TBC Classic Protection Warrior Guide (Phase 3)

Protection Warrior is a plate tank with a shield and the strongest tanking option for the Warrior. The Warrior is the only tank with cooldowns that sharply reduce incoming damage: Last Stand and Shield Wall. That is why it is almost always made the raid's main tank.

• Battle Shout or Commanding Shout — keep the one you are responsible for up the entire fight
• Demoralizing Shout — heavily cuts enemies' physical damage
• Thunder Clap — heavily slows attack speed, keep it up when possible
• Shield Block — on cooldown when a lot of damage is coming in; on a boss you can be crushed without it
• Shield Slam — on cooldown, huge threat
• Revenge — cheap and gives the most threat per point of rage
• Devastate — filler; at the start of a pull press it more often to build up Sunder Armor stacks faster
• Heroic Strike — dumps excess rage; ideally every auto attack should be a Heroic Strike

Opener

• If your rage is between 0 and 10, stand in Berserker Stance and press Berserker Rage: it increases the rage gained from taking damage. Do not do this if enemies use fear
• If you are not pulling from range, stand in Battle Stance and enter the pack with Charge
• Thunder Clap on a large pack or Shield Slam on a small one
• Switch to Vanguard and play the normal priority
• Bloodrage — between packs so you enter the fight with a rage reserve

Multi-Target Priority

On 2–3 targets just play the normal priority, constantly switching targets and building threat evenly. From 3 targets and up:

• Thunder Clap — on cooldown
• Whirlwind — on a large pack; remember that switching stances keeps only 10 rage
• Cleave — only on a very large pack or a couple of times on the pull; usually it is better to spread Heroic Strike across different targets
• Demoralizing Shout — if enemies hit hard
• Taunt — on any durable target that got away from you; do not waste it on ones about to die
• Concussion Blow — stun a target; often you can simply stun it and ignore it
• Intervene — cover an ally and manage to pick the target back up
• Intercept — catch up to and stun a target that ran to an ally
• Mocking Blow — requires Battle Stance, forces the target to attack you for 6 seconds
• Disarm — sharply cut a target's damage when taunts are unavailable
• Challenging Shout — an AoE taunt with a very long cooldown, use it only as a last resort
• Intimidating Shout — the absolute last resort: scatter the pack with fear to survive until your cooldowns

• Shield Wall — the main defensive cooldown
• Last Stand — a temporary health reserve
• Shield Block — grants immunity to crushing blows
• Bloodrage — a quick influx of rage
• Mighty Rage Potion — the same effect from a consumable, use it on packs
• Ironshield Potion — a survival potion

Tanking a pack demands constant control: you need to know how much threat you have on each target, which one to stun, and which you will soon have to grab with a taunt. Rage management is just as important here: know the cost of your abilities, keep the rage bar in view, and think a couple of buttons ahead.

Human

• Sword Specialization increases sword Expertise Rating by 5.
• Mace Specialization increases mace Expertise Rating by 5.
• The Human Spirit increases Spirit by 10%.
• Perception sharply increases stealth detection for 20 seconds. 3-minute cooldown.
• Diplomacy increases reputation gained by 10%.

Dwarf

• Stoneform removes and prevents bleeds, poisons and diseases for 8 seconds and increases armor. 3-minute cooldown.
• Gun Specialization increases critical strike chance by 1% while using a gun.
• Frost Resistance increases Frost resistance by 10.
• Find Treasure marks nearby chests on the minimap.

Night Elf

• Quickness increases dodge chance by 1%.
• Shadowmeld fades into stealth while you stand still. It does not work in combat.
• Nature Resistance increases Nature resistance by 10.
• Wisp Spirit turns you into a wisp after death and speeds up ghost movement by 50%.

Gnome

• Escape Artist instantly removes roots and slows. 2-minute cooldown.
• Expansive Mind increases Intellect by 5%.
• Arcane Resistance increases Arcane resistance by 10.
• Engineering Specialization increases Engineering skill by 15.

Draenei

• Heroic Presence increases the hit of the whole party within 30 yards by 1%.
• Gift of the Naaru heals the target over 15 seconds.
• Shadow Resistance increases Shadow resistance by 10.
• Gemcutting increases Jewelcrafting skill by 5.

Orc

• Axe Specialization increases axe Expertise Rating by 5.
• Blood Fury increases attack power for 15 seconds, but healing received is reduced by 50% during that time. 2-minute cooldown.
• Hardiness increases stun resistance chance by 15%.
• Command increases pet damage by 5%.

Undead

• Will of the Forsaken grants 5 seconds of immunity to fear, charm and sleep and removes already-applied effects. 2-minute cooldown.
• Cannibalize restores 7% health every 2 seconds for 10 seconds by eating a nearby corpse.
• Shadow Resistance increases Shadow resistance by 10.
• Touch of the Grave triples the time you can stay underwater.

Tauren

• War Stomp stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds. 0.5-second cast, 2-minute cooldown.
• Endurance increases total health by 5%.
• Nature Resistance increases Nature resistance by 10.
• Cultivation increases Herbalism skill by 15.

Troll

• Berserking increases attack speed by 10–30% depending on how wounded you are, for 10 seconds. 3-minute cooldown.
• Beast Slaying increases damage against beasts by 5%.
• Bow Specialization increases critical strike chance by 1% while using a bow.
• Throwing Specialization increases critical strike chance by 1% while using thrown weapons.
• Regeneration increases health regeneration by 10% and lets you regenerate it even in combat.

Engineering

The most useful profession for a Protection Warrior. Several types of bombs for building threat on packs, Stamina trinkets that last very long, and gains from the second stage.

Blacksmithing

The second profession if you often play as DPS: it unlocks access to several weapons and noticeably strengthens your second gear set. It is also the source of Greater Rune of Warding and Greater Ward of Shielding.

Enchanting

The best second profession for pure tanking: Enchant Ring - Stats gives +8 to all stats. The gain is small, but no one else offers more.

Leatherworking

A decent option if no one else in your group can bring Drums of Battle.

Alchemy

Provides Oil of Immolation, which helps when tanking packs.