Protection Warrior Raid Guide

11.0.5 - The War Within

Last Updated:October 28, 2024|Changelog|FAQ

Welcome to the Protection Warrior raid 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

Patch 11.0.5 - The War Within
Protection Warrior
Protection WarriorRaid
Single-Target
Strong
AoE
Strong
Utility
Strong
Survivability
Strong
Mobility
Excellent
Protection Warrior Raid Best in Slot

Hero Talents

Patch 11.0.5 - The War Within
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 raid.
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.
  • 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

Patch 11.0.5 - The War Within
Protection Warrior
Mountain Thane Raid Build
Colossus Raid Build
Protection Warrior Mountain Thane Raid Build

When to use this spec

This is the default loadout going into any boss unless specified otherwise. You have to adjust the class talent tree based on the utility needed for the encounter. To make your life easier, boss-specific talent loadouts are available in the Raids section.
If you want do spec a more damage oriented option check out the other 2 talent builds!

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.
  • Sudden Death
    • Free Executes which is great for damage and also to get some globals that don't cost Rage.
  • Champion's Bulwark
    • 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, explained more in the Deep dive.

Class Tree

  • Unstoppable Force
    • Increases the 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.
  • Bounding Stride
    • Gives you a huge movement speed boost after Heroic Leap.
  • Intervene
    • A very powerful external defensive in niche scenarios. Most of the time you should use it for mobility or to aid your co-tank during periods of heavy damage intake.

Hero Talents

  • Storm Shield
    • Default pick because Storm Bolt isn't used a lot in Raids.
    • Can be swapped out for Storm Bolts if it's useful.
  • 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.
Protection Warrior Colossus Raid Build

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 Raids section.

Hero Talents

  • Boneshaker
    • Can pick either talent here depending on the fight, Shockwave is rarely used in Raid encounters.
  • Arterial Bleed
    • Default pick for Raid since it's better for single-target and most of the time One Against Many doesn't have enough targets to be valuable.
  • No Stranger to Pain
    • Default pick since it's just a way better option than Veteran Vitality.

Rotation

Patch 11.0.5 - The War Within
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.
Mountain Thane Protection Warrior Opener in Raid

Priority List

Make sure to keep this list in mind, unless some bosses or scenarios require you to hold some abilities listed here

  1. Cast Ignore Pain as your main Rage spender.
  2. Maintain Shield Block at 100% uptime.
  3. Cast Ravager on cooldown.
  4. Cast Avatar on cooldown.
  5. Cast Demoralizing Shout on cooldown.
  6. Cast Thunderous Roar on cooldown.
  7. Cast Shield Charge on cooldown.
  8. 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
  9. Cast Thunder Blast if you are at 2 stacks.
  10. Cast Shield Slam if Burst of Power is active.
  11. Cast Thunder Blast.
  12. Cast Shield Slam on cooldown.
  13. CastRevenge to apply Deep Wounds on AoE.
  14. 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.
Colossus Protection Warrior Opener in Raid

Priority List

Make sure to keep this list in mind, unless some bosses or scenarios require you to hold some abilities listed here

  1. Cast Ignore Pain as your main Rage spender.
  2. Maintain Shield Block at 100% uptime.
  3. Cast Ravager on cooldown.
  4. Cast Avatar on cooldown.
  5. Cast Demoralizing Shout on cooldown.
  6. Cast Thunderous Roar on cooldown.
  7. Cast Shield Charge on cooldown.
  8. Use your Violent Outburst proc
    • On single target/under 8 targets with Shield Slam
    • Over 8 targets with Thunder Clap
  9. Cast Shield Slam on cooldown.
  10. Cast Demolish on cooldown.
  11. Cast Thunder Clap on cooldown.
  12. CastRevenge to apply Deep Wounds on AoE.
  13. 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

Patch 11.0.5 - The War Within
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.
  • 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.

