Wise
28-02-10, 12:19 AM
Welcome to "Twelvepence's -Unofficial- Guide to Fury Warrior Dpsing"
What to expect:
- "Wordy" chunks of text.
- Not just what you should do, but also the reasons why.
What not to expect:
- "Lolololol get some gear naaaab and spam random buttons!"
- Me TELLING you what to do. Take this guide as an advice statement, not an instruction manual.
- Your DPS to change in any way, shape, or form.
I would also like to point out that I am aware that other people have made similar guides, however, none of them play their Warrior in the same style I play mine.
-Contents of Guide-
1. Talents and Glyphs
2. Gearing and Gemming
3. Rotation
1 - Talents and Glyphs
Jumping straight in, the simple "cookie-cutter" talent tree for any Fury Warrior is: The World of Warcraft Armory (http://www.wowarmory.com/talent-calc.xml?cid=1&tal=3200330023300000000000000000000305053000500310 053120511351000000000000000000000000000)
Reasons for "QUESTIONNABLE" talents:
Unbridled Wrath: The main reason I choose 5 points in this, is because no other talents will actually affect your DPS. The other options are "Booming Voice" which will only increase the duration, which isn't needed in most raids, due to the fact that you will have "Blessing of Might". "Improved Demoralizing Shout" is also a pretty useless talent. Personally, I don't bother ever using Demoralizing Shout, even if the tank isn't a warrior, as the difference is minimal and unnecessary if you have a good tank, which you should, and if not, you shouldn't be raiding with a fail tank
Heroic Fury: With "Anger Management" being the only other viable and necessary DPS talent, I decided not to choose it. Firstly, even with rage playing the main role in a Warrior's DPS, an extra 1 rage per 3 seconds is just not worth a talent point spending on.
So I chose "Heroic Fury" purely for the fact that since Wrath of the Lich King, all the 'Tank and Spank' tactics for bosses have been put to an end, and for most bosses it does result in being knocked back/rooted and being 'Out of Range' from a boss/mob.
Having "Heroic Fury" allows a Warrior to get out of rooting effects, which is helpful against bosses such as Keristrasza, that pesky dragon at the end of "The Nexus".
Also, it helps to refresh the cooldown of your intercept, for bosses such as the last phase of "Onyxia" when you get wing-buffeted backwards, you can intercept when in range more often to get more damage on the boss.
Glyphs
Major:
"Glyph of Whirlwind" Is, without a doubt, the most prioritised Glyph for a Fury Warrior, as it is the highest hitting ability, and the Rotation I use would not be do-able without it.
"Glyph of Cleaving this hits an extra target, which will help for AoE DPS-ing
"Glyph of Heroic Strike this grants 10 bonus rage whenever you critical strike with a Heroic Strike, and seeing as you will be using this a lot, it's worth getting.
Minor:
"Glyph of Bloodrage" this won't increase your DPS, but seeing as it takes off health, it's worth using JUST in case you die because of a lack of a few hundred health. A Warrior alive does A LOT more damage than a dead one
"Glyph of Battle" saves rage per fight, as you won't have to re-apply Battle Shout, if you lack BoM and have little Paladin's in your raid.
"Glyph of Command" also saves rage per fight, as you won't have to re-apply Commanding Shout, if you don't have a Warrior tank.
2 - Gearing and Gemming
Gearing
Personally, I have taken Tier set bonuses over Item level on gear. 2% extra raw critical chance from the Tier 9 set bonus is a huge advantage, I haven't yet gotten to 2 parts Tier 10, but I'm sure a 16% extra "Attack Power" proc will greatly increase my DPS.
You need to aim for 164 hit rating through Gear OR if necessary Gems. 164 hit rating will give you 5% chance to hit, which with the talent "Precision" gives you a 8% hit chance, which is the cap for your special abilities (Yellow hits). Do not try to aim for 5% only, having more is useful as less of your whites missing = less misses which then results in more rage. However, do not go for too much hit rating and dropping other more useful stats.
