TBC Classic Protection Warrior Pre-Raid Gear

In this guide we go over the different gear available for Protection Warriors before entering raids. We will offer multiple different pieces as some can be rather expensive or very rare to find. In addition to that, we will show you gear to look at for threat and for pure tankiness.

For the most part we will exclude PvP gear choices. While PvP gear can be a powerful option for some slots, the gear will require many hours of battlegrounds or weeks of arena point farming to obtain while not being a "best" choice. We recommend only investing time into farming a couple of these pieces at most as the lack of fully PvE focused stats can leave you lacking in certain aspects (such as hit rating or avoidance).

Finally, there may be times where you may want to stack resistance to a particular damage type. For these moments we have created separate lists detailing the best gear to maximize your Fire, Frost, Nature, or Shadow resistances.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Helm of the Stalwart Defender	3 x Solid Star of Elune	Blacksmithing
Recommended	Felsteel Helm	3 x Solid Star of Elune	Blacksmithing
Easy	Myrmidon's Headdress	1 x Powerful Earthstorm Diamond, 1 x Solid Star of Elune	The Warlord's Hideout - Steamvault

Helm of the Stalwart Defender is a powerful but expensive head piece. It offers very high armor and stamina, and the resilience can be useful early on to help become crit immune against bosses. If you're looking for a less expensive but solid helmet, grab a Felsteel Helm as it should be much cheaper and is very powerful.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Necklace of the Juggernaut		G'eras - 25 x Badge of Justice
Option	Strength of the Untamed		Cenarion Expedition - Revered
Easy	Mark of the Ravenguard		Brother Against Brother - Sethekk Halls
Threat	Enchanted Thorium Torque		High Botanist Freywinn - Botanica

Necklace of the Juggernaut is a very strong necklace, offering high defensive stats and some offense through the agility. Mark of the Ravenguard and Strength of the Untamed are both great options till you can pick it up.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Fanblade Pauldrons	2 x Solid Star of Elune	(H)Shirrak the Dead Watcher - Auchenai Crypts
Option	Shoulderguards of the Bold	2 x Solid Star of Elune	Murmur - Shadow Labyrinth
Easy	Warchief's Mantle	2 x Solid Star of Elune	Return to Andormu - Old Hillsbrad Foothills

Fanblade Pauldrons is a great pair of shoulders, but can be hard to obtain. Shoulderguards of the Bold or Warchief's Mantle are suitable in the meantime until you can upgrade.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Devilshark Cape		Warlord Kalithresh - The Steamvault
Easy	Cloak of Eternity		Tailoring

Devilshark Cape is an amazing cloak that I highly recommend you farm as it will last you until Tier 5, and even past that for some cases. Cloak of Eternity can be picked up easily from a tailor.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Breastplate of the Bold	3 x Solid Star of Elune	Harbinger Skyriss - The Arcatraz
Easy	Vindicator's Hauberk		The Aldor - Revered
Threat	Breastplate of the Warbringer		Forge Camp: Annihilated

Breastplate of the Bold is a strong defensive chest piece as it offers a high amount of stamina through the gem sockets. I highly recommend you get Breastplate of the Warbringer as the hit rating makes this chest a very good threat piece that you will want to use for quite awhile, even when you have raid gear.

Bulwark of Kings is worth mentioning as well as it offers an extremely strong chest piece early on, having the highest stamina and armor out of any option. However, since it requires blacksmithing and is about equal to a Tier 4 raiding chests for tanks, it's not worth the investment for a short temporary upgrade.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Bracers of the Green Fortress		Blacksmithing
Option	Amber Bands of the Aggressor		(H)Warlord Kalithresh - The Steamvault
Easy	Sha'tari Wrought Armguards	1 x Solid Star of Elune	The Soul Devices - Shadow Labyrinth
Threat	Junior Technician 3rd Grade Bracers		You're Hired!

Bracers of the Green Fortress are very strong crafted wrists and are your best option to grab before entering raids. Sha'tari Wrought Armguards are a great alternative that can be easily gotten from a quest.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Felsteel Gloves	2 x Solid Star of Elune	Blacksmithing

While there are a few other alternative options for your gloves, Felsteel Gloves are simply the best option available while also very easy to obtain.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Girdle of the Immovable	2 x Solid Star of Elune	(H)Quagmirran - The Slave Pens
Option	Lion's Heart Girdle		(H)Vazruden - Hellfire Ramparts
Easy	Sha'tari Vindicator's Waistguard		How to Break Into the Arcatraz

Girdle of the Immovable is your go to belt as it offers a very large amount of stamina. Use Sha'tari Vindicator's Waistguard while you run heroics looking for one of the above belts.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Timewarden's Leggings	3 x Solid Star of Elune	Keepers of Time - Revered
Easy	Felsteel Leggings	3 x Solid Star of Elune	Blacksmithing
Threat	Clefthoof Hide Leggings		Showdown

