Protection Warrior Tank Gear and Best in Slot — 12.1

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The best gear you can find will come from the Weekly Mythic+ chest, now known as the Great Vault, and from Mythic Raiding. In addition to these, you can also place crafting orders once you have the necessary pieces.

While a definitive BiS list is hard to create, there are cases where specific gear can be best in slot. For example, some trinkets have extremely powerful special effects, and you will want to seek them out regardless of the item level. Sometimes, some rings have special effects that outweigh item level increases or the benefit of specific secondary stats.

As a general rule of thumb, any increase in item level is an upgrade. For Protection Warriors, the value of all the secondary stats is close enough together that you should only look at what secondary stats a piece has if you are comparing across the same item level. Not only that, but Stamina and Strength increases are significant as well.

All in all, if you come across gear that is an item-level upgrade (or has a socket and your current piece does not), equip it. If two pieces of equipment are the same item level, equip the best piece according to the stat priority. Finally, be aware of gear where the item level does not matter as much, which is the case for specific trinkets, rings, and gear with special effects, etc.

Upgrading gear in Midnight continues to use the Crest system which lets you increase the item level of gear along tracks that relate to where you obtained the item, which harder content dropping gear that can be upgraded to higher Item Levels. For more information, read up on our dedicated page on how the gearing system works and what has changed in the Midnight expansion.

Be Careful With Early Crafts!

Many Embellishments and cantrips on items from the Venomous Abyss were changed less than 24 hrs before the beginning of Season 2, and as such many recommendations are now in flux and have to be re-evaluated. Due to these changes, we highly recommend to hold off on crafting an item on Day 1. Unless you don't mind the recrafting cost or potentially crafting a slightly suboptimal item early on, it might be worth waiting for a few days until things have settled.

Make sure to check back to see if this warning has been removed.

OverallMythic+Raid

This list contains the Best in Slot Gear for Season 2 of Midnight. BiS lists are created in a vacuum, so for the best result, always sim yourself.

FAQWhich Tier Set Pieces Do I Want?

Patch 12.1 brought with it a change to the Catalyst system. Catalysing a item now keeps the stats of the initial item and converts it into tier. This means that you can choose which stats you want on which tier pieces, giving us more freedom. Considering the above, we want to prioritize items with cantrip effects or good secondary stats and catalyse them into tier pieces.

• Helm: Use the regular tier item from Twin Fangs or Catalyse Skullguard of the Risen Sacrifice from Nek'zali
• Shoulders: Catalyse C'thraxxi Binders Pauldrons from Temple of Sethraliss
• Hands: Use the regular tier item from Entombed Sentinels or Catalyse Bonds of the Hash'ura from Den of Danolrakk
• Chest: Catalyse Reckless Spirit Breastplate from Coiled Altar
• Legs: Catalyse Chausses of Unbound Rancor from Ula'tek

Protection Warrior

1.1.

Overall Best in Slot

Tempered Horns of the Jade Warlord Helm

Catalyst from Nek'zali Empowered Hex of Leeching

Bonds of the Hash'ura Hands

Den of Nalorakk

Aqirbane Reliquary Neck

Ula'tek

Girdle of Toxic Regret Waist

Coiled Altar

Raging Pauldrons of the Jade Warlord Shoulders

Catalyst from Temple of Sethraliss Silvermoon's Mending

Greaves of the Jade Warlord Legs

Catalyst from Ula'tek Blood Knight's

Silken Voodoo Drape Cloak

Coiled Altar

Spellbreaker's March Feet

Crafted by Blacksmithing Shaladrassil's Roots

Cuirass of the Jade Warlord Chest

Catalyst from Coiled Altar Mark of the Worldsoul

Band of the Amani Warlord Ring

Altar of Fangs Enchant Ring - Silvermoon's Alacrity

Shirt

Sickening Signet of Atroxus Ring

Voidscar Arena Enchant Ring - Silvermoon's Alacrity

Tabard

Zul'jin's Guillotine Technique Trinket

Coiled Altar

Spellbreaker's Bracers Bracers

Crafted by Blacksmithing

Voracious Heart of Ula'tek Trinket

Ula'tek

Aman'muso, Warlord's Vengeance Main Hand

Coiled Altar Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Venom-Slashed Scuteward Off Hand

Lost Explorers

The below list consists of gear, which is only found in Mythic+ dungeons. This does not mean that these items are the best for Mythic+, but that they just drop from dungeons instead of anywhere else. BiS lists are created in a vacuum, so for the best result, always sim yourself.

