Unchained...nothing stays the same (but how do YOU use it?)

[Kuwagami]

But you waste what could be damage for something that isn't damage. If Unchained also added 50 potency to each attack for example it WOULD be worth it. However right now your just spending your stacks for something that doesn't do damage.

You can use your attack instead, do damage and become a tank for 6 seconds, instantly switch to deliverance and do tons of damage and switch back to defiance instead.

Just doing that and not doing anything else nets you more damage.

Using it that way gives 10 seconds of +40% damage when unchained is 20 seconds of +33% damage. Not sure that's really more effective unless you can stay in dps stance longer.

[Hierro]

Going back to the topic of pulling with tomahawk or overpower on a single target, I've read that while tomahawk has a x3 enmity mulitplier, overpower has x5. While there are people who say that it's unnecessary need that big of a multiplier off the bat, there can be situations where you'd want that big a start.

I recently I saw a video posted by xeno where he details a new MT opener. He uses unchained just for his first move, then switches over to deliverance and stays there for the remainder of the opener. You can imagine if you're going to boldly start your MT opener in mostly deliverance, you'll want all the enmity you can get your hands on. Of course, he uses the disclaimer that a ninja will be needed, but it's still a situation where overpower is arguably the better choice.

Personally, I use tomahawk in every opener simply because it's more comfortable and I find the animation satisfying.

[bounddreamer]

The effective use of Unchained differentiates a skilled Warrior from one who's still learning.

It's not all about what's going to give you max damage all the time. It's about balancing your top job as a tank with your ability to do damage.

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

I'm curious who/what/when/where/why you thought this skill was needless or unhelpful? o.o Its a pretty self-evidently good CD.

It was a much stronger and more useful CD in 2.X. In 3.X so far you can pretty much take it off your hot bar entirely, as no Warrior will ever be MTing a raid, progression or otherwise, and Defiance is largely neglected by the player base at large. It'd be better if they made Unchained useful again, cause it's basically as situational as Clemency.

[Launched]

as no Warrior will ever be MTing a raid, progression or otherwise

So? Were you in Savage on release? Because no WAR was doing 100% Deliverance uptime then. You have an Oppressor to tank in A1S, double dolls and a few other groups in A2S, you spend half of the last phase of A3S tanking, and Straf Dolls in A4S. There are plenty of times for a WAR to use Defiance, especially when undergeared and learning a fight.

[Praesul]

If you're taking a DRK or PLD, it's better to have the WAR pull in Defiance with Unchained and then swap out to Deliverance and let the other tank take over. This allows the PLD or DRK to turn off grit or shield oath since they never have to use their enmity combos afterwards. It's a DPS increase if your concern is maximizing tank DPS and you're not taking 2 WAR.

[Rawrz]

I'd actually strongly recommend against this in fact, as in a controlled fight your DPS/healers will go caveman as soon as they see you hit a Tomahawk

This is what I see prepull.

[Brian_]

In the current meta, you want to be in Deliverance as much as possible. For a lot of fights, that's basically the entire fight now. To compensate for the lack of Defiance, you need to properly use the defensive CDs that you aren't saving for an incoming tank buster. That leaves you with very few dCDs. So, while Unchained is in theory an offensive CD, I don't view it as such because that's not how it fits into this meta. It's kind of the same idea with using defensive CDs to allow you to stay in Deliverance to push DPS. Your defensive CDs essentially become offensive CDs in a way.

I think of Unchained as Thrill of Battle + Convalescence but costs 5 stacks and doesn't heal you.

From that point of view, it's 2 major defensive cooldowns rolled into one and considering that, it's pretty evident how strong a defensive CD it is.

The design of Unchained is very deliberate. It's 20 seconds for a reason. If you dance to Defiance and pop Unchained after your Heavy Swing, you have 7 GCDs until you are back at 5 stacks. With a 2.4s GCD, that's ~17s. At 5 stacks, you can then IB within your Unchained window and dance back to Deliverance for ~26 seconds of buffed eHP at minimal DPS loss. That's roughly 22% uptime. That's a huge deal when you are not trying to be a complete dick to your healers.