WotLK Warrior Guide – Fury (Level 80)

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We’ll start the guide with Different Talents and Specs, and how those talents are useful. Some key talents explained for Fury are:

[Bloodthirst]– Key ability in for fury. At the front of the rotation, this ability causes the most damage per cooldown. It is available at all times when off cooldown, which is every 4 seconds. Should be priortised highest single target.

[Armored to the Teeth] – This Talent gives a lot of AP to the warrior, based on what Armor the warrior is wearing. It’s a talent that generally encourages warrior to go for plate, although it didn’t succeed in it’s entirity. The way Agility works, it also gives a little bit of armor, so plate isn’t a neccessity. This talent gives the passive attack power bonus to wearing armor. I’ll go into the effect of None plate gear comes into play and explain why Plate gear isn’t always the best option.

[Dual Wield Specialization] – Passive Damage increase on your OH. Important for rage generation as most will come from your off hand swings and it also gives the nice damage boost from the OH.

[Precision] – Help’s reach the 8% hit cap with ease. I find this talent one of the biggest DPS upgrades of all. Hit is easily aquired, but to have it on more than a couple of pieces of gear is damaging when we need to stack other stats for the many caps we have. If you get gear which overcaps you, you can by all means drop this talent temporarily, but if possible I’d suggest trying to cap hit WITH this talent.

[Death Wish] – Huge damage increase. The primary cooldown for Fury, this works best when popped with everything else up. I normally prepot Indestruction potion, followed by Recklessness, then pop Blood Fury and Death Wish, all at the start of the fight so they line up with Bloodlust and the rest of my Gear procs and things. Important to keep on CD apart from if you need it for a certain part of the fight.

[Flurry] – Should be up all the time, helps with Rage generation and overall damage with HS swings.

[Heroic Fury] – People may question getting this talent, in my opinion, it’s extremely important and I wouldn’t leave it out of any Fury spec. Having a way to reset the cooldown on intercept, is a huge DPS increase, and when used effectively, can reduce movement time astronomically.

[Rampage] – On of the very few buffs Fury Warriors give. Should be specced for at all times unless you have a feral druid with [Leader of the Pack] in your raid/party at all times.

[Bloodsurge] – Makes up the fury rotation with BT and WW. Every time this proc’s it makes [Slam] instant.

[Titan’s Grip] – Bread and butter for Fury warriors in WoTLK. This allows the use of a 2H Weapon in both the MH and OH slow, but at the price of a small damage decrease. This allows us to have 2 2H weapons, normally with high stats on them, making gearing and Stat capping easier.

[Deep Wounds] – Located in the arms tree, where you spill over in normal Fury spec’s. Deep Wounds accounts for a huge portion of Fury warrior’s damage. With very good gear, expect this to be doing more and more % of your damage as your crit increases.

Now we have some of the main abilities listed, i’m going to go into a few spec’s for Fury, and then explain why they are useful.

18/53/0 Newly Levelled 80. – Picks up most important abilities, including most of the rage ones. This is a good spec to start with as you’re just getting a feel for Fury endgame.

18/53/0 My Spec. – This is my spec. I picked up Heroic Fury because for me it is very important because a lot of fights include movement these days and a way of maximising DPS is to be able to get back and forth quicker. I switched out some rage talents for reduced rage on execute, as i tend to start getting starved in execute phase as our rotation gets a little more heavier. I’ve also included my glyphs in there, but i’ll get to explaining those later.

Apart from that, take what suits you. Sometimes you may need a little bit more rage generation, or the ability to move around quicker in fights, you can fiddle and tweak quite a bit but try to stick to the guidelines and take the imporant talents.

Getting the right professions will play a big part in the ability for you to max your characters potential to do the most damage. Although many seem to do the same job, they don’t. I’ll explain up sides for each profession and then point out in my opinion which are best:

[Alchemy] – Alchemy Gives an increase of the effect of flasks and potions through [Mixology]. Unfortunately this limits which stats you can actually increase if you flask.

[Blacksmithing]- Blacksmithing in my opinion is one of the best professions for maximum customization. Blacksmithing allows you to have an extra Gem socket in your bracers and boots. Any colour gem can be put in this socket and not only is it good for activating metas, but it’s good because you can pick any stat from a gem and place it in 2 extra sockets, as opposed to other professions which you can only pick a few stats.

[Enchanting]- Enchanting allows you to add 1 enchant to each of your rings. Again the stats are very limited, attack power or stamina being the only useful ones (Stamina being rendered useless for a max DPS Warrior).

