Despite what some nabs in soloq may tell you, protection warrior is a completely viable and extremely fun spec in WOTLK pvp in both arena’s and BG’s. I’m still learning prot warrior, but i’ve been to 2k mmr in 2v2 and am really writing this guide for the novices, since the other guide’s I found were very dated, and to crystalize my thoughts and hopefully improve my own gameplay. Prot warrior relies on running almost (or 100%) PVE gear to deal insane amounts of burst damage with so much lockdown you can 100–0 fully geared players before they get out of CC. Your natural defensive abilities and insane amounts of block / armor / CC / pressure keep you alive. I’ll start this guide by linking the GOATS of prot warrior as some evidence of the spec’s viability, for the non-believers.
Lurker: https://armory.warmane.com/character...ckrock/summary
Panky: https://armory.warmane.com/character...ckrock/summary
Playboicarti: https://armory.warmane.com/character...ckrock/summary
This spec is very gear reliant as the t10 2 set bonus and extremely high amounts of armor penetration are what enables the insane burst in a tank spec. You can still pilot it to relatively high ratings with poor gear, but gear makes a MASSIVE difference in terms of how you will play and how effective you will be. It isn’t like mage where you can be a CC bot for your partner with full furious gear and still win arenas.
GEAR: Armor penetration. Get 100%. This is your most important stat and gives you the highest damage boost out of everything. Priority is: Armor penetration -> Strength -> Crit, everything else. Some other guides will insist block value is the most important stat since it gives you fat shield slam’s but this is simply not the case. No protection warrior above 1700 is running block value I promise you.
There are three builds that are all extremely similar, which you choose will depend on whether you’re doing 3v3 or 2v2, and personal preference. The build I have listed below is the 0 resilience build, this is MAX damage. The next build common in 2v2 runs about 300 resilience, swapping the legplates of aetheric strife for wrathful legplates, the chest / shoulder / head enchants for AP + resilience, and any strength gems for resilience gems. The 3v3 is the 2v2 resilience build + 1 more wrathful piece (either head or chest, you need to keep the t10 prot 2 set bonus).
BIS:
HEAD: Sanctified Ymirjar Lord's Helmet
NECK: Penumbra Pendant
SHOULDERS: Sanctified Ymirjar Lord’s Pauldrons
BACK: Vereesa’s Dexterity
CHEST: Sanctified Ymirjar Lord’s Battleplate
WRIST: Toskk’s Maximized Wristguards
GLOVES: Sanctified Ymirjar Lord’s Handguards
BELT: Coldwraith Links
LEGS: Legplates of Aetheric Strife
Boots: Apocalypse’s Advance
RING 1: Frostbrood Sapphire Ring
RING 2: Might of Blight
Trinket 1: Sharpened Twilight Scale
Trinket 2: Deathbringer’s Will
Weapon: Havoc’s Call, blade of lordaeron kings
Shield: Icecrown Glacial Wall
Bow: Fal’inrush, Defender of Quel’thalas
GEMS: ARMOR PENETRATION, gem this until you have 100% armor penetration. You go blacksmithing and jewelcrafting just to get more armor penetration. After 100% armor penetration, you can gem either Resilience or Strength depending on your build.
PROFESSIONS: Blacksmithing and Jewelcrafting
Talents:
With vigilance: https://armory.warmane.com/character...ckrock/talents
Without vigilance: https://armory.warmane.com/character...ckrock/talents
Glyphs:
Glyph of Blocking
Glyph of Devastate
Glyph of Heroic Strike (max burst/dmg with enough crit), OR Glyph of shockwave (better for control), OR Glyph of Spell Reflection better v casters and cc spam
2v2 Comps:
Protection Warrior + Restoration Druid:
Probably the strongest 2v2 comp for protection warrior, you use double shockwaves and stuns to protect cyclone casts and out-tempo opponents by constantly swapping on cyclones preventing both opponents from ever reaching full HP and eventually bursting them down
Protection Warrior + Enhancement Shaman:
Very fast paced comp with amazing burst, decent sustain and 2 very complementary classes. Features 2 undispellable (ik rdudu’s but still) 9 second CC’s which can win tons of games. The lack of heal cut / healing from the prot is something to be aware of.
