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Retaliation
Ability warrior challange
  • Retaliation
  • 5 minutes cooldown
  • Instant
  • Battle Stance
  • Instantly counterattack any enemy that strikes you in melee for 12 sec. Melee attacks made from behind cannot be counterattacked. A maximum of 20 attacks will cause retaliation.
Usable by
ClassWarrior
Properties
TypeOffensive
SchoolPhysical
Cooldown5 minutes
Talents
Improvement
talents
Improved Disciplines
Other information
RequirementsBattle Stance
Related buff
Ability warrior challange
  • Retaliation
  • Counterattacking all melee attacks.
  • Duration: 12 seconds
Don't think of it as retaliation. Think of it as instant punishment.

Retaliation is a warrior ability, trained at level 20 for 36s. For a short time, any frontal attacks will be met with a vicious counterattack. Its obviousness, however, makes it easy to counter.

Functionality[]

Retaliation is a self-buff that costs no Rage. It has a 5 minute cooldown. As of patch 3.0.2, it is NO longer linked to the Shield Wall or the Recklessness timers. While it is active, the first 20 melee attacks taken from the front will result in an instant counterattack with your weapon. It has a very obvious animation making its usefulness in PvP hinge on the opponents knowledge of the ability as many opponents will simply stop attacking the warrior when they see the spinning blades—this however could be viewed as a defensive advantage. Available in Battle Stance only.

Tips and Tactics[]

  • Before the implementation of its animation this was one of your most powerful abilities, now it is at best of marginal utility in PvE. The counterattacks from Retaliation are not instant attacks, they are normal swings. Because of this, Retaliation is most powerful when used with an extremely slow two-handed weapon.
  • Although it has a cap on how many counterattacks you can make, it is higher than your average mob will trigger in a fight. So, this skill is best used against multiple enemies, particularly if they attack quickly.
  • Warrior-Tanks can greatly benefit from Retaliation's multiple target threat by quickly switching to Battle Stance, activating Retaliation and then returning to Defensive Stance. As stance changes remove nearly all built up Rage this is best done when the warrior is already low on Rage.

Patch Changes[]

  • Template:Patch 3.0.2
  • Patch 1.7.0 (patch date:2005-09-22):
    • Will now cause a maximum of 30 retaliatory strikes in 15 seconds. In addition, retaliatory strikes will not be possible while stunned.
    • Retaliation will no longer be canceled if you switch stances while the effect is active. 

External links[]


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