[Squirrelnut]

I thought I would throw a thread in here both for my own reference to keep track of things as well as for any other aspiring Warrior tanks. This is not a complete guide, merely a summery of information I find important and wanted to present in an easy to find format.

I previously created this thread on our guild forum however our guild has had various website changes and up time issues so I thought I would post it here for others to see. It doesn't really seem to fit any of the other single topic categories, if there is a better location for this thread feel free to move it.

For a consolidated version see here: Prot Warrior Cheat Sheet

Stats

The benchmarks for warrior tanks to reach:

Defense minimum: 540+ (689 Defense Rating) You can get away with 535 in heroics but you need 540+ for Nax content and above
Expertise soft cap: 26 (about 214 Rating - removes chance of being dodged)
Expertise hard cap: 57 (about 468 Rating - removes chance of being parried)
Hit cap: 263 rating (about 8%)

Calculation Information:
1% hit = ~32.8 hit rating
1 expertise = ~8.2 expertise rating
1% dodge/parry reduction = ~32.8 expertise rating
1 defense = ~4.9 defense rating
1% dodge = ~45.25 dodge rating
1% parry = ~45.25 parry rating
1% dodge/parry/miss = ~123 defense rating
1% block = 16.39 block rating

Spec

Ulduar progression spec: 5/10/56
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
or 5/15/51
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
Possibly replace 2 points from Focused Rage into Imp Spell Reflect depending on the situation

Ulduar geared spec: 15/5/51
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
or
15/3/53
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
The Deep Wounds variation becomes viable again as your gear includes more BiS items

----------------------------

Main Talent Spec (all pre-Ulduar content):
15/5/51 for almost all content as a Prot warrior.
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
One thing that has been widely discussed on both Tankspot and EJ is the need to spec for deep wounds. It provides a substantial dps increase and is more then worth it.

Variation to that Main Talent Spec might be a Malygos build of a tweaked 15/5/51 for improved spell reflect
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

----------------------------

UA DPS tank spec: 37/0/34
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
This is a DPS tanking spec that allows you to spam revenge and receive excellent single target threat and DPS at the cost of mobility, aoe tanking and additional function (missing out on devastate, imp shouts, etc).

Gear

When it comes to gear it really varies depending on what content you have the ability to run. Here are some links I have found helpful:

Best in slot gear listing (always debatable, simply provides some good suggestions and adjust for your needs)
Best in Slot! Warrior Tanking Gear "At a Glance"

Emblem gear
Vene's Emblem Guide + Pick Orders

Easy to get 540 defense gear listing (gives nubs something to shoot for)
Cider's Easy 540 Defense Gear Guide

Enchants

Enchants are fairly basic 'must have' things usually for most Warrior tanks:
Head - [Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector]
Shoulders - [Greater Inscription of the Pinnacle] (If avoidance is not an issue and you prefer high stam could consider [Greater Inscription of the Gladiator])
Back - [Enchant Cloak - Titanweave]
Chest - [Enchant Chest - Super Health] or [Enchant Chest - Greater Defense]
Waist - [Eternal Belt Buckle]
Legs - [Frosthide Leg Armor]
Feet - [Enchant Boots - Greater Fortitude] or [Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality]
Wrists - [Enchant Bracer - Major Stamina] or [Enchant Bracers - Expertise]
Hands - [Heavy Borean Armor Kit] or [Enchant Gloves - Armsman] or [Enchant Gloves - Expertise] or [Reticulated Armor Webbing] (Engineers Only)
Shield - [Enchant Shield - Defense] or [Titanium Shield Spike] or [Titanium Plating] or [Enchant Shield - Major Stamina]
Weapon - [Enchant Weapon - Blood Draining] or [Enchant Weapon - Accuracy] or [Enchant Weapon - Mongoose] or [Titanium Weapon Chain] or [Enchant Weapon - Exceptional Agility] (Not much of a fan of Blade Ward for Prot Warriors as its currently implemented)

Glyphs

Recommended Ulduar Progression Major:
Glyph of Shield Wall
Glyph of Last Stand
Glyph of Vigilance
or
Glyph of Blocking
Glyph of Taunt (due to less hit available in ToC)

Recommended Pre-Ulduar Major:
Glyph of Blocking
Glyph of Revenge
Glyph of Heroic Strike
or
Glyph of Devastate

Recommended Minor:
Glyph of Thunder Clap
Glyph of Charge
Glyph of Bloodrage
or
Glyph of Battle

Rotation

Single Target: The skill prioritization to maximize threat as a Prot Warrior is fairly straight forward. I am including a flow-chart image from TankSpot which I re-created with a smaller size to better fit our forum and remain readable. Keep in mind this is a single target rotation and would be modified in larger trash pulls.