Protection Warrior + BM Hunter:
Most suicidal all-in comp in the game. Seems like a “for-fun” comp but Panky (referenced above) managed to get 2400 with this and it is my personal favorite protection warrior comp since it is SO fast paced, the games only last 10 seconds, the burst is unrivaled, plus you get a freedom and a heal cut which is NASTY for protection.
3v3 Comps:
African Turtle Cleave (ATC): MM + Prot + Hpal
S tier 3v3 comp, MM provides CC and heal cut, Hpal gives dispels, freedoms, and can often survive long enough 1v2 to let the Prot + MM train the healer.
Mancleave: Awarr + Prot Warrior + Hpal
A tier 3v3 comp, **** strategy, bum rush something squishy and destroy them.
This concludes my general overview of prot pvp, if people want more specific info like combo’s/playstyle/strategies let me know, I will expand this if there is any interest.
Have fun playing the manliest class in the game!
I've got some time so i'll do my best to update this, apologies if any of this was already said. Not quite sure how to organize tips & tricks so i'll just list stuff off as it comes to mind.
TIPS & TRICKS:
General:
Disarm: If you are vs 2 caster's or don't need disarm to mitigate damage in arena, use disarm on your kill target. The 10% dmg buff for you and your partner makes a big difference and if they don't have a weapon chain it will last a full 10 seconds, well worth a GCD.
Intervene: Gets you out of roots/slows and reduces damage taken by your ally by 30% for 6 seconds, this is HUGE. ALso intervening to an ally, then using heroic throw to silence and recharging your target is an extra ~ 3 seconds of CC and protects your partner. You can also intervene + spell reflect to reflect things like a feral instant cyclone or a polymorph or whatever when they are out of the 20 yard reflect range. Intervene, charge, and intercept are all off the GCD so you can do this extremely fast.
Heroic Throw: Can be used as an interrupt vs many classes, also GOES THROUGH DETERRENCE. The amount of hunters i've executed with heroic throw when they are in deterr is comical. VS Mages, use heroic throw and charge at the same time so they can't blink the charge stun, this will force block 9 times out of 10.
Shockwave: Always go for the double shockwave in 2v2, it is often worth holding it an extra second or 2 to stun both opponents. Also vs warlocks/hunters, if you shockwave both them & their pet, you can instantly swap to their pet as the shockwave will take out like 50% or more of the pet HP instantly.
Shield Block: Both burst CD & defensive, use your best judgement on when to use. With shield block up vs melee's, revenge will proc on CD amplifying your damage massively and reducing the damage you take. I personally macro shield slam to shield block since shield block is off the gcd and you pretty much always want to follow up shield block with shield slam since it doubles the damage.
Shield Bash: Usually better used as a silence than a kick. Chain it with concussion blow + shockwave for ~ 7 seconds of cc. It is off the GCD so it is very easy to chain.
Thunder Clap: Use this when you are slightly out of range of your other abilities or when you need to do anything you can to reduce incoming dmg. Also good vs snake trap & mirror images.
Demoralizing Shout: The range on this is dog**** for prot warrs, attempting to shout out rogs is almost always a waste of bloodrage.
Intimidating Shout: Macro stopattack to intimidating shout as any damage will break it (including deep wounds bleed).
Spell reflection: Get an addon (i prefer weakauras) to alert you when ferals have instant cast up, then press it. Below 2k they will cyc themselves every time and it is very funny. Can also be used to block freezing trap on yourself / allies which is very valuable. Teammates do not need to be in LoS to get the spell reflect. VS SPri, spell reflect the second before they get out of your stun chain and they will very often psychic horror themselves.
Hamstring: Some prot warrs use this, I do not. Some that are better than me do, some that are better than me don't. Up to your playstyle.
Heroic Strike: Use when you are being targeted or when you are above 75 rage, or pushing hard for a kill. The glyph of heroic strike and a good crit change will go a long way to keep you from running out of rage.
Enraged Regeneration: Make a macro to cancel this as you can't berserker rage out of sap / fear / gouge when it is active
Devastate: Here is a useful macro for devastate:
/startattack
/cast [@arenapet1] Taunt
/cast [@arenapet2] Taunt
/cast Devastate
Since taunt is off the GCD, using it on CD when the enemy has pets will make them attack you which can give you free revenge procs. If they don't have pets, it will just cast devastate.
Shattering Throw: if you're going to use shattering throw, always use spell reflection before you do to block stuff like hoj / repent that will interrupt it.