[Engineering] – Engineering has many strong points as a profession to take. [Hyperspeed Accelerators] are a very nice. Although warrior’s dont get huge amounts from haste, this much is a solid DPS increase and because you can cap ArP fairly easy now, and we can get our Crit high, Haste is actually worth something. [Nitro Boosts] Gives a huge survivability boost. The Crit also makes it worth the loss of other enchants. [Flexweave Underlay] also offers better stats than the original enchant. [Frag Belt] should be used every cooldown, and acts as added damage.

[Herbalism] – Herbalism offers nothing of great use to a DPS Warrior. [Lifeblood] offers the only use, and it’s a weak survivability one at that.

[Inscription] – Inscription offers a shoulder enchant. [Master’s Inscription of the Axe] is a decent enchant, but again it only offers Attack power and crit, which again isn’t the worst profession but it isn’t the best.

[Jewelcrafting]- Jewelcrafting gives you the ability to cut special gems. These gem’s have more stats on them than regular epic gems, but you can only have 3 equipped at any given time. This is a very good profession because the stats that you gain are very customizable, for instance, if you were to make a [Fractured Dragon’s Eye] you’d get 14 more ArP than [Fractured Cardinal Ruby] and it’s the only profession to offer that Stat.

[Leatherworking]- Leatherworking again only offers a bracer enchant. [Fur Lining – Attack Power] offers attack power but again isn’t as customizable as JC and BS.

[Mining] – Mining is a lot like the buff given by Herbalism. You get [Toughness] which again increases survivability but no DPS increase so therefore rendered useless.

[Skinning] – The only buff Skinning gives is [Master of Anatomy] and that much Crit isn’t worth it imo. A bit like Mining and Herbalism.

[Tailoring]- Tailoring offers a Cape proc, [Swordguard Embroidery]. The cape proc is quite good, it works out at around 100 AP, which isn’t bad at all but still isn’t better than JC and BS imo.

In my opinion the best profession mix to have it JC and BS, as it gives maximum customization, so if you don’t just want Strength and need Expertise then you can regem accordingly. The only other possible combination would be to swap Blacksmithing out for Engineering, as the Glove haste is very useful at high gear levels, and the damage from the bombs and other buffs it gives are very competative.

Macros.

One of the most important things for a Warrior, Weapon switches and Stance switches are made easy with macros. I’ll list all the ones i use and then explain how i use them and why they are useful.

Disarm

#showtooltip Disarm
/Cast Defensive Stance
/equipslot 16 “1H HERE”
/equipslot 17 “SHIELD HERE”
/cast Disarm

A useful macro, best used when spammed. Can be used on most Melee adds, good for if you take aggro and you need to reduce damage taken. The weapon switch isn’t needed but i do it just because my next swing comes quicker because of the slow weapon speed. I follow most of these defensive macros with my Zerker/Intercept Macro.

Zerker/Intercept

#showtooltip Intercept
/cast Berserker Stance
/Equipslot 16 “MH HERE”
/equipslot 17 “OH HERE”
/cast Intercept

This Macro i use a lot. It does a number of things, for instance, if i’ve just popped Disarm, i use this macro to get back into Berserker stance and re-equip my 2Hs to resume damage. If it’s pushed more than once it will intercept the current target if it is far away enough. Saves amount of keybinds this way and it’s easy to get used to.

Intervene

#showtooltip Intervene
/cast Defensive Stance
/cast Intervene
OR
#showtooltip Intervene
/cast Defensive Stance
/cast [target=”SPECIFIC NAME HERE”] Intervene

This is my simple Intervene macro, If i use the first one i select a person and push this macro and it will intervene the person i have targetted. The second one intervenes on the target you have written in the “SPECIFIC NAME HERE” field. As soon as i’ve intervened someone I press my Zerker/Intercept macro to get back ready for combat.

Spell Reflect

#showtooltip Spell Reflection
/stopcasting
/equipslot 16 “MH HERE”
/equipslot 17 “SHIELD HERE”
/cast Spell Reflection

If this is pushed, it will equip your MH and Shield and cast Spell Reflection. Good for if you have a caster on you and can’t interupt. The stopcasting is because you can’t switch weapons with Heroic Strike or Cleave queued.

Retaliation

#showtooltip Retaliation
/Cast Battle Stance
/Cast Retaliation

If pushed it will take you into Battle Stance and activate Retaliation. If you go back to Berserker stance with Retaliation up it will stay up, ideal for Lord Marrowgar bone storms and the like.

Shattering Throw

#showtooltip Shattering Throw
/Cast Battle Stance
/Cast Shattering Throw

Will shift to Battle Stance and cast Shattering Throw. Remember to quickly switch back to Berserker Stance to continue DPS! Also works best in a double free, discussed in rotations later.

