Welcome to the Protection Warrior Mythic+ guide for the World of Warcraft patch 11.0! This guide covers everything you need to know to understand your character! Are you starting out and leveling up from 70? Check out the leveling guide!
Overview
Protection Warrior
Protection WarriorMythic+
Hero Talents
Protection Warrior
- Mountain Thane buffs your baseline rotation and brings in more rage without adding an extra ability.
- Colossus has higher damage potential than Mountain Thane but comes at the cost of less defensive value and a worse playstyle.
- Overall Mountain Thane is recommended for dungeons.
Mountain Thane
Colossus
- Lightning Strikes
- Crashing Thunder
- Improves Seismic Reverberation making it a mandatory pick during AoE.
- Thunder Blast
- Avoid overcapping on these and spend them instantly, make sure to use all charges before casting Avatar and Demoralizing Shout if you're talented into Snap Induction.
- Storm Shield
- Gives Intervene a lot more use-cases as a useful external.
- Burst of Power
- Important to use both Shield Slams instantly to avoid getting another proc and wasting it.
- This is extra important during Avatar when talented into Unstoppable Force since you get so many Thunder Claps that all have a chance to proc more Lightning Strikes.
- Avatar of the Storm
- Gives Thunderlord a lot more value since you can cast significantly more Thunder Claps.
- Crashing Thunder
- Demolish
- Gets significantly buffed by Colossal Might damage wise.
- Can be used in niche scenarios to immune stuns and knockbacks or as another small defensive.
- One Against Many, Practiced Strikes and Tide of Battle
- With all of these Hero Talents combined your Revenge becomes your highest damage ability by far during AoE.
- Dominance of the Colossus
- Demolish gets its cooldown reduced, significantly increased when you're pressing Revenge a lot during AoE.
- Also a lot more cooldown reduction if you're talented into Sudden Death.
Talents
Protection Warrior
Mountain Thane Mythic+ Build
Colossus Low Mythic+ Damage Build
When to use this spec
This is the default loadout going into any dungeon unless specified otherwise. You have to adjust the class talent tree based on the utility needed for the dungeon. To make your life easier, dungeon-specific talent loadouts are available in the Dungeons section.
If you want a spec that's more damage oriented check out the other talent build!
Gameplay Altering Talents
Discover all talents that significantly alter your gameplay within the Spec and Class Talent trees. This section gives a concise overview of these talents and their applications but for a more detailed look check out the Rotation and Deep Dive sections below.
Spec Tree
- Into the Fray
- This talent makes it important to stay in the vicinity of your teammates as much as possible to gain the maximum benefit.
- Booming Voice
- Gives your Demoralizing Shout a big offensive component, pair it up with your other offensive cooldowns.
- Anger Management
- Makes it very important to never overcap on Rage and also to use Avatar on cooldown when possible to maximize the cooldown reduction.
- Spell Block
- Your most powerful defensive effect against most magic damage, keep in mind that you must have Shield Block up for it to work.
- Thunderlord
- Significant cooldown reduction on Demoralizing Shout which is both a defensive and offensive gain.
- Champion's Bulwark
- A significant boost both defensively and offensively, combine with Demoralizing Shout and Avatar to maximize your damage output.
- Violent Outburst
- An important buff to keep track of, this is explained more in the Deep Dive.
Class Tree
- Unstoppable Force
- Increases damage and reduces the cooldown of Thunder Clap significantly.
- Double Time
- This is an incredible boost to your mobility, it gives you 2 charges of Charge.
- Thunder Clap
- When talented into Rend your Thunder Clap automatically applies Rend to 5 enemies meaning that you never need to press Rend manually.
- Shockwave
- 2 second AoE stun.
- Storm Bolt
- Single-target 4 second stun.
- Intimidating Shout
- Fear up to 6 enemies, guaranteed to hit your target.
Hero Talents
- Storm Bolts
- Default pick because Storm Bolt is used a lot in Mythic+.
- Can be swapped out for Storm Shield if it's useful for the rest of your group.
- Keep Your Feet on the Ground
- Default pick as Steadfast as the Peaks is not very useful.
- Thorim's Might
- Very nice boost to Rage generation which is great for both defense and offense.
- Flashing Skies
- Simply outperforms the other option as more Lightning Strikes synergises well with Burst of Power.
When to use this spec
Pick this talent loadout if you are comfortable with your damage intake and want to push the damage. To make your life easier, boss-specific talent loadouts are available in the Dungeons section.
Talent Adjustments
Listing all the changes within the Class and Spec tree compared to the default build.
Spec Tree
- Added
- Bloodborne
- This is a big boost to your damage on both single-target and AoE.
- Bloodborne
- Removed
- Spell Block
- Removed to get more damage since big defensives aren't needed in lower keys.
- Impenetrable Wall
- Removed to get more damage since you don't need Shield Wall very often in lower keys.
- Spell Block
Spec Tree
- Added
- Bounding Stride
- Nice boost to mobility so you can speed through the dungeon.
- Armored to the Teeth
- Bigger DPS boost for Colossus than Unstoppable Force.
- Bounding Stride
- Removed
- Intervene
- Removed for Bounding Stride.