DK: Disarm & Shield bash (silence) them on CD. Most DK's will not swap to the anti-disarm rune and will eat a full 10 second disarm. You can also open with bloodrage + spell reflect to reflect the chains, or if you're going to hit their partner who is behind them, hold reflect till you charge past them to reflect the grip. Spam spell reflect otherwise if you don't care about catching the reflect, you will catch the chains A LOT and this will cripple their kiting ability.
Rog: If they are full CD you will lose 1v1 vs a good rog but you can at least try to trick them. Eat the cheap & the kidney, then fear them as soon as the stun ends. If they trinket the stun, instantly shockwave them, then rend, then concussion blow, then shield block + shield slam. If in arena and u need something a stun to land through evasion, chain it with charge since they cannot dodge when they are charge stunned. If my partner is in trouble vs a rog i will often charge disarm the rog then charge back to the target we are hitting.
Paladin: Open bloodrage + spell reflect right as you enter their range and you will catch a repent / hoj very often. If in arena and you see a holy pal approaching you, pop spell reflect, they are always looking to hoj.
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Member
Protection Warrior PVP WOTLK - 100% ARP Madness
Edited: February 25, 2025 Reason: Updating
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Member
Nice guide overall.
I have two questions:
Have you tried FDK, Pwarr and Hpala in 3s? I heard it was a pretty strong setup back on AT but not sure if it works outside of 268 gear meta.
Is it worth to switch stance to use Recklessness or Retaliation in arena?
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Member
I tried 3s solo q and got to 1.7 something with my prot warr and stopped. It was a mix of frustration from getting weirdos as teammates, and how it takes so damn long just for one queue to pop. I know some prot warrs who got to 2.2k in solo q 3v3, and they said something about a resto druid being a very good complement for prot warr, but idk about the third arena member. Retaliation I never use, but I do use Recklessness.
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Member
I have not played much 3v3 to be totally honest, I mostly enjoy 2v2. However my favorite compositions for 3v3 are mancleave (Awarr + Pwarr +Hpal) and African turtle cleave (Pwarr + MM + Hpal). These comps fee incredibly strong because of the stunlocks, heal cut, and just insane damage.
Stance switching to recklessness is rarely worth it as it prevents you from using Wall for 8 seconds which can spell death for you. It also saps all of your rage which is a huge detriment. Some players use recklessness in the opener though for the extra initial burst. Stance switching to retaliation can be good when melee’s are hitting you and you’ve already used wall or you’re high enough HP to not wall for 8 seconds. The downside again is you lose all your rage but when a melee is hitting you this isn’t a big deal
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Member
Great guide, thanks. But it would be nice to have some additional info about tips and tricks, general playstyle and abilities usage. Duel tactics would also be welcomed. Also, link to the build without vigilance is not working. Cheers.
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Member
I've got some time so i'll do my best to update this, apologies if any of this was already said. Not quite sure how to organize tips & tricks so i'll just list stuff off as it comes to mind.
TIPS & TRICKS:
General:
Disarm: If you are vs 2 caster's or don't need disarm to mitigate damage in arena, use disarm on your kill target. The 10% dmg buff for you and your partner makes a big difference and if they don't have a weapon chain it will last a full 10 seconds, well worth a GCD.
Intervene: Gets you out of roots/slows and reduces damage taken by your ally by 30% for 6 seconds, this is HUGE. ALso intervening to an ally, then using heroic throw to silence and recharging your target is an extra ~ 3 seconds of CC and protects your partner. You can also intervene + spell reflect to reflect things like a feral instant cyclone or a polymorph or whatever when they are out of the 20 yard reflect range. Intervene, charge, and intercept are all off the GCD so you can do this extremely fast.
Heroic Throw: Can be used as an interrupt vs many classes, also GOES THROUGH DETERRENCE. The amount of hunters i've executed with heroic throw when they are in deterr is comical. VS Mages, use heroic throw and charge at the same time so they can't blink the charge stun, this will force block 9 times out of 10.
Shockwave: Always go for the double shockwave in 2v2, it is often worth holding it an extra second or 2 to stun both opponents. Also vs warlocks/hunters, if you shockwave both them & their pet, you can instantly swap to their pet as the shockwave will take out like 50% or more of the pet HP instantly.