Shield Bash

#showtooltip Shield Bash
/stopcasting
/equipslot 16 “MH HERE”
/equipslot 17 “SHIELD HERE”
/cast Shield Bash

Equips MH and Shield and Shield bash’s current target. I normally only use this to interupt when i’m completely defensive with MH and Shield on. Again stopcasting cancels any Heroic Strike or cleave queues

Shield Block

#showtooltip Shield Block
/stopcasting
/cast Defensive Stance
/equipslot 16 “MH HERE”
/equipslot 17 “SHIELD HERE”
/cast Shield Block

This macro takes you into Defensive stance, equips MH and Shield and pop’s Shield block. A good Defensive CD if you get melee adds on you. Don’t forget to keep up damage with the revenge procs you get from constant blocks! Same stopcasting as all Weapon Switching macros.

Shield Wall

#showtooltip Shield Wall
/stopcasting
/cast Defensive Stance
/equipslot 16 “MH HERE”
/equipslot 17 “SHIELD HERE”
/cast Shield Wall

This macro has saved me many times. Pressing this will take you into Defensive stance and equip MH and Shield whilst popping Shield Wall. Again you can’t switch weapons with Heroic Strike and cleave equipped, which is the reason for stopcasting.

The stance switch macros might need a few pushes, If you press the Shield Wall macro once it will just equip MH and Shield and take you into defensive stance, a second push is needed for the Shield Wall.

Must have glyphs are:

[Glyph of Whirlwind] – This makes WW fit into the rotation nicely and is probably the biggest damage increasing Glyph.
[Glyph of Heroic Strike] – Allows for smoother rotations as Heroic Strike is pretty much spammed and Rage can be an issue at times like execute phase even with BiS gear.

Glyphs that can be switched around are:

[Glyph of Cleaving] – Probably the most useful Third Glyph, It will serve well on a lot of fights these days.
[Glyph of Rending] – More used in the days before getting 4 set T10 by using rends in frees. You’ll have more free space in the rotation before 4 set T10 but still times can be found to use this in some fights. More about this in the rotations part of the guide.
[Glyph of Execution] – Another Glyph argueably useful when one doesn’t want to rend and the whole fight is single target, will yield some kind of DPS increase.

In this part we’ll discuss what gear fury warriors should go for. It is different for each situation but there are certain caps it is vital you reach to pull off competitive DPS.

Expertise Cap

Getting expertise reduces the amount a dodge will dodge and parry your attacks. The dodge cap is 26 (213.134931555 rating), if you are an orc you get 5 from your racial if you are using axes. For Fury it is vital you cap this as soon as possible, as a dodged attack means a loss in DPS. Don’t worry about having 26 expertise in both hands, as long as your MH has 26 that’s fine, as your specials come from this. Even if the OH is dodged, the swing will still generate rage as if it would of hit. Remeber to attack from behind the boss, otherwise the Parry cap comes into play, which is much higher than the Dodge cap.

Hit Cap

Getting hit reduces the amount your attacks miss. The hit cap for a Fury warrior with 3 points in [Precision]is 5% (163.95 rating). You’ll never cap your white swings (as it’s around 27% and it’s a huge DPS loss to go over capping specials.) but capping specials is very important. Getting the Hit cap and Expertise cap is extremely important and will result in your biggest DPS increase until the caps.

Armor Penetration Cap

Armor Penetration can seem a bit tricky. The cap is 100% (1399.3~ rating) and this is the stat that i get the most questions about. Armor penetration is better the more you have of it. At some point, it becomes better to start fully stacking it rather than concentrating on strength. This point will be different for all and fully depends on gear, using a spreadsheet will tell you this exactly, but at a guess it will be around 70% with full gems as ArP. Getting this cap will increase your DPS hugely, and is what you’ll be basing the majority of your upgrade choices on eventually.

Crit Cap

I’m not going to lie to you, this cap confused me for a while. There is a point where your crit rating will be negated at higher levels because there isn’t enough room on the hit table for crit anymore. The table looks something like this without Hit or Expertise:
From the front:
Miss 28.0%
Dodge 6.5%
Parry At least 10%
Glancing Blow 25.0%
Block 6.5%
This leaves 24% for Hit and crit.

If you had 50% crit 0% hit then you’d waste 26% crit because 28.0% miss + 6.5% dodge + 10% parry + 25% Glancing Blow + 6.5% Block = 76% total leaving 24% for crit, therefore wasting 26% crit chance in the process.

From the Back with the same stats the table would look like this:
Miss 28.0%
Dodge 6.5%
Glancing Blow 25.0%
This leaves 40.5% for Hit and Crit.

You’d then have wasted 9.5% crit.

Now let’s plug some more accurate numbers in with expertise and hit cap capped.

