GUIDE - Warrior

PRE KARAZHAN TANKING GEAR

Head:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=23624

sockets:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=30554
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24052
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24033

enchant:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29186


Necklace:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=34680

preferable
Aldor proc: +100 dodge rating for 10 sec.


Shoulders:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=32073

enchant:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28882 or
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28889


Back:
http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=31440

enchant:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=35756


Chest:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29127

enchant:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=35500


Wrist:
http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=29671

enchant:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=22533


Gloves:
http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=29619

sockets:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=30554
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24033

enchant:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=20726


Waist:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=27985
with tanking gems ( i usually go for this waist cause its easy to farm it )

sockets:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=30554
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24033


Leggings:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29184

sockets:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=30554
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24052
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24033

enchant:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29534 or
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29536


Feet:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=30641
you won't be able to get any good tanking feet as Ivrah already stated,so just hope for some luck on drop at starting Karazhan trash mobs

enchant:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=22543


Rings:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28407
in case you aint lazy to farm as i am xD
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=32526
i usually take this one until i get exalted with Violet Eye for
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29279


Trinkets:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=27891
and usually for start
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25787


Weapon:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=34672
or if u prefer having an epic tanking weapon go for ->
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29165

enchant:
depends on what u want from it but for starters and cheap enchant take for example ->
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=38947


Shield:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=34676 or for some more "stamina boost" go for ->
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29176

enchant:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28282
imo for a warrior its not worth getting a block enchant on a shield that much -> block simply SUCK


Gun:
first of all while you farm yourself some avoidance/defense gems in Sethekk halls you can find a druid that will do Anzu qst-ing and farm for ->
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=32780
or if u got loads of money get some engineer to craft for you ->
http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=41307
and place into socket http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24052

BASICS: STATS

Ill briefly go over what most of you already know which is, what does stats really give us?

Strength
1 str = 2 attack power
20 str = 1 block value

Agility
1 agi = 2 points of armor
33.0 agi = 1.0% crit
30.0 agi = 1.0% dodge

Stamina
1 stamina = 10.0 HP
1 stamina = 10.5 HP with max vitality (or for non-vitality Tauren warriors)
1 stamina = 11.0 HP with max vitality for Tauren warriors

Hit rating:
15.7692 hit rating = 1% hit chance
The hit cap for yellow attacks (Special abilitys) is 9%. Tanks should aim for this as it will increase your threat greatly, but you shouldnt stack it to early/too much since in early gear you will need stam/avoidance over hitcap.

Expertise rating
3.9423 expertise rating = 1 expertise
Each point of Expertise will reduce the target's chance to dodge and parry your attacks by 0.25%.
Expertise also sort of has a cap which is 23 expertise and this is a far better cap to get first before hit cap. (Same rule as hit dont get it to early cause avoidance and stam comes before)

Defensive rating
2.3654 defensive rating = 1 defense skill
1 defense skill changes the following by 0.04%:
Increase chance to block
Increase chance to dodge
Increase chance to parry
Increase chance to be missed
Decrease chance to be crit
Decrease chance to be dazed

Dodge rating
18.9230 dodge rating = 1% to dodge

Parry rating
22.4 parry rating = 1% to parry

Shield Block rating
7.8846 shield block rating = 1% chance to block

Shield Block value
1 shield block value = +1 damage absorbed on a block, and +1 damage on a shield slam which also increases your threat on shield slam.

Armor
Armor works pretty simple. You have 0% armor and get a 1000dmg point hit on you, you get dmg'd 1000. If you have 50% armor and get hit for a 1000dmg point hit on you you will get dmg'd 500. I know what you are thinking (IMMA STACK ARMOR EVERWHERE SO I CAN NEVER TAKE DMG), Calm down timmy armor has a cap which is 75%.



That does it for what stat gives us and some information about it now ill go more indepth into avoidance and how it works and effects us as tanks.


Avoidance is another word for avoiding damage, which we do with: Parry, Dodge and Block (Yes block is an avoidance last time i checked you didnt block bunnys you blocked damage). When we add these together we want to reach 102.4%, This is indeed a hard cap to reach so i wouldnt stress to get it as im only on 75% right now. You might think your 75% from shield block and your 27.4%+ avoidance is enough cause with that you reach 102.4% right? Wrong, your shield block only has 2 charges and if a boss hits faster you will most likely get crushed. A crush is similar to a crit but less dmg, but it is still a hardhit and to many off these will kill you.





THREAT:


Threat, Threat, Threat its what makes tanks be able to tank. Often neglected with stam and other fancy stats but this man is where it gets real.


Ill start by linking a table of raw threat values before modifiers.

Battle Shout +69 (rank - divided amongst targets
Cleave +130 (rank 6) - divided amongst targets
Commanding Shout +68 - divided amongst targets
Demoralizing Shout +56 (rank 7) - divided amongst targets
Devastate +106 + [14 * Sunder Count]
Also applies Sunder Armor threat when increasing the debuff stack
Disarm +104
Hamstring +181 (rank 4)
Heroic Strike +196 (rank 10)
Revenge +201 (rank
Improved Revenge (Stun) +25
Shield Bash +230 (rank 4)
Improved Shield Bash +??
Shield Slam +307 (rank 6)
Sunder Armor +301 (rank 6)


With many classes you know they talk about what rotation they are gonna use. Prot warrior has no bullet proof rotation we instead often use another system called Prioritizing.