Also, if you're going to raid seriously, and to achieve your optimum DPS, you're going to need to get "Expertise" capped. The cap for this is 215 rating, or 26/26. Gem for this if you're a regular raider, as it is extremely necessary.
For your weapons, just go with the best DPS for the Main-Hand and the lower for the Off-Hand. If in a case where they are the same DPS, whichever is slower should go in your Main-hand. However, if they are the same speed AND DPS, then it really doesn't matter.
Gemming
To settle the huge debate, in my own opinion, Armor Penetration > Strength until your gear is practically all 264 Item Level and you have an insane amount of Armor Penetration through just gear.
So I stacked all 20 Armor Penetration Epic Gems. (Fractured Cardinal Ruby).
The META I advise using is "Relentless Earthsiege Diamond" which gives 21 Agility and 3% Increased Critical Damage. I use this instead of the "Chaotic Skyflare Diamond" due to the fact that I would have to socket 2 Blue Gems, which would be 10 "Armor Penetration" and 15 "Stamina" which would result in me losing 20 "Armor Penetration". But instead, I use a "Nightmare's Tear" in an item with only 1 socket slot, so I get the bonus from the item as well.
3 - Rotation
Okay, to begin this, most Fury Warrior's will actually claim that there is no "Rotation" to this. However, I would disagree.
I tend to find that instead of using the priority system:
1. Whirlwind
2. Bloodthirst
3. Slam Procs
4. Heroic Strike (60+ rage)
and using the rotation:
1. Whirlwind
2. Bloodthirst
3. ON GCD Procs: Slam, Death Wish, Recklessness, Heroic Throw (Only Use ONE)
4. Bloodthirst
I can actually get better DPS.
Here is a video of me doing some DPS on an 80 Grandmaster's Training Dummy using my Rotation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP8sJ7N3Jk0
I would like to thank you for taking your time to read this guide, and I hope that it will implicate all you button-spamming Warriors out there to start playing the same way that I do.
I would appreciate feedback and would like to see if this actually helped anyone, or if I just wasted hours of my time, which I would otherwise spend doing nothing anyway.
What to expect:
- "Wordy" chunks of text.
- Not just what you should do, but also the reasons why.
What not to expect:
- "Lolololol get some gear naaaab and spam random buttons!"
- Me TELLING you what to do. Take this guide as an advice statement, not an instruction manual.
- Your DPS to change in any way, shape, or form.
I would also like to point out that I am aware that other people have made similar guides, however, none of them play their Warrior in the same style I play mine.
-Contents of Guide-
1. Talents and Glyphs
2. Gearing and Gemming
3. Rotation
1 - Talents and Glyphs
Jumping straight in, the simple "cookie-cutter" talent tree for any Fury Warrior is: The World of Warcraft Armory (http://www.wowarmory.com/talent-calc.xml?cid=1&tal=3200330023300000000000000000000305053000500310 053120511351000000000000000000000000000)
Reasons for "QUESTIONNABLE" talents:
Unbridled Wrath: The main reason I choose 5 points in this, is because no other talents will actually affect your DPS. The other options are "Booming Voice" which will only increase the duration, which isn't needed in most raids, due to the fact that you will have "Blessing of Might". "Improved Demoralizing Shout" is also a pretty useless talent. Personally, I don't bother ever using Demoralizing Shout, even if the tank isn't a warrior, as the difference is minimal and unnecessary if you have a good tank, which you should, and if not, you shouldn't be raiding with a fail tank
Heroic Fury: With "Anger Management" being the only other viable and necessary DPS talent, I decided not to choose it. Firstly, even with rage playing the main role in a Warrior's DPS, an extra 1 rage per 3 seconds is just not worth a talent point spending on.
So I chose "Heroic Fury" purely for the fact that since Wrath of the Lich King, all the 'Tank and Spank' tactics for bosses have been put to an end, and for most bosses it does result in being knocked back/rooted and being 'Out of Range' from a boss/mob.
