Warrior FAQ OBSOLETE (Updated 6/1/08 for v2.4)

发布者 Arideni

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Table of Contents

Finding Information
Index of Questions
Notice & Thanks
Disclaimer & Legal

General FAQs & Information
Picking a Race
Leveling a Warrior
Picking a Talent Build
-Arms
-Fury
-Protection
Weapons & Armor

Technical Information
Attributes & Stats
-For Level 70
-For Level 60
Normalization
Diminishing Returns
Threat & Aggro Fundamentals
Crushing Blows & Uncrushable Status
Resilience
Expertise

Appendices
Common Terms & Phrases
Acronyms
Version History
References (Internal)
References (External)

Finding Information

The number in brackets can be highlighted, then copied & pasted to search the document quickly. Highlight the section number (ex.: ), then press CTRL+C and CTRL+F on your keyboard. This will copy the selected text & open the Find dialog. Paste the text using CTRL+V and click the Find button.

Note: Information is arranged from general to specific. A question about which race to pick would be in the top section, while information about hit rating would be farther down.

Index of Questions

-Should I pick Alliance or Horde?
-What race should I pick for ...?

-What are stances? or When do I gain Battle, Defensive, or Berserker stance?
-What stats or attributes should I look for?

-What kind of talent build should I use?
-What are some important talents for warriors?
-What are some talents to avoid picking?
-What kinds of weapons should I use with Arms, Fury or Protection builds?
-What level should I switch over to Protection spec?

-What are some important talents in Arms?
-What are some talents to avoid in Arms?
-Why do people so strongly dislike the talent Improved Rend?
-What should I pick: Axe, Mace or Sword talent spec?
-Is Improved Mortal Strike really a bad talent?

-What are some important talents in Fury?
-What are some talents to avoid in Fury?
-What exactly is expertise? or Weapon Mastery?

-What are some important talents in Protection?
-What are some talents to avoid in Protection?

-Which attributes or stats should I look for?
-Should I use a fast or slow weapon for ...?
-How much expertise or hit rating do I need for ...?

Notice & Thanks

This document will be updated as necessary & improved upon through reader feedback. It can only improve if you, the reader, helps make a contribution!

I would like to give a special thanks to Yakra for courage, to Gengetsu for great insight, Ciderhelm, Satrina, Armstrong, & the omnipresent Veneretio for all that they do. Thank you to the Wowhead team for permission to post this & last, but not least I would like to say "Thank you," to Rollis, without him this document would have never existed.

Disclaimer & Legal

This document was compiled & is maintained by Arideni of the Wowhead community and in no way represents, interprets, or facilitates in any way the views of the official Wowhead website, community, and/or their respective owners/parties. You may not reproduce or distribute this or any following posts in whole or in excess of 150 words for use on any website or forum without express written consent of said author ("Arideni"). The author reserves the right to the latter for his/her use.
The author holds no liability or claim that information is at any time correct, absolute, or otherwise proven valid & any claims or stakes made based on that information remain the sole responsibility of the reader. By viewing this series of posts (collectively known as "the document") the reader acknowledges full understanding & awareness of the disclaimer. For contact information, please see aforementioned author's profile.

发布者 Arideni

General FAQs & Information

Note: There is no such thing as "the best." One would do well to remember that all things have a time & place.

Picking a Race

Q: Should I pick Alliance or Horde?
A: There are differences between Alliance & Horde, however the most prominent reasons for picking one or the other rely solely on the race you want to play. Remember, you have to not only pick a faction & race, but you have to look at your character for a very long time.

Q: What race should I pick for ...?
A: Racials & attributes that are beneficial to the warrior class are generally compared on a small scale. The differences in starting attributes, etc. may seem small, however in some cases they can add up to a fair amount by the time a player reaches max level. In the end, a player should always pick the race which appeals to them most. You will be spending a very long time getting to know your character & starting over from a high level is not likely favorable.

