WoW Forever Fury & Arms Warrior BiS

A level 60 Warrior in WoW Forever has five weeks between launch on November 4 and the first raids on December 9, and every item you collect in that window is part of your pre-raid best-in-slot (BiS) list. The catch is that Forever reworked most of the classic dungeon loot: hit and critical strike moved onto different items, some favourites lost power, and new pieces arrived from Blackmaw Hold, The Shaper's Terrace, the battleground reputations and the Pix Xizzix vendor in Booty Bay. A Classic BiS list will send you after the wrong items.

ConquestCapped checked the Forever data of every item on this page on November 13 and built one list that both DPS specs share, with the weapons split by spec. Below you will find the list at a glance, the stat priority behind it, every slot with its alternatives, the differences between Fury and Arms, the dungeon sets, crafted and reputation pieces, PvP options, what we know about raid gear and the enchants to put on all of it.

WoW Forever Fury and Arms Warrior BiS at a Glance

Most pre-raid lists for Forever are still marked as speculation, because the beta stopped at level 30 and level 60 loot was hidden until players reached it. This list uses only items whose Forever stats and sources are already in the game data. A piece needs a source you can reach before December 9 to make the main column, so raid drops and plans that only drop in raids are covered further down.

Armor, jewelry and trinkets are the same for both specs. Fury dual wields two one-handers and Arms uses one two-hander:

The full list adds up to about 11.5% Hit Chance, more than the 8% you need against a raid boss. That spare hit is useful while you are still missing pieces. Once you pass 8%, swap a hit item for a stronger non-hit option, for example Howler's Furs for Cloak of the Honor Guard or Deathguard's Cloak, which carry 34 Attack Power instead.

If you tank in Defensive Stance, the shield, Defense and Stamina pieces you need are in our WoW Forever Protection Warrior BiS guide.

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Fury and Arms Warrior Stat Priority in WoW Forever

Forever changed how melee stats work, so the order is not the one Classic players remember. Hit and critical strike chance appear on gear as flat percentages, a new stat called Expertise lowers the chance that the boss dodges or parries your attacks, and the racial weapon specializations are gone. Humans no longer get extra sword and mace skill and Orcs no longer get extra axe skill, so your race no longer decides your weapon type.

The priority for a Warrior hitting a raid boss from behind looks like this:

1. Hit Chance up to 8%. Every miss costs damage and Rage. Warriors have no talent for main-hand hit, so all of it comes from gear.
2. Critical Strike Chance. Crits feed Rage, Flurry for Fury and Deep Wounds for both specs.
3. Expertise up to 6.5%. From behind, a boss can only dodge, and 6.5% Expertise removes those dodges. Very few items carry it yet.
4. Strength, then Agility. One Strength gives 2 Attack Power, and Agility adds crit and armor.
5. Haste and plain Attack Power. Haste is rare on gear and mostly comes from racials and on-use effects.

Guides disagree on the middle of the list. Some put Expertise ahead of crit, because a dodged attack also loses its Rage, while others note that fewer dodges mean fewer Overpower procs for Arms. Both specs agree on hit first, and nobody has tested any of it against a raid boss yet, so treat the order as a starting point until December 9.

Dual wielding adds one more twist for Fury. White hits with two weapons carry a large extra miss penalty, which puts the dual wield cap at roughly 27% to 29% against raid bosses. Instant attacks like Bloodthirst and Whirlwind do not suffer that penalty, so 8% is the target for Fury too, and Furious Precision covers part of the off-hand gap. Our WoW Forever hit cap guide explains every cap and how weapon skill and glancing blows change them.

For what each stat does in Forever, including Expertise and the new situational trinkets, read our WoW Forever stats and itemization guide.

Pre-Raid BiS by Slot

Each table below lists the best pre-raid item for the slot, then the next options in the order we would take them. Bind on Equip (BoE) items can be bought from other players, so check the Auction House before you farm a crafted piece yourself.

Head, Shoulders and Chest

These three slots are where Classic and Forever lists differ most. Three of the best pieces are leather, which a Warrior can wear without any penalty, and the strongest helm in the game data cannot be crafted yet:

The Timbermaw Tunic is the biggest single upgrade on the list, and its pattern is new in Forever: Pattern: Timbermaw Tunic drops from the elite Blackmaw Druids in Blackmaw Hold. Because the tunic binds when equipped, a leatherworker on your realm can craft it for you.

