WoW Forever Protection Warrior Guide

Protection is the Warrior spec of shields, debuffs and big defensive cooldowns, and in WoW Forever it is the main tank most raids will build around. Blocks, dodges and parries now give Rage through Shield Specialization and the new Master of Defense, Thunder Clap works in Defensive Stance, Vanguard lets you Charge without leaving it, and Shield Wall drops to a 4-minute cooldown with talents. The spec plays much like it did in Classic, but it starves for Rage far less often.

This guide is written for level 60 and the live game as of the November 11 hotfixes. ConquestCapped checked the cost, cooldown and effect of every tank ability below against the live Forever spell data on November 13. You will find where Protection stands next to the other tanks, the best race, a raid build and a dungeon build in talent calculators you can edit, the Legacy talents worth taking, the Defense, hit and Expertise targets, the threat rotation for one target and for packs, cooldowns, stance dancing and macros, enchants and consumables, and the best professions.

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Is Protection Warrior Good in WoW Forever?

Yes. Protection is the most complete raid tank in Forever. It has the strongest defensive cooldowns of any tank, Shield Block every 5 seconds to stop critical and crushing blows, and the raid debuffs every group wants on a boss: Sunder Armor, Thunder Clap and Demoralizing Shout. Most guilds will put a Warrior in the main tank spot.

The spec is also easier to keep running than in Classic. Every block can give 5 Rage through Shield Specialization, Master of Defense does the same for dodges and parries, and Revenge now scales with 25% of your Attack Power at every rank. What stays hard is holding several enemies at once: Thunder Clap hits up to four, and the rest need Cleave, tab-targeted Sunder Armor or an explosive.

The table sums up what Protection does well and where it struggles at 60.

Protection Warrior vs Other Tanks

For raids, the Warrior is the safest pick. No other tank combines a 60% damage reduction cooldown on a 4-minute timer, a 3-minute health cooldown and a block button that removes crushing blows, and the raid needs its debuffs anyway. The Feral (Bear) Druid has more armor and health and makes a strong second tank, while the Protection Paladin brings better AoE threat and self-healing but no AoE taunt.

In dungeons, the Paladin is easier to play on large pulls, and the Warrior keeps up once you are comfortable with Rage. Every tank is ranked for dungeons and raids in our WoW Forever tank tier list.

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Best Race for Protection Warrior

For a tank, race matters a little more than for a damage dealer, because some racials are defensive cooldowns. Still, gear and play decide far more than race, so pick the faction and look you want. These are the races that bring the most to Protection.

Dwarf is the Alliance tank race: Stoneform is one more defensive cooldown, and it clears the bleeds and poisons that healers hate. On the Horde, Tauren is the sturdiest choice and Orc holds the most threat on the pull, since Blood Fury goes straight into Revenge damage. Every racial and the best pick for each Warrior role are compared in our best Warrior race in WoW Forever guide.

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Protection Warrior Talents at 60

Both builds below spend about 32 points in Protection, which reaches Shield Slam and every defensive talent on the way. The rest goes where it helps your threat most: the Arms tree for crit damage and bleeds in a raid, or the Fury tree for Enrage in dungeons, where you are hit by several enemies at once.

Best Protection Raid Build: 17/2/32

This is the build for raid tanking. It takes the full Protection tree you need, including 5/5 Anticipation for the Defense cap, and spends 17 points in Arms on Impale and Deep Wounds. Both gain a lot from raid buffs, and with Rend now scaling with Attack Power, Improved Rend earns its place too.

A few talents shape how the spec plays.

• Shield Specialization 5/5. 5% more block chance and 5 Rage on every block. Combined with Shield Block, this is your steadiest Rage source on a boss.
• Master of Defense 2/2. New in Forever: 5 Rage every time you dodge or parry while holding a shield. Avoidance now fuels your threat instead of starving it.
• Anticipation 5/5. 20 Defense in Forever, double the Classic value, so your gear needs only 120 Defense for the raid cap.
• Defiance 3/3. More threat from everything you do in Defensive Stance, but only with a shield equipped. Dual-wield tanking is gone.
• Bastion 5/5. 10% more damage with a shield, which cancels almost all of the damage penalty of Defensive Stance.
• Focused Rage 3/3. Every offensive ability costs 3 Rage less, including Sunder Armor, Revenge and Shield Slam. It is the most efficient Rage talent you can take.
• Improved Shield Wall 2/2. Takes 11 minutes off Shield Wall, from 15 down to 4.
• Vanguard 1/1. Charge in Defensive Stance. Huge in dungeons, less so on raid bosses, but nothing better sits in that row.
• Impale 2/2 and Deep Wounds 3/3. 20% more critical damage on your abilities and a bleed on every crit, the reason this build scales best with raid buffs.