Also, when in never ending rage scenarios such as most MT fights in Raids, Heroic Strike should be spammed constantly so that you never have a normal swing get through (Patchwerk for example). Heroic Strike is on a separate cooldown so it does not affect your main skill rotation shown below:



Multiple Target AOE: Keep in mind the objective of multiple target tanking is to maximize threat on all targets while minimizing incoming damage as much as possible. Multiple Target rotation would look something like this:

Heroic Throw > Charge > Thunderclap > Shockwave > Demoralizing Shout > Thunderclap > Shield Block > Tab Target Single DPS

Whenever 50+ rage it can be very helpful to spam Cleave (similar to Heroic Strike on single target) especially if glyphed for it in multiple target mob situations. Also, marking a target with a skull for your DPS to focus on helps limit the possibility of agro loss as you can keep an eye on that target while maximizing threat on all mobs.


Hopefully this has been helpful to Warriors out there, if you have any suggestions let me know and I will update this original post. I may update with more info later as more theory is crafted

Additional Links

Expertise & Hit
Gearing for Threat: WotLK Guide to Hit & Expertise

Increase your Damage
Protection Warrior -- Increase Your Damage

Key Binds
Keybinds and You

Unrelenting Assault Spec Info
http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f64/4...ive-build.html

Rotation
http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f56/4142 ... ation.html

Glyph of Heroic Strike vs Glyph of Devastate
Glyph of Devastate (double check me)

Avoidance & Diminishing Returns
Diminishing Returns - Avoidance

WoTLK Rating Conversions @ lvl 80
http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t29453-comb ... evel_80_a/

Tanking Spreadsheet
Tanking Spreadsheet - Elitist Jerks

Similar guide with more in-depth information on Prot warriors and tanking
Defensive Stance: Warrior Information Compilation

3.1 dual specs come out so here is a Fury guide for off spec
6th Edition DW Fury Guide
and
WotLK Fury Gear Guide

and Arms guide stuff
Quick 'n Dirty Arms Guide
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

[Megamoose]

A good starting spot guide for the new 80 prot warrior, with links to good essential topics.

[sicness]

It's a good start but it is missing a few things. In enchants, for shoulders you should really add the pvp one as well, which is a nice stam boost if you're defense capped in you gear. Blood draining is definitely preferred I think if you're main tanking as well I believe. And lastly on aoe tanking, should really add queuing cleave on every swing as long as you have the rage as that adds substantial threat.

One last thing I think you should include is the spreadsheet from elitist jerks. Here's the link: Tanking Spreadsheet - Elitist Jerks

[Squirrelnut]

I left out enchants I disagree with (such as the note regarding blade ward) and since there is no "Defense Cap" only a defense minimum I initially left off the resilience enchant. However for the sake of filling more people's needs i'll update with that additional enchant

I'll do some more research on Blood Draining, from what I have gathered it is essentially like having a health pot when you get low on life and I usually go for more DPS/TPS then a pot equivalent when when we have Last Stand / Shield Wall / Trinket / Health Stone / Pots / Etc for 'Oh Sht' situations like that.

Regarding AOE tanking I did mention spamming cleave especially if you are glyphed for it however I will try to modify the wording slightly to make it more visible.

I have never liked spreadsheets as I prefer to know every stat of my current gear and compare with potential upgrades/modifications myself as spreadsheets are nice in general but can't compare with the human brain for specific scenarios and possibilities. It is however a good link to include for those that like spreadsheets, I'll add it to the bottom links.

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

EDIT: Original post updated, also replaced wowwiki enchant links with versions from wowhead so that the pop-up information and mats are available, I love that feature

[Gellor]

I'm finding I prefer a 15/3/53 build for Ulduar (at least now that I've gotten some 25 man loots). It's the typical 15/5/51 except you drop the 2 points from cruelty and put them into Imp Disciplines for the 2 minute glyphed SW.

Also I still prefer using the glyph of blocking for my 3rd glyph as opposed to the vigilance one. The only fight were threat is an issue with this setup for me is Hodir, and to be honest a pally in a couple of pieces of FR gear or a frost DK tank with acclimation can generate insane amounts of threat much more easily.

[Squirrelnut]

I used something similar for a while but switched back as it seemed like it didn't really make our runs go much faster and since we are still working on some progression issues with Mimiron / Yogg I wanted to be as durable for our healers as possible. It would be a good option to add though, I will update the initial post.

Anyone have a link to research on a comparison between the Vigilance glyph and Shield Block glyph? Particularly for a 25m raid scenario I would be interested what kind of threat they add.

