Kul
2006-07-06, 06:32 AM
Smashy/Choppy 2-Hander Guide to MC
…I’m consistently in the top 3 and the below is from a MS build perspective. You may review talents and gear here: http://www.ctprofiles.net/1365459 If I’m not in the top 3 is because shamans aren’t dropping totems close to the front-lines, or I came late to the raid.
The most important aspect to a 2-hand warrior is support.by a shaman and, if possible, a feral druid. Without the shaman dropping their totems on the frontlines, the potential burst dps is going to be quite low for any warrior. Most shamans will hear me regularly in party chat requesting them to rush forward and drop totems for max effect. As a 2hander warrior our damage from shaman support resides with Windfury and Strength totems. I remain open minded about Grace of Air totems for the agility perks. There are quite a few times when my meager 26% crit (in zerker stance) chance can leap up to 40% with various buffs.
The following may get messy as I leap around talents and tactics used while raiding, so it’s broken up as such.
Stance Dancing
Raiding should be treated just like pvp, and by that, I mean with regular stance dancing. Whenever that overpower flashes from SCT mod, switch and fire it off then get back into Berserker. Should you need to learn this tactic, I recommend a few weeks of combat in WSG and AB for up close 1vs1 to 1vs3 combat….it even helps in other instances like ZG. ZG/PVP helps you train from dancing to disarm to overpowers and a quick follow-up with a stance change to zerker and use of MS. Never forget that Zerker stance lubs you and caresses you with an additional 3% to crit and additional rage building. Don’t be shy to use Berserker Rage…. It loves you just as much. Since taking more damage means more rage generation, which results in more dps…so use this skill! Tanks and DPS wars should be firing this bad boy off regularly.
Charging
DPS warriors need to hang back with the caster camp on the opening trash pulls. Why? So you don’t enter combat, thus allowing you to run in and charge…. A quick 28-30 rage builder for a following MS. Also note, that while you charge, you can change to zerker stance and have the rage built while in that stance. Just make sure you tap the stance while you are in the charge animation. If you do it while at the mob you wont get the perk. Also, those core hounds have quite a large range on their aoe spells so adjust for it by standing some 38-45’ away so you can make a clean charge. Should you be flagged for combat from an aoe, hit escape to remove your target, run to the rear of the crowd and you will disengage combat in about 5-10 secs so you can perform a charge. The best advice I recommend is that you go to your options menu and set your F1, F2, and F3 keys for the three stances available to warriors.
AoE, Slam…WTF?
When multiple mobs are around, be sure to take advantage of sweeping strikes from Arms then go to zerker stance, and start using cleaves, ww, slam, and ms for max effect. Now that’s one talent a lot of warriors may overlook as a trash skill; slam. Its quite effective, especially for two hand warriors since it gives you a hit in half the time as a normal swing. And you can time it right, such that you perform it between swing durations…thus comparing to someone who uses only normal hits with a few specials, I’m always using slam in between my talents thus getting 2 swings for every one swing another warrior may be getting by not using slam. Slam is absolutely a must use on bosses as well should you be a 2-hand warrior.
Debuff the mobs, dammit!
One thing I’ve noticed with all warriors is the lack of use on debuff talents. Tanks are busy retaining agro with sunder, shield bash, HS, etc. DPS warriors have got to start playing the stance game and use Demoralizing shout in addition to thunderclap. These debuffs will help over the long run since you are reducing hit speed and ap on not just trash mobs, but some bosses as well that are not immune. Now if you see ‘immune’, don’t waste rage by trying to keep applying these debuffs. This simple chore will help conserve mana over the duration of the night.
30 Min Skill Timers
I’ve noticed quite a few upcoming dps warriors using retaliation on boss fights. Retaliation is something you need to use when solo farming multiple mobs or potentially tanking. Otherwise, Recklessness is your only friend as a dps warrior. I tend to burn the first one on Mags, then the skill is ready to go again on Garr and potentially Shazz for his last bit of health. You may be asking ‘So when do you fire off this skill?’ ‘Im torn between when the mob reaches 21% health…. since 20% and lower you can execute repeatedly (don’t forget to blood thirst during this time, and if an orc use your racial regularly)… however since you’re burning rage so quickly its difficult to get some serious dps usage out of this skill during the final 20%. I tend think it’s ideal to use recklessness when mobs health is at about 60%. I lean toward this idea since you should have rage flowing in like a tsunami…. Thus, excessive use of slams, ms, hs, etc can be performed…and with WF/Strength totems it gets ugly fast for a mob and your rage generation goes through the roof.
