! Protection Warrior Guide
!! Tanking Strategies
!!! Single Target
Prot warriors use a priority system. Note that heroic strike isn't listed here. It's because it's off the gcd and you will be spamming this to the point every attack will be a heroic strike. There's only 3 primary abilities you will be using to generate threat, Shockwave and Concussion Blow are no longer used when boss tanking.
* Shield Slam
* Revenge
* Devestate
Keep your Demoralizing Shout and Thunder Clap debuffs on the target, though only when you are not worried about losing threat.

!!! AoE
* Thunderclap
* Shockwave (make sure all the mobs are in your frontal cone)
* Cleave
* Revenge (up to two targets if talented)
!! Stats
* Stamina - The more the merrier. Because of the Icc dodge nerf this is going to be your #1 stat to stack after reaching defense/expertise/hit caps.
* Strength - Lovely, but not worth gemming. Has a positive affect on your block rating and AP, but you get plenty from gear.
* Expertise - Reduces the chance a mob will dodge/parry an attack. You are going to want to aim for 26 expertise (214 rating) for your attacks to not be dodged. The parry cap is 56 expertise (460 rating) and is not worth trying to reach.
* Hit - Increases your chance to hit. You are going to need 263 hit rating (8%) for your attacks to not miss a boss.
* Defense - You want 540 defense to become uncritable against raid bosses. Anymore defense above 540 suffers from heavy diminishing returns. Do not freak out if you are over capped on defense as more defense will still give you increased avoidance, it's just not very useful after reaching 540.
* Dodge - Thanks Blizzard for making this so effective in Heroics that we end up rage starved and so bad in ICC that we get hit so much.... Without trying you should be able to have 29% dodge rating from gear alone. Dodge = Avoidance, you are negating damage, and rage generation. It is an important stat, but can lead to loss of Threat due to rage starvation.
* Parry - Again, gear alone will get you all you need. Spec should also get you a good amount as well.
* Block - Blocking is very important, and thanks to gear from ICC, very hard to get anymore. You will see your parry rating go up as your block rating diminishes.
* Armor - Reduces physical damage taken, there's not many ways to increase it but it is nice to have on your cloak.

To sum up, once you are defense, hit, and expertise cap go for stamina all the way.
!! Glyphs
*Major*
Glyph of Devestate -
Glyph of Blocking -
Glyph of Revenge -
Glyph of Heroic Strike -
Glyph of Cleaving -




*Minor*
Glyph of Bloodrage -
Glyph of Charge -
Glyph of Thunder Clap -


!! Talent Builds
[url:15-2-54|http://www.wowhead.com/talent#LAM00fZbZVItrx0zidIzsGo] - This or a slight variation of it will net you the best results. You can move points from Shield Specialization to Armored to the Teeth and Cruelty if you'd like.
!! Gems, Enchants, Consumables
!!! Gems

If you are defense, hit, and expertise cap you can just gem for stamina in every slot. If you do that make sure you have one red gem to fill the Meta Requirement.
* Meta - Austere Earthsiege Diamond
* Red - Guardian's Dreadstone or Regal Dreadstone
* Yellow - Vivid Eye of Zul or Enduring Eye of Zul
* Blue - Solid Majestic Zircon
!!! Enchants
* Weapon - Bladeward
* Head - Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector
* Shoulders - Greater Inscription of the Gladiator
* Back - Mighty Armor
* Chest - Super Health
* Gloves - Heavy Borean Armor Kit, Armsman
* Wrists - Major Stamina
* Legs - Frosthide Leg Armor
* Feet - Tuskarr's Vitality
!!! Consumables
* Flask of Stoneblood - Moar health!
* Indestructible Potion - 3500 armor for 2 minutes. Use one just before the fight starts, and one after the first runs out so that you have 4 minutes with 3500 increased armor. The mitigated damage will be much better then using your 1 health pot.
* If your below the expertise cap eat 40 expertise/stam food if not then 40 strength/stam or a fish feast if available.
!! Addons
Omen Threat Meter

!! Macros
*Heroic Strike*
Use this to make a macro for all your single target abilities
#showtooltip
/cast Devastate
/cast Heroic Strike

*Mouseover Taunt*
#showtooltip Taunt
/cast [target=mouseover,exists,nodead] Taunt

*Charge/intercept/intervene*
#showtooltip Charge
/castsequence [harm] reset=15 Charge, Intercept; [help] Intervene

*Berserk Rage + Bloodrage*
/castsequence reset=30 Berserker Rage, Bloodrage

! Protection Warrior Guide
!! Tanking Strategies
!!! Single Target
Prot warriors use a priority system. Note that heroic strike isn't listed here. It's because it's off the gcd and you will be spamming this to the point every attack will be a heroic strike. There's only 3 primary abilities you will be using to generate threat, Shockwave and Concussion Blow are no longer used when boss tanking.
* Shield Slam
* Revenge
* Devestate
Keep your Demoralizing Shout and Thunder Clap debuffs on the target, though only when you are not worried about losing threat.