Wrist, Hands, Waist, Legs and Feet

The lower half of the set is where the battleground reputations pay off. Their Exalted rewards beat every dungeon drop in hands and legs, but each one takes weeks of matches, so the dungeon options next to them are what most Warriors wear on December 9:

Devilsaur Leggings and Devilsaur Gauntlets form a two-piece set that adds 2% Hit. Before you reach Exalted with any battleground faction, the pair is the strongest way to fill hands and legs together, and both pieces are BoE.

Rings, Neck and Trinkets

Jewelry is where Forever's changes to old items show most. Hand of Justice from Emperor Dagran Thaurissan now gives 12 Attack Power instead of 20, so it slips down the list, while new pieces from Blackmaw Hold and the Tarnished Undermine Real vendor move up:

Adaptive Combat Assistant is one of the few items with Expertise, so it gains value if Expertise turns out to be as strong as some theorycrafters expect. The Diamond Flask from the Warrior quest Voodoo Feathers is still worth a bag slot: its use effect heals you and then grants 20 Strength for a minute.

Pix Xizzix stands in Booty Bay and sells his items for Tarnished Undermine Real, a currency Blizzard described as similar to Emblems of Justice and meant to reward repeated dungeon runs. Only one of his trinkets can be equipped at a time.

Ranged Slot

A Warrior uses the ranged slot only to pull and as a stat stick, so pick the item with the most useful stats and ignore its damage. Satyr's Bow from Zevrim Thornhoof in Dire Maul gives 1% Hit, the best stat you can find in this slot. Riphook from Shadow Hunter Vosh'gajin in Lower Blackrock Spire gives 22 Attack Power instead, and Bloodseeker from the Alterac Valley quests adds 8 Strength and 7 Agility.

Fury vs Arms Gear Differences

Both specs want the same armor, because both scale with hit, crit and Strength. The real split is the weapon, and with it how much each spec cares about speed.

Fury Warrior Weapons

Fury dual wields, and in Forever both hands matter. Heroic Strike, Overpower, Slam and Whirlwind use your main-hand weapon damage, so a slow main hand hits harder. Whirlwind now strikes with both weapons, which made a slow off hand viable too, while a fast off hand still triggers more procs. Players have not settled which off hand is better, so take the stronger item first.

Both Dal'Rend swords drop from the same boss, which makes Warchief Rend Blackhand the most important kill for a Fury Warrior. Dal'Rend's Tribal Guardian also carries 7 Defense and bonus armor, which is no loss for a damage dealer but means tanks will roll on it too.

Arms Warrior Two-Handers

Arms puts everything into one slow two-hander. Mortal Strike, Overpower and Whirlwind add their bonus to a weapon swing, so the weapon with the highest top-end damage makes them hit hardest. That is why speed matters more for Arms than for Fury: aim for 3.3 or slower.

Nightfall stands far above every dungeon drop, and its spell damage debuff also helps the casters in your group. Its plans come from Lokhtos Darkbargainer of the Thorium Brotherhood in Blackrock Depths, so a blacksmith who starts that reputation early can hand it out before the raids. Our WoW Forever Blacksmithing guide covers the route to 300.

Arms also needs less hit than Fury in practice, because it has no off-hand miss penalty to worry about. If you take Flameslash Crescent for its 1.5% Hit, you can drop one hit piece from the armor list.

Warrior Dungeon Sets in WoW Forever

Forever keeps the classic dungeon sets, and two of them matter for a Warrior. Both are plate, both are tuned more for survival than for damage, and neither appears in the main list as a full set. They still make good fillers while you wait for better drops.

Battlegear of Valor is the Tier 0 set from Blackrock Spire, Scholomance and Stratholme. Helm of Valor drops from Darkmaster Gandling, Breastplate of Valor from General Drakkisath, Legplates of Valor from Baron Rivendare and Spaulders of Valor from Warchief Rend Blackhand. Its bonuses lean defensive:

• 2 pieces: +8 to all resistances.
• 3 pieces: +15 Strength.
• 4 pieces: a chance to remove a disarm when you are struck.
• 5 pieces: melee attacks can heal you for 88 to 132 and give 10 Rage.
• 6 pieces: 15 health every 5 seconds.

