[Mordok]

Cut and paste job from Blizzard Warrior forums. Thanks for the linkage Cider!


Is 2H Fury with Improved Slam the best leveling spec?
Is DW Fury without +hit gear viable while leveling?

Read on for answers.


This whole task started as I was speed leveling an Undead Warrior. I haven't played warrior since Closed Beta, so to say I'm a nub warrior would be an understatement. That being said, I'm a solid player and excel at leveling new characters.

After hitting level 20 and doing a LOT of research tring to find decent answers for warrior speed leveling specs, I was very disppointed. There is some excellent data-driven analysis for high-end warrior dps available (Meeks!), but really there is very little useful information available for lower level mugs.

This entire work is aimed at new warriors looking for guidance on speed leveling.
The end work should hopefully provide some concrete data for folks to make their own informed decisions.


Caveats:

* clearly a work in progress. I'll post a final set of talents and weapons progression when finished.

* while the end-goal is to make recommendations for warrior speed leveling, my leveling speeds were not always top-end; there were lots of experiments!

* the DW weapons progression is highly experimental; don't take what you see as a hard recommendation - that many different weapon types is inefficient as the skill-up times would be (and were!) tedious.

* my apologies to Protection warrior levelers - I just didn't see enough low level dps talents to justify a Protection warrior in this mix.

* speed leveling for me = solo leveling 99% of the time and choosing gear and talents which promote high sustained dps and low downtime
( I HATE sitting, and even stopping to bandage is annoying !!! )

* from Level 40 to Level 70 the DW warrior is running dual Crusader enchants. Some may view this as overpowered. For me, this is completely acceptable, and simply using one of the big advantages of dual wield.

* this beast is LONG !!!! read at your own peril :-)



The Rub:
(Warning: this may change later so stay tuned)
I don't expect all you folks to endure this wall-o-text so here is the Reader's Digest version:

Dual Wield Fury is the best sustained dps leveling spec for new warriors looking to speed level.
Do NOT wait for +hit gear; switch to DW at level 20 and don't look back !



Goals:

(1) gather data to differentiate the sustained dmg output and relative leveling speeds of three different warrior leveling modes: Two Hand (2H) Arms, 2H Fury, and Dual Wield (DW) Fury.

(2) investigate the upgraded weapon drops for patch 2.3 and map-out a path for both 2H axes, and dual wield weapon options which will keep the warrior dps and experience per hour (xph) high, and minimize the amount of gold required to obtain and buff the weapons.

Note: with the exception of [Executioner's Cleaver], no weapons were purchased via Auction Hall (AH) or trade channel; all weapons were either quest rewards or "high" drop rate items from killed mobs.

(3) evaluate the merits of the Arms and Fury 41 point talents (Endless Rage vs Rampage).

Note: with the still buggy Endless Rage talent not producing rage as advertised, I decided to go with a hybrid Axe Arms - Improved Slam build for the Arms warrior.
I may revert to Endless Rage if patch 2.4 is released in time.

(4) have fun smashing things with three different types of bad-azz warriors.



Meet the brothers Smith:

Hueysmith, Deweysmith, and Louiesmith. Identical orc triplets, these brothers will lead us on this exploration into the Patch 2.3 world of warrior leveling. Huey is the 2H Arms warrior, Dewey the 2H Fury, and Louie the DW Fury.

I chose Orc for the Blood Fury and Axe expertise racials. Huey and Dewey started with 2H-axe, and finished at 70 with 2-H axe. Louie started with 2H axe until he trained dual-wield at level 20. From 20-70, Louie wielded a smorgasboard of axes, swords, maces, and daggers; whatever quality weapon he could get via instance drops and questing.



Instrumentation and Methodologies:

(a) all dps was measured with the latest version of Recap (Hawksy).

(b) only dps scores VS COMMON OPPONENTS were used for comparison.

(c) dps scores recorded while the warrior was grouped (regardless of how big the group) were not considered in this analysis.

(d) Recap data was reset at the beginning of a new character level, whenever a new weapon was "permanently" swapped in, when a new weapon enchant was acquired, or when a weapon skill had leveled to normalized status (e.g. when Louie swapped out axes for swords at character level 22, Recap data was reset when his swords skill reached 105; the weapon skill he would have had if he had began level 22 with maxed swords skill).

(e) BOE random gear drops and scrolls were pooled during the course of a level and distributed amongst the warriors to maintain normalized stats for all 3 warriors.

(f) enchanting was used to compensate for random gear drop and weapon stat differences; keeping the three warriors at near identical health, attack power (AP), and agility throughout the leveling process.

(g) xp earned, leveling times, str, sta, agi, AP, crit%, health, miss%, avg hit, max hit/crit, and top dps skills by percentage were recorded in a spreadsheet at the beginning of each new level.

(h) friendly "drive-by" buffs were right-clicked off (but thanks for the thought :-)).

(i) weapons progression was driven by quests and comparable level high % instance drops, but in many cases the weapons were not wielded at their minimum usable level. This was done to keep all three warriors weapons upgrades as consistent as possible with each other, and also because in many cases, xp earned had pushed the characters to a higher level before they had acquired the new weapons.

Note: Executioner's Cleaver was the only exception, and should be wielded immediately at level 43 for those warriors going for 2H Fury with Improved Slam.

(j) I almost always level with either iPod or Media Player in the headphones (no game sound unless I'm PvP'ing), using a Nostromo/mouse for game control, and my playstyle results in a lot of missed chats or delayed responses. If I missed your in-game tell or gave a delayed answer, I'm not trying to be rude... chat window gets lowest priority in the scheduling. I'm pretty chatty once you get me going so keep trying if I missed your tell.


Key Learnings:

*** Patch 2.3 is a boon to all melee classes (warrior, rogue, druid, pally, shaman).
From level 25-70, characters should be 1-3 levels above where they would have been pre-patch 2.3 using their "normal" quest sequencing. For melee, this makes a HUGE difference!

