Warrior Guide for Midnight - Patch 12.0.1

Warrior Guide for Midnight Quick Summary:

• Warriors have 3 specs: Fury and Arms are DPS specs; Protection is a tanking spec.
• Fury can dual-wield two-handed weapons; Arms has a lot of cleave and bleed damage options; Protection is unkillable.
• The best race for a Protection warrior is Dwarf for Alliance and Tauren for Horde.
• Warriors are a simple and fun class to play with 2 top-tier DPS specs and one meta tank spec.

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Warrior Changes in Midnight

Since I came back to play WoW in the pre-patch, I’ve been maining Warrior. But not because I particularly enjoy the class fantasy or the melee combat, no. I decided to go Warrior, because the devs have managed to make the most basic class actually fun to play. Warriors have lots of cool abilities - the spinny kind, the ranged kind, the charge kind, and everything in between.

So, what happened to this class after the Midnight classes rework? Well, the good news is - the gameplay is the same. There are no ground-breaking changes in how Warrior plays. At least the Arms and Fury specs are more or less the same, with the biggest rework targeted at the protection tanks.

Arms Warrior

• Master of Warfare (Apex) - New Apex talent that increases Slam’s importance by enabling Heroic Strike as a temporary replacement, which becomes a high-priority press even in the Execute phase.
• Tactician standardized proc chance - Overpower procs are more consistent but happen less often overall, so Arms uses Slam more frequently.
• Arms Mastery rework - Mastery no longer interacts with Deep Wounds and now simply increases damage while using a two-handed weapon.
• Juggernaut removed - Execute gameplay is easier to manage because you no longer need to track Juggernaut stacks or delay Sudden Death usage.
• Slayer’s Dominance updated - It fills a similar role to the old Juggernaut, but stack behavior is more fluid because stacks have individual durations.
• Sweeping Strikes charge system - Cleave becomes smoother because charges reduce wasted uses on abilities that cannot cleave.
• Broad Strokes synergy - Combined with charge-based Sweeping Strikes, it helps maintain extremely high uptime on cleave pressure.
• Fatality stacking change - Fatality can now stack and be consumed later, giving more flexibility for burst timing instead of being limited to one encounter use.
• Warbreaker merged into Colossus Smash - Burst setup is simpler, and button bloat is reduced.
• Executioner’s Precision is now a player buff - Buff tracking is easier and feels more consistent during target swaps and Execute windows.
• Avatar moved to the class tree - Arms gains Avatar through shared class pathing instead of spec-specific placement.
• Anger Management moved to class tree - Cooldown routing is now handled through the class tree, which affects build path choices.
• Rend moved to the class tree - Rend is no longer locked behind the Arms spec tree pathing.
• Unhinged moved to the Slayer tree - Slayer builds now handle Unhinged directly in hero talent routing.

Overall Arms gameplay - The spec still revolves around Mortal Strike and Execute, but Midnight makes the rotation cleaner, more predictable, and easier to manage in both single-target and cleave.

Fury Warrior

• Rampaging Berserker (Apex) added/reworked - Fury’s new Apex now acts like a predictable passive buff, making it consistent but less interactive than earlier versions.
• Recklessness Rage generation reduced - Recklessness now gives less Rage generation, which slows how often Fury can use Rampage.
• Rampage's importance increased - Because Rampage is used less often, each cast matters more and drives more of Fury’s key buffs and Apex value.
• Powerful Enrage rework - It now grants Mastery and Leech instead of damage and Enrage duration, changing how it contributes to damage and sustain.
• Frenzy stack duration update - Frenzy stacks now have individual durations and no longer fully reset on target swap, which improves real-fight consistency.
• Deep Wounds added - Fury gains more reason to use Execute regularly across both hero talent options.
• Less Sudden Death and Thunder Blast procs - Previous tier set effects were not carried forward, so the rotation has fewer free proc moments than before.
• Rampaging Ruin added - New multitarget talent that helps beyond normal target cap, but it is niche because it lowers Rampage damage in smaller pulls.
• Onslaught removed - Fury loses one of its previous rotational/talent options, contributing to a more streamlined feel.
• Ravager removed - Another notable removal that reduces old build variety and changes talent routing.
• Avatar moved to the class tree - Fury now gets Avatar through the class tree pathing.
• Anger Management moved to class tree - Cooldown reduction access is now part of class-tree routing decisions.
• Unhinged moved to the Slayer tree - Slayer Fury builds now pick up Unhinged in hero talents.
• Titan’s Grip: Single-Minded Fury combat version removed - The old functionality is gone, changing previous weapon-style interactions.