The 3-piece Strength bonus is the useful one for a damage dealer. The upgraded Tier 0.5 set, Battlegear of Heroism, comes from a long questline that ends with Lord Valthalak. Its Breastplate of Heroism and Boots of Heroism are the two pieces worth taking for damage, and the set adds 40 Attack Power at six pieces. Our WoW Forever dungeon sets guide lists every piece and the steps of the upgrade chain.

Crafted and Reputation Items

Crafted gear and reputation rewards fill the slots where dungeon drops fall short. Here is where each one comes from and what it takes:

• Leatherworking: Timbermaw Tunic from the Pattern: Timbermaw Tunic that drops in Blackmaw Hold, plus the Devilsaur Leggings and Devilsaur Gauntlets pair. All three bind on equip.
• Blacksmithing: Nightfall with plans from Lokhtos Darkbargainer, Arcanite Reaper with plans from Bannok Grimaxe and Annihilator with plans from Quartermaster Zigris.
• Warsong Gulch: Berserker Bracers for both factions, plus Outrider's Plate Legguards for the Horde and Sentinel's Plate Legguards for the Alliance.
• Darkspear Islands: Raider Gauntlets from Creeg Bothunk for the Horde, or Theramore Gauntlets from Bryanna Embreeze for the Alliance.
• Arathi Basin: Cloak of the Honor Guard for the Alliance or Deathguard's Cloak for the Horde, a strong cloak once you pass the hit cap.
• Alterac Valley: Don Julio's Band for both factions and Stormstrike Hammer for the Alliance.

Three crafted items that appear on some lists have no source in Forever yet. The plans for Azerothium Legplates and Ironwood Blade have no recorded source, and Titanic Leggings has plans that dropped from raid bosses in Classic. Skip them in your planning until a source turns up.

Exalted with a battleground faction takes weeks of matches and mark turn-ins. Start the one whose reward you want most, usually Warsong Gulch for the legs, and see our Darkspear Islands battleground guide for how its new reputation works.

PvP Gear as a Pre-Raid Alternative

From level 55 you can buy rare PvP armor with Honor and Marks of Honor, no rank required, and upgrade it to epic later with an Emboldened Seal. The Warrior pieces carry Strength, Stamina and crit, so they are a steady fallback for any slot where your dungeon luck runs out. The epic versions compete with the best pre-raid pieces in several slots.

The rare set costs roughly 64,000 Honor in total, and the weekly Honor cap spreads that over several weeks. Every slot, mark and seal price is in our WoW Forever PvP gear costs guide.

Raid BiS: Onyxia, Hyjal Summit and Barrow Deeps

The first raid tier opens on December 9 with three raids at once: Onyxia's Lair for 40 players, Hyjal Summit for 20 and the Barrow Deeps for 10. Forever hides an item's stats until it drops for someone on your realm, and the new raids open without a dungeon journal, so no honest raid BiS list exists yet. We will add the raid items to this page once players have cleared the bosses.

Three things are already clear:

• The Arms and Fury tier set is Battlegear of Glory. Its 2-piece bonus gives 1% attack speed, the 4-piece adds 36 Attack Power against Humanoids and the 5-piece shortens Recklessness. Our WoW Forever Warrior tier set guide covers both sets and the crafted pieces.
• Onyxia brings back Onyxia Tooth Pendant, the quest reward for her head, with 1% Hit and 1% crit. It replaces Mark of Fordring for most Warriors.
• Blacksmiths will need raid materials for the crafted tier pieces, so finish your Blacksmithing and your Guardians of Hyjal reputation before December 9.

How the raid tiers and later updates fit together is explained in our WoW Forever gearing and progression guide.

Enchants and Consumables for Fury and Arms

Enchant the pieces you plan to keep, which usually means weapons, chest and the slots that take a battleground reward. These are the best enchants a Warrior can get before the raids:

Necklace enchants are new in Forever and need Friendly with the Azeroth Commerce Authority. Where every formula drops is in our best enchants in WoW Forever guide.

For consumables, an Elemental Sharpening Stone adds 2% crit to a weapon, Mighty Rage Potion gives Rage and Strength on demand, and Major Frenzy Potion is a new potion with 80 Attack Power for level 55 and up.

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More WoW Forever Warrior Guides

Gear is only one part of a raid-ready Warrior. These guides cover the class overview, the tier set, how gear progresses through the raid tiers, what each stat does and the enchants to finish your set.

WoW Forever Warrior BiS FAQ

These are the questions players ask most about Fury and Arms gear before the first raids.