I’ll edit this as I think of more tips to shout out.
…I’m consistently in the top 3 and the below is from a MS build perspective. You may review talents and gear here: http://www.ctprofiles.net/1365459 If I’m not in the top 3 is because shamans aren’t dropping totems close to the front-lines, or I came late to the raid.
The most important aspect to a 2-hand warrior is support.by a shaman and, if possible, a feral druid. Without the shaman dropping their totems on the frontlines, the potential burst dps is going to be quite low for any warrior. Most shamans will hear me regularly in party chat requesting them to rush forward and drop totems for max effect. As a 2hander warrior our damage from shaman support resides with Windfury and Strength totems. I remain open minded about Grace of Air totems for the agility perks. There are quite a few times when my meager 26% crit (in zerker stance) chance can leap up to 40% with various buffs.
The following may get messy as I leap around talents and tactics used while raiding, so it’s broken up as such.
Stance Dancing
Raiding should be treated just like pvp, and by that, I mean with regular stance dancing. Whenever that overpower flashes from SCT mod, switch and fire it off then get back into Berserker. Should you need to learn this tactic, I recommend a few weeks of combat in WSG and AB for up close 1vs1 to 1vs3 combat….it even helps in other instances like ZG. ZG/PVP helps you train from dancing to disarm to overpowers and a quick follow-up with a stance change to zerker and use of MS. Never forget that Zerker stance lubs you and caresses you with an additional 3% to crit and additional rage building. Don’t be shy to use Berserker Rage…. It loves you just as much. Since taking more damage means more rage generation, which results in more dps…so use this skill! Tanks and DPS wars should be firing this bad boy off regularly.
Charging
DPS warriors need to hang back with the caster camp on the opening trash pulls. Why? So you don’t enter combat, thus allowing you to run in and charge…. A quick 28-30 rage builder for a following MS. Also note, that while you charge, you can change to zerker stance and have the rage built while in that stance. Just make sure you tap the stance while you are in the charge animation. If you do it while at the mob you wont get the perk. Also, those core hounds have quite a large range on their aoe spells so adjust for it by standing some 38-45’ away so you can make a clean charge. Should you be flagged for combat from an aoe, hit escape to remove your target, run to the rear of the crowd and you will disengage combat in about 5-10 secs so you can perform a charge. The best advice I recommend is that you go to your options menu and set your F1, F2, and F3 keys for the three stances available to warriors.
AoE, Slam…WTF?
When multiple mobs are around, be sure to take advantage of sweeping strikes from Arms then go to zerker stance, and start using cleaves, ww, slam, and ms for max effect. Now that’s one talent a lot of warriors may overlook as a trash skill; slam. Its quite effective, especially for two hand warriors since it gives you a hit in half the time as a normal swing. And you can time it right, such that you perform it between swing durations…thus comparing to someone who uses only normal hits with a few specials, I’m always using slam in between my talents thus getting 2 swings for every one swing another warrior may be getting by not using slam. Slam is absolutely a must use on bosses as well should you be a 2-hand warrior.
Debuff the mobs, dammit!
One thing I’ve noticed with all warriors is the lack of use on debuff talents. Tanks are busy retaining agro with sunder, shield bash, HS, etc. DPS warriors have got to start playing the stance game and use Demoralizing shout in addition to thunderclap. These debuffs will help over the long run since you are reducing hit speed and ap on not just trash mobs, but some bosses as well that are not immune. Now if you see ‘immune’, don’t waste rage by trying to keep applying these debuffs. This simple chore will help conserve mana over the duration of the night.
30 Min Skill Timers
I’ve noticed quite a few upcoming dps warriors using retaliation on boss fights. Retaliation is something you need to use when solo farming multiple mobs or potentially tanking. Otherwise, Recklessness is your only friend as a dps warrior. I tend to burn the first one on Mags, then the skill is ready to go again on Garr and potentially Shazz for his last bit of health. You may be asking ‘So when do you fire off this skill?’ ‘Im torn between when the mob reaches 21% health…. since 20% and lower you can execute repeatedly (don’t forget to blood thirst during this time, and if an orc use your racial regularly)… however since you’re burning rage so quickly its difficult to get some serious dps usage out of this skill during the final 20%. I tend think it’s ideal to use recklessness when mobs health is at about 60%. I lean toward this idea since you should have rage flowing in like a tsunami…. Thus, excessive use of slams, ms, hs, etc can be performed…and with WF/Strength totems it gets ugly fast for a mob and your rage generation goes through the roof.
I’ll edit this as I think of more tips to shout out.