Hello friends! My name is Noobert or as some of you may know me, Incarael, from the guild <Care> on Sargeras. I have decided to make a guide showing you the potential of the forever underestimated tank on Molten -- a Protection Warrior. I have been tanking with a Warrior since The Burning Crusade on retail, to Molten's WotLK on Ragnaros and then into Cataclysm on Sargeras and I can tell it is one of my most favorite and exciting classes to play because of how mobile it is at tanking, surviving, and throw out damage. Many other tanks specialize in one aspect, but we specialize in all aspects.
This guide will show you the potential of a Warrior as well as the versatility, abilities, mobility, and power it can bring to a raid. I consider this Tank to be one of the best available in World of Warcraft, but as I have said -- due to bugs on Molten this class, is forever underplayed and underestimated. Hopefully this guide will show you otherwise and maybe create a few more Protection Warriors out there who share my love for this class.
- Talent Tree
- Glyphs
- Stat Priority
- Gemming and Enchanting
- Reforging
- Rotation
- Combat Table Coverage (CTC)
- BiS List - Non-Donor, Donor, and End Game
- Professions
- Macros
- Skill Knowledge
- Credits
This is the talent tree I currently use. I will explain everything below.
<The url will update when the site works>.
Due to the recent fixes Molten implemented for the MiT Tournament, they have fixed a few talents enabling the use of them again.
Incite 3/3 was taken to enable faster killing of Alysrazor Hatchlings in Heroic mode.
Shield Specialization 3/3 was taken after the fix to obtain maximized rage generation.
Blood and Thunder 2/2 in combination with Thunderstruck 2/2 was taken for Ragnaros' Molten Elementals.
Impending Victory 2/2 dropped for maximizing of Incite and Shield Specialization in Heroic encounters.
Deep Wounds 1/3 taken over Blood Craze 1/3 for a bit of extra damage on Voracious Hatchlings.
<The url will update when the site works>.
The only difference from the above and here is Deep Wounds 1/3 was dropped for Blood Craze 1/3 for an extra boost of health regeneration. You can rotate more talents from Incite (dropping to 2/3) and War Academy (2/3) if you do not need damage, to other talents such as Blood Craze 3/3.
<The url will update when the site works>.
As you can see I have chosen to take more damage output but you can maximize damage output or rotate in the health regeneration from Blood Craze. This is a talent specialization based around regeneration and kiting. An example would be on the Spine of Deathwing, Madness of Deathwing and Ragnaros, where you can slow the Corrupted Bloods as well as the Molten Elementals making the kiting and slowing process much smoother.
Prime Glyphs:
Glyph of Shield Slam
Glyph of Revenge
Glyph of Devastate
Major Glyphs:
Glyph of Shockwave
Glyph of Cleaving
Glyph of Thunderclap
Minor Glyphs:
Glyph of Command
Glyph of Battle
Glyph of Demoralizing Shout
This section will explain and show you the stat priority you will aim for as a Protection Warrior.
Mastery > Parry > Dodge > Stamina > Hit/Expertise
The reason you wish for this priority is so your damage intake is smooth with no spiking and you can mitigate as much damage as possible, since stamina soaking is not as effective in 4.3 -- it will be explained further in the Combat Table Coverage section below.
Meta Gem:
Eternal Shadowspirit Diamond (81 Stamina and 1% Shield Block Value)
Other Possibilities:
Effulgent Shadowspirit Diamond (81 Stamina and Reduce Spell Damage Taken by 2%) - I highly recommend this for heavy magic damage fights like Alysrazor.
