Protection Warrior Tank Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — The War Within (Season 1)

Last updated on Sep 11, 2024 at 18:00 by Mwahi 49 comments
General Information

On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Protection Warrior, depending on the type of damage you will be tanking. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc. in order to maximize your survivability and DPS. All our content is updated for World of Warcraft — The War Within (Season 1).

If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Protection Warrior rotation.

If you have not already, please read the Spell Summary page. Knowing how each spell/ability works in detail will greatly increase your understanding of the topics discussed on this page.

While highly recommended to go over this whole page for a better understanding of how the class plays, you can also take a look at the Easy Mode guide linked below. Easy Mode will go over all the important information very briefly without going too in-depth. While this will provide you with a very basic understanding of Protection Warrior, you should aim to read through the other pages to get the most out of your character.

1.

Ability rotation for Protection Warrior

Below, you can opt in and out of various talent choices, depending on what you end up picking. Most of these do not alter your ability priority in any major way.

Hero Talents
Colossus Mountain Thane
The buttons below can be used to select between the default talents for Mountain Thane and Colossus.
Talent Selections
Avatar Icon Avatar Thunderous Roar Icon Thunderous Roar Champion's Spear Icon Champion's Spear
Shield Charge Icon Shield Charge Ravager Icon Ravager Booming Voice Icon Booming Voice
Single-Target Rotation for Protection Warrior Multi-Target Rotation for Protection Warrior Avatar and Unstoppable Force Moutain Thane Rotational notes Colossus Rotational notes
2.

Single-Target opener for Protection Warrior

Generally, you will want to Taunt Icon Taunt as you cast Charge Icon Charge.

  1. Cast Ravager Icon Ravager.
  2. Cast Charge Icon Charge.
  3. Cast Avatar Icon Avatar as you Charge.
  4. Cast Shield Block Icon Shield Block.
  5. Cast Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam.
  6. Cast Demoralizing Shout Icon Demoralizing Shout (only with Booming Voice Icon Booming Voice).
  7. Cast 1x Thunder Blast Icon Thunder Blast.
  8. Cast Shield Charge Icon Shield Charge.
  9. Cast Demolish Icon Demolish.
  10. Cast 1x Thunder Blast Icon Thunder Blast.
  11. Cast Thunderous Roar Icon Thunderous Roar.
  12. Cast Shield Charge Icon Shield Charge.
  13. Cast Thunder Clap Icon Thunder Clap.
  14. Proceed with the appropriate ability priority.
2.

Single-Target Rotation for Protection Warrior

The single-target rotation as a Protection Warrior is based on the following priority. As said, this is a priority. It is not the exact sequence in which abilities should be cast, but rather, each time you are able to cast an ability, you should start at the top of the list and cast the first available ability for which you meet the criteria. This applies to all "rotations" hereafter.

This does not take into account the usage of your active mitigation abilities (we cover this important topic in a subsequent section). Active mitigation usage is generally much more nuanced, and it would not be optimal to list them within an ability priority.

The overall goal is to generate as much Rage as possible by casting Rage-generating abilities so that Rage can then be spent on active mitigation.

  1. Cast Avatar Icon Avatar on cooldown
  2. Cast Demoralizing Shout Icon Demoralizing Shout on cooldown (only with Booming Voice Icon Booming Voice).
  3. Cast Ravager Icon Ravager
  4. Cast Demolish Icon Demolish on cooldown
  5. Cast Thunderous Roar Icon Thunderous Roar
  6. Cast Shield Charge Icon Shield Charge
  7. Cast Thunder Blast Icon Thunder Blast whenever it procs
  8. Cast Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam on cooldown
    • It can be reset anytime you cast Devastate Icon Devastate, Thunder Clap Icon Thunder Clap, Revenge Icon Revenge or Execute Icon Execute, so watch out for these procs
    • Watch out for Burst of Power Icon Burst of Power procs, which make your next 2 Shield Slam Icon Shield Slams have no cooldown
  9. Cast Thunder Clap Icon Thunder Clap on cooldown
  10. Cast Execute Icon Execute, if you do not need Rage for survivability
  11. Cast Revenge Icon Revenge, if the enemy is above the Execute Icon Execute health threshold, and you do not need Rage for survivability

Below you can find some additional notes to keep in mind before diving into the rotation:

  • Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain will take priority over any other ability if your next cast would put you past your maximum Rage. Otherwise use Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain to dump any excessive Rage, as it is off the global cooldown.
  • Outburst Icon Outburst should always be used on Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam on single-target.