FAQWhich Tier Set Pieces Do I Want?

Patch 12.1 brought with it a change to the Catalyst system. Catalysing a item now keeps the stats of the initial item and converts it into tier. This means that you can choose which stats you want on which tier pieces, giving us more freedom. Considering the above, we want to prioritize items with cantrip effects or good secondary stats and catalyse them into tier pieces.

• Helm: Catalyse Helm of the Raptor King from King's Rest
• Shoulders: Catalyse C'thraxxi Binders Pauldrons from Temple of Sethraliss
• Hands: Catalyse Bonds of the Hash'ura from Den of Danolrakk
• Chest: Catalyse Taproot Ribs from The Blinding Vale
• Legs: Catalyse Ancient General's Obsidian Pillars from Altar of Fangs

TipsWhich Dungeons Should I Farm?

If you have limited time to play the game, we recommend to farm the following dungeons:

• Den of Nalorakk: Drops 3 decent items, including a shield.
• Blinding Vale: Drops 2 items, including a weapon.
• Altar of Fangs: Drops also 3 great items.

Protection Warrior

1.2.

Best Gear from Mythic+

Tempered Horns of the Jade Warlord Helm

Catalyst from King's Rest Empowered Hex of Leeching

Bonds of the Hash'ura Hands

Den of Nalorakk

Yoke of the Charging Bear Neck

Den of Nalorakk

Girdle of Pestilent Purification Waist

King's Rest

Raging Pauldrons of the Jade Warlord Shoulders

Catalyst from Temple of Sethraliss Silvermoon's Mending

Greaves of the Jade Warlord Legs

Catalyst from Altar of Fangs Blood Knight's

Adherent's Silken Shroud Cloak

Crafted by Tailoring

Poison-Proof Stompers Feet

Altar of Fangs Shaladrassil's Roots

Cuirass of the Jade Warlord Chest

Catalyst from Blinding Vale Mark of the Worldsoul

Band of the Amani Warlord Ring

Altar of Fangs Enchant Ring - Silvermoon's Alacrity

Shirt

Sickening Signet of Atroxus Ring

Voidscar Arena Enchant Ring - Silvermoon's Alacrity

Tabard

Tumor of the Swarm Trinket

Voidscar Arena

Spellbreaker's Bracers Bracers

Crafted by Blacksmithing

Vile Vial of Volatile Venom Trinket

Altar of Fangs

Thorned Reply Main Hand

Blinding Vale Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Tempest's Shelter Off Hand

Den of Nalorakk

The below list consists of gear that is only found in the Raids. Raid. This does not mean that these items are the best for Raiding, but that they just drop from there instead of anywhere else. BiS lists are created in a vacuum, so for the best result, always sim yourself.

FAQWhich Tier Set Pieces Do I Want?

Patch 12.1 brought with it a change to the Catalyst system. Catalysing a item now keeps the stats of the initial item and converts it into tier. This means that you can choose which stats you want on which tier pieces, giving us more freedom. Considering the above, we want to prioritize items with cantrip effects or good secondary stats and catalyse them into tier pieces.

• Helm: Use the regular tier item from Twin Fangs or Catalyse Skullguard of the Risen Sacrifice from Nek'zali
• Shoulders: Use the regular tier item from Lost Explorers
• Hands: Use the regular tier item from Entombed Sentinels
• Chest: Catalyse Reckless Spirit Breastplate from Coiled Altar
• Legs: Catalyse Chausses of Unbound Rancor from Ula'tek

TipsWhich Raid-Items Do I Want Most?

There are a lot of good items from the various raids. Below you can find a few which you should prioritize first.

• Chausses of Unbound Rancor: Drops from Ula'tek. The same boss also drops our best Neck and Weapon!
• Aman'muso, Warlord's Vengeance: Drops from Coiled Altar. Alternatively, Jaw of the Shackled Goddess drops from Ula'tek.
• Aqirbane Reliquary: Drops from Ula'tek.

Protection Warrior

1.3.