Humans are rather nominal in their attributes. Humans gain bonuses to certain weapon types as well as increased reputation gains with all factions. Their racial ability Perception has less flavor for a warrior, who is naturally powerful against rogues & druids (the only playable classes whom Stealth).

Dwarves are a defensive class. Their racial, Stoneform, allows increased armor & removal of poisons, diseases & bleeds every few minutes. This ability increases in use at later levels in dungeon areas. They also have one of the higher health values of any race. Dwarves are also naturally adept at tracking treasure chests, etc.

Night elves are fairly good in terms of avoidance & damage reduction, bolstering slightly better passive defense than any other class for Alliance. Their additional 1% dodge diminishes in PVE at very high levels & becomes unfavorable in PVP. Despite this, they are one of the most unique races in that they have a quasi-Stealth ability that allows them to hide in the shadows.

Draenei are arguably the best race for leveling warriors as they have a single, racial healing spell. In addition to this, they have an aura which buffs nearby party members (and themselves) with an additional 1% decreased chance to miss an attack. This passive to-hit bonus scales at all levels & is very useful regardless of your talent build.

Gnomes are generally considered the de facto standard for PVP warriors. Their racial ability, Escape Artist, proves its worth time & time again as the best Alliance racial for PVP. This ability helps counter one of the most potentially lethal threats to a warrior at end-game - immobilization. It has a short cooldown & frees the warrior who otherwise is unable to "chase" other players.

Orcs are steeped in Warcraft lore & history with being excellent warriors. Their racial helps increase damage & can potentially save your life because of this, however it does incur a debuff against healing temporarily. They gain passive bonuses to axe weapons & are favored in PVP for their incredible Stun resistance.

Tauren are natural born protectors. Their passive 5% health increase is very powerful in PVE & will always scale. They also have increased herbalism skill & a special ability: War Stomp. This ability is one of a warrior's only controllable stuns & had great potential use regardless of your goals.

Trolls have a racial ability which increases their attack speed as they lose health. They also constantly regenerate 10% of their health, even during combat. Aside of these, they gain passive bonuses to slaying beasts, using bows & throwing weapons.

Undead are famous for their Will of the Forsaken ability; this allows them to break & become immune to Charm, Fear & Sleep effects for 5 seconds. This ability can be used in any stance, making it very powerful for a warrior. They also gain moves which let them generate health quickly & swim for excessive periods of time.

Leveling a Warrior

Q: What are stances? or When do I gain Battle, Defensive, or Berserker stance?
A: Warriors have many abilities which can only be performed in a certain stance. When you begin the game, you learn Battle stance. As you level you are able to gain new stances by completing warrior-only quests at certain milestones in the life of your character.

At level 10 you must complete a quest to earn Defensive stance. At level 30 you have another quest to complete in order to gain a more offensive stance called Berserker stance. Use the provided links to search for your racial trainers; they will be able to train one further.
See Thread - Stance dancing. for more information.

Q: What stats or attributes should I look for?
A: This can vary depending on various conditions, but in general a warrior's most important attributes are stamina, strength, & agility. At later levels of the game these attributes may be substituted with attack power or critical strike rating. Also, as one progresses into higher levels various other stats such as hit rating, which decreases the chance to miss a target.

发布者 Arideni

Picking a Talent Build

Q: What kind of talent build should I use?
A: Any traditional talent build should work fine while leveling, though it will likely be incomplete. For levels 10 to 30 (or even 40) many claim it is easier using a two-handed weapon with Arms talents. The Arms tree is well-developed early on, but just as many players claim Fury to be superior due to talents such as Cruelty. However, Fury talents are conventionally centered around dual wielding (using a pair of one-handed weapons) which requires level 20 to train. Furthermore, dual wielding invokes two penalties: an increased chance to miss by 19% & 50% reduced damage for the off hand. Protection talents are not usually considered until level 50 or higher.
One build may be good for PVP & perform poorly in PVE & vice versa. For more information on warrior builds & how to use them, see the Warrior Talent Guide.