Overall Fury gameplay - Fury still plays around Rage, Rampage, and Enrage, but the spec is slower and more controlled, with more value placed on each Rampage cast.

Protection Warrior

• Major talent tree repositioning - The class tree and much of the Protection spec tree were reorganized, changing pathing and build routes more than raw gameplay.
• Phalanx (Apex) added - New Apex talent that becomes a key endgame talent option for Protection builds.
• Anger Management nerf (20 Rage per 1 second) - Cooldown reduction is much slower than before, which noticeably slows Protection’s overall pacing.
• Bolster now grants Shield Wall for 4 seconds - Bolster shifts from block-focused value toward short burst mitigation and stronger emergency defense.
• Last Stand moved to passive class-tree talent - Protection gets a core defensive effect through class pathing, which changes build routing and baseline durability planning.
• Intimidating Shout buff - It now affects all targets and causes a cower effect with a 70% slow, making it much stronger for control and survivability.
• Piercing Howl ally speed bonus - The ability now also increases allies’ movement speed, adding valuable group utility.
• Stance Mastery added - Strong defensive addition that provides major damage reduction against large hits while in Defensive Stance.
• Champion’s Spear re-activation leap - You can now leap to the spear and deal damage, improving mobility and pull control options.
• Ravager buffed - While active, Ravager now increases Revenge and Thunder Clap damage by 50%, improving its payoff in AoE windows.
• Fueled by Violence and Brutal Vitality no longer share a choice node - You can take both talents together, improving survivability and flexibility.
• Javelineer added - Excellent Mythic+ utility talent that helps silence ranged enemies and makes mob gathering easier.
• Storm Surge moved to Mountain Thane tree - This changes talent access and hero talent routing for Protection builds.

Overall Protection gameplay - The core rotation remains familiar, but the spec plays slower and has a harder time pulling large packs efficiently, making talent choices and utility usage more important.

Warrior Midnight Overview

Despite the Warriors being the simplest class by design, each of the specs makes them play differently. And I don’t just mean as in “different abilities”. As you know, classes have common skills shared by all specs and unique ones, only available when a certain spec is active. Warriors' mechanics change based on the active spec. For example:

• As a Fury Warrior, your goal is to accumulate the Rage resource, which is then spent on some heavy-hitting abilities. And you want to keep the Enrage buff on yourself constantly.
• As an Arms Warrior, you also use Rage as a resource, but you now have way more abilities that apply bleed damage over time.
• As a Protection Warrior, you become a tank that has to use the shield in the off-hand as a requirement. Your playstyle as a tank is very different from the two DPS specs, so it’s like playing a totally different class.

This is a very basic description of how this class can feel when you’re playing. I’ll get into more details in the " How to Play " section.

Warrior Pros & Cons

I always say that when you’re picking a class, you have to know both its strengths and weaknesses. So, in case you’re still on the fence about who to main in Midnight, here’s my list of pros and cons of playing a warrior.

