PVP Protection Warrior Guide

Welcome to the Protection Warrior guide for World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King 3.3.5a. In this guide, you will learn about playing a Protection Warrior in the arena or a battleground. The guide includes Talents, Glyphs, Gems, Enchantments, Add-ons, Gameplay & Skill rotation tips, Team setups.

Talent Tree

Standard build for Protection Warrior when you have BiS gear, all the T10 pieces you need (read Gameplay section).

Glyphs

Major Glyphs

• Glyph of Blocking
• Glyph of Shockwave
• Glyph of Intervene

Others are more or less viable glyphs which are very situational. Swap them with Glyph of Intervene

• Glyph of Spell Reflection
• Glyph of Enraged Regeneration
• Glyph of Shield Wall
• Glyph of Last Stand

Minor Glyphs

• Glyph of Bloodrage
• Glyph of Charge
• Glyph of Battle / Glyph of Command

Gems

Gems are situational and depend on the build and equipment. They are used to reach the required stat caps.

• Meta: Relentless Earthsiege Diamond
• Red: Fractured Cardinal Ruby
• Yellow: Mystic King’s Amber – if you lack Resilience. Otherwise, fill with Red Gems.
• Blue: Puissant Dreadstone x2. The rest is filled with Red Gems.

Enchants

• Head – Arcanum of Triumph
• Shoulder – Inscription of Triumph
• Cloak – Enchant Cloak – Major Agility
• Chest – Enchant Chest – Exceptional Resilience
• Bracers – Enchant Bracers – Greater Assault
• Gloves – Enchant Gloves – Crusher or Enchant Gloves – Precision
• Waist – Eternal Belt Buckle
• Legs – Earthen Leg Armor
• Boots – Enchant Boots – Tuskarr’s Vitality
• Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Berserking or Enchant Weapon – Executioner
• Shield – Titanium Plating

Gameplay & Rotations

Stat priority

50% Armor Penetration (minimum) → 6% Hit Rating → 30k HP → about 30% Critical hit → Resilience (500 or less).
The reason for low Resilience is that your Armor and Defensive Abilities will save you from most of the threats, allowing you to go for even more damage. Protection Warriors use PvE gear in PvP for that sole reason. Really good players actually use most of the PvE gear and double damage trinkets, so you can start with some PvP items and replace them when you feel comfortable.
It is needed to acquire 4 T10 items.

• Helmet and Chest – Fury Warrior T10
• Shoulders and Gloves – Protection Warrior T10

These two set bonuses will grant you a huge damage boost.

Abilities

• Shield Slam – Top priority ability. If not enough rage – wait for Sword and Board to proc.
• Revenge – Great damage to 2 enemies.
• Devastate – When first two are on cooldown. Spam this with Heroic Strike for some solid damage.
• Heroic Strike – Standard Warrior ability. If you have problems with rage – then don’t use it, just use Devastate.
• Shockwave – AoE stun for 4 seconds in a cone with nice damage.
• Concussion Blow – 5-second single-target stun.
• Rend – One of your DoT damage abilities. Use it against Rogues and Druids.
• Thunderclap – Not your top priority ability, but useful when everything else is on cooldown.

Defensive Abilities

• Last Stand – 30% Health increase. Used in critical situations.
• Shield Wall – 60% Damage reduction. Cannot be used while Disarmed.
• Shield Block – 10 seconds of 100% blocking physical attacks. Now you might see it as a Defense, but it does give you the ability to spam Revenge, which will result in proc of Sword and Board talent, which will give you 10% Shield Slam damage, which is a top damaging ability.
• Enraged Regeneration – Our only self-healing ability.
• Intimidating Shout – Fear a target and put it in place for 8 seconds. Other enemies run in fear.

Utility Abilities

• Charge – Charge. 2-second stun. Generates rage.
• Intercept – Same, but without rage generation. Deals small amount of damage.
• Intervene – Very good ability to save your partner. With talent points, reduces damage to your partner by 30%. Use it while he’s feared and enemy casting something, or to quickly jump to him if he’s focused.

Team Setups

Here is a list of preferable partners in the 2v2 and 3v3 arena.

2v2 Arena

• Holy Paladin
• Mutilate Rogue
• Arms Warrior
• Enhancement Shaman
• Retribution Paladin

3v3 Arena

• Marksmanship Hunter + Holy Paladin
• Elemental Shaman + Holy Paladin
• Arms Warrior + Holy Paladin