Q: What are some of the more important talents for warriors?
A: There are key talents for every build and these include Mortal Strike, Bloodthirst, & Shield Slam. Other key talents for various builds include Deathwish, Second Wind, Commanding Presence, Precision, Weapon Mastery, Improved Shield Block, & Focused Rage to name a few.

Q: What are some talents to avoid picking?
A: There are also talents you should avoid like the plague. Generally, every talent has a certain use, but these are more exception than the norm. That said, some of the most unpopular talents include: Improved Rend, Booming Voice, Improved Disarm, & Blood Craze. These talents, for one reason or another, are all generally unfavored by most players (there are exceptions). Most of these talents are either not practical or have inherited their uselessness.

Q: What kinds of weapons should I use with Arms, Fury or Protection builds?
A: Two-handed weapons are usually used with the Arms tree (the slower, the better), while Fury talents are centered primarily around dual wield (two one-handed weapons). The Protection tree is exclusive to one-hand & shield combinations. Two-hand Fury builds are an exception as they rely upon Improved Slam (in Fury) with either Mortal Strike or Bloodthirst.
See Topic - Slam DPS Guide for more information on Two-hand Fury builds.

Q: What level should I switch over to Protection spec? or Should I go Protection since I group often?
A: There is no general reason to use Protection talents (with the exception of Tactical Mastery) before level 50. Players who group often, wish to learn Protection, or instance daily may wish to insert some Protection talents into their build when dungeons increase in difficulty, such as The Sunken Temple, Blackrock Depths, or upon entering Outland (levels 50-60+). Placing points into Protection before level 50 can & will hurt most players' ability to effectively utilize their regular talent build (lower damage, longer recovery times, or difficulty solo are common results).

发布者 Arideni

Arms

Q: What are some important talents in Arms?
A: Talents such as Improved Heroic Strike or Deflection may seem lackluster, but in fact they are fairly potent. Talents such as Iron Will hold great value in PVP, but in PVE has little to no use. Improved Thunder Clap can be used at low level for instant damage & utility, while excellent at high level for tanking. Farther down the tree are the weapon specializations: Poleaxe, Mace, and Sword Specialization. Poleaxe & Sword Spec. give a 5% chance for double damage each.

Q: What are some talents to avoid in Arms?
A: Talents such as Improved Rend or Improved Disciplines are almost always neglected. They have little benefit & prove far too situational. Improved Disciplines, while not so bad talent-wise, suffers from horrible placement in the tree. There are other talents as well, but these are the top contenders.

Q: Why do people so strongly dislike Improved Rend?
A: The ability Rend (and its talent) are usually a waste of not only rage, but talent points as well. The most prominent reason for this claim is based directly on the ability itself; it has a low-damage range & rarely lasts its full duration. At lower levels, this ability can be somewhat potent, but as a player gains new abilities its usefulness is diminished almost completely.

A common reason for using Rend is for PVP combat to prevent Stealth-like abilities from being used, such as the rogue's Vanish ability. Rogues in the early 20s gain this ability which allows them to re-enter Stealth (a camouflauged state, unlike invisibility) during combat, but upon taking damage from a warrior's bleed effects their Stealth will break. Note that druids may stealth in cat form, but not re-enter stealth while in combat.
See Thread - Defending Rend for a discussion on the ability.

Q: What should I pick: Axe, Mace or Sword talent spec?
A: This issue is open for debate, but usually it comes down to this: Mace Specialization is better than or equal to Sword; Sword is better than Axe. The reasoning behind this is that Mace Specialization may stun an opponent & generate rage at the same time. Maces also tend to have favorable stats or effects. However, Sword & Axe both have a 5% chance to deal double damage. Swords come out on top due to resilience & the extra swing generated has its own chance to critically strike. In a PVE setting, the increased critical strike chance from axes may be superior than swords for the talent Flurry. An important thing to consider may also be the effect of expertise; Humans & Orcs both gain passive expertise bonuses for using swords, maces, or axes, respectively.