Pros

1. Warriors are more mobile than you think - all specs have movement abilities that let you either get to the target faster, like the Charge, or dodge the boss mechanics with Heroic Leap. These are super nice to have on a melee-only class.
2. Warriors have lots of “big damage” skills that let you take care of packs of mobs or deal single-target damage. Even if you use the one-button rotation feature, you’ll still be in the top-3 of the damage meters.
3. Great survivability - it might be obvious, but Warriors are not as squishy as other DPS classes. Naturally, Prot Warriors are tanky, that’s their job. But Fury and Arms both have access to Impending Victory, which is a nice insta-heal with a possible cooldown reset. There’s also the Spell Reflection available to DPS specs that doesn’t even require you to have a shield equipped.

Cons

1. As a DPS, you will take a lot of damage if you’re too far away from your target. In other words, the downtime is hurtful in this way. You’ll lose a lot of value in a group if you can’t reach your target. The ranged skills like Heroic Throw and Wrecking Throw are more of openers than anything else.
2. Warriors are weak to magic and bleed damage, as well as movement-heavy fights. Not all spells can be reflected. You also have to be constantly facing the enemy, and the damage will bypass the huge amount of armor you have. That means if the target moves a lot or constantly interrupts your rotation, you’ll be in a lot of trouble.
3. Melee range also means that Warriors are kind of harder to play, despite them being pretty simple. Constantly facing the enemy, unlike ranged DPS, means you’ll be taking lots of damage. So, unless you know what buttons to press to stay alive, you’re screwed.

This creates an interesting contradiction. On the one hand, this class is pretty simple, and everyone recommends new players to start with it. On the other hand, playing as a Warrior can be pretty punishing, because you’re constantly in the middle of everything. Besides that, playing as a tank is even more difficult. Just because tanking in general is a far more difficult role with a lot of responsibility. But, there’s still a lot of fun to be had on a Warrior, which is why I chose it as my main and still haven’t had any regrets.

How to Play Warrior in Midnight

There isn’t much to say about how to play Warrior - you run towards the target, and press your damage buttons. That’s it. I even played with the single-button assistant for a while, and it didn’t feel much different from when I pressed the buttons myself. It's obvious that the Warrior’s gameplay loop is pretty simple, unless you’re playing Protection. If you chose this spec for open world or playing solo, why? You’re just trying to be a DPS but deal less damage than the other 2 specs. But if you’re going in as a tank into group content, you need to know how to actually tank, keep aggro, the routes, the pulls, everything.

In this section, I want to briefly go over how each spec plays and highlight some of the most important abilities.

Fury Warrior Playstyle

This is my spec of choice. I mean, how could you not choose a spec that lets you dual-wield two-handed weapons?!

Anyway, Fury spec’s gameplay is about using abilities to accumulate Rage and then spending it on your big damage ability called Rampage, which also gives you the Enrage buff, which you want to keep for as long as you can. That’s the basics. But then you also have a bunch of cool abilities, such as:

• Bladestorm - very long cooldown, but probably the best AoE ability for your class. Makes you spin for like 5-8 seconds and hit up to 8 targets around you. 
• Recklessness - your main damage buff that gives you increased Rage generation and extra crit hit chance so you can spam Rampage more often.
• Storm Bolt - is a stun that unfortunately doesn’t work on bosses and rares, but still comes in handy when you need it most.
• Pummel - is a cast-disabler that prevents your target from casting their ability.
• Berserker Rage - lets you remove effects like Fear, which is very useful because the effects that make you run around uncontrollably are just the worst!
• Whirlwind - this is your basic AoE attack that generates Rage, very nice.
• Heroic Throw - a ranged attack and an opener that you always follow with Charge.

I know, some of these abilities that I listed aren’t Fury-exclusive, but they’re the ones I use in my rotation, and they all make Fury Warrior work as intended. This isn’t everything that Fury can use, but what I listed is already a lot. There’s a nice variety of different attacks, which is why I love Fury so much.

Protection Warrior Playstyle

This spec is the most difficult one to play. You generally never use it just for open-world type of content because all you need there is damage. What you use the tank spec for is group content - dungeons, raids, M+, and PvP. Besides the latter, you have to know how to tank, and this is a topic for a whole different guide, which I may get to in the future. For now, let me just explain how to play Protection Warrior.

