Cataclysm Classic Protection Warrior Guide

Protection is the tank specialization, where you will focus on taking damage as your primary goal rather than dishing it out. Protection can be classified as easy to learn, hard to master. This spec only has a few main abilities in its rotation, but it also has multiple procs that require quick reactions to utilize. The nature of a tank also requires high awareness of the situation at all times, as you will need to be ready to adapt to anything the content throws at you.

Protection Warrior is easily capable of tanking and clearing all content in the game on the hardest difficulty. It is however, not as strong as other tanking options as it lacks utility, has a low amount of defensive cooldowns, and generally has only 1 forced play style. As with previous expansions, this likely means Protection Warrior will not be highly desired in higher end raiding guildes, but still a viable option that can clear the content.

Strengths

• Very high threat and damage compared to other tanks.
• Extremely mobile, having multiple gap-closers.
• Amazing AoE tanks, having very high initial threat generation.
• A very diverse toolkit, having multiple stuns, interrupts and unique utility such as Spell Reflection.

Weaknesses

• Most of their mitigation comes from blocking, which will not always help.
• Very limited defensive cooldowns compared to other tanks, Cataclysm adds none.
• Much less versatile than other tanks in terms of raid utility brought.
• Stigma about being unable to tank the content, making them less desired than other classes.

Alliance Protection Warriors best option is Night Elves as they have Quickness, helping them reach the 102.4% easier and giving you higher avoidance for the entire expansion. Dwarves are a close second option, giving you another defensive cooldown with Stoneform, reducing all damage taken by 10%.

Horde Protection Warriors have no clear winner for best race and should purely be picked based on preference. That being said, both Goblins and Blood Elves are strong choices.

Cataclysm balances most professions to be an equal amount of bonus stats, with most professions giving an average of 80 stats increase. That being said, there are always certain advantages and disadvantages to each profession, making certain professions slightly stronger than others.

1. Blacksmithing — Allows you to add an additional socket to your gloves and bracers with Socket Gloves and Socket Bracer. While this is about the same stats gain as most other professions early on, once epic gems are introduced this profession becomes even stronger. This is especially strong on Protection to help you cap out your avoidance.
2. Engineering — Engineering remains a good profession thanks to the new tinker for tanks, Quickflip Deflection Plates. Grounded Plasma Shield, another new tinker, is a decent on use defensive shield that can save your life. Nitro Boosts remain a solid option for movement speed bursts during fights. You will also be able to use Synapse Springs on your DPS specs.
3. Leatherworking — becomes a decent choice for Protection in Cataclysm as there is no new Stamina enchant in the expansion, meaning you are forced to use the WotLK enchant Enchant Bracer - Major Stamina. With the new Leatherworking enchant Draconic Embossment - Stamina, you get a +155 Stamina increase over Enchant Bracer - Major Stamina, making it the highest raw stat increase profession in the game for Protection.

Addons and Macros can greatly improve your quality of life during Cataclysm. Listed below are some of our recommendations on Addons and Macros to help get the most out of your time playing the game.