Prot Warrior Looking to Improve

[Brawller]

Hi all! I’ve been tanking SoO and was looking for some tips to improve my play. My guild got a late start in SoO and we are progressing through normal mode (10 man). During the course of progression, we are hitting some roadblocks. On some of these fights, I am dying prematurely quite a bit. I’m seeking advice on how I can improve my overall play so I can be the best I can be. I’ll link the logs below (note: there are some attempts where I died on purpose). Can you pinpoint some major reasons why I tend to be dying prematurely? Are there any class mechanics that I can handle differently? I went with a mastery build to improve survivability, should I switch to avoidance? Any other tips? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Logs: www .worldoflogs.com/guilds/294915/
Armory: us.battle.net/wow/en/character/thrall/Oktain/advanced

[Lintgamer]

Gear wise i don't see anything. I i see that you haven't go shield block up that often? only 7% uptime.

[Brawller]

Gear wise i don't see anything. I i see that you haven't go shield block up that often? only 7% uptime.

So on some of the fights with magical damage (i.e. Thok) I'll use shield barrier, if there is more physical damage, I'll use shield block more often. What is typical shield block uptime?

[Lintgamer]

So on some of the fights with magical damage (i.e. Thok) I'll use shield barrier, if there is more physical damage, I'll use shield block more often. What is typical shield block uptime?

Mine is 15% but i have a feeling this isn't high. My second port tank in guild has also from 15 - 20% overal. But than again. Don't know if this could help you out. You'll get less damage normally. Hope it's helps

[Brawller]

Mine is 15% but i have a feeling this isn't high. My second port tank in guild has also from 15 - 20% overal. But than again. Don't know if this could help you out. You'll get less damage normally. Hope it's helps

I can aim for that. I think the shield block number is a little low since a lot of our attempts were on Thok and I was using Shield Barrier. If you look at out kill attempt, I cast barrier 33 times. Should I be using block instead of barrier on Thok? I assumed that I should be using my rage for barrier because of the breaths.

[Deleted]

I would suggest reading and posting in the prot sticky firstly :P However I would suggest going an Avoidance build as with that item level you should have more than enough health for every boss and the extra DPS + Control from increased rage generation will be superior and play to your strengths if you like using barrier.
I would also recommend dropping storm bolt and taking bloodbath, its vastly superior and doesn't eat a global for medicore damage every 30s the way stormbolt does. I would also advise changing from shockwave to dragon roar, again its a big DPS gain and you pretty much would never have any reason to take shockwave in a raid enviroment
You could also drop the Unending Rage glyph and swapping to resonating power and using TC instead of devastate when its off CD

[Brawller]

I would suggest reading and posting in the prot sticky firstly :P However I would suggest going an Avoidance build as with that item level you should have more than enough health for every boss and the extra DPS + Control from increased rage generation will be superior and play to your strengths if you like using barrier.
I would also recommend dropping storm bolt and taking bloodbath, its vastly superior and doesn't eat a global for medicore damage every 30s the way stormbolt does. I would also advise changing from shockwave to dragon roar, again its a big DPS gain and you pretty much would never have any reason to take shockwave in a raid enviroment
You could also drop the Unending Rage glyph and swapping to resonating power and using TC instead of devastate when its off CD

Eddytheone, thanks for the great feedback. I'll switch to an avoidance build swap around some of my talents. Do you have any suggestions for improving my survivability? I seem to be dying a lot and I'm trying to figure out why.

[Deleted]

Eddytheone, thanks for the great feedback. I'll switch to an avoidance build swap around some of my talents. Do you have any suggestions for improving my survivability? I seem to be dying a lot and I'm trying to figure out why.

You're very welcome!
Well I would suggest trying to maximize shield block uptime to make sure that auto swing damage is kept to a minimum as this is the main thing that will make you more durable. You can then fill in the gaps or any magic / unblockable damage using barrier.
You will gain quite a bit of health aswell by going with an avoidance build with 2 stamina trinkets which also goes a LONG way to making you more healable, that extra health 'buffer' is very noticeable.

