Protection Warrior Tank Gear and Best in Slot — Midnight Season 1

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.

Simulation tools are used to simulate which piece of gear would provide the most damage output. While this might seem irrelevant as a tank, it is the opposite. A good tank will be tanky while contributing to the best of their abilities to the group's overall damage output.

Simulations as a tank should be mainly used to figure out which piece of gear of similar item level you should equip. Always follow the item level rule of "higher item level = better first" when choosing gear.

2.

BiS Gear for Protection Warrior

Overall BiS List Mythic+ Gear BiS List Raid Gear BiS List

2.1.

Overall BiS Protection Warrior

This list contains the Best in Slot Gear for Season 1 of Midnight. BiS lists are created in a vacuum, so for the best result, always sim yourself.

Slot	Item	Source/Note
Helm	Night Ender's Tusks	Matrix Catalyst, or Lightblinded Vanguard in The Voidspire
Neck	Eternal Voidsong Chain	Crown of the Cosmos in The Voidspire
Shoulder	Night Ender's Pauldrons	Matrix Catalyst, or Fallen-King Salhadaar in The Voidspire
Cloak	Adherent's Silken Shroud	Crafted — Tailoring
Chest	Night Ender's Breastplate	Matrix Catalyst, or Chimaerus in The Dreamrift
Bracers	Spellbreaker's Bracers	Crafted — Blacksmithing
Gloves	Voidclaw Gauntlets	Seat of the Triumvirate
Belt	Night Ender's Girdle	Matrix Catalyst
Legs	Night Ender's Chausses	Matrix Catalyst, or Vaelgor and Ezzorak in The Voidspire
Boots	Night Ender's Greatboots	Matrix Catalyst
Ring #1	Eye of Midnight	Midnight Falls
Ring #2	Occlusion of Void	Nexus-Point Xenas
Trinket #1	Gaze of the Alnseer	Chimaerus in The Dreamrift
Trinket #2	Algeth'ar Puzzle Box	Algeth'ar Academy, only BiS if you can use it consistently.
Trinket #2	Radiant Plume / Umbral Plume	Vorasius in The Voidspire. Take these if you cannot use Algeth'ar Puzzle Box consistently.
Weapon	Turalyon's False Echo	Crown of the Cosmos in The Voidspire
Shield	Ward of the Spellbreaker	Magister's Terrace

2.2.

Mythic+ BiS List for Protection Warrior

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.

TipsWhich Dungeons Should I Farm?

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

• Seat of the Triumvirate: Drops 3 decent items, including a weapon.
• Algeth'ar Academy: Algeth'ar Puzzle Box as an all-around strong trinket.
• Magister's Terrace: Drops your best shield.

Slot	Item	Source/Note
Helm	Night Ender's Tusks	Matrix Catalyst
Neck	Necklace of the Twisting Void	Seat of the Triumvirate
Shoulder	Night Ender's Pauldrons	Matrix Catalyst
Cloak	Adherent's Silken Shroud	Crafted — Tailoring
Chest	Night Ender's Breastplate	Matrix Catalyst
Bracers	Spellbreaker's Bracers	Crafted — Blacksmithing
Gloves	Voidclaw Gauntlets	Seat of the Triumvirate
Belt	Riphook Defender	Windrunner Spire
Legs	Night Ender's Chausses	Matrix Catalyst
Boots	Night Ender's Greatboots	Matrix Catalyst
Ring #1	Omission of Light	Nexus-Point Xenas
Ring #2	Occlusion of Void	Nexus-Point Xenas
Trinket #1	Algeth'ar Puzzle Box	Algeth'ar Academy
Trinket #2	Heart of Wind	Windrunner Spire
Weapon	Scepter of the Endless Night	Seat of the Triumvirate
Shield	Ward of the Spellbreaker	Magister's Terrace

2.3.

Raid BiS List for Protection Warrior

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.

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.

• Gaze of the Alnseer: Drops from Chimaerus in The Dreamrift. The same boss also drops our Tier chest.
• Turalyon's False Echo: Drops from Crown of the Cosmos in The Voidspire, with just the right stats.
• Radiant Plume / Umbral Plume: Drops from Belo'ren in March on Quel'Danas and is a really solid second all around trinket.