If you really want to min-max your damage output, you should try to sync up your hardest-hitting abilities with Avatar Icon Avatar and Demoralizing Shout Icon Demoralizing Shout windows. This allows you to fully benefit from the increased damage these two provide. However, be careful not to waste any casts by delaying them too long!

2.

Multi-Target opener for Protection Warrior

This AoE opener prioritizes gaining Threat on multiple enemies.

  1. Cast Ravager Icon Ravager
  2. Cast Charge Icon Charge
  3. Cast Avatar Icon Avatar as you Charge
  4. Cast Shield Block Icon Shield Block
  5. Cast Demoralizing Shout Icon Demoralizing Shout (only with Booming Voice Icon Booming Voice)
  6. Cast Thunder Blast Icon Thunder Blast
  7. Cast Demolish Icon Demolish
  8. Cast Thunderous Roar Icon Thunderous Roar
  9. Cast Shield Charge Icon Shield Charge
  10. Cast Thunder Blast Icon Thunder Blast
  11. Cast Thunder Clap Icon Thunder Clap
  12. Cast Revenge Icon Revenge

You can also take a look at the Mythic+ page if you wish to see if there are any changes in rotation when it comes to specific content.

2.

Multi-Target Rotation for Protection Warrior

Against multiple targets, when playing defensively, the ability priority is the same as the single-target priority. It maximizes Rage generation and, therefore, survivability.

In general, regardless of whether you are playing defensively, you should cast Revenge Icon Revenge (even if it is not free) early on in a fight to spread Deep Wounds Icon Deep Wounds.

In dungeons in particular, where there are often new enemies to gain aggro on, it is worth casting Thunder Clap Icon Thunder Clap (or Revenge Icon Revenge if Thunder Clap is not available, even if it costs Rage) over Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam in order to pick up those enemies. Saving your allies is far more important than a bit of Rage.

  1. Cast Avatar Icon Avatar on cooldown
  2. Cast Demoralizing Shout Icon Demoralizing Shout on cooldown (only with Booming Voice Icon Booming Voice)
  3. Cast Ravager Icon Ravager on cooldown
  4. Cast Thunderous Roar Icon Thunderous Roar on cooldown
  5. Cast Shield Charge Icon Shield Charge on cooldown
  6. Cast Demolish Icon Demolish on cooldown
  7. Cast Thunder Blast Icon Thunder Blast on cooldown
  8. Cast Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam on cooldown
  9. Cast Thunder Clap Icon Thunder Clap on cooldown
  10. Cast Revenge Icon Revenge

Some additional notes to keep in mind regarding the rotation can be found below:

  • Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain will take priority over any other ability if your next cast would put you past your maximum Rage. Otherwise use Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain to dump any excessive Rage, as it is off the global cooldown.
  • Outburst Icon Outburst in AoE depends on your Hero Talent tree, and should roughly be used as following:
    • >Below 4 targets = Outburst Icon Outburst on Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam;
    • Above 4 targets = Outburst Icon Outburst on Thunder Clap Icon Thunder Clap / Thunder Blast Icon Thunder Blast
    • Below 7 targets = Outburst Icon Outburst on Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam
    • Above 7 targets = Outburst Icon Outburst on Thunder Clap Icon Thunder Clap
  • Outburst Icon Outburst usage in AoE is also dependant on various other buffs you have active currently, like Avatar Icon Avatar and Demoralizing Shout Icon Demoralizing Shout in AoE would increase the value of Thunder Clap Icon Thunder Clap in AoE, with Unstoppable Force Icon Unstoppable Force.

Remember that you are still casting abilities like Avatar Icon Avatar and Demoralizing Shout Icon Demoralizing Shout in multi-target according to the above guidelines.

