Utolsó módosítás programmer, ekkor: 2014.06.27.
In this article, we list your Protection Warrior (WoW 4.3) core abilities and how they should
be used together (rotation). We also explain when to use your various
cooldowns. Then, we go deeper and present all the subtleties that playing
a Protection Warrior will face you with.
The other articles of our Protection Warrior guide can be accessed
from the table of contents on the left.
1. Basic Single Target Rotation↑top
The single target rotation of a Protection Warrior is rather simple
and can be summarised as thus (without taking survival abilities into account):
Shield Slam;
Revenge;
Rend (only refresh it when it has run out);
Devastate;
Heroic Strike (when over 50 Rage).
In order to properly use your character to its maximum potential,
you will have to combine this rotation with your survival abilities
(detailed below). Also, your raid might require you to keep up a buff,
Commanding Shout or 
Battle Shout, and some of your debuffs,
Demoralizing Shout or 
Thunder Clap.
Once you are surviving and holding aggro, the best way for you
to maximise your performance is to deal as much damage as possible.
2. Basic Multiple Target Rotation↑top
- Maintain Rend (through Thunder Clap after the initial
application);
- Thunder Clap;
Shockwave;
Cleave (when over 50 Rage).
In addition, you can switch through targets and apply single target
abilities to those on which your threat is lacking (such as Shield Slam
and Revenge).
3. Taunting↑top
Taunt is your main taunting ability. It only works on a single target
and has an 8-second cooldown (which is refreshed each time that the player on
whom you cast 
Vigilance is attacked). For more explanations about
Vigilance, see our dedicated section.
Challenging Shout is an AoE taunting ability. It forces every
tauntable enemy within 10 yards of you to attack you for 6 seconds. It has a
3 minute cooldown. Note that this taunt has no effect on the aggro of these
mobs, and when the 6 seconds wear off, they will simply return to their previous
target (unless you have generated enough threat to keep aggro on them).
4. Defensive and Offensive Cooldowns↑top
To perform properly, you will need to make regular use of both defensive
and offensive cooldowns.
Defensive cooldowns:
Additionally, you can provide your raid with 
Rallying Cry. It increases
the maximum health of all party and raid members by 20% for 10 seconds. Note
that it shares a cooldown with 
Last Stand.
Offensive cooldowns:
Inner Rage: reduces the cooldown of Heroic Strike and
Cleave by 50% for 15 seconds. Excellent for bursts of threat and
dumping excess rage.
Recklessness: increases your chance to critically hit with special
attacks by 50%, but increases your damage taken by 20% for its 12 second
duration.
Retaliation: causes you to deal damage to anyone who attacks you,
once for each attack made, for a period of 12 seconds or a maximum of 20
attacks.
5. Stance↑top
You should be in
Defensive Stance at all times, as this provides you with a crucial
threat-modifier which allows you to keep aggro. There is a single exception
to this, namely when needing to switch to 
Battle Stance in order to cast
Shattering Throw (described below), though should only be for a few
seconds.
6. Mastering Your Protection Warrior↑top
The guidelines given above will enable you to play your Protection Warrior
with good results. If you want to push things further and master your
character, then we advise you to continue reading.
6.1. Rage Generation
Warriors use a resource called Rage (Feral Druid tanks are the only other
class in the game to use it). For you to properly master your Warrior, you
must understand how Rage works.
The Rage bar has a maximum capacity of 100, and is empty by default. Rage
decays at a rate of 1 per second when out of combat. In combat, Rage does not
decay.
Rage is generated through three sources: taking damage (all sources, except
for fall damage), dealing damage (only white attacks) and through the use of
certain talents and abilities.
Taking damage generates rage, depending on the amount of health
you have and the damage you receive. "Taking damage" includes every possible
source of damage (including magic damage), except for fall damage. While the
formula itself is not public, and not very relevant, all you need to know is
that if you are taking a lot of damage from boss hits, then you will have
ample rage. Otherwise, your rage generation will suffer.
This does not mean that you should ever increase the amount of damage
you take (through unequipping gear, for example) to generate more rage.
Dealing damage generates rage, depending on your base weapon
speed. Rage is only generated from white attacks, so not from special
abilities (yellow attacks). The formula for this is simple: 6.5 * the base
weapon speed. Off-hand attacks generate only 50% of the rage of a main-hand
attack, but this is not relevant as you will never use an off-hand as a
Protection Warrior.
