Share your Protection Warrior raiding wisdom!

[TrollFu]

Hey guys! I recently switched from Brewmaster tanking, to Protection Warrior tanking. If you're a Protection Warrior at heart, it's really tough to stay away for too long.

That being said, there's always new Prot tanks checking these forums for any tips and advice to make their progression tanking go smoother. That leads me to this thread: The idea is simple. As content becomes trivial for some of you, you start to figure out easier ways to handle certain mechanics, or realize that there's certain abilities / tanking styles that are much more efficient in certain encounters.

So, if any of you career Prot Warriors can impart any wisdom, perhaps wisdom that you wish you would have known earlier in some of your progression encounters, please share!

Thanks in advance!

[Mammoth]

If having 10 stacks of a tanking debuff will cause you to explode, don't intervene the other tank when you have 9. (Sigh...festergut HC)

[TrollFu]

I was more looking for current content advice, but hey I gotta give it to you, that's sound advice lol

[Deleted]

Please, please, please if you're a new tank and a fight requires taunting from debuffs - invest in WeakAuras/Power Auras or enlarge the debuffs on your raid frames. It really helps you can see when your MT or OT needs to be taunted off of. Almost every LFR there is a tank who taunts too much or not enough.

If you're in a raiding guild, it will most likely be called in vent, but don't assume it's always going to be vocalised.

[Deleted]

Please, please, please if you're a new tank and a fight requires taunting from debuffs - invest in WeakAuras/Power Auras or enlarge the debuffs on your raid frames. It really helps you can see when your MT or OT needs to be taunted off of. Almost every LFR there is a tank who taunts too much or not enough.

Or just install DBM. It's a great addon for many reasons but its ability to announce and track tanking debuffs, how many and when they are about to fall off, is one of them. I do have weak auras but I don't need it to track debuffs on my partner.

[Deleted]

Please, please, please if you're a new tank and a fight requires taunting from debuffs...

Any serious raider has a targettarget frame or a focus frame that are capable of showing debuffs with stacks. No need to make things complicated.

[Mammoth]

I normally have focus on the other tank. Then I can use one of many of my addons to track his debuff, whether it be Pitbull (unit frames), Elkano Buff Bars, or TellMeWhen.


If you need to use Shield Wall in the next 12 seconds, don't use Recklessness. You cannot have both up.

Test disarm on different mobs, the ones it works on are great.

Little shields are for paladins, transmog into a big shield.

Recklessness + Skull Banner make for strong pulls.

"/dbm pull 10" will do a 10 second pull timer.

The raid doesn't like Shockwave on Spirit Kings.

Keep the Weakened Blows debuff up with Thunderclap.

[Deleted]

Little shields are for paladins, transmog into a big shield.

Anything that's big / spiky / mean / cruel looks good on a warrior

Recklessness + Skull Banner make for strong pulls.

I use reck + avatar + skull banner. It is useful to macro, just for easier pulls. In the same spirit however, always be conservative about using macros. The only things I ever macro are stacking damage CDs, pots, and trinkets. Everything else deserves to have its own key bind because combining abilities needlessly lowers the control you have over your character.

Remember, warrior is a very micro heavy class; we always have plenty of buttons that we need to be pressing in succession or at the same time, though this has lessened in MOP however.

Don't be afraid to modify your DBM addon. Unless you're the raid leader, it isn't useful to have all the timers and bars visible for an encounter. Trim them for a more clear UI.

Use addons to track your CDs and other useful information; shield wall / barrier / block durations, deadly calm stacks, demoralizing shout, etc. Yes you can read them all from the default places but having them near your unit frames, enlarged and more clearly visible helps by a lot.

[Lachez]

The raid doesn't like Shockwave on Spirit Kings.

Hey now that's a valid LFR strat :P

On topic: Intervene the current tank when Garajal is about to do shadowy attack. If you time it right, you can prevent around 300k damage (in 10m anyway). It's a nice help to the healers, esp on heroic. Protip: Always shield block it when you're tanking him. Can get it every time and the attack goes right through barrier.

In general, always call taunts in vent (when possible). Lets healers know that you'll be taking damage and allows them to switch things like ES to you. If you're turning a boss that cleaves (think Marrowgar) make sure you call the turn and its direction before you move.

Anything that's big / spiky / mean / cruel looks good on a warrior

Also this ^