A popular alternative takes Anger Management and two more ranks of Improved Tactical Mastery instead of Improved Heroic Strike, with one more rank of Cruelty and only two ranks of Focused Rage. Both versions are close, so choose whichever fits how much you use Heroic Strike.

Dungeon Build: 4/15/32

In dungeons you are hit by several enemies at once, and that is where Enrage shines: it keeps 10% more Physical damage up almost all the time on two or more targets. This build takes Enrage, Cruelty and Unbridled Wrath in Fury, 4 points in Deflection for parries, and moves three points of Anticipation into Improved Thunder Clap, so Thunder Clap costs 6 Rage less on every pack.

Dungeon bosses are a level or two lower than raid bosses, so you need less Defense to stop their crits, and the lost Anticipation matters less. If you start raiding before you can farm a second spec, put the three points back into Anticipation: that 4/15/32 version is a fine all-round build for both. One point can also move into Piercing Howl for an AoE slow when a pack runs loose.

Other Protection Builds

Two other builds are worth knowing, though neither is the place to start.

• Fury-Prot, about 3/31/17. Takes Bloodthirst, Flurry and Death Wish instead of Shield Slam. It does a few percent more damage, mostly if you go to Berserker Stance in the Execute phase, and gives up some survivability. It suits players who already overgear the content.
• Sweeping Strikes cleave, about 28/5/18. A dungeon build that spreads Revenge and Cleave with Sweeping Strikes and likes a slow weapon such as Thrash Blade. It needs stance dancing, since Sweeping Strikes requires Battle Stance, but it is the highest damage tank build in the game.

Protection Talents to Skip

A few talents look tempting but do not belong in a PvE build at 60.

• Improved Sunder Armor. Saves Rage on Sunder Armor, but Focused Rage already does that and Rage from incoming damage covers the rest in a raid.
• Improved Shield Bash and Improved Disarm. Control for PvP. A raid has enough interrupts, and few bosses can be disarmed.
• Iron Will. Shorter stuns and fears help in PvP, not against bosses whose fears you can break with Berserker Rage.

Every Protection talent and what changed compared with Classic is in our WoW Forever Warrior talents guide.

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Legacy Talents for Protection Warrior

Legacy talents are account-wide perks you earn by playing, and few of them affect a tank at 60. What they do well is save gold and Rage. Gourmand makes food buffs last up to twice as long, Permanence doubles the duration of Battle Shout and other long party buffs, and The Quick and the Dead lets you rebuff for free after a wipe.

The rest of the 16 points go into Reinforce, which cuts the durability you lose on a wipe, and the tank is the player whose armor breaks first. The last points go into Diplomat for the raid and faction reputations. How every Legacy tree works is covered in our best WoW Forever Legacy talent builds guide.

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Protection Warrior Stat Priority

A tank balances two goals: surviving the hits a healer cannot plan for, and holding enough threat that damage dealers can go all out. In a raid, survival comes first. A raid boss counts as three levels above you and can crit a tank with the base 300 Defense, so the first target is the Defense cap.

The raid priority at 60 looks like this.

1. Defense up to 440. At 440 a raid boss can no longer land critical strikes on you. With 5/5 Anticipation, your gear needs to supply 120 Defense. Level 62 dungeon bosses stop critting at 435.
2. Stamina. The stat behind every big health pool, and the best answer to hard-hitting bosses.
3. Hit Chance up to 8%. Raid bosses need 8% to never miss them. A missed Sunder Armor or Shield Slam is lost threat and lost Rage. Dwarves need 7%.
4. Expertise up to about 6.5%. Removes a raid boss's dodges. More Expertise keeps lowering its parries up to about 14%, at half the value, and every parry you prevent also stops a parry-hasted boss swing.
5. Armor. Reduces every Physical hit.
6. Strength and Block Value. Strength gives 2 Attack Power for Revenge, Thunder Clap and Sunder Armor threat, while Block Value raises Shield Slam damage.
7. Agility, Dodge and Parry, then Critical Strike. Agility adds armor, dodge and crit at once, so it is worth more to a tank than it looks.