Miss 20.0% (Because of 8% cap)
Dodge 0.0% (Because of 6.5% Expertise)
Glancing Blow 25.0% (Can’t reduce this.)

So from the back this leaves 55% for Crit. Therefore 55% is the crit cap for Fury warriors on white swings (As specials can’t glance and the hit cap for them is 8%, therefore on specials the crit cap is 100% -talents.). Reducing Miss will be the only thing you can do to increase the crit cap. Eventually with higher numbers this will depreciate crit.

Rotation

The rotation for Fury Warriors is a fairly easy one. It goes something like this:

0.0—->1.5—->3.0—–>4.0—->5.5—->7.0—–>9.5—–>
[BT]–>[WW]–>Free—>[BT]—>Free—>Free—>[WW]—>

In the Frees, you can place a number of abilities depending on what you or the raid needs. If you have Warrior tanks and are assigned to [Sunder Armor] duty, you should place them in the frees apart from at the start of the fight, where you should spam to 5 sunders ASAP. If the raid needs a [Shattering Throw] then i’d suggest placing that in the double free, as the cast time might put you back a touch. You also place [Slam]’s in there from [Bloodsurge] procs.

Sometimes you may need to break rotation in special cases, Whilst [Bloodthirst] is the most Damage per Cooldown if you have a situation where a [Slam] proc is about to run out, i’d throw that out before you [Bloodthirst], as [Bloodthirst] has a chance to proc another [Slam] which results in more DPS.

UI

I’ve messed about with my UI for as long as i can remember, i always play about with config settings and have tried a vast number of different addons. I’ll list the ones i use now and what they do:

TukUI – This is a complete modification of the UI using .lua script. This means that it predominantly uses Blizzard UI, it just looks different. This allows me to have a nice looking base UI, without the addon memory. The unitframes, Actionbars, Chat, Minimap, Buffs you can see are all TukUI.

ForteXorcist – This addon i use for timer’s and to monitor my proc’s. I add manual timers for things, like Sunder Armor, Hamstring, Rend, and i also have it monitor my [Bloodsurge] procs. I colour them differently from other buffs so i can see them straight away when they pop up.

MSBT – Mik’s Scrolling Battle Text, is an addon which displays Damage, Healing, Procs etc. It’s a very good addon and i use it with Blizzard scrolling combat text so that i can always see my damage in one spot, aswell as where it’s coming from from Blizzards original scrolling combat text.

Grid – This is what I use to watch the raid. It can monitor Debuffs, Health lost, Deaths and a whole bunch of other things.

DXE – I use this addon for my Boss timers. It’s one of the best Boss mods around having tried them all and has some unique things that the others don’t, like moving arrows for objectives.

Recount – Tracks what Damage the raid is doing. I like to have this in sight as an incentive to do better. I also watch other peoples damage through it so that I can pick the next best DPS on Blood Queen and the like.

Omen3 – Important for a Fury warrior atm! Threat is a huge issue and being able to see exactly where you are on the threat table is extremely important. This allows me to call for [Hand of Salvation] if i need it.

Other addons you can’t see:

Quartz – A cast bar addon, looks nice and does the job. Also tracks casting latency, so you could time spells to negate lag if you had any.

Tidyplates – An important addon for me. I like to see Health at a glance of multiple mobs, and with these concise nameplates it allows me to see all mobs next to me with ease, and also looks nice.

In this section i’ll explain a few tips and tricks to being a Fury Warrior, they may or may not help you.

-It is important to always push harder, even if you are top DPS. The way Fury is atm, it is very easy to top DPS, but you shouldn’t just stop there, the class is possible of insane DPS with a little bit of work.

-Always try and line up your cooldowns all together. For instance, Our guild gets the tank to count down from 3 (which i suggest all guilds doing, as it allows people to pop any CDs that are on the GCD before everyone engages) On 2 i prepot an [Indestructible Potion] and then pop [Recklessness], followed by [Death Wish] and [Blood Fury] when i engage the boss, all my procs from trinkets and rings should also proc and this gives me maximum damage whilst everything is up.

-Keybind Everything. As a melee, you need to be ready to move in any direction at any time. The best way to keep up the DPS is to keybind every single ability, so that you can use them always on the move. I don’t want to get into a clicking VS keybinding arguement, but keybinding increased my DPS considerably.

-Learn to stay alive, staying alive is a bigger DPS increase than dieing in the first 10 seconds. Learn to watch your aggro and learn to survive all the way through the fight.

8. Abbreviations

BT = Bloodthirst
WW = Whirlwind
BL = Bloodlust
DPS = Damage per Second
MH = Main Hand
OH = Off Hand
CD = Cooldown