Whirlwind Icon Whirlwind is not worth using, as Revenge Icon Revenge does everything better.

  1. Revenge Icon Revenge applies Deep Wounds Icon Deep Wounds, Whirlwind does not
  2. Revenge Icon Revenge has a chance to reset the CD of Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam, Whirlwind does not
2.

Rotation during Avatar with Unstoppable Force

This section only applies if you are using Unstoppable Force Icon Unstoppable Force and assumes you have Avatar Icon Avatar active.

With Unstoppable Force Icon Unstoppable Force, when you cast Avatar Icon Avatar, your ability priority stays the same, but you have to approach it differently.

During Avatar Icon Avatar, Thunder Clap Icon Thunder Clap is available every other global cooldown. This means that you will be rotating between Thunder Clap and another ability based on the ability priority. For example, if you get lucky and many of your Thunder Clap casts reset Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam, you will find yourself alternating between Thunder Clap and Shield Slam.

As another example, you might have a cast sequence that looks like this: Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam, Thunder Clap Icon Thunder Clap, Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam, Thunder Clap Icon Thunder Clap, Revenge Icon Revenge (free), Thunder Clap Icon Thunder Clap, Revenge Icon Revenge...

Again, your ability priority does not change. Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam is still above Thunder Clap Icon Thunder Clap. Just be aware that during Avatar Icon Avatar, Thunder Clap has a significantly reduced cooldown and adjust accordingly.

Also, it is very easy to Rage cap during Avatar Icon Avatar, so be ready to dump Rage into Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain / Revenge Icon Revenge.

2.

Playing as Mountain Thane

While the rotation does not change significantly when playing Mountain Thane, there are still some things to keep in mind. The Hero Talent is almost fully compromised of various procs and buffs, which need to be responded to properly in order to get the full benefit from this tree. Below, you can find helpful notes for when playing Mountain Thane.

  • Thunder Blast Icon Thunder Blast can stack up to 2 times;
  • Thunder Blast Icon Thunder Blast should be your number one priority every time it procs, when playing with Flashing Skies Icon Flashing Skies;
  • Avatar Icon Avatar grants you 2 stacks of Thunder Blast Icon Thunder Blast thanks to Avatar of the Storm Icon Avatar of the Storm, so be sure to use all your remaining Thunder Blasts before pressing Avatar;
  • Watch out for Burst of Power Icon Burst of Power procs, as it makes your next 2 Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam's have no cooldown;
  • Storm Shield Icon Storm Shield requires Intervene Icon Intervene to be talented;
  • Storm Bolts Icon Storm Bolts requires Storm Bolt Icon Storm Bolt to be talented;
3.

Playing as Colossus

Colossus brings a new active ability to the table, Demolish Icon Demolish. This hits extremely hard and should be used as often as possible, ideally together with Avatar Icon Avatar and Demoralizing Shout Icon Demoralizing Shout. If it lines up, great, but you should not delay a cast of Demolish Icon Demolish for them unless the enemy dies before you would get an additional cast in.

  • Demolish Icon Demolish should be used on cooldown;
  • Demolish Icon Demolish is a channel, so be sure to position yourself in a way that no enemies are behind you before casting it or that you are not standing in any harmful ground effects;
  • Demolish Icon Demolish channel can be interrupted with movement abilities, such as Heroic Leap Icon Heroic Leap;
  • Earthquaker Icon Earthquaker and Boneshaker Icon Boneshaker require Shockwave Icon Shockwave to be talented;
  • Using Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam on cooldown is even more important, as Colossal Might Icon Colossal Might stacks buff the damage of your various abilities greatly;
4.

Active Mitigation Usage for Protection Warrior

Your rotation is there to generate Rage for you, which you should then invest in your active mitigation abilities. As a Protection Warrior, you have two abilities that are essential to staying alive: Shield Block Icon Shield Block and Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain.

Active Mitigation for Protection Warrior Defensive Cooldowns for Protection Warrior Defensive and Battle Stance
5.

Active Mitigation Abilites for Protection Warrior

4.1.

