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Tank · One-hand and shield

Protection Warrior

Shield Slam, Concussion Blow, Bastion and Defiance on top of 80% Defensive Stance threat. No Salvation means you hold threat with your own buttons.

PvE SPvP CLeveling CHow tiers are set →
Open the PvE build in the builderBlank Warrior builderDamage calculator

How Protection plays

Open with Sunder, Revenge whenever it is up, Shield Slam on cooldown, Heroic Strike when Rage is high. Defiance and the new Defensive Stance threat make Protection the surest tank to hold a pack against uncapped DPS.

Key talents

Talents

Protection Warrior tank build (5/5/41) · 5/5/41 · click any talent to edit in the builder
Arms5
0/35/50/3
0/20/3
0/2
0/10/3
0/10/30/2
0/20/10/5
0/2
0/3
0/1
Fury5
0/55/5
0/50/5
0/30/10/30/50/50/10/10/20/20/10/20/2
0/30/2
0/1
Protection41
2/25/50/5
5/5
3/33/31/12/20/33/33/31/11/2
2/21/13/3
5/5
1/1
PvE5/5/41
Protection Warrior tank build (5/5/41)
Shield Slam, Concussion Blow, Bastion and Defiance with Anticipation and Shield Specialization. Built for 80% Defensive Stance threat without Salvation.

Rotation and priority

  1. Charge in Battle Stance, swap to Defensive before the first hit lands
  2. Sunder Armor to 5 stacks on the kill target
  3. Revenge whenever it lights up
  4. Shield Slam on cooldown
  5. Concussion Blow on casters or to interrupt
  6. Heroic Strike above 50 Rage; Demoralizing Shout and Thunder Clap on groups

Tips

  • Shield Block before a boss's big swings; Last Stand and Shield Wall are your panic buttons.
  • Tell the group to wait one Sunder; the 80% stance threat does the rest.
  • Leveling as Protection is slow alone but you never wait for a dungeon group.

Stat priority

  1. 1Defense to 440 (uncrittable by level 63)
  2. 2Stamina
  3. 3Hit
  4. 4Armor
  5. 5Strength
  6. 6Block value

Weapon: One-hand and shield. Check what each ability actually hits for at your numbers in the damage calculator.

Best recorded drops by slot

Highest item level in the dungeon loot records that fits Protection; raid gear is added when raids open on 9 December

No recorded drops match yet.

Full item list with every recorded source on the items page.

Leveling as Protection

Warrior levels fastest as Fury (dual wield); see the class leveling page for why. Protection can still level with the build below if you want to practise the spec you will play at 60.

Warrior leveling pageRoute planner

Tier for leveling: C

Leveling tier weighs kill speed, downtime and safety alone. See the best leveling class guide for the full ranking and the speed guide for the route.

Questions players ask

Is Protection good in WoW Forever?
Launch-week assessment: S tier for PvE, C tier for PvP and C tier for leveling. Shield Slam, Concussion Blow, Bastion and Defiance on top of 80% Defensive Stance threat. No Salvation means you hold threat with your own buttons.
What stats does a Protection Warrior want?
In order: Defense to 440 (uncrittable by level 63), Stamina, Hit, Armor, Strength, Block value.
What weapon should Protection use?
One-hand and shield.