11/11/2013
Hello friends! My name is Noobert or as some of you may know me, Incarael, from the guild <Care> on Sargeras. I have decided to make a guide showing you the potential of the forever underestimated tank on Molten -- a Protection Warrior. I have been tanking with a Warrior since The Burning Crusade on retail, to Molten's WotLK on Ragnaros and then into Cataclysm on Sargeras and I can tell it is one of my most favorite and exciting classes to play because of how mobile it is at tanking, surviving, and throw out damage. Many other tanks specialize in one aspect, but we specialize in all aspects.
This guide will show you the potential of a Warrior as well as the versatility, abilities, mobility, and power it can bring to a raid. I consider this Tank to be one of the best available in World of Warcraft, but as I have said -- due to bugs on Molten this class, is forever underplayed and underestimated. Hopefully this guide will show you otherwise and maybe create a few more Protection Warriors out there who share my love for this class.
- Talent Tree
- Glyphs
- Stat Priority
- Gemming and Enchanting
- Reforging
- Rotation
- Combat Table Coverage (CTC)
- BiS List - Non-Donor, Donor, and End Game
- Professions
- Macros
- Skill Knowledge
- Credits
This is the talent tree I currently use. I will explain everything below.
<The url will update when the site works>.
Due to the recent fixes Molten implemented for the MiT Tournament, they have fixed a few talents enabling the use of them again.
Incite 3/3 was taken to enable faster killing of Alysrazor Hatchlings in Heroic mode.
Shield Specialization 3/3 was taken after the fix to obtain maximized rage generation.
Blood and Thunder 2/2 in combination with Thunderstruck 2/2 was taken for Ragnaros' Molten Elementals.
Impending Victory 2/2 dropped for maximizing of Incite and Shield Specialization in Heroic encounters.
Deep Wounds 1/3 taken over Blood Craze 1/3 for a bit of extra damage on Voracious Hatchlings.
<The url will update when the site works>.
The only difference from the above and here is Deep Wounds 1/3 was dropped for Blood Craze 1/3 for an extra boost of health regeneration. You can rotate more talents from Incite (dropping to 2/3) and War Academy (2/3) if you do not need damage, to other talents such as Blood Craze 3/3.
<The url will update when the site works>.
As you can see I have chosen to take more damage output but you can maximize damage output or rotate in the health regeneration from Blood Craze. This is a talent specialization based around regeneration and kiting. An example would be on the Spine of Deathwing, Madness of Deathwing and Ragnaros, where you can slow the Corrupted Bloods as well as the Molten Elementals making the kiting and slowing process much smoother.
Prime Glyphs:
Major Glyphs:
Minor Glyphs:
This section will explain and show you the stat priority you will aim for as a Protection Warrior.
Mastery > Parry > Dodge > Stamina > Hit/Expertise
The reason you wish for this priority is so your damage intake is smooth with no spiking and you can mitigate as much damage as possible, since stamina soaking is not as effective in 4.3 -- it will be explained further in the Combat Table Coverage section below. Protection Warrior Guide Cataclysm
Meta Gem:
Eternal Shadowspirit Diamond (81 Stamina and 1% Shield Block Value)
Other Possibilities:
Effulgent Shadowspirit Diamond (81 Stamina and Reduce Spell Damage Taken by 2%) - I highly recommend this for heavy magic damage fights like Alysrazor.