[Taiva]

You might want to mention the passive +1% hit for Draenei Paladins and Warriors. They only need 230 hit rating. It doesn't show up when you mouse over hit rating in the game. They need to add the +1% themselves.

Also that Vitality talent adds +6 Expertise so warriors with this talent only need 164 expertise rating soft cap (20 + 6), and 418-419 expertise rating hard cap (51 + 6) if they wish to get that high.

[sicness]

Source: Squirrelnut I left out enchants I disagree with (such as the note regarding blade ward & Blood Draining) and since there is no "Defense Cap" only a defense minimum I am against the resilience enchant. However for the sake of filling more people's needs i'll update with that additional enchant I'll do some more research on Blood Draining, from what I have gathered it is essentially like having a health pot when you get low on life and I usually go for more DPS/TPS then a pot equivalent when when we have Last Stand / Shield Wall / Trinket / Health Stone / Pots / Etc for 'Oh Sht' situations like that. Regarding AOE tanking I did mention spamming cleave especially if you are glyphed for it however I will try to modify the wording slightly to make it more visible. I have never liked spreadsheets as I prefer to know every stat of my current gear and compare with potential upgrades/modifications myself as spreadsheets are nice in general but can't compare with the human brain for specific scenarios and possibilities. It is however a good link to include for those that like spreadsheets, I'll add it to the bottom links. Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. EDIT: Original post updated, also replaced wowwiki enchant links with versions from wowhead so that the pop-up information and mats are available, I love that feature

No offense, but if you're doing a guide for people you should leave your own bias out of it. The pvp enchant for shoulders is arguably the best enchant in slot (outside of scribes personal enchant) when you are already defense 'capped'. Blood draining is somewhat the same as it scales very well with the amount of stam you have. And the spreadsheet I linked is amazing not only because it shows you what the best overall BiS items are but it also allows you to view the best enchants and gems for them as well as input new items when they become available. Another thing I noticed was you left out the OA arms/prot spec, which is amazing threat for main tanking fights where the dps pushes your threat (Hodir hard mode and Vezax).

If you're looking to put out as much info for warriors as possible in one post you should include all the information, not just information that you agree with. Don't get me wrong, you've started out very well and it's a great resource, however again all information should be included and not just information that you find pertinent.

[Kerchunk]

Source: sicness No offense, but if you're doing a guide for people you should leave your own bias out of it.

On the other hand, writing a guide that is completely objective and includes absolutely every possible opinion would be impossible and end up more confusing and ridiculous than anything else. No guide is complete. This one doesn't even mention a spec. with Improved Demoralizing Shout in it, which is a huge oversight in my personal opinion, but then again I understand that to really be knowledgeable I need to read a lot of different things and form my own opinions through testing and experimentation.

No one guide will cover it all.

The pvp enchant for shoulders is arguably the best enchant in slot (outside of scribes personal enchant) when you are already defense 'capped'.

That's very arguable indeed. Being capped doesn't lessen the benefit of avoidance. 30 Stamina is nice for a pure EH set, but "best in slot"? Not a chance.

Another thing I noticed was you left out the OA arms/prot spec, which is amazing threat for main tanking fights where the dps pushes your threat (Hodir hard mode and Vezax).

If you mean the UA build, using that to tank Hodir or Vezax on 25-man would be very ill-advised in my opinion.

If you're looking to put out as much info for warriors as possible in one post you should include all the information, not just information that you agree with. Don't get me wrong, you've started out very well and it's a great resource, however again all information should be included and not just information that you find pertinent.

Again, no one guide is going to contain ALL information or respect ALL opinions. Take it for what it's worth and don't nit pick imo.

[sicness]

My problem is he's trying to put out as much information as possible to help people. In that case you should hold back all bias that you have otherwise you're misinforming people. From what I've seen he's trying to put everything he can into one guide, which is great, but if you're doing that you can't hold back information just because you don't agree with it. I'm not nit picking, I don't expect to find everything in one guide. But some people do, especially new people, and leaving out information just because you don't agree with it shouldn't be done in such a guide.

Whether he agrees with my opinions on the matter or not he should have all information in that guide, otherwise this is just a post of him saying what he thinks is best and not what is actually the best option out there. I'm not saying he's wrong about his opinions, but not putting in all information in a guide just because you don't agree with some of it is wrong.

For instance him not having the UA spec at all is wrong because it's a very viable spec that can be quite helpful in hard modes. Whether it's good for certain hard modes or not (in 10 or 25 man) doesn't matter, as it's a viable spec that can help with some of them. Same with him not having a full imp demo/cool down build that a lot of warriors who are trying to do hard modes are using atm.

[Brokenhalo]

To me this seems to be a poor mans
Defensive Stance: Warrior Information Compilation

Has the potential to be a good thread, but there is a similar one and there is way too much bias on tanking in this thread at this time.