Q: Is Improved Mortal Strike really a bad talent? or Should I take Flurry over Improved Mortal Strike?
A: No talent is designed to be bad. Logically, lowering the cooldown of Mortal Strike means players need more rage. For this reason, most people have labeled the talent as "bad." This is simply not the case. Practically speaking, it is folly to compare Imp. Mortal Strike with Flurry. The concept behind Endless Rage is to offset the increased rage cost from having a lower cooldown on Mortal Strike. Imp. Mortal Strike requires 20% more rage & Endless Rage (pre-2.4) provides 25% additional rage.
See Thread - MS vs. Flurry

发布者 Arideni

Fury

Q: What are some important talents in Fury?
A: Cruelty is a key talent for most builds. Most Fury builds will have Unbridled Wrath. For dual wielding, all builds should contain 5/5 Dual Wield Specialization to partially negate the offhand penalty (effectively raising your offhand damage to ~62%). All Fury builds have complete Enrage & at least partial Flurry talents; these are arguably the core of the tree. Other deep Fury builds, especially dual wield, must contain 3/3 Precision & 2/2 Weapon Expertise. Finally, for a pure dual wielding Fury talent build one must take Bloodthirst & Rampage. Note that Commanding Presence & Rampage stack with each other, providing a large bonus to Bloodthirst, which relies heavily on attack power. Some builds include Piercing Howl by deducting a single point from Commanding Presence (for PVP).

Q: What are some talents to avoid in Fury?
A: It is recommended that players leave talents such as Booming Voice & Blood Craze empty. While a good utility talent, Booming Voice is considered useless for normal talent builds. Blood Craze is often disregarded as a worthy talent because of its requirements. The talent differs from Second Wind in that a player must be taking serious damage to benefit from a trivial amount of health restored over time (which is usually too little, too late).

Q: What exactly is expertise? or Should I pick Weapon Mastery?
A: Expertise decreases the chance of an opponent to dodge & parry. Because expertise can theoretically wipe dodge & parry off the combat table, it is worth twice that of hit rating for tanks. Melee damage dealers should always be behind their target, so the value of expertise is halved in comparison to hit rating for DPS.
See Expertise for more info.

Protection

Q: What are some important talents in Protection?
A: Some of the most important talents in Protection are Improved Shield Block, Last Stand, Defiance, Focused Rage, Shield Slam, & Devastate. Other notable talents include Shield Mastery, Imp. Defensive Stance & Imp. Shield Wall.

Q: What are some talents to avoid in Protection?
A: Improved Disarm is often considered to be poorly designed, thusly it is the most neglected talent in the Protection tree. Other abilities often avoided include Tactical Mastery (for Protection builds only) & Imp. Revenge (though these talents have good utility given the proper situation). Tactical Mastery gains spotlight for Arms/Fury builds which often change stances during battle (and in 2.3 adds an amount of threat to Mortal Strike & Bloodthirst in Defensive Stance). Imp. Revenge is often neglected in favor of other talents & is suited almost entirely for 5-man group content.

Weapons & Armor

Which attributes or stats should I look for?
A: Stamina, strength, & agility are all important to warriors. Beyond this, both hit & expertise rating are just as important.

Survival is extremely important for tanking & stacking stamina greatly increases your time to live (this is directly affected by your armor). However, when not tanking or engaging in PVP combat, stamina takes a backseat to strength & agility.

Strength increases attack power by 2 for every point gained as well as increasing block value. While finding block value on items is extremely efficient, attack power can be found in higher amounts through raw strength when buffed by either talents or abilities (such as Blessing of Kings).

Agility increases armor by 2 points as well as chance to both dodge & critically strike. At high level it is typical to find items with critical strike rating instead of agility, so it is recommended to stack strength or attack power along with the critical strike rating for PVP. For PVE content, stick with the raw stats (STR, AGI) for group buffing.

Hit rating is usually found on higher level items, though there are exceptions. The innate 5% chance to miss for special attacks against a level 70 requires about 79 hit rating. Against level 73 creatures, this number jumps to 9% or 142 hit rating. The talent Precision provides 47 hit rating. Expertise is worth 1 point of hit rating for damage dealers, but worth 2 points for tanks (always make sure DPS are behind their target to remove the chance to parry).

