MoP Protection Warrior Guide - Builds, Talents, and Glyphs

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MoP Protection Warrior Guide – Builds, Talents, and Glyphs

MoP Protection Warrior Guide – Builds, Talents, and Glyphs

MoP Warrior Guide


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General Information

On this page,
we present the viable talent and glyph choices forProtection Warriors in World of Warcraft MoP 5.4. We detail
what each of the talents andglyphs do and in which situations they should be taken.

The other pages
of our Protection Warrior guide can be accessedfrom the table of contents on the right.


1. Talent Choices


Level

Choices

15

Juggernaut

Double Time

Warbringer

30
Enraged RegenerationSecond WindImpending Victory

45

Staggering Shout

Piercing Howl

Disrupting Shout

60
BladestormShockwaveDragon Roar

75

Mass Spell Reflection

Safeguard

Vigilance

90
AvatarBloodbathStorm Bolt
  • Performance-enhancing
  • Survival
  • Crowd Control
  • Movement
  • Utility
  • Situational

There is no
longer such a thing as a default build. Most of the talents arenow viable. They can easily be changed, thanks
to Dust of Disappearance Icon Dust of
Disappearance
(and Tome of the Clear Mind Icon Tomes of the
Clear Mind
 from level 86 to 90).You will frequently find yourself changing talents and
glyphs betweenencounters, in order to adapt your play style to different mechanics.Therefore, it is important to
understand what each of your talents does andhow they affect your play style.


2. Tier 1 Talents

Tier 1 talents
offer you a choice between 3 improvements to yourCharge Icon Charge.

  • Juggernaut Icon Juggernaut reduces the cooldown of Charge Icon Charge by 8 seconds(down to 12 seconds).
  • Double Time Icon Double
    Time
     removes Charge Icon Charge‘s cooldown, instead making itoperate on a charge
    system. You can have a maximum of two charges. Each chargehas a 20 second recharge time. Note that, in this
    system, Charge only generatesrage every 12 seconds, so you cannot use two Charges in a row to get a burstof
    rage.
  • Warbringer Icon Warbringer causes Charge Icon Charge to root the target for 4seconds, and to reduce
    the target’s movement speed by 50% for 8 seconds.

We believe
that Double Time Icon Double
Time
 should be your default choice for thevast majority of situations, since it
increases your mobility greatly wheneverthere is more than one active target (allowing you to charge to one
targetand then immediately to another one, covering a great distance). It also makesit easier to pick up
multiple targets, and it also grants you an extra stun,which can be beneficial.

Warbringer Icon Warbringer has situational benefits, while Juggernaut Icon Juggernaut isgenerally inferior to Double Time.


3. Tier 2 Talents

Tier 2 talents
offer a choice between 3 self-healing talents.

  • Enraged Regeneration Icon Enraged
    Regeneration
     instantly heals you for 10% of your maximumhealth, and also heals you
    for another 10% of your maximum health over thenext 5 seconds. If used while enraged, the healing is
    doubled. It has a1-minute cooldown.
  • Second Wind Icon Second
    Wind
     causes you to heal yourself passively for 3% of yourmaximum health every
    second, while you are below 35% health.
  • Impending Victory Icon Impending Victory is an improved version of Victory Rush Icon Victory
    Rush
    ,which it replaces. Impending Victory has a 30-second cooldown and costs 10rage. It
    heals you for 20% of your maximum health, and does a bit of damageto the target. After killing an enemy that
    yields experience or honor,Impeding Victory acts just like Victory Rush, its cooldown being reset.

We feel that
the best choice is Enraged Regeneration Icon Enraged
Regeneration
. Not only doesthis talent offer the healing exactly when you need it, but it can
alsobe used while stunned, and its power can be increased by coupling it withBerserker Rage Icon Berserker Rage. This talent basically becomes an additional
defensivecooldown, whereas the other options are just small benefits.

Second Wind Icon Second
Wind
 is a decent option, providing its benefit passively, butwe do not believe it
competes with Enraged Regeneration.

Impending Victory Icon Impending
Victory
 costs a global cooldown that could be used on muchmore valuable abilities, and
it costs rage, which is a much needed resourcefor your Shield Barrier Icon Shield Barrier/Shield Block Icon Shield Block uptimes. We do not advisetaking Impending
Victory.