- Unstoppable Force
- Removed for Armored to the Teeth.
- Intervene
Hero Talents
- Earthquaker
- Default pick as the reduced cooldown and knock up is significantly better than a 40% slow.
- One Against Many
- Most of the time the better pick in Mythic+ since it's a very big boost to AoE damage, Arterial Bleed is better for single-target damage however.
- No Stranger to Pain
- Default pick since it's just a way better option than Veteran Vitality.
Rotation
Protection Warrior
Tier Set
- 2-Set: When your Shield Slam cooldown is reset by Strategist, you gain Expert Strategist, increasing the damage of Shield Slam by 5% and reducing all damage taken by 3% for 6 sec.
- 4-Set: Shield Slam critical strikes increase the damage dealt by Thunder Clap and Revenge by 10% for 8 sec.
Mountain Thane
Colossus
Opener
- The goal of the opener is to get Shield Block active as soon as possible to avoid the possibility of getting one shot after Charging in while also getting all your offensive cooldowns rolling.
- Below, you can see an example of how your opener might look, depending on when you get your first Burst of Power proc among other factors.
Priority List
Make sure to keep this list in mind, unless some bosses or scenarios require you to hold some abilities listed here
- Cast Ignore Pain as your main Rage spender.
- Maintain Shield Block at 100% uptime.
- Cast Ravager on cooldown.
- Cast Avatar on cooldown.
- Cast Demoralizing Shout on cooldown.
- Cast Thunderous Roar on cooldown.
- Cast Shield Charge on cooldown.
- Use your Violent Outburst proc
- Thunder Blast on 2+ targets if Avatar is active
- On single target/under 6 targets with Shield Slam
- Over 6 targets with Thunder Clap
- Cast Thunder Blast if you are at 2 stacks.
- Cast Shield Slam if Burst of Power is active.
- Cast Thunder Blast.
- Cast Shield Slam on cooldown.
- CastRevenge to apply Deep Wounds on AoE.
- Cast Execute on 2 or less targets.
Opener
- The goal of the opener is to get Shield Block active as soon as possible to avoid the possibility of getting one shot after Charging in while also getting all your offensive cooldowns rolling.
- Below, you can see an example of how your opener might look, depending on proc and other factors.
Priority List
Make sure to keep this list in mind, unless some bosses or scenarios require you to hold some abilities listed here
- Cast Ignore Pain as your main Rage spender.
- Maintain Shield Block at 100% uptime.
- Cast Ravager on cooldown.
- Cast Avatar on cooldown.
- Cast Demoralizing Shout on cooldown.
- Cast Thunderous Roar on cooldown.
- Cast Shield Charge on cooldown.
- Use your Violent Outburst proc
- On single target/under 8 targets with Shield Slam
- Over 8 targets with Thunder Clap
- Cast Shield Slam on cooldown.
- Cast Demolish on cooldown.
- Cast Thunder Clap on cooldown.
- CastRevenge to apply Deep Wounds on AoE.
- Cast Execute on 2 or less targets.
Defensive Stance vs. Battle Stance
- When swapping stances there are some factors you need to keep in mind:
- Defensive Stance provides you with a 20% flat damage reduction and an additional 5% magic damage reduction.
- Battle Stance provides you with a 3% critical chance and a 10% reduction on slow and cc effects.
- Stay in Defensive Stance at all times when taking any damage since the 3% crit chance is just not worth it losing 20% or 25% damage reduction.
- If you are not tanking anything and don't have any debuffs that do heavy damage to you, swapping to Battle Stance is totally fine and provides a small DPS gain.
Defensive Cooldowns
- Demoralizing Shout
- Most of the time you should use this on cooldown as it's a DPS increase when talented into Booming Voice. You also have Thunderlord that heavily reduces the cooldown which further incentivizes using it as much as possible.
- Shield Wall
- This should be your first go-to when you need a big defensive as this spell also gets heavily reduced cooldown from Anger Management & Impenetrable Wall.
- Spell Block
- Very powerful defensive in any pull or boss where there are a lot of casts on you and should be used as a high priority defensive whenever that's the case. Since Spell Block doesn't do anything outside of spell damage it's usually not used on cooldown but more so when it fits a certain pull.
- Last Stand
- Usually the last defensive you use because of the very long cooldown and niche effect as it doesn't provide any damage reduction.
- Impending Victory
- Not necessarily a defensive cooldown but a very nice self-heal tool. Just press it whenever you feel like a small heal would be useful.
Offensive Cooldowns
- Shield Charge
- Use on cooldown preferably while under the effect of Avatar and Booming Voice.
- Ravager
- Usually lines up with every 2nd Avatar.
- Avatar
- Use on cooldown as much as possible, extra important because of cooldown reduction from Anger Management.
- Thunderous Roar
- Use on cooldown preferably while under the effect of Avatar, Booming Voice and Demolish.
- Champion's Spear
- Extra important to line up with your other offensive cooldowns because of the critical strike damage increase from Champion's Might.
Deep Dive
Protection Warrior
Spell Reflection
- Spell Reflection is highly complex in the sense that it works differently for every mechanic and is often times the difference between Protection Warrior being very strong or mediocre.
