Protection Warrior Tank Spec, Builds, and Talents — The War Within (11.0.5)

This build is a decent combination of offensive and defensive talents, making it a good all-around raid build. 2 important option notes are shown below:

• Pick up Seismic Reverberation instead of Honed Reflexes if the encounter has adds;
• You can drop Best Served Cold for Fight Through the Flames for a more defensive choice;

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

While slightly weaker defensively than the Mountain Thane build, the Colossus can be played in raids just as well. Below, you can find the generic build for it.

If you do not need Spell Block for the fight, you can take the points from Instigate and Spell Block and place both of them into Bloodborne. 2 important option notes are shown below:

• Pick up Seismic Reverberation instead of Honed Reflexes if the encounter has adds;
• You can drop Best Served Cold for Fight Through the Flames for a more defensive choice;

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

This build sacrifices a lot of the defensive talents for purely offensive gains. We advise you not to use this build on progress bosses or on bosses you are not familiar with, as it will hamper your survivability.

For an even more offensive setup, you can place the point from Indomitable into Instigate, just be wary that your self-sustain will drop significantly.

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

The below build is a solid example of an overall good Mythic+ build. It should provide you with more than enough Shield Block, interrupt tools, and damage output.

• You can drop Best Served Cold for Fight Through the Flames for a more defensive choice;

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

The below build provides an alternative playstyle for Mythic+. While not as good as the standard Mountain Thane build above, this one can still pack a punch. Just be wary that this build is weaker defensively.

• You can drop Best Served Cold for Fight Through the Flames for a more defensive choice;

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import the best build directly into your game!

The below build is as good in Delves as it is in Mythic+ dungeons. As the two prioritise the same values in crowd-control, defensives, self sustain and damage output, this build will cover all the bases.

Class Talents are available for all Warriors, regardless of their specialization. These consist of various abilities and passives that define how the Warrior class plays.

In the following sections, you can find the most influential talents that you can pick up. For a full list of Talents and what they do, take a look at our The spell Summary page linked below.

While there are a lot of options to choose from, you can find the main and most important choices outlined in the list below. The importance of these nodes is not just due to what they do but also which other talent nodes they open up.

Ability	Description / Effect
Impending Victory	Strong self-heal on a fairly short cooldown. This is a must-have pick in any scenario as it helps us recover from spike damage.
War Machine	As our whole kit revolves around generating as much Rage as possible; the extra gains from this talent go a long way.
Leeching Strikes	Provides a flat 5% Leech. Might seem underwhelming, but it does add up throughout the encounter.
Thunder Clap	One of our core rotational abilities, which also provides us with Rage. There are so many talents that work together with this ability that should be picked 100% of the time.
Heroic Leap	One of our few movement abilities, letting you leap through the air. This should be taken in every scenario as it can help you get out of sticky situations or reposition the boss quickly.
Frothing Berserker	Chance to get a 50% refund on the Rage spent on Revenge. Nothing significant, but it does open up additional nodes.
Pain and Gain	Small passive heal whenever you take damage. It is another tiny addition to further increase our sustainability.
Intervene	Intervenes to an ally, causing attacks to be re-directed to you instead. This is a very strong tool in the right situation; it can save your co-tank during a Raid encounter, for example.
Storm Bolt	Single-target stun on a short cooldown. Must have in Mythic+, situational in Raids.

The talents in the list below are situational and should be taken only if you are doing content where they provide some value.

Ability	Description / Effect
Intimidating Shout	Fears all enemies around you. A very solid additional interrupt. Especially useful in Mythic+.
Fast Footwork	Just a plain movement speed buff, still worth it, as it also opens up various other beneficial nodes.
Berserker Shout	Much like Berserker Rage, this has the potential to be strong if there is a mechanic that lines up with the 1-minute cooldown of the ability. Otherwise, this is a wasted point.
Second Wind	While the out-of-combat health regen is not really relevant, the healing while below 35% health has the potential to be handy in situations where this is a lot of damage which is constantly ticking away.

You can find a lot of utility and damage choices for various situations in this section. The most useful and important of them are listed below.