Q: Should I use a fast or slow weapon for ...?
A: For dual wield: Usually, the main hand weapon should be at least 2.4 speed or higher (the slower the better). Warriors are different than rogues in that the off hand weapon's speed makes very little difference (though no warrior should be using a dagger in either hand). It is suggested that faster weapons in the off hand present more consistant rage generatio while slow off hands provide similar rage, but in bursts or spikes. Slow off hands also consume less Flurry charges. In the end, it comes down to the stats of the off hand weapon; do not ever neglect an off hand weapon based solely on its speed (except daggers).

Two-handed weapons typically deal more damage the slower they are. Polearms are typically the fastest choice, with Maces being the slowest.

Tanking usually favors fast weapon speeds, but some players prefer to use slow weapons in 5-man content (exclusively for Devastate).

Q: How much expertise or hit rating do I need for ...?
A: For two-handed weapons & one-hand/shields the miss rate is 5% against an equal level opponent (79 hit rating). For dual wielding, the total miss chance is 24% (379 hit rating).

Against level 73 creatures or bosses, the chance to miss specials is 9% (142 hit rating) for everyone except dual wielders who have a total of 28% (442 hit rating).

For expertise, one needs 103 base rating. With Weapon Mastery, it drops to 88 rating, with Defiance one needs 80 rating, & with both one only needs 64 rating. These values do not include racial weapon bonuses.

Note: Players with 3/3 Precision only need 95 hit rating for specials to land. Weapon Mastery grants ~31 expertise rating & Defiance grants 23 expertise rating.

发布者 Arideni

Technical Information

Email or reply about any discrepancies.

Attributes & Stats

For Level 70

Agility - 1 point is worth: 2 armor. 30 points are 1% dodge. 33 points are 1% critical strike chance.
Stamina - 1 point is worth 10 health
Strength - 1 point is worth 2 attack power. 20 points are 1 block value.

Critical strike rating - 23.6 rating is 1% critical strike chance
Hit rating - 15.8 rating is 1% decreased chance to miss (142 required for L73 creatures; Precision is worth 47 rating & is not included on the Character Sheet).
Expertise rating - 15.8 rating is 1% decreased chance for enemies to dodge & parry

Defense rating - 2.4 rating is 1 point. 1 point is 0.04% avoidance, block & critical hit reduction; 25 skill points equal 1% mitigation & avoidance
Block rating - 7.9 rating is 1% chance to block
Dodge rating - 18.9 rating is 1% chance to dodge
Parry rating - 23.6 rating is 1% chance to parry

Haste rating - 15.8 rating is 1% haste
Resilience rating - 39.4 rating is 1% decreased critical hit & 2% less damage from critical hits. 34.4 rating is 1% decreased periodic damage (need confirmation on this)

For Level 60 (missing dataz)

Agility - 1 point is worth: 2 armor. ?? points are 1% dodge. 20 points are 1% critical strike chance.
Stamina - 1 point is worth 10 health
Strength - 1 point is worth 2 attack power. ?? points are 1 block value.

Critical strike rating - 14 rating is 1% critical strike chance
Hit rating - 10 rating is 1% decreased chance to miss

Defense rating - 1.5 rating is 1 point. 1 point is ?? avoidance, block & decreased chance to be critically hit. 9.37 skill points equal 1% mitigation & avoidance..
Block rating - 5 rating is 1% chance to block.
Dodge rating - 12 rating is 1% chance to dodge.
Parry rating - 15 rating is 1% chance to parry

Normalization

Because of how the damage formula works, certain items of inferior quality (for example, blue items) were sometimes more powerful than epics in the classic game. A famous example involved a blue dagger from a level 55-60 dungeon, which for a very long time, was more damaging than an epic dagger from a level 60, 40-player raid dungeon. The cause was due to high weapon speeds adding excessive attack power.