First of all, Prot Warrior needs a shield, because there are a lot of abilities that use it - Shield Throw, Shield Slam, Shield Charge, etc. As a tank, it feels like you have way less attacking abilities and a lot more damage-mitigation ones:

• Shield Wall - reduces all damage taken by 40% for 8 seconds.
• Demoralizing Shout - a debuff that reduces the damage enemies deal by 20%.
• Avatar - the alternative to Bladestorm, makes you very big visually, increases your damage dealt by 20%, and reduces damage taken by 2%
• Ignore Pain - Ignore half of the damage you taken.

I haven’t mentioned any hero talent trees yet, but Protection Warriors can choose between the Mountain Than, which is also available to Fury, and is about dealing extra AoE damage through the Lightnight Strikes, whereas Colossus is about buffing up your main attacks.

Protection Warrior has a simple damage rotation and a clear defensive toolkit, but it is still a challenging spec overall because tanking as a role requires good positioning, cooldown planning, and encounter knowledge.

Arms Warrior Playstyle

I’ve always seen Arms spec as a less unique DPS spec compared to Fury. But the real difference is that Fury spec is about spamming buttons and Arms spec is about pressing the right buttons at the right moment, if that makes sense. Unlike Fury, where you have to press whatever you like as long as you have Enrage on, Arms is about big cleave and AoE damage; it feels like. Here is the list of the most important Arms spec abilities:

1. Auto-attacks - because it's almost the only thing besides the Bleed damage and Charge that generates Rage.
2. Charge - helps you generate Rage but also stay close to the target so you can actually do damage.
3. Mortal Strike - what you spend the Rage on also causes Bleed.
4. Rend - another ability that causes Bleed damage.
5. Cleave - AoE ability similar to Whirlwind
6. Sweeping Strikes - a unique mechanic that makes all attacking skills deal damage to 1 extra target, essentially making them all AoE.
7. Colossus Smash - an AoE debuff that makes you deal more damage to enemies who have been hit by it
8. Ravager - an AoE skill that is very similar to the Bladestorm in purpose and cooldown.

So, what is Arms spec like to play? Lots of AoE damage and bleed damage, I would say. You also have a bit more options in the choice of weapon types. Where Fury’s only realistically viable choice is to dual-wield two-handed weapons, Arms can go for the shield and one-hander to get access to some of those shield-related abilities, or use a two-handed weapon with more cleave.

Warrior Stat Priority

Warrior’s main stat is, obviously, Strength, which, as the game puts it, “increases the magnitude of your attacks and abilities”. The priority of the remaining stats depends on the spec. Refer to the table below for a quick overview:

Arms warrior likes Critical Strike more than Haste because it fills the Rage meter faster. Haste just helps with the cooldowns, and Mastery scales the damage on your abilities.

For Fury warriors, Haste is more important than Critical Chance because it lets you cycle through the skills in your rotation faster, and Rage is generated way more easily. You got a lot of cooldowns to reduce with Haste, too.

Protection Warrior prioritizes Haste for the same reasons as Fury. Critical Strike usually comes next because it improves parry chance, which can be very helpful in Mythic+ and other melee-heavy situations.

Best Warrior Builds for Midnight

Builds are super important because you want to make sure that you’ve chosen the talents that actually make your spec more effective. I’ve started out by picking the talents that just seemed cool or the ones I liked more, but that made me end up with something pretty unplayable. Here, I’ve chosen 3 best builds for Warriors in Midnight, one for each spec. These builds work well enough in open-world and group activities, and little to no changes are needed to make them better in a specific type of content.

Fury Execute Build

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It’s very easy to make a good AoE build on a Fury spec, but this one is a single-target focused build that can be switched to the AoE damage build by swapping only one talent pair - Enraged Regeneration for Improved Whirlwind.

