Protection Warrior PvP Guide (Dragonflight 10.1)
This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to play in a PvP environment. The guide will cover everything from talent choices, PvP talents, gameplay and rotation, and useful racial bonuses. It is most applicable to Arena content, but most talents and racial bonuses will work in Rated Battlegrounds and skirmishes.
If you were looking for TBC Classic content, please refer to our TBC Warrior PvP guide.
Protection Warriors in the Current Meta
Protection Warrior and tanks, in general, are often considered niche specializations for PvP, and especially arena, with very few regular players. However, Protection Warrior has seen high ratings in the past and is currently capable of dealing high amounts of damage while averting great pressure from enemy melees. The main struggle is magic damage-dealing specializations, as you have little passive sustain or defense against this type of damage.
Protection Warrior plays primarily as a bodyguard, averting dangers off of a
serious damage dealing teammate and trying to stall out a game long enough for
the enemy team to run dry on Mana. By using powerful damage-reducing abilities
such as Bodyguard,
Morale Killer,
Shield Bash and
Shockwave, Protection Warrior can single-handedly ruin the enemy
team's chances of killing your team.
This guide is inspired by Troma's talent build and tested around his setup. You can find a link to his character, Twitch, Twitter and Youtube here.
Changes in Patch 10.1 (Dragonflight Season 1)
Rebound has received a redesign, it now reflects two spells for bonus damage, but increases the cooldown of
Spell Reflection.
Warbringer damage has been reduced by 65%, but range increased by 10 yards.
Shield Bash is no longer a separate ability, and now has its effects merged into
Shield Slam.
Thunderstruck now roots for 4 seconds and is affected by Diminishing Returns, as well as break on damage.
Sword and Board has been removed.
- The 2-set PvP trinket bonus no longer provides CC reduction.
To compensate, most CC in the game has received nerfs. For warrior,
Disarm now lasts 5 seconds and
Storm Bolt and
Pummel now lasts 3 seconds, but
Shockwave has been buffed to 3 seconds.
- Critical strikes now deal 150% of base damage instead of 175%
- The new 2-set PvP trinket bonus is a 25% increase to primary stat and 5% to stamina.
Strengths of Protection Warriors
- Incredible peeling abilities.
- Great damage for a tank.
- Almost impervious to enemy melees.
- Strong utility.
Weaknesses of Protection Warriors
- Struggles to keep up with consistent ranged slows.
- Vulnerable to magic damage.
- Lack of
Bladestorm means high vulnerability to being hit with CC.
- Tanks sustain 50% more damage from all sources in PvP.
Content of the Guide
This guide ended up being very long, so we split it into different pages.
- On the Protection Warrior PvP Talents page, you will find an analysis of each PvE talent row to help you decide which talent to pick on each row, as well as an overview of the PvP talents, which advice on which ones to take and under which conditions.
- On the Protection Warrior PvP Rotation and Playstyle page, you will learn how to use your spells, depending on the situation (dealing damage, surviving, controlling enemy players, etc.), and what is generally expected of your class and spec in PvP.
- On the Protection Warrior PvP Stat Priority and Gear page, you will find the stat priority to follow in PvP, as well as advice for choosing your gear, particularly trinkets.
- On the Protection Warrior PvP Best Races page, you will find lists of the Alliance and Horde races, ranked by how good they are for Protection Warriors in PvP, as well as explanations regarding why and how their racials benefit you.
- On the Protection Warrior PvP Useful Macros page, you will find a collection of useful macros for PvP for Protection Warriors.
- On the Protection Warrior Arena Composition page, you will find the list of the most powerful Arena compositions featuring Protection Warriors in both 2v2 and 3v3 modes.
Changelog
- 09 May 2023: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.1.
- 21 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- 30 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 22 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
- 29 Jul. 2022: Updated for Shadowlands Season 4.
- 31 May 2022: Reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
- 28 Feb. 2022: Page updated for Patch 9.2.
- 08 Nov. 2021: Page reviewed for Patch 9.1.5.
- 04 Jul. 2021: Updated for Patch 9.1.
- 27 Mar. 2021: Guide created.
Other PvP Guides
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.
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