10-17-2008, 07:32 AM
| | Director of Strategery | | Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 192
| | |
Critcal Block - Your successful blocks have a 30% chance to block double the normal amount and increases your chance to critically hit with your Shield Slam ability by an additional 15%.
Hit Shield Block, pop Autoblocker, commence PVP Shield Slam pwnage
|
10-19-2008, 02:49 PM
| | Established Registrant | | Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Springdale, AR, United States
Posts: 113
| | Source: Gehn
Might I ask how you use your focus?
It is one thing that I have never really found useful unless I was a caster. I would love to learn more about its uses as a melee.
| In most cases you'd use it to keep track of enemy spellcasts, or focus your team's healer(s) for a rapid intervene.
SpellAlerter helps take care of worrying about incoming spellcasts, but it's still handy to focus that mage or druid to be ready for an incoming sheep or cyclone. Likewise for focusing your healer to protect them from a burn or to help you get out of a dangerous situation in a hurry.
As for not taking Critical Block, the crit bonus is not nearly enough to convince me to take it. I'd much rather have 2/3 Puncture, especially since I'm going to be getting free Shield Slams from Devastate spam, anyway.
I cannot see putting more than 52 points into Arms, because any more than that and you won't be able to get the important abilities out of Fury (Piercing Howl) or Arms (Stance Mastery.)
|
10-19-2008, 05:01 PM
|  | Prot War | | Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 1,005
| | |
I have been PvPing as prot since the first few minutes of the patch going live (and a little on beta) and have found myself to be as close to an unstoppable force as there is. The spec i chose is my PvE spec which means it doesnt have the spell reflect, vigilance, or cruelty built into it. The difference with my power in PvP comes from how i have stacked my gear. I favored any gear that gave me block value (other then my T6 pieces) and wear the autoblocker and corens lucky coin. Using the macro to pop the trinkets and shield block i am capable of getting a shield slam crit as high as 8200 (done on a level 70 priest in T4/T5). Combine this very core and constant damage (thanks to S&B) with the dispell and spell reflection, you are capable of downing any class/spec combo in the game. Gear and skill plays a HUGE part in how well a prot warrior can perform and with a healer we are able to take on upwards of 7 or 8 enemy players at one time. One of the key things to remember is to use your cooldowns. 5 minutes on last stand and shield wall means that when you are an inch away from certain death you can come back and hold them off for another 20 seconds at least, and then do it again the next time you see that group.
For anyone who really wants to dive into the protpvp scene i would recommend checking your gear choices for block value and the doing duels with every class and spec you can imagine to figure out the best way to beat them. Its one of the most refreshing experiences ive ever had as a tank.
__________________
"If I'm doing a fight and I need more threat... I try harder. If I'm doing a fight and I need my taunts not to miss, then I wear hit." -Veneretio
|
10-20-2008, 08:48 AM
| | Established Registrant | | Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 171
| | | Arena comp for prot warriors?
The servers have been too laggy to seriously try it yet - but what are some good arena comps for a prot warrior? Giving up MS really really hurts - but being able to lock down the healer in addition to the other versatility could make up for it.
BTW I love it - yes stack shield block value but even with just a couple of SBV pieces and the rest brutal/guardian gear I still have 800SBV from all of the strength on the gear! If you got some seriously lucky RNG you could charge in, concussion blow crit for 2k, shield slam crit for 6k, thunderclap crit for 2k, then as soon as their stun is up you get a shockwave crit for 4k. Add in whatever devestate/heroic strike/revenge damage you've got and you could potentially do 15k dmg before your poor target regains control of their character. I haven't used mocking blow yet - but I hear that can be a decent dps boost if used properly as well.
|
10-20-2008, 10:12 AM
|  | t3h Banhammer | | Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 9,567
| | |
I've been running 2v2 prot warrior/resto druid and albeit against ret paladins we're having some trouble (who isn't) but against double dps and against even other healer/dps we've been winning merely by my ability to stick to the healer non-stop, warbringer makes it almost impossible to drink so overtime they end up running oom and I win, even if I don't have an MS.
Another viable option I'm looking into is running rogue/prot but I haven't found a rogue nor do I want to ditch my druid.
we beat a mage/rogue team pretty easily last night for 26 points xD
and in BG's i'm like the ultimate flag defender, Last stand, shield wall, shockwave, tclap, etc etc I was able to top the charts in KBs, Kb/Death ratio, and overall damage.
