DPS with a Protection Warrior

[Futeko]

Good day,

I recently hit Lv70 with my warrior and began raiding with my guild. As I'm fairly new at tanking in a raid environment, I play as an off-tank for the majority of the fights. This means that I often find myself having to DPS a boss.

However, I've never, ever DPSed with my warrior. I've leveled from Lv1 to Lv70 with a sword and a shield, protection specced, and I know I can't pull a decent DPS with a sword/shield as weapons.

I've gathered some information about DPSing with a protection warrior, although I've found no "full" guide on the topic. Since this place is the best source of tanking knowledge I know, I'd like to hear your opinion about what I've gathered so far.

- Weapons : Two slow weapons ; preferably two of the same speed, if not then put the slowest in MH.
- Hit : At least 143 hit rating (+9%) in order not to miss any yellow attack
- Gemming/Enchant/Gear : +Str > +AP > +Crit ; Executioner on MH, Potency on OH
- DPS Cycle : Spam Devastate, use Heroic Strike if more than 20-30 rage, use Bloodrage whenever it is available, use but Execute when available.

Thank you in advance for your feedback :)

[Ukyo]

That's pretty much it. In case you need to get some weapons, S1 weapons are really good for DPS as Prot, they're not that expensive and they're easily replaceable in case you get an upgrade (DW Potency should be enough, later you might want to upgrade to MH Executioner).

You can use Slow/Fast combo and start spamming devastate, but you need to remember to use it AFTER the tank gets the mob, since you're still generating more threat than your average DPS'er

[Derrick]

I thought WW was a better rage dump than HS. I can't back that up though. Didn't someone theorycraft this? But if you're rotation is Dev/HS, then what difference does it make what speed your weapons are?

[Artos]

Yes, use whirlwind on every cooldown. I make sure to save rage for it.

[Ukyo]

I thought WW was a better rage dump than HS. I can't back that up though. Didn't someone theorycraft this? But if you're rotation is Dev/HS, then what difference does it make what speed your weapons are?

It's basically the same rotation as a fury warrior, WW every cd, spam devastate, and keep burning rage with HS, but using WW+Devastate won't leave you with much rage unless you're grouped with an Enh shaman or a Shammy dropping WF

[kittikat]

Hey Futeko, here's a link to a video and some info about a 1000DPS Prot Warrior (http://www.tankspot.com/forums/general-discussion/36074-1k-dps-protection.html).

Here's Photon's Armory (http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Silver+Hand&n=Photon).

DPS stats (if it's tank gear instead):
2k AP
185 Hit
33% Crit
12 Exp
/\Raid buffed

Talon of Azshara and Rising Tide and some assorted 25man stuff/S3.
So good gear + prot spec = good dps :)

[Futeko]

Thanks for the feedback :)

So if I understood well, my DPS cycle should be : Spam Devastate, use WW whenever available, use Heroic Strike if more than 20-30 rage, use Bloodrage whenever it is available. When the mob goes under 20% HP, switch to fast weapons and spam Execute.

I'll try to farm some honor in AV and get two S1 swords.

[Futeko]

On gemming : since I find myself missing a lot (since I don't have a good DPS gear with +hit), I thought I'd start gemming with +8Hit until I'd reach +9%.
However I've read on the official forums that I should never gem with +hit.

I know that Strength is a very important DPS stat, but I'm afraid that I'll miss a good deal of what a +Str gemming will bring to me due to the fact that I'll miss too much attacks. I would like to hear your opinion on that matter :).

Also, I'm currently getting my upgrades from Karazhan, as my guild often farms it for the Badges. Since but a few people in the raid need upgrades in Karazhan, part of the drops goes to the disenchant wastebasket.
Since there are almost no plate DPS items in Karazhan, if a leather/mail DPS item is going to be disenchanted, should I roll for it for my DPS gear ?

[Squeegiemama]

You can always chow down on some Spicy Hot Talbuk before boss fight where you have to dps.

[Kavtor]

Is there a spread sheet out there that models Devastate DPS? I seem to recall a revision that did, but can't find it. I'm trying to figure out exactly how much difference weapon speed makes on MH's with out doing all the math. Ie - Syphon v the rest of the 140+ ilvl weapons.