Combat whilst leveling

[gotmilk0112]

While there's a lot of information on leveling, nobody ever seems to say exactly how you should be fighting mobs as you level. They'll tell you what spec to use and what weapons to use and what levels of mobs to fight...but never what abilities to use.

Ever since 30 with Whirlwind Axe, I've mainly been using Slam, as it's much faster than 3.6 speed weapon swings. Now that I've got Whirlwind at 36 however, does that change things any, or will I still be using Slam?

Also, should I be in Battle Stance for Charge, or in Berserker for the crit? The problem with Berserker is that Charge is just such a great rage-generator, and in Berserker Stance, you don't have any way of generating rage at the start of combat, outside of Bloodrage. Plus you can't use Overpower, which is a pretty nice source of damage, but...ehh, when fighting mobs 1-3 levels below me, I don't find that they dodge very often.

That brings me to another question- is Imp Bers. Rage worth it? Being able to generate 10 rage on a 30 second cooldown and remain in Berserker Stance sounds really nice, but is it worth giving up those 2 points in Flurry? I don't exactly crit very often, and since I'm using Slam, weapon swing speed is kinda irrelevant anyways.

I dunno, I just feel like I'm not doing something right here. Sure, I'm killing mobs fairly easy, but I still feel like there's a better way.

Current spec: http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#LZVV0G0voM

[squishums]

Your questions are all inherently linked.

If you want to use berserk stance, then imp berserk rage is a great talent. Worth it in my opinion to have fewer points in flurry. Any time you are in berserk stance (unless you are expecting something to fear you within the next 30 seconds) you should use berserk rage with or without the talent. The extra rage you get from taking damage is significant. Whirlwind is probably better than slam because it does not delay your autoattack. If you are very good at watching your swing timer (and guessing the swing timer or the mob you are fighting), then maybe still use slam.


But berserk rage and whirlwind require berserk stance. If you are staying in battle stance then keep slaming and go for 5/5 flurry. At level 40 start using bloodthirst or respec to arms

In my opinion you need to have tactical mastery (arms specs) to use berserk stance. The amount of rage you miss out on my not charging, or the amount of rage you lose by trying to switch stances without tactical mastery, is brutal.

[gotmilk0112]

But which is better? Should I stay in Battle Stance and slam-spam, or is Whirlwind + autoattacks higher damage?

I respecced to Imp Berserker Rage and tried it out, and it seems to work okay. Certainly much simpler than slam-spam, though I do still use Slam when I've got excess rage and Whirlwind is on CD. Being able to Berserker Rage for easy 10 rage is fun as well, though exactly how much extra rage does Berserker Rage give, in terms of damage taken? Even while it's up, taking damage from a normal mob still gives just 1 rage. I'm assuming it's percentage based?

[Heldunder]

slam is completely useless.

[gotmilk0112]

slam is completely useless.

I found it very useful with a slow weapon. Even if you don't have any points in Imp Slam, it's still useful, as it attacks faster than most, if not all 2 handers. Even with pushback, it's still roughly a 2.5 attack speed, which is faster than the many 3.3 to 3.7 2h weapons.

[squishums]

slam is completely useless.

I found it very useful with a slow weapon. Even if you don't have any points in Imp Slam, it's still useful, as it attacks faster than most, if not all 2 handers. Even with pushback, it's still roughly a 2.5 attack speed, which is faster than the many 3.3 to 3.7 2h weapons.

But it costs rage rather than generating it, and it resets your swing timer. But, its still not useless.

The proper way to use slam is to use it immediately after your autoattack. That way when it resets your swingtimer, it doesnt matter because your swingtimer was already reset. If you are are able to slam after every autoattack, you get (for a 3.6 speed weapon) 2 attacks every 5.1 seconds.


I think WW is better than slam if you are able to comfortably use berserk stance. But I do not think fury can comfortably use berserk stance, so I think slam is better.

[Undertanker]

Bererk rage, swap arms. Charge rend, ww/ms. Drink beer. Ww/ms drink beer, execute. Repeat 17,432 times. Grats on level 60

[gotmilk0112]

The proper way to use slam is to use it immediately after your autoattack.

And the way I used it was I just pooled enough rage for 2 or 3 slams, and then spammed it until I had no rage. Worked just fine. Charge -> two autoattacks would usually get me to 30 rage, and then I'd slam twice. Seemed to work great.

I think WW is better than slam if you are able to comfortably use berserk stance. But I do not think fury can comfortably use berserk stance, so I think slam is better.

With Imp Berserker Rage you can easily stay in zerk stance all the time, that's what I'm doing now. The rage lost from Charge is easily made up with the rage you get from popping berserker rage. Plus being able to charge in combat without having to bloodrage is nice.

rend

Why do people use Rend? It does absolute shit damage, especially if you're using a 2 hander. Seriously, right now at 37, I'm auto attacking for ~250, and yet level 40 rank of Rend does a whopping...98 damage over 21 seconds.

Even the goddamn max rank at level 60 only does 147 damage.

It's a waste of rage.

[squishums]

The proper way to use slam is to use it immediately after your autoattack.

And the way I used it was I just pooled enough rage for 2 or 3 slams, and then spammed it until I had no rage. Worked just fine. Charge -> two autoattacks would usually get me to 30 rage, and then I'd slam twice. Seemed to work great.

I think WW is better than slam if you are able to comfortably use berserk stance. But I do not think fury can comfortably use berserk stance, so I think slam is better.

With Imp Berserker Rage you can easily stay in zerk stance all the time, that's what I'm doing now. The rage lost from Charge is easily made up with the rage you get from popping berserker rage. Plus being able to charge in combat without having to bloodrage is nice.

rend

Why do people use Rend? It does absolute shit damage, especially if you're using a 2 hander. Seriously, right now at 37, I'm auto attacking for ~250, and yet level 40 rank of Rend does a whopping...98 damage over 21 seconds.

Even the goddamn max rank at level 60 only does 147 damage.

It's a waste of rage.

Slamming continuously does work fine. If you have the talent for improved slam it is a little bit wasted, but not a big deal.

If you like berserk stance then good on you. I dont think I could live without charge though xD

Rend really sucks, but it costs so little rage that people use it until they get their level 40 talent attack. It also ignores armor, which makes it a bit better than it looks on paper....but still shit

[gotmilk0112]

If you like berserk stance then good on you. I dont think I could live without charge though xD

I'm doing just fine without it I did spec into Improved Intercept though, so it's only got a 20 second cooldown. Nice for longer wpvp skirmishes.

but it costs so little rage that people use it until they get their level 40 talent attack. It also ignores armor, which makes it a bit better than it looks on paper....but still shit

10 rage isn't exactly a "little" cost. I mean if it was only 5 rage like Overpower, sure I might use it. But even then its damage is still horrendously low. When the entire ability does less damage than a single melee swing...over 21 seconds...yeah, it's absolute fucking garbage.

Literally it does only like, 30% of my normal autoattack damage, over 21 seconds. It's just horribly low damage. Almost every other hard-cast DoT spell in the game works in the way of "large amount of damage, but spread out over 18-24 seconds", whereas Rend is just "shitty tiny amount of damage spread out over 21 seconds".

Only use it has would be to keep a rogue from re-stealthing, I guess.