Ability	Description / Effect
Spell Reflection	Will either reflect the magic damage cast that is targeted at you back to the caster, or act as a magic damage reduction ability. This has so much potential in almost any encounter that it would be criminal not to take it.
Rallying Cry	One of our more impactful utility cooldowns. This is almost always good, as it can help save an ally from dying.
Shockwave	AoE stun on a fairly short cooldown. Must have in Mythic+, where it can be used to interrupt casts or provide some breathing room. Usually, it's not as useful in raids.
Reinforced Plates	Passive armor increase, definitely worth the point as armor significantly reduces our damage taken.
Crushing Force	Increases the damage of one of our core abilities in Shield Slam. It's always worth a pick.
Overwhelming Rage	Increases our maximum Rage capacity. It can be useful to avoid over-capping Rage during cooldowns and also provides value during Execute windows. Solid filler point.
Double Time	Provides us with 1 more charge of Charge, while also reducing its cooldown by 3 seconds. While the talent itself is mediocre, the thing that makes it a solid pick is what it leads to.

The talents in the following list are up for grabs as optional and filler nodes depending on the content you are doing.

Ability	Description / Effect
Crackling Thunder	The 50% radius increase is fine in Mythic+, but even then it does not matter too much, as the enemies are following you as the tank, regardless. It can be used as a filler point, but generally speaking, there are other, better options.
Honed Reflexes	While the 5% cooldown reduction might not seem a lot, it can still be a solid pick in situations where the 5% allows the abilities to line up with a mechanic better.
Seismic Reverberation	Makes Revenge hit for an additional time for reduced damage as long as it initially hit at least 3 targets. This is a great damage boost in any AoE encounter, like Mythic+, where you constantly have 3+ targets present.
Barbaric Training	increases the damage and Rage cost of Revenge. A great option to increase your damage output in Mythic+. Just be wary of your Rage usage when using this talent.
Sidearm	A very lackluster passive damage increase. If damage is all you are looking for, then this will serve some value; otherwise it can be ignored.

The last rows allow us to define our gameplay even further and provide a good mix of active abilities and passive buffs. As previously, the most noteworthy are in the first list.

Ability	Description / Effect
Armored to the Teeth	Increases our Strength by a % of our Armor. This is a solid increase, as we are, by default, a very high armor tank.
Wild Strikes	Provides us with a small amount of Haste and some auto-attack speed. Both of these effects are a fine passive increase.
One-Handed Weapon Specialization	Provides us with 5% Leech and also increases our damage by 5%. This is a lot of value for just one point, a must-have.
Avatar	Increases our damage dealt by 20% and removes all snares and roots when cast. One of our strongest offensive cooldowns. The 1.5-minute cooldown might seem daunting at first, but it gets greatly reduced by Anger Management, making it a more or less 45-second cooldown instead. Definitely a mandatory pick in every scenario.
Unstoppable Force	Causes Avatar to increase the damage of Shockwave and Thunder Clap, while also reducing the cooldown of the latter by 50%. Great option for higher damage output. It makes Thunder Clap be usable every other global cooldown during Avatar windows and pairs well with another talent, Thunderlord.
Thunderous Roar	Deals damage and puts a bleed on the enemies hit. The ability by itself is already fine, but it has great nodes underneath, which makes it even more appealing. Especially useful in Mythic+ and other AoE situations.
Champion's Spear	Deals damage and tethers target to its location. The follow-up nodes of this talent are what make it especially useful, mostly in single-target situations.
Cruel Strikes	A 2-point node that increases your critical strike chance and also the critical strike damage. Flat stat increases are deceitfully powerful, and this node is no exception. It is great offensively and also provides some defensive value through Parry.

Pick from the following depending on the content you are doing and your current needs.

Ability	Description / Effect
Endurance Training	Increases our Stamina while also reducing our time being crowd-controlled. This point should be taken only in a scenario where you would like to go down to Shockwave, such as Mythic+ dungeons; otherwise, it can be ignored for better options.
Immovable Object	Casting Avatar or Shield Wall also casts the other at reduced effectiveness. It has some potential from a defensive point of view, but as of now, it is lacking behind Unstoppable Force.
Uproar	Reduces the cooldown of Thunderous Roar by 45 seconds. It provides more frequent burst windows but nothing else.
Thunderous Words	Increases all your bleed damage dealt while Thunderous Roar bleed is active. We have 2 bleeds in Rend and Deep Wounds, so this can provide a decent boost to your damage output.
Champion's Might	Increases the duration of Champion's Spear and also increases your critical strike damage against targets chained to the Spear. A solid node to pick up if you went for Champions Spear.

