Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Care and Feeding of Warriors, the column dedicated to arms, fury and protection warriors. Despite repeated blows to the head from dragons, demons, Old Gods and whatever that thing over there was, Matthew Rossi will be your host.

Frankly, I wrote a serious post this week about tanking that you may want to read. As a result of that post, however, and previous week's posts for this column that were fairly weighty, I find myself desperately wanting to shift gears. While considering a beginner's guide to PVP and a beginner's guide to leveling as DPS, I realized that I've played this game for years and collected a lot of gear over that time. With the announcement of transmogrification in patch 4.3, it's finally time to discuss a few truths.

1. Warriors have had some of the best-looking gear in the game.
2. We're finally going to be able to use whichever pieces of gear we want.
3. I want to talk about sweet-looking gear.

By these forces combined, I am Captain Clotheshorse. So I've dusted out the ol' trusty model viewer and I'm going to talk about gear you may want for your warrior's transmog needs. Like, for instance, the Whirlwind Axe. One of three weapons awarded to a warrior for doing the pre-Cataclysm level 30 to 40 warrior quest chain, the one that ended with Death to Cyclonian. If you didn't roll your warrior before Cata or deleted the weapon, fret not; there are several weapons with the same model.

Of course, the armor I chose to go along with the Whirlwind Axe in the opening picture is the incredibly revealing Jade Breastplate and other Jade pieces of plate armor. I chose it because, frankly, I'm disappointed in how it looks on a male. Why, you ask?

What is that? The female character ends up in an armored bra, and we don't even get to see this dwarf's belly button? I demand equal skin. Let's get some plate belly shirts for the fellas. Still, for a green-quality set, this one holds up surprisingly well.

Now that we've covered how disappointingly clothed guys are in the Jade set, let's talk about sets and items I expect to see a lot of warriors in, starting with two-handers. I'm going to cover swords, axes and maces, since those are the most common warrior options; while we can use fists, daggers, polearms, and staves as well, those aren't usually itemized for us. And believe me, even limiting myself to swords, axes and maces ends up leaving me swimming in more good-looking options than I can possibly list here.

Two-handed swords

For two-handed sword options, these are some of my favorite models. Not all are going to be epics, and one is a green. Some are unique models while others share models, I'll link to the same model as where appropriate.

1. Ashkandi, Greatsword of the Brotherhood
2. Armageddon
3. Zin'rokh, Destroyer of Worlds
4. Heavy Copper Broadsword
5. Cataclysm's Edge
6. Glorenzelg, High Blade of the Silver Hand
7. Twinblade of the Phoenix
8. Typhoon
9. Endbringer
10. Dreadlord's Blade (It's a boat!)
11. Apolyon, the Soul-Render
12. Voldrethar, Dark Blade of Oblivion
13. Zoid's Firelit Greatsword
14. Blackblade of Shahram
15. The Untamed Blade
16. Runeblade of Baron Rivendare
17. Despair
18. Warmonger
19. Barbarous Blade
20. Relentless Scythe
21. Sword of the Magistrate
22. Jin'rokh, The Great Apocalypse (Note that both this sword and its shared model are currently not in game; hopefully the Darkmoon Faire revamp will fix that.)
23. Lionheart Executioner (As far as I can tell, the BS trainers no longer teach how to make this sword or its predecessors, but if you already know the pattern, you can still make one.)
24. Decimation (Sadly an Alliance-only model; Fleshrender is the Horde equivalent.)
25. Obsidian Edged Blade (A later Ony revamp drop.)

Some of these are for nostalgia value (the Barb Blade and Relentless Scythe were swords I used back in vanilla), and the Heavy Copper Broadsword because it's an extremely nice model of exceptional size, especially for an early/leveling green-quality item. To give you an idea of how big the sword is, here it is side by side with Ashkandi, one of the largest two-handed sword models in the entire game.

As you can see, it's very close to being as long. Now, I could sit here and talk about each of these weapons in turn, but in the end it would take up most of this column, and we have so much more to cover. If we're even to hope to cover both one-handed and two-handed weapons, we need to get started on it, so let's talk about main, one-handed and off-hand swords next.