The prioritizing of skills that i use goes like this:

Shield slam > Shield block > Revenge > Devestate

Lets talk about this rotation, As you can see i prioritize through threat gain but you might notice i dont do Shield block until after shield slam, Maybe even later, This is because i want to recive a crushing blow. This might sound crazy to you but with my HP i can take a few crushing blows and i really need to take them so i dont have to worry about rage.

''Lol alle noob dosent even use herioc strike :SSS pff stopped reading guide''

I dont list Heroic strike as a priority since i can use it when ever i want since it has no global. But using it all the time however could be an awful thing.

Heroic strike makes your next swing do extra dmg and it costs 9 rage to do this. Lets take a closer look at what this is really saying, you might think ''naww what a cute spell only 9 rage i will spam it every chance i get cause its so hug-able'' WRONG, i have this love hate relationship with Heroic strike cause yes it says it only costs 9 rage but what it dosent say is that your next swing dosent regen rage, Lets say you regen 10 rage on that hit, whoops you just lost 19 rage.

So my lesson from this rant is, use heroic strike WISELY, if you have 10 rage and can barely afford a shield slam, Maybe go easy on the heroic striking. But if you are always capped at 100% rage you are loosing valuable threat.


ENCHANTING AND GEMMING:


Just gonna write down the BiS enchants you can have and what ways you can gem.

Helmet: [Presence of Might] = ZG, Permanently adds 10 stamina, 10 defense rating, and 15 shield block value to helmet or leg. (0.5% avoidance, 0.3% avoidance on 5000 damage attacks). Real easy to get on this server no excuse to not have it.

Shoulders:
[Fortitude of the Scourge] = +16 Stamina, +100 Armor
Obtained from Sapphiron…
[Greater Inscription of Warding] = 15 dodge rating, 10 defense rating (1.3% avoidance)
Aldor exalted. (If you cant get down Sapph as he seems kinda bugged right now.)

Cloak:
[Enchant Cloak - Greater Agility] = +12 agi (0.36% crit, 0.4% dodge, 24 armor)
[Formula: Enchant Cloak - Dodge] = 12 dodge rating (0.63 dodge)

I would recommend Greater Agility, or Dodge based on the needs of the player for mitigation versus threat. Greater Agility is a good balance.

Breastplate:
[Enchant Chest - Exceptional Health] = +150 HP

Wrist:
[Formula: Enchant Bracer - Fortitude]= +12 stamina

Gloves:
[Formula: Enchant Gloves - Superior Agility] = +15 agi (0.45% crit, 0.5% avoidance, 30 armor)
[Formula: Enchant Gloves - Threat] = 2% threat (approximately 20 TPS)

I wouldnt say one or the other is better. Stat wise you might think Agility is better but the 20TPS is a HUGE bonus. So here i would advise you to check in raids if you miss avoidance or threat.

Boots:
[Formula: Enchant Boots - Boar's Speed] = +9 stamina and +8% movement speed. The 8% movement speed outcarries the 3 stamina you gain from the 12stamina boots enchant.

Shield:
[Formula: Enchant Shield - Major Stamina] = +18 stamina

Leggings:
[Nethercleft Leg Armor] = +40 sta, +12 agi


Mongoose vs Executioner:

Basically you should have two weapons, Executioner for threat, Mongoose for an all around good enchant. Executioner you use on bosses you will need alot of threat on, and i would advise you to use mongoose on progression bosses.

Gemming:

Allright some words before saying what gems. As i maintank i gem full stamina and i suggest every other maintank to also do that. This is because of the ''Effective Health Theory'' i read, i suggest you also go read that. Cant find link, im sure you can find it. But as for OT i would suggest more of a avoidance based gemming build.

Later around late t5, i would start gemming Hit and look for Exp gear.

So gems i AM using as main tank is:
[Solid Star of Elune] +12 sta ( HEH )

Gems i WILL be using as main tank is:
[Solid Empyrean Sapphire] +15 sta
[Shifting Shadowsong Amethyst] +5 agi, +7 sta
[Rigid Lionseye] +10 Hit rating
[Subtle Crimson Spinel] +10 dodge rating (Very late t6, maybe even sunwell)

As you can see i gem pretty much stamina for staying alive and hit for threat. I will actully be starting to gem dodge but in small amounts and very far from now.

Gems i would use as OT is:
[Solid Empyrean Sapphire] +15 sta
[Subtle Crimson Spinel] +10 dodge rating
[Enduring Seaspray Emerald] +5 defense, +7 sta
[Rigid Lionseye] +10 Hit rating

As you can see i focus more on avoidance and i would actully not be so worried about hit but i would still get some.

Meta:

There are two good meta gems and same goes for the weapon enchant, IF you have the accses of 2 equally good heads you should be using.

Meta Gem 1:[Eternal Earthstorm Diamond] +12 defense rating, 10% block value ( For bosses you need alot of threat on and maybe bosses you wanna avoid a nasty ability on.)
Meta Gem 2:[Powerful Earthstorm Diamond] +18 sta, +5% chance to resist stuns ( For progression bosses and bosses that generally hit hard.)


TALENTS:

I am actully using the OT spec right now which looks like this:

http://www.wowprovid...032022103501351

This is because we actully dont have a second warrior tank in Sin, we only have 2 dps warrs that has decent tank gear.

The spec i would want to use looks like this:

http://www.wowprovid...032022103531351

As you can see i take out 3 points of thunderclap and put it into prot as its the OT's job to keep thunderclap up.

Demo shout: If anyone is thinking about putting points in demo shout, I wouldnt its a dps warrs job to keep it up but if you have no dps warr you should still not spec in it imo.