Prot Warrior gear for PvP battlegrounds?

[Cedix]

I've been having some fun myself on BG for the past couples weeks in Prot gear using mostly SBV items (32% block and 1750SBV without trinklet up) I use a couple PVP items too.

Am having hard time against Shaman, Paladan and Priest (i can't burst them, no rage....) Caster are not that hard either because i can kill them really fast with stun/Silence and big 5 digit Shield Slam (best was 14k on a Mage) Rogue I can almost /afk kill them on the damage shield.

but am slowly replacing my gear with resilience item to get more options. With all my pvp gear i go down to 26% block and 1550SBV with about 200resi.

[TheruunCael]

I'm new on the forums, and also relatively new to prot pvp but I've had plenty of experience with pvp in bg's (cant say the same for arena unfortunately). Some great info in this discussion! Awesome stuff guys. A few question however...the general concensus for arena's seems to be, start out in arena's in your full BV set and then gradually replace a few of the items with Deadly/Furious gear as you work your way up the ratings. So here's the question: when replacing your BV gear, is there a recommended minimum BV that you should try to stay above? Like maybe ~1k BV? And resil seems to be the umm, err, maybe, maybe-not stat for prot warriors, what sort of resil value should I be trying to reach without sacrificing other stats? As I currently stand I have rougly 25% block (cant remember the BV off the top of my head), Broken Promise and full ilvl213 gear (unfortunately 60% of the set is avoidance gear not BV/mitigation gear). Is it worth replacing BV gear with hateful or should I wait until I have access to deadly and furious gear? Since I currently have several Pieces of Prot gear that have no BV on them, should I replace them for Hateful PvP equivalents until I either get the BV item or a better PvP item for that slot?

hmm...maybe I should just get into arena's first and get a feel for it lol. I haven't set foot in an arena since the days before 3.0.1 :O

Cheers + Beers

[Rootkitworm]

To me it makes sense to use PvP gear of equal iLevel when swapping out the PvE. Obviously something like Gauntlets of the Disobedient (ilvl213 with a bunch of SBV) would be overall better to use than the blue Savage Gladiators Gauntlet (ilvl 200) pvp item imo. Also to me it makes sense to not use your full Prot EH gear, as casters crit you for ridiculous amounts (and the spell reflect sound&icon is very obvious to most casters when used), but also because you will spend half your time eating or trying to get your friggin health back between fights. Takes less healing to heal you to full, and less time overall.

[Seidx]

I have been having a blast PvPing as Prot, I tend to favor resilience gear over my PvE gear and am currently a little under 900 resilience with room for one more PvP trinket from wintergrasp. With that trinket and the cheap resilience flask I will be at 1000 resilence, not too shabby and which I assume is the cap?

I use Titanguard and Northern Barrier and currently JC trinket PvE items but everything else is PvP armor with gems and enchants favoring PvP. I sit just a hair under 30k hp in this armor unbuffed but of course my avoidence does take a hit but I am still hard to take down and I can really be a pest to healers with all of our stuns, interupts, spell reflect, fear etc.

I'll try to remember to log out in my PvP gear later so you can armory if intererested.

[CyriliusTheDefender]

I strongly second pretty much everything Magnuss has said in this thread. I chose to deck out my prot warrior in resilience gear since I mainly do BGs, where combat all too often turns into a disorganized scrum. I'm at 800+ resilience and it really helps to hang in there and finish off one guy (or run the flag or whatever) while multiple others are trying to take you down. This comes at a tradeoff: by going for resilience over other stats, your shield slams won't be as powerful as they could be. In an arena context, where you have at least one other person backing you up and the system is "closed," I can see sacrificing survivability for offense.

Resto druids are still a tough case...they just heal themselves and laugh at me.

[Typhus]

I have pvped some now with my warrior as prot, its the only thing i do nowadays and gathering gear from him. Thing is with prot pvp is that resilliance doesnt rly grant you much. The stats from pvp gear is aimed vs classes thats not sword and board. Since you cant get either block rating och Block value in. Gathering Block gear is THE way to go for protec pvp and why it is so it very easy to understand.

Resilliance lowers crit dmg and crit chance and dot dmg. For a prot Resilliance is very nice vs caster, quite crap vs physical. With block gear you are granted high block, you get dodge and parry from defense and very high shield slams from Block Value. Each gemslot you slot with STR for extra dmg to shield slam and such. Also since warriors deal dmg from a block this is based on you block value its quite a no brainer.

Block prots nemisis is dots, since they lack resilliance but it makes it up in other departments. I red about a Prot War with about 2k block value with both high block, dodge, parry. Melee classes could touch him more or less and he had some 2.2k Arena rating 2v2.

To lower incomming dmg is the key and try to maximize outgoing dmg. This is best made with block gear slotted with STR. You survive most stuff for a long time and reak havoc on the playfield.

