Last updated on Jul 19, 2024 at 08:00by Archimtiros77 comments
Welcome to our comprehensive guide on the Fury Warrior changes in World of Warcraft's latest expansion, The War Within.This page is intended to help you navigate the new changes and help you know what to expect from Fury Warrior in the War Within.
In this guide, you will find detailed breakdowns of the new Hero Talent Trees for Fury Warrior. We will explore the most significant updates to the spec, and offer insights into how these changes will impact your overall gameplay.Whether you are an experienced Fury Warrior or new to the spec, this page will be useful in knowing what to expect come launch in late August.
1.
Fury Warrior: The War Within Expansion Preview
Welcome to our War Within expansion guide for Fury Warrior.Ahead of launch, this page will contain everything you need to know about theFury Warrior spec in the forthcoming The War Within expansion,including changes, Hero Talent Trees, and some light predictions on the stateof the spec going into the expansion.
This page is a constantly evolving work in progress, with regularchanges expected as updates hit the War Within Beta. This is not meant to bea launch guide for Fury Warrior, but instead serves as aresource for you to keep up to date with how the spec is evolving on Beta, andwhat you can expect from its playstyle and feel on launch.
2.
The War Within Changes for Fury Warrior's
2.1.
Fury Warrior Core Changes
Fury Warrior cooldown uptime has been dramatically reduced in The WarWithin, and while the actual speed of gameplay is unaffected, its overall Ragegeneration and frequency of Rampage casts has gone down. Whether this is goodor bad is largely a matter of opinion, as it creates more room for otherbuttons in the rotation.
Thanks to significant tuning adjustments, Bloodthirst also has a renewedemphasis within the rotation, more closely resembling that of Legion andBattle for Azeroth.
The Warrior Class Tree has received a moderate rework, rearranging thepathing of several talents and removing some of the less desirable onesoutright. Overall, the tree has become smaller and more streamlined, withfocus on improving access to important crowd control and early levelingabilities, most notably relocating Shockwave to the middle of the tree. Below,you can see some of the most important changes that will affect your gameplay,decision-making, and power in The War Within.
2.2.
Warrior Class Changes
- Defensive Stance is now automatically unlocked.
- Berserker Rage is no longer a talent and now automatically learnedat level 12.
- Titanic Throw, Sonic Boom, Blood and Thunder, and Furious Blows have been removed. Furious Blows is one less requireddamage talent, while the other two were never used.
- Second Wind now restores 1-2% health per second while below 35%health, in addition to its previous effects. This gives it a guaranteedbenefit in high damage/low life situations, without changing the previousfunctionality.
- Honed Reflexes now reduces the cooldown of most defensive andutility cooldowns by 5%. However minor, this removes another damage talent,while offering an interesting if equally minor defensive benefit.
- Frothing Berserker now refunds 10% Rage for Fury, down from 20%.
- Barbaric Training now affects Thunder Clap for Mountain Thanes.
- Seismic Reverberation now affects Thunder Clap for MountainThanes.
- Champion's Spear now generates 10 rage, down from 20.
- Champion's Might now affects targets hit by Spear, instead of theplayer standing inside it.
- Shockwave and Thunderous Roar no longer generate Rage.
- Thunderous Words has been buffed from 15 to 30%, but only increasesthe damage targets take from bleeds during its effect, rather than passivelyincreasing it all the time. This makes Thunderous Roar more active andcondenses some of its damage into burstier cooldowns.
- Crushing Force now affects Bloodthirst instead of Slam.
- Endurance Training has gained a second point, allowing players toincrease their stamina even further. While nice, the new pathing makes thetalent very hard to take.
2.3.
Fury Warrior Changes
The Fury Warrior Spec Tree has undergone very minorchange, retaining the same general pathing, though condensing and reworking afew of its talents.
- Improved Enrage is now called Frenzied Enrage and nowshares a choice node with a new talent: Powerful Enrage. This givesplayers a choice between faster-paced gameplay through additional haste, orslower but stronger gameplay through a direct damage buff.
- Raging Armaments, Storm of Swords, and Annihilator have been removed. Originally designed to provide aslower playstyle, Annihilator never actually accomplished that goal, and soPowerful Enrage has taken that role in a simplified format.
- Improved Raging Blow now has a 25% chance to reset its cooldown, upfrom 25%.
- Frenzied Flurry has been baked into Single-Minded Fury,making that option a stronger and cheaper investment, though ultimately stillweaker than using two-handed weapons.
- Wrath and Fury now increases the chance for Raging Blow to reset by10%, instead of overriding it entirely.
- Improved Whirlwind and Meat Cleaver now affect ThunderClap for Mountain Thane.