Shield Block

Shield Block Icon Shield Block is your primary active mitigation ability. In the vast majority of situations, most of the damage you will take is blockable. As such, keeping Shield Block up as much as possible is key to smoothing out damage and helping you survive. Shield Block scales with the damage you are taking since it is a percent reduction to damage rather than a flat amount like Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain is.

It is important to understand the difference between overall Shield Block Icon Shield Block uptime and effective uptime. You want to have as much effective Shield Block uptime as possible. All that means is having Shield Block up when you are tanking something that actually melees you.

Essentially, anytime you are tanking something, you should be keeping Shield Block Icon Shield Block up as much as possible. It should still, however, be used intelligently, much like you would use major cooldowns.

Shield Block Icon Shield Block has the following properties.

  • Causes you to block all melee attacks made against you for 6 seconds. These blocks can be critical blocks.
  • The damage reduction provided by these blocks is determined by your Block stat. See here.
  • It increases Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam damage by 30% while active.
  • It costs 30 Rage.
  • It has 2 charges with a 16-second recharge time (reduced by Haste).

Shield Block Icon Shield Block is your primary mitigation ability. It takes priority over Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain, assuming you are taking blockable damage (which is almost always).

Using Shield Block Icon Shield Block is fairly straightforward. If you are taking blockable damage, you should be using Shield Block to reduce it. There are a few things to look out for in regards to getting the maximum out of your Shield Block Icon Shield Block usage:

  • Shield Block Icon Shield Block works against all melee attacks (as in, auto-attacks/white hits), but there are also many boss abilities/mechanics that are blockable as well. Sometimes, things that you would expect to be blockable are not, and things that you would not expect to be blockable are. You simply have to know what these blockable mechanics are. The point here is that if you do know a higher damage ability is blockable, you are much better off delaying Shield Block so that the last bit of its duration blocks that ability.
  • For further benefit, you can time Shield Block Icon Shield Block with the enemy's melee swings. Most enemies have a swing timer between 1.5 and 2 seconds. If you cast Shield Block right after a melee, you essentially just lost 2 seconds of effective uptime. Sometimes, it can be difficult to tell when an enemy is actually melee attacking you, so this point is not super important, but it can be beneficial if done properly.
  • Also, be aware of the enemy's spell casts/channels. If the boss is about to spend 5 seconds casting a spell, you should delay Shield Block Icon Shield Block accordingly.
  • Similar to the first point, but if you know an enemy is about to deal increased damage, you should delay Shield Block Icon Shield Block for those periods as well.

If you are not currently tanking, and there is a good amount of time before you do tank again, use Shield Block Icon Shield Block to increase Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam's damage. Just be sure to time it in such a way that as you are about to tank again; you have close to 2 charges of Shield Block, so you can maximize effective uptime.

4.2.

Ignore Pain

Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain reduces damage by a flat amount and, with its current tuning, is much weaker than Shield Block Icon Shield Block. As such, it should be used in addition to Shield Block, not in place of it.

Shield Block Icon Shield Block is limited by its cooldown, where Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain is simply limited by the amount of Rage you have available. So, once you have Shield Block up and on cooldown, spend your remaining Rage on Ignore Pain, making sure you save enough Rage to use Shield Block once it comes off cooldown. More or less, Ignore Pain should be used to further smooth out your damage intake.

Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain has the following properties.

  • It removes 50% of any particular damage event. That is, for any damage taken, 50% of that damage is dealt to the absorb, and the other 50% is dealt to you.
  • It has a maximum absorb size of 30% of your maximum HP.
    • This means the absorb does stack, just not very much.
    • The cap size is determined on cast.
  • It has a duration of 12 seconds.
  • It costs 35 Rage.

Just like Shield Block Icon Shield Block though, it can and should be used intelligently if doing so provides a benefit.

  • You can use the following WeakAura to track your current Ignore Pain absorb and cap.
  • If you are not tanking and are taking very little or no damage, do not use your Rage on Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain. Depending on how long you are not tanking for, it will simply expire, wasting that Rage. Instead, try to cast an Ignore Pain right before you start tanking again. If you are taking damage while not tanking, cast Ignore Pain as needed to help out your healers.
  • While generally speaking, you will want to use Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain to smooth out your damage intake, it can also be very important to pool your Rage and cast Ignore Pain right before a large spike of damage, increasing the chance that you survive that spike.

