In this guide, I’ll show you why tanking with two-handed weapons is possible and extremely feasible in Season of Discovery Phase 1.
To be honest, I encountered a lot of resistance while running it. But I keep telling people to give up Sword and Shield, give up leveling Protection, especially if you’re running a five-man dungeon. Here I want to show you some snippets of my build and, of course, my tank parse.
Overview
As a Two-Handed Warrior Tank, now I would like to reiterate why I prefer two-hand weapons for tanking over Sword and Shield. Because this way you never have to worry about Rage generation.
You can also provide more DPS by killing mobs in raids or dungeons with abilities like Cleave, which will also make your dungeon run significantly faster. The most important thing is that Threat is never a problem.
Here are some of my tank parses as a Two-Handed Warrior Tank against bosses like Lorgus Jett, Gelihast, Aku’mai, and Baron Aquanis.
Now keep in mind that I do this in Min maxers’ group as well. We had the same 40 minutes to clear as everyone else. I just play with some friends who are outstanding players and enjoy playing.
But on a casual level, this means that almost anyone and any type of group can use a Two-Handed Tank. If you have more WOW Classic SOD Gold budget and push everything to the max, our parses easily ended up in the low 90s.
Runes
As a Two-Handed Tank, my runes are very simple. I use Frenzied Assault on my leg slots to increase attack speed. Also, I use Quick Strike in my glove slot.
The reason I like Quick Strike is simply that it’s a different instant attack than Heroic Strike, and it also triggers Windfury.
In the end I used Filiation. Because its attack power bonus is huge for the start of a boss fight and helps with Threat spawning.
I do understand how people feel about Devastate and question why it could be a useful rune. Since you first need to have a shield equipped with it, and can only cast five combos, this means it’s difficult to maximize its potential DPS. But with it, one can really easily kill the boss and blow up five people.
Nowadays, you don’t really see the full benefit of it very often since you don’t get full DPS until the mob dies.
Talent
Now I will show off my talent. You have absolutely no reason to put points in Protection talent tree now. You should pick up a weapon, and your points should look like this:
- Two points in Improved Heroic Strike
- Three points in Improved Rend
- Three points in Tactical Mastery
- Two points in Improved Charge
- Two points in Improved Overpower
- Three points in Deep Wounds
- One point in Impale
I just want to clarify that there is really nothing in Protection talent tree right now that will give you a lot of benefits. For example, if you invest 3 points in Toughness, you will get a 6% armor bonus on level 25 gear, which is of negligible value.
Conclusion
Regardless, this Two-Handed Warrior Tank build gives you everything you need. Including mobility and changing combat stance through Tactical Mastery, as well as providing you with additional Pre-pull Rage and Charge. And it also can provide more DPS through Overpower crit, Deep Wounds and Impale.
This build also gives you the opportunity to DPS at any time during BFD raids without having to respect. All you need to do is switch out some runes. You’re able to maintain a fair amount of flexibility in your raids if you choose. So now you can go out and shoot with two-handed weapons and have fun doing it! See you next time.