Best Gear from Raid

Tempered Horns of the Jade Warlord Helm

Catalyst from Nek'zali Empowered Hex of Leeching

Jeweled Gauntlets of the Jade Warlord Hands

Entombed Sentinels

Aqirbane Reliquary Neck

Ula'tek

Girdle of Toxic Regret Waist

Coiled Altar

Raging Pauldrons of the Jade Warlord Shoulders

Catalyst or Lost Explorers Silvermoon's Mending

Greaves of the Jade Warlord Legs

Catalyst from Ula'tek Blood Knight's

Silken Voodoo Drape Cloak

Coiled Altar

Spellbreaker's March Feet

Crafted by Blacksmithing Shaladrassil's Roots

Cuirass of the Jade Warlord Chest

Catalyst from Coiled Altar Mark of the Worldsoul

Apex Brute's Claw Ring Ring

Sszorak Enchant Ring - Silvermoon's Alacrity

Shirt

Vile Alchemist's Band Ring

Vashnik Enchant Ring - Silvermoon's Alacrity

Tabard

Zul'jin's Guillotine Technique Trinket

Coiled Altar

Spellbreaker's Bracers Bracers

Crafted by Blacksmithing

Voracious Heart of Ula'tek Trinket

Ula'tek

Aman'muso, Warlord's Vengeance Main Hand

Coiled Altar Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Venom-Slashed Scuteward Off Hand

Lost Explorers

Itemization

Enchants and Stat Priority

Looking to optimize your character? Check out our Enchant and Stat Priority guides for more information!

EnchantsStats

Trinkets are some of the more unique items in the game due to their various effects. They can either help bolster your defenses or assist in dishing out even more damage. Regardless of which you will choose, below you can find a list of other noteworthy trinkets for us. There is still number tuning on-going, so this list will be volatile depending on the changes to come.

Click for Protection Warrior Trinket Rankings

Ranking	Raid	Mythic+
S Tier	Zul'jin's Guillotine Technique Voracious Heart of Ula'tek	Voracious Heart of Ula'tek Zul'jin's Guillotine Technique
A Tier	Keeper's Seething Core Coiled Fangstone Vile Vial of Volatile Venom Tumor of the Swarm Gebbo's Bottomless Bag	Keeper's Seething Core Tumor of the Swarm Coiled Fangstone Vile Vial of Volatile Venom Gebbo's Bottomless Bag
B Tier	Resonant Bellowstone Ruby Whelp Shell Idol of the War Loa	Idol of the War Loa Resonant Bellowstone Seed of the Devouring Wild Ruby Whelp Shell Merektha's Fang - Click for Details Deals a lot of damage, worthy of being in S tier, but comes with a hefty channel time. If you cast anything while channeling the trinket, it will cancel the channel. You also cannot block while channeling, meaning that in Mythic+ you will more than likely die when using it at any relevant key level unless you use Shield Wall for it.
Defensive trinkets	First Mate's Shellward Mchimba's Ritual Bandages	First Mate's Shellward Mchimba's Ritual Bandages

As a general rule, you do not want to have two on-use trinkets, since if you use one, the other one will also get a 30 second cooldown. Considering this, you should aim to use either two passive trinkets, or one passive and one on-use. Few example combinations of trinkets can be found below.

Example Combo #1

On-Use - Voracious Heart of Ula'tek
Passive - Zul'jin's Guillotine Technique

Example Combo #2

Passive #1 - Zul'jin's Guillotine Technique
Passive #2- Keeper's Seething Core

Merektha's Fang deals quite a lot of damage, but it has the downside of a 2.6-second channel time. The issue here is that while you are channeling the trinket, you will not be able to block incoming damage. In raids this is usually not a dealbreaker, since you are not tanking constantly. However, it becomes more problematic in Mythic+ where you are the only tank. You can get away with it on lower keys, but in higher keys where the damage intake is more noticeable, you will be at risk of dying every time you channel the trinket, or are forced to use Shield Wall for the duration of the channel.

Because of this, although the trinket has great theoretical damage, it can be risky and often impractical to use in real dungeon situations.

In the following sections, you can find some additional noteworthy gear. To better understand the secondary stat prioritization for gear, look at the guide below, where each of the stats is broken down into bite-sized pieces.

A good shield is the most important piece of gear. Shield upgrades provide a much larger defensive boost than upgrades to other slots.

You can acquire high item-level shields from dungeons, raids, and the Great Vault weekly chest. The following shields are available from current dungeons and raids.

Item	Source
Venom-Slashed Scuteward	Lost Explorers in Venomous Abyss
Bubblefin Splash Guard	Nymrissa Wavecaller, in Tidebound Grotto
Tempest's Shelter	Sentinel of Winter, in Den of Nalorakk
Teldrassil's Sacrifice	Ziekket, in Blinding Vale
Bulwark of Brimming Potential	Galvazzt, in Temple of Sethraliss
Drake Rider's Stecktarge	Kryakka and Erkhart Stormvein, in Ruby Life Pools

Use the highest item level shield you can, regardless of its secondary stats.