These talents include abilities and passives only available for Protection Warriors. You can find a lot of our main defensive and offensive abilities under this tree.

As with the Class Talents, you will only find the best choices down below. For a full list, take a look at the Spell Summary page.

While there are not a lot of choices on the first 4 rows, we do find some really good options here, together with some spec-defining abilities.

Ability	Description / Effect
Ignore Pain	Apartial absorb, mainly used as a way to dump excessive Rage due to it being off the global cooldown. It can also be stacked in order to reduce a big incoming damage spike.
Revenge	Deals damage in an arc in front of you. One of your main rotational damage dealing tools.
Demoralizing Shout	Reduces the damage enemies hit deal to you by 25%. The effects of this talent are further enhanced by pairing it with Thunderlord, Booming Voice and Unstoppable Force, especially in AoE scenarios.
Devastator	Replaces Devastate with a passive ability that is tied to your auto-attacks. This is a must-have since it frees up a much needed global cooldown.
Last Stand	Increases your maximum health by 30% and also heals you for the same amount. While the cooldown is a lengthy 3 minutes, it is still worth the point spent on it.
Best Served Cold	Causes Revenge to deal even more damage. While the damage addition is not huge, it does add up, as Revenge is used rotationally.
Strategist	Execute, Devastate, Thunder Clap and Revenge can now reset the cooldown of Shield Slam. This is a mandatory talent in all scenarios due to how strong it is.
Brace For Impact	Casting Shield Slam increases the damage of Shield Slam by 3% while also increasing the amount of damage you block by the same percentage. Stacks up to 5 times. Another mandatory pick due to how heavily we rely on blocking and Shield Slam damage.

These rows include some of our most powerful defensive abilities and open up various synergies with other talents! A lot of great options; if only we had more points..

Ability	Description / Effect
Challenging Shout	An AoE taunt. A great addition to our toolkit, especially in Mythic+. It also leads to other great talent nodes, making it a mandatory pick.
Rend	An additional bleed. Deals significant amounts of damage and is further enhanced by other bleed talents like Thunderous Words, Bloodsurge and Bloodborne. The greatest part is that Thunder Clap applies it automatically, so you do not even need to cast it separately. Must have in all situations.
Brutal Vitality	Damage dealt adds to your active Ignore Pain. We will be using Ignore Pain a lot, so having our damage further feed into the absorb is a great passive addition to our survivability.
Shield Wall	Reduces your damage taken by 40% for 8 seconds. One of your strongest defensive tools that synergizes well with other talents like Anger Management and Impenetrable Wall. Must have in all situations.
Heavy Repercussions	Shield Slam generates more Rage and also extends the duration of Shield Block. It provides us with everything we want more Rage and more Shield Block uptime. Gets even better when paired with Enduring Defenses. Great choice in any situation.
Into the Fray	Gain Haste for each enemy or ally nearby, up to 8%. Haste is one of our best secondary stats, so this is another great option. Should be taken instead of Heavy Repercussions if you do not need the extra Shield Block up-time.
Enduring Defenses	Shield Block lasts 2 seconds longer. 2 seconds feels like such a short time, but in reality, it adds up to a lot of extra Shield Block uptime. This pairs well with Heavy Repercussions since it lets you potentially sneak in an extra Shield Slam in every Shield Block window. Must have talent in any scenario where extra Shield Block uptime is needed.
Massacre	Execute is now usable on targets below 35% health, instead of 20%. Purely offensive option for priority target damage. If Shield Block uptime is not a concern, then this can be taken to make the last 35% of the boss go faster.
Anger Management	Reduces the cooldown of Avatar and Shield Wall by 1 second per every 10 Rage spent. Bread and butter of Protection Warriors. Amazing talent in every situation that pairs well with a lot of our other talents. Mandatory pick.
Impenetrable Wall	Shield Slam generates extra Rage and reduces the cooldown of Shield Wall by 5 seconds. Paired together with Anger Management this results in your Shield Wall having a ~1.5-minute cooldown instead of the base 3.5-minutes. Amazing choice in any situation.
Punish	Stacking buff, which increases your Shield Slam damage and also reduces the damage the target deals to you. More Shield Slam damage is always great, so this is another solid pick in every encounter.

There are some amazing talents that are still left out of the list above, Thunderlord, Sudden Death, Tough as Nails and even Show of Force are all great choices. Read through the info below to see when to pick which!

