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Introduction
Welcome to Method’s Tariq guide. I’m CJ, a former WoW M+ 0.1% title player, and a Tariq enjoyer since Fellowship's Steam NextFest beta in February 2025. I've achieved the top 0.1% platinum trim for Tariq in the first week of both seasons of Early Access and have written this guide to be up-to-date on Tariq's best builds for Early Access Season 2. This guide is meant to give you the best overall understanding of the basic fundamentals of Tariq as well as providing insight on how to master him in the endgame.
Overview
Tariq is a Melee DPS who utilizes his resource Fury to deal damage and his primary damage cooldown Thunder Call to empower his attacks with lightning. His unique mechanic involves using Heavy Strike in time with a special swing timer, which is represented as a bar with a red segment to the side of your character. (You can edit the way the swing timer looks via the Edit HUD settings if you prefer it to be vertical or horizontal).
Most of Tariq's damage will come in his Thunder Call window (45 second cooldown) and his ultimate Raging Tempest (which is just an empowered Thunder Call).
Strengths
- Flexible damage profile enabled by multiple different viable talents and builds
- Very strong burst damage profile, both in AOE and ST
- Tanky DPS with a high health pool and armor
Weaknesses
- Poor mobility due to Leap Smash being part of your rotation
- Arguably the most difficult of the DPS to pilot at a high level, as both competitive builds require difficult execution to do good damage while fighting in melee
Early Access Season 2 Changes
- Both Heavy Strike and Face Breaker were reworked to punish spamming/macroing, and had their damage values adjusted.
- Heavy Strike now always cleaves to enemies near your target. It now does significantly less damage in single target in exchange for doing very significantly more damage at higher target counts outside of Thunder Call. Furthermore, Heavy Strike can be used immediately during the red zone of the swing timer, but using Heavy Strike outside of the red zone deals minimal damage and puts it on a 9 second cooldown (thus forcing you to also miss the next swing timer). Additionally, Heavy Strike's animation and damage are no longer canceled by using other abilities (YAY!).
- Face Breaker base damage is now ~11% higher, and you can use it without a proc at the cost of putting it on a 9 second cooldown with minimal damage while still gaining the 6 fury.
- Skull Crusher was buffed by 10%.
- Culling Strike is now off-GCD.
- Left Hand Path had its crit and expertise double-dipping bugfixed. This significantly reduces its value if you ran it in season 1, but it is still competitive.
- Blood & Thunder's proc was changed to a 10% roll per hit of Heavy Strike, thus taking advantage of the new cleave effect.
- Bloodline was buffed to 2 Fury per second as well as granting +20% move speed.
- Them Bones is now 1 talent point.
- Ride The Lightning was changed to 2 talent points and now also grants +5% haste during Thunder Call.
- Square Hammer was redesigned to only grant 5% Heavy Strike damage per stack, but consuming Square Hammer stacks now increases Chain Lightning damage during Thunder Call, and reduces Thunder Call's current cooldown while outside Thunder Call.
- Drape Of The Slayer King was nerfed to a 15% damage buff over 3 seconds.
- Bloodied Brass Pendant was nerfed to 300% of the Face Breaker crit's damage.
- Intimidate now lasts for up to 12 seconds, has a 50% higher damage threshold, and can affect up to 20 enemies.
- Fateful Basher had its expertise bonus removed. This is a significant nerf to this weapon, especially if you used it in combination with Drape of the Slayer King and Mouth For War to create burst windows with Schism.
- The tier 1 and 6 amethyst gem bonuses had their crit chance bonuses cut in half. The tier 1, 5, 6, and 10 sapphire gem bonuses were buffed to grant max spirit pool and reduce the cost of your spirit ability. The tier 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, and 9 diamond bonuses were redesigned and buffed to grant significant amounts of primary and secondary stats. The 2, 5, 7, and 10 ruby gem bonuses were buffed to give more primary stat and damage during boss fights.
Critical gameplay changes
Tariq's rotation is now very high CPM due to the fact that his total swing timer can be truncated by using Heavy Strike as early as possible, as opposed to waiting for 3 full GCDs plus Heavy Strike's animation during season 1, as well as now being able to use Culling Strike off-GCD. Mis-pressing Heavy Strike and Face Breaker are now much more punishing, as pressing either ability at the wrong time will not only cast a reduced version, but also potentially lock you out from additional casts during the extended cooldowns.
- Heavy Strike: Only press Heavy Strike when the swing timer is in the red. Using it incorrectly puts it on a long cooldown and it does 80% less damage.
- Face Breaker: While in AOE, do NOT press Face Breaker unless it is procced. The ability is now always available, but you must wait for the highlight triggered by a Wild Swing miss/dodge. This gives +400% damage and prevents the cooldown.
Tariq Cheat Sheet
General Talent Build Timeline
Classic Lightning Build (Learning Tariq) Talent Timeline
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Schism Build (End Game) Talent Timeline
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Square Hammer Build (End Game) Talent Timeline
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Stat Priority
Crit is Tariq's most important secondary stat due to the power gain from Spit It Out, as well as additional crit synergies from Left Hand Path and amethyst gem bonuses if you use those. You should keep your crit, haste and expertise rating from gear all below 1647 as the secondary stat DR above 1647 is very heavy. Spirit is Tariq's least useful secondary stat and you should have as little of it as possible.
Strength > Crit > Haste = Expertise > Spirit
Best In Slot Gear
- BIS Weapons: Sahril's Reckoning for AOE or Void-Touched Hammer for ST
- BIS Relics: (Any that do not have spirit if going purely for stats, but you will play what your group needs per dungeon) Bloodrite Drums, Ancient Wardstone, Humming Portalstone, Saltwash Elixir, and Sinbinding Stone
- BIS Legendary: Executioner's Unsanitary Boots