Austere Shadowspirit Diamond (81 Stamina and 2% Increased Armor Value from Items)
Pre-Dragon Soul Gems:
Red - Fine Ember Topaz (20 Parry Rating and 20 Mastery Rating)
Yellow - Fractured Amberjewel (40 Mastery Rating)
Blue - Puissant Dream Emerald (20 Mastery Rating and 30 Stamina)
Other Possibilities:
Red - Defender's Demonseye (20 Parry Rating and 30 Stamina)
Yellow - Regal Dream Emerald (20 Dodge Rating and 37 Stamina)
Blue - Defender's Demonseye (20 Parry Rating and 30 Stamina)
Dragon Soul Gems:
Red - Fine Lava Coral (25 Parry Rating and 25 Mastery Rating)
Yellow - Fractured Lightstone (50 Mastery Rating)
Blue - Puissant Elven Peridot (25 Mastery Rating and 37 Stamina)
Other Possibilities:
Red - Stalwart Lava Coral (25 Parry Rating and 25 Dodge Rating) ** NOTE: The lesser version was removed from the game **
Yellow - Regal Elven Peridot (25 Dodge Rating and 37 Stamina)
Blue - Defender's Shadow Spinel (25 Parry Rating and 37 Stamina)
Enchants:
Head - Arcanum of the Earthen Ring (90 Stamina and 35 Dodge Rating)
Shoulders - Greater Inscription of Unbreakable Quartz (75 Stamina and 25 Dodge Rating)
Chest - Enchant Chest - Peerless Stats (20 Stats)
Back - Enchant Cloak - Protection (250 Armor)
Wrist - Enchant Bracer - Major Stamina (40 Stamina)
Gloves - Enchant Gloves - Greater Mastery (65 Mastery Rating)
Belt - Ebonsteel Belt Buckle (Extra Socket)
Legs - Drakehide Leg Armor (145 Stamina and 55 Dodge Rating)
Feet - Enchant Boots - Lavawalker (35 Mastery and Movement Speed Increase) OR Enchant Boots - Mastery (50 Mastery) OR Enchant Boots - Earthen Vitality (30 Stamina and Movement Speed Increase)
Weapon - Enchant Weapon - Windwalk (Sometimes increase Dodge Rating and Movement Speed)
Shield - Enchant Shield - Mastery (50 Mastery Rating)
There are two possibilities of your reforging, Mastery or balancing out your Parry/Dodge Rating. Mastery is more valuable to you and should always be chosen first as it gives more CTC to you as a tank than Parry or Dodge ever will. Mastery helps smooth over the damage you will take from each hit so you do not take spike damage like Death Knights or Feral Druids.
This topic will discuss the skill priority for rotations, enabling you to maintain the highest level of threat. One point of advice I can give you though is - learn the capabilities of your tank and learn how many cooldowns you will need to survive. Do not EVER use all of your cooldowns at once as it leaves you completely unable to survive should the time arise where you need it most.
Single Target Threat Generation:
Heroic Leap/Charge > Shield Slam > Devastate x3 > Revenge > Shockwave > Thunderclap/Demoralizing Shout.
Queue up Heroic Strike if you are not rage starved.
Area of Effect Threat Generation:
Heroic Leap/Charge > Rend one target > Thunderclap > Shockwave > Demoralizing Shout.
Queue up Cleave if you are not rage starved.
** IMPORTANT NOTE ** If you having trouble with threat, use Vigilance on the highest damaging player in your raid or the opposing tank as it will enable you to refresh your taunt with each hit he or she takes. Another way to use Vigilance is if your taunt is down, a newly spawned mob is running to a player - you can throw Vigilance on that target, taunt it off, and put it back onto another target if required.
Combat Table Coverage, otherwise known as CTC, is how close a tank is to becoming unhittable. The goal is to make sure every hit is either an inherent dodge (every character has 5% dodge chance, regardless of class or spec), dodge, parry, and block. After everything is taken into account, armor comes last further mitigating the overall damage you will take.
All tanks in Cataclysm should aim for 102.4% CTC because with each level ahead of you the bosses are they gain 0.8% chance to hit you. All raid bosses have three levels on you meaning they will have a total of (0.8 x 3) 2.4% hit chance on you. 100% + 2.4% = 102.4% total CTC needed to become almost completely unhittable.
CTC = 5 [5% Inherent Dodge] + (Your Dodge Rating) + (Your Parry Rating) + (Your Block Rating)
Credit goes to Wolololol for the CTC breakdown.
