Hamstring

Hamstring
Hamstring Level 36 warrior ability Melee range 10 Rage Instant Requires Melee Weapon Maims the enemy, reducing movement speed by 50% for 15 sec.
Properties
Class	Warrior
School	Physical
Cooldown	None/Global Cooldown
Other information
Level learned	36
Related debuff
Hamstring Movement slowed by 50%. Duration: 15 seconds

[[Category:warrior abilities]][[Category:warrior abilities]]

"A mechanostrider is no help if you can't stand upright to mount it." - Fillet

Hamstring is a warrior ability that reduces the target's movement speed by 50% for 15 seconds.

Functionality

Hamstring is an ability that slows an enemy target 50%. The snare effect lasts 15 seconds and the only cooldown on the ability is the generic global cooldown, so in a PvP battle you should make sure hamstring is constantly applied, as competent PvP players move around a lot. However this is far more important against ranged/caster classes than against other pure melee classes.

It is probably the most important PvP ability a warrior has, temporarily reducing their target's movement speed by 50%. People are substantially easier to catch when they can't run quickly. This ability is also useful in PvE when fighting humanoids, as many will run away when their health is low, often aggroing other mobs in the process. The ability is relatively inexpensive, and in a PvP encounter is probably the ability you want to use right after your initial [Charge].

Hamstring is not affected by the global cooldown.

Tips and tactics

• Helpful in a variety of situations, this skill is one of the warrior's few forms of crowd control, primarily used for slowing enemies down in preparation to them becoming runners. In an ideal (PvE) fight this should be applied somewhere around 40% to 30% health of any mob you know will try to run and get help - mostly humanoids.

• Its down side is that it requires a melee hit, so if the target is already fleeing, you will be unlikely to slow them down with this - consider talenting [Piercing Howl] to help with this kind of thing. It also only affects one target, making it difficult to use as a way to escape bad fights, since each individual enemy will need one Hamstring each.

• In PvP, this is an essential ability for use against ranged and caster opponents. Seizing the earliest opportunity to apply Hamstring reduces the chance of your target escaping beyond melee range. Since warriors need to be in melee range to do damage, Hamstring is a critical ability in successfully playing the class, especially against non-melee types.

• In PvP this is a very useful skill if used in conjunction with [Charge] on any enemy who overextends beyond his line of troops. Charging, Hamstringing, and then breaking off back to safety will leave them exposed and unable to run for cover effectively, allowing your team's hunters and mages to finish him off.

• Hamstring should be used against humanoid mobs that flee when low on health, before they can run off and aggro more mobs.

Patch changes

• Patch 5.4.0 (2013-09-10): No longer on a global cooldown.
  
• Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Can now be used in any stance.
  
• Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): Hamstring now only has one rank and no longer causes damage.
  
• Patch 1.6.0 (2005-07-12): Will now cause damage to targets immune to movement slowing effects. Movement slowing effect improved.
  

See also

• Hamstring TCG card

External links

• Wowhead
• WoWDB