(1) In series of short fights, low level (16-30) Arms warriors have a slight dps advantage with Improved Heroic Strike and Improved Charge.

(2) Dual Wield Fury warriors have NO early level (20-30) disadvantage in dps compared to 2H warriors; higher miss ratings are easily offset by extra dps and rage of the offhand.

(3) Cheap enchants and smith stones (+2/+4) are an excellent dps and xph boost at early levels (1-20).

(4) Sweeping Strikes is a significant dps and survival advantage for Fury warriors when dealing with adds, 2-pulls, and 3-pulls.

(5) Attempting to play 2H Improved Slam with weapon speeds faster than 3.3 seconds (unbuffed) can be an exercise in futility!

(6) Lag-free Internet connection and computer system is a definite must for maximizing Slam dps. Slam timing requires precision; if you are playing Slam and experience lag spikes, you may want to log for a bit to allow the lag storm to subside, otherwise expect markedly lower dps numbers.



Levels 1-20:

All three warriors leveled from 1-20 at comparable rates with only minor differences in playstyle, and almost no difference in dps (except for the enchant differences noted below). Not that big of a suprise, since Louie (the DW warrior) was using 2H axe until he was able to train DW at level 20, and all three warriors started with 5 points in Cruelty (Fury). Interesting to note that while Improved Heroic Strike (IHS) did play differently on Huey vs the other two warriors in similar encounters, Huey's dps and xph were still nearly identical to the other two warriors in this level range.

The playstyle difference was Huey's ability to swing HS more often due to the 12 rage cost vs the normal 15 rage that Dewey and Louie were paying. However, even with the 3 rage discount, it was clear that Huey wasn't swinging HS so often that it was showing up as a distinc difference in dps or xph. Of course, in this level range, mobs die VERY quickly; sometimes in just two swings. The relative squishiness of the mobs and very fast leveling times from 1-20 were no doubt a factor in IHS not showing as a clear advantage. Unbridled Wrath (UW) on the Fury warriors was also playing a role here. Once UW reached 4/5, the Fury warriors were receiving the +1 rage proc on almost every swing; in essence reducing the cost of all their abilities by 1 rage.

Note that I chose to level all three warriors 1-20 in the old-schoold Durotar/Barrens region. If I were to do this over, there is no doubt that I would level the warriors 1-20 in the Blood Elf starting zones Eversong/Ghostlands. I used the BE areas to level a previous Undead warrior alt from 1-20 in 9.5 hours; shaving over 4 hours off of the leveling time of the fastest of these three Orc warriors in Durotar/Barrens.

The BE starting zones are laid out more efficiently as far as villages, roads, mob spawns, etc. Also, the itemization and quest rewards in the BE starter zones are far superior (even after patch 2.3) to most items you will find in the old world (not including instances). The only downside is that there are no warrior trainers in the BE zones. If you keep your hearth set to UC, and eat the extra few minutes of runtime required to train, translocate, and get back to your current BE leveling area, then it is still far more efficient to level a warrior in the BE zones than in the old-school zones. Once you reach level 5 in your warrior starter area, it is definitely worthwhile to consider making a move to the BE starter areas regardless of your race.

The lack of instances in the BE starter zones can also be a disadvantage for gear twinking. For warriors, my suggestion would be to stick with 2H swords while in the BE starter areas, and then make the transition to axe/mace/polearm when you re-enter the old world leveling areas at 20+. Of course, if you don't mind parting with some cash, AH twinkage could be used to subsidize whatever weapon skill you wanted to level with; making the lack of early level instances in the BE areas a moot point.

Notable that low level weapon enchants and blacksmith stones you can get in this level range make a huge difference in your leveling speed. Keeping a +2/+3/+4 dmg enchant and +2/+4 smith stone on your weapon at all times should shave at least 2-3 hours off of your grinding time from levels 10-20.

There was an observed 2 hour leveling time and 1-2 dps difference from levels 10-16 between Huey/Dewey (who had constant enchants/stones) vs Louie who used no enchants/stones over this same period. From levels 17-20, all three warriors used both enchants and stones, and their dps and xph were nearly identical. It is not suprising that the enchanted weapons were yielding faster leveling times, and bigger enchants (e.g. Crusader) would have equated to even faster leveling, but it is interesting that these extremely cheap weapon buffs were having significant impact (multiple hours saved) at these early levels.



Levels 20-30:

Louie's DW playstyle was a pleasant suprise from levels 20-22. I had expected these levels to be somewhat cumbersome for him due to his switch to DW, and the resulting huge to-hit penalty (melee miss rating from levels 19-20 was 6.5%, miss rating from 20-21 was 22.5%). Louie was equally adept at killing with DW as he was when he was wielding a 2H weapon. His DW dps was comparable to both 2-handed warriors.

The notable playstyle difference between Louie and the 2H warriors was rage generation. Louie's rage generation was more consistent and smoother (i.e. less bursty) vs the rage generation of the 2H warriors. However, the smoother rage generation didn't automatically equate to more dps or faster leveling times in the 20-22 level range. Louie's dps and xph fell right in the middle of both the 2H warriors from levels 20-21. Interesting to note that Dewey (2H Fury) was the top dps'r from level 20-21 with an average dps of 31.1, Louie (DW Fury) second at 28.1, and Huey (2H Arms) third at 27.4 dps.

Dewey had gotten lucky in this level range with a melee crit rating of 12.3%. Huey had been unfortunate with a crit rating of 8.3%, and Louie was right at the norm with a crit rating of 10.5%.

Level 20-21 dps scores
#1- 2H Fury, 31.1
#2- DW Fury, 28.1
#3- 2H Arms, 27.4


Huey's (2H Arms) dps jumped significantly when he reached level 21. His weapon and enchants were unchanged from levels 18-22, but there was still a 12.4 dps step between level ranges 20-21 and 21-22. Improved Charge (IC) had reached 2/2 and combined with Improved Heroic Strike (IHS), was allowing Huey to swing heroic two and sometimes three swings in succession following his Charge. Huey's dps skill rankings changed dramatically as a result.

