This is the Warrior FAQ, up to date as of patch 4.2. Please read this before posting.

What you will see in this post: Simple, concise answers to frequently asked Warrior questions.
What you won't see in this post: The detailed reasoning behind those answers, super advanced Warrior concepts, BiS gear discussions.
What to do if you think something is incorrect or missing: Post in excruciating detail as to why it's wrong or missing, or send a similarly extremely detailed PM.

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Relevant Blue Posts

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General

Q: How does Rage generation work now?
A: The amount of Rage you generate on a successful hit is now simply 6.5 * base weapon speed, and half that for offhand hits. Damage, Crit, fast vs slow weapons, glancing blows, dodges and parries no longer affect your rate of Rage generation. Only Hit and Haste will have an effect.

Q: Is Inner Rage an Enrage effect?
A: No.

Q: Where can I learn Plate Specialization and Mastery?
A: You can learn them from your class trainer.

Q: Do Agility Amulets/Rings/Cloaks/Ranged Weapons break Plate Specialization?
A: No, as those items don't have an armor type. You still want to replace them with Strength items if you can.

Q: What happened to Armor Penetration/Block Value/Block Rating/Defense?
A: Blizzard removed these stats from the game. On pre-Cataclysm items these stats were converted into other appropriate stats.

Q: HALP! What do I gem for? What stats do I reforge? What about enchants? What-
A: I've conveniently listed stat priorities for each spec in the sections below. They apply equally to gems, enchants, and reforging. Use them.


Arms

Q: What is the best Arms spec?
A: Some variation of 31/7/3. You have a lot of leeway on Major and Minor glyphs.

Q: What rotation should I be using?
A: Rend if it isn't up, prioritize Colossus Smash > Mortal Strike > Overpower. Heroic Strike when you have 70+ rage or on Battle Trance procs. Slam as much as Rage/GCDs allow without clipping Mortal Strike.

Q: What about for AoE?
A: Bladestorm, then use Thunderclap as a replacement for Slam in your normal rotation while spending excess rage on Cleave. If you took Tactical Mastery or have Deadly Calm available you can stance dance for more AoE damage, making the rotation TC -> Zerker+MS -> WW -> Battle+OP. Blood and Thunder is a large AoE DPS boost, but comes at the cost of Executioner.

Q: Is there any reason to stay in Battle Stance once Rend is up?
A: Overpower is a cheap and potent ability, but taking Tactical Mastery and stance dancing is an option for advanced players.

Q: What about when Execute becomes available?
A: Spam Execute to build up Executioner stacks and then resume your normal rotation. Use Execute only to maintain the Executioner stack, or fill in spare GCDs.

Q: When should I use Bladestorm?
A: When you need to AoE. It's not worth using for single targets.

Q: When should I use Deadly Calm?
A: When you're rage starved, when you need to burst, or when your procs align.

Q: When should I use Inner Rage?
A: In some AoE situations Cleave spamming is useful, but otherwise you should rarely be generating so much rage that normal Heroic Strike usage is insufficient.

Q: What good is Shattering Throw?
A: It can increase raid DPS during Bloodlust if there are a number of other physical DPS present. However, it's a personal DPS loss.

Q: What are my stat priorities?
A: Get 8% Hit. After that, Strength > Crit > Mastery = Expertise > Haste. Expertise is better than Mastery if you're stance dancing.

Q: What about the Expertise cap?
A: It's not necessary, but it becomes fairly trivial as you gear up and it's a large quality of life improvement. Many Arms Warriors cap Expertise once they've geared up.

Q: What should I use to enchant my weapon?
A: Landslide.

Q: My raid leader wants me to use Sunder Armor, I don't want to lose DPS.
A: Do it, the raid's DPS is more important than yours. Glyph of Colossus Smash makes it easy to maintain.


Fury

Q: What is the best Fury spec?
A: Some variation of 8/31/2. Swap Titan's Grip for Single Minded Fury as per preference. You have a lot of leeway regarding Major and Minor glyphs.

Q: Which is better, SMF or TG?
A: Depends on which weapon type you have easier access to.

Q: What rotation should I be using for Titan's Grip?
A: Bloodthirst -> Raging Blow (use Berserker Rage to activate if necessary) -> Bloodthirst -> Free GCD. Colossus Smash between Bloodthirsts, delaying Raging Blow if necessary. Use Slam only when you have a Bloodsurge proc during a free GCD. Heroic Strike should only be used at 90+ rage with a threat of capping and should be lined up with Colossus Smash as much as possible.

Q: What rotation should I be using for Single Minded Fury?
A: Same rotation as Titan's Grip. However, Slam is more important to SMF than Raging Blow. Prioritize accordingly.

Q: What about for AoE?
A: Whirlwind and Bloodthirst on a choice single target. Cleave as rage allows.

