Protection Warrior PvP Rotation and Playstyle — Midnight Season 1

The opener refers to your team's opening CC chain and damage done as soon as you get out of the gates. The main goal in the opener is to force your enemies to use their cooldowns. If the enemy healer or your kill target uses their trinket in the opener, they are in trouble.

There is no reason to hold onto your cooldowns at the start of the match; apply your team's CC chain and burst to gain momentum.

This is the rotation you should use on your target at the beginning of the game.

1. Refrain from using Charge if possible.
2. Use Hamstring on the enemy to slow them.
3. Use Storm Bolt on your kill target.
   • If Shockwave is talented, use Storm Bolt on their healer and Shockwave for the kill target.
4. Use Avatar.
5. Use Execute when the enemy drops below the threshold.
6. Use Stormblast.
7. Use Shield Slam on cooldown to deal damage and generate Rage.
8. Use Thunder Clap to deal damage and spread Rend.
9. Use Revenge when it procs or if you have excess Rage.

This list serves as your sustained damage rotation priority.

1. Maintain Hamstring on your kill target at all times.
2. Use Avatar for when you wish to burst.
3. Maintain Rend on your primary target.
4. Use Execute when the enemy drops below the threshold.
5. Use Shield Slam on cooldown to deal damage and generate Rage.
6. Use Thunder Clap to deal damage and spread Rend.
7. Use Revenge when it procs or if you have excess Rage.

When you have the enemy healer in crowd control, and you are trying to kill an enemy, you use your burst damage.

1. Use Storm Bolt on your kill target.
   • If Shockwave is talented, use Storm Bolt on their healer and Shockwave for the kill target.
2. Use Avatar.
3. Use Execute when the enemy drops below the threshold.
4. Use Stormblast.
5. Use Shield Slam on cooldown to deal damage and generate Rage.
6. Use Thunder Clap to deal damage and spread Rend.
7. Use Revenge when it procs or if you have excess Rage.

Shield Wall is a powerful low cooldown defensive, that is up more often than not. Press it any time you feel damage is overwhelming, you have enough defensive cooldowns to afford to take chances with it.

Defensive Stance is a great talent, despite the nerfs to this ability, which can be the difference between life and death. The general rule of thumb for this ability is to try only to have it active while sustaining more damage than you can deal or when you anticipate a setup from the enemy team. Avoid sitting in it for excessive amounts of time, as the penalty is greater on you than the enemy team.

It is important to master the ability to preemptively put yourself in Defensive Stance before you get hit by dangerous abilities like Kidney Shot.

Heroic Leap has great pursuit potential but can be equally powerful when trying to survive. Breaking the line of sight of enemies will nullify most of their damage, and is a great way to prevent being killed by unstoppable cooldowns like Combustion.

Rallying Cry is a great defensive for you and your team, especially when in conjunction with Master and Commander and Inspiring Presence. Beware, as the health gained is lost at the end of the duration and can surprise kill you or your teammates.

Impending Victory is your only on-demand heal and should be taken advantage of when you can.

Avatar is a great burst cooldowns, but it is just as valuable for its anti-CC components. Against Mage, Restoration Shaman, Druid, and other similar classes with roots, it may be better to use these abilities to break out of these roots instead of for burst damage. We advise learning the cooldowns of enemy roots so you get an idea of when to use your abilities for burst and when to cleanse yourself.

Intimidating Shout is a very powerful ability that can make or break your game. This ability is as strong offensively as it is defensively. For this reason, this ability can be the hardest to determine how to use best.

Good ways to use it offensively is to use it as a follow-up CC, to an already applied CC on the enemy healer, or to start a CC chain. The enemy team will try to stop your team from applying other forms of CC, like Polymorph or Hex.

If you can land an Intimidating Shout onto all of the enemy team, your team will be in a prime position to burst and apply CC without having to worry about being stopped. For example, you can turn the tides of a fight by using it on a Windwalker Monk with Storm, Earth, and Fire during Fists of Fury, to nullify their offensive burst and letting you Storm Bolt your kill target to counter pressure with your team.

Intervene is one of the best tools Protection Warrior has for the team. It allows you to quickly reposition to your chosen teammate and then redirect all melee and ranged attacks onto you. Keep in mind that this ability does not do anything against spells.

Use it frequently and in response to enemy attempts to kill your teammate. Do not be afraid to combine it with Shield Wall if you suspect the redirected damage is strong enough to kill you.