From levels 10-21, all three warriors experienced similar dps skill rankings with pure white melee dmg accounting for 60% to 74% of the total dmg ouput while HS accounted for 23% to 34% (third place was usually Overpower or Thunderclap at 2-3%). From level 21-22, Huey's skill ranking was HS #1 at 56%, with white melee dmg accounting for only 41%. Both Fury warriors had skill rankings nearly identical to their previous levels (avg of 65% melee, 30% HS).

From level 21-22 Huey (2H Arms) was the #1 dps'r with a dps score of 39.8; Louie (DW Fury) second with a rating of 38.9; Dewey (2H Fury) third with a rating of 31.5 dps. Lucky crits could easily account for a 2.5 dps swing in this data (as evidenced from the level 20-21 data), but that still leaves nearly 10.0 dps attributable to the synergy between IC and IHS.

Level 21-22 dps scores
#1- 2H Arms, 39.8
#2- DW Fury, 38.9
#3- 2H fury, 31.5


Notable that in the last example Louie (DW Fury) was #2 in dps, following Huey (2H Arms) by a very close margin (39.8 dps vs 38.9). Louie's smoother rage generation is attributable to the synergy which Unbridled wrath (UW) has with fast dual-wielded weapons. Even when swinging heroic with his main hand, Louie's off-hand weapon can still hit during or immediately following the main hand swing period and produce rage; an advantage over both of the 2H warriors who can produce no rage (Arms) or only +1 rage (2H Fury UW) during a heroic swing.

While this smoother rage generation didn't produce noticably higher dps from level 20-21, it did from level 21-22. Louie's melee crit rating was only slightly higher than normal from 21-22 (10.9%) and his miss rating slightly lower than norm (21.9%). Louie's good dps wasn't a fluke of the random number generator. His off-hand dps and rage generation was beginning to shine.

The off-hand rage generation occurs such that it allows the DW warrior the ability to swing heroic two or more times in succession where the 2H warriors could not (e.g. 23 rage, warrior swings heroic leaving 8 rage (11 rage for Arms), 2H warriors must wait for one successful non-heroic swing to generate the rage for a second heroic swing while DW warrior with successful off-hand rage generation can swing heroic immediately after the previous heroic swing).


Level 24 was key for all the warriors for one simple reason: Execute. Skill sequencing during fights changed dramatically for all 3 warriors to accomodate this all-glorious finishing move. The era of mindless Heroic Strike (HS) was over... all hail Execute!!! All three warriors experienced an average of a +5.6 dps boost between levels 23-24 and levels 24-25 thanks to Execute which held a firm #3 dps skill ranking (11% of dmg avg) behind melee (avg 50%) and HS (avg 35%).

Notable that Huey (2H Arms) was still showing a huge boost to his HS dps due to IHS/IC synergy with HS averaging 41% of total dmg from levels 21-25. Louie (DW Fury) dominated the dps battle in the level 24-25 range with a 51.5 dps score; Huey (2H Arms) placed second at 47.2, and Dewey (2H Fury) ran third at 45.2 dps. A 6.3 dps difference at level 24 is ridiculous. DW Fury was winning the dps battle in the 20-30 level range, and from a playstyle perspective was burning through the level 20-30 content with impressive verve.

Level 24-25 dps scores
#1- DW Fury, 51.5
#2- 2H Arms, 47.2
#3- 2H Fury, 45.2


Some of Louie's early DW success was attributable to his axes (2x [Smite's Reaver]) adding +2 Hit rating each, which equated to roughly +1.6% to hit from levels 20-22, and also enabling Louie's racial axe expertise ability (roughly -1.7% to mob dodge/parry at this level range).

When Louie switched to swords at level 22 (no +hit), his miss rating increased to 27% (previously 22% with axes), but his overall dps still increased from 38.9 to 46.0. The higher miss rating wasn't a significant drag on the DW dps. Louie's dps stayed 10-20% higher than either of the 2-handed warriors ranging between 46.0 and 59.3 from level 24 thru level 29 while his miss rating ranged from 26.6% to 37.8% over this same period.

Unbridled Wrath (5/5) and Dual Wield Specialization (5/5) were combining with off-hand dps and rage generation to offset the extremely high DW miss rating. In fact, Dual Wield Spec with the off-hand rage generation was a huge advantage in dps which the 2H warriors could not match in the 22-29 level range. The biggest disparity in dps showed in the level 27-28 range where DW Fury posted a 13.3 dps difference over the lowest 2H warrior (2H Fury), and 10.7 dps difference over the second place 2H warrior (2H Arms).

Level 27-28 dps scores
#1- DW Fury, 59.3
#2- 2H Arms, 48.6
#3- 2H Fury, 46.0

Not surprisingly, DW Fury had the best leveling times from levels 22-28, besting both the 2H warriors by about 1 hour of /played (9.5 hours for DW, 10.5 hours for 2H).


There are several articles floating around the net which advise or imply that going DW at level 20 is "gimped." From my experience DW Fury is quite viable from level 20-30, and in fact can be superior in dps to the 2H alternatives depending on the weapons progression. Patch 2.3 gave low-level DW a big boost because of the weapons upgrades (e.g. [Windstorm Hammer]).

IMO, with the new weapon itemization, DW Fury is far and away the best Warrior PvE dps spec from levels 20-30.




