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Table of Contents
General Information
On this page, we list your Protection Warrior core abilities and how they should be used together (rotation) in World of Warcraft Legion 7.3. We also explain when to use your various cooldowns. Then, we go deeper and present all the subtleties that you will need to know if you want to excel at playing a Protection Warrior.
The other pages of our Protection Warrior guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.
About Our Reviewer
This guide has been reviewed and approved by Treckie, one of the best tanks in the world, who raids in Prime. You can watch his stream on Twitch and you can follow him on Twitter.
1. Single Target Rotation
The Protection Warrior rotation is based on the priority system presented below. This does not take into account usage of your active mitigation abilities (we cover this important topic in a subsequent section). It only shows you how to maximise your damage, threat and Rage generation.
If you are using 
Devastator as your tier 5 talent, the rotation
changes significantly.
Read more here.
- Use
Shield Slam on cooldown.- Its cooldown has a chance to be reset by
Devastate,
Thunder Clap, and 
Revenge, so watch out
for these procs.
- Its cooldown has a chance to be reset by
- Use Revenge if using the
Vengeance talent and you are alternating between
Revenge and 
Ignore Pain (and Revenge is next in the
series). - Use Thunder Clap on cooldown.
- Use Revenge if you have a cost-free Revenge proc.
- Use Devastate.
Note that since 
Revenge costs Rage (unless it has a proc from
you having dodged or parried an attack), it is not worth using Rage on casting it, since Devastate also has a chance to reset 
Shield Slam and is
free.
In addition to the above, you should use 
Intercept to generate Rage
throughout the fight. If you are actively tanking, use this only if you can
avoid turning the boss around or moving it from its position. If you are not actively tanking, you can use
Intercept on the current tank to help reduce some of the damage they are
taking. If you will need to use Intercept for movement, make sure to save at
least one charge for that time.
2. Multiple Target Rotation
Against multiple targets, the single target rotation listed above generates the highest amount of Rage, and if you wish to maximise Rage, then you should use that rotation.
While it would cost you a very small amount of Rage to prioritise free
Revenge procs over 
Thunder Clap in AoE situations, the extra
AoE damage output you would gain is generally worth it.
Note that in addition to this you still have to use your active mitigation abilities.
If and only if Rage generation (and thus damage intake) stops being a factor, against 3+ targets, the rotation below provides a higher damage output.
- Use Revenge on cooldown.
- Use Thunder Clap on cooldown.
- Use Shield Slam on cooldown.
- Use Devastate as a filler.
Use Intercept to generate Rage, just as you do against a single
target.
3. Active Mitigation Abilities
Your rotation is only there to generate Rage for you, which you should then
invest into your active mitigation abilities, 
Shield Block and
Ignore Pain.
Shield Block causes you to block all attacks made against you for 6
seconds, while Ignore Pain reduces a certain amount of incoming damage
by 90%.
We cannot stress enough how important it is to understand how to properly use these abilities. We remind you that we give them ample treatment in a subsequent section.
4. Cooldown Usage
As a Protection Warrior, you have a number of defensive cooldowns.
Shield Wall should be used before you receive a large amount of
damage. Since it lasts for a reasonably long time, you should try to use it
for longer periods of high damage intake.
Last Stand should be used when your health drops to a dangerously
low level, or in preparation for receiving a large amount of damage. If you
can, couple this with another small cooldown to help the healers top you
off.
Demoralizing Shout should be used as many times as possible during
the encounter. Try to use it when bosses are dealing particularly high amounts
of damage or when you have no other means of improving your survival.
Spell Reflection reflects the next spell cast against you back to
the attacker. Note that this ability will not work against the vast majority of
spells cast by raid bosses. It usually works against Shadowbolt-type spells
cast by adds. Experiment with it in the encounter, to see if it will benefit
you against any spells. Note that until the effect is consumed (which it never
is, if you have the Reflective Plating Artifact trait that
causes you to reflect an unlimited amount of spells in Spell Reflection's
duration), all magic
damage you take is reduced by 30%.
