AP. Your next five melee attacks that cause damage will also heal you for 10 HP, at Rank 1. This healing effect lasts for eight seconds.
o A nice talent that grants you a powerful instant/buff(bonus) attack.
o More suited to warriors dual-wielding, using two one-handed weapons, since you want faster weapons which are one-handed to begin with. This increases your chance to get five attacks that hit within those eight seconds.
o Must already have the 21-Pointer Talent, Death Wish, for Bloodthirst to be selectable.
o Recommended
Protection
• Shield Slam Tier 7(Max of 1 Point)- An instant attack, with your shield, that causes around 230 damage, at Rank 1, and has a 50% chance to dispel one of your target's magical buffs(bonuses). Must have your shield equipped to use it.
o A nice talent that gives you a good instant/debuff attack.
o Also generates threat, hate in your target, to help you keep aggro.
o Must already have the 21-Pointer Talent, Concussion Blow, for Shield Slam to be selectable.
o Recommended
Level 50 (41-Pointer!)
This is the lowest level you can get your favorite tree's 41-Pointer talent. Unlike the 31-Pointer talents these are not all instant attack abilities. Instead Arms is a passive buff, Fury is an instant buff ability, and only Protection's is an instant attack ability.
While getting your tree's 41-Pointer now is nice and feels cool you should think twice before respeccing to get it. Each tree, especially at Tier 1, has very useful talents. To get the 41-Pointer you have to have all your points in one tree. In other words, respec at your own risk.
TTH Wiki Warrior TalentBuilds does not accept any liability for you cursing at your monitor, knocking over drinks due to pounding on desk, and/or keyboard death that may follow initial "Cool, I'm a fifty with Rampage!" euphoria.
Note: You must have "The Burning Crusade" expansion in order to get the 41-Pointer talents.
Arms
• Endless Rage Tier 9(Max of 1 Point)- Generate more rage from delivering damage.
o There was an evil little thing called "Rage Normalization," during patches from Blizzard, which began robbing warriors of the rage they needed to use their abilities. It looks like this trend may finally be reversing with 2.0.10. So while this talent helped make up for "Rage Normalization" before it is not as critically needed now.
o This talent helps to make sure you have the Rage to get off that Mortal Strike whenever its available.
o Still, while its nice to get more rage, if you are fighting smart you probably don't need it in the first place.
o Nice But Not Needed
Fury
• Rampage Tier 9(Max of 1 Point)- Stackable 30 second buff that increases attack power. Available only after crits.
o The best of the Tier 9 talents, especially for dual-wielders. Getting stackable increases in attack power, AP, is great for PVP and pretty good for PVE. If you are a Fury Warrior this talent is the icing on an already pretty nice cake.
o Recommended
Protection
• Devastate Tier 9(Max of 1 Point)- Instant attack ability that causes 50% of average weapon damage, or more, plus more threat, helps keep aggro, for each Sunder Armor you already have on the mob. Also renews Sunder Armor duration.
o The Protection Tree's version of Mortal Strike basically. A good instant attack combined with a debuff, or at least renewing your main debuff in Defensive Stance.
o You probably won't be building up to this spec and will respec to it, for those tough instances, when you are in your 60's instead.
o Yes it is a nice talent but definately not needed until you are taking on the wipaholic, die a lot, instances.
o Nice But Not Needed
Level 51+
Where do you go from here? Well up of course. Warriors who went after the biggies, 31-Pointer and 41-Pointer, off the bat will often start backfilling lower tier talents in their favored tree and other trees in order to make their character more complete.