Hello, this guide is for new and old Protection Warrior's alike.
Please comment / discuss and I will try to keep this up to date.
INDEX:
1. [TALENTS] – Overview of Protection Talents
2. [GLYPHS] – A look at what essential glyphs you need, and some optional
3. [THREAT] – A look at ways to maximize threat from stats, abilities, and rotation
4. [GEAR] – How to gear your warrior, stat prioritization and enchants
1. Talents
Prot Warriors have always had an incredible amount of utility in WoW, and with Cataclysm that is no exception. Our arsenal of utilities has expanded over time making Protection Warrior gameplay a fun, engaging and rewarding experience. Let’s dive into the heart and soul of ever warrior, the Talent Tree.
By choosing Protection you automatically gain Sentinel (http://www.wowhead.com/spell=29144)
, Vengeance (http://www.wowhead.com/spell=93098) and our bread and butter, Shield Slam (http://www.wowhead.com/spell=23922)
3/3 Incite – A great single target threat talent, highly recommended
3/3 Toughness - Increased armour by 3%. Don’t leave home without this. Armor will increase your effective health.
2/2 Blood and Thunder – The single most important talent for AOE tanking. Highly recommended for 5man’s or raid boss’s that require you to tank add’s.
3/3 Shield Specialization – This is a must, all tanks will want to pick this up for increased rage, also comes in handy on heavy caster fights as we often find ourselves rage starved on encounters that have little to no incoming melee damage.
3/3 Shield Mastery - Reduces the cooldown’s of shield block and shield wall. Another must, having your shield block up more often will result in less damage taken, and if you are reaching 100% avoidance with this up to increase your critical block chance. More on this later.
2/2 Hold the Line – Parry just became your favorite stat. Awesome talent. More on Parry later.
2/2 Gag Order – A great utility talent, especially for 5man’s and specific encounters, however not essential.
1/1 Last Stand – A great cooldown for only 1 talent point. You should have this in your arsenal.
1/1 Concussion Blow – Good single target threat, and all round utility talent. I enjoy having this in my bag of tricks for 5mans.
2/2 Bastion of Defense - Critical strike immunity and enrage. A great two fold talent, reduced damage and increased threat, you need this.
1/1 Warbringer - Not 100% necessary for tanking however it provides great mobility for only 1 point, I personally recommend this!
2/2 Improved Revenge – Without a doubt you must take this talent, Revenge is one of our highest threat abilities.
1/1 Devastate - Necessity for tanking, unlocks Sword and Board proc’s. A great filler ability for threat.
2/2 Impending Victory – A solid talent for Raid Boss's coupled with
Glyph of Victory Rush when the boss's HP is below 20%. Can heal from 12k upwards.2/2 Thunderstruck – Yet another great AOE tanking talent, highly recommended for 5mans / boss AOE packs.
1/1 Vigilance – Great ability you can throw on another tank for raiding, which stacks your Vengeance rather quickly which nets you more threat and damage. Also useful in a 5man for high threat party members or healers, an all round worthy talent to have in your arsenal.
2/2 Heavy Repercussions - Shield block has high uptime and followed up with a Shield Bash produces incredible threat. Take it!
2/2 Safeguard – Very much a situational talent, as mobs can hit really hard in Cataclysm you make want this talent for the odd pull that goes wrong in a 5man. When all hell breaks loose and you just can’t pull it together this may just save your bacon.
3/3 Sword and Board – Extremely important talent, refreshing your Shield Slam will do wonders for your threat and damage! More on how to work this into your rotation later.
1/1 Shockwave - Mandatory for multiple targets, coupled with Thunderstruck on AOE trash you can produce competitive dps in 5man’s.
Other talents you may consider:
(Arms) 3/3 War Academy - Increases damage of Devastate by 15%. As this is a filler in your rotation it is not worth the 3 points.
(Arms) 2/2 Field Dressing – Your healers will love you for this talent, works great with Enraged Regeneration aswell.
(Arms) 3/3 Deep Wounds – Provided you invest in the Tier1 arms talents, this provides a nice small boost to threat and damage.
(Fury) 2/2 Cruelty – 10% more Shield Slam damage, very nice however should you choose this you will not be able to reach 2/2 Deep Wounds in Arms.
(Fury) 3/3 Blood Craze – Not a very useful talent, heals you for a small amount unfortunately it is not significant, you would be better of with a Pot.
(Fury) 3/3 Battle Trance – Solid talent that will net you more rage to use our rage dump abilities, Heroic Strike or Cleave.