The exception to the points above would be when you are close to Rage capping. In such situations, you should use Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain to spend Rage even if it means going over the Ignore Pain cap. Additionally, if you are ever in the extremely rare situation where there is very, very little blockable damage, or none at all, you will, of course, want to prioritize Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain over Shield Block Icon Shield Block.

4.3.

Last Stand

When using Bolster Icon Bolster, Last Stand Icon Last Stand should be used like Shield Block Icon Shield Block assuming you do not need Last Stand for a specific mechanic. Since Last Stand lasts 15 seconds, it gives you the time to gain very close to, or a full Shield Block charge (depending on your Haste). So, if used when you have a charge of Shield Block available, you risk wasting a bit of Shield Block cooldown time. Essentially, once you have used both charges of Shield Block and the actual Shield Block buff has expired; further, increase your effective block uptime by using Last Stand.

5.

Defensive Cooldown Usage for Protection Warrior

As a Protection Warrior, you have a number of defensive cooldowns. Using your defensive cooldowns properly is extremely important. You want to plan out your cooldowns before going into an encounter and maximize their usage as much as possible. Outlined below are your various defensive cooldowns and how they should be used. For more info on cooldown usage in general, see the how to improve page.

4.4.

Last Stand

Last Stand Icon Last Stand can and should be used in two different ways depending on the situation. With Bolster Icon Bolster, Last Stand should be used to extend effective block uptime as outlined above in the Shield Block Icon Shield Block section. If there are many high-damage mechanics or if you are able to have Shield Block up for the majority of your active tanking time, then Last Stand should instead be used as an emergency cooldown - if your health drops to a dangerously low level unexpectedly - or as a pre-emptive cooldown to prepare for a large damage spike.

If you are not running Bolster Icon Bolster, then simply use it as an emergency or preemptive cooldown.

4.5.

Shield Wall

Shield Wall Icon Shield Wall should be used to prepare for a large damage spike or during periods of high damage. This is especially useful against non-blockable damage. It is not recommended to use it if your health suddenly drops low, as it does nothing to get your health back up, but in situations where you have nothing else, you want to use it if it increases your chance to survive.

4.6.

Demoralizing Shout

With Booming Voice Icon Booming Voice, Demoralizing Shout Icon Demoralizing Shout should be used on cooldown and for damage purposes. More often than not, you will have it up at a good time, helping you smooth out damage.

Now, there are definitely situations where you will want to delay the usage of Demoralizing Shout Icon Demoralizing Shout if you know there is heavy damage upcoming and you do not have anything else available.

Without Booming Voice Icon Booming Voice, simply use it as you would a normal defensive cooldown.

4.7.

Spell Reflection

Spell Reflection Icon Spell Reflection can be used in two different ways. Either as a way to reflect a specific spell cast at you or as a magic damage reduction cooldown. The vast majority of spells cast by bosses are not reflectable, but the damage reduction portion still works, of course. Rarely, some boss abilities are reflectable, and in these cases, reflecting them can be extremely powerful, both in terms of damage reduction and dealing damage to the boss.

Most of the time, you will be using it as a magic damage-reduction tool. However, in dungeons and similar content, reflecting particularly powerful spells is a great use of Spell Reflection Icon Spell Reflection. Remember that when you reflect a spell, you lose the Spell Reflection buff, meaning you lose the damage reduction as well. Be mindful of this if you are in a situation where you need the magic damage reduction, but there are also reflectable spells being cast at you.

4.8.

Spell Block

Spell Block Icon Spell Block allows you to block spells; it has a 1.5-minute cooldown and a duration of 30 seconds. It can be used to block majority of spells and reduce the damage taken from them by a significant amount. It reduces damage similarly to Shield Block Icon Shield Block, but unlike Shield Block, it does not have the 85% reduction cap, so it can reduce up to 100% of the damage. Spell Block Icon Spell Block can be used more or less freely due to its fairly short cooldown, but try to know of the encounter beforehand so you do not waste it.