- There is no one way to know at first glance if a spell cast on you is reflectable or not outside of just knowing beforehand through knowledge.
- To easier acquire this knowledge I highly recommend this Spell Reflection Resource.
- Some important notes about Spell Reflection:
- A spell does not always have to target you to be reflectable.
- Spell Reflection provides 20% magic damage taken reduction for 5 seconds.
- If a spell gets reflected and consumes the buff you still keep the 20% magic damage reduction for the full 5 seconds.
Managing Ignore Pain
- Ignore Pain is your primary Rage spender together with Revenge, one is full damage where the other one is full defensive value.
- Juggling both is your main job when it comes to how you spend your rage.
- Ignore Pain as the ability is different from all the others it does not occur a GCD when pressed but has its own small internal GCD, making it so you can press it while normally playing your rotation.
- Where on the other hand Revenge is a normal spender and also a GCD.
- Revenge is a tool to apply your Deep Wounds and do damage in your normal rotation.
- As a rule of thumb, you want to always use Ignore Pain when reaching your Rage cap to not overcap and while taking any damage to just become tankier.
Shield Slam & Violent Outburst
- Since Shield Slam is at the top of your priority list and it also resets its cooldown very frequently it's very important to make sure that it always gets used on cooldown.
- While doing so you need to make sure to never overcap on Rage as spending Rage reduces the cooldown of both offensive & defensive abilities.
- Violent Outburst is a proc that needs to be managed as it is a significant loss if you ever spend it on a Thunder Clap instead of a Shield Slam.
- On Single Target or below 8 Targets use this proc with Shield Slam.
- Above 8 Targets use it on Thunder Clap.
- When you're playing Mountain Thane the management of Violent Outburst changes significantly.
- Thunder Blast on 2+ targets if Avatar is active
- Thunder Clap on 4+ targets if Avatar is active.
- On single-target or below 6 targets use this proc with Shield Slam.
- Above 6 targets use it on Thunder Clap.
Understanding Mechanics
Rotational min-maxing is just one aspect of mastering a specialization, but there are numerous other key mechanics that influence your performance. Use the following guides to improve them.
Dungeons
Protection Warrior
← Scroll for more Bosses →
Boss Tips
Avanoxx
- Alerting Shrill does a good amount of AoE damage and summons 4 eggs stacked in a corner of the room. These eggs hatch into Starved Crawler, who then cast Hunger and fixate on the other players in your group.
- Your goal is to keep the the boss away from them because if Avanoxx gets close she eats them and gets a stack of Insatiable per Crawler eaten.
- The boss receiving any stack of Insatiable likely results in a wipe.
- Your goal is to keep the the boss away from them because if Avanoxx gets close she eats them and gets a stack of Insatiable per Crawler eaten.
- Gossamer Onslaught spawns Vile Webbing under every player while being cast so stacking up with your group or melee friend is recommended to conserve space.
- Voracious Bite is the tank mechanic, hitting you for 3 strikes back to back inflicting a 50% damage taken increase per stack which ends up being a 150% damage taken increase for the following melee swings.
- Use Demoralizing Shout during this combo.
Anub'zekt
- Impale is aimed at you while tanking the boss, resulting in a huge frontal cone that you can aim. You don't need to tank this mechanic but you need to aim it away from the team as best as possible.
- Burrow Charge
- The boss targets a player in your group and proceeds to goes underground and charge that player, immediately afterwards he casts Impale so make sure to aim that frontal well.
- Infestation spawns a Ceaseless Swarm, just don't stand in it.
- During Eye of the Swarm the boss creates a zone in front of the boss that is a "safe space". It moves together with the bosses' facing, so you are responsible for moving the zone around.
- Impale is being cast during the phase making the "safe zone" even smaller. Make sure you aim it at either side of the safe zone and not in the middle.
- Throughout the fight Bloodstained Webmage spawn casting Silken Restraints at someone random during the fight.
- Make sure to drag the boss close to them to cleave them down.
- Use Storm Bolt to stun them if needed.
Ki'katal the Harvester
- Cosmic Singularity requires you to stand in Grasping Blood while the cast is finishing.
- Risky strategy but you can outplay this mechanic with Heroic Leap
- At 1 second left of the cast, the boss grips you, after that grip you need to leap away.
- If you are using Grasping Blood watch out not to cast Avatar, this breaks your root and probably result in your death.
- Grasping Blood
- With Spell Reflection up step into a pool and reflect the damage back to the boss.
- Cultivated Poisons does a lot of damage to you while also shooting out waves to dodge when it expires.
- Use Spell Reflection while tanking this debuff.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Trilling Attendant - Resonant Barrage
- Ixin - Horrifying Shrill
- Bloodstained Webmage - Revolting Volley
- Blood Overseer - Venom Volley
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Sentry Stagshell - Alarm Shrill
- A really long cast that needs to get disrupted.
- Nerubian Hauler and Hulking Bloodguard - Massive Slam
- A short stun that ramps in damage done per cast.
- Sentry Stagshell - Alarm Shrill
Boss Tips
Orator Krix'vizk
- Chains of Oppression creates a circle around the boss preventing anyone from moving more than 10 yards away from the boss. You are responsible for dragging the boss and the team around so keep that in mind.
