Mists of Pandaria Classic Protection Warrior Guide

Protection is the tank specialization, where you will focus on taking damage as your primary goal rather than dishing it out. Protection can be classified as easy to learn, hard to master. This spec only has a few main abilities in its rotation, but it also has multiple procs that require quick reactions to utilize. The nature of a tank also requires high awareness of the situation at all times, as you will need to be ready to adapt to anything the content throws at you.

With Mists of Pandaria, tanks are required to start using active mitigation, requiring you to frequently use a specific defensive skill whenever a "tank killer" ability is about to go off. This makes managing Rage an extremely important part of your rotation in MoP, as you need to be able to use your key active mitigation at crucial moments where lacking Rage will result in a death.

Protection Warrior is in a significantely better spot during MoP than it was in Mists of Pandaria, but it still lacks a bit compared to the best tanks for the expansion. You self-sustain is very low, where as other tanks can heal back part of the damgage they take, you will require full heals always. Where the Protection excels is high AoE fight, where you can easily top the meters on larger pulls.

Strengths

• Amazing AoE threat and damage.
• Performs well against Physical damage based enemies.
• Has many active mitigation abilities to reduce incoming damage.
• Very high mobility.

Weaknesses

• Very little self sustain compared to other classes, requiring much more healing.
• Does not bring anything unique to the raid.

Warrior is the only class in the game that can be played by any race, allowing you to pick whatever you want; with that said, certain racials provide more benefit than others, whether its in PvE, PvP, or different specs. Below are our recommended specs for both the Alliance and Horde Protection Warriors.

Pandaren are the newest race added in Mists of Pandaria, and can be played by either faction, making them a choice for most classes. The main racial for Pandas is Epicurean, which doubles the benefit of your food buff. This can be very powerful, as your food buff will grant you 300 main stat; this racial benefit will be lost if you die and are combat ressed during a boss, making it more risky than other racials.

1. Pandaren
   • Bouncy/li>
   • Epicurean
   • Gourmand
   • Inner Peace
   • Quaking Palm

Night Elves offer a defensive option, bringing 2 increased dodge via Quickness, and Nature Resistance. Worgen are a solid choice, especially if you DPS often, as they grant 1% crit chance via Viciousness.

1. Night Elf
   • Nature Resistance
   • Quickness
   • Shadowmeld
   • Wisp Spirit
2. Worgen
   • Aberration/li>
   • Darkflight
   • Flayer
   • Viciousness

You don't have many choices when it comes to racials on the Horede side while tanking. Orc is the only race that provides any real value in combat. Goblin receives an honorable mention for Rocket Jump, but as a Warrior, you should not have much trouble closing the distance on your enemies. For Horde, we recommend Orc if you are DPSing often, and Pandaren if you are mostly tanking.

1. Orc
   • Axe Specialization
   • Blood Fury
   • Hardiness

Mists of Pandaria balances most professions to be an equal amount of bonus stats, with most professions giving an average of 320 stats increase. That being said, there are always certain advantages and disadvantages to each profession, making certain professions slightly stronger than others.

1. Engineering — Engineering is once again the best profession in the game for us, made even stronger in Mists of Pandaria with the two new glove tinker enchants, Synapse Springs for damage and Phase Fingers for tankiness. Nitro Boosts remain a solid option for movement speed bursts during fights. You will also be able to use Synapse Springs on your DPS specs.
2. Blacksmithing — Allows you to add an additional socket to your gloves and bracers with Socket Gloves and Socket Bracer. While this is about the same stats gain as most other professions early on, once epic gems are introduced this profession becomes even stronger. These sockets are very nice compared to other professions, which offer a specific stat, as you can gem whatever stat you need in these sockets instead!

Addons and Macros can greatly improve your quality of life during Mists of Pandaria. Listed below are some of our recommendations on Addons and Macros to help get the most out of your time playing the game.