__________________ 
READ THIS: Posting & Chat Rules Source: Turelliax
I will never be a kaz.. no one can reach the utter awesomeness of you.
| |
10-20-2008, 11:40 AM
| | New Registrant | | Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 3
| | |
Is there an addon to watch Stun DR for a Warrior? I know rogues have StunWatch, but is there a generic version (or warrior version) that will help us balance our Stuns?
I've tried all 3 trees since 3.0 came out and I'm really like Prot for PvP. I still would like to revisit Arms to test that out (as I did it with the Bleed idea in mind, which doesn't seem to work all that well). But Prot has been great fun in duels and BGs.
|
10-20-2008, 12:38 PM
| | Warrior, GM, Tank | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Michigan
Posts: 64
| | |
This weekend was frustrating at best. The servers seemed to feign death no matter what I tried doing most of the weekend. I learned very quickly Saturday that the most frustrating thing for any melee class in pvp has got to be lag.
I did manage to do a little bit of Prot + Ret Paladin though and it become obvious pretty quickly that with Prot's ability to shut down one of the two people in an arena and Ret's ability to wtfpwn everyone else that Prot is going to be viable even in 2's. Granted we still have to see how it plays out at 80, but I'm realisticly optimistic for Prot in Arena play.
Hopefully things are a little more stable tonight.
|
10-20-2008, 02:11 PM
| | New Registrant | | Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 3
| | Source: Nyd
This weekend was frustrating at best. The servers seemed to feign death no matter what I tried doing most of the weekend. I learned very quickly Saturday that the most frustrating thing for any melee class in pvp has got to be lag.
| Arenas have been like this since 3.0 launched. From reports, arenas on Beta were and still are just fine, but something about this patch roll out made Arenas suffer from some pretty nasty lag. I wouldn't be optimistic about it being fixed tonight. Just queue up for skirmish fights once or twice a night to test the lag out.
|
10-20-2008, 02:15 PM
| | t3h Banhammer | | Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 9,567
| | |
I didn't have any lag arena'ing this weekend, I've got a guide coming up soon with Bloodwraith so hopefully we can share ideas once I've got more concrete stuff posted =]
__________________
READ THIS: Posting & Chat Rules Source: Turelliax
I will never be a kaz.. no one can reach the utter awesomeness of you.
| |
10-20-2008, 02:40 PM
| | Prot War | | Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 1,005
| | Source: Kazeyonoma
I've been running 2v2 prot warrior/resto druid and albeit against ret paladins we're having some trouble (who isn't)...
| Kaze, im not sure what spec you are rolling with or what kind of gear level you are using in your arena but perhaps i could help out your ret pally problem. The thing i have found with them is that they are the current kings of burst damage and alot of their damage is magic based, so armor doesnt help. Luckily for prot warriors we have 2 abilities that can seriously disrupt a ret pally's chi. Our shield slam dispells the buffs that they put on themselves which by itself starts cutting into their usable rotation. Then when you spellreflect, the pally may be able to get off a good series of attacks on you but chances are he is going to knock something back on himself. I have to say if you can predict when the burst is about to hit then hit spell reflect right then. Worst case you reflect his own stun back on him and best case he nearly kills himself with his own hits.
Overall i would say that if you are doing arena and spec into the imp spell reflect then you can keep your healer up through the burst as well. I would say it is very key to get those shield slams on the ret pally frequently. If he is tearing up your healer then breaking from who your current target is to get a dispell on him and a reflection off your buddy will usually give you a nice edge.
Obviously there are some very skill ret paladins out there (ive ran into 2 so far) who know not to blow their load in one strike for exactly the reasons mentioned above. Regardless, unless the ret pally/team seriously outgears you, you should be able to keep them in check with the right maneuvers.
__________________
"If I'm doing a fight and I need more threat... I try harder. If I'm doing a fight and I need my taunts not to miss, then I wear hit." -Veneretio
|
10-20-2008, 02:43 PM
| | t3h Banhammer | | Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 9,567
| | |
oh no, ret paladins weren't killing ME, they were killing my druid lol.
