Warrior Build

[bkelly1984]

My warrior has now hit level 32 and I've come up with a build idea for making a solid tank for the upper levels.

Hi mjdoom,

I was glad to see your post. I have a level 44 warrior on Feathermoon that I'm planning to re-spec but I've not found good discussion for a non-arms/fury build. Like you, I'm pretty long on theory and short on experience so positive feedback is most welcome.

I'm not so much looking to make a “solid tank” as a standing fortress. I mostly play in groups and plan to spend much of the next 16 levels in instances. I always carry a shield, I take my duties as a tank very seriously, and I want to be the first person my squishy friends think of when going to Maraudon. With that in mind, here's the allocation I'm considering:

Protection Tree -
5 Shield Specialization - Increases your chance to block attacks with a shield by 5%.
5 Anticipation - Increases your Defense skill by 10.
5 Toughness - Increases your armor value from items by 10%.
1 Iron Will - Increases your chance to resist stun and charm effects by 3%.
1 Improved Shield Block - Allows your Shield Block ability to block an additional attack, and increases the duration by 0.5 seconds.
3 Improved Revenge - Gives your Revenge ability a 40% chance to stun the target for 3 seconds.
5 Defiance - Increases the threat generated by your attacks by 15% while in Defensive Stance.
2 Improved Taunt - Reduces the cool down of your Taunt ability by 2 seconds.
2 Improved Shield Bash - Gives your Shield Bash ability a 100% chance to silence the target for 3 seconds.
1 Concussion Blow - A brutal strike that deals weapon damage and stuns the opponent for 5 seconds.
1 Shield Discipline - While active, increases the amount of damage absorbed by your shield by 50% and increases the damage done by your Shield Bash ability by 200%. Lasts 20 seconds.

Arms Tree -
4 Deflection - Increases your Parry chance by 4%.

With the next 10 points going to in this order -
1 More Deflection - Increases your Parry chance by 5%.
5 Tactical Mastery - You retain up to 25 of your rage points when you change stances.
4 More in Iron Will - Increases your chance to resist stun and charm effects by 15%.

I think the build is fairly straightforward- focus on talents that reduce damage and increase aggro. There are another six points to allocated, and I'm still pretty up in the air about where they go. I'd appreciate input, but to help you understand where I'm going, let me comment on a few of my choices:

Anticipation – My original build didn't use this skill thinking it wouldn't be very helpful as I level and at level 60, but I'm reconsidering. Monsters three of four levels above me seem to have a large ramp-up in the damage they can do to me. I believe another 10 points would move that flood of damage a couple of levels higher. This would be good as I frequently tank something 3 levels above me, but seldom something 5+. Boutros may have a point getting this advantage cheaper through equipment choices, but I have not yet seen this. Also, I wonder how much better I could take a level 62 elite at level 60 with Anticipation and equipment boosting my defense four or five levels above normal. Anyone have experience doing this?

Improved Revenge – I have found revenge to be an invaluable in my aggro quest. Taunt will get their attention, but revenge keeps it. If the stun doesn't add additional aggro, it will reduce the pounding I will take. Plus, I really wanted Concussion Blow.

Improved Shield Bash – I don't know how much difference a 3 second silence is going to make myself. It should help, but I mainly took this as a Shield Discipline prerequisite.

But what I think is going to be more interesting for this discussion is my thoughts on why I didn't pick certain skills or have at least put them off. Please feel free to respond with constructive criticism and any negativity should be deposited at the bottom of Scholomance.

Improved Bloodrage – I constantly use Bloodrage to gain aggro. If I have no rage and need to pull a monster, I'll Bloodrage, wait for 10 rage to build, activate a Shield Block, taunt the beast and then use Revenge as soon as it becomes available. With normal Bloodrage, I can Shield Block five seconds after activating Bloodrage. If I put two points into Improved Bloodrage, I could Shield Block two seconds sooner or three seconds after starting my Bloodrage (not considering combat rage generation). I don't imagine there will be a lot of cases where my party member can take three seconds of punishment, but not five. When things go wrong and this is a concern, I should be short-circuiting this cycle and use a rage potion instead. I've passed it over for now thinking it is much better suited for an offensive warrior looking to kill sooner.