Nerub-ar Palace

Patch 11.0.5 - The War Within
Protection Warrior

← Scroll for more Bosses

Ulgrax
Bloodbound Horror
Sikran
Rasha'nan
Broodtwister
Nexus-Princess
Silken Court
Queen Ansurek
Protection Warrior Raid Ulgrax

Tank mechanics

  • Brutal Crush
    • After being hit you receive 20 applications of Tenderized which results in a 200% healing reduction.
      • Every second, you lose one application stack which fully clears your debuff after 20 seconds.
      • The boss casts this mechanic roughly every 15 to 20 seconds.
      • As the inactive tank, taunt when the cast succeeds.
  • After Hulking Crash the Boss transitions into the intermission.
  • Ravenous Spawn appear in a cocoon on one side of the room, make sure to move there.
    • These cocoons break staggered after some time spawning Ravenous Spawn pick them up and watch aggro since they are spread out.
      • Disembowel is cast on the target that has aggro so watch your DPS and Healer players if they are getting attacked.
    • Disembowel is a bleed which can be removed by Cauterizing Flame and Stoneform.

Boss Tips and Tricks

  • At the start of the fight, bring the Boss to a corner as this makes Stalkers Webbing easier to clear.
  • During Carnivorous Contest, use Heroic Leap while soaking to not get sucked to the boss.
    • Do not Charge because Devour kills you almost instantly.
Protection Warrior Raid Bloodbound Horror

Tank mechanics

  • Gruesome Disgorge is both a tank mechanic and a raid mechanic.
    • Gruesome Disgorge is cast at the active tank and shows a huge cone that faces and moves with you.
    • As the inactive tank, taunt when the cast succeeds.
    • When hit by Gruesome Disgorge you and anyone inside the cone is sent into a different phase, Baneful Shift.
      • During the phase, you need to kill the Lost Watcher and Forgotten Harbingers while preventing Blood Horrors from reaching the boss
    • Lost Watcher is your tank target make sure to taunt it.
      • Black Bulwark needs to be interrupted.
      • Spectral Slam is cast on you doing moderate damage.
      • Position the Lost Watcher between or close to Forgotten Harbingers.
  • Spewing Hemorrhage.
    • Spewing Hemorrhage creates two beams on each side of the boss while being cast.
    • Boss facing determines where the beams are.
    • The active boss tank can move accordingly to adjust final beam positions during the cast.
    • Your goal is to place the beams as far away as possible from the inside group with Baneful Shift.
    • These Beams always turn clockwise so keep that in mind.

Boss Tips and Tricks

  • Use Heroic Leap when running away from Goresplatter to jump over the "water" to not take any damage.
  • Utilize Shockwave for the inside phase Baneful Shift to stun the small adds spawned from Manifest Horror.
  • Use Rallying Cry on Goresplatter if needed.
Protection Warrior Raid Sikran

Tank mechanics

  • Captain's Flourish is the tank combo mechanic during this fight.
  • Sikran starts with 2x Expose followed by 1x Phase Lunge.
    • Taunting during any of these casts changes the destination target to the taunter. Watch out when to taunt here.
  • Managing Captain's Flourish:
    • The active tank takes two hits of Expose increasing his physical damage taken.
    • The Inactive tank taunts during Phase Lunge increasing his damage taken by the next Phase Lunge.
    • After this combo, the tanks swap roles meaning the tank who took Phase Lunge now takes the next two Expose.
    • While the previous Expose tank now takes Phase Lunge.

Boss Tips and Tricks

  • Move the boss to be in a line with the Phase Blades images. This makes it easier for Decimate targets to hit them.
  • Use Spell Reflection right before Decimate goes off to get the longest damage reduction on the Cosmic Shards debuff.
  • Use Rallying Cry on Shattering Sweep if needed.
Protection Warrior Raid Rasha'nan

Tank mechanic

  • Savage Assault is the only tank mechanic on this fight.
    • As the inactive tank, taunt when the cast succeeds.
  • The mechanic does a high amount of damage and applies a dot based on 60% of unmitigated damage done to you, meaning you need mitigate the damage as much as possible.
    • The damage is split into magic and physical damage.
    • Both instances are calculated separately when it comes to the dot application. If you only have a physical absorb, you receive the full magic dot + the unmitigated physical one.