[Killga]

Honestly though, I'm having a blast.

My sentiment exactly. Prop PVP in battlegrounds is awesome. I charge in on a mob of Horde (picking the biggest dps plate tough guy or shams) and roflstun with Shockwave. Then when everyone comes to it's all about Intimidating Shout to send them scattering. Back to my target = I got a nasty rotation of Concussion Blow if its up, hit shield block and drop a Shield Slam in his ass for good measure. Once he comes to it's disarm and revenge for another stun and you're talking 3 stuns in a row. From there prot/pvp gear makes us very survivable and I'm taking alot of damage without any heals.

DKs try to act smart and death grip me for the lulz and I have all my cds back up and its roflstun all over again.

Im interested in this thread because it discusses the use of all the high level PvE gear with Resil stuff mixed in. I have that set up now and with 235 resil (currently climbing) and I hope reach soft cap soon.

Most opponents grow wary of fighting me because it's not a quick kill, so I'm pleased when they stick it out (especially dks and warriors) because I have tons of mobility and stuns that make it a great fight. Rogues are the exception and you never want to get on the bad side of them, after kick/stun wears off I engage all 5 oh shit buttons (Enraged Regeneration, Last Stand, Shield Wall, Heart of Iron, Battlemaster's) and Im turning around to throw a shockwave to shut everyone up.

[Dragaan]

Personally, I find using almost no resil to be the best option. We already have decent survival just by being prot in defensive stance, and we need to use the highest dps/block gear possible in order to burst resil targets down. Recently, I've been trying to figure out whether it's best to keep my pure block value gear on (3200 block unbuffed - block gear gemmed for crit), or drop some of that block for str/crit/arp pieces (neck, ring, cloak, bracers) and run with about 2700bv. With either set I reach the block cap while shield block is active. The pure block set hits a bit harder with slams while block is NOT up and gives a bit more survival from defense, but when I swap in some dps pieces with ArP it adds crit and helps against plate wearers. Still can't figure out which set I like best.

Also, this DR/cap thing on shield slam dmg really isn't bad. I've still hit ppl for 20k with no gimmick buffs on me, and 15k+ is very common. I've even slammed a warrior for 16k.

Edit: Running WG with 10+ stacks of tenacity is the funnest thing in the world as a prot warrior. I just charge/intercept from target to target, and each time i hear the shield slam (clank!) noise I get a killing blow. I once fought 9 horde and 2 siege engines at the same time and was the last one standing with over 60% hp left.

[rljohn]

Personally, I find using almost no resil to be the best option. We already have decent survival just by being prot in defensive stance, and we need to use the highest dps/block gear possible in order to burst resil targets down. Recently, I've been trying to figure out whether it's best to keep my pure block value gear on (3200 block unbuffed - block gear gemmed for crit), or drop some of that block for str/crit/arp pieces (neck, ring, cloak, bracers) and run with about 2700bv. With either set I reach the block cap while shield block is active. The pure block set hits a bit harder with slams while block is NOT up and gives a bit more survival from defense, but when I swap in some dps pieces with ArP it adds crit and helps against plate wearers. Still can't figure out which set I like best.

Also, this DR/cap thing on shield slam dmg really isn't bad. I've still hit ppl for 20k with no gimmick buffs on me, and 15k+ is very common. I've even slammed a warrior for 16k.

Edit: Running WG with 10+ stacks of tenacity is the funnest thing in the world as a prot warrior. I just charge/intercept from target to target, and each time i hear the shield slam (clank!) noise I get a killing blow. I once fought 9 horde and 2 siege engines at the same time and was the last one standing with over 60% hp left.

Shield Slam DR begins at 2400 and ends at 2720. In the current 3.2 patch you will see better steady DPS sitting at 2200-2400 pre-glyph of blocking and gemming strength. Devastate is really a huge damage dealer these days.

[Myrcella]

Do you suggest using a normal tanking weapon for PvProt, or using a slower DPS one-hander?

I realize most people don't view it as the monster it used to be, but it's still crazy fun.

[Magnuss]

Do you suggest using a normal tanking weapon for PvProt, or using a slower DPS one-hander?

I realize most people don't view it as the monster it used to be, but it's still crazy fun.

It is based off of preference and playstyle. I personally stick with fast weapons because I need the white swings for rage on a very regular basis. It also makes killing things like totems very quick and easy. The slow weapon can make your devastates twice as formidable but you risk getting rage starved (even more than normal).

[Blue]

Hah, and here, I thought I was the only one crazy enough to actually target totems, in BG!

I just love the idea that I can "totem step" my way to shammy and give a bit of surprise to 'em (even if I end up dying anyway)!
"What, no little magical crutches? Guess you'll have to use your weapon, then, eh?"
/smile