!!! AoE
* Thunderclap
* Shockwave (make sure all the mobs are in your frontal cone)
* Cleave
* Revenge (up to two targets if talented)
!! Stats
* Stamina - Always nice to have more health, but with healing changed in Cataclysm and mana being in short supply for healers, you may want to put in hybrid gems to pick up socket bonuses.
* Strength - Lovely, but not worth gemming. Has a positive affect on your parry rating and AP, but you get plenty from gear.
* Expertise - Reduces the chance a mob will dodge/parry an attack. You are going to want to aim for 26 expertise (214 rating) for your attacks to not be dodged. The parry cap is 56 expertise (460 rating) and is not worth trying to reach.
* Hit - Increases your chance to hit. You are going to need 263 hit rating (8%) for your attacks to not miss a boss.
* Dodge/Parry - Both stats that let you completely avoid a hit, they should be kept roughly about the same % to compensate for diminishing returns by reforging the higher stat over to mastery.
* Mastery (Block) - Blocking is very important, reducing damage taken from a blocked hit by 30% (or 60% when a critical block happens).
* Armor - Reduces physical damage taken, and due to armor formula changes in Cataclysm, it has greatly diminished in value compared to other defensive stats.



To sum up, if you are having threat problems, get more hit/expertise. If not, go for dodge/parry/mastery. Most tanks in the early T11 content are not stacking hit/exp to the cap and are doing just fine.
!! Glyphs
*Prime*
Glyph of Shield Slam
Glyph of Revenge
Glyph of Devastate
*Major* (Switch out depending if AoE or single target)
Glyph of Shield Wall
Glyph of Charge
Glyph of Thunder Clap
Glyph of Shockwave
Glyph of Cleaving
*Minor*
Glyph of Demoralizing Shout
Glyph of Berserker Rage
Glyph of Battle
Glyph of Command
Glyph of Enduring Victory
!! Talent Builds
[url:15-2-54|http://www.wowhead.com/talent#LAM00fZbZVItrx0zidIzsGo] - This or a slight variation of it will net you the best results. You can move points from Shield Specialization to Armored to the Teeth and Cruelty if you'd like.
!! Gems, Enchants, Consumables
!!! Gems

If you are defense, hit, and expertise cap you can just gem for stamina in every slot. If you do that make sure you have one red gem to fill the Meta Requirement.
* Meta - Austere Earthsiege Diamond
* Red - Guardian's Dreadstone or Regal Dreadstone
* Yellow - Vivid Eye of Zul or Enduring Eye of Zul
* Blue - Solid Majestic Zircon
!!! Enchants
* Weapon - Bladeward
* Head - Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector
* Shoulders - Greater Inscription of the Gladiator
* Back - Mighty Armor
* Chest - Super Health
* Gloves - Heavy Borean Armor Kit, Armsman
* Wrists - Major Stamina
* Legs - Frosthide Leg Armor
* Feet - Tuskarr's Vitality
!!! Consumables
* Flask of Stoneblood - Moar health!
* Indestructible Potion - 3500 armor for 2 minutes. Use one just before the fight starts, and one after the first runs out so that you have 4 minutes with 3500 increased armor. The mitigated damage will be much better then using your 1 health pot.
* If your below the expertise cap eat 40 expertise/stam food if not then 40 strength/stam or a fish feast if available.
!! Addons
Omen Threat Meter

!! Macros
*Heroic Strike*
Use this to make a macro for all your single target abilities
#showtooltip
/cast Devastate
/cast Heroic Strike

*Mouseover Taunt*
#showtooltip Taunt
/cast [target=mouseover,exists,nodead] Taunt

*Charge/intercept/intervene*
#showtooltip Charge
/castsequence [harm] reset=15 Charge, Intercept; [help] Intervene

*Berserk Rage + Bloodrage*
/castsequence reset=30 Berserker Rage, Bloodrage