Austere Shadowspirit Diamond (81 Stamina and 2% Increased Armor Value from Items)
Pre-Dragon Soul Gems:
Red - Fine Ember Topaz (20 Parry Rating and 20 Mastery Rating)
Yellow - Fractured Amberjewel (40 Mastery Rating)
Blue - Puissant Dream Emerald (20 Mastery Rating and 30 Stamina)
Other Possibilities:
Red - Defender's Demonseye (20 Parry Rating and 30 Stamina)
Yellow - Regal Dream Emerald (20 Dodge Rating and 37 Stamina)
Blue - Defender's Demonseye (20 Parry Rating and 30 Stamina)
Dragon Soul Gems:
Red - Fine Lava Coral (25 Parry Rating and 25 Mastery Rating)
Yellow - Fractured Lightstone (50 Mastery Rating)
Blue - Puissant Elven Peridot (25 Mastery Rating and 37 Stamina)
Other Possibilities:
Red - Stalwart Lava Coral (25 Parry Rating and 25 Dodge Rating) ** NOTE: The lesser version was removed from the game **
Yellow - Regal Elven Peridot (25 Dodge Rating and 37 Stamina)
Blue - Defender's Shadow Spinel (25 Parry Rating and 37 Stamina)
Enchants:
Head - Arcanum of the Earthen Ring (90 Stamina and 35 Dodge Rating)
Shoulders - Greater Inscription of Unbreakable Quartz (75 Stamina and 25 Dodge Rating)
Chest - Enchant Chest - Peerless Stats (20 Stats)
Back - Enchant Cloak - Protection (250 Armor)
Wrist - Enchant Bracer - Major Stamina (40 Stamina)
Gloves - Enchant Gloves - Greater Mastery (65 Mastery Rating)
Belt - Ebonsteel Belt Buckle (Extra Socket)
Legs - Drakehide Leg Armor (145 Stamina and 55 Dodge Rating)
Feet - Enchant Boots - Lavawalker (35 Mastery and Movement Speed Increase) OR Enchant Boots - Mastery (50 Mastery) OR Enchant Boots - Earthen Vitality (30 Stamina and Movement Speed Increase)
Weapon - Enchant Weapon - Windwalk (Sometimes increase Dodge Rating and Movement Speed)
Shield - Enchant Shield - Mastery (50 Mastery Rating)
There are two possibilities of your reforging, Mastery or balancing out your Parry/Dodge Rating. Mastery is more valuable to you and should always be chosen first as it gives more CTC to you as a tank than Parry or Dodge ever will. Mastery helps smooth over the damage you will take from each hit so you do not take spike damage like Death Knights or Feral Druids.
This topic will discuss the skill priority for rotations, enabling you to maintain the highest level of threat. One point of advice I can give you though is - learn the capabilities of your tank and learn how many cooldowns you will need to survive. Do not EVER use all of your cooldowns at once as it leaves you completely unable to survive should the time arise where you need it most.
Single Target Threat Generation:
Heroic Leap/Charge > Shield Slam > Devastate x3 > Revenge > Shockwave > Thunderclap/Demoralizing Shout.
Queue up Heroic Strike if you are not rage starved.
Area of Effect Threat Generation:
Heroic Leap/Charge > Rend one target > Thunderclap > Shockwave > Demoralizing Shout.
Queue up Cleave if you are not rage starved.
** IMPORTANT NOTE ** If you having trouble with threat, use Vigilance on the highest damaging player in your raid or the opposing tank as it will enable you to refresh your taunt with each hit he or she takes. Another way to use Vigilance is if your taunt is down, a newly spawned mob is running to a player - you can throw Vigilance on that target, taunt it off, and put it back onto another target if required.
Combat Table Coverage, otherwise known as CTC, is how close a tank is to becoming unhittable. The goal is to make sure every hit is either an inherent dodge (every character has 5% dodge chance, regardless of class or spec), dodge, parry, and block. After everything is taken into account, armor comes last further mitigating the overall damage you will take.
All tanks in Cataclysm should aim for 102.4% CTC because with each level ahead of you the bosses are they gain 0.8% chance to hit you. All raid bosses have three levels on you meaning they will have a total of (0.8 x 3) 2.4% hit chance on you. 100% + 2.4% = 102.4% total CTC needed to become almost completely unhittable.
CTC = 5 [5% Inherent Dodge] + (Your Dodge Rating) + (Your Parry Rating) + (Your Block Rating)
Credit goes to Wolololol for the CTC breakdown.
