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Warrior PVE Combat
A warrior’s role shifts depending on the number of people he travels with and their classes. Thus we will be differentiating how to play in Solo, Group and Raid content as a warrior.

Solo - Warriors are not bad solo characters but they aren’t the strongest solo-ers. We can take a ton of damage, but as one levels, it is always difficult to have the best gear to take on 2 targets or even targets that are 2 levels higher then you are. So take care, 10% durability loss does get expensive in the long run.

Combat is somewhat repetitive. Use Charge to get some rage for opening moves. Keep Battle Shout up to give yourself a damage per second (dps) boost. Then it just comes down to hitting the target.

If you are using a 2-hander and leveling the Arms tree, then using Heroic Strike is going to slow down your dps. The fact that Heroic Strike is on the next hit, makes it so that you don’t gain any rage on that hit. So that the actual cost of Heroic Strike is 15 rage plus the rage you would have gained on a melee hit. With a 2–hander, that’s usually about 8 to 9 rage. Making HS total cost actually more like 24-25ish. Heroic Strike eats a lot of rage, and one doesn’t have enough available for other talents. When leveling below level 40, where Mortal strike isn’t available, I prefer to use Sunder Armor on a target.

On the other hand, with Fury you will usually have more rage than you know what to do with. Heroic Strike therefore works a lot better, but you do miss a lot more with Fury than Arms.

Group – In either small groups to large groups, a warrior can excel.. The role of a warrior changes as the group becomes larger. With a 2 man group, damage is still important, but when you come to the largest group size, and run instances, then holding the attention of attacking monsters, or “aggro,” is the most important job.

-Overworld Questing with 1 or 2 partners - When doing quests that are not “elite” in the normal world, a warrior’s job is mainly still dps. Targets should go down reasonably fast and because they are regular mobs, holding aggro isn’t that important, since all classes can survive getting hit a little by any non elite mob.

Usually, you as the warrior, should pull initial aggro. Use a bow, a gun or charge in. Most mobs are spaced out enough that you won’t draw too many. If you do get too many, it maybe in your best interest to go into a hold aggro mode and let your partners deal with the enemy group one at a time. Though, you can always use a combination of Intimidating Shout and Hamstring in order to clear out the mobs and allow your team to escape and regroup. Mobs will only chase so far.

It is important to let your team recover, especially if you have mana users. Pulling 2 or 3 mobs while your mage friend needs to sit down and drink isn’t exactly healthy for you. When attacking multiple targets, some moves could be beneficial to you. These include Sweeping Strike, Whirlwind and Cleave. Most rage efficient is Sweeping Strike since, with 30 Rage, you do double the damage for 5 swings. Whirlwind works well if you are fighting 4 or more mobs. Cleave is like Heroic Strike and works off the next swing, and you get no Rage for that swing, so only use it if you have Rage to burn. The combo of Sweeping Strike and Cleave works well, though.

-Instance Questing – When in doubt, use a sword and shield. Instances always have elites and they hit anything without a good chunk of armor very hard, so you must hold aggro. Remember to get a ranged weapon as well, and don’t forget to bring ammo, as usually you will be doing the pulling. Enemy groups are specifically laid out by Blizzard, so usually you can’t charge in, as you would be pulling another group, and that means death to the party. Ranged pulling is the way to go. The enemy group’s initial aggro will be on you. Have your team pick a primary target that they will attack first, and your job is to hold aggro on that target for as long as possible, while keeping the rest of the enemy group also targeting you. It’s easier said then done.

First, aggro management isn’t just your job, but the entire group’s job. Sometimes, it is better for you to go and attack the group solo with only heals keeping you up in order to gain enough aggro on each mob. Giving you a 5 second head start works well, but one does hold aggro best in defensive stance, as there is a 30% bonus to threat generation while in defensive stance.

Use Sunder Armor continually. When holding a large group, Sunder Armor a target twice and then move to the next, continuing this process until all targets are dead. Sunder Armor and Heroic Strike are the best ways to keep aggro. If you get hit by a lot of targets, you should have more than enough Rage to keep using both. If you are running low though, Sunder Armor over Heroic Strike. Use Revenge when available and Shield Block to trigger Revenge. Taunt is only used when you don’t have aggro from a certain target to bring it go back to you. Mocking blow is more of an emergency ability since you have to switch to battle stance to use it, but remember you have it. Use Challenging Shout only when getting overwhelmed by a large number of mobs. If you are fighting a mob that can fear you, then remember that Berserker Rage in Berserk Stance makes you immune to Fear for 10 seconds. If you are specialized in protection, then using Shield Slam is also very threat generative.

Raid – Raid tanking is more or less like instance tanking, though usually there will be one or more warriors with you. Mobs hit hard. Tanking does get easier the larger the group becomes. A 10 man Upper Blackrock Spire raid still has a fair bit of multi-target tanking, however this all but goes away in the larger, 40 man raid instances. Thus, you just have to make sure the target stays on you and doesn’t attack the raid.

Now, in large 40 man raids, one usually brings about 5+ warriors and so, all 5 warriors will not always be called upon to tank. Thus, warrior can then break out his weapons and actual do damage. Remember though, Warriors have no aggro reducing talent, other dps classes do have such abilities. Rogues get Feint, and can completely wipe aggro with vanish. Hunters can use Feign Death, to also wipe aggro. Mages can spec into subtlety to reduce the threat they generate. Only warlocks have to control their aggro like Warriors. Pulling aggro from the main tank can have devastating consequences. So, don’t fight in defensive stance. The increased threat generated in that stance could cause you to pull aggro. Be ready though, if something bad does happen to the Tank, it becomes your job to gain aggro on the loose mob and keep it away from the rest of raid.

The main tank’s job is to hold the mob in place to allow the DPS players to attack. If you are not the main tank, or off-tank if the mob or boss require one, then you can attack. Remember if you are grouped with Rogues, then use Battle Shout to increase their attack power. The main tank really should not be using Demoralizing Shout, but you can. And also, Thunder Clap’s 10% attack speed reduction can also be rather handy. Use it whenever possible. Depending on the fight, the mortal strike 50% healing reduction debuff can become important. ZG Bosses love to heal themselves. Use Execute on the target at 20%, depending on how difficult the aggro management is on the target. Sometimes it is better to wait till 10% or even 5%, so that if you do draw aggro, you don’t wipe the raid. Execute is a very powerful attack, especially at full rage, if it crits. Threat generation via damage can come quickly if you continually use Execute starting at 20%.