Dozz's and Googol's dps warrior guide: rotation, cds, builds

ROTATIONS AND COOLDOWNS

There are several DPS specs and talent builds that are viable for DPS warriors. I will do my best to cover all or most of these, but keep in mind, all fights are situational, requiring you to occasionally adapt your rotations in order to SAVE THE RAID/stay alive/save rage/relocate. With that in mind, these guides aim to help you maximise your damage output throughout.

One key element I'd like to point out before we get into it, is this. We are warriors, and so have a responsibility to the raid, to always be 100% ready to strap on a shield MID FIGHT in order to save the healers/clothies/hunters?/Windfury totems. It is our job, and if we are ill-prepared for it inevitably happening, it hurts the raid.

I personally use ITEMRACK and set up my DPS/Tank/Resistance sets, and have them keybound. I hope everyone can do this. I hear Outfitter is also excellent. Both are useful, save lives, and are easy to get. Please get one.

As well as this, I think an auto attack swing timer is crucial in assisting damage control. I use ATTACK BAR, but any will do. /abar for menu. This or an equivalent is vital for the Slam build, and great for all builds for kiting and "josting" (when you kite, and only take damage when you are doing damage).

DUAL WEILD FURY 17/34/0
This build is your standard DW Fury build. Depending on what raid you are going to, dropping a point in battleshout for piercing howl can help alot with kiting (Heigans teleport room). This build, as mentioned above, is only viable with +10% hit, (14% yellow cap), and should not be used in raids if the hit rating is not achievable. The build favors fights in which threat is not an issue, and is very useful in mobile fights, where slam is rarely useful.

Bloodthirst is your highest damage ability to a single target(above 20%) and should always be kept on cooldown, as priority. It does not eat auto attacks, or generate extra threat other than the damage dealt.

Whirwind is your second ability which should be kept on cooldown consistently. If there are several mobs in the area, it can be prioritized over an execute, as it has the potential to deal higher damage (without a full rage bar). If your rage bar is 65+ with 3 mobs around, execute is still favorable.

Improved Overpower is excellent for proccing the flurry ability, but as a DW warrior crits are plentiful, and so should only be used if you have less than 30 rage, with both BT and WW on cooldown.

Heroic Strike is an excellent damage dealer at cheap cost, but comes with the threat/rage penalty. It replaces your MH auto attack with a high threat, yellow attack that generates no rage. As such, it should be used as a rage dump(40+rage,BT&WW on CD), and only if KTM threat meter allows it. If you are pushing close to tanks, or where u shouldnt be, do not use it. In fights where threat is an issue (vaelstraez in BWL) it should be removed from rotation altogether, unless you have this GODLY TRINKET.

Execute is always your priority when the mob falls below 20% HP. Very rarely can any other ability do as much damage as it, so unless you are using WW for utility(save healer from aggro), your best bet is to spam execute.

Battleshout. Most of the time DPS warriors are in group with rogues. As a result, battleshout is extremely important to keep up. (just pretend their extra DPS is your own)

Deathwish. With a nice 3 minute CD this should be used tactically. Use it on trash if the fight lasts 30 seconds+, and if there is no boss for 2 minutes. If used on a boss, it should be saved for the last 30 seconds of the fight, to maximise DPS during execute phase. Be wary for aggro, and if you are taking (extra) damage.

Recklessness. Save it for longer/tougher/weakened bosses, if possible for execute phase, and watch for aggro. Can also be convenient for its rage immunity on fights such as Mandokir in ZG. With experience comes the knowhow of when to use it in raids.

Beserker Rage As DPS this should be prioritized for breaking fears. This next part I say on behalf on tanks. ALWAYS EAT THE FEAR. It is much safer to eat the fear and then break it with zerker rage/WotF/DW, as if the tanks are unable to resist it (no totem, stance dance fail etc) the mob will go for the next highest unfeared mob. For fights like Nefarian/Onyxia/Magdamar always eat the fear when possible. If you start running towards a tailswipe/fireball, break it early, but check the tank is still intact.

Pummel is your best friend. On all fights in this guild, Warriors do the 1st interrupt, rogues do the 2nd when possible. On fights like Prophet Skeram, this is how you shine as a warrior.



SLAM BUILD
This build takes some practice to perfect, and requires you to have an attack bar installed for maximising your efficiency. I recommend this build for 2 handed warriors using a weapon with 3.4-4.00 speed, and is best for around 3.6-3.8 i believe. Some warriors in this guild have perfected this build, and so any questions they will happily answer. I will keep it brief, and some abilities above are used in a similar fashion(Beserker rage, Battleshout, Deathwish, Recklessness)

The idea of the slam build is to slam immediately after an auto attack. It has a fixed time and scales off weapon damage, and so if used within the swing timer period with another GCD (either Bloodthirst or Whirlwind), it can do amazing damage. Heroic strike in this build takes the backseat, and should only be used if your rage is 70+. Risking a HS and potentially lacking the rage for a BT/WW/Slam is never worth it, and you may find yourself rage starved moments later. This build is amazing in stationary fights, but can take alot of practice to master in mobile fights.

The typical rotation for maximising DPS is:
Bloodthirst>Auto>Slam>Whirlwind>Auto>Slam>Bloodthirst>Auto>Slam>Auto>Slam...etc
That last period is when both BT and WW could be on Coodown,and it is generally more favorable to throw in a hamstring for WF proc, or MAYBE a HS, or Imp OP. Slamming twice in a row with lowish rage is just asking to be rage starved, if you're not world buffed.

Improved OP in this build should only be used to proc flurry, or if you are below 40 rage or so.

There will be macros posted at a later date to help with this build, and others.


AFRAID OF SLAM SPEC 20/31/0
Slam spec is generally the way to go as a 2 handed DPS warrior, but sometimes you need a break from its rotation, or don't have the appropriate crit rating (~30%) to make it viable, and keep flurry up. This build is for those people. It is easier to move around with this build, and still does impressive damage, all the while generating a little more threat. Although the link puts points into parry, I personally recommend putting them into Heroic Strike.

The rotation is similar to DW Fury warriors, in that you want to keep Bloodthirst and Whirlwind on cooldown all of the time. In between those, improved over power is your friend, I often dumped 50 rage for it and it seemed worth it. Heroic strike should be used when both BT/WW are on CD and you have 60+ rage.

An important note in this build though, is hamstring is very useful. Using a couple of hamstrings in a fight (while ensuring your shaman is still alive/near you) procs helps your windfury damage contribution, and your rage generation. If you are standing there with 70+rage, with both BT and WW on CD and Heroic strike lined up, always hamstring.


MORTAL STRIKE
Mortal strike is not permitted in our raids for several reasons.
1. It does less DPS than the slam/afraid of slam builds.
2. It causes an unnecessary debuff on the boss, and so takes up a slot.
3. The maximum respec cost on this server is 5 gold, so NO EXCUSE, please don't bring Mortal strike to raids.

I'm sure there is plenty I'm forgetting, and will have to come back and edit, but that's the bones of it. There are plenty of good guides online such as this one: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jumRwtDrqaiFwGd6zr6v2sZvQh7iniTDuzZLjmSpGAc/edit#