Fury for PvP (Icecrown)

So I’ve recently just started playing fury for pvp again after a few years since I got some better gear. I’ve got to say with near BiS gear and a good group of teammates the facerolling possibilities are endless. The burst is absolutely phenomenal and the only downside is survivability isn’t too great, however switching to defensive and popping CDs while your team fights WITH you can really make the difference in staying alive. Not having to switch stances for pummel is another super bonus, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a warlock begin to cast howl of terror at 15% HP and I pummel and take all of his cookies. I know the community isn’t too big on fury warriors in PvP but I just want to reiterate that a skilled fury warrior is just as dangerous as an arms warr.

With that being said, what are some reasons you guys opt for arms>fury? Or what about fury really keeps you away from using it in PvP? Would you guys like to see more fury warrs on your team? Have you ever considered playing a fury warr for PvP?

Candyeffect On Icecrown horde if you guys wanna check me out or have seen me in game. I look forward to hearing what you guys think!

I was curious to see how it would work and fury does indeed seem to do well in world PvP or even occasionally - in battle grounds (of course pocketed by 2+ healers at all times) due to the ridiculously insane burst it can generate with just well above 50% armor penetration and 900-1000 resilience. However, outside of those scenarios, I just fail to see its viability due to the nature of the Berserker Stance increasing the damage taken by a ridiculous for comfort amount. Another (MAJOR) downside I see in it compared to the regular arms warrior is the fact that Furious Strikes is not an as dependable heal reduction as Mortal Strike which is guaranteed as long as it hits. The minuses continue to build with the fact that due to charge not being usable while in combat, you have to always start in berserker stance and pop a bloodrage to Intercept onto the enemy and start applying pressure. While you can reset intercept (and get a pretty neat root removal), the cooldown of the talent allowing you to do so (forgot the name) is one minute through which you can get 3 charge and 3 intercepts in arms spec due to the fact that cooldowns start immediately.

True, you sacrifice some rage to use intercept going through a stance dance, but that rage is (almost always) immediately restored as your intercept actually goes of and you make contact with the target via the means of autoattack alone. Intercept also works like an interrupt which gives you access to a silencing interrupt, so the case almost always is going to be that you will just be using it on a target to stop a cast or possibly fear it before going back to your main target yet again. For the sake of the second action, you will be using Battle Stance's charge which will again replenish your rage.

Another thing I found out while playing fury is that you get rage starved (quite) easily which is a problem I never encountered in PvP in either arms or prot. Your off-hand weapon has a higher chance to miss and that draws your rage back SIGNIFICANTLY. My fury was an experimental type with 2 Bryntrolls for the sake of self healing in PvP (which worked miraculously by the way) and it was quite fun but I think I still rather PvP as arms / prot for the sake of health maintenance.

fury pvp xddd what a meme

Fury Warrior PvP guide for WotLK

YOU SIMPLY CANNOT DENY THOSE NUMBERS!!

@thyonem

I can agree that fury warriors in PvP can be very dependent on pocketed healers, however what I think everybody forgets about is switching to defensive stance, popping spell reflection, shield block, and shield wall if needed, surviving their 20 seconds of burst (or less with disarm/fear/hamstring, spell reflection, and kite) and I’m sure you know the rest. I must point out that if you’re out of combat that again switching to another stance, battle stance, you can use it to enter combat and apply a quick rend and hamstring. Just after losing all of your rage to switch to berserk before you cast blood rage to get it all back plus your two intercepts and one intervene If you can switch to defensive while fighting.

As for furious strikes, I think as stated in the BG scenario above and many others, there will always be an arms warrior nearby ready to cast his regular mortal strike. Also your full burst as a fury on an rdudu with a NICELY timed pummel will put him down close enough for you to immediately fear his next heal and down him. It’s definitely not as much of a downside on BGs than it is arenas.

With an articulately crafted talent tree you can improve berserker rage to grant 20 rage, you could perhaps put two talents into that instead of furious attacks and try to team with an arms warr.

I really appreciate your input on this and I’ll try to get some footage this week of myself as fury in BGs. That Byntroll warrior is exactly the kind of out of the box thinking that fury warrior in PvP requires!