There are two parts to the damage formula: weapon damage & attack power bonus. The weapon damage portion is calculated using a weapon's damage range & speed, while the attack power bonus is calculated using player attack power & a "fixed" value in place of one's weapon speed. The attack power bonus is the only portion of the formula to have a "fixed" value. Auto-attacks are not normalized.

All two-handed weapons are normalized at 3.3 seconds & one-handed weapons are set to 2.4 seconds (except daggers, 1.7 seconds). Ranged weapons are normalized at 2.8 seconds.

Diminishing Returns

Spells & abilities are categorized depending on the type of effect(s) they inflict upon other players or creatures. It serves to balance, but does not always behave the same in both PVP & PVE. The rule of diminishing returns states that initial application of an effect will be 100% effective, but the second use is reduced by 50%. The third use or duration is reduced by 75% and the fourth attempt will fail (be immune). This mechanic was introduced to prevent players from being "locked down," as in constant "Sap" or "Polymorph" abuse on a player. Diminishing returns only last for 15 seconds per attempt, but can be refreshed.

Charge, Intercept, & Concussion Blow all share the same category: controllable stuns. In addition, controllable stuns are shared between all players. For example, a rogue using Cheap Shot on an enemy will share returns with a warrior's Concussion Blow, etc. Note that Kidney Shot has a category unto itself.

Mace Specialization & Improved Revenge (as well as weapon procs, etc.) share their own category: random, uncontrollable stuns. The previously mentioned stuns also share returns with other random stuns, such as the rogue's Mace Specialization & the hunter's Concussion Shot proc (talented), etc.

Threat & Aggro Fundamentals

Threat is a unit used to measure the amount of hatred a creature has for a player. Each player involved in combat with said creature generates an amount of initial hate which rises as they interact with other players or the creature itself. All creatures maintain a threat list to determine who has aggro. Aggro refers to the player in possession of the most hatred from a creature, usually at the top of the threat list..

Healing threat generates at half the rate of damage. Where 1 point of damage equates to 1 point of threat, healing takes 2 points. Only the amount effectively healed generates threat; overhealing does not produce threat.

Threat does not decrease or decay over time & has no maximum limit. There are certain abilities or mechanics which in one way or another may alter the threat list. These abilities result in a reduction of threat & may be temporary or permanent. If a tank holds aggro, but the target still wanders away, it is said to have amnesia. Almost all knock down/back/up effects have some sort of threat component. These creatures should be stunned if possible. A random charge may resemble loss of threat, but in many cases do not alter the threat table.

The 100-110-130 rule presumes a tank has 100% aggro. In order for any player (of any class) in melee range to pull aggro they must exceed the tank's threat by reaching 110% total threat. Players at ranged will need to pull off 130% of the tank's threat in order to gain aggro.

Players should be directed to not stand near the tank or creature unnecessarily. Players at ranged who are between 110-129% threat will immediately gain aggro if they step into melee range of their target. Again, players at ranged distance who surpass the 110% melee threat mark will immediately gain aggro upon moving into melee range of their target (even if they did not have aggro while standing far from the creature).

发布者 Arideni

Crushing Blows & Uncrushable Status

The game uses a table-based combat system. Any possible results from a melee auto-attack are on this list including (in order from top to bottom): miss, dodge, parry, glancing blow*, block, critical hit, crushing blow,* & regular hit. The items at the top take precedence over the ones at the bottom. Each possible result has a chance to occur based on a single die roll method. You can think of this in terms of 1 to 1000 with each possible result having their own range. For example, 5% chance to miss would represent any roll including & between 0-49. 10% chance to dodge is next and carries 50-149 & so on for each result stopping at 1000.
* glancing or crushing blows only happen in player vs. creature scenarios

For a better explanation of this, with a visual table, see http://www.wowwiki.com/Attack_table (highly recommended).

