Hello everyone, in this thread I am going to make a solid attempt at providing a comprehensive PVE guide for all of those itching to play a Gladiator spec Warrior. I'll do my best to appeal to both new players as well as seasoned vets.
Most of what you will read below will be a combination of guides found elsewhere on various Warrior and Gladiator specific sites, as well as logs, and a bit of anecdotal evidence.
is a level 100 talent available to Protection Warriors that, as the tooltip states, is a dauntless combat stance which replaces Battle Stance and increases physical damage dealt by 20% and replaces Shield Block with
. Once this talent is selected, the Warrior
switch stances while in combat.
It is also important to add that while in Gladiator Stance, you do not generate extra threat nor do you mitigate any extra damage. This makes it neigh impossible to tank effectively while in the stance. I.e. This playstyle is 100% offensive minded, swiching between DPS/Tank archetypes during combat like Feral Druids once were capable of is not an option.
This is your run of the mill, generic talent set up that will be your go-to choice for nearly all encounters.
-Level 15 Talent: Juggernaut, pretty straight forward...reduces the cooldown of Charge to 12 seconds from 20. This will be the top choice on this tier. -
Double Time is also an option here, but the fact that Charge will only generate rage once every 12 seconds makes it no better than Juggernaut.
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Warbringer is mostly a PvP talent, but could see some uses in PvE when adds can be stunned causing their casts to be interrupted.
-Level 30 Talent: Enraged Regeneration is the clear talent choice of this tier. It is a decent self heal that is off the GCD, when paired with Last Stand its potency is immense since you maintain the health you generate while Last Stand is active (unlike Rallying Cry). -
Second Wind is garbage in every situation. Dont use it.
-
Impending Victory, while good for Fury Warriors, is not a good talent for Gladiators since we are GCD capped.
-Level 45 Talent: Unyielding Strikes is currently the highest DPS talent of this tier, but creates a VERY spammy playstyle (~90 actions per minute) that may not be comfortable for all players. -
Heavy Repercussions was the go-to talent here prior to the 20% nerf to Shield Slam. It is still a viable option for those not comfortable with the 90 APM style that is Unyielding Strikes.
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Sudden Death is the least optimal choice in this tier due to the fact that Execute does not have synergy with the spec at all.
-Level 60 Talent: Dragon Roar offers the best single target AND AoE damage. -
Storm Bolt takes too many GCDs.
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Shockwave is only good for stunning, regardless of the number of targets.
-Level 75 Talent: Vigilance is an awesome ability, and the only inkling of utility that we have. -
Safeguard will lead to a quick death if used at the wrong time or on the wrong person, but is good in encounters with DoTs.
-
Mass Spell Reflection is VERY niche and generally not usable in raid encounters.
-Level 90 Talent: Bloodbath is best in a majority of the situations you will encounter in Highmaul. Also, its synergy with Dragon Roar is worth mentioning. -
Bladestorm is usable on >4 targets when you need burst AoE. However, its power is GREATLY diminished for Gladiators considering we only use one 1H weapon and Bladestorm's damage is purely weapon based. The AoE damage combination of Thunderclap (which spreads
Deep Wounds), Bloodbath, and Dragon Roar will outshine Bladestorm in 95% of situations.
-
Avatar is only useful in very specific situations and is generally not a better option than the other two talents.
-Level 100 Talent: Gladiator's Resolve...duh.GLYPHS:Mandatory:
-
Unending Rage mandatory glyph for proper rage management.
-
Cleave massive amounts of cleave exist in PvE right now, making this glyph required.
Situational:
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Rude Interruption is an amazing glyph on encounters in which you must interrupt. (Brackenspore/Imperator)
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Bull Rush is decent for when you must switch targets and charge often.
Others for Consideration:
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Death From Above -
Enraged Speed -
Resonating Power -
Wind and ThunderSTATS:The stat priority for a Gladiator Warrior when gearing up for Highmaul is as follows:
STR > Bonus Armor > 330 Haste Breakpoint > Crit > Haste > Multistrike > Versatility > Mastery
-Basically, you want to stack Bonus Armor (much like a tank) on all of your accessory items. This stat will ONLY be available on: necklaces, cloaks, rings, and trinkets. Secondly, you want to have a total of 330 haste, followed by crit, haste again, then multistrike. If at all possible, try to avoid items with versatility and/or mastery.
-The commonly accepted haste breakpoint is around 330 Haste (with raid buffs) to allow for an extra GCD inside Shield Charge.
Stat priorities can be read about much more in depth here:
»
gladiatorsresolve.blogsp ··· ies.htmlRemember that ymmv depending on your gear and to an extent raid buffs. It is encouraged to use »
www.simulationcraft.org/ to find your own stat interactions.
ROTATIONSINGLE Target:
-Gladiator DPS is reminiscent of 5.4 Fury, backed by Protections reliable rotation. Shield Charge works in the same manner as Colossus Smash did and our DPS revolves around maximizing damage done during the buff. The basic concept is simple, pool rage, apply the buff, and use as many Shield Slams and Heroic Strikes as possible.
-Shield Charge to maintain the buff. Instead of using back to back, delay slightly to so that Shield Slam can be used on the first GCD of the buff.
-Shield Slam on cooldown.
-Revenge on cooldown, inside Shield Charge when possible.
-Devastate during free GCDs, when unable to use Shield Slam or Revenge. This can proc a CD reset on Shield Slam.
-Heroic Strike should only be used outside of Shield Charge to keep from capping rage while pooling for Shield Charge. During Shield Charge, use as many times as possible (4-5 times).
-Align Bloodbath with Shield Charge, preferably with potions, trinkets or other damage increasing effects.
-If using Unyeilding Strikes, spam Heroic Strike inside and outside of Shield Charge.
-If using Heavy Repercussions, the rotation does not change.
-If using Dragon Roar or Storm Bolt, use outside of Shield Charge, preferably on the GCD before Shield Slam comes off cooldown.
OPENER
Even when using Unyielding Strikes, don't hold off to try to build stacks. Depending on luck with SSlam resets/Enrage procs you'll probably only get 3 HS inside the first Shield Charge but by the time you chain to the second Shield Charge, you'll be maxing stacks.
-Not accounting for Haste or Shield Slam resets your OPENER should look like;
0: Pot, Charge
1.5: Shield Charge + BB, Shield Slam
3.0: Revenge
4.5: Devastate
6.0: Devastate
7.5: Shield Slam (due to Haste this will occur before SC wears off)
Delay next Shield Charge until SSlam comes off CD. Fill with Devastate until then.
Multi-Target
The rotation for Gladiator doesn't change much for multi-target, since there is no inherent AoE ability like Whirlwind for Arms and Fury. The only real optimization comes from ensuring the Deep Wounds debuff is present on all targets via use of Thunder Clap.
AoE
Thunder Clap to keep Deep Wounds up on all TARGETS (every 10-15s, or when a new target appears). Tab target Devastate works as well at 6 targets, use Thunder Clap on cooldown in place of Devastate.
-Bladestorm becomes useful at around 4 targets, depending on how long the targets are up.
This just about sums it up, thanks to Archimtiros and Duffster over at »
sentrytotem.com/ and »
gladiatorsresolve.blogspot.jp/ respectively for their research, testing, and input about this brand new spec. I'll do my best to update this guide as necessary and will be checking in often to see if I've sparked any interest/discussion about Gladiators.