Slot	Item	Source/Note
Helm	Night Ender's Tusks	Matrix Catalyst, or Lightblinded Vanguard in The Voidspire
Neck	Eternal Voidsong Chain	Crown of the Cosmos in The Voidspire
Shoulder	Night Ender's Pauldrons	Matrix Catalyst, or Fallen-King Salhadaar in The Voidspire
Cloak	Adherent's Silken Shroud	Crafted — Tailoring
Chest	Night Ender's Breastplate	Matrix Catalyst, or Chimaerus in The Dreamrift
Bracers	Spellbreaker's Bracers	Crafted — Blacksmithing
Gloves	Emberborn Grasps	Belo'ren in March on Quel'Danas
Belt	Night Ender's Girdle / Ezzorak's Gloombind	Matrix Catalyst / Vaelgor and Ezzorak in The Voidspire
Legs	Night Ender's Chausses	Matrix Catalyst, or Vaelgor and Ezzorak in The Voidspire
Boots	Night Ender's Greatboots	Matrix Catalyst
Ring #1	Eye of Midnight	Midnight Falls in March on Quel'Danas
Ring #2	Bond of Light	Lightblinded Vanguard in The Voidspire
Trinket #1	Gaze of the Alnseer	Chimaerus in The Dreamrift
Trinket #2	Radiant Plume / Umbral Plume	Belo'ren in March on Quel'Danas
Weapon	Turalyon's False Echo	Crown of the Cosmos in The Voidspire
Shield	Bulwark of Noble Resolve	Imperator Averzian in The Voidspire

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.

As a general rule, you do not want to have 2 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 2 passive trinkets, or one passive and one on-use. Few example combinations of trinkets can be found below.

Example Combo #1

On-Use - Algeth'ar Puzzle Box
Passive - Gaze of the Alnseer

Example Combo #2

Passive #1 - Umbral Plume / Radiant Plume
Passive #2- Gaze of the Alnseer

Click for Protection Warrior Trinket Rankings

Ranking	Raid	Mythic+
S Tier	Gaze of the Alnseer	Umbral Plume / Radiant Plume
A Tier	Umbral Plume / Radiant Plume Heart of Ancient Hunger Algeth'ar Puzzle Box - Click for Details It has a 2 second cast-time, so be sure to take that into consideration. It can be used fairly easily in Raids, but would require more management in Mythic+. If you cannot use it on CD, it drops down to B/C tier.	Heart of Ancient Hunger Gaze of the Alnseer - Click for Details Still an incredibly strong trinket worthy of, but in Mythic+ it loses some value due to traveling between packs. Void Stalker's Contract
B Tier	Heart of Wind Light Company Guidon Darkmoon Dominion: Hunt Kroluk's Warbanner - Click for Details Only decent in single-target, any additional targets lower this trinkets value. Solarflare Prism Vessel of Tortured Souls - Click for Details This is only worth it if you can actually pick up the souls consistently. Otherwise it falls off dramatically and should not be used. Undreamt God's Oozing Vestige - Click for Details Not great in single-target, but its value rises slightly in AoE. Rotting Globule - Click for Details Not an offensive trinket, but a defensive one. One of the few actually useful ones that you want to pick up.	Heart of Wind Light Company Guidon Darkmoon Dominion: Hunt Latch's Crooked Hook Rotting Globule - Click for Details Not an offensive trinket, but a defensive one. One of the few actually useful ones that you want to pick up.
C Tier	Mark of Light Void Stalker's Contract Latch's Crooked Hook

Algeth'ar Puzzle Box in Mythic+

Algeth'ar Puzzle Box is a great trinket overall, but it has the downside of a 2-second cast 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+. This creates two main issues when using this trinket in dungeons:
First: If you channel the trinket before the pull and then start gathering mobs, which usually takes about 5–10 seconds, you end up wasting a large portion of the trinkets duration.
Second: If you channel the trinket during the pull, you take significantly more damage and risk dying because you cannot block while channeling.
Because of this, although the trinket has great theoretical damage, it can be risky and often impractical to use in real dungeon situations.

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 Adherent's Silken Shroud 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 Back.
• Swap the Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt to another Arcanoweave Lining once you get access to a Mythic upgraded weapon.

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.

For more information on the Gear Upgrades system, check out our dedicated page for it below.

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

6.

Other Noteworthy Gear for Protection Warriors

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.

Protection Warrior Stat Priority

Shields Weapons

6.1.

Shields for Protection Warriors

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
Ward of the Spellbreaker	Seranel Sunlash, in Magister's Terrace
Reflux Reflector	Chief Corewright Kasreth, in Nexus-Point Xenas
Crawth's Scaleguard	Crawth, in Algeth'ar Academy
Viryx's Indomitable Bulwark	High Sage Viryx, in Skyreach
Bulwark of Noble Resolve	Imperator Averzian, in The Voidspire

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

6.2.

Weapons for Protection Warriors

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
Turalyon's False Echo	Crown of the Cosmos, in The Voidspire
Scepter of the Endless Night	L'ura, in Seat of the Triumvirate
Spellbane Cutlass	Vexamus, in Algeth'ar Academy
Malfeasance Mallet	Arcanotron Custos, in Magister's Terrace
Beakbreaker Scimitar	Rukhran, in Skyreach
Blade of the Final Twilight	Fallen-King Salhadaar, in The Voidspire
Warworn Cleaver	Commander Kroluk, in Windrunner Spire

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

Whenever you get a new piece of gear, enchant it if possible. The best enchants for us can be found on the page linked below.