Levels 30-40:

Level 30 was a key level for all 3 warriors for many reasons: Intercept, Deathwish, Sweeping Strikes, prereq level for Whirlwind weapons quest line... just to name a few. For both the 2H warriors, Slam became a major component in their combat skill sequencing and replaced HS as the #2 dps skill. For Huey (2H Arms), Deathwish became available and he respecced at the first available training session after hitting level 30; dropping Cruelty to get Deathwish (a decision which I would later regret). Huey would spend his next 5 talent points post level 30 to regain Cruelty 5/5. For both the Fury warriors, Sweeping Strikes (SS) combined with Cleave became a staple combo for dealing with mob-add encounters.

Level 30 Warrior Talents
DW Fury - Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
2H Fury - Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
2H Arms - Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft


I chose NOT to go after the Whirlwind Axe quest line immediately after hitting 30, but instead to incorporate it into the leveling pattern of both Huey (2H Arms) and Dewey (2H Fury). The 2H warriors would not get their Whirlwind Axes until level 32 as a result. For fairness in dps comparison, the review of dps from levels 30-32 should be considered slightly skewed as neither 2H warrior was putting out the max dps they could have been doing; and Louie (DW Fury) had already made his switch to a new off-hand weapon at level 31 ([Swinetusk Shank]) before either 2H warrior had reached level 30. In any case, DW Fury was the consistent dps winner from level 30-32, and was a staggering 16.7 dps better (~ 25% better) than the best 2H warrior in the 31-32 level range.

Level 31-32 dps scores
#1 - DW Fury, 84.7
#2 - 2H Arms, 68.0
#3 - 2H Fury, 60.5


Dewey (2H Fury) was the odd man out in dps thru level 32. Other than the initial promising burst at level 20, 2H Fury placed dead last in sustaind dps from 21-28; and while 2H Fury showed brief dps bursts from levels 29-32 that were impressive, 2H Fury still placed dead last in sustained dps even with the addition of the Improved Slam talent.

From a playstyle perspective it wasn't nearly as grim as the numbers may imply. 2H Fury played very similar to the 2H Arms warrior from level 20-30. The 2H Arms warrior advantage was in his openers where Improved Charge and Improved Heroic Strike were clear dps adders. The 2H Fury warrior advantage was on the backend of a fight, where Unbridled Wrath and Commanding Presence during longer fights would begin to shine, and Improved Execute allowed for bigger finishing moves. While the 2H Fury sustained dps was dead last, the leveling times of both 2H warriors from 20-30 were nearly identical. My theory is that while 2H Fury was clearly the "gimp" dps spec in this level range, it still had the threshold dps required to efficiently plow through the content.

The dps scores for 2H Fury began to change dramatically starting at level 32. Improved Slam had reached 2/2, and Battle Shout had improved to Rank 4 (synergy with Commanding presence). Dewey's 2H Fury dps rocketed to the top of the charts for the next few levels.

Level 33-34 dps scores
#1 - 2H Fury, 99.7
#2 - DW Fury, 95.4
#3 - 2H Arms, 89.4

Level 34-35 dps scores
#1 - 2H Fury, 108.8
#2 - DW Fury, 107.9
#3 - 2H Arms, 98.3


Huey's (2H Arms) dps really ramped-up beginning at level 35. Cruelty had finally reached 5/5 again, and Huey would dominate the dps charts for the next few levels. If I were to do this experiment over, I would have opted NOT to respec Huey at level 30 to get Deathwish, but instead to keep Cruelty 5/5 and to save the first respec for level 40 and Mortal Strike. Without Cruelty 5/5, levels 30-35 felt VERY underpowered compared to either of the Fury warriors; the dps numbers validate the gimpiness.

Deathwish did help to keep 2H Arms competitive from level 30-32, but from level 33-35 Arms was really lackluster without the added crit. In any case, at level 35 Huey was noticably more powerful than his previous few levels, and from level 36-37 the 2H Arms playstyle was explosive; recording an outrageous 25% crit rate on Executes over the entire level range!

Level 35-36 dps scores
#1 - 2H Arms, 107.8
#2 - 2H Fury, 103.4
#3 - DW Fury, 91.1

Level 36-37 dps scores
#1 - 2H Arms, 122.0
#2 - 2H Fury, 116.7
#3 - DW Fury, 111.8


Level 36 brought Whirlwind into each of the warriors playbooks. Unfortunately, without any points in Tactical Mastery, none of these specs were effective at stance dancing at this level. Switching from Battle Stance to Zerker immediately after Charge would waste about 10-30 rage. Switching back to Battle Stance from Zerker after a fight ended was no problem, but for those 1 in 4 fights where Execute didn't land (or wasn't thrown), switching out of Zerker would usually mean losing 40+ rage carryover for the next fight. Staying in Zerker was the best bet for keeping Whirlwind active, but this disabled both Charge and Overpower; two valuable warrior leveling skills. The bottom line is Whirlwind was rarely used by any of the warriors.

Huey (2H Arms) was the only warrior who made use of Whirlwind for practical dps purposes on a few rare occassions. Arms has the disadvantage of no Sweeping Strikes, so dealing with 3-pulls can be clumsy for the Arms warrior (unless Retaliation and/or Brutal Armor is used). Charge - ThunderClap - DemoShout - ZerkerStance - swing - Whirlwind - BattleStance - swing - Cleave; not exactly max dps, but for those few pulls where 3 was unavoidable, this got the job done.

It is noteworthy that I tried a few variations on the Whirlwind/Cleave sequencing including one where I switched into Zerker and stayed there. Staying in Zerker when fighting 2 mobs even for only a few swings is very risky at this level (let alone 3 mobs). Huey died during a couple of the experiments. The Fury warriors on the same 3-pulls would Charge-swing-SS-Cleave; extremely effective, great dps, simple, much safer than the Whirlwind variants, and if needed, Zerker - swing - Whirlwind - BattleStance could be used immediately after the Cleave.

