This topic was originally posted by Ankarar

Greetings everybody, today I am going to post about Protection Warrior!, one of the most underestimated spec for PvP.

First of all you should know that this role is NOT only for flag carrier or defend bases. In this role you are going to be reducing the damage of your enemies, and supporting your allies with some stuff you will have. And of course you will have a good damage.

In this guide you will find:

Talents, Glyphs, Stat Priority, Rotation, Tips.

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So lets start out with the talents:

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- Protection Talent Tree -

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- Incite -

This is really good for your damage. This should be 3/3.

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Here you will decide between Toughness 2/3, or Blood and Thunder 2/2.
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- Toughness -

This will give you more armor, but since armor only works against physical attacks, it should be 2/3

- Blood and Thunder -

Excellent for spreading damage to multiple enemies and refreshing Rend, so you don't have to Rend in order to reset it's duration. 2/2

- Shield Specialization -

Good for generating Rage. 3/3

- Shield Mastery -

Extra survivavility and reduced cooldowns is always welcome. 3/3

- Hold the Line -

This is great against any melee or anybody who dares to hit your blade, the critical chance boost granted by this talent will be really helpful. 2/2

- Gag Order -

This is a must-have talent, Ranged Silence for the win. 2/2

- Last Stand -

Not so interesting since you have Rallying Cry. 0/1

- Concussion Blow -

Another must-have talent, no explanation needed. 1/1

- Bastion of Defense -

Survivavility and damage. Approved. 2/2

- Warbringer -

Definitely. 1/1

- Improved Revenge -

Good damage boost for this particular ability, and becomes splash damage. 2/2

- Devastate -

No cooldown, applies Sunder Armor, and does damage!. 1/1

- Impending Victory -

Very powerful and helpful self-healing in the most though situations. This also saves you some Rage since Victory Rush doesn't cost Rage at all. 2/2

- Thunderstruck -

Mix this with Blood and Thunder. Pure ownage. 2/2

- Vigilance -

Vengeance granted by this talent is not applied in PvP. 0/1

- Heavy Repercussions -

The core talent for Protection's huge crits. Mix with Shield Mastery to enable this more often. 2/2

- Safeguard -

This seems helpful on battlegrounds and arenas, but not enough talent points. 0/2

- Sword and Board -

Another must-have talent, since you will be using Devastate a lot, this will boost it's crit, has a chance to refresh the cooldown of Shield Slam, and causes it to cost no Rage!. 3/3

- Shockwave -

No explanation needed too. 1/1

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- Fury Talent Tree -

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- Blood Craze -

Good self-healing, but not enough talents. 0/3

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Here you will decide between Battle Trance 3/3, Cruelty 2/2 (Battle Trance 1/3). Or Second Wind 2/2 (Battle Trance 1/3).
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- Battle Trance -

A lot of Protection Warriors have trouble with the Rage generation, but don't worry anymore, this is the solution. 3/3

- Cruelty -

This helps to get those huge Shield Slam crits more often. 2/2

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- Arms Talent Tree -

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- War Academy -

Devastate and Victory Rush damage boost. Mix with Impending Victory and you will not have trouble to kill enemies. 3/3

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Here you will decide between Field Dressing, or Blitz.
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- Field Dressing -

Mix with Impending Victory for pure ownage. 2/2

- Blitz -

If you have trouble generating Rage at start, this will help, and Charge stun also affects nearby targets. 2/2

- Tactical Mastery -

Helps a lot to not lose Rage when switching stances. 1/2

- Second Wind -

Health and Rage generation. Approved. 2/2

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Ok, now lets get started with the Glyphs:

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- Prime Glyphs -

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Just take all Protection glyphs (Shield Slam, Revenge and Devastate).

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- Major Glyphs -

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- Glyph of Victory Rush -

Mix with Impending Victory and Field Dressing talents. Damn that's some good healing over there.

- Glyph of Resonating Power -

Since you will be using Thunder Clap very often, you will need to reduce it's Rage cost.

- Glyph of Shockwave -

More often Shockwaves.

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- Minor Glyphs -

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- Glyph of Enduring Victory -

Increased duration of Victory Rush and Impending Victory talent.

- Glyph of Battle -

Increased duration of Battle Shout.

- Glyph of Command -

Increased duration of Commanding Shout.

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Now lets begin with the Stat Priority.

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Expertise 5% > Hit 5% > Strength > Critical > Mastery

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- Gems -

- Meta -

should be Strength and 3% Critical damage bonus.

- Red -

should be Strength.

- Purple -

should be Strength and Stamina.

- Orange -

should be Strength and Critical.

- Reforge -

Reforge Mastery and other useless stats such as Haste into Critical.

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And now the Rotation:

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- Beginning -



Charge -> Rend -> Thunder Clap -> Devastate -> Shield Slam

- Regular -



Devastate -> Thunder Clap -> Devastate -> Shield Block -> Shield Slam (3 stacks of Devastate) -> Concussion Blow -> Thunder Clap -> Devastate -> Shield Slam -> Shockwave (3 stacks of Thunderstruck).

- One Shot -



Battle Shout (more Rage to start) -> Charge -> Shield Block -> Berserker Stance -> Colossus Smash -> Recklessness + DPS Trinket -> Shield Slam -> Kaboom

Tips:

- Applying Colossus Smash to your rotation will considerably increase your damage.

- Shield Slam dispels a magic effect.

- Use Charge every time it is available to prevent the Rage starved problem.

- Do not use your stuns very often or they will receive the diminishing returns effect (reduced duration of stuns).

- Use Heroic Strike when you have 75 or more Rage, doing this before will cause the Rage starved problem.

- Use Heroic Strike whenever Battle Trance procs (do not follow this when you have 15 Rage or less).

- Heroic Strike hits slighty harder than Devastate while using One Shot.

- Revenge ability helps you to save a lot of Rage.

I hope you enjoy playing Protection Warrior. ;)