Classic Warrior DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents

Last updated on Jul 20, 2019 at 22:27 by Seksixeny 47 comments

On this page, you will find out the best PvE talent choices and builds for your Warrior DPS in WoW Classic.

If you were looking for TBC Classic content, please refer to our TBC Classic Warrior talentss:

1.

Talent Builds for DPS Warriors

DPS Warriors reach their maximum sustained damage potential when dual wielding, but if you have a really good two-hander (especially when you are Horde and have access to Windfury Totem Icon Windfury Totem), it also works after some slight talent modifications.

1.1.

Leveling Builds

If you were looking for leveling builds, please refer to our leveling guide for Warriors.

1.2.

DPS Warrior Talent Builds: Dual Wield

Dual Wield Talent Build for DPS Warriors

For this build, you want to use the highest DPS one-hand weapons you can find. Once geared, in later phases and with lots of extra Hit chance in your gear, this is the highest DPS build in WoW Classic, and as such, you will need to watch your threat closely, lest you pull aggro from the tank. Try to activate Death Wish Icon Death Wish and Recklessness Icon Recklessness at a time where the boss will not die before they expire, but also close enough to the Execute Icon Execute phase that your maximum damage potential can be fully realized.

Due to the strict talent tree required to get Bloodthirst Icon Bloodthirst, Dual Wield Specialization Icon Dual Wield Specialization, and Impale Icon Impale, the only preference points available are the ones we put into Improved Heroic Strike Icon Improved Heroic Strike and Improved Battle Shout Icon Improved Battle Shout. You can replace these with some points into Improved Overpower Icon Improved Overpower, Piercing Howl Icon Piercing Howl, and Improved Cleave Icon Improved Cleave respectively.

1.3.

DPS Warrior Talent Builds: Two-Hander

2H Talent Build for DPS Warriors

While dual wield is stronger with perfect gear, it is generally easier to gear for two-hander talents, especially early on in WoW Classic, when Hit gear is hard to come by. Windfury Totem Icon Windfury Totem makes this build even stronger if you are a Horde player, but it can do insane damage even for Alliance players, as you can see in this video, by DunderJ.

This build relies on Improved Slam Icon Improved Slam, and is otherwise similar to the previous one, minus the points Dual Wield Specialization Icon Dual Wield Specialization. The way you should weave Slam Icon Slam into your rotation is by using it immediately after hitting an auto-attack, which you can time with Weapon Swing Timer, as explained in our Addon Page. For more information, check it out in action with this video, by Executus Gaming.

2.

Notable DPS Warrior Talents

2.1.

Arms Tree

Warriors looking to do high PvE damage usually only spec lightly into Arms. Even at a light investment, regardless, this tree still has several useful talents:

Tactical Mastery Icon Tactical Mastery is required for stance swapping to work. Without points in it, you would struggle to retain any Rage when stance swapping to Battle Stance Icon Battle Stance for Overpower Icon Overpower, and back to Berserker Stance Icon Berserker Stance, for example.

Anger Management Icon Anger Management generates 1 Rage every 3 seconds, which is not clear at all from reading its tooltip. This makes it a fairly good Rage generating talent and, combined with Bloodrage Icon Bloodrage, enables you to jump into a fight with a decent amount of Rage already.

Improved Overpower Icon Improved Overpower makes your Overpower Icon Overpower skill critical strike much more often. This can be useful to activate Flurry Icon Flurry, but unless you do it while at low Rage, you risk losing a significant amount of Rage while stance dancing to Battle Stance Icon Battle Stance, and then back to Berserker Stance Icon Berserker Stance.

Impale Icon Impale is a major damage contributor for Warriors, while only requiring an investment of 17 points into the Arms tree, allowing for deep Fury to still be reached.

2.2.

Fury Tree

Cruelty Icon Cruelty is a staple of all kinds of Warriors, as trading one talent point for 1% extra chance to critical strike is usually a good deal.

Unbridled Wrath Icon Unbridled Wrath suits dual wielding well, as the more often you attack, the more often you activate this talent for extra Rage.

Piercing Howl Icon Piercing Howl can provide a reliable source of soft crowd control in an emergency. Whether it is because the tank lost aggro on some enemies or because you need to run away to recover health, Piercing Howl will make things more manageable.

Improved Battle Shout Icon Improved Battle Shout is a nice damage boost for a full party of melee players. If you are able to provide it at little cost to your performance, it is a good idea to do so.

Improved Cleave Icon Improved Cleave is not quite as impactful as it sounds, since the damage increase only applies to the extra damage applied by Cleave Icon Cleave and not the whole attack. Still, it is better than the alternatives for DPS, as long as you have another Warrior in your party with Improved Battle Shout Icon Improved Battle Shout.

Enrage Icon Enrage is mostly taken to reach Flurry Icon Flurry, as you should rarely be hit with critical strikes while dealing damage.

Improved Slam Icon Improved Slam is used in the two-hander Fury build because Slam Icon Slam's damage scales very well with a slow weapon's high damage range, which you will generally be using in this build. It also adds a Rage dump that does not negate 2H Fury's slow, precious white swings, unlike Heroic Strike Icon Heroic Strike.

Flurry Icon Flurry increases your damage substantially, as long as you are dealing critical strikes regularly. With good enough gear, you will eventually be able to keep this up nearly 100% of the time.

Bloodthirst Icon Bloodthirst provides an extra attack to further increase your damage, with a little bit of regeneration sprinkled in.

2.3.

Protection Tree

If you wish to deal as much damage as possible, you will never want to put any points into the Protection tree.

3.

Changelog

  • 20 Jul. 2019: Changed the Fury 2h build to include Improved Slam and added more information on the talent.
  • 12 Jun. 2019: Page added.
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