Non-Donor BiS List:
Head - Baleroc Heroic - Helm of Blazing Glory
Neck - Crystallized Firestone - Firebound Gorget
Shoulders - Majordomo Staghelm Heroic - Shoulderguards of the Molten Giant
Chest - Alysrazor Heroic - Chestguard of the Molten Giant
Back - Avengers of Hyjal Reputation - Durable Flamewrath Greatcloak
Wrist - Majordomo Staghelm Heroic - Bracers of the Fiery Path
Gloves - Baleroc - Handguards of the Molten Giant
Belt - Shannox Heroic - Uncrushable Belt of Fury
Legs - Shannox Heroic - Legguards of the Molten Giant
Feet - Blacksmith Crafted - Mirrored Boots
Weapon - Beth'tilac Heroic - Mandible of Beth'tilac
Shield - Baleroc Heroic - Shard of Torment
Ranged Weapon - Crystallized Firestone - Deflecting Star
Ring #1 - Avengers of Hyjal Reputation - Adamantine Signet of the Avengers
Ring #2 - Justice Point Vendor - Deflecting Brimstone Band
Trinket #1 - Beth'tilac Heroic - Spidersilk Spindle
Trinket #2 - Crystallized Firestone - Scales of Life
** If you are looking for a Normal Mode BiS - All of the items above are currently best-in-slot normal but there are other variants that can be just as good or better depending on the stats you need.
Trinkets are based off of your own preference, the current best ones available in normal mode are:
Spidersilk Spindle from Beth'tilac.
Stay of Execution from Avengers of Hyjal reputation.
Scales of Life from Firelands Trash.
Donor BiS List:
Head - Colossal Dragonplate Faceguard
Neck - Guardspike Choker *
Shoulders - Colossal Dragonplate Shoulderguards
Chest - Colossal Dragonplate Chestguard
Back - Indefatigable Greatcloak *
Wrist - Graveheart Bracers
Gloves - Colossal Dragonplate Handguards
Belt - Goriona's Collar
Legs - Colossal Dragonplate Legguards
Feet - Stillheart Warboots
Weapon - Mandible of Beth'tilac ** NOTE: This can only be obtained from Beth'tilac **
Shield - Blackhorn's Mighty Bulwark
Ranged Weapon - Unexpected Backup
Ring #1 - Hardheart Ring
Ring #2 - Signet of the Resolute *
Trinket #1 - Soulshifter Vortex
Trinket #2 - Indomitable Pride
* These items linked from WoWHead are the normal level of stats as there are no raid finder levels listed, check the coin shop for the correct stats.
End-Game BiS List:
Head - Colossal Dragonplate Faceguard
Neck - Guardspike Choker *
Shoulders - Colossal Dragonplate Shoulderguards
Chest - Colossal Dragonplate Chestguard
Back - Indefatigable Greatcloak *
Wrist - Graveheart Bracers
Gloves - Colossal Dragonplate Handguards
Belt - Goriona's Collar
Legs - Foundations of Courage * OR Colossal Dragonplate Legguards
Feet - Stillheart Warboots
Weapon - Souldrinker
Shield - Blackhorn's Mighty Bulwark
Ranged Weapon - Unexpected Backup
Ring #1 - Hardheart Ring
Ring #2 - Signet of the Resolute *
Trinket #1 - Soulshifter Vortex
Trinket #2 - Resolve of Undying
On a high magic damage fight you can use the trinkets:
Soulshifter Vortex and the Indomitable Pride.
** Note ** All of the above items are Heroic quality except the noted above with a * above.
* These items linked from WoWHead are the normal level of stats as there are no Heroic levels listed.
These are the benefits to our class, choose which one you think is the most beneficial to you.
Alchemy - 80 Strength but this is not very useful to us.
Blacksmithing - Two extra gem sockets.
Enchanting - Two ring enchants equalling a total of 120 stamina.
Engineering - Grounded Plasma Shield (Absorbs 16200 to 19800 Damage - 5 Minute Cooldown), Quickflip Deflection Plates (1500 armor for 12 seconds - 1 Minute Cooldown), Spinal Healing Injector (27K to 30K Healing to Yourself - Shares Cooldown with Potions), or Synapse Springs (480 of your highest priority stat - 1 Minute Cooldown).