It is also worth noting that with enough rage (starting with 70+ rage or Brutal Armor usage mid-fight), the Arms warrior can battle 3 and 4 mobs simply with Cleave: Thunderclap - DemoShout - swing - Cleave - Cleave - Cleave. This will usually have 1 or 2 mobs dead, then it's the normal swing-Slam-swing-Exec until everything's dead. All of these Whirlwind/Cleave sequences are probably going to be trouble if the mobs are runners; you simply won't have the rage to get Hamstrings down, so kill fast or just avoid packs of runners.

Note: This would be the perfect time for a Piercing Howl, but for me, it's not worth a talent point for a skill which MIGHT get used a handful of times while leveling (PvP a different story of course).


Louie (DW Fury) reached Level 37 and acquired a new main-hand weapon ([Vanquisher's Sword]). DW Fury dps would top the charts for the rest of this level range.

Level 37-38 dps scores
#1 - DW Fury, 125.4
#2 - 2H Fury, 109.9
#3 - 2H Arms, 106.3

Level 38-39 dps scores
#1 - DW Fury, 119.4
#2 - 2H Fury, 109.1
#3 - 2H Arms, 107.2

Level 39-40 dps scores
#1 - DW Fury, 124.5
#2 - 2H Fury, 121.1
#3 - 2H Arms, 115.4


From level 30-40, the addition of Slam brought some versatility for both the 2H warriors. The Arms warrior could now choose between swing-Slam or swing-HS; with swing-HS being more rage efficient (but less dps). The Arms warrior used HS-Exec a few times as his finishing move (usually because I was too late in the swing timer to get in the Slam), but the majority of the Arms finishing moves were either swing-Slam-Exec or just simply swing-Exec (when rage limited). For the Fury warrior with Improved Slam, all of his finishing moves were either swing-Slam-Exec, or swing-Exec when rage limited.


My leveling spec recommendation for levels 30-40 is DW Fury. The better rage generation of DW, the impressive sustained dps (even with no +hit gear), and the ability to run two weapon enchants while leveling is just too good to pass up. DW also posted the best /played time over common quests by just over 1.5 hours. Both the 2H warriors also showed impressive flashes of burst dps and sustained dps in this level range, but between the 2H warriors, I prefer the 2H Fury warrior with Improved Slam; great sustained dps and extremely fun to play.




Levels 40-50:

Level 40 is undoubtedly the defining level for warrior playstyle as the 41 point instant attacks become available: Mortal Strike (MS) for Arms and Bloodthirst (BT) for Fury. Once again, Huey (2H Arms) would respec out of Cruelty 5/5, but this time to train MS; arguably more important than the respec for Deathwish. The Fury warriors would need no respec to gain their 41 point talents; a small but distinct advantage for Fury.

Level 40 Warrior Talents
DW Fury - Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
2H Fury - Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
2H Arms - Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft


Most of level 40 was spent grouped with Mordok acquiring the blue weapons from the Feralas quest lines ([Force of the Hippogryph], [Will of the Mountain Giant]). If you can't find a group to help you power through these quests, you should be able to comfortably solo Natural Materials and most of the Muisek series once you hit level 43 (all obtained from the Witch Doctor Witch Doctor Uzer'i - NPCs - World of Warcraft, at level 40, you can open the series with A Strange Request - Quests - World of Warcraft). The exception is the Mountain Giant Muisek quest which if solo'd should probably be done after you hit level 47, and then finished with Zapped Giants (Zapped Giants - Quests - World of Warcraft); this area is loaded with level 47-50 mobs so pull carefully!

Two other notable upgrades in this level range: if you have access to a friendly Blacksmith, the following two items are outstanding and can be crafted with pretty common mats: [Truesilver Breastplate], and [Truesilver Gauntlets].


IMPORTANT:
Will of the Mountain Giant received a nice boost from patch 2.3, but this weapon is WAY too fast for maximum dps with 2H Fury Improved Slam. It can serve as a temporary replacement for the Whirlwind Axe from level 40-43, but once you reach level 43 you'll want to get the [Executioner's Cleaver].


Immediately after scoring Force of the Hippogryph, Louie (DW Fury) would spend the next the next hour of /played leveling up his axe skill. While it was only an hour, normalizing weapon skills is a huge pain in the butt when you are speed leveling. If you are mapping out weapons upgrades for your warrior while you level, there is a definite time advantage with staying with only one weapon type until you hit 70; then working on your other weapons skills after hitting 70. Of course, one of the advantages of the Fury tree is no weapon specialization allowing for use of the most potent weapon available, but having to level multiple weapons skills is a downside.

Huey would spend his next five levels (41-45) retraining Cruelty to 5/5 while both the Fury warriors would spend 41-43 training Precision to 3/3. The first significant +hit for warriors level 30+ is Precision (excluding [Mograine's Might]), and both the Fury warriors would reap the benefits from this.


Precision

Precision would make a signficant impact to both Fury warriors, but all three warriors were equally destructive from levels 41-43. I've included the dps for these levels in the "Other Interesting Data" section below as it was all measured with Will of the Mountain Giant.

At level 43, with Precision at 3/3, Louie (DW Fury) was a walking zone of destruction! Louie's crit rates for melee, Execute, Bloodthirst (BT), and Heroic Strike (HS) were all 16.7% and lower (his unbuffed crit rate in Zerker at level 43 was 15.47%); but his miss rates had all subtly reduced by a couple % thanks to Precision (miss rates: melee 22.1%, Exec 2.6%, BT 3.1%, HS 2.1%). Having an axe in his main hand was also contributing to the lower miss ratings via the Orc axe expertise.

Louie's outstanding dps in this level range wasn't about crits... his skills were just hitting slightly more often. The playstyle difference was NOT subtle; mobs were exploding in front of Louie! It's also notable that at level 43, DW rage became very abundant (more hits = more rage), thus Louie went away from his swing-HS-swing-HS playstyle and went with the higher dps swing-BT-swing-WW combat sequence.

Huey's (2H Arms) downfall in this level range was clumsy multi-mob handling which combined with his slightly lower dps output (no +hit) to produce some horrid dps results in a few encounters (well, horrid compared to the Fury boys). Sweeping Strikes is a huge advantage during multi-mob encounters.

Level 43-44 dps scores
#1 - DW Fury, 155.2
#2 - 2H Fury, 142.1***
#3 - 2H Arms, 132.5

*** 2H Fury would be higher had he been using Executioner's Cleaver at this level range. The important thing to note is that Precision was having a big impact on the Fury warriors, and was a clear dps advantage vs Arms in this level range.


Executioner

Most of levels 44-45 were used for various dps tests and talent tradeoffs. I've included most of this data in the sections below as it was 2H Fury and DW Fury only (I temporarily converted the Arms warrior to 2H Fury). We pick-up our three warriors back in full leveling mode mid-level 45. Both 2H warriors score Executioner's Cleaver at level 45, and all three warriors have completed the most excellent Hinterlands quests to get the sweet neck, and +hit trinket ([Rune of the Guard Captain], [Woven Ivy Necklace]).

Level 45-46 dps scores
#1 - DW Fury, 147.3
#2 - 2H Fury, 131.7
#3 - 2H Arms, 126.6

Arms saw some revitalization at level 45 with Cruelty reaching 5/5 again, and the +hit from both the Hinterlands trinket and Executioner's Cleaver; the Arms warrior was noticably explosive! Unfortunately, without Improved Slam, Improved Execute, and Precision, the Arms warrior was still a bit behind the dps curve at this level. Executioner's Cleaver was a boon for both 2H warriors vs Will of the Mountain Giant because both 2H warriors were using Slam as a primary attack skill, and the huge max damage of Executioner allowed the non-normalized Slam attacks to hit 10%-30% harder (of course, the +10 hit was also helpful). Executioner also helped 2H Fury close the dps gap on DW, but in the end, the dual Crusader enchants of DW were just too much to overcome at this level.


Level 46-47 dps scores
#1 - DW Fury, 176.1
(1hr 56, 3 ganks, 1 death, 1 potion, 1 Intimidating Shout, 1 Brutal Armor)
#2 - 2H Fury, 157.3
(1hr 39, 2 ganks, 1 death, 1 potion, 1 Intimidating Shout)
#3 - 2H Arms, 156.0
(1hr 59, 3 ganks, 1 death, 2 potions, 2 Intimidating Shouts, 1 bandage)

Level 46 was interestesting for many reasons: several multi-packs of mobs; almost all runners; high aggro patrols (singles); 50/50 mix of melee and range/casters; 2 mini-bosses (both non-elite, but with adds); 1 elite boss (yellow, and spawns in two greens @ 50% health); periodic disarms, knockdowns, and debuff which slows weapon speed by 33% (really nasty). 2H Arms was first up in this quest sequence, and did quite well. His only death was due to a mob resisting Intimidating Shout which prevented a follow-on bandage. For the most part, he stayed in Battle Stance since the probability of mob adds was very high, and without Sweeping Strikes, I didn't want to risk a 4-pull while in Zerker. There were a few ganks, but luckily, there were no other Horde competing for the quest mobs; pretty smooth overall.

2H Fury followed next. He was MUCH more aggressive with Zerker stance, since he could fall back to Sweeping Strikes if things got dicey. He also had a couple of ganks, but they were very close to the graveyard; there were a few Horde now competing for quest mobs. His death was a result of coming into a zone which had been recently farmed. During one of the mini-boss pulls, a patrol spawned in and aggroed which also aggroed a nearby mob; all undead - no Intimidating Shout; SS, Cleave, B.Stance, then back to Slam; 3 dead, but last mob finished me, at least the mini-boss went down! Still pretty smooth overall.

DW Fury was last in the lineup. LOTS of competing Horde in this cycle, and several ganks. There were 5 gank attempts, but I managed to live through two of them. Louie had to backtrack a few times through quest mobs because of all the traffic. His death was a really poorly timed pull which occurred right as 3 new mobs spawned in; respawns are brutal when zones get busy! When he reached the elite, somebody had pulled him and either bugged out or died because the elite was there with both his adds at 100% health. Not wanting to wait around, he popped Brutal Armor, and charged in; Intimidating Shout when he reached 60% health, unfortunately the elite still spawned in 2 greens when he was at 50%, so 5 mobs total after the fears wore off; potion-BT-HS-BT-HS-Execute-mobDead- equipShield-Def.Stance-ShieldWall- loot-run-run-run; he lived.

DW Fury was far and away the most potent fighter in this level range.


Level 47-48 DPS scores
#1 - DW Fury, 231.1 (1 hr 14 min quest time, 16 min 15 sec combat time, no food consumed, no bandages)
#2 - 2H Arms, 195.3 (1 hr 19 min quest time, 22 min 56 sec combat time, 4 food consumed, no bandages)
#3 - 2H Fury, 184.2 (1 hr 22 min quest time, 24 min 46 sec combat time, 2 food consumed, 1 bandage)

This level range was a mix of 90% greens (level 43-45) and 10% yellows (level 46-47); with each level range consisting of a 50/50 split of melee/casters. The casters in this quest sequence hit hard with big shadow bolts, and AoE spells. This level range marked a significant change in my mindset for the three warriors. The 2H warriors went with a maximum rage efficiency approach, and maximum damage mitigation. Neither 2H warrior used Berserker stance, and neither 2H warrior used Execute during this quest sequence. The DW warrior used both Berserker and Execute liberally. Healing for the DW warrior was completely passive during this sequence; no consumables were used. Crusader, Bloodthirst, Truesilver Breastplate, and health regen were all that were needed. DW Fury dominated this level range as far as downtime was concerned, and was by far the easiest of the three warriors to play (Pummel vs casters is beauty). However, it is interesting to note that when we compute the Iouri Coefficient (IC) for relative leveling efficiency (IC = dps * combat_time / quest_time), that 2H Arms ends of being the winner when using IC as the criteria for success (Arms=56.7, 2HFury=55.6, DWFury=50.8).