Neltharion's Fury should be used whenever you anticipate you
will take considerable damage from blockable attacks. Since it guarantees
critically blocking all attacks, it should not be stacked with
Shield Block, but instead used to fill gaps in your Shield Block
uptime.
We cover your one offensive cooldown, as well as the various abilities granted by talents in a dedicated section.
5. Taunting
Taunt is your single target taunting ability. Using
Heroic Leap resets the cooldown of Taunt.
6. Mastering Your Protection Warrior
The guidelines given above will enable you to play your Protection Warrior with good results. If you want to push things further and master your character, then we advise you to continue reading.
6.1. Rage Generation
Warriors use a resource called Rage (Guardian Druids are the only other class in the game to use it). For you to properly master your Warrior, you must understand how Rage works.
The Rage bar has a maximum capacity of 100 (up to 170 with Artifact traits), and is empty by default. Rage decays at a rate of 1 per second when out of combat. In combat, Rage does not decay. Rage is generated in the following ways:
- Shield Slam generates 20 Rage.
- Thunder Clap generates 5 Rage.
Intercept generates 15 Rage.- Taking damage generates Rage.
- Auto attacks generate 5 Rage (if you have the Devastator
talent).
- Demoralizing Shout generates 60 Rage (if you have the
Booming Voice talent).
6.2. Mastery: Critical Block
Mastery: Critical Block increases your block and critical block
chance, as well as your attack power. The exact increase amounts depend on
how much Mastery you have. Note that a critical block will block twice as
much damage as a regular block.
This means that the more Mastery you have, the smoother the damage intake will be, making you much easier to heal as the damage you take will be very predictable.
6.3. Procs
There are several important procs you need to watch out for while executing your rotation.
- Each time you use Devastate, Revenge, and
Thunder Clap, you have a 30% chance to reset the
remaining cooldown of Shield Slam.
- Dodging or parrying an attack causes the next Revenge to be free
of cost, but this effect cannot occur more often than once per
3 seconds.
Moreover, if you chose the Devastator talent (tier 5), your
auto attacks will also have a 30% chance to reset the remaining cooldown of
Shield Slam.
Finally, the tier 6 
Vengeance talent causes your
Revenge casts to reduce the cost of your next
Ignore Pain by 35%, and your Ignore Pain casts to reduce the cost of
your next Revenge by 35%.
6.4. Active Mitigation
As a Protection Warrior, you have two abilities that are essential to
staying alive: Shield Block and Ignore Pain. In the
following sections, we will tell you everything you need to know about them.
Then, we will explain when it is best to use one over the other.
6.4.1. Shield Block
Shield Block grants you a 6-second buff that causes you to block
all incoming attacks. It does not have a cooldown. Instead, it works on a
system of charges. Each charge has a 13-second recharge time (reduced by
Haste), and you can have a maximum of 2 charges (3 charges with the
Ararat's Bloodmirror legendary).
You can use Shield Block twice in a row (provided that you have enough Rage) without wasting any part of it. Indeed, using Shield Block while the buff from a previous Shield Block is still active will simply add their durations together. For example, if you use Shield Block when you had 3 seconds left on a Shield Block buff, your new buff will have a 9-second duration. Note that this is capped to 3 Shield Block buffs and the duration cannot exceed 18 seconds.
Shield Block has a low Rage cost of 15, so you should be able to use it whenever you need it. To know how to best use Shield Block, you must understand what it is and what it is not effective against.
- Shield Block works against physical attacks, but it does nothing against magic attacks (spells cast at you, AoE spells, DoTs).
- Shield Block does not work against all physical attacks. Some attacks, such as specific encounter mechanics (Impale-style abilities), and abilities that apply bleeds cannot be blocked, while others are. You will need to use trial and error to figure out if a particular ability can be blocked.