Q: What about when I can Execute?
A: Spam Execute to build up Executioner stacks and then resume your normal rotation. Use Execute only to maintain the Executioner stack, fill in spare GCDs or burn excess rage.

Q: When do I use Death Wish and Recklessness?
A: Use Death Wish on cooldown, but try to line it up with Bloodlust or a burn phase whenever possible. Use Recklessness when an encounter requires burst, or during a confluence of procs.

Q: When should I use Inner Rage?
A: Rarely if ever. In some AoE situations Cleave spamming is useful, but otherwise you should rarely be generating so much rage that normal Heroic Strike usage is insufficient.

Q: What good is Shattering Throw?
A: It can increase raid DPS during Bloodlust if there are a number of other physical DPS present. However, it's a personal DPS loss.

Q: What are my stat priorities?
A: Get 8% Hit (including Precision), 26 Expertise. After that, TG prioritizes Strength > Crit > Hit > Mastery > Haste. SMF prioritizes Strength > Crit > Hit > Haste > Mastery.

Q: What should I use to enchant my weapon?
A: Landslide.

Q: What about my offhand?
A: Still Landslide.

Q: My raid leader wants me to use Sunder Armor, I don't want to lose DPS.
A: Do it, the raid's DPS is more important than yours. Glyph of Colossus Smash makes it easy to maintain.

Q: Help! My threat is crazy and I keep pulling aggro! What do I do?
A: Beg your Paladins for Hand of Salvation and, fight mechanics permitting, Intervene from your fellow Warriors. Given equal DPS and time on the boss Fury will out-threat any other DPS save Hunters, so you should be able to make a case for yourself unless your DPS is bad.

Protection

Q: What spec should I use?
A: Some variation on 5/2/34. You have a lot of leeway regarding Major and Minor glyphs.

Q: Your build is terrible, I prefer-
A: Protection is less set in stone and depends on the content you are running and the demands placed upon you. See the protection thread for in-depth discussion.

Q: What's my maximum threat rotation?
A: Prioritize Shield Slam > Revenge > Rend > Devastate. Heroic Strike at 60+ rage.

Q: What about for AoE?
A: Rend (if you took Blood and Thunder), Thunderclap, Shockwave and Revenge become your top priorities. Use Cleave instead of Heroic Strike.

Q: When should I use Inner Rage?
A: Whenever you can make use of additional Heroic Strikes or Cleaves without breaking your rotation.

Q: What are my stat priorities?
A: Stamina primarily. For ratings, Mastery > Parry > Dodge.

Q: I thought Parry sucked.
A: Parry now converts at the same rate as Dodge, and has the same diminishing returns. It also has synergy with the Hold the Line talent. As such having about as much, or slightly more, Parry as Dodge is a good mark to aim for.

Q: My threat sucks, what should I do?
A: Expertise is your best single target threat stat before you hit 26 expertise, followed by Hit. If you have good healers or a boss fight with a forgiving start you can use Recklessness during Shield Block for better threat. Retaliation is a less dangerous, and also less effective, option.

Q: When do I use my survival cooldowns?
A: It's generally fight/boss/trash pack specific. Shield Block should be used on cooldown unless some specific mechanic demands otherwise. Shield Wall is used either as an emergency survival cooldown or to smooth over high damage phases/burst abilities from bosses, trash and adds. Last Stand is almost always an emergency survival cooldown.

Q: Who should get my Vigilance?
A: Your offtank in a raid. Whoever keeps pulling threat in heroics.

I think you should change the spec for Arms from 2/2 Rude Interruption to 2/2 Executioner, because currently Rude Interruption is bugged and you lose the damage buff after using MS.
€: Oh, and Recklessness doesn't require a gcd anymore.

This seemed off to me as I have been using simulationcraft to generate equivalence point values for my gear.
This could mean 3 things:
1. My gear is terrible and doesnt represent the distribution at higher levels.
2. Simulationcraft doesnt properly model mastery for fury.
3. The assumption Crit == Haste == Mastery is wrong.

I could verify item 1 by checking against another, better equipped character.
A quick search of the warrior thread found me Moozhe from Vodka and running his profile netted me the following results.
Strength=1.6395, ExpertiseRating=1.0538, CritRating=1.0272, HitRating=1.0253, Ap=0.7720, HasteRating=0.7686, Agility=0.7329, MasteryRating=0.4876

Assuming simulationcraft properly models mastery rating for fury then mastery rating is clearly the worst dps stat that we have. However I have no evidence for the correctness of the simulationcraft implementation so I cant pick between 2 or 3.

This has been hot-fixed as of today.

If you're running TG,isn't Raging Blow more DPR than execute?Why would you spam execute in that case?

Until Landslide is widely available what's the best enchant to have on weapons?

25% haste from executioner talent fully stacked increases your rage generation enough that the damage per rage efficiency is no longer a concern so the higher damage of execute per GCD results in more DPS.