And i wasn't spec'd optimally for pvp prot, i didn't grab imp spell reflect, if i had that i probably could've saved my druid from him, but I feel ya on the surviving thing. I was able to protect my druid plenty by intervening, disarming, dispelling Avenging Wrath (LOLWINGS!), stunning, it was pretty good overall, but I think with imp spell reflect and a 40sec cd on disarm when I spec better will make me even more defensively good for my team.
__________________
READ THIS: Posting & Chat Rules Source: Turelliax
I will never be a kaz.. no one can reach the utter awesomeness of you.
| |
10-20-2008, 09:54 PM
| | Established Registrant | | Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Springdale, AR, United States
Posts: 113
| | |
You're better off wearing regular PvP gear and being less reliant on your shield slam. At 70, maybe shield slam is amazing and all you need for DPS, but at 80, people are going to have more HP and more abilities to avoid burst instagib deaths.
Your high Armor and high base HP make you far less reliant on Resilience, but you still need plenty of it. You absolutely cannot PvP at the higher end without at least 350 Resilience - you'll eat too many crits. Spell Reflection can't always be blown on something relatively meaningless - you could use to it to avoid the incoming shatter combo, but then that mage will just turn around and sheep someone on your team, since he now knows you can't protect them for the next 10 seconds.
Likewise, you can't simply spam Shield Slam, particularly in a 1v1 situation. Priests and Mages both have shields that will deny you Rage generation, and if they're doing their job properly, you won't have a ton of Rage in reserve. You have to make sure you have that 17 Rage for the Shield Slam when they bubble, so that you at least have a chance of destroying the shield and allowing your Rage generation to go uninterrupted. Maybe things have changed, but I seriously doubt that a decently geared Priest or Mage will die in the first fifteen seconds to a Protection Warrior, increases to DPS or not.
As for Arena, I did good things with a Feral Druid buddy prior to 3.0, and I doubt the combo's gotten any weaker with 3.0. Lack of a healing debuff hurts, but against physical DPS teams (either DPS/DPS or DPS/healer), you can usually win the mana war, simply because neither of you is gonna take much damage from physical DPS of any kind.
 |
10-21-2008, 04:28 AM
| | emo tank | | Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 121
| |
All pvp gear, all the way with the exception of the Shield and maybe trinkets. Hope you all got a [item]Coren's Lucky Coin[/item] to go with [item]Gnomeregan Auto-Blocker 600[/item]. They don't share a cooldown. 
With regular pvp/arena gear, I have 35% to crit. On top of that, your Devastate, Heroic Strike, Cleave, and Shield Slam all gain an additional 15% to crit. Your main attacks will obviously be Devastate and Shield Slam. So why not go for more block value? Because the burst damage you can do with Concussion Blow and Shockwave is too awesome with all the AP and Crit from the full pvp gear. Both can easily crit for 3k+ on mail armor or less.
Go for the quick kill with Concussion Blow and Shockwave; you still do awesome damage with Devastate and Shield Slam. Even without the extra Block Value gear, Shield Slam can still crit for 2k+. Yeah, with the extra BV gear, you might see huge shield slams now and then but you also lose the ton of crit.
P.S. Apparently the [item] tags don't work anymore. Seems I've been away from this forum for too long. ><
|
10-21-2008, 04:47 AM
| | emo tank | | Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 121
| | |
Recommendations for Glyphs:
Glyph of Hamstring (2/3 Improved Hamstring without being an Arms warrior)
Glyph of Rapid Charge (Being able to charge and break root/snares every 12 seconds = awesome)
Glyph of Charge (5 extra yards on Charge + Rapid Charge + Warbringer = double awesome)
Glyph of Battle (Not many good options for minor glyphs)
Glyph of Bloodrage or Mocking Blow (Not many good options for minor glyphs)
|
10-21-2008, 05:10 AM
| | Established Registrant | | Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Springdale, AR, United States
Posts: 113
| | |
I'll be doing Blocking, Last Stand, and probably Hamstring for my major three.
My minor three will probably end up being Charge, Bloodrage, and Thunder Clap.
I can't justify Rapid Charge, because of the stun DR timers. If that's fixed, it will probably replace Hamstring.
Syana also mentioned a good point about the PvP gear I somehow overlooked - the crit. It also bears mentioning that you'll get a shorter Intercept timer as well.