Just as shields are important, so are weapons. They increase our damage output, allowing us to provide more to the group's performance. Below, you can find a solid selection of weapons.

Item	Source
Aman'muso, Warlord's Vengeance	Coiled Altar, in Venomous Abyss
Jaw of the Shackled Goddess	Ula'tek, in Venomous Abyss
Thorned Reply	Ziekket, in Blinding Vale
Taz'Rah's Cosmic Edge	Taz'Rah, in Voidscar Arena
Resonating Crystal Scimitar	Avatar of Sethraliss, in Temple of Sethraliss
Strongblood's Ceremonial Cleaver	Nek'zali, in Venomous Abyss

As with shields, use the highest item level weapon you have, regardless of the secondary stats.

Patch 12.0.5 brought back a familiar bonus roll systems, which help reduce the randomness of item drops.

Nebulous Voidcore is a Bonus Roll which can be used on bosses. Every boss has a specific loot table, and each time you get a item with Nebulous Voidcore, it gets removed from any further bonus rolls on that boss.

Nebulous Voidcore usage is dependant on the content you are doing. You do not want to waste them on Heroic Raid bosses if you know you will be killing the same boss on Mythic difficuly down the road. Opposed to that, if you know that you will be only raiding Heroic, then using the Voidcores there makes perfect sense.

Voidcore (Bonus Roll) Priority

1. Coiled Altar for Aman'muso, Warlord's Vengeance or Ula'tek for Jaw of the Shackled Goddess
2. Mythic Track Shield, if you do not have a crafted one
3. Ula'tek for Chausses of Unbound Rancor
4. Ula'tek for Aqirbane Reliquary

While all the loot in the list is from Raids, the same item slot logic follows when using Nebulous Voidcore in Mythic+ dungeons instead. If you use them after a Keystone 10+, you will obtain a Mythic track gear piece.

Embellishments are various additional effects on craftable items. These can be either baseline effects on certain items or other effects that can be added by optional reagents when crafting an item.

While there are multiple embellishment options, you can have only two active at any time. There is still tuning on-going, so I recommend not to rush with crafting embellishments. That said, below we provide some initial feedback based on current tuning. Remember to use Thalassian Missive of the Fireflash as your default stat combination.

Protection Warrior Crafting Order

1. Spellbreaker's Blade
2. Spellbreaker's Bracers
3. Swap the Spellbreaker's Blade for Spellbreaker's March, or for Adherent's Silken Shroud if you do not Raid once you get access to a Mythic upgraded weapon.

Crafting a shield first instead of a weapon is also a valid option, you will not go wrong either way.

Protection Warrior Embellishments

• Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt on a weapon as your initial craft.
• Arcanoweave Lining on a low budget armor slot like Wrists or Feet (if you Raid) / Back (if you don't raid).
• Swap the Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt to another Arcanoweave Lining once you get access to a Mythic upgraded weapon.

For more information about crafting gear you can visit our Professions page.

Miasmic Jewelbinder allows you to add sockets to Helmets, Belts and Bracers. If you do not pick an item from your Great Vault, you will get tokens instead. Once you get 6 tokens, talk to the NPC next to the Great Vault and you can trade the tokens in for Miasmic Jewelbinder.

To upgrade your gear, you will use Crests, obtainable from various forms of content in the game. They can be used to upgrade gear depending on which track they drop in.

Since you need more Crests per upgrade level, it would be advisable to not upgrade your gear with Mythic crests in the first couple of weeks of Midnight. Once you do decide to upgrade, below you can find a list of rough priority on which items to upgrade first. For the best upgrade option for your character, be sure to sim yourself.

Crest Upgrade Priority

Weapon = Shield ➜ Helmet/Chest/Legs ➜ Trinkets ➜ Shoulders/Gloves/Belt/Boots

Throughout this page and elsewhere in our guide, we regularly refer to the importance of simming yourself on Raidbots. This is because every character is unique, and each gear piece you have access to can change what is best right now for you.

While we do offer recommendations for gear and trinkets, these are not complete replacements for simming yourself. The only way to truly optimize your character to that degree is by making use of the tools available!

Optimization

Simulations and Tools

For further reading on how to truly maximize your character's potential, check out our guide on Raidbots!

Go to Guide

Mwahi

Guide Author

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This guide has been written by Mwahi, a Protection Warrior theorycrafter and moderator of the Skyhold Warrior Discord.

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