- Shield Block is particularly useful when you are being attacked by multiple targets.
What all this means is that you want to use Shield Block to mitigate powerful boss melee attacks. If the boss you are fighting attacks in a steady and predictable manner, then using Shield Block is easy. If, however, the boss sometimes attacks faster or harder (going into a Frenzy), then you need to have Rage and Shield Block charges in reserve so that you can use Shield Block at the appropriate times.
Note that the higher your Haste is, the higher your uptime of Shield Block will be (up to even 100% in theory, depending on your gear), which can make this ability insanely strong.
6.4.2. Ignore Pain
Ignore Pain places a damage absorption shield on you, which absorbs
90% of all incoming damage up to a fixed amount (based on your attack power,
Versatility, and Rage spent on Ignore Pain). Ignore Pain has a 1-second
cooldown, and it costs 20 Rage. However, if you have more than 20 Rage, then
Ignore Pain will consume up to a total of 60 Rage. Additional Rage past 20 will
increase the amount of damage absorption that it provides. The maximum amount
of damage absorption that Ignore Pain can reach is the equivalent of 3 60-Rage
Ignore Pains, or double that with the 
Never Surrender talent.
While not actively tanking, you should strive to build a massive Ignore Pain absorption for when it is your turn to Taunt, since each new application of Ignore Pain extends the duration back to its original 15 seconds.
Unlike Shield Block, Ignore Pain works against all types of damage (excluding fall damage).
It is also worth noting that unless you are about to cap your Rage, you
should try to avoid using Ignore Pain when you are at full health,
since this prevents any HoTs you may have on you from actually healing you.
Against physical attacks that can be blocked, you already have
Shield Block to make sure that hit is not spiky, and then you want to
Ignore Pain right after that hit so that even if you do not receive heals, you
will still not be low on health.
Finally, it is important to note that Ignore Pain does not count
as active mitigation for boss abilities that require active mitigation
to be in effect.
6.4.3. Shield Block or Ignore Pain?
The amount of damage that Shield Block mitigates is based on the
power of the attacks it is mitigating. Blocked attacks have 30% of their damage
reduced (60% of it is reduced if your Mastery, Mastery: Critical Block,
procs). Therefore, a very powerful attack will result in a much greater damage
reduction from Shield Block than a weak attack will.
On the other hand, the damage absorption of Ignore Pain is
independent of
the incoming damage. Ignore Pain will absorb the same amount of damage,
regardless of whether the attack made against you deals 100,000 or 500,000
damage.
It is also possible to use both Shield Block and Ignore Pain
at once, if you want to maximise the damage mitigation when facing damage that
can be blocked.
We advise you to aim for an almost 100% effective uptime (as in, while you
are actively tanking) on Shield Block, and saving Rage to use on
Ignore Pain when you are low on health or when burst damage is
incoming.
6.5. Other Notable Abilities
6.5.1. Intercept
Intercept can be used both on enemies and on allies, and it
generates 15 Rage in either case. When using it on an enemy, you need to be
at least 8 yards away from them, while there is no minimum range for using it
on allies.
When used against an enemy, Intercept roots the target for 1 seconds and
reduces the target's movement speed
by 50% for 6 seconds. When used on an ally, it redirects
the next melee or ranged attack made against them (up to 3 attacks once you
have the Wall of Steel Artifact trait) within 10
seconds to you, provided that you remain within 10 yards of them.
Intercept is off the global cooldown, meaning it should be used frequently, even though it does not deal any damage, simply for the additional Rage it generates. You want to make a macro for this, such as this one.
Remember that if you are actively tanking and taking high amounts of damage, you should use this on a target that is not taking any direct melee or ranged attacks, to make sure the redirected damage will not kill you.
If you are not actively tanking, you should use this on your other tank to
help soak up damage, since most of the damage redirected to you is going to be
absorbed by Ignore Pain. Note that this is not always a good idea on
tank-swap bosses, as sometimes the stacks that make you swap are transferred
by Intercept and can refresh your debuff.