[Valech]

You are wasting rage. I just took a look at the try, in which you killed thok. You had 16 Ultimatum proccs. But you used Heroic Strike 26 times! That is 10 times 30 rage wasted. That is 300 Rage, aka 5 Shieldblocks or 5 full Shieldbarriers. There is NO reason to EVER hit Heroic Strike or Cleave if it not glows. It is really a no brainer. It shines? click. It doesn´t? Don´t click.
Aside from that, as mentioned above, your Shieldblock uptime is fairly low. Especially if you are using the mastery build, which favors Shieldblock.
The good thing is, that I see a good amount of CDs you use. A common mistake is to sit on your CDs until shit hits the fan. You do that well. Didn´t pay attention, but you could also use a Shattering Throw once you are not tanking. Pushes the melee damage slightly.
And as Eddy said, I would go for the avoidance build. The damage you take over all is even LESS then with mastery. The benefit of Mastery over Avoidance is simply, that the damage SPIKES are rarer. Also, Vigilance got buffed. In most of the fight I would suggest that talent to be the to-go talent. The thing with DR and BB has been mentioned already.

[Brawller]

You are wasting rage. I just took a look at the try, in which you killed thok. You had 16 Ultimatum proccs. But you used Heroic Strike 26 times! That is 10 times 30 rage wasted. That is 300 Rage, aka 5 Shieldblocks or 5 full Shieldbarriers. There is NO reason to EVER hit Heroic Strike or Cleave if it not glows. It is really a no brainer. It shines? click. It doesn´t? Don´t click.
Aside from that, as mentioned above, your Shieldblock uptime is fairly low. Especially if you are using the mastery build, which favors Shieldblock.
The good thing is, that I see a good amount of CDs you use. A common mistake is to sit on your CDs until shit hits the fan. You do that well. Didn´t pay attention, but you could also use a Shattering Throw once you are not tanking. Pushes the melee damage slightly.
And as Eddy said, I would go for the avoidance build. The damage you take over all is even LESS then with mastery. The benefit of Mastery over Avoidance is simply, that the damage SPIKES are rarer. Also, Vigilance got buffed. In most of the fight I would suggest that talent to be the to-go talent. The thing with DR and BB has been mentioned already.

Thanks Valech, I'll work on my block uptime. One question that I do have about the heroic strikes. I was using most of the non ultimatum procs heroic strikes (might have misclicked a couple times) when I wasn't tanking the boss to increase my damage. Is that not appropriate? If not, what should I be burning my rage on if I'm not tanking the boss?

[Valech]

In Shieldblock. Yes, Shieldblock. The Heavy Repurcussion glyph makes a Shieldslam during Shieldblock more efficient then two Heroic Strikes. Just make sure to have both stacks of Shieldblock up or almost up when you have to taunt.

[Brawller]

In Shieldblock. Yes, Shieldblock. The Heavy Repurcussion glyph makes a Shieldslam during Shieldblock more efficient then two Heroic Strikes. Just make sure to have both stacks of Shieldblock up or almost up when you have to taunt.

Ok that makes sense. I do try to pool my rage before I switch to the boss. Thanks for the input.

[Valech]

The nice thing about Shildslam is, that you generate rage instead of burning it via Heroic Strike.

[Deleted]

From a survivability PoV you can and should dump rage into barrier rather than HS. However once your gear gets better and your rage generation gets even higher you will find yourself in the position of not taking much damage and can fairly safely dump it into HS. The gain isn't amazing but its there, around a 2-4% DPS increase depending on how many you can get off. I'm finding myself using it quite a lot now on most bosses as they simply don't hit hard enough to warrant a barrier. This is talking from a balancing survivability to DPS perspective, if its just survivability then its should be barrier all the time

[Brawller]

From a survivability PoV you can and should dump rage into barrier rather than HS. However once your gear gets better and your rage generation gets even higher you will find yourself in the position of not taking much damage and can fairly safely dump it into HS. The gain isn't amazing but its there, around a 2-4% DPS increase depending on how many you can get off. I'm finding myself using it quite a lot now on most bosses as they simply don't hit hard enough to warrant a barrier. This is talking from a balancing survivability to DPS perspective, if its just survivability then its should be barrier all the time

That's good advice. I'm hoping that with an avoidance build I can increase my rage enough to increase my uptime of shield / barrier too. I'll put into practice tonight and see how it goes. Great to see such a helpful community. Thanks a bunch for the help guys.