Timewarden's Leggings are your go to legs as they offer a ton of stamina and triple sockets. Felsteel Leggings are also a very good second option that are very easy to get. While Clefthoof Hide Leggings are leather and have no sockets, they are an absolutely ungodly threat piece of gear, offering strength, agility, hit and expertise in high amounts.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Boots of the Colossus	2 x Solid Star of Elune	(H)Pandemonius - Mana Tombs
Option	Flesh Beast's Metal Greaves		Someone Else's Hard Work Pays Off- Mana Tombs
Option	Ascendant's Boots	2 x Solid Star of Elune	A Job Unfinished...

Boots of the Colossus will be your preferred boots, offering high stamina. Flesh Beast's Metal Greaves are an easy option to pick up early before entering heroics. Ascendant's Boots are also very strong, and are second best in slot, but require epic flying (280%) to be able to do the quest.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Defensive	Ring of Unyielding Force		25 x Badge of Justice
Defensive	Band of Impenetrable Defenses		BoE World Drop
Threat	Shapeshifter's Signet		Lower City - Exalted
Threat	Crystal Band of Valor		(H)Tavarok - Mana Tombs
Option	Wind Trader's Band		Dealing with the Overmaster
Option	Elementium Band of the Sentry		(H)Harbinger Skyriss - The Arcatraz

There are quite a few options available to Protection Warriors for their rings. Instead of aiming for only two rings, I suggest trying to collect many rings for different purposes. Sometimes you will want to have very defensive options, sometimes you will want to deal higher threat. Having options in gear is the sign of a good tank.
Wind Trader's Band is highly recommended to get if you haven't already. This should be the first ring you grab as this is from a short quest chain and is amazing for how easy it is to get.
Shapeshifter's Signet is an amazing threat ring that will last you throughout the entire expansion, barely being replaced at the end of it with better threat rings. Crystal Band of Valor is also a great well rounded tank ring that lasts until Tier 6.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Goblin Rocket Launcher		Engineering
Best	Gnomish Poultryizer		Engineering
Best	Timelapse Shard		Keepers of Time - Exalted
Option	Argussian Compass		(H)The Black Stalker - The Underbog
Option	Regal Protectorate		Cruel's Intentions / Overlord
Option	Adamantine Figurine		Blackheart the Inciter - Shadow Labyrinth
Threat	Icon of Unyielding Courage		(H)Keli'dan the Breaker - The Blood Furnace
Threat	Terokkar Tablet of Precision		Torgos!
Threat	Gnomeregan Auto-Blocker 600		25 x Badge of Justice

Trinkets are similar to rings in the way that you will want to collect a few of them to use in different situations. Typically you will want to be wearing stamina trinkets, whichever of the best options you have. If you are low on defense rating, wear one of the trinkets that help you become crit immune.
Timelapse Shard is a very strong option as it offers a good amount of stamina and high resilience, which helps you become immune to crits. There are also a few threat trinkets available if you are struggling to keep up with threat.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Latro's Shifting Sword		Aeonus - The Black Morass
Defensive	The Sun Eater		(H)Pathaleon the Calculator - Mechanar
Option	Honor's Call		Honor Hold - Exalted
Option	Warbringer		Thrallmar - Exalted
Easy	Grom'tor's Charge		The Cipher of Damnation

Latro's Shifting Sword is an amazing weapon, as the fast speed allows you to get off an unmatched amount of Heroic Strikes, your main threat generator. In addition to that, it offers other stats that further increase your threat generation, making this sword your best in slot for threat generation all the way until Tier 6.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Gladiator's Shield Wall		Arena
Recommended	Azure-Shield of Coldarra		33 x Badge of Justice
Option	Crest of the Sha'tar	2 x Solid Star of Elune	The Sha'tar - Exalted
Option	Platinum Shield of the Valorous		Ambassador Hellmaw - Shadow Labyrinth

Gladiator's Shield Wall is an extremely powerful shield, offering a huge amount of armor and stamina. The resilience is also useful to become immune to crits. Azure-Shield of Coldarra is nearly as good and much easier to obtain.

Rank	Item	Gems	Source
Best	Gyro-Balanced Khorium Destroyer	1 x Enduring Talasite	Engineering
Easy	Mark V's Throwing Star		Mark V is Alive!

Gyro-Balanced Khorium Destroyer is a high stamina ranged weapon, but also somewhat expensive to make. You can also try to find BoE ranged items with "of the Champion" suffix, as these will have stamina, strength and defense rating.

For a list of recommended enchants, check out our Protection Warrior Enchants guide.