Warrior leveling in WoW Forever: weapons, abilities by level and rotation

The short answer

Arms with a two-handed weapon is the classic way to level and the best choice for groups and dungeons. Protection with a one-handed weapon and shield is the safest way to grind alone, and it is the spec of our leveling build for the class. Fury comes later: you cannot dual wield before level 20, and the spec stays weak until Berserker Stance at 30 and Whirlwind at 36.

Warriors struggle against higher-level enemies when alone, so dungeons and groups are where they shine. Open fights with Rend and Sunder Armor, and save the rest of your Rage for the next pull instead of spending a full bar on a nearly dead target.

• Berserker Stance
• Whirlwind
• Rend
• Sunder Armor

Weapons to level with

Almost all of your damage comes from the weapon, so a weapon upgrade is worth more than any armor piece. Warriors can learn every weapon type except wands, and each type is a skill you train at a weapon master in a capital city: most cost a few silver at level 1, while Polearms and Dual Wield need level 20.

Arms: a heavy two-hander (sword, mace, axe or, from level 20, a polearm), because Overpower and Slam hit for weapon damage. Fury: keep a two-hander until level 20, then train dual wield and carry two one-handers, ideally a fast off-hand. Protection: a one-hander and a shield, with Shield Block arriving at level 16.

The biggest weapon jumps between levels 15 and 30 come from dungeon and quest rewards: see the dungeon guide and the class weapon quests for the level 30 quest weapon.

Abilities by level

These levels come from the game data, so they match your trainer. 1: Heroic Strike and Battle Shout. 4: Charge and Rend. 6: Thunder Clap. 8: Hamstring. 10: Bloodrage, Taunt, Sunder Armor and Defensive Stance, which comes from a class quest. 12: Overpower and Shield Bash. 14: Revenge. 16: Shield Block.

20: Slam, Cleave, Retaliation, Victory Rush, Polearms and dual wield. 24: Execute. 28: Shield Wall. 30: Berserker Stance (another class quest), Berserker Rage and Intercept. 36: Whirlwind. 38: Pummel. 40: Mortal Strike and Bloodthirst with enough talent points, plus dual talent specialization. 50: Recklessness.

• Heroic Strike
• Battle Shout
• Charge
• Rend
• Thunder Clap
• Hamstring

Stances, Rage and rotation

Battle Stance is neutral. Defensive Stance cuts the damage you take and raises threat. Berserker Stance adds crit but makes you take more damage, and Whirlwind only works in it. Changing stance costs Rage, and the Arms talent Tactical Mastery lets you keep some of it. Thunder Clap works in Battle and Defensive Stance.

Arms: keep Battle Shout up, open with Charge, use Overpower whenever it is ready, Rend if the target will live for the ticks, then Heroic Strike with spare Rage. From level 20 Slam is a filler: guides disagree on whether it is instant, so read the tooltip on your character. Protection: Revenge on cooldown, Rend, Thunder Clap and Heroic Strike with spare Rage, and Shield Block when a pack hits you.

In Forever Rend scales with attack power, so Improved Rend is the first Arms talent to take, followed by Tactical Mastery and Deep Wounds, then Mortal Strike and Fury's Unbridled Wrath and Enrage. For Protection start with Shield Specialization. The full talent split is in the talents guide and on the Warrior page; for the best race see the race guide.

• Battle Stance
• Defensive Stance
• Berserker Stance
• Tactical Mastery
• Thunder Clap
• Battle Shout