If you chose the 
Safeguard talent, you should communicate with your
tanking partner and set up times where you use this ability, since it
transfers 30% of all their damage taken over 6 seconds to you. This acts as a
reasonably strong external cooldown. Once again, it is important that you are
actively using Ignore Pain when not tanking to make sure you are not taking
unnecessary damage.
6.5.2. Heroic Leap
Heroic Leap, when used, makes you leap through the air towards a
target location. Since you are travelling through the air, you can use this
ability to jump over stuff you normally had to run around, making this one of
the best mobility abilities in the game.
Heroic Leap also resets the remaining cooldown on Taunt. This
means that you can easily Leap towards a new add that spawned and immediately
use Taunt to grab aggro even if you had used Taunt a second ago.
6.6. Detailed Cooldown Usage
6.6.1. Battle Cry
Battle Cry is your only offensive cooldown (apart from the 
Avatar talent) and should be used differently depending on what talents you
chose to pick up. Battle Cry should basically be used as often as possible,
depending on the encounter.
If you are using Avatar or 
Ravager, you should always aim to stack them with
Battle Cry. If you are using Best Served Cold, then use it when you
know you can hit as many targets as possible, and fit Revenge x2 and
Thunder Clap in its duration. If you are using
Renewed Fury, make sure to use Battle Cry immediately after
Ignore Pain, so that you have the 10% increase for its full
duration.
6.6.2. Last Stand
Last Stand can be used as an emergency cooldown if you drop low on
health, since the extra health gained is added to your current health, effectively healing you. When Last Stand then runs out, you will retain the same health percentage.
Last Stand is also a good pre-emptive cooldown, especially good
against big damage spikes. The damage taken will need to be healed back up,
which can be hard on healers, but will make you able to take a lot more damage
before you die.
6.6.3. Shield Wall
Shield Wall is best used pre-emptively. This means that you should
use Shield Wall before taking a large amount of damage (generally due to a boss
mechanic). Additionally, you can use it to prolong your survival if your
healers are dead or incapacitated and you have Last Stand on
cooldown.
It is not advised to wait until you are low on health to use Shield Wall, since you will probably die before it has had a chance to benefit you fully. In this case, we recommend using Last Stand instead.
Generally, it is best to make use of Shield Wall as many times as possible during the fight (it is better to have wasted it than to have died with it available). Keep in mind, though, that you may be required to use it a very specific time, so make sure you save it for that moment.
6.6.4. Demoralizing Shout
Demoralizing Shout works like a weaker version of Shield Wall, so the same usage guidelines apply. The only difference is that Demoralizing Shout's cooldown is much lower, meaning that you can use it more freely.
A good example of liberal Demoralizing Shout usage is to use on the pull, or when you taunt the boss from another tank. These periods when you suddenly start taking damage can sometimes cause your healers to be off-guard, so having a (light) damage mitigation cooldown up can help.
If you chose the 
Booming Voice talent, you gain 60 Rage and deal 25% increased damage against affected enemies, giving this ability an offensive
perspective as well.
Normally, Demoralizing Shout should be used defensively, but if you
find
that you do not need it to survive, you can use it (coupled with Booming Voice) offensively, although we do not generally recommend this.
With the 
Might of the Vrykul Artifact trait, Shield Slam
and Revenge generate 50% more Rage while Demoralizing Shout
is active.
6.6.5. Spell Reflection
Spell Reflection reflects the next spell cast against you back to
the attacker. Note that this ability will not work against the vast majority of
spells cast by raid bosses. It usually works against Shadowbolt-type spells
cast by adds. Experiment with it in the encounter, to see if it will benefit
you against any spells.