In dungeons the order shifts toward threat. Packs die fast and nothing crits through 435 Defense, so Hit, Expertise and Strength pieces like the Lionheart Helm are worth more than the last few points of Stamina. Block chance on gear matters less than it seems, because Shield Block already gives you 75% more block chance for two attacks, and a blocked attack can neither crit nor crush.

The gear that reaches these targets, slot by slot, is in our WoW Forever Protection Warrior BiS guide. How Hit Chance works for every attack type is explained in our WoW Forever hit cap guide, and Expertise, Defense and the other reworked stats in our WoW Forever stats and itemization changes guide.

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Protection Warrior Threat Rotation and Cooldowns

Protection has no fixed rotation. You follow a priority that changes with the fight: keep Shield Block up when the boss swings, press your strongest threat buttons when they are ready, keep your debuffs on the target and spend leftover Rage on Heroic Strike. The skill lies in Rage management and in knowing when to use a cooldown before you need it.

How Rage Works for Protection in WoW Forever

A tank gains Rage from two places: the damage it takes and the damage it deals. In Forever, Rage from taking damage ignores your armor and absorbs, so better gear no longer starves you. On top of that, Shield Specialization gives 5 Rage on every block and Master of Defense 5 Rage on every dodge or parry. Shield Block feeds itself: it costs 10 Rage, and if the next two attacks are blocked, Shield Specialization pays most of that back and Revenge lights up.

Rage runs short at the start of a pull and whenever the boss stops hitting you. Use Bloodrage before the pull for 20 Rage over 10 sec, and when you are not the active tank, keep your Rage for the taunt back instead of spending it on Heroic Strike. Bloodrage costs health, so the best time to press it in a dungeon is when Victory Rush is ready to heal that health back after the next kill.

Protection Opener

The first few seconds decide whether damage dealers can start right away. Your goal is to build a threat lead and put your debuffs on the boss.

1. About 10 sec before the pull, press Bloodrage and Battle Shout.
2. For a big lead on raid bosses, switch to Battle Stance, press Retaliation and switch back to Defensive Stance. The buff stays when you change stance.
3. Charge in with Vanguard, or walk in and start with Shield Slam.
4. Revenge whenever it lights up, and Sunder Armor in between until the target has five stacks.
5. Thunder Clap, then Demoralizing Shout, if no one else is assigned to them.

Pop your racial on the first Sunder Armor if it adds damage, such as Blood Fury or Elune's Light. Do not open with Taunt: it does not add threat of its own, it only raises yours to the level of the top player on the threat list and forces the target onto you for a few seconds. Keep it for an enemy that runs to a healer or a damage dealer.

Single Target Priority

On a single boss, go down this list from the top and use the first ability that is ready.

1. Shield Block before the boss swings. It is off the global cooldown and costs 10 Rage for 7 sec of 75% more block chance against two attacks.
2. Revenge. It costs 5 Rage, is your most efficient threat and needs a block, dodge or parry to light up.
3. Shield Slam on cooldown.
4. Sunder Armor up to five stacks, and again before it runs out. It is also the biggest raid damage boost you can press.
5. Thunder Clap and Demoralizing Shout if they are about to run out. Thunder Clap makes the boss attack 20% slower.
6. Sunder Armor as filler with spare globals.
7. Heroic Strike with spare Rage, about 40 or more. It is off the global cooldown and replaces your next swing.

Rend can replace filler Sunders when you have a clear threat lead: it deals more damage but less threat per Rage. Execute needs Battle Stance or Berserker Stance, so only leave Defensive Stance for it if the boss hits lightly and you have little Rage to lose.

AoE Threat and Dungeon Pulls

Packs are where a Warrior has to work. Thunder Clap hits up to four enemies, so mark the kill target and anything beyond four for crowd control or to die first. This is the priority on a pack.

1. Thunder Clap.
2. Shield Block and Revenge.
3. Shield Slam on the kill target.
4. Sunder Armor on each enemy you tab to, or with a mouseover macro.
5. Demoralizing Shout if the pack hits hard.
6. Cleave with spare Rage, about 50 or more.

