Warlord

Mechanics

Warlords are a absolute powerhouse, combining solid AoE and single target damage, and survivability. They can take a hit and keep swinging!

As a Warrior class, If you encounter mana issues, you can leave your abilities at a lower then optimal level; it only affects their static damage increase, and not the modifiers.

Attribute points should be spent in approximately a 1 Strength : 4 Agility ratio to begin with. The goal is to have no more then 24,981hp at level 200. With Ares, you're aiming for approximately 249 Strength, 3236 Agility, and 15 Intelligence

For your familiar skills, you want to invest in the 5% damage buff Ferocity and your choice of 75 Strength/Agility from Gift of Dexterity / Endurance, ensuring you don't go over the recommended HP.

At max level, the core setup is , combined with your choice of Olympian Relic;

Ares Bloodthirsty Spear - Objectively best, combines damage, survivability, and can supplement damage further using Ares' Sword of Command on your familiar.
Towering Shield of Athena - With TSoA and Warlord's naturally high armor, you will take virtually no physical damage, similar to the Midas' Band preventing incoming magical damage to become virtually unstoppable, but with reduced damage output.
Thundering Hammer of Zeus - Good damage & group buffs
Blazing Sword of Helios - Good damage, outdated build.

>>Blanket Disclaimer: You, and every other player will need items from all crafting professions so there is no 'best' profession for any given class. If you are selfishly looking for personal enhancements, Alchemy is the only profession whereby you can't bring items you crafted through to another game, so this might be the best choice on a personal level, but increases dependency on others for crafting<<

Abilities

Critical Strike

Grants a 25% chance to deal 2.0 times normal damage on an attack.

Items

While leveling, your priority will be as follows:

Levels 1-50

Level 7

You can upgrade your skills to level 2 at the Book shop in Athens

Level 10

You can now get an additional class skill, Bleed, which can be dropped from Atlas, Thea or Uranus.

Level 15

You can upgrade your skills to level 3 at the Book shop. Additionally, now would be a good time to hunt for some Spartan Field Set pieces / , dropped by Rokthul or crafted through professions.

Level 30

You can upgrade your skills to level 4 at the Book shop.
Additionally, you can now access the Spartan War Set / from Manticor, Goretusk, Gethos, or crafted through professions, and Class set items.

Your Class set is made up of 3 items, Deathbringer's Mail and Deathbringer's Blade have a chance to be dropped from the 3rd through 6th titans (Themis, Cronus, Uranus, Rhea), and from Nelus. The Deathbringer's Gauntlets are crafted at Master Metalsmith Heletes, costing 1 Blood Ruby and 1 Lump of Pure Adamantium.

When you have all 3 items in your inventory, you will gain Deathbringer Set—Your Critical Strike ability will now do triple damage instead of double damage.

Level 40

Now you're level 40, Sword of Command will be a good upgrade, and is used later for other items. Sword of Command can be dropped from Occeanus or Gaea.

If you're struggling, you can also search out the Barbaric Helm from Cyclopse.

Level 45

You can now get the final Spartan Elite Set / from Heiros or crafted through professions.

Level 50

You can upgrade your skills to level 5 at the Book shop.

You can now upgrade your Barbaric Helm to a Savage Helm at Metalsmith Arcadios in New Issus if you managed to acquire it.

Another good item you can pickup now would be Boots of Hermes from Makarios. Even if this item isn't a big upgrade on what you have, it is worth getting as it can be upgraded later on.

Bleed (T)

Level 1

Deal 500 (+10.0 Agility) damage over 10 seconds to a single enemy unit. Costs 5 mana. 10 second cooldown.

Counter

Level 1

Gives a 10% chance to counter an attack, which reduces the incoming damage by 75% and deals 300 (+0.5 Agility) damage to all nearby units. 1 second cooldown.

Winds of War (W)

Level 1

You throw yourself into the fray. Any enemy units you strike will suffer 125 (+5 Agility) damage. Costs 10 mana. 8 second cooldown.

Impale (E)

Level 1

Enhances your next auto-attack within 3 seconds to deal a further 150 (+5 Agility) magical damage. Costs 5 mana. 3 second cooldown.

Bum Rush (R)

Level 1

Fling yourself at the target dealing 200 (+4.0 Agility) magical damage and 50 (+Agility) magical damage in a 375 AoE. Apply Ruin II on the target and Ruin I on the secondary targets for 3 seconds, which reduces auto-attack damage by 25% and 15% respectively. Costs 10 mana. 19 second cooldown.