Fury Warrior: Midnight Expansion Preview

Welcome to our Midnight expansion guide for Fury Warrior. Ahead of launch, this page will contain everything you need to know about the Fury Warrior spec in the forthcoming Midnight expansion, including changes, Hero Talent Trees, and some light predictions on the state of the spec going into the expansion.

This page is a constantly evolving work in progress, with regular changes expected as updates hit Midnight Alpha. This is not meant to be a launch guide for Fury Warrior, but instead serves as a resource for you to keep up to date with how the spec is evolving on Alpha, and what you can expect from its playstyle and feel on launch.

While many talents have been added or removed, the core abilities and capabilities have remained fairly well intact, even improving in Midnight. Because new Apex and Hero talents have yet to be revealed, it is not yet entirely known how individual gameplay and rotations for Slayer and Thane will look, though with no change to their core abilities, it is likely to remain somewhat similar to that of The War Within.

The biggest removal for Warrior is the loss of several talented abilities, though this is also something of a gain, as there is no longer as much setup required to begin an effective rotation.

On the other hand, the biggest gain for Warriors is a huge leap forward in utility, as Piercing Howl and Battlefield Commander now provide two Wind Rush-like speed increases and Champion's Spear has been redesigned as a mass grip! Additionally, Interpose now offers increased mobility with a minor defensive component, and Pummel has a lower cooldown than ever before. All of this combined is a huge improvement to Warrior capabilities outside of raw damage and defense, and answers a long-time request for more helpful group utility.

As indicated by the development notes, Thunderous Roar has been removed, Avatar has been moved to the specialization tree since Mountain Thane still depends on it, and Champion's Spear has been reworked from an offensive cooldown into a utility one. All of the associated talents for each have also been removed.

Major additions in their place include Battlefield Commander moving over from PvP talents, Last Stand as an emergency heal passively triggered when close to death, and Anger Management moving in from the specialization tree.

• Barbaric Training now increases Slam, Whirlwind, and Thunder Clap damage by 10% (was 20%) and critical strike damage increased by 5% (was 10%).
• Champion's Spear can be reactivated to leap to its location.
• Crushing Force is now a 1-point talent.
• Honed Reflexes now reduces cooldowns by 10% (was 5%). Successfully interrupting an enemy increases the damage you deal to them by 5% for 10 seconds.
• Intimidating Shout now causes the target to cower in fear and all others to flee at 70% reduced movement speed. Target cap removed from all versions.
• Piercing Howl now also spurs all allies within 12 yards, increasing their movement speed by 30% for 4 seconds.
• Rallying Cry now increases health by an additional 50% while not in a raid group.
• Shattering Throw and Wrecking Throw range reduced to 25 yards (was 30 yards).
• Thunder Clap will now automatically apply Rend to 5 targets if talented into Rend.
• The talent tree layout has been updated and many talents have changed positions.

The following talents have been removed:

• Avatar (moved to Fury talent tree)
• Berserker's Torment
• Blood and Thunder
• Cacophonous Roar
• Champion's Might
• Concussive Blows
• Immovable Object
• Menace
• Piercing Challenge
• Seismic Reverberation
• Sidearm
• Thunderous Roar
• Thunderous Words
• Titan's Torment
• Unstoppable Force
• Uproar

The following talents have been added to the class tree:

• New Talent: Anger Management — Every 20 Rage you spend reduces the remaining cooldown on Recklessness and Avatar by 1 second.
• New Talent: Fearless — Cooldown of Berserker Rage is reduced by 50% and Berserker Rage removes all movement speed-impairing effects. Choice node with Berserker Shout.
• New Talent: Field Dressing — Healing received increased by 3% and all self-healing increased by an additional 10%.
• New Talent: Interpose — Run at high speed toward a target location near your allies, taking 30% of all damage dealt to allies within 3 yards for 8 seconds or until you take at least 20% of your max health in damage from this effect.
• New Talent: Javelineer — Storm Bolt, Shattering Throw, Wrecking Throw, and Champion's Spear apply Hamstring to all affected targets, reducing their movement speed by 50% for 15 seconds. Heroic Throw silences non-Player targets for 3 sec. This effect can only occur once every 15 sec.
• New Talent: Last Stand — When your health is brought below 20%, you marshal your inner strength to increase your maximum health by 30% for 15 seconds and instantly heal yourself for that amount. This effect may only occur every 4 minutes.
• New Talent: Rend — Lash out with your weapon, striking all targets within 8 yards for Physical damage and wounding them for an additional Bleed damage over 15 seconds.
• New Talent: Resonant Voice — The duration of your shouts is increased by 20%.
• New Talent: Retaliation — When you take any damage from an enemy within melee range, you have a chance to strike that enemy for Physical damage.
• New Talent: Battlefield Commander — Your Shout abilities have additional effects.
• Battle Shout: Grants you an additional 3% attack power.
• Rallying Cry: Grants an additional 2% health and 3 seconds duration.
• Piercing Howl: Radius increased by 100%.
• Berserker Shout: Radius increased by 8 yards.
• Intimidating Shout: Cooldown reduced by 15 seconds.

Continuing the efforts to prune down extra cooldowns, Onslaught and Ravager have been removed, as have several passive follow-on talents including Unhinged, Titanic Rage, Ashen Juggernaut, and Slaughtering Strikes. Another standout change is the removal of Single-Minded Fury, which is speculated to be replaced by the ability to transmog two-handed weapons into one-handed appearances.

Notable additions in their place include several new talents which trigger bonus effects when Bloodthirst critically strikes, reinforce the use of Execute, and there are two new talents increasing Fury's multi-target capability against a high number of targets. One particularly interesting addition is Kill or Be Killed: inspired by the hidden Legion artifact effect, it grants Fury Warriors a sort of cheat death, though the need to personally get the killing blow on a specific target makes it very impractical for most PvE content.

