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Spec Overview
Protection Warrior is one of the most popular tanking specializations in World of Warcraft. It is a solid all-around class based on high physical damage mitigation, good mobility, and high Raid utility. Warriors are typical sword & board type of characters, and blocking is one of their core defensive mechanics. Warriors generate Rage during combat, which is used to fuel your abilities, and using it effectively is one of the primary aspects of this guide.
Pros | Cons |
Very high physical damage mitigation and high block chance | Requires learning how to manage your Rage |
Good mobility thanks to Intercept and Heroic Leap | Mediocre self-sustain |
Stable and predictive damage intake | Mediocre defenses against magic damage |
High team utility in Raids and Mythic+ Dungeons | Weak crowd-control |
The most tank-themed specialization in the game, making it a perfect choice for role players :) | Weaker, in general, than other tanking specializations |
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Statistics Priority
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The Best Talent Choices
Level 15: Recommended choice - Into the Fray |
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Into the Fray gives you up to 15% increased Haste; 3% for each nearby enemy or ally. This is the best choice for Raids and also one of the best choices overall | |
Punish is a decent pick as well, however much more suited for Mythic+ progression, when you don't fully benefit from Into the Fray. On the other hand, Impending Victory is a decent pick for leveling. It is a good finisher skill which will heal you for 20% of your maximum Life if you kill an enemy that yields experience. Otherwise, it has no uses in end-game PvE. | |
Level 30: Recommended choice - Bounding Stride |
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Bounding Stride is, in general, the most useful talent on this Tier. It reduces the cooldown of Heroic Leap and grants you increased mobility after using it, making it a great mobility skill. | |
Crackling Thunder increases the radius of Thunder Clap, and while being useful, it merely makes the skill more convenient to use but has no meaningful impact on actual encounters. Safeguard, the last of the choices you get on level 30 is very situational. It causes Intercept to transfer 30% of the damage dealt to your target to you if used on an ally. | |
Level 45: Recommended choice - Unstoppable Force |
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Unstoppable Force increases the damage of Thunder Clap by 100% and reduces its cooldown by 50%. It grants unparalleled damage increase on this tier and helps you generate Rage | |
Dragon Roar is also a decent Rage generating skill and a potent AoE slow but the gap between the Unstoppable Force's damage is too high to consider it. Best Served Cold increases the damage of Revenge skill, but this could be only rendered useful in fights that have your Revenge's Rage constantly removed by blocking and parrying | |
Level 60: Recommended choice - Bolster |
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Bolster reduces the cooldown of Last Stand by 60 seconds and, on top of that, it makes you block all incoming melee attacks for the duration. It's the best pick for this tier, which greatly enhances an already potent defensive cooldown | |
Indomitable isn't a bad pick either, but it just slightly increases your effective Health pool, making it a very mediocre pick against Raid Bosses. Never Surrender is the worst talent on this tier, which is very situational, and requires you to be near to 0 Health to grant any significant effect. | |
Level 75: Recommended choice - Storm Bolt |
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Storm Bolt is a very potent single-target stun. It does not enhance or replace any existing ability, so basically it adds a second stun to your arsenal, and will be our recommendation in most of the cases. | |
Menace can be also extremely useful, but it's a very situational skill. Requires you to understand. If played correctly, it allows you to crowd-control up to six enemies simultaneously for up to 12 seconds. Rumbling Earth is a good pick for dungeons. It reduces the cooldown of Shockwave if it hits three or more enemies, making it a much more convenient stun on lower tier content. | |
Level 90: Recommended choice - Booming Voice |
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Booming Voice - is an extremely useful Rage generating skill. It causes your Demoralizing Shot to generate 40 Rage and increases your damage to affected enemies by 15%. It should be your primary pick on this tier as it grants a stable flow of Rage and the highest damage bonus | |
Vengeance causes your Ignore Pain to reduce the Rage cost of your next Revenge by 33% and causes Revenge to reduce the Rage cost of your next Ignore Pain by 33%. Majority of this talent's benefits is wasted as you 1)You should use Revenge only when it's Rage cost is removed; 2)You will usually use Revenge before Ignore Pain, increasing the total cost to cast Ignore Pain by 7 Rage when you have the pay the full Rage cost. Devastator is a replacement skill for Devastate, which increases its damage, and has a 20% chance to reset Shield Slam's cooldown. Compared to the other two talents it generates the least Rage and shouldn't be considered |
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Level 100: Recommended choice - Anger Management |
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Anger Management - is the best, and most well-rounded talent pick for this tier. It reduces the cooldown of all your major defensive cooldowns by 1 second for each 10 Rage spent. This synergizes extremely well with high Haste gear and previously chosen talents. It also offers great flexibility because of the number of skills it affects | |
Heavy Repercussions while also a very solid talent, does not provide enough benefit to be picked up over Anger Management. It makes Shield Slam increase the duration of Shield Block, and makes Shield Block increase the duration of Shield Slam by 30%. Ravager is overall weaker and is heavily reliant on parry rolls which are not the most reliable defensive mechanic for Warriors. |
The Basic Rotation
Below you will find the basic rotations for Protection Warrior as well as utility skills breakdown including defensive cooldowns, crowd-control, and taunts.
Single-target DPS rotation: | |
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Multi-target DPS rotation: | |
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Taunting with Protection Warrior: | |
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Warrior's cooldowns: | |
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Tips and Tricks for Improving your Gameplay
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END NOTE This is the premiere version of our Protection Warrior guide to Raid and Mythic+ Dungeons tanking. Please let us know in the comments below, which aspects of the class we should include in future, upcoming updates. |
Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Blizzard Entertainment Inc.