Herbalism - 480 Haste for 20 seconds, 2 Minute Cooldown.
Inscription - 195 Stamina, 25 Dodge Rating
Jewelcrafting - 27 (or 41 Stamina) stats per gem, maximum of three gems, which equals 81 bonus stats or 123 Stamina.
Leatherworking - 192 Stamina to Bracers.
Mining - 120 Stamina.
Skinning - 80 Critical Strike Rating.
Tailoring - 800 Attack Power for 15 seconds.
Personally, I would choose hard stat bonuses such as Jewelcrafting, and Blacksmithing. Since Shoulder Enchants are currently bugged on Molten, you can even take Inscription to cover the loss of the enchant that most people suffer.
These are just some macros I have developed to help increase my ability as a tank. There are many more out there, but these are just the ones I use.
#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover] Vigilance
If you mouse over a player in-game or on raid frames and hit this macro, it will put Vigilance on that target.
#showtooltip
/cast [@targetoftarget] Intervene
This macro will Intervene the target of the player, or the mob you are targeting.
#showtooltip
/cast [target=focus] Intervene
This enables you to have more Intervene macros.
/script SetCVar ("cameraDistancemax" ,50)
This is the max camera distance macro and it will help you be more aware of what is going on around you as well as help position the boss correctly.
/script RepopMe()
If you ever get stuck falling the world or unable to release - use this macro. It will save your unstuck on the website to enable you to hunt more pets efficiently.
Every skill in the Warrior spellbook is useful, even right down to the most unused talents. Do not forget to go through your book and read the use of every skill as it will improve your ability to play a Protection Warrior ten fold.
Concussion Blow - 5 Second Stun with high damage output. It can be used to stun mobs that need to be delayed from casting (if stunnable) as well as stopping mobs like Alysrazor's Initiates from igniting her.
Devastate - High threat attack, applies or refreshes Sunder Armor and a low rage cost.
Revenge - Usable after a successful block, parry, or dodge costing only 5 Rage and hitting two targets (if specced).
Shield Block - Shield Block increases the chance to block by 25% for 10 seconds, and if specced into - reduces the magic damage taken by 20% for 6 seconds.
Intervene - Friendly version of charge and if used on somebody, it will reduce their total threat by 10% as well as allow you to take one attack for them.
Shield Slam - Huge threat generation ability as well as dispels one magic effect on the target.
Last Stand - This will increase your health pool by 30% for 20 seconds.
Shield Wall - This skill reduces the damage you take by 40% for 12 seconds. Once you obtain Tier 13, this will also effect the entire raid.
Shockwave - Frontal Area of Effect stun for 4 seconds.
Rallying Cry - Increases the raid members health by 20% for 10 seconds.
Victory Rush - Heals 24% of your current health (or if specced into with a proc 10% of your total health).
Pummel - This is our only hard interrupt, use it wisely.
Inner Rage - Many people forget about this skill, but it helps with area of effect tanking as well as single target tanking if used on cooldown.
Enraged Regeneration - Heals 36% of your total health over 10 seconds. Combine this with Last Stand or Rallying Cry for an even greater effect.
Thunderclap - The highest Area of Effect generation skill and in Dragon Soul it will save your life on Spine/Madness of Deathwing as it reduces time between attacks by 20% for all mobs under its effect.
This completes the guide. Thank you for reading and I hope you will learn as much as I did while making this guide.
If you are going to learn anything from this guide, remember that a tank is only as good as the player controlling it. If you want to tank, you have to strive to be the best available because you control the raid and if you are unable to maneuver, adapt, etc. you will be unable to progress.
I hope you enjoyed the guide and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did typing it. If you have any questions, comments, etc. I will happily answer them as I see them.
Noobert
Originally, Wolololol refused to create my banners and this is what I had come up with. I feel I am an amazing artist.
Credit goes to..
Wolololol for taking pity on me and making the Banners and Headers again and my guildies on <Care> for the support and dedication to make me a better player and person.
Check out the other guides written by myself, and members of Care!
