The Warrior class is an incredibly dynamic class who has been endowed with 3 vastly different play styles to include Fury, Arms and Protection. With the release of The Burning Crusade, the distinction is made even more clear with some significant 40 warrior point talents. However, we won’t worry about these while we focus on leveling.
While leveling a warrior you will want to maximize dps, wear high armored gear, and carry food with you when grinding. I strongly recommend going Fury to do all of these. However I will outline all three warrior trees to provide you with the choice.
Arms Warrior
The Arms talent tree is typically complimented with a slow 2 handed weapon, the type of weapon is a long lasting debate that in my opinion is somewhat irrelevant. If you can get a strong 2h weapon, take it and spec for it, it is that simple.
It is very difficult to pass by Cruelty for any warrior worried about dps. So our first 5 points will go into that.
10-14: Cruelty 5/5
15-17: Heroic Strike 3/3
18-19: Improved Rend 2/3
20-21: Improved Charge 2/2
22: Improved Rend 3/3
23-24: Deflection 2/5
25-26: Improved Overpower 2/2
27-29: Deep Wounds 3/3
30-31: Impale 2/2
Our goal is to get to Mortal Strike for burst damage, some people might consider respeccing and dropping Cruelty to get there 5 levels faster. I leave this to you. Either way I recommend 5/5 Two Handed Weapon Specialization, 1/1 Sweeping Strike, 5/5 Improved Weapons Specialization for whatever your weapon you’re using, and 2/2 Weapon Mastery before Mortal Strike will open up for level 45 (or 40 if you dropped Cruelty).
Fury Warrior
The Fury talent tree focuses on increasing dps and is typically complemented by a duel wielding warrior (often abbreviated DW). From the start you will want to focus on some key talents before reaching level 20 when you can begin duel wielding:
10-14: Cruelty 5/5
15-19: Unbridled Wrath 5/5
Next it is my personal preference to grab Piercing Howl, it is very helpful when escaping sticky situations in PvE and PvP. You can, however, skip it as long as you like.
20: Piercing Howl 1/1
21-25: Improved Battle Shout 5/5
26-30: Duel Wield Spec 5/5
31: Deathwish 1/1
Next you’ll want to focus on getting Flurry as soon as possible, so put the next 5 points into Enrage, the next 3 into Flurry, the next into Bloodthirt and finally finish with 2 more points in Flurry. You now have a lot of freedom to go after things like improved charge or focus on improved berserker stance.
Protection Warrior
Going protection to level if not the most efficient way to level. However, I’ve meet a lot of people who truly enjoy tanking early instances like Scarlet Monastery. If this is your cup of tea, here is how to do it.
I have a hard time passing up Cruelty for its extra threat generation, even through to level 15 as a tank. As with the Arms spec, feel free to drop Cruelty at any time.
10-14: Cruelty 5/5
15-19: Anticipation 5/5
20-24: Shield Specialization 5/5
25-29: Toughness 5/5
30-32: Defiance 3/3
33-35: Improved Sunder Armor 3/3
Your goal as a tank is to get Vitality and Devastate as quickly as possible. To do so quickly you may want to drop Cruelty for another day. Put points into the following, Concussive Blow, Improved Sheild Block, Improved Revenge 2/3 and One-Handed Weapon Specialization to open up Sheild Slam (if you want it). You may also avoid Sheild Slam and focus on other things like Focused Rage and Shield Mastery.