5.

Stances for Protection Warrior

All warriors have access to various Stances depending on their specialization. For Protection, these stances include: Defensive Stance Icon Defensive Stance and Battle Stance Icon Battle Stance. These are passive, constant buffs which provide us with individual benefits depending on which one we are in.

Broadly speaking, Defensive Stance Icon Defensive Stance stance reduces your damage taken, while Battle Stance Icon Battle Stance increases your damage done. Choosing which stance to use should be done case-by-case. If the damage intake is high, then you should use Defensive Stance Icon Defensive Stance to reduce the damage you take, otherwise you should be in Battle Stance Icon Battle Stance. You can easily swap between the stances mid-combat, so doing so depending on the situation will net you the best outcome. Below you can find some example scenarios on when to use which stance.

  • Defensive Stance Icon Defensive Stance, reduces damage taken by 16%.;
    • Use it if the damage intake is high;
    • Use it if you are unfamiliar with the damage intake;
    • Use it if you are taking non-blockable damage;
  • Battle Stance Icon Battle Stance, increases Critical Strike chance by 3%;
    • Use it if the damage intake is not too heavy to deal more damage.
5.

Mastering Your Protection Warrior

In this section, we will dive a bit deeper into the core mechanics and various abilities of Protection Warriors. Understanding these topics is an important step to truly mastering the specialization.

5.1.

Rage Generation

Warrior's primary resource is Rage. It is important that you understand how Rage is generated so you can effectively manage and use it.

Rage has a maximum capacity of 100 and is empty by default. Rage decays at a rate of 1 per second when out of combat. In combat, Rage does not decay.

You generate Rage in two main ways. Passively and through abilities.

5.1.1.

Passive Rage Generation

There are three sources of passive Rage generation.

  1. 2 Rage is gained every time you auto-attack. Note that this scales with attack speed. Equipping daggers, for example, is not for better Rage generation.
    • More specifically, you generate 1.75 * weaponSpeed * 0.44 Rage per auto-attack. 1-handed weapons are 2.6 speed, which equates to 2 Rage per auto-attack.
  2. 3 Rage is gained every time an enemy auto-attack hits you.
    • There is a cooldown on this. It seems to be around 1 second, but the exact cooldown is unknown at the moment.
  3. Bloodsurge Icon Bloodsurge is a talent that grants your bleed effects a 15% chance to grant you 5 Rage.

Rage is not gained from avoidance events (that is, if the enemy parries/dodges or if you parry/dodge).

Because Rage is gained when an auto-attack hits you, Rage generation tends to be much higher in dungeons or encounters with multiple enemies.

5.1.2.

Rage from Abilities

In order of most Rage to least:

  • Ravager Icon Ravager generates up to 60 Rage (if it hits every time).
  • Demoralizing Shout Icon Demoralizing Shout generates 30 Rage (only with Booming Voice Icon Booming Voice).
  • Champion's Spear Icon Champion's Spear generates 10 Rage.
  • Shield Charge Icon Shield Charge generates 20 Rage, 40 if you also have Champion's Bulwark Icon Champion's Bulwark.
  • Charge Icon Charge generates 20 Rage.
  • Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam generates 15 Rage.
  • Avatar Icon Avatar generates 10 Rage.
  • Thunder Clap Icon Thunder Clap generates 5 Rage.

There are some talents that further increase the Rage generated by some abilities. Some of these include Heavy Repercussions Icon Heavy Repercussions and Storm of Steel Icon Storm of Steel. Take a look at our Talents page to get to know them all.

5.1.3.

Rage Management

It is important to understand that you do not have to spend Rage as soon as you get it. Pooling your Rage in order to maximize Rage generation, survivability, or damage is an important aspect of playing Protection Warrior. For example, if you are in a fight and trying to maximize damage and are casting Revenge Icon Revenge to do so, and you reach a part of the fight where additional enemies join, then you will want to save your Rage/Revenge cast and cast it on those additional enemies. As another example, during Avatar Icon Avatar, you may get a long streak of Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam resets. Capitalizing on those resets immediately, rather than delaying them by a global cooldown by casting Revenge, will result in more Rage and more casts of Rage-spending abilities. You do not lose casts of Revenge by waiting since it is limited by the total amount of Rage you have available.