4. Tier 3 Talents

Tier 3 talents
offer a choice between 3 crowd-control talents.

  • Staggering Shout Icon Staggering Shout causes all snared enemies within 20
    yards tobecome rooted for 5 seconds. It has a 40-second cooldown.
  • Piercing Howl Icon Piercing
    Howl
     snares all enemies within 15 yards, slowing them by50% for 15 seconds. It has
    no cooldown.
  • Disrupting Shout Icon Disrupting Shout interrupts all spellcasting within 10
    yards, andlocks out interrupted players for 4 seconds. It has a 40-second cooldown.

Choosing one
talent over another here will be based on the kiting methodwhich you may have to employ in the encounter, or on
the need to have an AoEinterrupt. That said, we feel that Disrupting Shout Icon Disrupting Shout will almost alwaysprove to be the most
useful option.


5. Tier 4 Talents

Tier 4 offers a
choice between 3 important, damage-dealing abilities.

  • Bladestorm Icon Bladestorm deals damage to all enemies within 8 yards
    for 6seconds. While Bladestorm is active, you cannot perform any actions except forusing your shouts. You
    are, however, immune to disarms, and movement-impairingand loss of control effects, and you continue to
    dodge, parry and block attacks.It has a 1-minute cooldown.
  • Shockwave Icon Shockwave deals damage to and stuns all enemies in a
    10-yard conein front of you for 4 seconds. It has a 40-second cooldown, but if it hits 3or more targets, the
    cooldown is reduced to 20 seconds.
  • Dragon Roar Icon Dragon
    Roar
     deals damage to all enemies within 8 yards, knockingthem back and knocking them
    down for 0.50 seconds. It ignores armor and it isalways a critical strike. It has a 1-minute cooldown.
    Unlike most other AoEattacks, the damage of Dragon Roar drops sharply as more targets are hit by it,so for
    single target situations, it is desirable to only hit your main targetwith it.

Only Shockwave Icon Shockwave provides you with any kind of survivability
increase(assuming that you are facing stunnable adds), so if this is the case, andyou are interested in gaining
a small amount of survivability, this is a goodchoice.

In terms of DPS
contribution, Dragon Roar Icon Dragon
Roar
 is ideal against a singletarget.

Bladestorm Icon Bladestorm is ideal for moments when you want to avoid
being thevictim of movement-impairing effects or effects that cause loss of control ofyour character, but its
damage is quite a bit lower than the other two.


6. Tier 5 Talents

Tier 5 talents
offer a choice between 3 abilities that help you protectraid members.

  • Mass Spell Reflection Icon Mass
    Spell Reflection
     reflects the next spell cast on you and on allparty and raid
    members within 20 yards for 5 seconds. It has a 1-minutecooldown and, unlike its single-target counter-part
    (Spell Reflection Icon Spell
    Reflection
    ),it does not require that you have a shield equipped.
  • Safeguard Icon Safeguard is an improvement over Intervene Icon Intervene, which itreplaces. It allows you to intercept the
    next melee or ranged attack (notspells) made against the targeted raid member (the attack is done to
    youinstead), and it reduces the damage they take by 20% for 6 seconds. In theprocess of doing so, you charge
    the targeted raid member, also removing anymovement-impairing effects that may have been on you. Safeguard
    has a 30-secondcooldown.
  • Vigilance Icon Vigilance reduces the damage taken by the target by
    30% for 12seconds. While Vigilance is active, your Taunt Icon Taunthas no cooldown, andTaunt’s cooldown is reset when
    Vigilance is cast. Vigilance has a 2-minutecooldown.

While the
choice here depends somewhat on what the encounter mechanicsare, Vigilance Icon Vigilance is the best choice in most situations. The
talent isexceptional because not only does it essentially provide an extra defensivecooldown to the other tank
(or another raid member), but the fact that iteffectively removes the cooldown of Taunt Icon Taunt makes it great for picking upmultiple targets. Given
the fact that using Taunt on a target of which youalready have aggro causes you to generatean additional 200%
threat against that target for 3 seconds, this can even beused to boost your threat generation (although you
will need to be mindful ofthe diminishing returns of Taunt).

