Warrior Warriors are melee fighters highly trained in the art of weaponry . Melee combat is the warrior ' s strongest skill . They are strong and quick on the battlefield . Depending on their specialization , a warrior can often deal very high damage or be tough to kill . Warrior abilities depend on rage generation . This is different to all but one melee class , the bear form druid . Rage for Arms and Fury is generates through auto - attacks , while rage for Protection warriors is generated primarily through taking damage . Warriors wear plate , and at level 50 they receive . They are able to use shields , wear a variety of armor , and wield any weapon with the exception of wand s . Warrior is one of the two classes playable by all races , Hunter being the other . Background . As long as war is waged on Azeroth , there will be men and women who fight those wars . Warriors are no mere sword - swingers ; they are skilled combatants , combining strength of arm , knowledge of weaponry , and practiced maneuvers to slice or bludgeon their foes into little red bits . Warriors are the most versatile of the combat classes , and they supplement their fighting prowess with the ability to rally their allies and spur them to victory . They charge into the heart of the battle and survive the most grievous of wounds . Warriors are common in dwarf , Forsaken , human , and orc societies , but many other species also fill their ranks with warriors . Masters of swords , spears , and weapons of all kinds , warriors share a common way of life on Azeroth . Using their abilities to deal pain and cause bloodshed , warriors are deadly adversaries and welcome friends in violent times ( which seem to be all the time in recent decades ) . Anyone willing to take up arms to defend their people can be classed as a warrior . A knight is the warrior elite among humans . Races . < tabber > Playable races = The warrior class can be played by the following races : Before the release of " " , blood elf players were the only race that could not be warriors , though they were a standard class for blood elves in the RPG . Some blood elves become warriors ( or scouts or hunters ) — especially those seeking to be spell breakers , demon hunters , and rangers . In addition , there were high elf Swordsmen in the Undead campaign in , so elven warriors have technically " always " been justified . With the release of " Cataclysm " , warriors are the first non - hero class to be available to all races . Racial advantages = " Since the release of " Cataclysm " and " Mists of Pandaria " , worgen , goblins , blood elves , and pandaren are able to become warriors , giving every race in the game access to warriors . " TCG images = < / tabber > End - game expectations . Warriors are a hybrid class capable of filling two major roles in groups or raids . They can specialize into Arms or Fury to focus on Damage or specialize into Protection to focus on survivability to tank . Tanking . Since Vanilla WoW , Warriors have been valued as tanks . Back then , protection warriors were considered the only class viable enough to tank high end raids . Nearly every raid , if not all , required a protection warrior to tank . As time went on , other classes have become viable enough to tank raids . This does not mean protection warriors have become less valued . Protection warriors and their high armor , damage reduction , and high block chance are always welcomed in any raid group . Damage . Warriors can choose two DPS specs : Arms or Fury . Arms focuses on wielding a two - handed weapon and high direct damage while Fury focuses on dual wield ing two weapons and enraging to increase damage .