- Subjugate is a big magical tank hit that reduces your movement speed by 30% for 10 seconds after being hit.
- Utilize Spell Reflection on this mechanic.
- Terrorize is not a tank frontal so you can dodge it when it happens.
- Shadows of Doubt creates balls to dodge when dispelled, make sure to dodge these.
- Vociferous Indoctrination is a big group AoE mechanic that creates Lingering Influence after being cast.
- Move the boss quickly after this cast is finished to guarantee no one stands in the pool on the ground afterwards.
Fangs of the Queen
- The first tank mechanic, Shade Slash from Nx, deals damage to you and leaves behind an echo of the boss. You want to move the boss out of this echo as Duskbringer creates a big circle AoE around the boss and any echo left behind.
- Synergic Step happens at 100 Energy. The 2 bosses jump away and swap their ability sets.
- After Vx becomes the attacker, the other tank mechanic Rime Dagger activates. It does a bigger hit to you and applies Freezing Blood which makes stacking together with your group mandatory to remove this debuff.
- Utilize Spell Block to deal with this mechanic.
The Coaglamation
- Viscous Darkness summons orbs around the room that need to be soaked before they touch the boss.
- Corrupted Coating get applied by soaking a orb.
- Oozing Smash is the magic tank hit which slows you afterwards.
- Blood Surge
- Position the Boss at the edge of the room to maximize the amount of usable space as Blood Surge creates a pool under the boss.
Izo, the Grand Splicer
- Shifting Anomalies shoots 3 orbs towards players for this mechanic. Make sure to keep the boss together with the whole group and dodge as a group when needed.
- Splice
- Make sure Spell Reflection is up to reflect this debuff.
- Tremor Slam
- This mechanic requires you to run out of melee and be ready to pick up aggro on the Ravenous Scarab spawning afterwards.
- Umbral Weave
- You can Spell Reflection this mechanic if not used on Splice.
- Applies webs to all players in the group, rooting them unless destroyed. As with Shifting Anomalies, keep the boss close to your group.
- Process of Elimination
- This mechanic creates a big circle around you that can not hit anyone but yourself. Step away from the team to not hit them while tanking this mechanic.
- Cycle through Spell Block and Shield Wall on this mechanic.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Sureki Silkbinder - Silk Binding
- Herald of Ansurek - Twist Thoughts
- Covert Webmancer - Mending Web
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Eye of the Queen - Void Rush
- Royal Venomshell - Venomous Spray
Boss Tips
E.D.N.A.
- Seismic Smash does massive physical damage to you and is very dangerous.
- Seismic Reverberation is applied after tanking the hit.
- This debuff is a magic dot that can be dispelled.
- When dispelled you gain Stone Shield.
- The goal is to tank the first Seismic Smash and get dispelled to receive Stone Shield for the following one.
- Use Demoralizing Shout or any other defensive necessary whenever tanking the first one.
- Volatile Spike spawns spikes under 3 random players. For this stack up with your group.
- Refracting Beam targets random players which can then clear the Volatile Spikes.
- Position the boss in a line towards the spikes to make clearing easy.
- Use Spell Reflection while tanking Volatile Spike debuff stacks.
Skarmorak
- Crystalline Smash summons 3 Crystal Shards around the room.
- Move the boss from Crystal Shard to Crystal Shard and kill them one after another while letting the Crystalline Eruption debuff fall off between kills.
- Unstable Crash summons Unstable Energy per player.
- Don't soak these as a tank, leave them for your DPS and Healer.
Master Machinists Brokk and Dorlita
- Activate Ventilation
- Creates flame pools on the ground. Check early for a safe space for Scrap Song.
- Molten Metal
- Help interrupt this mechanic.
- Scrap Song
- Move the boss to side of the room to avoid the cube in the middle of the room.
- Blazing Crescendo
- Similar to Scrap Song, position the boss at one of the tips of the cube to avoid the lava waves.
- Igneous Hammer
- Deals high magic damage. Use Spell Reflection and Demoralizing Shout as much as possible here.
Void Speaker Eirich
- Void Corruption
- Applies a debuff to you that you need to clear with Void Rift.
- Entropic Reckoning
- Drop a zone when the cast is finished so be sure to place your circle at the edge of the room.
- Keep the boss towards the middle of the room use Heroic Leap to a portal and Charge back.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Ghastly Voidsoul - Howling Fear
- Void Bound Howler - Piercing Wail
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Void Bound Despoiler - Void Storm
- Forge Loader - Molten Mortar
- Rock Smasher - Smash Rock
- Cursedforge Honor Guard - Shield Stampede
- Cursedforge Stoneshaper - Earth Burst Totem
- Earth Burst Totem casts Earth Burst which needs to be killed before it goes off.
Boss Tips
Speaker Shadowcrown
- Darkness Comes
- When flying out and coming back be ready to interrupt Shadow Bolt.
- Shadow Bolt
- Use Spell Reflection on this to do extra damage.
- Interrupt it as much as possible.
- Obsidian Beam
- This mechanic's initial hit always hits you as a tank.
- It deals a lot of damage so make sure you press a defensive here.
