Fellowship: Tariq build and hero guide

Tariq the Thunderlord is a melee-based DPS character in Fellowship, and though he does take a bit more skill to play, like Sylvie in the healing characters, he’s worth investing time into. If you’re into the whole Warrior gameplay style in World of Warcraft, and prefer to be DPS instead of tank, I think you’re going to find a kindred spirit in Tariq. His damage is flexible, and rewarding.

When playing Tariq in Fellowship, it’s all going to be about how you manage your Fury, and the timing of your abilities. You’ll really want to practice with him to figure out his Swing Timer, but I think he’s going to be a great DPS to have in the later parts of dungeons, when he really gets online.

Pros and Cons of playing Tariq in Fellowship

Pros

Great at both single-target and AOE damage
Solid defensive cooldowns can keep him safe and out of dangerous situations
Can interrupt more often, thanks to a lower cooldown on his interrupt compared to ranged characters

Cons

Has a pretty high skill ceiling (managing Fury and assorted cooldowns)
Definitely a character with a high APM (Actions Per Minute)
Movement and positioning matters to get the most out of this character (and to stay alive in melee range)

Tariq is definitely going to be on the harder scale of characters to play and master in Fellowship, but investing time in him will be rewarding. It’s all about how you build Fury, how you use it, and learning his Swing Timer mechanic.

How playing Tariq works in Fellowship

One of the most important things about Tariq in Fellowship is his Swing Timer. This is how you’ll know when a melee attack is on the way. It’s a white meter you will see on screen, and when the line in it reaches the end, it will trigger a melee strike. There’s also a red section in this meter: that’s when you can trigger Heavy Strike.

It takes practice to get Heavy Strike, but it's worth doing (Image via Arc Games/YouTube@Wolfian)

You will be building Fury with a selection of skills, and then dumping that Fury with your Finishers as Tariq in Fellowship, so it’s definitely going to feel like a Fury or Arms Warrior in World of Warcraft. If you start to get to your Fury cap, it’s a good idea to burn some off, so you can resume building it, and thus, aren’t wasting resources.

You’ve got quite a few amazing abilities as Tariq, though. You have Leap Smash, which leaps to a target and deals damage to nearby enemies, which also generates Fury, which is a nice bonus. You’ll be using this often, within your damage rotation, but also keeping an eye on it to get out of danger.

Thunder Call enhances your abilities for 20s, making it invaluable to increasing your damage output. More often than not, this will be followed by Chain Lightning, because it’s the only way you can cast Chain Lightning in the first place. In this, it kind of makes me think Tariq is part Warrior, part Elemental Shaman.

When you’re burning some Fury, Culling Strike can deal up to 400% more damage, the more Fury it spends (up to a cap of 20). It won’t affect your Swing Timer, and since it’s an Execution ability, you can only use it on enemies with 30% or less health left.

For AOE, you have Wild Swing, and while it can’t crit, it does deal more damage, based on your Critical Strike chance percentage. It’s also a great Fury generator, and will certainly be in your typical rotation. Speaking of rotations, here’s how it’s going to likely play out:

Rotation (building Fury)

Prep Heavy Strike
Thunder Call
Chain Lightning
Culling Strike (20+ Fury)
Wild Swing
Leap Smash (when less than 75 Fury)
Face Breaker when up
Heavy Strike

Just remember, you need to also interrupt attacks occasionally, so don't just blindly attack all the time (Image via Arc Games)

You’re going to be repeating steps 2 through 6 until you’re nearly at Fury cap as Tariq. Basically, when you see your next ability would put you beyond your Fury cap, then you stop and go to Face Breaker when it’s up, and Heavy Strike. You could get lucky though, with the Blood & Thunder talent, which can proc a free Chain Lightning.

If that happens, you’ll already have enough Fury to start burning through it. When dealing with a single target, you will want to use other buttons, compared to dealing AOE damage, so we’re going to cover that now.

Spending Rotation

Hammer Storm (AOE) // Skull Crusher (Single-Target)
Focused Wrath
Hammer Storm or Skull Crusher
Hammer Storm or Skull Crusher (if over 50 Fury)
Continue until you’re out of Fury
Leap Smash anytime it’s off GCD if you have Mouth of War to enhance spending skills

If you’re fighting a boss in Fellowship, you’ll want to open with Thunder Call/Raging Tempest, and if you're under 75 Fury, but have Mouth of War, you can use Leap Smash before your rotation. In boss fights, opening with Thunder Call, and then Raging Tempest afterwards should really help with your DPS. You’ll do Thunder Call, Raging Tempest, and Thunder Call again after, before going to your normal rotation.