Spell Reflection also reduces all magic damage you take by 30% (50% with
the Gleaming Scales artifact trait) for 5
seconds or until consumed, meaning you should use this ability if you are
taking heavy magic AoE damage. The Reflective Plating trait makes
it so that Spell Reflection can reflect an unlimited number of spells,
effectively turning it into a 5-second, 30%-50% magic damage taken
reduction.
6.6.6. Berserker Rage
Berserker Rage is a cooldown that makes you go berserk, removing and granting immunity to Fear, Sap, and Incapacitate effects for 6 seconds.
If you are facing enemies that can interrupt you with those kinds of
abilities during your burst ( Battle Cry combination), we recommend you
using it right before you use Battle Cry.
With the Tier 20 Set Bonuses, Berserker Rage comes back into the
rotation as a Rage generator, providing a lot of Rage over time with a short
cooldown (with the 4-piece bonus).
6.6.7. Artifact Ability
Neltharion's Fury is an ability with a 45-second cooldown and
a 3-second duration. During this time, you critically block all attacks made
against you, and you also deal damage every second to enemies located in
front of you. Since Neltharion's Fury is a channeled ability, you cannot use
most normal abilities while it is active, although you can still use defensive
abilities (including active mitigation).
You should try to save this ability to greatly reduce the damage you take
from blockable attacks, as it guarantees critical blocks. If no ability is
blockable or if the encounter has no big damage spikes, you can use the
artifact ability as a filler when you do not have Shield Block up,
which provides you with 3 more seconds of 100% block chance. Keep in mind that
the ability requires a global cooldown, and you will not be able to move and
maintain the effect, and moving cancels it (in case you want to move
early).
6.6.8. Tier 1 Talents
Shockwave and 
Storm Bolt both have the ability to stun
adds, which can turn out to be a very important damage reduction if the adds
are hard-hitting, so you should always be using them in this way. The damage
they offer is lower than your normal rotation spells ( Revenge for AoE
/ Shield Slam for single target), so using them to cheese extra damage
is not worth it.
If you chose 
Warbringer, you do not have that much to think about
since it works passively. Just make sure you do not Intercept and root
/ stun an add that is supposed to run into melee range.
6.6.9. Tier 3 Talents
If you chose Avatar, you should always aim to use it in combination
with other cooldowns, such as 
Bloodlust, potions, Battle Cry
and Ravager (if you have taken that talent) to maximise the damage and
threat output. Keep in mind that it can also help you deal with roots and
snares if needed.
You should choose Renewed Fury if you are looking to deal more
sustained damage throughout the fight, since it is going to benefit you much
more often than Avatar. This shines when you find yourself not
actively tanking all the time, since then you spend more Rage on
Ignore Pain to build up a massive absorb and less Rage on
Shield Block.
Best Served Cold is a good talent when the encounter requires
constant AoE tanking, but this is pretty rare for raids. It has good uses in
several dungeons, if you know a lot of the pulls will involve tanking several
targets at once; it is less versatile than Renewed Fury, however, since
it will be good on AoE, but bad on single target, while Renewed Fury will be
good on both.
6.6.10. Tier 5 Talents
Devastator changes up the rotation, offering both damage output and
Rage generation if played correctly. Devastator removes the ability to use
Devastate, but instead auto attacks generate 5 Rage and have a chance
to reset the remaining cooldown of Shield Slam.
We do NOT recommend using Devastator without the Vengeance
talent, due to the limited amount of options in your rotation without being
able to cast Devastate.
When using Devastator, having the ability to track your auto
attacks can come in very handy during low Rage moments, however the overall
benefit of trying to deal with each and every auto attack is simply not worth
the hassle.
Your Rage generation with Devastator should be pretty substantial,
so keep a keen eye out for your current Rage level, and try not to cap it. This
means that you will play slightly differently depending on how much Rage you
currently have.
Realistically, your rotation or rather priority system is as follows:
- Use Shield Slam.
- Use Revenge (if Revenge is free).
- Use Revenge (if needed for Vengeance weaving).
