[Arvandor]

Well I'm using the heroic emblem heirloom sword and whatever twink blue 1h axe I find on the AH for my level range. I almost never die on my warrior, I frequently take 2-3 mobs at once, and mobs 3 or so levels higher are trivialized by retaliation. If I get in bad, whip out shield, pop shield block (later shield wall if needed), and it's pretty easy.

For the moment (level 30), I've actually switched to prot =) It's almost as fast at killing as fury was, what with glyphed revenge giving me free heroic strikes (at +15% crit), and thunderclaps doing more damage in defensive than they were in battle as fury (again, at +15% crit, or a relative +10% I guess, and less rage useage). Thunderclap is seriously one of your best skills at the lower levels, and protection early talents boost it considerably. Also at 30 I have me a 30 second instant in conussive blow (every other fight or so), which hurts like a mofo and stuns for 5 seconds. Slightly less downtime too (not that I had any as fury unless I was fighting mobs 2 levels higher than me multiple pulls in a row).

Edit: Level 32 and loving prot more and more. Did one of the hardest quests for all my other toons (the humans west of Alterac Mountains, the warriors that do that retaliation type move and the casters that summon ghosts), with relative ease. Even had one of the undead run and pull a crapton of mobs, and I managed to fight off 4 level +0-1 mobs at once and come out of it on top. First toon I've had that didn't die on that quest. Even my warlock and rogue (PvE gods) died once each on that quest. Also dropped Frostmaw with little difficulties (5 levels above me, red)

[CKaz]

My question is lvl 60+ tho, with access to all the best each tree has to offer
I think I pretty much know what the Prot one looks like, that's what I've been doing.

It seems like Fury/TG might eclipse the Arms/Bladestorm, the latter being a bit of a CD
More consistent extra damage from the former, even though the latter spikes AoE great

As I eye Outlands weapons and get the itch to try TG, I could see by a 62 having some quest gear and a pretty good TG spec to rock it - at that level tho I can have the PLG too lol... Blizz, why o why wasnt dual spec part of Expansion/3.0? =b

[Would have cut down on some of the LF Healer! spam :b but I digress]

So I was thinking of something like this @60 for levelling, predominately solo
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
And maybe a cpl more points in it, Weapon Mastery or Furious Attacks, depending on which helps in Outland more. Then head to Arms for 18.

I have reasoning behind each tier but it gets long in the tooth so I thought I'd just see what peeps think first
I love the Prot Warr, but I'm just gonna have to at least try a good TG/Fury build with hellboar/zanga 2h sword, heh

edit - Zanga would give me about 2% hit but I wouldn't have that much more [outside talents], and little/no arms talents early
so maybe it is best to put TG off for a bit, it's not quite stellar out of the gate w/o +hit and/or Arms talent support?

[Krazen]

I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited to see this thread is still pretty active.

I've leveled to 80 since asking the initial question, and I must say....the answer really is prot.

I tried Bladestorm at first, and I LOVED it, but prot just has more survivability and the dps is still pretty sexy. (Macro'ed Bladestorm to say "Blades of Light!", btw. Go Herod!)


So, all in all, I suggest prot.

[SmallDog]

Keeping the flame burning here...

If Prot is the best leveling spec from 70-80, then what is the best stance and rotation for solo-ing? Imp Revenge puts out nice damage, and requires Defensive Stance. Does it overcome the DPS penalty of the stance?

With a 1H weapon, Overpower is a weak substitute for Revenge. But it's something. You can ShockWave, Shield Slam, Conc Blow, and Devastate in any stance.

I guess the question boils down to the following:

Imp Revenge + more S&B procs <is greater or less than> Overpower + 10% more DPS


EDIT: Wait!!! I forgot about the Enrage effect (+10% dps) of Improved Defensive Stance. That basically negates the stance penalty, so I guess Def Stance is the way to level. The ability flow chart is likely identical to tanking: SS > Revenge (HS glyph) > ShockWave > Devastate. Conc Blow and Shield Block as needed.

[CKaz]

I have a 63 Prot but I may experiment with TG/Fury, just a question if my hit is jazzy enough

It's quite possible I should be looking at Arms instead of TG/Fury to goof with too, /shrug

I love Prot, just it's tempting to experiment as Outlands loot pours in, wouldn't mind trying some built in heals too.