[Squirrelnut]

This was never meant to be a complete guide, or an attempt to put out as much information as possible. Instead, this was simply a compilation of information that I have found very helpful in a more summarized, easy to find manner that I repeatedly return to when looking at stats, spec, enchants, etc. There is a vast wealth of information on TankSpot that really lets people look into the details of anything they are interested in, however, it can be a bit much or hard to find the one thing you are interested in.

This is nothing more then a summary of information highlighting key points that I have found through personal experience or through following others' logic to be important or helpful.

With regard to bias I never intended to present a biased view, I was simply writing out the information which I consider most important without taking up too much space. If someone is interested in further details there are threads all over TankSpot which go into much greater detail, I just wanted to note some big ones that I see people asking questions about all the time. If others bring up good points or things I missed or should expand upon I am happy to add it to the initial topic

With regard to the UA spec I hadn't included it because Cider had done the great News post about it, I do not frequently use it, and when I initially made this post it was mainly to help me keep track of things I was interested in and was posted on our Guild forum. You are right though, it should definitely be included, I am updating the initial topic now. Also I am not sure why you mention I do not have a spec that includes improved demo shout? The Ulduar spec is exactly that... 5/10/56 please try to read the full post

Thanks for all the input! I completely agree it is not a full guide and for more detailed info Defensive Stance: Warrior Information Compilation is a great place to look along with the various other links to more info I included at the end of the post.

EDIT: Original post updated with UA spec etc

[Biggensak]

Nice post, a lot of good information in a quick and easy to digest format. I can see this being of tremendous value to DPS warriors who want to run a prot dual spec but don't have time to become fully versed in the mechanics of prot warrior tanking and min-maxing like the dedicated raid tanks out there.

Since the title clearly includes the word "SUMMARY" I'm not sure why certain posters seem obsessed with the idea of having you include every detail of prot warrior tanking in this guide. Part of creating a summary is making judgement calls on items to exclude like the highly situational UA build that will not be of use to a majority of the tanking warriors out there.

Again, great read with just the right amount of content supported by great community sources - kudos!

[Squirrelnut]

Thanks for the vote of confidence, I am glad it was helpful. I did go ahead and include the UA build as it doesn't take up much space and should be included. As you said I specifically titled it as a 'Summary' because it really does just highlight main points of interest that I see many many aspiring tanks asking about repeatedly because it can be difficult to find all the information spread across the site.

[Kazeyonoma]

Another useful guide, albeit there is a guide stickied already, it never hurts to have a second opinion, or a shorter more concise guide. Thanks for your work, and please to the rest of our community, this isn't the WoW forums. You don't attack a member who is trying to contribute by calling his work useless. Grow up.

[Daggus]

This is possibly the most useful of the guides that i have used on Tankspot but it is always the most difficult to find. Could we make space in the "similar but slightly different" warrior guides to put in this one as a quick reference. The talent and gear links are really good as is the " you need this much to hit the caps - at a glance".

Please put this in the guide section so i can find it easier from any computer at work!

[Mookey]

Enchant Cloak - Mighty Armor - Spell - World of Warcraft on Cloak of the Shadowed Sun - Item - World of Warcraft still makes it best EH piece of cloak. (Not sure how much EH Mimiron's cloak have with optimal EH geming, but that's not easy obtainable anyway)

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft
Is usually 2nd spec of choice (for dual prots) for progressing guilds when they explore new content. It's spec "take as least dmg as you can while people learn the fight".

[Squirrelnut]

Source: Daggus This is possibly the most useful of the guides that i have used on Tankspot but it is always the most difficult to find.

I am glad it has been helpful to you, I have had similar issues when looking for it so I put it in my signature so you can get to it from any thread I post on. However I agree It would make it much simpler if it was put somewhere easier to find.

[Astemus]

Source: Daggus This is possibly the most useful of the guides that i have used on Tankspot but it is always the most difficult to find. Could we make space in the "similar but slightly different" warrior guides to put in this one as a quick reference. The talent and gear links are really good as is the " you need this much to hit the caps - at a glance". Please put this in the guide section so i can find it easier from any computer at work!

While having this information reduntantly available as a sticky might make it easier to find, it would make everything else harder to find.

What we really need is a good collection of info that collects all the tank info, instead of 100 warrior guides.

[Squirrelnut]

The issue with that is people that appreciate a summary like this want a quick reference on hit/expertise/def/specs/etc that they can refer to at a glace without having to sift through page after page of information.

Many people have quick small questions in a couple different areas on a cap or spec or whatever, and would much prefer to find it all on one thread. If they really want to get more detailed info links are provided to the more detailed threads around TankSpot.