Cataclysm Prot Warriors

[shieldmaidenjen]

I'm going to challenge myself and get back into warrior tanking. I was a warrior tank through BC and most of Wrath (before my guild burned me out on tanking but that's another story), but when Cata hit I got burned out on the game and just kind of fiddle-farted around on my hunter alt for a few months after release instead of reading about the

Comments

[chapeauxchick]

Hit is less important than it used to be because you don't need it for taunts. It does help build threat, but tanks really don't need to be anywhere near hit cap to build enough threat. Avoidance stats are far more important than threat stats. Mastery is one of those.

I don't tank on a warrior, but your mastery increases your chance to block and your chance to critically block. This is obviously going to be very useful since you'll take less damage when you have more mastery. I know for DK tanks like myself Mastery is pretty much the best tanking stat we have.

Also, unlike back in Wrath, it isn't all stam all the time. Gone are the days of gemming for pure stam. I'm sure various forums like Elitist Jerks can tell you more about warrior tanking than I could though!

[the__ivorytower]

My tanks, when they can, cap hit and expertise for 5 mans (I don't raid, so I don't need higher than that), then re-whatever to Mastery, then Parry (because of Hold the Line, I believe).

If you read Mastery for a prot warrior, you'll notice that it grants you more Block and Critical Block chance. These things are absolutely crucial to a warrior. Block has NO diminishing returns, and Critical Block is very helpful for holding aggro and dealing damage. Keep in mind as well, guides are often written for raiders rather than those just starting out. Also? You should not have any gear with crit or haste on it.

As for Rend, it's very useful. If you take Blood and Thunder, if you use Thunder Clap on a target with Rend, it will spread the Rend to other targets, allowing you to do a lot more AoE damage. It's super helpful.

As for your health, it's very hard to say what's the right number because I don't know what you're tanking. Normals? Probably. Heroics? A bit harder.

[penguinsane]

Hit was important because taunts could miss. They can't miss anymore. As a beartank, I reforge all hit/crit/haste to dodge; sure, I miss mobs sometimes, but it's not super important. Threat has been buffed to 300%, so generating it isn't as problematic as it was in the beginning of Cata. So, hit is not important, reforge it to more important stats.

Mastery is important for most tanks because their masteries are focused on damage mitigation mitigation. DKs turn Death Strikes into shields to absorb. Druids turn crit into absorbs. Paladins increase block. Warriors use mastery to increase blocks and crit blocks.

[frieliegh]

this thread might be of use to you - how Cata changed warrior tanking
http://wow-ladies.livejournal.com/15585020.html

[zenzaliv]

My main has been a prot warrior since BC and it's still my favorite tanking class. I won't bore you with raid stuff and just focus on making you the best 5 man tank you can be

[icelore]

Listen to this guy, he knows what he's talking about.

I think it's great to know what you want to do *right now* (get into 5 mans) and then go with info slightly slanted toward making your successful in that, which sounds like what this is. Major kudos.

I echo the idea of *some* hit/expertise. Initial threat generation from geared DPS is a PITA and NO ONE waits, so you don't want your initial hard hitting abilities to miss. Saving a little bit of those stats will not damage your survivability much, so I think it's a good trade off for 5mans.

Secondly, I give a huge thumbs up to the comment on the warrior toolbox - you can definitely get by with just the basic abilities, but man, really great warrior are crazy, and have so much STUFF! I've seen warriors spell reflect tank ranged mobs, keep runners from wandering off, etc. Ease in to what you need as the minimum to tank, but don't be afraid to go back and pick up/start using other talents that you normally leave by the wayside!

Also, what the OP said - post your toon info

[hooves]

devastate is a great filler move once you get 3 sunders up

Doesn't Devastate put up Sunder?

Or do you just mean, it's a great filler move to keep on using? (I use it as filler spamming it and tab-targetting, but IIRC one of my warriors has the glyph to put it on two targets at once.)

[ak404]

Devastate is a great filler, but don't forget to use Heroic Strike or Cleave. Since Heroic Strike is off the GCD, you can apply it in-between moves, provided you have the rage to do so.