Crushing blows are attacks that cause 150% of normal damage & can only be dealt by non-playable characters & bosses. Under normal circumstances, a creature has to be 3 or more levels over the player to deal a crushing blow, but this is not always the case (a good example would be elite guards in neutral faction towns, such as goblin Bruisers). Since a boss creature is normally 3 levels above max level, crushing blows tend to become very important at end-game.

To counter crushing blows, one must become uncrushable. This helps prevent unexpected spikes of damage which can be hard on healers as well as increasing a tank's time to live. There are two ways to become uncrushable as a warrior. The first state is called Shield Block uncrushable. With the 75% chance to block, warriors need 27.4% combined avoidance & block rating to become uncrushable for the duration of Shield Block (against a level 73 creature). This includes the 5% base chance to miss which works to your benefit for avoidance. The total would be 102.4% for a level 73 creature. Using this method, warriors are uncrushable only while Shield Block is active, making Improved Shield Block required (normal creatures attack once every 2 seconds). Certain encounters such as Prince Malchazzar may attack quickly, using up the charges of Shield Block. Encounters such as these show the importance of maintaining debuffs such as Thunderclap & Demoralizing Shout.

The second state is passively uncrushable. As the name infers, one can be uncrushable without the use of Shield Block. This path is somewhat harder due to the itemization of raids below T5. While it is possible to maintain enough avoidance & block rating to remove crushing blows from the table, it is generally not recommended without T5 gear due to lower health, which hinders raid progression. Gearing for progression & gearing for passive uncrushability are two different things. They should be applied appropriately.

Resilience

Resilience reduces the chance to be critically hit by another player & also reduces the damage from successful critical hits (as of patch 2.3 periodic damage is also reduced at a rate of 34.4 rating to 1% reduced damage). It is possible by stacking enough resilience to reduce the damage of a critical strike by an amount so significant it is no longer "double damage." Please note it is still technically considered a critical strike & abilities or items which can trigger upon receiving a critical strike maintain their chance to trigger. Because of this, the more resilience a player has the more viable talents such as Blood Craze or Enrage become.

Expertise

When tanking one will always be facing the target. By reducing the enemies' chance to dodge with expertise, one gains increased damage & threat generation. The hidden benefit of expertise is the potential to reduce or remove parry from the combat table of your enemy. The mechanics of parry include a counterattack: the next swing will be up to 40% faster. For warriors it is very important to remain Shield Block uncrushable. An unfortunate parry could cause a crushing blow; any faster swing(s) could result in death. Players dealing damage should position themselves behind creatures to avoid creating a parry against the tank.