Ask the group to wait for your first Thunder Clap, and pull casters around a corner or doorway so they come to you instead of standing back. For a big pull, Retaliation in Battle Stance hits back every enemy that strikes you in melee, up to 30 times in 15 sec. An Engineer can open with Dense Dynamite or Goblin Sapper Charge for instant threat on the whole pack. When a pull goes wrong, Challenging Shout makes everything within 10 yards attack you for 6 sec, which gives you time to Thunder Clap and Cleave them back.

Defensive Cooldowns

Use cooldowns before the damage arrives, not when you are already low. A healer can plan around a cooldown that is up when the hit lands, but not around one pressed half a second too late.

Shield Wall in Forever no longer shares a cooldown with Retaliation or Recklessness, so pressing one does not lock you out of the others. Last Stand is short enough to use more than once a fight on long bosses. When healers lose you, Last Stand first and Shield Wall second gives them the longest window.

Stance Dancing for Tanks

You spend almost every fight in Defensive Stance, but three tricks need a quick stance change. Forever lets you keep 10 Rage on every switch through Tactical Mastery, and Improved Tactical Mastery adds more.

• Breaking fears. Go to Berserker Stance, press Berserker Rage before the fear lands and switch back. It makes you immune to fear for 10 sec and gives extra Rage when you are hit.
• Backup taunt. If Taunt is resisted, Mocking Blow in Battle Stance forces the target to attack you for 6 sec while you rebuild threat.
• Retaliation and Recklessness. Both start in another stance, and both buffs stay after you switch back. Warn your healers before Recklessness: it raises your damage taken by 20%.

Useful Macros for Protection

Auto attack in Forever does not start on its own when you press an ability without enough Rage. This macro starts your swing with the first button you press:

#showtooltip
/cast Sunder Armor
/startattack

Put any other ability in place of Sunder Armor. A mouseover macro lets you Sunder, Taunt or Mocking Blow a second enemy without changing your target:

#showtooltip Sunder Armor
/cast [@mouseover] Sunder Armor

Many tanks put Shield Block and Revenge on one button, so every press uses whichever is ready. Keep Shield Block on its own key as well, so you can see its cooldown and time it for the boss swing:

#showtooltip Revenge
/startattack
/cast Shield Block
/cast Revenge

An emergency button with Shield Wall on the first press and Last Stand on the second keeps both defensives under one key:

#showtooltip Shield Wall
/cast Shield Wall
/cast Last Stand

If you use Vanguard, drag Charge into the macro from your spellbook with Shift-click. The talent adds a hidden rank of Charge, and a typed name may not work in Defensive Stance. Turn on the built-in swing timer in the Cooldown Manager and add a threat meter, so you can see when a damage dealer is about to pull the boss off you. Threat shown on enemy nameplates works well in dungeons, where you watch several enemies at once.

Protection Warrior Mistakes to Avoid

These are the mistakes that cost Protection Warriors the most at 60.

• Pressing Shield Block only when it is free. Time it for the boss swing. Blocks stop crits and crushing blows and give back Rage.
• Dumping Rage into Heroic Strike at the start of the pull. Revenge, Shield Slam and Sunder Armor give more threat per Rage. Heroic Strike is for Rage you cannot use otherwise.
• Saving Shield Wall for an emergency. At 4 minutes it is a regular cooldown. Use it on the hardest-hitting phase you know is coming.
• Letting Thunder Clap and Demoralizing Shout fall off. Both reduce the damage you take, which healers feel at once.
• Using Taunt to open a pull. It adds no threat. Start with Thunder Clap or Sunder Armor and save Taunt for enemies that get loose.
• Pulling more than four enemies without a plan. Thunder Clap stops at four. Mark the rest or use an explosive.

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Enchants and Consumables for Protection Warrior

A tank's enchants are mostly Stamina, because the old health enchants now give Stamina as well, and necklaces and shields can both be enchanted in Forever. The table lists the tank kit per slot.

For raids, bring the consumables below. Weapon stones now stack with Windfury Totem, so you can use them in a group with a Shaman.

Mighty Rage Potion is for the pull or for a fight where Rage runs out. Limited Invulnerability Potion together with Challenging Shout lets you pick up a loose pack without dying to it. Every enchant for every slot and class is in our best enchants in WoW Forever guide.

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Protection Warrior Gear Overview

A tank's gear has to reach the Defense cap first and add Stamina second. Before the raids open, most of it comes from Scholomance: the five-piece Deathbone Guardian set adds Defense and, in Forever, 2% Expertise. The rest comes from dungeons in Dire Maul and Blackrock Spire, Blacksmithing, the Tarnished Undermine Real vendor in Booty Bay and a new necklace from a Mount Hyjal questline.