[Guide] 4.3 Protection Paladin
[Guide] 4.3 Holy Priest
[Guide] 4.3 Elemental Shaman
[Guide] 4.3 Shadow Priest
[Guide] 4.3 Survival Hunter
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Member
[Guide] PvE Protection Warrior 4.3.4
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Member
MY Gnome tank approves this guide
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Member
Time to spec protection for my OS.
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Member
The banner looks as if it's an Arms Warrior guide :(
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Member
More like a dwarf retribution paladin, to be honest. Very nice guide. :D
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Member
Best prot. warr guide i ever seen. Big +1 !
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Member
Great guide with a good explanation. Not my choice of talents though :)
Is it just me or that paint banner somehow resembles Dark Souls? :D
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Member
Which would you pick?
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Member
Simply a few changes. Instead of maxing out War Academy I take Blitz, this way your opener gives you rage and has an useful stun. VYou can still get to the next tier of talents with Blitz. I don't use Impending Victory talent unless I respec for a really hard fight, my healers overheal me for too much already xP
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Member
If you take Blitz, it is a one time thing or a very rarely used ability where as Blitz is a constant threat generator as well as a passive.
You do not want Blitz especially for stunning mobs, especially on a boss like Ragnaros due to the stun diminishing return making a 5 second stun from Concussion Blow a 3 second or less.
Every progression raid for your guild will be a 'really hard fight'. If you watch the Ragnaros video I recently tanked, it saved my life (yes I do click). Healers may overheal you but there will always be situations where you need a heal and that 10K+ Heal will save you - this is why Death Knights are the best single-target tank. The video of the situation is below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS7UzVCRLQo&t=8m50s
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Member
good read....
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Banned
Hai, Noobert! It's good to see old guildies on the forum :3
The guide is nice and stuff, but Impending Victory is bad, no matter how you look at it - a total waste of 2 TPs. I cannot imagine a situation, where 5% of my max health would matter. If I have already used my Last Stand & ER, then the ****'s already gone down the river. And if the boss is under 25%, then it's a kill anyway. The talent may be useful in progression runs, where people wipe a lot and are generally having a hard time, but I can't imagine another situation, where it'd save my life. I'd rather finish Incite 3/3 and Shield Specialization 3/3. Don't know what bug are you talking about though. Still, there are far more valuable talents than Impending Victory. I watched the video and... well, it's pretty funny - that's all I'm gonna say.
Blood and Thunder is also a pretty weak talent and only considerable in AoE situations (which don't matter, really). I used to like that talent myself too, but I changed my mind after researching & reading stuff on the Internet (EJ). Thunderstruck does the AoE job pretty well and is well worth the 2 TPs, compared to Blood and Thunder.
At the end you're gonna have 3 spare TPs to play around with.
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Member
Who are you? This I must know. Your forum picture looks familiar.
I understand there are 3 points to move around as you please, however, I thought those would be the best choice due to 5% HP/sec > Low Bleed damage. As for Blood and Thunder, I think it is detrimental for phases where adds must be burned down (eg: Ragnaros, Spine, and Madness) and when you can add a huge burst of damage from the Rend Thunderclap combination, allowing you to gain stacks for Thunderstruck so you can drop a 40K+ Shockwave - why wouldn't you want it? :P
The guide was made off my personal opinion but it doesn't mean you have to use it. I know I will not follow my own guide for certain encounters, as I will change skills around to benefit the raid. I know Piercing Howl will be in my Spine of Deathwing/Madness of Deathwing build.
Shield Specialization is bugged and does not generate the correct amount of Rage per block or Shield Reflect. I reported the bug a while ago on the bug tracker regarding it.
As for the Incite, you do not need a 100% Heroic Strike Critical Hit probably due to the raid buffs as well as hidden critical strike will almost make it 100% as is, allowing you a free point to use anywhere you need.
As for the video, yes it is hilarious but it was our first kill and we were learning. :P
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Banned
Not sure if you'll remember me, it's been a very long time. I'm Urukago. I used to be the best Demonology Warlock on Ragnaros back at the time (as you can see, BiS pre-HC gear; before HC mode was opened). I raided WotLK mainly with European Raiding, but also with other guilds, including Care. I moved to Cata half a year after its release because Molten just stopped supporting WotLK and because Cata had received enough fixes to make it playable.