Boss Tips and Tricks

  • Utilize Shockwave for the Infested Spawn adds before they bit the initial target to avoid debuff applications.
  • Use Spell Reflection and or Spell Block during Savage Assault to avoid as much as possible from the magic dot.
Protection Warrior Raid Broodtwister

Tank mechanics

  • Volatile Concoction is the very short duration tank mechanic.
    • It's very important that the inactive tank taunts when the cast succeeds.
  • When you have Volatile Concoction on you it's very important to stay at the highest HP possible.
    • The debuff is a big magic dot and only 8 seconds long.
    • After the debuff runs out, you explode on the whole raid and the damage is reduced based on your current health percent when the debuffs drops. Staying healthy and as close as possible to 100% is your goal.
    • Volatile Concoction also applies a +damage taken debuff to you preventing you from tacking 2 back to back so make sure to taunt of your partner tank.
  • Experimental Dosage spawns different add types throughout the fight. Your main concern is the Colossal Spider.
    • Whenever they spawn be ready to taunt or attack them to pick up the aggro.
    • They cast Vicious Bite at the target with aggro, this does magic damage to you.
    • At 25% HP they enrage and start stacking up a damage done increase.
    • Whenever you have Volatile Concoction be extra careful of your HP.

Boss Tips and Tricks

  • During this fight make sure to position the boss next to the eggs you want to break next.
    • Here you want to make sure that the boss model is not covering the eggs. If it is covering the eggs, it is substantially harder for other players to break them.
  • Spell Block is an amazing tool to counter Volatile Concoction.
  • Utilize Shockwave for the Voracious Worm adds.
    • Stun them close to the boss cleave range before they escape.
  • Use Rallying Cry on Ingest Black Blood if needed.
Protection Warrior Raid Nexus-Princess

Tank mechanics

  • Void Shredders
    • This ability consists of 4 hits each dealing damage and applying one stack of Chasmal Gash to the active tank.
    • As the inactive tank, you can taunt at any point during the cast or after it is over as it does not change targets.
    • This mechanic is just a regular tank swap mechanic and there is nothing more to it.
      • Sometimes it can be paired with a good amount of raid damage which can be dangerous.
  • On mythic difficulty, pre-position the boss before every Twilight Massacre so your raid group can charge Death Masks through the boss.

Boss Tips and Tricks

  • During Void Shredders both Spell Block and Spell Reflection should be used.
  • Use Rallying Cry during the intermission Starless Night if needed.
Protection Warrior Raid Silken Court

Tank mechanics

  • This council boss consists of two bosses: Anub'arash and Skeinspinner Takazj.
    • Both tanks want to preemptively decide on one boss to start on so make sure that is clear.
  • Anub'arash casts Piercing Strike.
  • Skeinspinner Takazj casts Poison Bolt and Void Bolt which are both magic casts that leave a dispellable dot behind.
  • Piercing Strike deals a decent amount of physical damage to the active tank and leaves an increased damage taken debuff.
    • As the inactive tank, taunt after the cast succeeded.
  • Skeinspinner Takazj casts either of her "Bolt" spells whenever she is not casting any encounter-related mechanic.
    • Both bolts are quite harmless on low stacks, but become dangerous fast when reaching higher stacks.
    • Poison Bolt is a poison only dispel mechanic.
      • Make sure to get dispelled by your fellow Paladins, Evokers, Monks, and Druids.
    • In Phase 2 Poison Bolt changes to Void Bolt and becomes a magic dispel that can be dispelled by any healer.
  • The goal is to keep the bosses stacked as much as possible while swapping tanking roles after each Piercing Strike.

Boss Tips and Tricks

  • Use Spell Reflection on cooldown when tanking Poison Bolt and Void Bolt.
  • Use Rallying Cry on Reckless Charge if needed.
Protection Warrior Raid Queen Ansurek

Phase 1

  • Liquefy
    • This ability is a combination of high amount of magical damage and low amount of physical damage.
    • It also leaves an undispellable dot that deals nature damage every second for 30 seconds and increases physical damage taken by 1.000%.
    • After the cast has finished, it does Acid Explosion dealing raid wide damage and leaving Acid pools on the ground.
  • Feast
    • Inflicts a huge amount of physical damage and leaves a healing absorb that is affected by the amount of damage you've taken by the initial hit.
  • Queen Ansurek will always use both abilities as a combination, starting with Liquefy followed by Feast.
  • Each tank can only get hit by one of those abilities.
  • If you're the tank always taking Liquefy you cannot tank the boss until the dot has run out.
  • If you're the tank that is supposed to take the Feast make sure to always taunt during the Liquefy cast, as this ability gets hard locked on it's initial target.