It’s not really so much a rotation, as spamming the right skill under you can’t anymore. One important note though, is if you’re using Hammer Storm, don’t use it if you’re under 50 Fury. You’ll lose out on dps on the final spin, and it’s a pretty hefty DPS loss.

Finally, don't forget that you have some great defensive cooldowns as Tariq in Fellowship: Unbreakable Will for less damage, Taunt to pull aggro off an ally, and Pummel to interrupt an enemy spell cast and silence them for 4s.

Best Talent Plan build for Tariq in Fellowship

Best talents by level

2: Blood & Thunder
3: Ride the Lightning
4: Bloodline
5: Swap Bloodline for Kill ‘Em All
6: Far Beyond Driven
7: Crack The Sky
8: Swap Far Beyond Driven for Thunderstruck
9: Swap Crack The Sky/Ride the Lightning for Mouth for War
10: Crack The Sky
11: Ride the Lightning
12: Far Beyond Driven
13: Spit it Out

Here's what our ideal Tariq build is, but yours can vary (Image via Arc Games)

One of the great things about Talents in Fellowship, whether playing Tariq or anyone else, is that you can pick what you need at the time. It’s important to be flexible, but there are a few talents that I think are just more important.

One of those is Mouth for War. This gives you a charge of Focused Wrath when you Leap Smash and deal damage with it. In turn, Focused Wrath is a skill that makes your next two casts of Skull Crusher/Hammer Storm cost 50% less Fury, and deal 40% more damage. It’s not hard to see why that would be great.

However, you might want Left Hand Path if you’re doing a lot of AOE damage. It makes your Face Breaker crits also deal AOE damage, as well as increases Face Breaker’s critical strike chance.

Schism is great because it makes your Skull Crusher have the potential to make your next Hammer Storm deal 300% more damage, and vice versa. It’s definitely a useful skill to have around. These talent trees are pretty flexible, so consider what you are up against, and what you need.

Ideal Stats and Gearing for Tariq in Fellowship

Stat Priority

Item Level/Strength
Critical Strike
Expertise
Haste
Spirit

As Tariq, the most important thing to you in Fellowship is high item level gear. This will enhance your damage and ability to take hits, and that is easily the most important thing to you. Of course you want Strength, but the real important stat is Critical Strike, which increases the chances that you’ll crit, and that’s always great.

Expertise increases damage overall, and Haste increases how quickly you attack, as well as reduces your GCD, cast speed, and other DOT/HOT-based effects. Having more Haste allows us to Heavy Strike more often, which is never a bad thing.

BiS Gear

Weapon: Fateful Basher
Back: Drape of the Slayer King
Relics: Sinbinding Stone, Ancient Poultry Fetish

While there are several weapons for Tariq in Fellowship (Fateful Basher, WIldstone Crusher, Sahril’s Reckoning, Void-Touched Hammer), Fateful Basher is the clear best. It lowers cooldowns for you (Thunder Call, Focused Wrath, Chain Lightning, Leap smash), and improves some of our defensive cooldowns as well. It also has a bit of a Cleave effect, making it top-tier.

Another must-have is the Drape of the Slayer King, since, when you have it equipped and deal damage with Leap Smash, those targets take 20% more damage from you, for 5s. That’s an amazing back slot item.

In general, when gearing up as Tariq in Fellowship, you want to focus on Purple+ Weapon Trees, Legendary Items, the Item Level of your gear, set bonuses, and then you can worry about your Substats (Crit, Haste, Expertise, Spirit).

Check out our other MMO guides and features

About the author

Jason is an Esports and Gaming journalist at Sportskeeda holding an amazing 11 years of experience under his belt. Having put out 4000-plus articles and amassing over 15 million reads for Sportskeeda, he is among the company’s most experienced writers. Jason holds a Bachelor's degree in English from UNC Pembroke and was inspired to become a gaming journalist very early on in life after reading Nintendo Power.

Jason is a jack of all trades when it comes to gaming journalism. He’s a key writer in Sportskeeda's MMO department, but he also likes to help out in other categories, like streamers, RPG, card games, and whatever else is needed. A solo gamer at heart, Jason's favorite titles include Earthbound and Dragon Warrior.

Jason places high value on accuracy and relevance in his write-ups. He achieves this with thorough research to sift facts from rumors. One of the biggest highlights of his career is his interview with Canadian pro wrestler Kenny Omega about his inclusion in the Like a Dragon game series. He is also good friends with journalist Kazumo Hashimoto, who he admires for the kind of stories he works on and his deep ethics.

A true cinephile, one of Jason’s primary hobbies involves enjoying cinematic experiences. He also loves reading, be it fiction or manga, when not working. Additionally, he streams on Twitch and posts his gaming insights on YouTube.

Know More

Edited by Jason Parker