Last Stand – This looks like a terrific skill when soloing. A short burst of energy like this can easily make the difference in battle or aid a getaway. However, in a group I would say 90% of the times I die in groups because too many monsters were aggroed and the party gets dog piled. In most of these cases, 30% more health could help you escape, but it will seldom bring the group a victory. In instance, the skill would help even less since monsters never give up the chase. I can't shake the feeling that for my character, this skill would only delay the inevitable.

Improved Sunder Armor – As a tank, I use Sunder Armor a lot as it does a great job of gaining and keeping aggro, however, I am not certain that sundering more armor generates significantly more aggro. In fact, I'm concerned that a bigger sunder could reduce my ability to hold aggro since the hunters and rogues can inflict more damage. I agree that increasing the damage of my companions means I take less damage, and I will continue to sunder the armor of the creatures I face, but I would rather use my talent points on a skill that would reduce the damage done to me without increasing my team's aggro-per-second.

Improved Shield Wall – I do like Shield Wall and use it in tough situations, but I think it's a skill better suited for soloing like Last Stand for the same reasons as I mentioned. However, I also passed it over because of Shield Wall's 30 minute cool down. Since I can't use the skill very often, I wouldn't be able to put the talents to work very much. Even though I believe the extra second and a half I could get with Shield Block by adding two more points is much less likely to be of use, I would invest there first since the talent will be used so much more.

One-Handed Weapon Specialization (and other damage enhancing skills) – Let me start off by pointing out that the focus of my build is reduction of the damage I take and holding aggro. Since dishing out the damage is not on the list, I skipped over this skill. However I am sure someone will point out that that more damage equals more aggro as well as more damage generates more rage which equals more aggro. Both are true, but I wonder if this slot will give me the best aggro per talent point. For aggro generated directly from damage, I think this skill makes little difference because a defensive stanced warrior with a one handed weapon will never beat a rogue or mage in generating damage aggro. Instead, a warrior must use taunts, revenges, shouts and stuns to draw a monster's attention. Increasing damage to generate aggro seems like backing a losing horse. Now, increasing damage to generate more rage to taunt, revenge, shout and stun seems like a much better idea, but I wonder if I would get a better return on my talent investment going with Anger Management.

Improved Demoralizing Shout – I constantly use Demoralizing Shout as it reduces my damage and adds aggro to all monsters nearby. If this skill didn't have a five fury point prerequisite, I would probably take it.

Piercing Howl – This skill was my largest dilemma. The group I play in has problem with runners and an area of effect daze would help immensely. Plus another group aggro skill is always welcome. However, it's in the third level of the fury tree, and it would be expensive. I had already decided that Improved Demoralizing Shout was not worth another five points into either Booming Voice or Cruelty. Was Demoralizing Shout and Piercing Howl the best option? For now, I've decided it would be better to put five points into Tactical Mastery, which won't be as convenient but should be much more flexible. I can still get group aggro with Demoralizing, Battle Shout and now even Thunderclap, those six extra talent points can buy me more defense and it would still be possible to switch stances and hamstring.

Anger Management – I may still take this skill, but I passed on it since my group and I play on the slow side. If that changes, I'll drop a point here. But I'm also seeing a post from Malakar in this thread that seem to say a warrior in combat with Anger Management will gain rage while doing nothing. If this is true, I will pick up this skill ASAP as it would be like a constant running Bloodrage at one-third the strength. Can someone else confirm this?

I see this advice does clash with some you have received so far, and I think the difference could be an offensive vs. a defensive frame of mind. We'll see what the other warriors think.

Best of luck on the new build!

Brian