I'd recommend your medallion and the autoblocker for trinkets, though you could sub in the coin while your trinket's on cooldown if you're so inclined.
|
10-21-2008, 09:26 AM
| | emo tank | | Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 121
| | |
The rapid charge is for root/snare breaking and the rage not the stun. Your targets are gonna become stun immune regardless because of concussion blow and shockwave and intercept.
Also, if you are a Human, you can totally go autoblocker x 2!
|
10-21-2008, 10:41 AM
| | t3h Banhammer | | Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 9,567
| | |
Syana just link directly from wowhead for items, item links were removed due to 40% server stress =x
__________________
READ THIS: Posting & Chat Rules Source: Turelliax
I will never be a kaz.. no one can reach the utter awesomeness of you.
| |
10-21-2008, 11:03 AM
| | Prot War | | Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 1,005
| | Source: Pizzashark
You're better off wearing regular PvP gear and being less reliant on your shield slam. At 70, maybe shield slam is amazing and all you need for DPS, but at 80, people are going to have more HP and more abilities to avoid burst instagib deaths.
Your high Armor and high base HP make you far less reliant on Resilience, but you still need plenty of it. You absolutely cannot PvP at the higher end without at least 350 Resilience - you'll eat too many crits. Spell Reflection can't always be blown on something relatively meaningless - you could use to it to avoid the incoming shatter combo, but then that mage will just turn around and sheep someone on your team, since he now knows you can't protect them for the next 10 seconds.
Likewise, you can't simply spam Shield Slam, particularly in a 1v1 situation. Priests and Mages both have shields that will deny you Rage generation, and if they're doing their job properly, you won't have a ton of Rage in reserve. You have to make sure you have that 17 Rage for the Shield Slam when they bubble, so that you at least have a chance of destroying the shield and allowing your Rage generation to go uninterrupted. Maybe things have changed, but I seriously doubt that a decently geared Priest or Mage will die in the first fifteen seconds to a Protection Warrior, increases to DPS or not.
As for Arena, I did good things with a Feral Druid buddy prior to 3.0, and I doubt the combo's gotten any weaker with 3.0. Lack of a healing debuff hurts, but against physical DPS teams (either DPS/DPS or DPS/healer), you can usually win the mana war, simply because neither of you is gonna take much damage from physical DPS of any kind.
| The points you made are absolutely valid. At 80 the entire scene changes and those "overpowered" specs and classes will equalize to a good degree. Once again at 80 resil will be a saught after PvP stat with the STR and crit coming in good proportions. Chances are that by 80 the prot warrior will have scaled to still be very dangerous in PvP but far less of a machine as it is now.
To your point on mages and priests. I personally rely very heavily on the shield slam becuase of its ability to completely eat through the shields of the caster classes. there has been many occasions where mages have effective dodged me for almost half my health by rotating their cooldowns to keep me at bay or make me hit a shield. Currently at 70 however their shield is still fairly simple to break through and all it really requires is the rage from a charge. Also keep in mind that if you spell reflect a good sized hit from a mage, he knocked his own shield out which gives you pleanty of room to tear him apart. I would say i have faced quite a few very skilled mages in PvP and in a 1 on 1 scenario they really dont stand a chance against a well played prot warrior. The gear is a huge factor in this (as is always the case with us warriors) but our talents are built very nicely to be able to counter virtually every class.
EDIT: except resto druids... if you cant 2 shot them... you pretty much cant kill em without help... damn druids...
__________________
"If I'm doing a fight and I need more threat... I try harder. If I'm doing a fight and I need my taunts not to miss, then I wear hit." -Veneretio
|
10-21-2008, 12:10 PM
| | Established Registrant | | Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 171
| | | Prot PVP weapon?
Any suggestions for the ideal main hand weapon? Fast/Slow?
I wish now I hadn't blown my BG honor on the 60 crit trinket I still need to buy the new pvp cloak and now perhaps a one-hander with resilience.
| 
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
| | | | World of Warcraft™ and Blizzard Entertainment® are all trademarks or registered trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment in the United States and/or other countries. These terms and all related materials, logos, and images are copyright © Blizzard Entertainment. This site is in no way associated with or endorsed by Blizzard Entertainment®. |
|
pvProt - Guide to Protection PvP 1.0