- Bloodcraze now triggers from Raging Blow instead ofBloodthirst.
- Deft Experience now extends the current duration of Enrage by0.5 seconds per point when Bloodthirst is used. Although seemingly minor, thisis now very important for maintaining Enrage uptime.
- Swift Strikes now increases Bloodthirst Rage generation inaddition to Raging Blow.
- Tenderize no longer increases the duration of Enrage or triggersUnbridled Ferocity.
- Bladestorm is now a choice with Ravager, giving FuryWarriors a more compressed burst AoE option.
- Hurricane has been replaced by Unhinged, which triggersBloodthirst every other time Bladestorm or Ravager deal damage. Interactingwith all effects which Bloodthirst normally does, this is a very deceptivelypowerful addition, as it can generating Rage, proc Enrage, heal, cleavemultiple targets, and trigger hero talent effects.
- Reckless Abandon now empowers one cast of Bloodthirst and RagingBlow, instead of one or the other. This is a powerful addition, which alsomakes the rotation much more forgiving, and less dependent on specifictiming.
- Unbridled Ferocity no longer triggers from Onslaught and itschance to trigger has been reduced to 6% down from 20%. This is a major nerfto overall Recklessness uptime and Rage generation, resulting in less frequentRampage casts and more distinct cooldown use.
- Odyn's Fury has been received a major buff, with the intent ofmaking it better than Onslaught in multitarget, though also currently leavingit competitive in single target as well.
- Titanic Rage now increases the bleed damage inflicted by Odyn'sFury
2.4.
Systems Changes
Aside from the changes to Fury Warrior's core features,The War Within also introduces Hero Talent Trees, new tier sets, and the naturalreduction in secondary stats when entering a new expansion.
Fury Warrior's get to choose between the Mountain Thaneand Slayer Hero Talent Trees. In sections below, we will talk moredeeply about the implications of these Hero Talent Trees for the spec, and somethoughts on what looks strong and weak ahead of launch.
3.
Fury Warrior Hero Talents in The War Within
Mountain ThaneSlayer
2.5.
Mountain Thane Hero Talents for Fury Warrior's in The War Within
The Mountain Thane Hero Tree uses Crashing Thunder to reintroduceThunder Clap to the Fury Warrior toolkit, effectively replacing Whirlwind andinteracting with all the same talents. Although deceptively simple, the highfrequency of procs that empower Thunder Clap into the much more powerful Thunder Blast, and equally high frequency of semi-random Lightning Strikes creates a very chaotic and fun rotation with a freshand visually distinctive theme.
Gameplay-wise, Thunder Clap seamlessly replaces Whirlwind. Although it hasa cooldown, it is even shorter than Dragonflight's Storm of Swords,making it non-invasive. More important are the various procs, which keep thegameplay very fluid. Most abilities trigger Lightning Strikes, whichdeals damage to multiple targets, can generate extra Rage, and trigger Burst of Power, while Bloodthirst turns Thunder Clap into the much morepowerful Thunder Blast. As a result, the rotation is very busy andvirtually never uses the same ability twice in a row.
Power-wise, Mountain Thane gets most of its additional value through armorignoring Lightning Strikes and Thunder Blasts, which are potent in singletarget, but even more impactful in multitarget. Although Thunder Clap allowssingle target abilities to be cleaved onto multiple targets the same wayWhirlwind does, Thunder Clap is dramatically stronger, giving Fury a veryimpactful direct damage rotational ability. With Crackling Thundertalented, it also has a much larger effective range, and passively slowsenemies, making it an all-in-one attack that gets even stronger when empoweredto become Thunder Blast.
Defensively, Mountain Thane only has the choice between one of two talents,but both are very strong. Due to the high frequency of Thunder Blast procs, Keep Your Feet on the Ground provides around 50% uptime on its damagereduction, which pairs very nicely with the 10% from Warpaint, while the armorincrease also provides a small amount of offensive value through Armored tothe Teeth. The other choice, Steadfast as the Peaks passively increasesmaximum health while turning Impending Victory into a very strong preemptivecooldown instead of a reactive heal.
In terms of utility benefits, however, Mountain Thane comes up short. Storm Bolts is more PvP-oriented than PvE, as random targeted stunsare not particularly useful and tend to contribute toward diminishing returns,while Storm Shield provides a very small magic-only allied absorptionshield. In truth, both of these talents are likely designed to help Thane keepup with Slayer in PvP rather than to help in PvE, but the rest of Thane'stoolkit is good enough to make up for it.
2.5.
Slayer Hero Talents for Fury Warrior in The War Within
The Slayer Hero Tree is split between Execute and Bladestorm, providingboth single and multitarget benefits through a series of synergistic debuffs. Slayer's Dominance marks enemies, which in turn triggers Imminent Demise, which allows players to consume those marks to reducethe cooldown of Bladestorm through Unrelenting Onslaught.
Gameplay-wise, players will benefit from far more frequent Sudden Death casts, creating additional value for talents like Ashen Juggernaut outside of the normal execute range. This also leadsto much more frequent use of Bladestorm, the result of which is a fast-paced,proc-heavy storm of steel, though it may be less appealing to players who areoverly sensitive about channeled abilities.
Power-wise, Reap the Storm and the increased frequency of Bladestormare both very powerful multitarget benefits, while Slayer gains most of itssingle target power from sustaining the Overwhelmed debuff and morefrequent use of Execute instead of weaker fillers like Slam. While Bladestormis much more powerful in The War Within than in Dragonflight, Unhingedis also a strong damage contributor, as the extra Bloodthirst casts can alsotrigger Reap the Storm.
Defensively, however, Slayer is a much weaker choice. Its sole defensivebenefit is Death Drive, which can add up to a moderate amount ofhealing over time, but is not always effective healing, making it a much lesspractical choice. This is probably a matter of PvP balance, as the increasedfrequency of Bladestorm is a very powerful bonus in that content, but is lessdefensively relevant in PvE.
In terms of utility, Unrelenting Onslaught grants the longrequested ability to interrupt and stun during Bladestorm, while the increasedamount of Bladestorm casts also provide their own crowd control immunity. TheSlayer's other benefit is in enhanced mobility: Relentless Pursuitprovides a huge quality of life improvement for keeping up with movingtargets, while Vicious Agility allows more frequent use of Heroic Leapand Charge in general.
3.
Fury Warrior Tier Set in The War Within
Below are the Tier Set Bonuses for Fury Warrior in The WarWithin. After the wording of the bonus, you will find a brief note/commentarythat is italicized.
- Warrior Fury Season 1 2pc — Bloodthirst increases thedamage of your next Rampage by 10%. This is a very simple, buteffective bonus, as these abilities are both used with great frequency in allforms of content.
- Warrior Fury Season 1 4pc — When Raging Blow resets itsown cooldown, the damage of your next Bloodthirst is increased by10%, stacking up to 2 times. This is a problematic bonus, since thereduced emphasis on Raging Blow means that the ability is not used very often,and therefore cannot reset its own cooldown very often either.
Both set bonuses are completely passive and are not expected to have anygameplay impact, which makes them somewhat boring, but theoretically reliableif not for the glaring flaw in the 4pc bonus activation.
3.1.
How Good is the Fury Warrior Tier Bonus in The War Within?
The 2pc bonus is unexciting but reliable in both single or multitargetcontent, with the sole flaw that Bloodthirst may occasionally be cast multipletimes before generating enough Rage to use Rampage. If it were able to stack,the bonus could be a little more dynamic, both providing bad luck protection,as well as a little more burst opportunity alongside Unhinged or Burst of Power.
The 4pc bonus is incredibly weak, and may be in the running for one of theweakest tier set bonuses of all time if it were to go live. Because the newrotation focuses on using Bloodthirst roughly every 3 GCDs, there is not asmuch space in the rotation to use Raging Blow, and because it only has a 20%chance to reset its own cooldown, the total amount of 4p procs is very low.
Even with Slayer using Raging Blow more frequently than Mountain Thane, the4p is estimated to contribute around 0.5%, which is so woefully underpoweredas to be considered unrealistic. There is extremely little chance the bonusgoes live this way.
4.
Fury Warrior Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
- Fast and engaging playstyle which is also relatively simple, focuses on constant thoroughput damage while also being easy to learn.
- Powerful Enrage offers a new option for players who prefer a slower pace, without changing the core gameplay.
- Extremely bursty AoE damage profiles, while sacrificing very little to no single target performance.
- High mobility class due to Charge, Intervene, and Heroic Leap.
- Multiple defensive abilities on very short cooldowns make Fury a tanky melee damage dealer, even more so with Mountain Thane hero talents.
- Source of the important offensive Battle Shout buff and defensive Rallying Cry.
Weaknesses
- Downtime significantly penalizes damage potential.
- Generally mediocre single target to compensate for such easy access to strong AoE.
- Fast rotation can be difficult for some players to keep up with, though mitigated by Powerful Enrage.
- Less build variety and gameplay choices following the removal of Annihilator.
- Awkward class tree talent pathing requires taking Shockwave in single target content that it has no use in.
- High burst damage can cause threat issues for unprepared tanks.
5.
Changelog
- 19 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within Pre-Patch
- 19 Jun. 2024: Page created.
Show more
Show less