发布者 Arideni

Appendices

Common Terms & Phrases

Add - an additional creature who joins battle by intention or accident
Aggro - to cause aggression or generate threat & gain the attention of a creature; see Hate, Threat
Amnesia - a temporary condition which causes a creature to ignore the threat list for a period of time before remembering the top priority
Area of effect, Area effect - an ability which covers an area or multiple targets
Attack pattern - a pattern of spells or abilities often repeated in sequential order
Damage per second - often misused to refer to total damage over time
Direct damage - an ability which directly affects its intended target, non-AE abilities
Chain - a weapon chain, commonly used to prevent the disarming or dropping of a player's weapon
Charm - to charm or Seduce a player or creature, temporarily disabling the target
Fear - an emotionally scared state affecting players & creatures alike forcing them to flee, loss of control effect
Hate - an emotionally angry state of a creature, causing it to become & stay hostile; see Aggro, Threat
Hold - to maintain aggro; not necessarily the top position on threat lists
Horror - a powerful emotionally scared state which cannot be prevented; stronger than Fear
Incapacitate - a disabling effect, similar to stun, but will break on damage
Kite, kiting - a tactic, usually performed by ranged players, in which they avoid being damaged by running away from a creature while simultaneously attacking it
Macro - a set of actions or abilities queued or fixed in such a way as to combine monotonous tasks into one key
Main tank - The primary "tank" in a multiplayer raid environment
Mark - to set or name a target, usually for specific tasks or to-be-killed order; an icon placed upon an object for notation
Med up - to meditate; to replenish health & mana after a battle
Mez - to mesmerize; to induce a form of Charm or otherwise disabling effect on a player or creature
Mob - Any "man or beast" non-playable character or "mobile"; any computer-controlled creature
Proc - procedure or process in origin, usually means "chance on..." to trigger an effect or ability
Pushback - the delay in time on the casting bar due to damage (doesn't affect Slam)
Radius, Aggro radius - an imaginary line that moves outward from the center point of your character in a circular fashion; hostile creatures within this zone will attack
Rage starvation - used to express a period of time where rage generation is low or non-existent
Sap - a new disabling mechanic derived from incapacitate effects; introduced with 2.4 to alleviate immunities in dungeons
Stack - the act or state of having two or more items or effects that are essentially the same in regards to whether or not they overwrite one another
Sword & board - commonly used phrase implying the role of a tank ("Time to go sword & board!")
Tank - to protect & withstand all incoming damage with the priority of guarding a group or party by "holding" off creatures
Theorycraft - to hypothesize and/or express theoretical concepts in regards to game mechanics, usually involving mathematical calculations to emulate player interaction or item effectiveness
Threat - see Hate; a unit for measuring hatred toward a player, dictating how a creature will react when engaged by players & saved in a list
Threat list - a list of players currently in-combat generated by & for a creature to determine it's main target of attack
Wep - short for 'Weapon'
White damage - auto-attack hits where damage numbers appear white in color; non-special attacks or abilities
Yellow damage - special attacks or abilities which are caused intentionally by player interaction

Acronyms

AC - armor class (points)
AGI - Agility
AOE, AE - area of effect, area effect
AP - attack power
BS - Battle Shout
BT - Bloodthirst
CS - Commanding Shout
DD - direct damage
DOT - damage over time
DPS - damage per second
DS - Demoralizing Shout
DT - Deep Thunder
DW - dual wield; Deathwish
ER - Endless Rage
HOT - healing over time
HP - health points, hit points
HS - Heroic Strike
MS - Mortal Strike
MT - main tank, main target
OT - off tank
PH - Piercing Howl
SA - Sunder Armor
SS - Shield Slam, Sweeping Strikes
STA - Stamina, also Stam
STR - Strength
TM - Tactical Mastery
TOT - target of target
WW - Whirlwind

Version History

v1.06 - 2nd draft, 3rd revision

Current update: June 1, 2008
-Added expertise question & values
-Clarified hit rating questions
-Fixed defense rating values
-Fixed multiple typos & errors

Previous update: April 14, 2008 - v1.01
-Revised talent section & introduction
-Fixed error with talent name (thanks glowsticky)
-Added term to glossary
-Minor formatting changes & updated links

Previous update: April 2, 2008 - v1.00
-Revised or rewrote over 75% of entire document
-Removed excessive italics/other formatting
-Rewrote talent sections & questions

References (Internal)

Stance dancing.
Slam DPS Guide
Defending Rend
Imp. MS vs. Flurry
Being uncrushable?

References (External)

Official WoW Armory - Official Profiles & Data
Warcraft Wiki - For users, by users
Tank Spot - Theorycrafting Community
Tanking Tips - Insightful, informative, ingenius. <3 Veneretio!

发布者 Arideni

Note: I was away for a time without access to my normal computer. While I have yet to fix that computer, among other things, I have a wonderful P3 box so I can spend more time with...I mean, so I can update the FAQ & stuff...what? WHAT?

To do list (post feedback if you want to see something new):

Talent guide structure & core content decisions (brainstorming, bzZzT)
Fix two null links

Note from the author:

Will be fixing my regular PC in a month or two so hopefully I'll be back in the game, though I'm still undecided what the fate of my warrior will be. I'm very interested in picking up my original character again (my druid on Illidan) as well as finishing leveling my priest & warlock on Ravenholdt (Horde).

Of course, I could always reroll my warrior on Darkspear with Yakra & Veneretio. I dunno, =p might be crowded havin' all three of us there!