Non-Donor BiS List:
Head - Baleroc Heroic - Helm of Blazing Glory
Neck - Crystallized Firestone - Firebound Gorget
Shoulders - Majordomo Staghelm Heroic - Shoulderguards of the Molten Giant
Chest - Alysrazor Heroic - Chestguard of the Molten Giant
Back - Avengers of Hyjal Reputation - Durable Flamewrath Greatcloak
Wrist - Majordomo Staghelm Heroic - Bracers of the Fiery Path
Gloves - Baleroc - Handguards of the Molten Giant
Belt - Shannox Heroic - Uncrushable Belt of Fury
Legs - Shannox Heroic - Legguards of the Molten Giant
Feet - Blacksmith Crafted - Mirrored Boots
Weapon - Beth'tilac Heroic - Mandible of Beth'tilac
Shield - Baleroc Heroic - Shard of Torment
Ranged Weapon - Crystallized Firestone - Deflecting Star
Ring #1 - Avengers of Hyjal Reputation - Adamantine Signet of the Avengers
Ring #2 - Justice Point Vendor - Deflecting Brimstone Band
Trinket #1 - Beth'tilac Heroic - Spidersilk Spindle
Trinket #2 - Crystallized Firestone - Scales of Life
** If you are looking for a Normal Mode BiS - All of the items above are currently best-in-slot normal but there are other variants that can be just as good or better depending on the stats you need.
Trinkets are based off of your own preference, the current best ones available in normal mode are:
Spidersilk Spindle from Beth'tilac.
Stay of Execution from Avengers of Hyjal reputation.
Scales of Life from Firelands Trash.
Donor BiS List:
Neck - Guardspike Choker *
Shoulders - Colossal Dragonplate Shoulderguards
Chest - Colossal Dragonplate Chestguard
Back - Indefatigable Greatcloak *
Wrist - Graveheart Bracers
Gloves - Colossal Dragonplate Handguards
Belt - Goriona's Collar
Feet - Stillheart Warboots
Weapon - Mandible of Beth'tilac ** NOTE: This can only be obtained from Beth'tilac **
Shield - Blackhorn's Mighty Bulwark
Ranged Weapon - Unexpected Backup
Ring #1 - Hardheart Ring
Ring #2 - Signet of the Resolute *
Trinket #1 - Soulshifter Vortex
Trinket #2 - Indomitable Pride
* These items linked from WoWHead are the normal level of stats as there are no raid finder levels listed, check the coin shop for the correct stats.
End-Game BiS List:
Neck - Guardspike Choker *
Shoulders - Colossal Dragonplate Shoulderguards
Chest - Colossal Dragonplate Chestguard
Back - Indefatigable Greatcloak *
Wrist - Graveheart Bracers
Gloves - Colossal Dragonplate Handguards
Belt - Goriona's Collar
Legs - Foundations of Courage * OR Colossal Dragonplate Legguards
Feet - Stillheart Warboots
Weapon - Souldrinker
Shield - Blackhorn's Mighty Bulwark
Ranged Weapon - Unexpected Backup
Ring #1 - Hardheart Ring
Ring #2 - Signet of the Resolute *
Trinket #1 - Soulshifter Vortex
Trinket #2 - Resolve of Undying
On a high magic damage fight you can use the trinkets:
Soulshifter Vortex and the Indomitable Pride.
** Note ** All of the above items are Heroic quality except the noted above with a * above.
* These items linked from WoWHead are the normal level of stats as there are no Heroic levels listed.
These are the benefits to our class, choose which one you think is the most beneficial to you.
Alchemy - 80 Strength but this is not very useful to us.
Blacksmithing - Two extra gem sockets.
Enchanting - Two ring enchants equalling a total of 120 stamina.
Engineering - Grounded Plasma Shield (Absorbs 16200 to 19800 Damage - 5 Minute Cooldown), Quickflip Deflection Plates (1500 armor for 12 seconds - 1 Minute Cooldown), Spinal Healing Injector (27K to 30K Healing to Yourself - Shares Cooldown with Potions), or Synapse Springs (480 of your highest priority stat - 1 Minute Cooldown).
Herbalism - 480 Haste for 20 seconds, 2 Minute Cooldown.