For the weapon, look for threat rather than defense. A one-hander with an extra attack proc, like the Thrash Blade from Maraudon, gives free Rage and damage, and the shield is the Draconian Deflector from Upper Blackrock Spire until the raids. Every slot with its source and alternatives is in our WoW Forever Protection Warrior BiS guide.

The first raids open on December 9. The Protection tier set, the Battleplate of Glory, takes 30 sec off the cooldown of Shield Wall at five pieces and lowers the chance that your attacks are dodged or parried at four. Every piece is in our WoW Forever Warrior tier set guide. If you would rather start raiding with your gear sorted, our WoW Forever pre-raid gear service gets your Warrior ready for the first raids.

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Best Professions for Protection Warrior

Engineering is the best profession for a Protection Warrior at 60. Warriors are weak at AoE threat, and Dense Dynamite and Goblin Sapper Charge give instant threat on every enemy in a pack, while the Force Reactive Disk adds damage on every block for dungeon pulls.

The second profession is free. Blacksmithing makes the Enchanted Thorium tank pieces and the sharpening stones you use every fight, and Mining pairs well with either. Pick up First Aid as well: Protection has almost no self-healing, and bandages between pulls save the healer's mana.

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More WoW Forever Warrior Guides

These guides cover the rest of the Warrior class in Forever: the overview of all three specs, every talent change, the best race for each role, the tier set you will chase in the December raids and how Protection compares with every other tank.

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WoW Forever Protection Warrior FAQ

These are the questions players ask most often about Protection in WoW Forever.

Is Protection Warrior good in WoW Forever?

Yes. It is the strongest raid tank in Forever, with Shield Wall every 4 minutes, Last Stand every 3 and Shield Block every 5 seconds, and it brings Sunder Armor and Thunder Clap to every boss. In dungeons the Protection Paladin is easier on big pulls, but the Warrior keeps up once you handle Rage well.

What is the best Protection Warrior build at 60?

For raids, 17/2/32: the full Protection tree with 5/5 Anticipation, plus Impale and Deep Wounds in Arms. For dungeons, 4/15/32 with Enrage and Improved Thunder Clap. Both builds are in the calculators above.

How much Defense does a Protection Warrior need?

440 Defense against raid bosses and 435 against level 62 dungeon bosses. With 5/5 Anticipation, which gives 20 Defense in Forever, your gear has to provide 120. ConquestCapped's pre-raid list in our BiS guide reaches about 455.

What is the Protection Warrior rotation in WoW Forever?

A priority, not a fixed order: Shield Block before the boss swings, Revenge when it lights up, Shield Slam on cooldown, five stacks of Sunder Armor, Thunder Clap and Demoralizing Shout kept up, and Heroic Strike with spare Rage.

How do Protection Warriors hold AoE threat?

With Thunder Clap on up to four enemies, Cleave, tab-targeted Sunder Armor and Retaliation on big pulls. Engineers add Dense Dynamite and Goblin Sapper Charge, and Challenging Shout saves a pull that goes wrong.

Do Protection Warriors need Expertise?

Yes. About 6.5% removes a raid boss's dodges, and more keeps lowering its parries, which means more threat and fewer parry-hasted boss swings. No Warrior talent gives Expertise, so it all comes from gear such as the five-piece Deathbone Guardian set.

Does Shield Block cost Rage in WoW Forever?

Yes, 10 Rage on a 5-second cooldown, off the global cooldown. It adds 75% block chance for 7 sec against two attacks, and each block can give 5 Rage back through Shield Specialization.

What is the best race for a Protection Warrior?

Dwarf on the Alliance for Stoneform, Tauren on the Horde for Endurance and War Stomp. Orc and Night Elf hold the most threat on the pull.

Does Taunt generate threat in WoW Forever?

No. Taunt raises your threat to the level of the top player on the target's list and makes it attack you for a short time. You still have to pull ahead with Revenge, Shield Slam and Sunder Armor before it ends.

Can Protection Warriors dual-wield tank in WoW Forever?

Not well. Defiance, Bastion, Master of Defense and Shield Block all need a shield, so a dual-wield tank loses most of its threat and survivability. It only makes sense against enemies whose attacks cannot be blocked.