- Collapsing Night
- Targets 2 ranged players if available and spawns void zones under them.
- Tank the boss towards the edge of the platform and rotate whenever this happens to min max the room.
Anub'ikkaj
- Dark Orb
- Tank the boss in an open space so the orb can be aimed as far away as possible.
- Terrifying Slam
- Find a corner to stand against so the knockup is prevented as much as possible.
- Spell Reflection should always be usined on this.
- Animate Shadows
- Spawns Animate Shadows that cast Congealed Darkness.
- Use Shockwave to interrupt the casts.
- Be ready to pick up aggro and interrupt them if needed.
- Spawns Animate Shadows that cast Congealed Darkness.
Rasha'nan
- Erosive Spray
- Use Spell Reflection while tanking the Lingering Erosion debuff.
- Acidic Eruption
- Interrupt this after flying to the boss to start stage 2.
- Tacky Burst
- This prevents you from moving away from the boss. Make sure you always stick to the boss and never leave melee.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Nightfall Shadowmage - Ensnaring Shadows
- Nightfall Commander - Abyssal Howl
- Nightfall Darkcaster - Tormenting Beam
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Anub'ikkaj and Ixkreten the Unbreakable - Terrifying Slam
- Nightfall Dark Architect - Usher Reinforcements
- Anub'ikkaj and Deathscreamer Iken'tak - Dark Orb
- Anub'ikkaj and Ascendant Vis'coxria - Shadowy Decay
Boss Tips
Ingra Maloch
- Spirit Bolt
- Interrupt this cast whenever possible.
- Repulsive Visage
- Berserker Shout should be used to immune the fear on all group members around you in a 12 yards radius.
- Embrace Darkness
- Forces you to hit Droman Oulfarran.
- Bewildering Pollen
- This frontal is aimed at you so don't aim it at the ranged team.
- Droman's Wrath
- Save damage abilities for this phase.
Mistcaller
- Patty Cake
- This cast is solely for you and needs to be interrupted by you.
- Freeze Tag
- Summons Illusionary Vulpin fixating Freeze Tag Fixation on a player.
- Use Storm Bolt to stun it away from group members.
Tred'ova
- Consumption
- Interrupt this after breaking the shield on the boss.
- Accelerated Incubation
- Summons Gormling Larva, make sure to pick them up and bring them under the boss for cleave damage.
- Marked Prey makes them fixate on a player so support them with your slows.
- Use Shockwave to stun the Larvas in melee.
- Mind Link
- Utilize Heroic Leap to leap away from the linked player or you yourself leap away from the team.
- Coalescing Poison
- This creates a big circle around to boss while sucking you in. Run against it to not die.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Drust Harvester - Harvest Essence
- Spinemaw Staghorn - Stimulate Resistance
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Drust Spiteclaw - Dying Breath
- This debuffs enemies as well as players.
- Tirnenn Villager - Overgrowth
- Drust Boughbreaker - Furious Thrashing
- Triggers at 50% HP of the Drust Boughbreaker.
- Mistveil Defender - Mist Ward
- Big zone to move the enemies out of.
- Mistveil Stalker - Mistveil Bite
- Mistveil Stinger - Anima Injection
- Spinemaw Staghorn - Acid Nova
- Drust Spiteclaw - Dying Breath
Boss Tips
Blightbone
- Heaving Retch
- Spawns Carrion Worm, utilize your slows while killing these.
- Use Shockwave to stun them, when they reach any player in the group.
- Use Intervene on the Heaving Retch target to redirect the hit to yourself.
- Combine this with Spell Reflection.
- Fetid Gas
- Position the boss close to other pools to maximize room usage as Fetid Gas creates a pool under the boss.
- Crunch
- Physical tank hit.
Amarth, The Harvester
- Land of the Dead
- Move the boss close to the Reanimated Crosbowman while interrupting the Reanimated Mage.
- Use Shockwave and Storm Bolt to stun any adds if needed.
- Unholy Frenzy
- If your group cant purge this Enrage effect, watch your health since the boss starts doing a lot more damage.
- Necrotic Bolt
- Interrupt this as much as possible.
Surgeon Stitchflesh
- Awaken Creation
- Always make sure to pick up Stitchflesh's Creation. They spawn in one of the back corners of the room looking at the boss.
- Position the Stitchflesh's Creation in the middle of the room to make aiming Meat Hook easy.
- Sever Flesh
- Physical tank hit.
- Escape
- After this is cast position Stitchflesh's Creation in the middle.
Nalthor the Rimebinder
- Comet Storm
- Stack up with your melees to dodge this mechanic together.
- Icy Shard
- This tank hit is being cast at you all the time and does high physical damage to you.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Corpse Harvester - Drain Fluids
- Stitched Vanguard - Meat Shield
- Skeletal Marauder - Rasping Scream
- Corpse Collector - Goresplatter
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Zolramus Necromancer - Grim Fate
- Skeletal Marauder - Gruesome Cleave
- Fast frontal cast.
- Flesh Crafter - Throw Cleaver
- This spell also does damage to enemies and should be aimed at any enemy to deal extra damage.
- Help with this by positioning the mobs in front of the Flesh Crafter.
