Are Faster Or Slower Weapons Better For Tanking As A WoW Warrior?
November 26, 2007 by Apadwe
Filed under WoW Classes, World of Warcraft Items
My Warrior just hit level 70 the other day and I really want to be a great tank. I have most of the stuff I need to know as a tank down but I am really kinda stuck…I want to know if faster or slower weapons are better for tanking as a WoW Warrior.
A Warrior that is tanking is better off using a fast speed weapon. “Fast” for a Warrior means around 2.0 and faster.
The most common tanking weapons in The Burning Crusade are 1.6 speed. The Legendary quality Thunderfury – generally accepted to be the best tanking weapon pre-TBC – is 1.8 speed.
It’s easy to say that because all the best tanking weapons are fast speed, that fast weapons are better for tanking. The weapons that have been put in the game with common tanking stats (defense, hit rating, stamina) reflect this – but why is that so?
Speed, Top End Damage, Specials, and DPS – 101
Weapons have several stats on them that effect what classes they are best suited for. Lets consider some common tanking and non-tanking weapons and break down these stats.
| Weapon | Damage Range | Speed | DPS |
| King’s Defender | 98-182 | 1.6 | 87.5 |
| Sun Eater | 93-174 | 1.6 | 83.4 |
| Runic Hammer | 140-261 | 2.4 | 83.5 |
| Spiteblade | 165-308 | 2.7 | 87.6 |
The first thing you may notice in the above table is that the Damage Per Second works out to be very close on all the the weapons, despite their speeds and top end damage being so drastically different. So if their DPS is roughly the same, aren’t all the weapons equally effective? No. If all we were concerned about was the Auto-Attack damage per second, there would be no need for speeds and damage ranges. However, most Special Attacks are instant attacks that come in between normal weapon swings and therefore aren’t dependent on weapon speed. This is where the damage range becomes important, since the amount of damage dealt by an instant attack is greatly effected by the top-end damage of the weapon you are using.
Weapon Speed, Heroic Strike, Devastate, and Threat Generation
So how does all this information effect Warriors? Well, that is where it gets a little more complicated. Previously you learned that most Special Attacks happen instantly, between weapon swings. That means that some specials do not. One of these special attacks is Heroic Strike. The amount of threat generated by heroic strike doesn’t vary based on how hard it hits. This means that the more times Heroic Strike hits, the more threat it will generate. On the other hand, the threat generated by Devastate is dependent on the amount of damage it deals. Being a instant special attack, the Devastate ability benefits from a slower, harder hitting weapon. The benefits of this, however, do not outweigh the benefits of using a fast weapon with Heroic Strike. You generate more threat from frequent Heroic Strikes than from a hard-hitting Devastate. While there are many other attacks a Warrior can use, the comparison of these two is the most compelling argument for why tanking Warriors benefit more from using a fast weapon.
I presonally like a fast weapon for tanking, mainly for faster heroic strikes, and I haven’t noticed the big rage gen change on the .8 sec added, so I definitely like fast weapons. I’ll gladly take a slow one if the stats are better ofc.
Don’t forget that faster weapons generate more rage.
Faster weapons are better for tanking because you generate more rage so you can use revenge or taunt more(if its up ofc) and you hit the target more so you can hold aggro
Devastate is much more important for tanking than heroic strike. Heroic strike takes the place of your weapon swing, so you don’t generate any rage on that attack, while using a large portion of it up. Devastate, however, allows you to hit normally, and therefore generate more rage. That being said, I still like a fast weapon, buuuuut slow weapon speed can be very beneficial for devastates, which in my opinion ARE more important than heroic strikes.
BUT! Since devastate Devastate doesn’t use weapon damage, a faster weapon is better. It does a set amount of damage + more for each application of sunder armor. Thusly there would be no difference in the amount of damage done by devastate if the max damage of your weapon was 10 or 1000. And you generate more rage with a quick weapon.
Devastate does use weapon dmg:
Sunder the target’s armor causing the Sunder Armor effect. In addition, causes 50% of weapon damage plus 15 for each application of Sunder Armor on the target. The Sunder Armor effect can stack up to 5 times.
well thats lies.. heroic strikes are imba for tanking.. specially on bosses where u get alot rage. spammin devi, heroic and shield slam is a 1200+ tps.
which is alot.
Lvl 70 tank silvermoon
FYI; if the boss doesn’t do crushing blows and you’ve got the healers to support it; try putting on avoidance gear and dual-wield tanking with windfury totems up. I tried it in a heroic. I had about 50% actual avoidance (dodge/parry/miss chance) and I was dual-wielding the Cleaver of the Unforgiving and the Mallet of the Tides. No joke, my tps was averaging over 2k and at one point it even hit 2500. Granted, without that extra armor from your shield, you are taking some hefty damage, but it won’t kill you if the mobs don’t crush.