I checked the Bug Report and voted it up, but it only mentions Spell Reflect rage gain. You rarely even use SR in raid conditions, even more now with its cooldown being half a minute, so you'd still get the talent for the rage gain off blocks. Rage gets more of an issue the higher your gear is, as your avoidance is quite high and rage gains from damage taken were nerfed hard in Cata.
Regarding Blood and Thunder, Rend does very low damage for Prot for 2 main reasons: 1) it scales off weapon damage, which is low for Prot; 2) it scales off attack power, which is low for Prot. Sure, it's cool watching all those targets bleed, but the threat generated is only worth the 2 TPs in a heavy AoE situation.
And then we come to Thunderstruck. You said "I think it is detrimental for phases where adds must be burned down [...] and when you can add a huge burst of damage from the Rend Thunderclap combination, allowing you to gain stacks for Thunderstruck so you can drop a 40K+ Shockwave". Rend doesn't really do any burst and Thunder Clapping a group of mobs will immediately grant you max stacks of Thunderstruck for that huge Shockwave. Thunderstruck also increases the damage of Thunder Clap itself and of Cleave. My point is that Thunderstruck is a much more valuable talent than Blood and Thunder and you could skip Blood and Thunder and maybe put those last 3 TPs into it.
Incite increases HS's crit chance by 5/10/15%, so you can't have HS to always crit, really, even with all the raid buffs & auras. The other thing is that even with 1/3 Incite, the next HS after the proc will be a guaranteed crit, so that's another point why raid buffs & auras are not very relevant to the second part of this talent.
Here is a quote, regarding Impending Victory: "Impending Victory: Awkward talent with limited benefit even under ideal conditions. 5% healing is not very significant, 20% target health window doesn't encompass much of most encounters, inconsistent proc chance means it can't be relied upon to use reactively, and requires a significant DPS loss to activate. Simply isn't worth the points."
At the end, this is the talent build, which I'd suggest. I can't really find a place for the last TP, because everything else is just bad, even more so with 1 TP. I guess it'll go into either Deep Wounds or Drums of War.
This is the EJ Cata guide. This is the base, from which I've researched, read & learned about Cata Prot Warrs.
Cheers ^_^
P.S. Regarding professions, since you only mentioned the benefits without rating them: until epic gems are released, the best combination would be BS + JC. After the epic gems are released, the reduced difference between them and the JC gems makes BS + Ench the best combination.
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Member
It sounds very familiar, but I do not recall it.
The 15 Rage for 3/3 Shield Specialization works now, but it is not detrimental - especially when you are tanking a raid boss. You will never be out of rage so having a talent that is more beneficial like Blood Craze is still more beneficial.
If you Rend and Thunderclap, it does an insane amount of damage as well as threat - in fact, it enabled me to do around 60K DPS on two trash pulls in Firelands. This talent choice is your own personal decision but I prefer to take it as it is free and instant threat generation and does extra damage, especially to burn down Ragnaros adds. I noticed it was harder to maintain AoE threat without the talent versus a Survival Hunter/Fire Mage and that is why I took it.
As for Heroic Strike, I was speaking about the proc and not the actual chance of it. Critical Strike Rating is very bugged on Molten and I crit so often (even when I had 2% Crit) it does not matter to me.
It is not inconsistent, not for myself, and it has saved me or bought enough time for Healers to save myself in a raid scenario. To be quite honest, there are certain talents you can take as mandatory and the rest are just open for your own choices -- those are the defensive ones making the Offensive ones your entire choice.
I did not rate them but I gave the two choices I would prefer, which are the best available. I could word it better but I was exhausted at the time -- I still have to touch it up a bit.
You have to remember that Molten is not retail, so Elitist Jerks can only be taken so far. As I said - this is my own personal opinion and what works for me. :P
You can use it or you can change it, this guide is mostly for the newer population as well.
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