- This spell also does damage to enemies and should be aimed at any enemy to deal extra damage.
- Loyal Creation - Spine Crush
- A big circle cast that can't be disrupted as it recasts until the cast is finished once.
Boss Tips
Chopper Redhook
- On the Hook
- The boss is fixating on players and is not tankable. You are responsible for the adds.
- Every 25% boss HP he calls in 1 Irontide Cleaver and 1 Irontide Powdershot
- Irontide Cleaver
- Heavy Slash
- Aim this frontal away from any team member and any Heavy Ordnance.
- Heavy Slash
- Irontide Powdershot
- Is standing still most of the time casting Molten Slug
- Drag the Irontide Cleaver close and focus them down use Shockwave and Storm Bolt to stun them.
Dread Captain Lockwood
- Mass Bombardment
- Applies Sighted Artillery, move with your melee team.
- Fiery Ricochet
- Avoid stacking up on this mechanic.
- Clear the Deck
- This is a very fast frontal so aim it away from any players.
- Withdraw - Be ready to pick up the following adds:
- Ashvane Deckhand
- Crimson Swipe
- Another fast frontal to aim away.
- Crimson Swipe
- Ashvane Cannoneer
- Broadside
- Long cast frontal that should be aimed away from the group.
- Unstable Ordnance
- Pick this up and use the ExtraActionButton to shoot the boss down.
- Broadside
- Ashvane Deckhand
Hadal Darkfathom
- Crashing Tide
- A frontal that needs to be aimed away from the group whenever possible.
- Break Water
- Bait the water pools away from the statue in the middle.
- Tidal Surge
- Summons 2 waves that need to be dodged back to back. Be ready to move the boss to a safe spot and aim Crashing Tide away from the group when it is about to be cast as this can be a deadly overlap.
Viq'Goth
- Demolishing Terror
- Hull Cracker
- Don't leave melee of the Demolishing Terror.
- Slam
- This knocks you back. Charge back to the Demolishing Terror afterwards.
- Hull Cracker
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Ashvane Commander - Bolstering Shout
- Bilge Rat Tempest - Choking Waters
- Bilge Rat Pillager - Stinky Vomit
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Scrimshaw Enforcer - Slobber Knocker
- Casted frontal cone that is hard to see.
- Irontide Raider - Iron Hook into Savage Tempest
- Blacktar Bomber - Fire Bomb
- Ashvane Commander - Azerite Charge
- Irontide Powdershot - Molten Slug
- Ashvane Spotter - Sighted Artillery
- Bilge Rat Demolisher - Crushing Slam
- Scrimshaw Enforcer - Slobber Knocker
Boss Tips
General Umbriss
- Skullsplitter
- Deals 2 instances of physical damage over 2 seconds, while also applying a bleed to you.
- Commanding Roar
- Summons Shadow Breath so be sure to position the boss in the safe lane.
Forgemaster Throngus
- Forge Weapon - Summons one of the following 3 weapons:
- Molten Mace
- Kite the boss during this duration, don't tank him.
- While walking he leaves behind Molten Pool so kite him at the edge of the room.
- Molten Flurry
- Physical damage cast while applying Molten Spark to party members.
- Fiery Cleave
- This frontal can be baited by anyone in the group. Bait this into a wall if possible.
- Molten Mace
Drahga Shadowburner
- Invocation of Shadowflame
- Invoked Shadowflame Spirit casts Flaming Fixate.
- Stun it with Storm Bolt.
- Shadowflame Bolt
- This cast is always on you, interrupt when it is ready.
- Use Spell Reflection to reflect this.
- Twilight Buffet
- Position the boss in a new corner whenever Twilight Buffet is coming up.
- Twilight Wind spawns after, drag away from them to make it easy for the group.
- Devouring Flame
- This frontal breath is always aimed at you, position it away from the group into a wall if possible.
Erudax, the Duke of Below
- Shadow Gale
- Position the boss in the middle of this circle and adjust when it starts shrinking.
- Void Surge
- Summons Void Tendril
- Use Spell Reflection to reflect and immune Depth's Grasp to clear Void Tendrils.
- This does not consume Spell Reflection so you can clear as many as possible during the duration.
- Use Spell Reflection to reflect and immune Depth's Grasp to clear Void Tendrils.
- Summons Void Tendril
- Void Infusion
- Summons Twilight Hatchling
- When killed they explode with Shadow Wound.
- Summons Twilight Hatchling
- Crush
- Physical and magical damage hit. This knocks you back so watch out for Void Tendrils.
- Charge back after the knockback.
Trash Tips
- Important abilities to interrupt in this dungeon are:
- Twilight Earthcaller - Mass Tremor
- Twilight Beguiler - Sear Mind
- Pay extra attention to these casts:
- Twilight Destroyer - Umbral Wind
- You can LoS this cast.
- Twilight Overseer - Reckless Tactic
- Purge it if needed.
- Molten Giant - Molten Wake
- Twilight Lavabender - Ascension and Dark Eruption
- Ascension triggers at 50% HP and starts pulsing Scorching Heat group damage.