This build is about spamming Execute, which becomes available more often thanks to Sudden Death and Imminent Demise talents. Even Bladestorm works just as well on one target, so you can finally use it whenever it's ready instead of just saving it for the packs of monsters.

Arms Colossus Build

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The Colossus hero talent tree on this build makes Cleave hit much harder, making it easier for you to clear packs of mobs on the way to the boss. You still have the Mortal Strike that you use to lower the cooldown of Demolish. When you can finally use it, make sure you’re facing the enemy because, despite it being an AoE, its range is greater in a cone in front of you.

This build isn’t focusing on Execute, so you will be losing some of that priority damage, though. Also, the only time you use Execute is when the Sudden Death is on.

Protection Tank Build

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Having a good tanking build is super important, and in that regard, the fact that most Prot Warrior builds aren’t very different is a good thing. There are some minute changes, and this one is just what you need to be a good tank.

This build’s “stand-out” feature is having the “Battle-Scarred Veteran” talent that gives you a little extra defense when things get really ugly. You have access to Disrupting Shout, Battle Shout, and Rallying Cry as your powerful utility spells for your allies.

Warrior Best in Slot Gear in Midnight

This section is “Work in Progress”. I need a bit more time to come up with the list of BiS gear for each spec that isn’t just another copy of the Pre-Patch BiS. Stay Tuned!

Best Warrior Professions

Warriors are too cool to waste time on professions. There isn’t “the best profession for Warriors” that you absolutely must have.

That being said, there aren’t any professions that Hunters “must have”. The most useful options include:

• Blacksmithing - This lets you craft your own armor pieces, and some crafted items can be very close to best-in-slot.
• Alchemy - This helps you supply your own consumables, saving gold and keeping you raid-ready.
• Enchanting - This lets you enchant your own gear without relying on the Auction House.

The start of the expansion is when the prices for crafted items will be so high that you will be able to set yourself up for the rest of the expansion.

Best Consumables for Warrior

All three Warrior specs benefit from a shared core set of consumables, even though Protection leans more defensive, while Arms and Fury focus on damage. Here’s a unified list of items that work well across all specs in Midnight:

• Combat potion: Light’s Potential / Tempered Potion - Light’s Potential is the default DPS burst potion for Arms and Fury during boss burn windows, while Protection Warriors typically run Tempered Potion for consistent defensive value.
• Health potion: Silvermoon Health Potion / Invigorating Healing Potion - Silvermoon is the standard emergency heal for DPS specs, while Protection Warriors prefer Invigorating Healing Potion for stronger survivability during heavy damage moments.
• Weapon buff: Thalassian Phoenix Oil / Algari Mana Oil - Thalassian Phoenix Oil is the main damage-focused weapon buff for Arms and Fury, while Protection uses Algari Mana Oil for smoother defensive gameplay.
• Augment rune: Void-Touched Augment Rune / Crystallized Augment Rune - Void-Touched Augment Rune provides a strong passive stat boost for DPS Warriors, while Crystallized Augment Rune fills the same role for Protection builds.
• Food: Blooming Feast / Feast of the Midnight Masquerade - Blooming Feast is a reliable all-around choice for DPS Warriors, while Protection benefits heavily from Feast of the Midnight Masquerade thanks to the primary stat bonus.
• Flasks: Flask of the Magisters / Flask of the Shattered Sun / Flask of Alchemical Chaos - DPS specs usually lean toward Magisters or Shattered Sun for throughput, while Protection prefers Alchemical Chaos for balanced survivability.

Flask of Blood Knights, Flask of Tempered Swiftness, Champion’s Bento, Flora Frenzy, and Hearty Chippy Tea can all be strong situational options depending on your build and current gear.

Read our other WoW guides:

• Midnight Leveling Guide
• Best DPS Rankings
• Best Addons
• Gold Farming Guide

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