Safeguard Icon Safeguard is also quite good, but beware of the fact that
it causesyou to intercept the next attack made against the target (you take the damagefrom the attack), which
may not always be desirable.

Mass Spell Reflection Icon Mass Spell
Reflection
 is useful in the event that there are importantspells that can be reflected.
Since most boss abilities can not be reflected(and those that can be generally do not pose problems), this
talent will not beused very much.


7. Tier 6 Talents

Tier 6 talents
provide you with a choice between 3 powerful,gameplay-altering abilities.

  • Avatar Icon Avatar is a DPS cooldown that increases your damage
    done by 20% for24 seconds. It also removes roots and snares when activated. It hasa 3-minute cooldown.
  • Bloodbath Icon Bloodbath is a DPS cooldown that causes all your
    special attacksto place a bleed on the target, equal to 30% of the damage of the respectivespecial attack.
    The ability lasts for 12 seconds, and the bleed lasts for 6seconds. Each new special ability cast while
    Bloodbath is active will refreshthe bleed duration, and update its damage. Bloodbath has a 1-minutecooldown.
  • Storm Bolt Icon Storm Bolt is a 4-second single-target stun, that also
    deals amoderate amount of damage to the target. If the target cannot be stunned(as is the case with raid
    bosses), the damage it deals is much increased. Ithas a 30-second cooldown.

None of these
three talents improve your survivability. The only exceptionto this is Storm Bolt Icon Storm Bolt, which can be a survivability increase if you
areable to stun the mob that is attacking you (although bosses are not stunnable,and in a raid, there should be
plenty of stuns available anyway).

In terms of DPS
and threat output, all three talents are nearlyidentical, but we find Bloodbath Icon Bloodbath to be best. It is also worth
notingthat Avatar Icon Avatar can be beneficial in situations where
movement-impairingeffects are involved. Choose based on your preference.


8. Major Glyphs

As a Protection
Warrior, Major Glyphs offer you various damage (and threat)improvements, but they do very little for your
survivability.

The following
glyphs improve your damage and threat.

Several other
glyphs can, in some situations, increase your DPS andthreat.

  • Glyph of Death From Above Icon Glyph of
    Death From Above
     reduces the cooldown of your Heroic Leap Icon Heroic
    Leap
    by 15 seconds. If you have a chance to make use of HeroicLeap more often than its
    standard cooldown allows for, then this glyphis a solid option. That said, this glyph should pretty much
    always betaken.
  • Glyph of Unending Rage Icon Glyph of
    Unending Rage
     increases your rage pool by 20, giving you amaximum rage amount of
    120. This glyph will probably be beneficial in everypossible scenario, making it much easier for you to
    manage your rage.Additionally, it allows you to pool up rage (even if only slightly), which youcan then use
    in a time of need.

Glyph of Shield Wall Icon Glyph of
Shield Wall
 causes Shield Wall Icon Shield
Wall
 to reduce an additional20% damage taken, at the expense of increasing its cooldown
by 2 minutes. Whilethis glyph is not something you would normally use, it can be very beneficialin some
situations.

Finally, Glyph of Enraged Speed Icon Glyph of
Enraged Speed
 increases your movement speed by 20%while you are enraged.


9. Minor Glyphs

Minor Glyphs do
not provide you with any worthwhile benefits. Many of themoffer cosmetic improvements that you will probably
want to check out. Twoglyphs, however, are worth mentioning.

  • Glyph of Bloody Healing Icon Glyph of
    Bloody Healing
     increases the amount of healing you receivefrom bandages by 20%,
    while you have Deep Wounds Icon Deep
    Wounds
     (passively applied aspart of your normal rotation) up on at least one target.
    Since bandages areseldom used, its benefit will probably be very minor.
  • Glyph of Intimidating Shout Icon Glyph of
    Intimidating Shout
     changes your Intimidating Shout Icon Intimidating Shoutto no longer cause the enemies to run
    around in fear. Instead, they will simplystand still for the duration of the fear. This is very useful when
    you wishto avoid the feared mobs aggroing other packs.


10. Changelog

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