- - - Updated - - -

I made the changes and it helped. I had +40% Shield Block uptime on Blackfuse last night. Thanks for the help.

[Newfriend]

I've found the best advice I have for prot warriors wanting to improve is to work on maximising shield block uptime, it's a significant dps and survivability boost. Once you've nailed your shield block uptime, get an addon to help track your buffs like shield block, demo shout, shield wall etc that way you can rotate everything perfectly.

Knowing the fights help a lot aswell.

[Deleted]

You are wasting rage. I just took a look at the try, in which you killed thok. You had 16 Ultimatum proccs. But you used Heroic Strike 26 times! That is 10 times 30 rage wasted. That is 300 Rage, aka 5 Shieldblocks or 5 full Shieldbarriers. There is NO reason to EVER hit Heroic Strike or Cleave if it not glows. It is really a no brainer. It shines? click. It doesn´t? Don´t click.
Aside from that, as mentioned above, your Shieldblock uptime is fairly low. Especially if you are using the mastery build, which favors Shieldblock.
The good thing is, that I see a good amount of CDs you use. A common mistake is to sit on your CDs until shit hits the fan. You do that well. Didn´t pay attention, but you could also use a Shattering Throw once you are not tanking. Pushes the melee damage slightly.
And as Eddy said, I would go for the avoidance build. The damage you take over all is even LESS then with mastery. The benefit of Mastery over Avoidance is simply, that the damage SPIKES are rarer. Also, Vigilance got buffed. In most of the fight I would suggest that talent to be the to-go talent. The thing with DR and BB has been mentioned already.

The majority of SoO encounters encourage tank swapping. I don't feel the extra HS use is an issue if he/she's using it as a rage dump while not the current tank, as long as it's remembered to build rage for sblock/sbar for the taunt. Most of the fights, while off tanking, there's literally no damage coming in, so I feel popping sblock/sbar when there's no damage would be a bigger waste than using HS.

Thok is a different story.

[Valech]

The majority of SoO encounters encourage tank swapping. I don't feel the extra HS use is an issue if he/she's using it as a rage dump while not the current tank, as long as it's remembered to build rage for sblock/sbar for the taunt. Most of the fights, while off tanking, there's literally no damage coming in, so I feel popping sblock/sbar when there's no damage would be a bigger waste than using HS.

Thok is a different story.

This is simply not true. A glyphes Shieldblock+Shieldbash results in more damage then two heroic strikes. Not much to add.

[Deleted]

This is simply not true. A glyphes Shieldblock+Shieldbash results in more damage then two heroic strikes. Not much to add.

As long as you can guarantee you'll have a SS available, indeed. So unless you're sure SS will come off during SBlock, or you're psychic, have read the future and can guarantee a proc, then it's wasted. I've you've just used your SS when you pop block and you get no proc, then gz, you just wasted 60 rage.

Lets say you're on 100 rage, you're expected to taunt in the next 5s. My choice would be a HS to ensure I had a full sblock avail for the taunt and any additional rage goes into a barrier for the taunt.

If you time it properly then SBlock is your dump, if you cant guarantee a SS during block, then I would HS.

Not much to add.

[Deleted]

As long as you can guarantee you'll have a SS available, indeed. So unless you're sure SS will come off during SBlock, or you're psychic, have read the future and can guarantee a proc, then it's wasted. I've you've just used your SS when you pop block and you get no proc, then gz, you just wasted 60 rage.

Lets say you're on 100 rage, you're expected to taunt in the next 5s. My choice would be a HS to ensure I had a full sblock avail for the taunt and any additional rage goes into a barrier for the taunt.

If you time it properly then SBlock is your dump, if you cant guarantee a SS during block, then I would HS.

Not much to add.

Don't have to be psychic
Pop shieldblock BEFORE shieldslam and you solved the problem. The charge system makes it possible to delay block while still having max uptime.
Getting 2 inside it is a bonus.

And for your 100 rage scenario. Pop shieldblock, use ss or rev, back to 60 rage. Taunt, block, use 20 rage barrier generated during it.

Not much to add.