The only factors which affect offensive rage generation, outside of
base weapon speed, are attack speed and chance to hit (only up to the point
where you are guaranteed to hit, so 8% chance to hit). This is because
the more you attack, the more times you will generate rage. For more details
on white (normal) and yellow (special) attacks, and how they are influenced
by Hit and Expertise Rating, you can check our guide on the mechanics of melee attacks.
When choosing the Protection specialisation, you gain the passive ability
Sentinel. Among other things, Sentinel affects your offensive rage
generation in the following way: the rage generated by your white swings,
when attacking a target of which you do not have aggro, is increased by 50%.
This is designed to make up for the damage loss that Protection Warriors
suffer because they receive no rage from attacks when they are not the active
tank.
Rage is also generated through a variety of talents and abilities.
We will detail these in their relevant sections.
6.2. Vengeance
Vengeance is a passive ability which you receive for choosing
the Protection specialisation. Essentially, it increases your attack power
for 5% of the damage you receive, up to a maximum of 10% of your maximum
health. It is an essential mechanic in allowing you to maintain aggro of
mobs.
6.3. Threat and Damaging Abilities
You will find yourself using most of these abilities during any
encounter, either to generate threat, or simply to deal more damage.
- Shield Slam: this is your main threat-generating ability, and one
which you should always use on cooldown. In addition to its damaging
effects, it also removes one magic effect from the target. Thanks to
the
Sword and Board talent, your Revenge and Devastate have
a chance to reset the cooldown of Shield Slam and cause the next Shield Slam
to cost no rage.
- Revenge: this ability costs an extremely low amount of rage, and
causes a high amount of damage and threat. It is only available after you
block, dodge or parry and attack. In addition to this, it has a chance to proc
Sword and Board. With the appropriate talent, it also damages a
nearby enemy.
- Devastate: applies a stack of
Sunder Armor to the target
(stacking up to three times) and deals a moderate amount of damage. In
addition to this, it has a chance to proc Sword and Board.
- Heroic Strike: this ability is mostly used for dumping excess
rage. It generates a high amount of threat, and causes a moderate amount
of damage. Note that it shares a cooldown with Cleave.
- Rend: places a bleed effect on the target, which can be
spread to other nearby enemies through Thunder Clap, when the
Blood and Thunder talent is taken.
- Thunder Clap: this is your standard, low-cooldown AoE ability.
It deals a moderate amount of threat and debuffs all affected enemies with
an attacking-speed reducing debuff.
- Shockwave: your 31-point ability, Shockwave deals a moderate
amount of damage and stuns all enemies in a cone in front of you (naturally,
as a stun, it does not work on raid bosses).
Concussion Blow: allows you to stun a target for 5 seconds and
deal a moderate amount of damage to them. Deals a high amount of threat.- Cleave: the AoE equivalent of Heroic Strike. Note, however, that
it does not benefit from the same extra threat coefficient that Heroic Strike
possesses.
Heroic Throw: this is your only ranged ability (outside of shooting
with your ranged weapon, which not only has a cast time but also generates
a pitiful amount of threat). It deals a small amount of damage and a moderate
amount of threat. It is on a 60 second, but Gag Order lowers it to 30
seconds and attaches an interrupt and a silence effect to it.
6.4. Movement and Utility Abilities
While not strictly involved in your rotation, these are abilities you
will find yourself using often in encounters.
Charge: charge towards an enemy mob, stunning it for a short amount
of time and generating a small amount of rage. It is a very useful ability for
reaching mobs before other players (or getting away from mobs).
Intercept: this ability works exactly like Charge, except that it
costs rage instead of generating it, and the stun lasts slightly longer.
Heroic Leap: allows you to leap to a target location (within 40
yards), dealing a small amount of damage when you land.- Taunt: gives you threat equal to whoever is currently on top of
the target's threat table, and forces the target to attack you for 3 seconds.
If you are already at the top of the threat table, then it has no effect
on threat.
- Challenging Shout: forces all enemies within 10 yards to attack you
for 6 seconds. Unlike Taunt, it has no effect on threat.
Pummel: interrupts the target's current spell cast. If Gag Order
is talented, it also silences the target.- Vigilance: places a buff on a friendly raid member, which causes
the cooldown of your Taunt to be refreshed each time that raid member is
attacked. It also generates Vengeance as if 20% of the damage
received by the target was received by you.