Having "Heroic Fury" allows a Warrior to get out of rooting effects, which is helpful against bosses such as Keristrasza, that pesky dragon at the end of "The Nexus".
Also, it helps to refresh the cooldown of your intercept, for bosses such as the last phase of "Onyxia" when you get wing-buffeted backwards, you can intercept when in range more often to get more damage on the boss.
Glyphs
Major:
"Glyph of Whirlwind" Is, without a doubt, the most prioritised Glyph for a Fury Warrior, as it is the highest hitting ability, and the Rotation I use would not be do-able without it.
"Glyph of Cleaving this hits an extra target, which will help for AoE DPS-ing
"Glyph of Heroic Strike this grants 10 bonus rage whenever you critical strike with a Heroic Strike, and seeing as you will be using this a lot, it's worth getting.
Minor:
"Glyph of Bloodrage" this won't increase your DPS, but seeing as it takes off health, it's worth using JUST in case you die because of a lack of a few hundred health. A Warrior alive does A LOT more damage than a dead one
"Glyph of Battle" saves rage per fight, as you won't have to re-apply Battle Shout, if you lack BoM and have little Paladin's in your raid.
"Glyph of Command" also saves rage per fight, as you won't have to re-apply Commanding Shout, if you don't have a Warrior tank.
2 - Gearing and Gemming
Gearing
Personally, I have taken Tier set bonuses over Item level on gear. 2% extra raw critical chance from the Tier 9 set bonus is a huge advantage, I haven't yet gotten to 2 parts Tier 10, but I'm sure a 16% extra "Attack Power" proc will greatly increase my DPS.
You need to aim for 164 hit rating through Gear OR if necessary Gems. 164 hit rating will give you 5% chance to hit, which with the talent "Precision" gives you a 8% hit chance, which is the cap for your special abilities (Yellow hits). Do not try to aim for 5% only, having more is useful as less of your whites missing = less misses which then results in more rage. However, do not go for too much hit rating and dropping other more useful stats.
Also, if you're going to raid seriously, and to achieve your optimum DPS, you're going to need to get "Expertise" capped. The cap for this is 215 rating, or 26/26. Gem for this if you're a regular raider, as it is extremely necessary.
For your weapons, just go with the best DPS for the Main-Hand and the lower for the Off-Hand. If in a case where they are the same DPS, whichever is slower should go in your Main-hand. However, if they are the same speed AND DPS, then it really doesn't matter.
Gemming
To settle the huge debate, in my own opinion, Armor Penetration > Strength until your gear is practically all 264 Item Level and you have an insane amount of Armor Penetration through just gear.
So I stacked all 20 Armor Penetration Epic Gems. (Fractured Cardinal Ruby).
The META I advise using is "Relentless Earthsiege Diamond" which gives 21 Agility and 3% Increased Critical Damage. I use this instead of the "Chaotic Skyflare Diamond" due to the fact that I would have to socket 2 Blue Gems, which would be 10 "Armor Penetration" and 15 "Stamina" which would result in me losing 20 "Armor Penetration". But instead, I use a "Nightmare's Tear" in an item with only 1 socket slot, so I get the bonus from the item as well.
3 - Rotation
Okay, to begin this, most Fury Warrior's will actually claim that there is no "Rotation" to this. However, I would disagree.
I tend to find that instead of using the priority system:
1. Whirlwind
2. Bloodthirst
3. Slam Procs
4. Heroic Strike (60+ rage)
and using the rotation:
1. Whirlwind
2. Bloodthirst
3. ON GCD Procs: Slam, Death Wish, Recklessness, Heroic Throw (Only Use ONE)
4. Bloodthirst
I can actually get better DPS.
Here is a video of me doing some DPS on an 80 Grandmaster's Training Dummy using my Rotation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP8sJ7N3Jk0
I would like to thank you for taking your time to read this guide, and I hope that it will implicate all you button-spamming Warriors out there to start playing the same way that I do.
I would appreciate feedback and would like to see if this actually helped anyone, or if I just wasted hours of my time, which I would otherwise spend doing nothing anyway.