One-handed swords

Sadly at the present time, legendaries are not intended to be eligible for transmogging, so no Thunderfury or Warglaives here. Still, there are quite a few beautiful swords. I'm extremely fond of quite a few older models here.

1. Maladath, Runed Blade of the Black Flight
2. Slayer of the Lifeless
3. Dragonscale-Encrusted Longblade
4. Hailstorm
5. Blade of Infamy (matches warrior tier 5)
6. The Sun Eater
7. Renataki's Soul Slicer
8. Quel'serrar
9. Quel'delar, Cunning of the Shadows (This model also comes in a two-handed version.)
10. Thrash Blade
11. Hope Ender
12. Talon of Azshara
13. Broken Promise
14. Bloodrazor
15. The various Krol swords
16. Lava Spine
17. Bloodvenom Blade
18. Blade of Savagery
19. Skullforge Reaver
20. Sword of Marshtide Watch (Alliance only)
21. Cursed Felblade
22. Legionnaire's Sword (Horde only)
23. The Butcher
24. King's Defender
25. Fang of the Leviathan

I will list excellent caster models out there, such as Fang of the Leviathan. This is one of the things that warriors have over just about any other class when it comes to transmogrification; we can use every weapon in the game except wands. Bows, guns, fists, daggers, staves, polearms ... While there are weapons we're more likely to use, like swords, axes and maces, we can just as easily use a caster mace or sword for purposes of transmogging our own gear. As a result, however, writing about the subject could easily spiral out of hand for warriors. Please, please, please don't take a caster item from someone who will actually use the item unless you've covered that before the item ever drops. (Example: if you are a level 85 going on a Black Temple run with the stated and agreed understanding that you're rolling on the Crystal Spire of Karabor, then it's cool.)

Two-handed axes

Now that we covered swords, let's look at axes. First up, two-handers -- and remember the Whirlwind Axe and its look-alikes from before.

1. Spinal Reaper (Pay special attention to Nightfall, as it's a lovely blood red color.)
2. Drake Talon Cleaver
3. Gorehowl
4. Ethereun Nexus-Reaver
5. Wrathful Gladiator's Decapitator
6. Edge of Ruin
7. Gravestone War Axe
8. Axe of the Nexus-Kings
9. Axe of the Gronn Lords
10. Bryntroll, The Bone Arbiter
11. Dual-Blade Butcher (Horde)/ Justicebringer (Alliance)
12. Shadow's Edge (At this time the Legendary version will not be transmoggable, but this epic version should be)
13. Dark Edge of Insanity
14. Death's Bite
15. Ravager
16. Soul Cleaver
17. Reaver of the Infinites
18. Torn-Heart Axe of Battle
19. Ramaladni's Blade of Culling
20. Betrayer of Humanity
21. Treant's Bane
22. Shalug'doom, the Axe of Unmaking
23. Worldcarver
24. Fanged Axe

One-handed axes

Now let's take a look at one-handed axes. One weapon warriors should be on the lookout for is the Sickle of Unyielding Strength, a unique model from a quest line you'll most likely be able to solo in AQ-10 and -40. Since the item is warrior-only, only warriors will be able to use it for transmog purposes. There are so many excellent one-handed axe models, I know I'll be leaving your favorites out. Sorry about that. Here are the ones I like. (Please, in the case of the Eye of Purification, don't try and take this over a caster; just snag it if it's gonna get sharded.)

1. Teldrassil Protector/Axe of the Sen'jin Protector
2. Axe of Rinj
3. Wicked Edge of the Planes (Again, no longer trainable but can be made if you already trained it)
4. Raging Deathbringer
5. The Harvester of Souls
6. The Decapitator
7. Crul'shorukh, Edge of Chaos
8. Doom's Edge
9. Bone Slicing Hatchet
10. Havoc's Call, Blade of Lordaeron Kings
11. Stellaris
12. Rising Tide
13. The Brutalizer
14. Riftrent Waraxe
15. Last Laugh
16. Crul'korak, the Lightning's Arc
17. Nighttime
18. Axe of the Legion
19. Dawn's Edge
20. Amani Venom-Axe
21. Fel-Edged Battleaxe
22. Flurry Axe
23. The Key
24. Eye of Purification

Seriously, please don't steal that caster axe from a pally or shammy who will actually use it.