- Use Thunder Clap.
- Use Revenge.
This playstyle will allow for a much more frequent use of
Ignore Pain, and to do so effectively you must execute proper
Vengeance weaving to maximise Rage and damage. If you are about to cap
Rage and you do not have a Vengeance-enhanced Ignore Pain to make it
cheaper, it is fine to spend a full 60 Rage on Ignore Pain rather than capping
Rage. Remember that you only really make Ignore Pain cheaper if you have a free
Revenge proc, as otherwise you are till paying the same amount of
Rage, and you are just getting a Revenge and Ignore Pain cast for the same
price.
If you are only interested in survivability, the Indomitable talent
is likely an easier route for you, as it will make you harder to kill without
having to do as much.
6.6.11. Tier 6 Talents
The Vengeance talent actually has some depth built into it, since
it requires you to weave your Revenge and Ignore Pain to
maximise the potential of the talent. This talent especially shines when you
want to maximise your damage output while still keeping your Rage spend on
Ignore Pain as high as possible. This talent makes Ignore Pain straight up
cheaper to cast every time Revenge procs a free cast, and even if it does not,
it will reduce the total cost spent on Ignore Pain to 59 (instead of 60) but
also give you a free Revenge cast.
If you chose 
Into the Fray, all you have to do is make sure that you
stand in between as many enemies as possible to maximise the amount of extra
Haste you gain.
Booming Voice has already been discussed in the
Demoralizing Shout section.
6.6.12. Tier 7 Talents
Anger Management is especially good in combination with other
talents and gearing. It reduces the remaining cooldown of Battle Cry,
Last Stand, and Shield Wall by 1 second for each 10 Rage you
spend. This talent just gets better and better the more Rage you are able to
generate. Devastator, Booming Voice, Tier 20 Set Bonuses,
Kakushan's Stormscale Gauntlets, and even damage taken will increase the
Rage generated, and in turn reduce the cooldown on all your important
abilities.
Heavy Repercussions increases Shield Slam damage by an
additional 30% while Shield Block is active, and in addition Shield
Slam extends the duration of Shield Block by 1 second. This means that you
essentially want to pick this talent up for single target fights, to maximise
your uptime on Shield Block. You should not pick this talent up if the fight
consists of a lot of magic damage, bleed damage, or otherwise unblockable
damage.
7. ChangeLog
+ show all entries - show only 10 entries- 28 Aug. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.3.
- 19 Aug. 2017: Made various updates to the page (rotation remains unchanged).
- 13 Jun. 2017: Updated the Devastator section.
- 27 Mar. 2017: Made a few small improvements to the single and multiple target descriptions.
- 19 Feb. 2017: Updated the single target rotation, Intercept description, and vastly improved the Devastator playstyle section.
- 10 Jan. 2017: Updated the page to account for the many changes brought about by Patch 7.1.5, and added a significant section on Devastator usage.
- 02 Nov. 2016: Added a mention that Ignore Pain does not count as active mitigation where boss abilities that check for this are concerned.
- 22 Oct. 2016: Updated the Battle Cry rotation slightly.
- 16 Oct. 2016: Updated the amount of Rage generated by Shield Slam.
- 24 Sep. 2016: Updated the Vengeance Rage reduction percentages and the amount of Rage generated by Shield Slam and Intercept.
- 20 Sep. 2016: Updated the single and multiple target rotations.
- 06 Sep. 2016: Removed a mention of using Tier 18 Set Bonuses.
- 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
- 24 Jul. 2016: Added an explanation of the Ignore Pain cap.
- 21 Jul. 2016: Removed an outdated mention of Shield Barrier, and removed an incorrect mention that Ignore Pain stacks up to a maximum based on your health.
- 20 Jul. 2016: Removed a mention of the need for a Heroic Leap macro, which is no longer necessary.
- 19 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
CONTENTS
FROM THE WARRIOR FORUMS
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