With the massive earth-shattering caused by Deathwing, Old warriors, and battle-hardened veterans gather around and share stories in a moment of respite, tales of horrific yet courageous deeds performed by Fury Warriors. Known as berserkers driven utterly insane by a Bloodthirst and completely taken over by the feeling of an Unshackled Fury, those maddened warriors are said to charge at the most horrific elemental foes and challenge the Twilight’s Hammer cult at every step.
This guide will teach you how to play a Fury Warrior in PvE encounters, no matter if they are difficult dungeons or terrifying raids. We will be covering everything from enchants and consumables, to talents, rotations, macros, and addons.
Fury Warrior in Cataclysm
Warriors are among the few classes that have had close to no changes to their overall class identity in Cataclysm! They maintained their Rage resource system and a vast majority of their effects from WotLK. However, most of their abilities received various small tweaks to compete with the rest of the classes that received massive overhauls. The most prominent changes to their old kit, besides the addition of new abilities, are the changes to Heroic Strike and Cleave, with the abilities retaining their off-GCD properties but now having a 3-second cooldown. Additionally, their Stance Mastery has received an overall buff, with the new baseline being 25 Rage instead of 10 Rage while their stances such as Battle Stance, Defensive Stance, and Berserker Stance have also been slightly changed. With the removal of Armor Penetration, Battle Stance now offers a 5% flat damage increase while also providing a 5% flat damage reduction, Defensive Stance now offers a very solid Threat Generation, while Berserker Stance now offers a 10% flat damage increase while also no longer increasing the damage received by the Warrior.
For Fury Warrior specifically, the overall playstyle receives somewhat of an overhaul while also retaining the crazy berserker identity. Fury Warriors are now even more tied into the Enrage effect through the new Mastery stat which offers them access to Unshackled Fury which empowers all effects that depend on the “enraged” status, including Death Wish. As Enrage becomes an even more important factor in their playstyle, their gameplay becomes even more proc-dependent, especially with the addition of one new powerful ability, Raging Blow.
Bloodthirst remains their staple core ability while Bloodsurge was somewhat nerfed to only interact with Bloodthirst. Nonetheless, Slam remains one of the core abilities, even with the Bloodsurge nerf. A big change consists of Whirlwind no longer being a part of the Single-Target rotation, with the ability being massively buffed for AoE encounters. Furthermore, as Armor Penetration is no longer a part of the game, Colossus Smash is the new way for Fury Warriors to entirely bypass an enemy’s armor, albeit for a limited duration.
The rest of their abilities function almost the same, with Bloodrage now being a thing of the past and shouts such as Battle Shout and Commanding Shout now also acting as Rage generation tools besides their general utility.
Fury Warrior Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- Decent Single-Target & AoE Damage
Fury Warriors display a somewhat average Damage Output in Cataclysm, compared to the overall glory they experienced during WotLK. Their overall performance can be considered “Decent”, albeit somewhat mediocre and highly dependent on RNG outside their Burst Phase. While they gain access to new toys such as Raging Blow and Unshackled Fury, Inner Rage, and Colossus Smash, their overall Damage Output pales in comparison to other Damage Dealer specializations and especially to their fellow Arms Brethren, which stole their previous glory.
- Good Mobility
Just like their fellow brethren, Fury Warriors get to enjoy a large amount of mobility in Cataclysm. This is mainly thanks to the addition of Heroic Leap as a strong mobility tool but also thanks to the Heroic Fury talent which removes any immobilization effects while also refreshing Intercept‘s cooldown.
- Good Utility
Warriors bring a plethora of utility effects, commonly known as “Shouts”, that can be used to empower their allies or debilitate their foes! Besides iconic abilities such as Battle Shout, Commanding Shout, and Demoralizing Shout, Warriors gain access to a new powerful shout named Rallying Cry which can act as a great defensive tool for the entire raid. Furthermore, Fury Warriors bring a specific form of utility through the Rampage effect they can grant to their allies.
- Easy Learning Curve
Due to the overall changes and proc-dependent playstyle that Fury Warriors display, the specialization is exceedingly easy to play. This means that almost all players can easily pick it up and proceed to master it in no time.
Weaknesses
- Gear Dependent
Just like with most specializations in the game, Fury Warrior requires a considerable amount of gear until its true potential can be experienced. As such, the specialization feels underwhelming until proper gear is equipped.
- Proc & Cooldown Dependent
Fury Warriors depend much more on their offensive cooldowns such as Recklessness and Death Wish to deal large amounts of damage. Their entire playstyle depends on their Enrage status due to Raging Blow and Unshackled Fury, meaning their Damage Output plummets whenever they don’t trigger Enrage. They also depend on Bloodsurge procs to deal consistent damage, meaning that RNG plays a huge role in their overall performance.
Best Races
Horde
The horde has the better races from a PvE point of view, with most of their racial abilities providing direct damage-enhancing effects. The biggest change in Cataclysm for the Horde is that Blood Elves can now also be Warriors, albeit their overall performance seems better suited for “Magic-based” classes.
Orcs are traditionally known as the best race for the Warrior class for the Horde faction, with Blood Fury being the strongest available offensive racial effect and Axe Specialization playing a decent role. They are followed by Trolls with Berserking and Regeneration, and Golbins with Rocket Barrage and Time is Money.
Races such as Tauren, Undead, and Blood Elf are more of an aesthetic choice for the Fury Warriors.
- Troll: Berserking, Da Voodoo Shuffle, Regeneration, Beast Slaying, Bow Specialization, Throwing Specialization.
- Orc: Blood Fury, Axe Specialization, Hardiness, Command.
- Goblin: Time is Money, Rocket Barrage, Rocket Jump, Best Deals Anywhere, Better Living Through Chemistry.
- Blood Elf: Arcane Torrent, Arcane Resistance, Arcane Affinity.
- Tauren: Endurance, Cultivation, Nature Resistance, War Stomp.
- Undead: Will of the Forsaken, Cannibalize, Shadow Resistance, Underwater Breathing.
Alliance
The Alliance has stronger PvP racial effects than PvE racials, with most PvE racial effects being represented by passive effects. With the addition of the Worgen race, Humans are dethroned as the best race for the Warrior class thanks to Viciousness. While no longer the kings, Humans still provide powerful racial effects such as Sword Specialization, Mace Specialization, and Will to Survive, with the Expertise buff proving quite useful for Fury Warriors. Worgen and Human are closely followed by Draenei thanks to the Gift of the Naaru and Heroic Presence and Dwarf with the Mace Specialization and Stoneform racials.
- Worgen: Darkflight, Flayer, Viciousness, Abberation.
- Human: Sword Specialization, Mace Specialization, Will to Survive, The Human Spirit, Diplomacy.
- Dwarf: Stoneform, Explorer, Mace Specialization, Gun Specialization, Frost Resistance.
- Night Elf: Elusiveness, Quickness, Shadowmeld, Wisp Spirit, Nature Resistance.
- Draenei: Gift of the Naaru, Heroic Presence, Shadow Resistance, Gemcutting.
- Gnome: Shortblade Specialization, Engineering Specialization, Escape Artist, Expansive Mind, Arcane Resistance.
Conclusion
We hope this guide has been able to help you decide if PvE Fury Warrior is the class/spec for you. Make sure to check out our other sections, such as talents, gear, gems, etc, to get more information on how to improve your performance as a Fury Warrior in Cataclysm!
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