Protection Warrior Leveling Guide From 1 to 70 for TBC Classic

Leveling a Warrior as Protection is not recommended as it is slower than the other specs available. I would advise for you to wait until at least Level 50 before trying to solo-level as Protection. From Level 50 onward you can level at a similar pace to the other specs. If you do wish to level as Protection before Level 50, it is advised to tank dungeon groups frequently.

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Your first talent unlocks at Level 10.

• Levels 10 to 14 — 5 points in Anticipation.
• Levels 14 to 19 — 5 points in Shield Specialization.

Anticipation is a great talent, making you much tankier. Shield Specialization is good for mitigation and some Rage generation.

• Levels 20 to 22 — 3 points in Defiance.
• Level 23 — 1 point in Last Stand.
• Level 24 — 1 point in Improved Shield Block.
• Levels 25 to 27 — 3 points in Improved Sunder Armor.
• Levels 28 & 29 — 2 points in Tactical Mastery.

Defiance is a great talent for the extra threat and Expertise. Last Stand is great if you ever get low on health and Improved Shield Block makes your Shield Block twice as good. Improved Sunder Armor is great since you will be using Sunder Armor frequently. Finally, Tactical Mastery is decent if you ever need to change stances.

• Level 30 — 1 point in Concussion Blow.
• Level 31 — 1 point in Tactical Mastery.
• Levels 32 to 34 — 3 points in Toughness.
• Levels 35 to 39 — 5 points in One-Handed Weapon Specialization.

Concussion Blow is great for stunning strong enemies. Tactical Mastery is also finished off here. Toughness gives you some decent damage mitigation. One-Handed Weapon Specialization is a huge increase to your damage dealt.

• Level 40 — 1 point in Shield Slam.
• Levels 41 to 43 — 3 points in Focused Rage.
• Level 44 — 1 point in Shield Mastery.
• Levels 45 to 49 — 5 points in Vitality.

Shield Slam deals very high threat and gives you an additional way to use excess Rage. Focused Rage is one of the best talents in the Protection tree, reducing the Rage cost of all your offensive abilities by 3. We simply put a filler point in Shield Mastery; finish these levels off with Vitality for some extra Strength and Stamina.

• Level 50 — 1 point in Devastate.
• Levels 51 to 55 — 5 points in Cruelty.
• Levels 56 to 59 — 4 points in Deflection.

Devastate is an amazing damage ability at lower levels, massively increasing your killing speed. Cruelty gives you a much higher crit chance, and Deflection helps with reducing the damage you take.

• Level 60 — 1 point in Deflection.
• Levels 61 & 62 — 2 points in Improved Charge.
• Level 63 to 65 — 3 points in Improved Thunder Clap.
• Levels 66 & 67 — 2 points in Improved Overpower.
• Level 68 — 1 point in Anger Management.
• Levels 69 & 70 — 2 points in Shield Mastery.
• Level 70 — Congratulations on reaching Level 70! Respec to one of the end-game talent builds at the bottom of this guide.

Deflection we finish this off here so we can reach Improved Charge for the extra Rage from our Charge in each fight. Improved Thunder Clap is good for fighting multiple enemies at once, or for tanking dungeons. Improved Overpower is a great damage increase when playing solo. Anger Management is useful for a small boost to Rage generation, and Shield Mastery is essentially a filler point.

1. Bloodrage to prevent your Rage from decaying between mobs.
2. Charge your enemy.
3. Overpower if any of your attacks are dodged.
4. Victory Rush any new enemies after killing previous ones.
5. Sunder Armor till at 5 stacks.li>
6. Devastate every global.
7. Rend at the start of combat.
8. Heroic Strike all remaining Rage.
9. Execute any low-health enemies.
10. Heroic Strike only if you have a large surplus of Rage.

Early Warrior levels are very lackluster when it comes to abilities. Make sure you use Charge whenever possible to generate extra Rage. Keep Battle Shout's buff up to increase your damage, and use Heroic Strike whenever you have the Rage for it. Keep Rend up on enemies for the first few levels since you have no other abilities to use.

Train for Overpower at Level 12. It deals damage to an enemy after one of your attacks is dodged. This attack cannot be dodged or parried, making it a great early-game damaging ability.

Get Execute from the trainer at Level 24. When an enemy reaches 20% health, you can use this to deal very high damage to them based on how much Rage you have.

Shield Slam at Level 40 finally gives you a main damaging ability.

Devastate at Level 50 is a huge damage increase, giving you an ability you can spam constantly.

Victory Rush is very useful for chain pulling while leveling. It essentially gives you a free attack after you get the killing blow on an enemy.

Training spells can be rather expensive, especially if you try to learn every spell available to you. Here we will give you a list of your top-priority spells that you will want to train so you know which ones you can avoid and save some money.

• Rend — Do not train this past Rank 2 as the damage falls off greatly the higher you level.
• Heroic Strike — Do not train this past Rank 5 because you will replace it with other abilities around this time.
• Charge — Each rank up gives more Rage than the last, so it is worth getting.
• Bloodrage — Great for generating Rage.
• Battle Shout — Each rank gives you more Attack Power, so keep this one ranked up as high as possible.
• Overpower — Great damage, especially in the early levels.
• Retaliation — Can be used every 30 minutes to kill many mobs at one time.
• Intimidating Shout — Useful to escape dangerous situations and PvP.
• Sunder Armor — Keep this leveled up for the increased armor reduction debuff.
• Cleave — Useful for AoEing multiple mobs down at a time.
• Thunder Clap — You will want to keep this up to date as it makes the debuff last longer. It is useful for tanking dungeons or when fighting multiple mobs at a time.
• Demoralizing Shout — Good for strong enemies or when fighting multiple monsters at a time.
• Execute — Deals great damage to low-health enemies.
• Berserker Rage — Useful to avoid being feared and increases the amount of Rage you gain from damage taken.
• Devastate — Since this is your main ability you will want to keep it max rank for your level.
• Shield Slam — You will want to keep this leveled up as well for its increased damage.
• Recklessness — Can be useful in some situations, such as killing an elite enemy.
• Victory Rush — There is only one rank of this but make sure to pick it up as it essentially gives you a free attack.
• Spell Reflection — Good to get for the defensive aspect in both PvE and PvP. Make sure you have a shield ready to equip to be able to use this ability.

Well done on hitting level 70 in Burning Crusade Classic! Now that your leveling process is over, you can learn more about Level-70 gameplay by reading our Protection Warrior Guide, which covers many different aspects of Protection Warrior's gameplay.