Two-handed maces

Two-handed maces and I go back a long way. Luckily, while you can't use the original Sulfuras for transmogging, there's a new one that will be going on this list. So yay!

1. Stormherald (Sadly, you can no longer learn to make this, but if you have one banked or know the recipe from BC days, you're in good shape.)
2. Draconic Maul
3. The Jawbone
4. Cryptmaker
5. Skullcracking Mace
6. Inevitable Defeat
7. Herald of Woe
8. Warmaul of Infused Light
9. The Unstoppable Force
10. Catastrophe (Alliance)/Grievance (Horde)
11. Forged Elementium Mindcrusher
12. Demise
13. Malown's Slam (same model as the old Whirlwind Warhammer)
14. Taran Icebreaker
15. Earthwarden
16. Twig of the World Tree
17. Sulfuras, The Extinguished Hand
18. Ironsoul
19. Frightskull Shaft
20. World Breaker
21. Torch of the Damned
22. Mograine's Might
23. Hammer of the Naaru
24. Fist of Omokk

One-handed maces

For one-handed maces, as one-handed swords, there are quite a few spellpower options. Please, please, please don't take them from people who are actually going to use the item's stats. Edited to add: yes, I somehow missed the recent clarification on main hand items. I'll fix this as soon as I get time to do so, and I apologize.

1. Sand Polished Hammer
2. Spineshatter
3. Mace of Acrid Death
4. Crystal Spire of Karabor
5. Legacy of Thunder
6. Twilight's Hammer
7. Death Pyre Mace
8. Stinging Viper
9. Aledar's Battlestar
10. Constellus
11. Last Word
12. Heartsmasher (Horde)/Heartcrusher (Alliance)
13. Fist of Stone
14. Tankard O'Terror
15. The Hand of Antu'sul
16. Rod of the Sun King
17. Shockwave Truncheon
18. Andoros, Fist of the Dragon King
19. Mithrios, Bronzebeard's Legacy
20. Swiftsteel Bludgeon
21. Dragonstrike (Another crafted that can no longer be learned but still made if you already know the pattern.)
22. Shiver
23. Cookie's Tenderizer (note that this is the level 20 version)

These aren't meant to be complete lists, because how could they be? They lack such standouts as the old Alliance and Horde PVP weapons or even the Dreadforge Retaliator. I had to make choices based on what I think the most interesting, distinctive or awesome-looking items, and of course everyone's mileage may vary. Frankly, I'd love it if you guys spent some time throwing even more options for people into the comments. Bonereaver's Edge, the Crystal Spiked Maul, Grizzle's Skinner ... whatever model you think deserves recognition, I'd like to see them.

Next week, I probably will switch gears again. I will come back and do armor sets, from greens to epics, but first I think we need to cover PVP. (I admit, I've been teasing you for weeks with the prospect of it.)

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At the center of the fury of battle stand the warriors: protection, arms and fury. Check out more strategies and tips especially for warriors, including Cataclysm 101 for DPS warriors, a guide to new reputation gear for warriors, and a look back at six years of warrior trends.

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Tags: class-help, guide, patch-4.3, talent, talents, Transmogrification, warrior-guide, warrior-info, world-of-warcraft-class-guide, world-of-warcraft-guide, world-of-warcraft-patch-4.3, wow-class-guide, wow-class-help, wow-guide, wow-patch, wow-patch-4.3, wow-patch-4.3-news, wow-patch-news, wow-talent-guide, wow-warrior, wow-warrior-info

Filed under: Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, The Burning Crusade, (Warrior) The Care and Feeding of Warriors, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm