Skill Descriptions and Uses
As you can see, the warrior has a lot of options in combat as to which skills to use when. This can get tricky for players who are not used to so many options, but it creates a much more enjoyable experience as not every warrior is going to do the same thing all the time. Now that we have the skills laid out for us, let’s look at the uses and pros and cons of using each skill, so you can have a better idea of which are best for what situations. I’ve listed them in the order you get them within their trees for easy reference.
Heroic Strike
This is the first offensive skill you get, and you’ll be using it heavily throughout your early warrior adventure. At level 66 this does an extra 176 damage to your target for 15 rage, but if you allocate talent points for it it will only cost 12 rage. Obviously, that’s not a lot of extra damage for level 66, so depending on your talent build you may find yourself using other attacks more often, however Heroic Strike still has its place in that it has no restrictions. This attack can be used in any stance, has no cool down, and requires nothing except the rage to power it. Especially in your early game, you’ll find that often your choice is Heroic Strike or auto attack, and the extra damage always helps. Sparingly use it when you are not tanking in a group as it will generate huge amount of threat. At rank 10, use Piercing Howl to dazzle the target first then follow on with Heroic Strike to get extra damage.
Battle Shout
Battle Shout is the first of many different enhancing shouts that you get as a warrior. At level 70, this will grant you and nearby party members an extra 305 attack power for 2 minutes. With talents you can extend your area of effect by 50% and add an additional 25% to your attack bonus. Battle Shout is great for groups especially, since it will help your party as well as you. I use it when I can in solo play, but it’s not absolutely necessary, just a nice bonus to have that can get you through enemies a little faster, especially if you get critical hits often. I’ve found that this can be a nice use for excess rage at the end of a fight that would normally fade before your next battle when you are soloing regular quests as well.
Charge

If you are not using this every chance that you get, you are not playing your warrior at full efficiency, especially again in the lower levels. This skill is crucial for rage

management. At level 46, this will stun the target for 1 second plus generate 15 rage, which if you took the right talents can be increased to 21 rage right off the bat. This is a huge advantage to start a battle with, the only real disadvantage being that you can’t use it in combat. So, as long as you’re initiating the encounter, you get in a free hit and have rage waiting for you already. You won’t get as many chances to use this in a group, as most of the time groups pull enemies out to them instead of rushing in, however if you have a mage doing a movement reducing effect to pull, this can be a great way to stop the enemy right where you want them, and take aggro off of your spell casters.
Rend
This is the best DoT move that a warrior gets, and fortunately you get it early. At 68 rend will do 182 damage over 21 seconds, +75% bleed damage if you use your talent points for it. This may not seem like a lot of damage, but it’s the bleed effect that you want. Remember, this is damage that is happening at the same time while you’re doing your regular combat. This can easily make the difference between an enemy who runs and one who doesn’t have the chance. If you use Charge right before this you’ll already have enough rage to make this be your first move. Also, remember that in PvP, rogues cannot use their Vanish ability to get away from you (and come back and stun you) if they are bleeding. Use Rend often.
Thunder Clap
Thunder Clap is best used when fighting several enemies at once. At 67 this will do 123 damage to up to 4 enemies, and more importantly slow their attack speed, which can keep you alive that much longer as you’ll be ultimately taking less damage. Throwing a couple of these when you’ve got 3 or 4 guys on you can save your life, especially if you don’t have a healer handy. The rage cost for this skill makes it not well suited for one-on-one fights, although with talents you can decrease the cost by 4. Unless you are up against an extremely fast enemy, stick to your Heroic Strikes for more damage at a lower rage cost.
Hamstring

Hamstring is arguably the most crucial skill a warrior has, though at first glance this may not be obvious. At 67 this will cause a mere 63 damage but it cuts the movement speed of your opponent in half. Note that this is not the same as Thunder Clap, this speed reduction will not slow their attacks on you. So what use is it to make an enemy run slower? Believe it or not this is a huge

advantage. Hamstring means that the battles you fight take place when and where you want them, on your terms. You can stop the creature running at your priest or mage and catch up to him that much easier if he aggros them again. Enemies can no longer easily run out of melee to fight with ranged weapons or spells. And, which is the use you will see most often when you begin to use this skill, you can keep a dying mob from running to get help. If you allocate talents for it, you can also get a 15% chance to immobilize your target for 5 seconds. Not bad for only 5 rage. Hamstring is the difference between fighting one enemy at a time, and fighting 2 or 3 at once with more arriving all the while. Don’t forget to use it.
Bloodrage
Bloodrage is a typical sacrifice play, allowing you to exchange health for rage. It can be very useful if you use it correctly. This skill lets you pay 10 health to gain 10 rage at once, plus another 10 rage over the next 10 seconds. If you use talent points you can reduce your health loss to only 5 hp. This skill becomes better and easier to use the higher level you are, as 10 health is nothing at level 70 but 20 rage is a nice thing to have, sometimes crucial. This skill no longer initiates combat. However, you can certainly Charge first, Bloodrage and soon have an extra 35 rage early in combat. This skill can also grant you enough rage late in combat to pull off that last finishing move before your target can recover. Just be careful at lower levels that you don’t get carried away here and end up draining too much health.
Sunder Armor
Sunder Armor does exactly what it sounds like. At level 67, this will allow you to reduce the armor of your opponent by 520 for 30 seconds. This skill stacks with itself, which means that you can hit your enemy with this up to 5 times for a total reduction to their armor of 2600. It does not, however, stack with any other armor reducing effect, so keep that in mind if you are playing in a group of higher levels than you who may have greater armor reducing effects that would be better to use, such as higher level rogues. When soloing especially at lower levels you won’t use this as often, since the 15 rage can usually be put to better use, however this will become a crucial skill quickly when you begin dealing with heavily armored elites and other dungeon dwellers. Groups with mages often want you to use this as well, opening the way for their high damage attacks.

Taunt
Taunt is your major way of drawing aggro while in Defensive Stance. It does exactly what it says, taunting a target to attack you. It has a 10 second cool down, but you can reduce this by 2 seconds if you spend talent points on it. This won’t always work with higher level enemies or when they have a high level of hate for someone else in your group, and it does not force them to attack you for any length of time, meaning that another high damage spell from your mage will have them headed that way again. Still, it’s your only choice for most of the low levels for getting mobs off of your healers and casters, so use it whenever you can and try to get the casters to let you deal damage for a few seconds so they don’t grab aggro again right away.
Shield Bash
A note about Defensive Stance – if you’re going to be using it and the Protection skills that go with it, invest in a good shield and use it. There are several very good skills, such as Shield Bash, which require a shield to even work. Shield Bash at 64 gives you an attack that does 63 damage, interrupts spell casting, prevents any spell of that school being cast for 6 seconds and daze the target, reducing their speed by 50%.. If you use talent points here you can also silence your target for 3 seconds, which will prevent all casting of all schools. This is probably your best defense against spell casters, and I recommend using it primarily to stop healing. When fighting a caster, it’s always a good idea to keep 10 rage ready just for a healing cast. Managing your rage wisely here can keep you from having to start over on a healer. Or, if you have enough time and quick reflexes, you can sometimes hit Bloodrage to grab 10 rage and then get Shield Bash off. Some people make a macro for this to help for those times when you just have to do a Shield Bash and you don’t have the rage.
Overpower

Overpower isn’t available all the time to you as a skill, but when it is, it is a powerful weapon in your