Warriors can be a raging berserker or an iron-clad juggernaut, capable of withstanding tremendous attacks while protecting their allies from harm. They have a wide variety of attacks that do everything from cripple their enemies, to dealing massive amounts of damage in a single retaliatory blow, and enhancing their allies' fighting ability with battle shouts. They excel at fighting multiple opponents at once, gaining rage from every blow dealt or received to unleash their attacks. Warriors are a versatile class with a variety of play-styles to choose from.
Warriors excel in melee combat and play the role of damage dealer or tank. Rather than relying on mana to power their abilities, warriors use rage which, like a rogue's energy, is limited to 100 points. Rage builds up as the warrior deals or receives damage. Rage decays rapidly when out of combat, although warriors have some abilities that enable them to stay in combat and generate rage.
Warriors have three different 'stances' that they can switch between depending on their situation. 'Battle' stance is the normal, default stance. It reduces threat generation slightly and has no negative effects. 'Defensive' stance increases threat generation and decreases damage taken and dealt. This stance is generally used for tanking. 'Berserker' stance increases critical strike chance, damage taken, and reduces threat generation slightly.
Most warrior attacks and abilities require them to be in a specific stance. Switching stances reduces rage to 0. At level 20, warriors can learn the passive ability, 'Stance Mastery', which allows a maximum amount of 10 rage to stay with them when they change stances. The Protection talent, Tactical Mastery, allows the warrior to retain an additional 15 rage when changing stances, which means that the total possible amount of rage retained is 25.
Warriors, like all other classes, have three talent trees. The 'fury' talent tree increases rage generation and is good for dual wielding. 'Arms' improves burst damage and usage of two-handed weapons. The protection talent tree is the only one of the three that isn't intended for improved damage; instead it increases defensive skills and threat generation.
Here are some examples of their skills:
Whirlwind - An attack spell that sends the caster into a berserk fury, creating a destructive force that damages nearby enemies within a small area of effect.
Defensive Stance - A technique for warding off enemy attacks. When used, this skill increases the character's armor rating for a little while.
Shield Bash - A skill that allows the Warrior to strike enemies with a shield, stunning them for a short period of time.
Warrior Stats:
Races - Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Night Elf, Tauren, Undead, Orc, Troll, Draenei
Weapons - Swords, Two Handed Swords, Axes, Two Handed Axes, Maces, Two Handed Maces, Polearms, Shields, Daggers, Staves, Ranged
Armor Proficiencies - Cloth, Leather, Mail, Plate (at level 40)
Talent Trees - Fury, Arms, Protection