The experience during this level range was illuminating, and really showed the power of stance dancing; Berserker Rage and Pummel are too good to pass on. Don't be misled into thinking that rage efficiency and damage mitigation will always lead to faster leveling times; there are many situations where faster killing is simply more effiicient.


Level 48-49 DPS scores
#1 - DW Fury, 166.4 (2 hr 31 min quest time, 44 min 27 sec combat time, 33 food, 1 bandage, 3 potions, 4 Thunderclaps, 118 Executes)
#2 - 2H Fury, 130.5 (2 hr 49 min quest time, 57 min 47 sec combat time, 46 food, 1 bandage 3 potions, 43 Thunderclaps, 85 Executes)
#3 - 2H Arms, 121.0 (2 hr 57 min quest time, 1 hr 04 min combat time, 45 food, 5 bandages, 4 potions, 111 Thunderclaps, 23 Executes)

*** Note that the Thunderclap listings are the number of hits, not the number of uses.

For a different mob profile, I jumped signficantly ahead in the warrior quest sequencing to put them into a 10% green (level 45-46), 90% yellow (level 47-49) mob area. All the mobs hit very hard in this quest sequence, and there is a 30/70 split of casters/melee. Having learned my lesson from the previous level range, both the 2H warriors stance danced to bring Pummel and Berserker Rage into play whenever practical.

Also noteworthy that I spec'd 2H Arms into the Improved Thunderclap talent vice Improved Heroic Strike. The Improved version of Thunderclap is a noticable improvement in both damage mitigation and rage efficiency over the non-improved version... unfortunately, because all the mobs in this quest sequence hit like Mack trucks, the improvement in damage mitigation while noticable, didn't give the Arms warrior any downtime advantage. Also, several encounters in this quest sequence were 2-pulls with a few 3-pulls. Arms with no Sweeping Strikes took considerably more damage then either of the Fury warriors even with the improved version of Thunderclap. However, given the choice of Improved Heroic Strike or Improved Thunderclap for a leveling Arms warrior, I am now of the opinion that Improved Heroic Strike is the better choice pre-level 30, and that Improved Thunderclap is superior for level 40 and beyond.

DW Fury dominated this level range in both dps and leveling efficiency. Even when the DW warrior was forced to stay in Battle Stance, he rarely had to use his Thunderclap (2 uses) during multipulls; Demo shout was usually enough damage mitigation when combined with the superior dps of DW.

It is notable that this was the first quest series where both 2H warriors felt completely underpowered. I have read many articles on warrior leveling where the authors described the process as painful... that would be an appropriate description of how I felt with both 2H warriors during this series. I can empathize with you warriors that leveled prior to Patch 2.3. In order to get better performance for the 2H warriors in this quest series, they would have needed to be at least level 49 before stepping into this area, which prior to Patch 2.3 may have meant a significant amount of grinding.


Level 49-50 DPS scores
#1 - DW Fury, 220.7 (1 hr 09 min quest time, 19 min 19 sec combat time, 0 food, 1 bandage, 1 potion)
#2 - 2H Fury, 158.4 (1 hr 21 min quest time, 27 min 35 sec combat time, 12 food, 0 bandage, 0 potion)
#3 - 2H Arms, 157.6 (1 hr 41 min quest time, 31 min 49 sec combat time, 9 food, 0 bandage, 0 potion)

This level range was 100% green mobs (levels 42-46) with a 10/90 split of casters/melee. DW Fury was the most efficient in this level range using either downtime or IC as the measure of success (IC computations are left as an exercise for the reader... just kidding :-) DW Fury - 61.8, 2H Fury - 53.9, 2H Arms 49.6). Notable that while 2H Arms showed excellent downtime (or lack of), he was rarely capable of using either Berserker Rage or Pummel (because he was "locked" into Combat stance); his large leftover rage pool after each battle was simply too big to waste.


My leveling recommendation for levels 40-50 is DW Fury. Superior downtime combined with superior dps to yield the best /played time over common quests by just over 2.5 hours.





Levels 50-60:

Level 50 Warrior Talents
DW Fury - Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
2H Fury - Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
2H Arms - Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

The Fury boys sacrifice getting Rampage immediately at level 50 for a point in Tactical Mastery. The 5 extra points of rage on every Charge opener at Level 46 (47 for DW) is just too good to pass up.

Some likely armor upgrades for leveling warriors in the 50-60 level range would be the anything from the Imperial Plate armor set (Imperial Plate - Item Sets - World of Warcraft). These items are all crafted from common materials, and their stats are comparable or better to most of the non-instance quest items you can obtain in this level range. My warriors will likely go for the belt, bracers, chest, and leggings. The 4-piece bonus (+28 AP) isn't mind-blowing, but is still decent.

The first half of level 50 was spent grouped obtaining the [Razorsteel Shoulders] from the Sunken Temple and Blasted Lands quest lines; I recommend the shoulders over both the helm and the dps trinket. The second half of level 50 was completed with two relatively short but lucrative quest series (shown below as 51a and 51b).

Level 50-51a DPS Scores
#1 - DW Fury, 206.1 (07 min 00 sec combat time, 1 food)
#2 - 2H Fury, 180.1 (08 min 18 sec combat time, 2 food)
#3 - 2H Arms, 153.2 (08 min 02 sec combat time, 2 food)

Level 50-51b DPS Scores
#1 - DW Fury, 215.6 (08 min 44 sec combat time, 0 food, 0 potions)
#2 - 2H Fury, 162.2 (12 min 37 sec combat time, 1 food, 0 potions)
#3 - 2H Arms, 155.7 (12 min 00 sec combat time, 1 food, 1 potions)

Notable that the total quest times will no longer be included in the dps scores. Drop rate disparities, and quest mob competition will have a significant impact on quest times, but in no way should be presented or perceived as a weakness of any of the warrior specs we are testing. Combat time and consumables used are objective indicators of the warriors leveling efficiency that are easily measured. While they can be impacted by drop rates and mob spawn rates, IMO they give a clearer indication of how effective the warriors were at killing quickly and avoiding downtime.