You can lose casts, however, if you cap out on Rage. This means you hit the max of 100 Rage and any further Rage generation is lost.

On single-target, you will generate a decent amount of Rage, but you will rarely ever get close to capping out on Rage unless you are playing incorrectly.

On multi-target, however, specifically when you have multiple enemies auto-attacking you, is where proper Rage management is necessary to avoid capping.

You should follow your ability priority as usual unless you hit a point where following it would result in wasting Rage. In those situations, Revenge Icon Revenge and Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain become your highest priority abilities. If you are about to cap out on Rage and have very little or no Ignore Pain absorb left, then make sure to cast Ignore Pain to stop yourself from capping. If you are going for damage or you already have Ignore Pain up, use Revenge. Generally, you should still prioritize Thunder Clap Icon Thunder Clap above Revenge, as wasting 5 Rage is minimal, and the extra damage gained from doing so is worth it. As an example, say you are at 96 Rage. Casting Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam at that point would provide you with 4 Rage, not 15. On average, you will gain more overall Rage by delaying Rage-generating abilities by a global cooldown to avoid capping.

Sometimes, there are situations where you are unable to burn Rage quickly enough with Revenge Icon Revenge. In these cases, simply spam Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain, even if your Ignore Pain is capped and you are wasting absorb. Doing so still allows you to benefit from Anger Management Icon Anger Management and Indomitable Icon Indomitable, which is far better than capping Rage.

Additionally, as you repeat content and gain more experience with different encounters/situations, you should switch to a DPS ability priority (that is, prioritize higher damage abilities over Shield Slam Icon Shield Slam) if you know that normally, in that situation, you will have to "dump" Rage as outlined above. That way, you deal more damage and generate slightly less Rage, reducing your risk of capping and increasing your overall throughput.

5.2.

Block Rating

You may notice that there is a "Block" stat on shields. The character sheet has Block rating, and all of that rating comes from the Block on shields. So if a shield has 2000 Block, the character sheet will show 2000 Block. Currently, the amount of Block on your Shield is always 2.5 times the amount of Armor on your Shield.

The damage reduction from blocking is calculated based on your total Block. It is calculated in the same way damage reduction for Armor is: blockRating / (blockRating + k). The k value changes depending on the difficulty or type of content you are doing. Generally speaking, more difficult or newer content has a higher k value, and a higher k value results in lower damage reduction. Block damage reduction is entirely separate from Armor, and having more Armor does not affect it.

Critical blocks are simply double the damage reduction. For example, if a regular block provided 40% damage reduction, a critical block would provide 80% damage reduction. It is worth noting that just like Armor, there is a cap of 85% on the damage reduction from Block. If a shield were to provide a 50% damage reduction on normal blocks, critical blocks with that Shield would only be 85%.

This system incentivizes Shield upgrades heavily. Getting a good shield is a significant increase in survivability, way more than a similar upgrade to another piece of gear would be.

5.3.

Abilities

5.3.1.

Taunting

Taunt Icon Taunt is your single-target taunt ability. Casting Taunt significantly increases your threat generation for its duration. If you are having trouble building Threat, deal as much damage as possible in this window.

A potentially important mechanic with taunting that not many people know about is the fact that there are diminishing returns on the duration of taunts. If an enemy is taunted enough within a certain timeframe, they become immune to taunts.

There is a 20-second reset window on the diminishing returns on taunting. That is, if 20 seconds go by without a taunt being cast on a particular enemy, the diminishing returns reset.

For each Taunt after the first, the duration of the Taunt is two-thirds of the previous duration. The enemy is immune to a sixth taunt.

The first Taunt lasts 3 seconds, the second 2 seconds, the third 1.4 seconds, the fourth 0.9 seconds, and the fifth 0.6 seconds.

Being aware of this mechanic and knowing when you may be affected by it is important when planning how to approach a particular encounter.

