Protection Warrior PvP Best Protection Compositions (Shadowlands / 9.2)
Team composition in 2v2 or 3v3 Arena is very important, because not all classes work well together. Here, we give you the best compositions you can have for your Protection Warrior (i.e., the best classes to pair with it).
This page is part of our Protection Warrior PvP Guide.
2v2 Arena
Playing 2v2 as Protection Warrior is extremely difficult to win with. Your
goal as Protection Warrior is to protect your team and reduce the enemy's
pressure long enough for you to win on Mana or dampening. Because you do not
have access to abilities such as Word of Glory, like a Protection
Paladin has, you cannot sustain another DPS for long. It is also not worth
pairing up with a hybrid class and trying to play the long game that way, as
they generally do not have enough healing power alone to sustain both of you,
even with your damage reductions and disruptions.
In general, we recommend you do not play 2v2 as Protection Warrior, and instead stick to 3v3 where your toolkit can be used much more effectively.
Here is a list of the best team compositions for 2v2:
- Protection Warrior + Restoration Shaman
- Protection Warrior + Restoration Druid
- Protection Warrior + Holy Paladin
3v3 Arena
Protection Warrior in arena tries to play the long game. Your job is to constantly disrupt the enemy team from getting any pressure onto your team, by utilizing your damage reductions and CC. You need to play together with a high damage output specialization, who does not get shut down by the enemy too easily. If played correctly, your team will eventually run the enemy team over with your team being high on Mana, and theirs being low.
Remember to still apply as much damage as you can while you play defensively. A single DPS is not enough to apply pressure, and as Protection Warrior you can do great damage as well, especially if you can cleave area of effect abilities.
We strongly recommend you learn each and every offensive and defensive
cooldown for all specializations, and get addons like Flyplatebuffs,
BigDebuffs, and
Gladius, so you
have an easier time knowing when and how you should react. Alternatively,
WeakAuras are a good way to customize your UI and alerts. These addons will
give you an easier time identifying when an enemy uses cooldowns that can be
difficult to spot visually, like Icy Veins and
Vendetta. See
our Protection Warrior PvP Macros
page for more information on the subject.
This will also help you understand when you should break off from your
target, and peel for your healer with Intervene,
Disarm,
Rallying Cry, etc.
It is important to make use of cross-CC, meaning you should try to time CC
with your healer onto the enemy healer and DPS to not only stop their healing
output, but also stop them from disabling your damage output with abilities
such as Disarm,
Mortal Coil,
Polymorph, etc. Mastering
this strategy is key to closing out games, but you should not focus solely on
it, as it can be equally good to stun an opponent out of line of sight of his
teammate, or to ruin major cooldowns like
Avenging Wrath.
Here is a list of the best team compositions for 3v3:
- TSG (Protection Warrior + Frost Death Knight/Unholy Death Knight + Restoration Shaman)
- Protection Warrior + Havoc Demon Hunter + Restoration Shaman/Restoration Druid
- WLS (Protection Warrior + Destruction Warlock + Restoration Shaman)/Restoration Druid
- WMD(Protection Warrior + Fire Mage + Restoration Druid
- Protection Warrior + Shadow Priest + Restoration Shaman)
TSG
Death Knight has incredible pressure damage, but generally suffers from poor
survivability against Physical damage. Your toolkit as Protection Warrior can
completely cover up this vulnerability, and allows you as TSG to train down
targets without much chance of recovery from the enemy team.
Heartstop Aura slows down the enemy rotation and makes it even easier
to survive.
Thanks to the Death Knight's great defensive toolkit against magic damage,
you can both compensate each other with Intervene and
Anti-Magic Zone.
It is recommended that Storm Bolt is used for the kill target and
Asphyxiate is used for the healer.
Protection + Havoc
Havoc Demon Hunter is similar
to Death Knight, in that they have very poor defensives. They do, however, do a
truck-load of damage, as well as draining Mana through Mana Rift. Your
primary focus is to empty the enemy healer's Mana bar as fast as you can, and
then win through unrelenting damage. Your job is to make sure your team stays
alive, and if you can do so, you will win passively through damage.
WLS
Destruction Warlock is a
unique caster in that it can play like a turret. They are durable enough to
sustain damage up front and two Chaos Bolts is strong enough to kill
people on its own. Safeguard the Warlock with
Intervene,
Bodyguard etc., so he can eventually end the game through his passive
pressure and
Chaos Bolt.
WMD
Combustion is the strongest burst cooldown in the game, and can
single-handedly finish the game. Because of this, you do not need a crazy
amount of damage to drain the enemy healer's Mana, just enough
Combustion kill attempts to eventually land the kill. You simply have
to bodyguard the Mage for as long as possible so he can get as long as possible
to close out the game.
Arms + Shadow
Similar to WLS, Shadow Priest is
very durable and does high consistent damage. The composition has access to
some great defensive cooldowns such as Greater Fade and
Dispersion, in addition to your own toolkit. Make use of the Shadow Priest's great survivability and
consistent damage to eventually win on Mana or dampening.
Changelog
- 28 Feb. 2022: Page reviewed and approved for Patch 9.2.
- 08 Nov. 2021: Page reviewed for Patch 9.1.5.
- 02 Jul. 2021: Reviewed and approved for Patch 9.1.
This guide has been written by Karanze, an experienced Gladiator Warrior player who has been a Stormforged/trusted member in the popular Warrior class discord Skyhold. You can watch his stream on Twitch.
- New Heartbond Lupine Flying Animation in Patch 9.2.5
- Cool New Patch 9.2.5 Windrunner Easter Egg
- Kalimdorathon: Running Kalimdor from South to North IRL
- Patch 9.2.5 Survival Guide - Everything Coming in the World of Warcraft Update
- The Ultimate Silvermoonception
- World First Hardcore Level 99 in Diablo 2 Resurrected Ladder Season 1
- Bird's Eye View of Various World of Warcraft Maps
- Enigma Arena Changes