- Twilight Warlock - Enveloping Shadowflame
- Twilight Enforcer - Ramping Rage
- Mutated Hatchling - Shadow Wound
- Faceless Corruptor - Corrupt and Mind Piercer
- Twilight Destroyer - Umbral Wind
Affixes
The Affix system got revamped going into The War Within Season 1 retiring most Affixes as well as introducing new kiss-curse ones while also changing on which key level these appear.
- +2 Affixes -- Rotates on a weekly basis
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Oblivion
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour
- +4 Affixes -- Alternates between each other on a weekly basis
- Tyrannical
- Fortified
- +7 Affix
- Challenger's Peril
- +10 Affixes -- Alternates between each other on a weekly basis, is always the opposite of the +4 Affix
- Tyrannical
- Fortified
- +12 Affix
- Xal'atath's Guile -- Replaces the +2 Affix
Following you get some useful tips for handling different Mythic+ Affixes as a Protection Warrior.
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant
- Shockwave and Intimidating Shout as many orbs as possible.
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound
- The Void Emissary follows you, keep it close to cleave and target it whenever its up.
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Oblivion
- Watch behind you and collect any orbs flying into melee, intercept them before they hit any enemies.
- Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour
- This is just a healing absorb, the only tool you have is Impending Victory.
Stat Priority
Protection Warrior
Understand your secondary stat priority and the tertiary stats needed for optimal performance during Mythic + dungeons as a Protection Warrior. For more detailed information, visit the Stats and Attributes guide.
Higher Item level items are better in most scenarios. For an accurate representation of what item to equip you should use Simcraft! A static "Stat Priority" is just a starting point and can easily shift depending on your individual gear.
All secondary stats are affected by diminishing returns. Click here to learn more!
Tertiary
- Avoidance - Great stat to reduce the damage intake of "Area of Effect" abilities.
- Leech - Provides additional healing through damage dealing.
- Speed - Niche tertiary that can be very useful and has been proven useful in the past. This makes managing certain mechanics a lot easier.
In general, Leech is really strong for tanks, especially in AoE scenarios it can be by far the best stat you can have.
Avoidance is great but most of the time tanks are not struggling to survive the typical Area of Effect abilities.
Gear
Protection Warrior
Overall BiS
Farmable Alternatives
| Slot | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Warsculptor's Barbute | Silken Court Tier / Catalyst |
| Neck | Sureki Zealot's Insignia | Sikran |
| Shoulder | Warsculptor's Horned Spaulders | Rasha'nan Tier / Catalyst |
| Cloak | Wings of Shattered Sorrow | Rasha'nan |
| Chest | Warsculptor's Furred Plastron | Broodtwister Ovi'nax Tier / Catalyst |
| Wrist | Everforged Vambraces | Crafting |
| Gloves | Devourer's Gauntlets | Ara'kara, City of Echos |
| Belt | Everforged Greatbelt | Crafting |
| Legs | Warsculptor's Cuisses | Ky'veza Tier / Catalyst |
| Boots | Ballast Sinkers | Siege of Boralus |
| Ring 1 | Seal of the Poisoned Pact | Queen Ansurek |
| Ring 2 | Experiment 08752's Band | City of Threads |
| Trinket 1 | Ovi'nax's Mercurial Egg | Broodtwister Ovi'nax |
| Trinket 2 | Ara-Kara Sacbrood | Ara'kara, City of Echos |
| Weapon | Engorged Worm Smasher | Necrotic Wake |
| Shield | Crest of the Caustic Despot | Queen Ansurek |
Below you are presented with a good list of farmable alternatives that are obtainable outside of WoW’s weekly lockout system. While replaced in time as you progress, these offer immediate character power.
| Slot | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Soaring Behemoth's Greathelm | The Dawnbreaker |
| Neck | Elder's Hemolymphal Periapt | City of Threads |
| Shoulder | Flesh Connector's Epaulets | City of Threads |
| Cloak | Azureborne Cloak | Grim Batol |
| Chest | Experimental Goresilk Chestguard | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes |
| Wrist | Vociferous Subjugator's Bracers | City of Threads |
| Gloves | Devourer's Gauntlets | Ara'kara, City of Echos |
| Belt | Crystal-Fissure Girdle | The Stonevault |
| Legs | Legplates of Unholy Frenzy | Necrotic Wake |
| Boots | Ballast Sinkers | Siege of Boralus |
| Ring 1 | Experiment 08752's Band | City of Threads |
| Ring 2 | Devout Zealot's Ring | The Dawnbreaker |
| Trinket 1 | Skarmorak Shard | The Stonevault |
| Trinket 2 | Ara-Kara Sacbrood | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes |
| Weapon | Engorged Worm Smasher | Necrotic Wake |
| Shield | Encrusted Canopic Lid | Necrotic Wake |
Trinkets
Below you can find active and passive alternatives to our recommended trinkets. Do note that some trinkets are better than others depending on the mythic+ dungeon.
Active Trinket alternatives
- Foul Behemoth's Chelicera
- Strong trinket for both defensive and offensive value.
- Skarmorak Shard
- Very strong on use trinket for mastery.
- Swarmlord's Authority
- Haste statstick, that gives a good all-around absorb on use every 1min.