Ability	Description / Effect
Bloodsurge	your bleed effects have a chance to grant you extra Rage. Considering we have 3 bleeds, Deep Wounds, Rend and Thunderous Roar. Unfortunately, the proc chance of this is so low that it would mostly make sense to take it in Mythic+ and to avoid it in single target situations.
Thunderlord	Increases the radius of Demoralizing Shout and causes each enemy hit by Thunder Clap to reduce the cooldown of Demoralizing Shout by 1 second, up to 3 seconds per cast. Unstoppable Force, Thunderlord and Booming Voice make a great trio in any AoE scenario. This is a must-have talent in any a situation where you can constantly hit 3+ targets.
Sudden Death	Provides a chance for your attacks to cause Execute to be usable for free, regardless of the target's health. Great offensive option for single-target situations. Should definitely be picked for Raids.
Tough as Nails	Blocking attacks deal damage to the attackers. As our whole mitigation is centered around blocking, it only makes sense to pick this up when aiming for additional free damage.
Spell Block	Allows you to block spells. This can be really powerful in the right situation when magic damage is an issue. The damage reduction it provides for The 20 seconds it lasts is significant, and you can rotate this together with Shield Wall to greatly reduce the threat of magic damage.
Bolster	Reduces the cooldown of Last Stand by 60 seconds and also grants you Shield Block for the duration of Last Stand. Can be taken to further increase your Shield Block uptime.
Show of Force	Further increases your Revenge damage and casting Revenge also increases the damage of your next Thunder Clap. Both of these abilities are rotationally used, you will be more or less passively gaining the benefits of this talent. If you are looking to min-max, then you would need to ensure that you are casting a Thunder Clap after every Revenge. It should be picked mainly in Mythic+.
Instigate	Enhances either Devastate or Devastator to deal more damage and provide some extra Rage. Nothing special should be taken instead of Bloodsurge in a single target encounters.

The last part of the tree is more or less cut in stone for us since there are clear winners and losers.

Ability	Description / Effect
Focused Vigor	Flat buff to our Strength, Armor and Critical Strike Chance. All of these are great stats for us.
Shield Specialization	Increases your Block chance and Block value. As our main mitigation kit revolves around Blocking attacks, this It's a mandatory pick.
Shield Charge	Charges at your target, dealing damage to all the targets within 10 yards, stunning the primary target and also generating 20 Rage. It is a great initiation tool, and the nodes it leads enhance this even further. Must have in any situation.
Champion's Bulwark	Shield Charge deals 20% increased damage, and grants you Shield Block a free Revenge and an additional 20 Rage. A solid pick in every scenario, giving us everything we want and more!
Ravager	throws a weapon, dealing damage in an area overtime, while also granting 10 Rage each time it deals damage. While the Cooldown might seem long, but the damage it deals, paired with the Rage, is worth it.
Booming Voice	Demoralizing Shout now generates 30 Rage and increase your damage dealt to targets hit by 20%. Another must have talent for increasing your damage output and general Rage generation.
Indomitable	Increases your maximum health by 6% and heals you for 1% of your maximum health per every 20 Rage spent. Amazing option in every situation, adding up to a lot of healing done throughout the encounter.
Violent Outburst	Consuming 30 Rage grants a stack of Seeing Red, at 8 stacks it causes your next Shield Slam or Thunder Clap to deal 200% more damage and generate 100% more Rage while also granting a free Ignore Pain. It does take some time to get used to the tracking necessity of this talent, but it does come with great benefits once mastered.
Enduring Alacrity	Increases our Stamina, Armor, and Haste by a percentage. All of these stats are really strong for Protection Warrior, so this point is a strong pickup.

Of the remaining talents, the two most noteworthy would be Battering Ram and Battle-Scarred Veteran. Both of which are great additions.

Ability	Description / Effect
Battering Ram	Increases the Critical Strike damage and Critical Strike chance of Shield Charge by 15%. It also causes it to buff your auto-attack damage and speed by 10% for 20 seconds. If used on cooldown, it would mean a constant ~50% uptime on the attack speed buff, which is huge. It's definitely a mandatory pick in single-target situations.
Battle-Scarred Veteran	When your health drops below 30%, you take 80% less damage for 8 seconds, and the healing you receive is increased by 100%. If you need a safety net, this is definitely worthy of a point. This would be great when still progressing on Raid bosses or when doing Mythic+ high enough where survivability becomes a concern.