5.3.2.

Heroic Throw

Heroic Throw Icon Heroic Throw deals little damage but generates a decent amount of Threat. It has no cost and no cooldown. Use it to gain aggro on distant enemies. Also, if you are ever out of range of an enemy and cannot get back into melee range for whatever reason, you can spam Heroic Throw for a tiny bit of extra damage.

5.3.3.

Shattering Throw

Shattering Throw Icon Shattering Throw deals damage to enemies with a 1.5s cast time and 3-minute CD. Deals a lot more damage to absorbs and removes any magical immunity. Mostly useful in PvP, but they can also find uses in PvE if the enemy has an absorb on them.

5.3.4.

Intervene

Intervene Icon Intervene is a strong defensive CD that can have a variety of uses. In Raiding, it can be used on our co-tank to reduce their incoming damage, while in Mythic+, it can be used on party members that have fixate effects on them. Knockback mechanics can be almost entirely negated by Intervene if reacted to quickly. Using it to move quickly to another area by casting it on an ally, perhaps to get out of environmental damage, can be extremely useful.

5.3.5.

Heroic Leap

Heroic Leap Icon Heroic Leap can be used to jump over ground effects or other various mechanics that you would normally have to run around. It is not 100% consistent in that sometimes, when you jump over something, you might still take the damage, but more often than not, you can use Heroic Leap to your advantage in this way. More simply, Heroic Leap is great for getting into position or out of dangerous mechanics.

Heroic Leap Icon Heroic Leap also resets the remaining cooldown on Taunt Icon Taunt. This means that you can easily Leap toward a new add that spawned and immediately use Taunt to grab aggro even if you had used Taunt a second ago.

5.3.6.

Shockwave

Proper use of Shockwave Icon Shockwave can be extremely important, both from a crowd control perspective and a survivability perspective. It can be used to stun enemies that are casting to interrupt those or to keep enemies in place, but, arguably more importantly, it can be used to completely stop damage for its duration. Say Shield Block Icon Shield Block runs out, and you have no major defensive cooldowns left to use. Using Shockwave on enemies (assuming they are not immune) completely stops their damage. Timing its usage around your active mitigation can prevent deaths.

5.3.7.

Intimidating Shout

Intimidating Shout Icon Intimidating Shout should be used in the same way Shockwave Icon Shockwave is used; for crowd control purposes or survivability purposes. You do have to be more careful with this ability, though. The enemies that flee can run into another pack of enemies and pull them, possibly resulting in a wipe.

5.3.8.

Rallying Cry

Timing Rallying Cry Icon Rallying Cry well can be the difference between a kill and a wipe. It is a fairly significant survivability increase for your group, so plan its usage well.

5.3.9.

Battle Shout

While not actually used in combat (unless to give the buff to a recently resurrected ally), make sure you cast Battle Shout Icon Battle Shout on your group or yourself before entering combat.

5.3.10.

Berserker Rage

Berserker Rage Icon Berserker Rage is a fantastic ability in the right situations. There is a fair share of enemy abilities that fear, and being able to completely stop those is a huge advantage. Identify where Berserker Rage can be used and take advantage of those situations.

5.3.11.

Pummel

Many players simply do not use their kick unless specifically instructed to. Interrupting enemies can stop potentially deadly mechanics from going out. Identify those dangerous mechanics and use your kick!

6.

Changelog

  • 11 Sep. 2024: Added a section about Stances.
  • 09 Sep. 2024: Updated for The War Within Season 1.
  • 30 Aug. 2024: Added Spell Block to the defensives list.
  • 21 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within.
  • 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within Pre-Patch.
  • 20 Jun. 2024: Added note about Ignore Pain usage.
  • 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
  • 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Season 4.
  • 18 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
  • 22 Jan. 2024: Updated the Ignore Pain section.
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.2.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed and updated for Patch 10.1.7.
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5.
  • 01 May 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.0.
  • 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 27 Feb. 2023: Moved Thunderous Roar up in priority for openers.
  • 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Added tier set rotational changes paragraph.
  • 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
  • 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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