• Bladestorm now generates 5 Rage per strike (was 10).
• Bloodborne has been redesigned — Targets struck by Bloodthirst take 20% additional damage from your Bleed effects for 8seconds.
• Bloodcraze now increases the critical strike damage of your next Bloodthirst (was critical strike chance).
• Critical Thinking has been redesigned — Raging Blow's critical strike chance increased by 5%/10% and critical strike damage increased by 5%/10%.
• Cruelty is now a 2-point talent and each point increases Raging Blow's damage by 10% while Enraged.
• Deft Experience has been redesigned — Bloodthirst's chance to Enrage you increased by 10%/20% and if you are Enraged, Bloodthirst extends your Enrage by 0.5 seconds/1 second.
• Frenzy has been redesigned — Rampage increases your Haste by 1%/2% for 12 seconds. Multiple stacks of this effect may overlap.
• Improved Bloodthirst is now a 2-point talent and each point increases Bloodthirst's damage by 5% and critical damage by 5%.
• Improved Whirlwind — Causes your next 4 single-target attacks (was 2) to strike 4 additional targets.
• Meat Cleaver has been redesigned — Whirlwind deals 100% additional damage when it hits 3 or more targets and you have no stacks of Improved Whirlwind.
• Odyn's Fury now Enrages you and generates 20 Rage (was 15).
• Powerful Enrage modified — Enrage increases your Mastery by 15% and your Leech by 3%.
• Rampage now replaces Slam.
• Recklessness increases all Rage generated by 50% (was 100%).
• The talent tree layout has been updated and many talents have changed positions.

The following talents have been removed:

• Ashen Juggernaut
• Dancing Blade
• Depths of Insanity
• Onslaught
• Ravager
• Single-Minded Fury
• Slaughtering Strikes
• Storm of Steel
• Tenderize
• Titanic Rage
• Swift Strikes
• Storm of Steel
• Unhinged
• Unbridled Ferocity

The following talents have been added:

• New Apex Talents: Rampaging Berserker: During Recklessness, critical strikes fuel your thirst for blood, increasing your strength by 1% per stack and lasting for 20 seconds after Recklessness ends.
• Rampaging Berserker: Rampage's rage cost is reduced by 15/30 and damage is increased by 10/20% during Recklessness.
• Rampaging Berserker: Rampage extends the duration of Rampaging Berserker by 2 seconds.
• New Talent: Avatar: Transform into a colossus, increasing all damage you deal by 20% and increasing your movement speed by 5% for 20 sec.
• New Talent: Deep Wounds: Execute inflicts Deep Wounds on the target, causing high damage over 6 seconds.
• New Talent: Executioner's Wrath: Execute generates 5 additional Rage and increases the damage of Rampage by 10% for 4 seconds.
• New Talent: Kill or Be Killed: When you would sustain fatal damage, you fly into an unstoppable rage, becoming unkillable and immune to movement-impairing effects for 8 seconds as you seek revenge on your would-be killer. If you kill your killer in this time, you emerge triumphant from your rage with at least 20% of your max health intact. If you are not victorious, you die. This effect can only occur every 5 minutes.
• New Talent: Ragedrinker: Bloodthirst critical strikes restore twice as much health and Enrage you for 2 seconds.
• New Talent: Scent of Blood: Rampage increases the damage of your next Bloodthirst by 10%, stacking up to 2 times.
• New Talent: Surge of Adrenaline: When Raging Blow resets its own cooldown, your auto-attack damage and speed are increased by 30% for 6 seconds.
• new talent: Unslaked Thirst: Bloodthirst critical strikes increase the damage of raging blow by 10% for 4 seconds.

Slayer Hero Talent Changes

• Overwhelming Blades reduced to five stacks (down from ten).
• Slayer's Dominance now has a consistent 15% chance to trigger Slayer's Strike and grants overlapping stacks of Executioner, increasing all Execute damage.
• Slayer's Malice also increases Execute and Raging Blow damage by 20%.
• Unrelenting Onslaught now reduces the cooldown of Bladestorm per stack of Executioner.
• New Talent: Deadly Focus: Executioner's duration is increased by 6 sec.
• New Talent: Unhinged: Every 2 strikes of Bladestorm, you automatically cast a Bloodthirst at your target or random nearby enemy, dealing 100% of normal damage.
• New Talent: Violent Euphoria: Bladestorm puts you into a battle trance, granting you 15% Haste for 8 sec after you stop Bladestorming.

Mountain Thane Hero Talent Changes

• New Talent: Capacitance: During Avatar Thunder Blast extends Avatar's duration by 2 seconds.
• New Talent: Conductivity: Lightning Strike damage increased by 10% and critical strike damage increased by 10%.
• New Talent: Storm Surge: Avatar increases the damage of Thunder Clap by 50% and reduces its cooldown by 50%.

Aside from the changes to Fury Warrior's core features, Midnight also introduces three new Hero Talents for each tree, new tier sets, and a stat squish reducing general numbers across the board. Instead of having millions of health and damage, players will be back to thousands instead.

New Hero talents have not yet been revealed for Slayer or Mountain Thane.

The Fury Warrior tier set for the first season of Midnight is predictably simple, giving players an opportunity to adjust to the baseline class, spec, and hero talent changes instead.

• 2-set bonus: Rampage damage increased by 10% and Odyn's Fury damage increased by 10%.
• 4-set bonus: Rampage reduces the cooldown of Odyn's Fury by 1 second and Odyn's Fury damage is increased by an additional 10%.