Warrior Blacksmithing Weapons: Axe, Mace, or Sword

I chose to craft the Thunder mace two days ago after much deliberation. The deciding factor was the tier2 weapons. While I think lunar crescent (the axe) is slightly better than thunder, I think the tier2 mace will be MUCH better than the tier2 axe. Ofcourse this is all a total gamble as I have no idea how much the weapon itself will proc, or what kind of diminishing returns it has (is it with mace spec, or charge/intercept?)

So far I am very happy with Thunder. The mace stun goes off a decent amount and so far it seems to go off at all the perfect moments. While it will obviously be a lot worse in raid PvE, in 5mans most of the mobs are vulnerable to the stun so the few times I get to DPS it is very nice.

Sword I just don't feel is viable untill the better gear starts coming out. I think you would need a crit rate close to 30% to make the sword outdps the axe.

What do you think is the best? What did you choose to go with or what did the warriors you know choose? What elements factored into your decision? etc etc

In my opinion the 2h mace is the best balanced weapon of the three for both PVE and PVP. It has high damage, very nice stats, and the proc stun is a great PVP asset. The axe completely lacks stamina, puts it behind the other two for PVP imo. Also when comparing the axe and the sword, don't forget the agi->crit conversions, 53 crit rating at 70 really isn't a huge amount. Stamina's a little more important nowadays since a lot of mobs have unavoidable cleaves or ridiculous melee-based AE.

As a shaman I chose Hammersmith, but for the moment I'm just focusing on the 1h side. I love my Drakefist Hammer. Drakefist Hammer + Blackout Truncheon + Flurry with double Windfury is just insane.

axe

Axe. Crit is at a premium in PvP, and it's only going to get more valuable as people start stacking more and more resilience. I wouldn't argue with mace, though.

I don't understand why anyone makes the sword. Lowest damage range, fear resist when you already have two fear breakers (with standard MS spec), and the worst weapon spec of the three (arguable).

Wouldn't running into kids stacking resiliance emphasize stats other than crit? It seems like if you're taking items whose budget is devoted to a stat that is nullified by resiliance you're fighting a losing battle.

Ya the resilience issue is one I struggled with. On the one hand, your effective crit% is reduced, making the stat more valuable. On the other, your crit DAMAGE is reduced, making the stat less valuable. I have never been a big fan of "crit builds" because I understand the benefits many classes receive from being crit (esp. priest/warrior and some others). All things equal I would rather crit less and just do my damage straight up.

Another thing for me is that I have alot of shaman friends so I always have windfury. Being a non-normalized attack I felt the .1 speed difference would actually make my windfury procs significantly bigger. I have no way to compare with the axe but I will tell you with the mace it is absolutely devestating. 11% * 3 = 33% to stun them and really really huge damage.

Also I get the pleasure of grouping with paladins a good deal and if they have kings that makes my Thunder all the better.

Also with the game moving towards stamina overall I felt the game was going to slow down, making my ability to lock down my target more important than my ability to just gib him instantly, since my group tends to focus healers first.

You can make up stamina in gear easily. Take the axe.

If I was serious about PvP i'd probably take the axe first. 7% crit with it is amazing in pvp. If you don't crit as a warrior, you're pretty much dead. Talents like impale and blood frenzy are there just to support crits as well, so you lose the benefit of those.

Luckily I don't really care about pvp that much so I went with the mace, seems to be doing well.

and the worst weapon spec of the three (arguable).

i think you're underestimating the power of the extra attacks. i was sword specced with utb for the last year or so and liked the proc. since i made lionheart and went back to sword spec i think the proc rate has been slightly buffed; i don't remember it hitting so often.

either way, i still don't think any of the 3 are leaps and bounds above the rest. i'm happy with my choice.

Im stilling trying to decide what one to make for my warrior. On one hand I love the damage from the mace and the proc but the crit from the axe seems too good to pass up.

I took the axe, so I'm rockin over 30% crit in zerker stance.