It is interesting to note the healing for all three warriors; we'll look at 51b as an example: DW Fury (Crusader 3401, BT 3335, Truesilver 182), 2H Fury (Crusader 3567, BT 1202, Truesilver 717), 2H Arms (Crusader 1968, Potion 1494, Truesilver 290). The reason the DW Fury warrior is able to sustain his explosive dps (in Berserker stance 99% of the time) is because of the healing from Crusader procs and Bloodthirst. DW Fury's superior rage generation allows both BT and WW to be used on a cooldown limited basis; WW is a boon for Crusader procs (see Crusader proc data below), and more BTs means more healing. Neither 2H warrior is capable of sustaining the same type of combat sequencing; they simply do not have the rage. The healing profile shown for 51b is representative of all the dps scores recorded from level 40-51 (Truesilver Breastplate healing from 44-51). In the 40-51 level range, the amount of healing provided by Crusader and BT was more then enough to sustain DW dps while avoiding significant downtime.

The Arms warrior with Improved Thunderclap definitely shows the power of improved damage mitigation when he is 1on1. Problems with healing and downtime arise when multiple mobs come to the fray. In these instances, even if fighting multiple green mobs, the Arms warrior takes substantially more damage then either of the Fury warriors simply due to lack of Sweeping Strikes. When dealing with multiple mobs in the 40-51 level range, the ability to kill them quickly outweighs the ability to mitigate their damage. This may change as the warriors continue to progress i.e. damage mitigation may become more critical, and if the data supports it, I will seriously consider moving the Arms warrior to an Arms/Prot hybrid; sacrificing Improved Slam at higher levels... we shall see.

The 2H Fury warrior experienced some serious lag spikes during the questing of 51b. While his dps score was respectable, and his downtime near non-existent (1 food), I had expected his dps score to be closer to 180. 2H Slam warriors are definitely more susceptible to dps dropouts in laggy environments. Slam timing requires a much higher level of precision as compared to playing DW.


Rampage

Level 51-52 DPS Scores
#1 - DW Fury, 230.7 (32 min 19 sec combat time, 0 food, 0 potions, 1 bandage)
#2 - 2H Fury, 172.5 (44 min 56 sec combat time, 10 food, 1 potions, 1 bandage)
#3 - 2H Arms, 163.0 (43 min 33 sec combat time, 9 food, 0 potions, 1 bandage)

This level range had a similar mob profile as the mobs in the 51b quest series, but the 52 series covered a much broader set of quests. This was the first set of dps scores where Rampage was used in both of the Fury warrior combat sequences. DW Fury once again shined in this level range; exhibiting explosive dps with almost no downtime. The combat healing for this level range was: DW Fury (Crusader 10974, BT 10937, Truesilver 2336), 2H Fury (Crusader 10210, BT 4611, Truesilver 2626, potion 1525), 2H Arms (Crusader 7100, Truesilver 1799). DW combination of max Crusader procs with max BT usage is still extremely effective in this level range for avoiding downtime. 2H Fury had very respectable Crusader healing, but fell short in the BT department due to rage limitations. Notable that 2H Arms had the smallest combat healing of all the warriors by quite a large margin (fewer Crusader procs, no BT), but did not experience larger downtime thanks to Improved Thunderclap.



Weapons Progression, Levels 1-20:

Level 1: [Worn Battleaxe]
Level 4: [Broad Axe]
Level 6:[Beaten Battle Axe]
Level 10: [Axe of Orgrimmar] (+2 dmg enchant)
Level 16: [Zhovur Axe] (+4 dmg enchant)
Level 18: [Taskmaster Axe] (+7 dmg enchant)



Dual Wield Weapons Progression, Levels 20-70:

Level 20 MH: [Smite's Reaver] (+4 dmg enchant)
Level 20 OH: [Smite's Reaver] (+4 dmg enchant)

Level 22 MH: [Darkwater Talwar] (+4 dmg enchant) (BFD)
Level 22 OH: [Outlaw Sabre] (+4 dmg enchant) (quest - BFD)

Level 29 MH: [Windstorm Hammer] (+4 dmg enchant) (quest - 1K)
Level 29 OH: [Thornspike] (+4 dmg enchant) (RFK)

Level 31 MH: [Windstorm Hammer] (Crusader enchant) (quest - 1K)
Level 31 OH: [Swinetusk Shank] (Lifestealing enchant) (RFK)

Level 34 MH: [Windstorm Hammer] (Crusader enchant) (quest - 1K)
Level 34 OH: [Sword of Omen] (Lifestealing enchant) (quest - SM)

Level 37 MH: [Vanquisher's Sword] (Crusader enchant) (quest - RFD)
Level 37 OH: [Sword of Omen] (Lifestealing enchant) (quest - SM)

Level 40 MH: [Force of the Hippogryph] (Crusader enchant) (quest - Feralas)
Level 40 OH: [Vanquisher's Sword] (Crusader enchant) (quest - RFD)

Level 45 MH: [Force of the Hippogryph] (Crusader enchant) (quest - Feralas)
Level 45 OH: [Thrash Blade] (Crusader enchant) (quest - Maraudon)

Level 53 MH: [Rivenspike] (Crusader enchant) (LBRS)
Level 53 OH: [Thrash Blade] (Crusader enchant) (quest - Maraudon)


Still debating the Outland weapons profile... TBD.


Level 58 MH: [Soulrender] (Crusader enchant) (Silithus)
Level 58 OH: [Soulrender] (Crusader enchant) (Silithus)

Level 63 MH: [Terokkar Axe] (Crusader enchant) (quest - Terokkar)
Level 63 OH: