Which build is best for a solo-leveling Warrior in WoW?

[Goodsport]

I've just reached level 40 with my Warrior by basically leveling solo (though sometimes leveling in a group or in an instance), having my talents almost evenly destributed between Arms, Fury and Protection (a bit more in Arms than the others) and fighting with a one-handed sword and a shield.

It's finally come to my attention (I'm not sure why it took so long) that I've been playing my character the wrong way and that I need to specialize all or most of my talents and skills into only one of the three talent trees and choose the proper weapon(s) for whichever tree I choose (two-handed weapon for Arms, dual weapons for Fury, sword/shield for Protection).

So now I spent the one gold piece to "unlearn" my talents and am ready to redistribute them accordingly... but which talent tree and skill tree would be best suited for me (or could a hybrid build work after all?), and which weapons should I get accordingly? I generally like to level solo but don't mind joining groups for leveling and instancing now and then.

Also related to me reaching level 40: do any vendors sell plate armor or are those only sold in auction houses and/or obtained as rewards or drops?


-G

[Vocenoctum]

I leveled with a group as Prot, it was painful, but now Protection Warrior is a lot more fun, so if you like Sword & Board, I'd go that way.

I think Arms would be the better leveling spec, less damage incoming than Fury, maybe. My warrior is currently dual as Arms & Prot, both are fun IMO.

There may be sucky plate (white) around, not sure. If you're not a blacksmith, you can probably find one to make decent gear for your level though.

[cignus_pfaccari]

Either Fury or Arms should be fine. Fury will eventually get you Titan's Grip and I hear things fall apart when you look at them.

Edit: Plate drops from mobs and is made by Blacksmithing. Look for green stuff with Str on it primarily. Way back in the day on my pally, I was looking out for plate in AH by 35 or so to make sure I had as full a set as I could get by 40.

Brad

[Impeesa]

The primary reason hybrid builds aren't good for leveling is because you don't get deep enough down to get any new instant attacks, which are a big boost to your killing speed. In the 1-60 range, arms and fury are both good, giving you MS and bloodthirst, respectively. Prot really comes into its own up in the 60s once you have shockwave and warbringer and whatnot, after that point you can do just fine as any of the three. Just make sure to be working towards a target instead of spreading your points around, and focus on things that improve your damage and mobility. For gear, there is (generally) nothing of worth on vendors. You have to scrape up what you can from quest rewards, instance running, and blacksmithing craftables. Look for stuff with strength primarily, stamina and agility are not completely useless though, and up into the higher levels you'll see stuff with critical strike and hit rating - also very useful. Weapons are straightforward - 2-hander for arms, slow 1-handers for fury, 1-hander and shield for prot.

My warrior, if you're curious (but don't try to use that kind of setup for leveling).

[Goodsport]

Thank you all for your good advice.

I ended up deciding to go with the Protection tree. Hopefully it'll work out well.

As for the Plate armor: I'll certainly be on the look out for drops, though I did recently find a vendor of Plate Armor and Shields at Nethergarde Keep, the first such vendor I've encountered. Though I'll need to get to lvl 45 and earn a bit more gold to be able to wear that particular armor and shield (though some items only need a lvl 42), at least NK includes a flight point to which I can simply fly to when I'm ready for the armor if I can't first find the appropriate drops.

Now if I only I can find a stronger one-handed sword than the Mariner's Sword I currently have, as well as where glyphs can be obtained...


-G

[cignus_pfaccari]

Originally Posted by Goodsport

Thank you all for your good advice.

I ended up deciding to go with the Protection tree. Hopefully it'll work out well.

Ah, you've decided to go the "Tank LFG any instance" tree. Good luck!

Actually, it shouldn't be that bad. DPS has improved across the board, and what you lose in killing speed you gain in just not being able to die.

Now if I only I can find a stronger one-handed sword than the Mariner's Sword I currently have, as well as where glyphs can be obtained...

For tanking, technically you want a fast weapon to build threat faster, though soloing that shouldn't be a big deal.

Glyphs are obtained in the auction house, or are made by a friendly inscriptionist (scribe) with inks made from herbs. Prices will vary remarkably based on the utility...more commonly used ones actually may be more, because people will pay 15-20g.

Brad

[Impeesa]

Originally Posted by cignus_pfaccari

Ah, you've decided to go the "Tank LFG any instance" tree. Good luck!

Actually, it shouldn't be that bad. DPS has improved across the board, and what you lose in killing speed you gain in just not being able to die.

Heh, the problem with that line of thought is that downtime is so low across pretty much all classes and specs these days, what you gain in survivability is still drastically exceeded by the increased time to kill something (exception: prot is great for soloing elite quest mobs, saves a lot of time looking for help). I guess at that level you do already have shield slam and revenge, and you're closing in on devastate soon, so it shouldn't be too awful.

Originally Posted by cignus_pfaccari

For tanking, technically you want a fast weapon to build threat faster, though soloing that shouldn't be a big deal.

Yep. The reason has to do with the subtleties of heroic strike mechanics, and you won't have a lot of rage to spare for that when you're alone. On the other hand, a slow weapon will boost your devastates a bit.

Just a thought, and ignore this next bit if I'm wrong, but your choice kind of leads me to believe that you've played other MMOs. If that is the case, don't base your choices on previous experience - you can get to 80 without ever having to grind, or group up, or equip gear or spend talent points for that matter, so it's not a big deal to upgrade to plate right away at the cost of stats or choose a tank-oriented spec if it hurts your solo leveling. Making 'good' choices at this point is all about getting it done faster, not getting it done at all.