Phase 2

  • Make sure to pick up Chamber Guardians and move them to Chamber Expeller.
    • Chamber Guardians cast Oust which deals physical damage and knocks you back.
  • Each time you elevate to the next platform, Caustic Skitterers are spawning on top of the bridge, pay attention to grab aggro of these.
    • Caustic Skitterer leave a stacking debuff that increases your damage taken per stack. Use Shockwave and run a few steps away if you feel in danger.

Phase 3

  • Infest
    • This ability is a combination of high amount of magical damage and low amount of physical damage.
    • It leaves a 4 second long debuff on application, whenever this debuff runs out, it inflicts shadow damage and spawns 8 Gloom Hatchlings on top of the tank.
    • Make sure to run away from the boss with the explosion, because if Gloom Hatchlings reach the boss it does fatal raid wide damage.
    • Use Ursol's Vortex to prevent Gloom Hatchlings of reaching the boss.
  • Gorge
    • Deals 6 instances of physical damage over 2.5 seconds, while also applying a debuff to you, that increase your physical damage taken per stack.
  • Similiar to Phase 1, Queen Ansurek also uses both abilites in quick succession starting with Infest followed by Gorge.
  • If you're the tank that takes the Infest make sure to taunt back the boss after you've successfully spawned the Gloom Hatchlings and the boss has finished it's Gorge cast.
  • While having the Gorge debuff, you cannot tank the boss, so make sure that you're co-tank is taunting Queen Ansurek from you until the next Gorge happens.

Stat Priority

Patch 11.0.5 - The War Within
Protection Warrior

Understand your secondary stat priority and the tertiary stats needed for optimal performance during Raid boss fights as a Protection Warrior. For more detailed information, visit the Stats and Attributes guide.

Protection Warrior Raid Stat Priorities

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

Patch 11.0.5 - The War Within
Protection Warrior
Overall BiS
Farmable Alternatives
SlotItemLocation
HeadWarsculptor's BarbuteSilken Court Tier / Catalyst
NeckSureki Zealot's InsigniaSikran
ShoulderVile Butcher's PauldronsNecrotic Wake
CloakWings of Shattered SorrowRasha'nan
ChestWarsculptor's Furred PlastronBroodtwister Ovi'nax Tier / Catalyst
WristEverforged VambracesCrafting
GlovesWarsculptor's CrushersSikran Tier / Catalyst
BeltEverforged GreatbeltCrafting
LegsWarsculptor's CuissesKy'veza Tier / Catalyst
BootsBallast SinkersSiege of Boralus
Ring 1Seal of the Poisoned PactQueen Ansurek
Ring 2Experiment 08752's BandCity of Threads
Trinket 1Foul Behemoth's CheliceraUlgrax the Devourer
Trinket 2Ara-Kara SacbroodAra'kara, City of Echos
WeaponEngorged Worm SmasherNecrotic Wake
ShieldCrest of the Caustic DespotQueen 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.

SlotItemLocation
HeadSoaring Behemoth's GreathelmThe Dawnbreaker
NeckElder's Hemolymphal PeriaptCity of Threads
ShoulderFlesh Connector's EpauletsCity of Threads
CloakAzureborne CloakGrim Batol
ChestExperimental Goresilk ChestguardAra-Kara, City of Echoes
WristVociferous Subjugator's BracersCity of Threads
GlovesDevourer's GauntletsAra'kara, City of Echos
BeltCrystal-Fissure GirdleThe Stonevault
LegsLegplates of Unholy FrenzyNecrotic Wake
BootsBallast SinkersSiege of Boralus
Ring 1Experiment 08752's BandCity of Threads
Ring 2Devout Zealot's RingThe Dawnbreaker
Trinket 1Skarmorak ShardThe Stonevault
Trinket 2Ara-Kara SacbroodAra-Kara, City of Echoes
WeaponEngorged Worm SmasherNecrotic Wake
ShieldEncrusted Canopic LidNecrotic 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 raid boss.