Berserker Rage: removes all Fear, Sap and Incapacitate effects
from you, grants you immunity to such effects and doubles the rage you
gain from taking damage, for 10 seconds.
Spell Reflection: causes the next spell cast against you to be
reflected back to the caster (instead of affecting you). This ability only
works against single-target spells, but most boss abilities are not affected
by it.
6.5. Pulling
The sequence of abilities you use when you pull a boss (or a group of mobs)
can determine whether or not you are able to hold aggro for the remainder of
the fight or not. As such, it is important that you familiarise yourself
with the best way to do this.
6.5.1. Single Target
In the case of single target pulls, you want to use the following
sequence:
- Heroic Throw;
- Charge and Heroic Leap (this means you should leap while
your character is charging);
Shield Block (for 
Heavy Repercussions) followed by
Shield Slam;
After this point, you will want to get Rend, Thunder Clap
and Demoralizing Shout up, as your threat level allows. Additionally,
you will want to get 3 stacks of Sunder Armor up through Devastate.
Any Sword and Board procs that you get should be used on Shield
Slam immediately, as the more Shield Slams you can squeeze in while your
Shield Block is active, the better.
6.5.2. AoE
For AoE pulls, your main priority is to apply Rend to a target
and then spread it to the others through Thunder Clap.
You should use Charge and Heroic Leap to get to the enemies
faster, and you should use Shockwave early, to keep the mobs in place and allow you to cast Rend and Thunder Clap without losing aggro.
6.6. Advanced Ability Usage
6.6.1. Shield Block
Shield Block serves two purposes:
- It provides you with considerable damage reduction (physical damage
reduction through increasing your chance to block and critically block, and
magic damage reduction thanks to
Shield Mastery).
- It provides a 100% increase to the damage done by your Shield Slam,
thanks to Heavy Repercussions.
Because of its low cooldown, you will want to use it often. When using it,
you should keep in mind the extra damage to Shield Slam, and you should
attempt to maximise the number of Shield Slams you can use during its uptime.
Shield Block has a 10 second duration, and Shield Slam has a 6 second cooldown,
so even without any Sword and Boards, you should be able to time it
so that you can Shield Slam twice.
You should also use Revenge and Devastate as many times as
you can while Shield Block is active, in an attempt to reset the cooldown
of your Shield Slam.
If there is a particular spike of damage during the encounter, which you
need to mitigate, you can save Shield Block for this moment.
6.6.2. Shield Wall, Last Stand and Enraged Regeneration
These are your three defensive abilities with longer cooldowns. The way
in which you use them will vary greatly based on the encounter and the way you
coordinate with your healers, but the following guidelines are useful:
Shield Wall, because it provides damage reduction, is a cooldown
which should be used proactively, before you anticipate that you will
take a great amount of damage.- Last Stand, because it provides an instant heal for 30% of your
health (and increase your maximum health for its 20 second duration), should
mostly be used reactively, when your health reaches a low value. It can,
however, be used proactively, to provide you with enough health to survive
a particularly big hit.
Enraged Regeneration, because it is based on your current maximum
health, should be used while Last Stand (and any trinkets which provide
health increases) is active.
Note that if you lack an Enrage effect from Bastion of Defense
(a requirement for using Enraged Regeneration), you can use Berserker Rage.
6.6.3. Vigilance
Vigilance provides two benefits:
- Resets the cooldown of your Taunt, each time the target of your
Vigilance is damaged by an attack.
- Provides you with Vengeance as though 20% of the damage
received by the target of your Vigilance was received by you.
For both these reasons, it is advisable to use Vigilance on someone who
is taking sustained damage; this will, in most cases, be one of the other
tanks.
6.6.4. Rage Issues
If you are having problems with rage generation, do any
of the following things:
- Use Berserker Rage, which doubles the amount of rage you gain from
damage taken, for its duration. It also grants you 5 rage with the
appropriate glyph.
- Use your Commanding Shout or Battle Shout, as they provide
an amount of rage.
- Use Recklessness, as the extra damage taken from caused by this
ability also increases the rage you generate.
If you have an excess of rage, you can simply dump it with
Heroic Strike (or Cleave, in the case of multiple targets). In
addition, you can use Inner Rage to allow you to use these abilities
more often.