I also use Inner Rage and Colossus Smash to increase the damage of execute.

I am not certine that using inner rage is a DPS increase vs dumping extra rage with heroic strikes, maybe someone can modle that for us?

I assume that in higher tiers of gear we will be using Inner Rage and Heroic Strike during the execute phase, I just can't do that currently or risk being rage starved and dropping my executioner stack.

Do you mind somehow backing that up? The thread starter editing the post hints that he agrees with me, and I often run totally out of rage by spamming execute. Also,judging from the tooltip, I don't think execute is most effective when used at low rage any more like in the past (The added damage from 20 rage is twice the damage you get from the initial 10 rage), so raging blow having better DPR than execute does matter unless you're capping on rage.

Does the plate specialization stack with gems/enchants placed on the armor, or are those added in after the 5% increase in the primary stat for a spec?

Plate specialization factors in gems, enchants, etc.

I've just tested it. Stamina from gems, as well as from Commanding Shout, is multiplied by both Sentinel and by Plate Specialization.

I would assume that it applies to all sources of stamina such as food, but I didn't test anything aside from gear, gems, and commanding shout.

If you'll please pardon a noob question from a casual player, could someone explain why Arms warriors can basically neglect expertise while Fury warriors must prioritize expertise soft-cap above all other than the first 8% of Hit? From the tooltip on the character sheet, it appears to be of roughly equivalent importance for both specs.

What am I missing?

Overpower procs from dodges. Overpower also can't be dodged or parried. Overpower has 50% increased chance to crit, and is incredibly rage efficient. Auto-attacks generate full rage when dodged.

Overpower makes up for a significant amount of lost damage from dodges, thus devaluing expertise.

Still a dodged MS/Colossus Smash ist a huge DMG loss.
You have to change your playstyle --> use TFB proccs immediatly or Overpowers from Dodges will be lost.
Only beneficial if dodge occures on Autohit, Opportunity Strikes, Slam ,Rend (if you see it immediatly, huge dmg loss if you dont), Heroic Strike (not Battle Tranced ones). And you dont have a TFB procc online and none is on the line in 1,5 sec. And you are not in Deadly Calm Phase. And MS/Colossus Smash are on cd.

If you are Expertise Capped, you can play a more optimised playstyle. Prioritize CS debuff -> MS -> Rend/Battle Shout -> Op. Because you have 6 sec to spend that op, you will less often delay your MS, and you can use CS when the debuff runs out. And you can reaply Rend if TFB procc has >4,5 Sec without losing a procc.

Still, simulations show that you gain a little more DPS when you prioritize other stats than expertise, so let's look at expertise from another point of view.
One thing is, your damage is much more inconsistent when not expertise capped. You can be lucky and get 90% OS dodges without overwriting TfB or you can get 3 MS dodges in a row, resulting in low enrage uptime and especially in burst phases this can be very disturbing.
Another point is the much more steady rotation. Low expertise means much more focus on your own rotation, leaving less brainpower for encounter situational reactions or more possible errors in your own rotation.
The third and in my opinion most important point is that on most encounters you're not 100% of the time behind a boss. Even if a boss is tank and spank and casts random stuff at players (Lana'thel was a perfect example) you have a chance to get your hit parried because of that cast. For fights like Al'akir you would have to get your whole gear reforged, because you stay 50% of the time in front of the boss. Moving out of fire can put you in front of a boss, etc etc.

What are the most recommended professions for a Prot Warrior?

I'm not sure that at 85 i agree that spamming execute is the right choice, for certain keep up the 5 stacks for the haste buff, but personally i've not been in a situation where it is the best use of rage = damage. Since there are no hard facts at hand i can't back this up, but i'm pretty sure a lot of other warriors feel the same.

Something I didn't get about priority as Fury is: When I have a free global (after doing BT>RB>BT), a free Slam via Bloodsurge and Colossus Smash out of cooldown, should I use Colossus Smash or Slam?

Thanks in advice

According to Simulationcraft, after you get the 5 stacks, Raging Blow is better than Execute (if you have TG). And of course if you have the excess Rage for it, throw in a Heroic Strike as well.

The same program shows that for SMF, Execute is definately best. A HS here or there on Excess amounts of Rage works well for SMF too though.

This is mentioned in the OP if you read between the lines. If Collosus Smash is available, you do not have a free GCD to use a Bloodsurge proc. Use Collosus Smash.

Quick fyi: Impending Victory is listed under 'not recommended' in the protection thread but is in the example spec for prot in the general FAQ. I'm assuming prot thread > FAQ (and, to be honest, the talent annoys the crap out of me so I'm skipping it either way) but I figured you might want to correct this in one of these posts.

Regarding Fury; Why do you no longer recommend putting 2 points into Incite and hitting Heroic Strike a bit earlier than 90+ rage? Heroic Strike is getting a 20% damage nerf but it's still our only viable rage dump, right?