Protection Warrior Guide — Class Guides · WoW Wrath of the Lich King

The tanking tree: more armour, block and threat from Shield Slam, plus abilities that hold several enemies.

A plate-wearing melee fighter who builds Rage by dealing and taking damage and spends it on attacks, shouts and stances. Warriors tank with a shield in Defensive Stance or deal melee damage with two-handed or dual-wielded weapons. More about the warrior

Class: Warrior
Roles: Tank
Used for: Raids and dungeons
Top talent: Shockwave
Popular builds: 1
Version: WoW Wrath of the Lich King

How to play

Protection in Wrath is a complete tank: Shockwave stuns everything in front of you, Warbringer lets you Charge and Intercept in any stance, Sword and Board resets Shield Slam, Devastate stacks Sunder Armor, Damage Shield hits back when you are struck, and Vigilance cuts damage to an ally.

Threat comes easily from Shield Slam (instant when Sword and Board procs), Revenge and Devastate, with Thunder Clap, Shockwave and Cleave on packs. Bosses no longer land crushing blows, so the job is defense to 540 for crit immunity, then Stamina and avoidance.

Shield Wall, Last Stand, Spell Reflection, Shield Block and Enraged Regeneration give warriors more cooldowns than any other tank.

At a glance

Single-target threat
Holding several enemies
Survivability
Utility for the group
Solo play and leveling
Ease of play

Rated 1 to 5 against the other specs in WoW Wrath of the Lich King.

Rotation and priorities

1Shield Slam whenever it is ready, and at once when Sword and Board procs.
2Revenge whenever it can be used.
3Devastate as filler.
4Thunder Clap and Demoralizing Shout kept on the boss.
5Shockwave and Cleave on packs.
6Heroic Strike with spare Rage; Shield Wall, Last Stand and Shield Block for big hits.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

The most defensive cooldowns of any tank.
Shockwave and Concussion Blow control packs.
Warbringer makes you mobile in every stance.

Weaknesses

Rage depends on taking hits at the start of a fight.
Holding big packs takes more work than for a paladin or death knight.
Slower solo play than other specs.

Stats and gear

Stat priority

Most valuable first. Bars compare each stat with the best one; a cap in the note means the stat drops off once you reach it.

1
Defenseto 540: bosses can't crit you
2
Stamina
3
Dodge and parry
4
Armour
5
Block valueShield Slam damage
6
Expertisethreat

What to look for

Defense to 540 first (689 rating), then Stamina gems and avoidance.
A one-handed weapon and the best shield you can find; block value raises Shield Slam's damage.
Switch some Stamina for expertise and hit on easy fights for more threat.

Items worth chasing

Glyph of IndomitabilityA trinket with defense and a dodge proc.
Corroded Skeleton KeyA trinket with Stamina and an absorb on use.
Sindragosa's Flawless FangA trinket that cuts damage taken on use.
Unidentifiable OrganA Stamina trinket.

Builds

Each bar splits the build's talent points by tree.

Arms
Fury
Protection

Protection Tank
TankPvE
1551
15/5/51
Raid tanking with 51 points in Protection, down to Shockwave, and 15 in Arms and 5 in Fury.
- Warbringer 1/1
- Devastate 1/1
- Sword and Board 3/3
- Damage Shield 2/2
- Shockwave 1/1
Glyphs: Glyph of Blocking (major), Glyph of Vigilance (major), Glyph of Devastate (major), Glyph of Charge (minor), Glyph of Thunder Clap (minor), Glyph of Command (minor)
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting

Key talents

Shockwave · top talent, up to 1
Sends a wave of force in front of the warrior, causing 0 plus 75% of your Attack Power damage (based on attack power) and stunning all enemy targets within 10 yards in a frontal cone for 4 sec.
One-Handed Weapon Specialization · tier 6, up to 5
Increases physical damage you deal when a one-handed melee weapon is equipped by 10%.
Improved Defensive Stance · tier 7, up to 2
While in Defensive Stance all spell damage is reduced by 6% and when you Block, Parry or Dodge an attack you have a 100% chance to become Enraged, increasing Physical damage caused by 10% for 12 sec.
Vigilance · tier 7, up to 1
Focus your protective gaze on a group or raid target, reducing their damage taken by 3% and transfers 10% of the threat they cause to you. In addition, each time they are hit by an attack your Taunt cooldown is refreshed. Lasts 30 min. This effect can only be on one target at a time.
Vitality · tier 8, up to 3
Increases your total Strength by 6%, Stamina by 9% and your Expertise by 6.
Warbringer · tier 9, up to 1
Your Charge, Intercept and Intervene abilities are now usable while in combat and in any stance. In addition, your Intervene ability will remove all movement impairing effects.
Devastate · tier 9, up to 1
Sunder the target's armor causing the Sunder Armor effect. In addition, causes 120% of weapon damage plus 58 for each application of Sunder Armor on the target. The Sunder Armor effect can stack up to 5 times.
Critical Block · tier 9, up to 3
Your successful blocks have a 60% chance to block double the normal amount and increases your chance to critically hit with your Shield Slam ability by an additional 15%.
Sword and Board · tier 10, up to 3
Increases the critical strike chance of your Devastate ability by 15% and when your Devastate or Revenge ability deals damage it has a 30% chance of refreshing the cooldown of your Shield Slam ability and reducing its cost by 100% for 5 sec.
Damage Shield · tier 10, up to 2
Whenever you take damage from or block a melee attack you cause damage equal to 20% of your block value.

Protection abilities by level

When each ability arrives: trained abilities at the level a trainer first teaches them, talent abilities (gold frame) at the first level the talent can be taken.