Inscription - 195 Stamina, 25 Dodge Rating
Jewelcrafting - 27 (or 41 Stamina) stats per gem, maximum of three gems, which equals 81 bonus stats or 123 Stamina.
Leatherworking - 192 Stamina to Bracers.
Mining - 120 Stamina.
Skinning - 80 Critical Strike Rating.
Tailoring - 800 Attack Power for 15 seconds.
Personally, I would choose hard stat bonuses such as Jewelcrafting, and Blacksmithing. Since Shoulder Enchants are currently bugged on Molten, you can even take Inscription to cover the loss of the enchant that most people suffer.
These are just some macros I have developed to help increase my ability as a tank. There are many more out there, but these are just the ones I use.
#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover] Vigilance
If you mouse over a player in-game or on raid frames and hit this macro, it will put Vigilance on that target.
#showtooltip
/cast [@targetoftarget] Intervene
This macro will Intervene the target of the player, or the mob you are targeting.
#showtooltip
/cast [target=focus] Intervene
This enables you to have more Intervene macros.
/script SetCVar ("cameraDistancemax" ,50)
This is the max camera distance macro and it will help you be more aware of what is going on around you as well as help position the boss correctly.
/script RepopMe()
If you ever get stuck falling the world or unable to release - use this macro. It will save your unstuck on the website to enable you to hunt more pets efficiently.
Every skill in the Warrior spellbook is useful, even right down to the most unused talents. Do not forget to go through your book and read the use of every skill as it will improve your ability to play a Protection Warrior ten fold.
Concussion Blow - 5 Second Stun with high damage output. It can be used to stun mobs that need to be delayed from casting (if stunnable) as well as stopping mobs like Alysrazor's Initiates from igniting her.
Devastate - High threat attack, applies or refreshes Sunder Armor and a low rage cost.
Revenge - Usable after a successful block, parry, or dodge costing only 5 Rage and hitting two targets (if specced).
Shield Block - Shield Block increases the chance to block by 25% for 10 seconds, and if specced into - reduces the magic damage taken by 20% for 6 seconds.
Intervene - Friendly version of charge and if used on somebody, it will reduce their total threat by 10% as well as allow you to take one attack for them.
Shield Slam - Huge threat generation ability as well as dispels one magic effect on the target.
Last Stand - This will increase your health pool by 30% for 20 seconds.
Shield Wall - This skill reduces the damage you take by 40% for 12 seconds. Once you obtain Tier 13, this will also effect the entire raid.
Shockwave - Frontal Area of Effect stun for 4 seconds.
Rallying Cry - Increases the raid members health by 20% for 10 seconds.
Victory Rush - Heals 24% of your current health (or if specced into with a proc 10% of your total health).
Pummel - This is our only hard interrupt, use it wisely.
Inner Rage - Many people forget about this skill, but it helps with area of effect tanking as well as single target tanking if used on cooldown.
Enraged Regeneration - Heals 36% of your total health over 10 seconds. Combine this with Last Stand or Rallying Cry for an even greater effect.
Thunderclap - The highest Area of Effect generation skill and in Dragon Soul it will save your life on Spine/Madness of Deathwing as it reduces time between attacks by 20% for all mobs under its effect.
This completes the guide. Thank you for reading and I hope you will learn as much as I did while making this guide.
If you are going to learn anything from this guide, remember that a tank is only as good as the player controlling it. If you want to tank, you have to strive to be the best available because you control the raid and if you are unable to maneuver, adapt, etc. you will be unable to progress.
I hope you enjoyed the guide and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did typing it. If you have any questions, comments, etc. I will happily answer them as I see them.
Noobert
Originally, Wolololol refused to create my banners and this is what I had come up with. I feel I am an amazing artist.
Credit goes to..
Wolololol for taking pity on me and making the Banners and Headers again and my guildies on <Care> for the support and dedication to make me a better player and person.
Check out the other guides written by myself, and members of Care!
This guide isn't made originally from us this is just copied from Molten Wow Forum.
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