- Due to having only haste as a stat, only recommended if the absorb is needed.
Passive Trinket alternatives
- Ceaseless Swarmgland
- Another passive trinket that does damage and provides little damage reduction.
- Void Pactstone
- Trinket proc does some damage and provides haste, not the best.
Embellishments
It's recommended to hold your Spark of Omens craft and wait for further tuning.
- 2x Elemental Focusing Lens.
- Craft preferred on Rings, Neck, Bracers, and Waist.
- It's possible to put on any crafted piece.
Remaining Sparks
- Crafted items are 636 item level and regular items are 639 on max item level, therefore, it's a small loss to equip crafted items outside of your 2x Embellishments unless you don't have access to other high item level gear on that slot.
Simcraft
To find the best combination of gear available to you or identify the best possible upgrades, visit our Simcraft guide to learn how to utilize Simcraft easily and effectively.
Consumables
Protection Warrior
- Phials
- Flask of Tempered Aggression -- max damage.
- Flask of Tempered Versatility -- less DPS more survivability.
- Food
- Feast of the Divine Day
- Feast of the Midnight Masquerade
- Combat Potion
- Tempered Potion
- Potion Bomb of Power -- group potion, this is a DPS loss for you.
- Health Potion
- Algari Healing Potion
- Weapon Stones
- Ironclaw Whetstone -- usable on Sword, Axe.
- Ironclaw Weightstone -- usable on Mace.
- Augment Rune
- Crystallized Augment Rune
- Sockets
- Quick Ruby
- Culminating Blasphemite -- Unique, use one of each gem colour to enhance your Blasphemite.
- Deadly Emerald
- Quick Onyx
- Deadly Sapphire
Enchantments
| Head | Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Neck | Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Cloak | Enchant Cloak - Chant of Winged Grace |
| Chest | Enchant Chest - Crystalline Radiance |
| Wrist | Enchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Leech Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Belt | Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Legs | Stormbound Armor Kit |
| Boots | Enchant Boots - Scout's March |
| Ring 1 | Enchant Ring - Radiant Haste Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Ring 2 | Enchant Ring - Radiant Haste Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Weapon | Enchant Weapon - Authority of the Depths |
You buy Nerubian Gemweaver from the Great Vault Vendor to add sockets to your Helm, Wrists and Belt.
Races
Protection Warrior
For min-maxing a Protection Warrior in Mythic+ Dungeons, different racial traits can provide a tremendous benefit to your characters. If this is not your top goal, picking a race that fits your style works just as well.
- Stoneform -- Dwarf
- Is very valuable because you can dispel yourself or remove dangerous bleed effects.
- On top of that using Stoneform gives you 10% physical DR which can be used as a small extra 8 second personal when tanking.
- Use-case examples:
- Cultivated Poisons, Ki'katal the Harvester (Ara-Kara, City of Echoes)
- Gut Shot, Dread Captain Lockwood (Siege of Boralus)
- Putrid Waters, Viq'Goth (Siege of Boralus)
- Skullsplitter, General Umbriss (Grim Batol)
- Curse of Entropy, Drahga Shadowburner (Grim Batol)
- Shadowmeld -- Night Elf
- Can be very useful when doing any kind of skip in Mythic+
- Run past basically any mob and then cast Shadowmeld to make them reset. Even works on mobs that have stealth detection if you get enough distance before you Shadowmeld
- Rocket Jump -- Goblin
- Do a small jump in the direction your character is facing.
- While you're in the Rocket Jump animation you are placed on a global cooldown until your character lands.
- Arcane Torrent -- Blood Elf
- Strong racial to dispel or purge enemies, the value is very limited but sometimes can come in handy.
- Spatial Rift -- Void Elf
- Spawn a shadow traveling into your facing direction, and activate again to teleport to the rift.
- Maximum range of 100 yards.
Recommendation
As a tank picking a racial for damage is a small gain that is not worth it most of the time. If you care about min-maxing your DPS go with the highest DPS racial.
That being said the recommended race for Mythic+ is either Night Elf or Dwarf both offer unique features one being more tactical with Night Elf skips and the other being more reliable when it comes to your survivability.
Macros
Protection Warrior
Discover recommended macros for Protection Warrior for Mythic+ and watch a quick video guide on creating simple macros for your character.
Taunt Macros
Taunt Macro --- This macro either casts Taunt at your target or your mouseover (very handy to pick up mobs)
#showtooltip Taunt
/cast [@mouseover,exists,harm][@target,exists,harm] TauntBoss 1 Taunt --- Casts Taunt on Boss1
/cast [@boss1] TauntBoss 2 Taunt --- Casts Taunt on Boss2
/cast [@boss2] TauntMouseover Macros
Cursor Macros
Recommended Macros
Addons
Protection Warrior
Below, you see a screenshot of the author's User Interface for their Protection Warrior, outlining which addons are used and how they are utilized in Mythic+ to make your life easier.
Addons
Weakauras
Changes this Patch
Protection Warrior
Patch 11.0.2
Patch 11.0.1
FAQ
Protection Warrior
Q: Why did I die to magic damage during Spell Block?
Credits
Written By: Wolfdisco, Meeres
Reviewed By: Sho