Shield Block: Both burst CD & defensive, use your best judgement on when to use. With shield block up vs melee's, revenge will proc on CD amplifying your damage massively and reducing the damage you take. I personally macro shield slam to shield block since shield block is off the gcd and you pretty much always want to follow up shield block with shield slam since it doubles the damage.
Shield Bash: Usually better used as a silence than a kick. Chain it with concussion blow + shockwave for ~ 7 seconds of cc. It is off the GCD so it is very easy to chain.
Thunder Clap: Use this when you are slightly out of range of your other abilities or when you need to do anything you can to reduce incoming dmg. Also good vs snake trap & mirror images.
Demoralizing Shout: The range on this is dog**** for prot warrs, attempting to shout out rogs is almost always a waste of bloodrage.
Intimidating Shout: Macro stopattack to intimidating shout as any damage will break it (including deep wounds bleed).
Spell reflection: Get an addon (i prefer weakauras) to alert you when ferals have instant cast up, then press it. Below 2k they will cyc themselves every time and it is very funny. Can also be used to block freezing trap on yourself / allies which is very valuable. Teammates do not need to be in LoS to get the spell reflect. VS SPri, spell reflect the second before they get out of your stun chain and they will very often psychic horror themselves.
Hamstring: Some prot warrs use this, I do not. Some that are better than me do, some that are better than me don't. Up to your playstyle.
Heroic Strike: Use when you are being targeted or when you are above 75 rage, or pushing hard for a kill. The glyph of heroic strike and a good crit change will go a long way to keep you from running out of rage.
Enraged Regeneration: Make a macro to cancel this as you can't berserker rage out of sap / fear / gouge when it is active
Devastate: Here is a useful macro for devastate:
/startattack
/cast [@arenapet1] Taunt
/cast [@arenapet2] Taunt
/cast Devastate
Since taunt is off the GCD, using it on CD when the enemy has pets will make them attack you which can give you free revenge procs. If they don't have pets, it will just cast devastate.
Shattering Throw: if you're going to use shattering throw, always use spell reflection before you do to block stuff like hoj / repent that will interrupt it.
DK: Disarm & Shield bash (silence) them on CD. Most DK's will not swap to the anti-disarm rune and will eat a full 10 second disarm. You can also open with bloodrage + spell reflect to reflect the chains, or if you're going to hit their partner who is behind them, hold reflect till you charge past them to reflect the grip. Spam spell reflect otherwise if you don't care about catching the reflect, you will catch the chains A LOT and this will cripple their kiting ability.
Rog: If they are full CD you will lose 1v1 vs a good rog but you can at least try to trick them. Eat the cheap & the kidney, then fear them as soon as the stun ends. If they trinket the stun, instantly shockwave them, then rend, then concussion blow, then shield block + shield slam. If in arena and u need something a stun to land through evasion, chain it with charge since they cannot dodge when they are charge stunned. If my partner is in trouble vs a rog i will often charge disarm the rog then charge back to the target we are hitting.
Paladin: Open bloodrage + spell reflect right as you enter their range and you will catch a repent / hoj very often. If in arena and you see a holy pal approaching you, pop spell reflect, they are always looking to hoj.Edited: February 25, 2025
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Member
Thanks, a lot of useful information!
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Forum Veteran
Be honest with me, how good is the survivability of this in battlegrounds when you get focused by multiple players at once, as opposed to playing with full resi? You pop shield block or shield wall and hope for the best?
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Member
Got couple questions.
Did someone try out black bruise weapon plus ashen verdict ring for biggest possible burst output?
Tailoring back with ap tick and pyro rocket seems to be very good to get kills but not sure if raw stats from jc isnt better in last season. What do you think?
Also is there a way to play with disc on 2k plus rating? On paper it should be decent, but they seems to be too squishy vs Mourne warris, dks 2x dps comps in general. Maybe tank trinket with stamina plus absorb and bauble would help to survive a bit more and let disc dispell freely? Or some armour trinket? Did anyone try this?
How about using rend on healers. Like doing on burst phase disarm for 10% more DMG, rend, shield block, going in to battle stance and using shield slam stuns etc. Or it's too much rage dumped.Edited: April 22, 2025 Reason: Not whole message
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Member
Out of shield wall caster can 2 shot U. If U wanna be flag carrier U should probably go ressi soft cap plus tanking trinks. Stamina gems. But then U don't do any DMG
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