Active Trinket alternatives

  • Mad Queen's Mandate
    • Strong on use trinket if you want more damage.
  • Swarmlord's Authority
    • Very strong absorb on use every 1 min.
  • Skarmorak Shard or Mark of Khardros
    • Very strong on use trinkets for mastery.
  • Sikran's Endless Arsenal
    • Provides you with some extra damage with a 1min on use.
  • Oppressive Orator's Larynx
    • Another trinket giving you some passive stats with a strong on use.

Passive Trinket alternatives

  • There are currently no really good passive trinkets apart from Ara-Kara Sacbrood which is already in the BIS list.

Embellishments

  • 2x Duskthread Lining.
    • Really good passive stats.

or

  • 2x Elemental Focusing Lens.
    • For more single target damage focus

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

Patch 11.0.5 - The War Within
Protection Warrior
  • Phials
    • Flask of Alchemical Chaos -- maximum DPS.
    • Flask of Tempered Versatility -- less DPS but 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
  • Mana Oil
    • Algari Mana Oil
  • Augment Rune
    • Crystallized Augment Rune
  • Sockets
    • Quick Ruby
    • Elusive Blasphemite -- Unique, use one of each gem colour to enhance your Blasphemite.
      • Deadly Emerald
      • Quick Onyx
      • Deadly Sapphire
    • Culminating Blasphemite is the best raw output option but using ‍Elusive Blasphemite can help you maintain uptime and dodge mechanics easier. This is an extremely minor dps gain in exchange for a valuable 10% movement speed.

Enchantments

HeadNerubian Gemweaver
NeckMagnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x
CloakEnchant Cloak - Chant of Winged Grace
ChestEnchant Chest - Crystalline Radiance
WristEnchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Leech
Nerubian Gemweaver
BeltNerubian Gemweaver
LegsStormbound Armor Kit
BootsEnchant Boots - Scout's March
Ring 1Enchant Ring - Radiant Haste
Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x
Ring 2Enchant Ring - Radiant Haste
Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x
WeaponEnchant Weapon - Authority of the Depths
Protection Warrior Raid Enchantments

You buy ‍Nerubian Gemweaver from the Great Vault Vendor to add sockets to your Helm, Wrists and Belt.

Races

Patch 11.0.5 - The War Within
Protection Warrior

For min-maxing a Protection Warrior in Raids, 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-cases:
      • Disembowel, Ravenous Spawn
      • Poison Bolt and Void Bolt, Skeinspinner Takazj
  • Arcane Torrent -- Blood Elf
    • Strong racial to dispel or purge enemies, the value is very limited but sometimes can come in handy.
  • 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.
  • 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.
Protection Warrior Race Sims for Raid

Recommendation

As tank picking a racial for damage is most of the times such a small gain that its not worth. If you care about min-maxing your DPS go with the highest DPS racial.

That being said the recommended race for raid tanks is for sure Dwarf the one use physical damage reduction and ability to self dispel when needed are insanely strong and should not be undervalued.

Macros

Patch 11.0.5 - The War Within
Protection Warrior

Discover recommended macros for Protection Warrior for Raids and watch a quick video guide on creating simple macros for your character.

Macro Import Guide Video

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] Taunt

Boss 1 Taunt --- Casts Taunt on Boss1

/cast [@boss1] Taunt

Boss 2 Taunt --- Casts Taunt on Boss2

/cast [@boss2] Taunt

Mouseover Macros

Cursor Macros

Recommended Macros

Addons

Patch 11.0.5 - The War Within
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 Raids to make your life easier.

Protection Warrior Raid UI
Protection Warrior Interface in Raids

Addons

Weakauras

Changes this Patch

Patch 11.0.5 - The War Within
Protection Warrior

Patch 11.0.5

Patch 11.0.2

Patch 11.0.1

FAQ

Patch 11.0.5 - The War Within
Protection Warrior

Q: Why did I die to magic damage during Spell Block?

Credits

Written By: Wolfdisco, Meeres

Reviewed By: Sho

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