WotLK Classic Protection Warrior Spec, Builds, Talents, and Glyphs (2024)

Last updated on Jan 01, 2024 at 13:56by Abide2 comments

On this page, you will find out the best PvE talent choices and builds for your Protection Warrior in WotLK Classic, as well as advised glyphs.

Protection Warrior has two main builds to choose from: thestandard, well-rounded deep protection build and the more damage-orientedunrelenting assault build. The deep protection build is generally recommendedfor most content as it is overall a better build in terms of utility andsurvivability; while the unrelenting assault build is purely a damage-focusedbuild, sacrificing utility and defense for a boost to your damagecapabilities.

This is the standard deep protection build. This build is recommended overthe other choice as this is much more well-rounded, having much higher raidimpact, utility, survivability, and overall a smoother gameplay experience.

This build has very limited talent point options, as most talents are needed.You have 2 remaining talent points that you can place where you like; eitherSafeguard for utility, Improved Disciplines for better cooldowns,or Cruelty for slightly more threat. All 3 talent choices are good,so pick whichever fits your playstyle and raid needs most.

This is the unrelenting assault build, focusing mostly on damage output. Thisbuild is mostly only recommended for Dungeons and easy 10-man Raids as thedeep protection build is generally a more versatile, well-rounded buildoverall. Regardless, this build remains very fun to play, dishing out absurddamage when fighting multiple enemies at a time.

You have little to no free talent points with this build as it goes deepinto two different talent trees. Both Juggernaut and Vigilanceare not required, and instead you could put the talent points intoArmored to the Teeth, further increasing your damage output. If youchoose to do that, remember to exchange Improved Charge forSecond Wind and Glyph of Charge for either Glyph of Commandor Glyph of Battle.

In this section we will go over some of the key talents you will use when youare playing a Protection Warrior. Be sure to understand your most importanttalents as they are vital to play the build to its fullest strength.

• Last Stand

Gives you an additional defensive cooldown; use this whenever you drop todangerously low health and would most likely die from another attack.

• Improved Revenge

This talent turns Revenge into your best damage dealing ability,especially when fighting at least 2 enemies.

• Improved Defensive Stance

Whenever you Block, Parry, or Dodge you gain 10% increased Physical damagedone through Enrage for 12 seconds. This buff is almost alwaysactive, giving you 10% increased damage and threat for only 2 talent points.

• Vigilance

One of your strongest talent points as a Protection Warrior,Vigilance has multiple uses. When paired with Glyph of Vigilance,you will "steal" 15% threat from whomever you place the Vigilance on.In addition to that, if that person gets struck by an attack, your Tauntcooldown will reset, allowing you to spam Taunt on whatever is attackingthem. This is useful for tanks on fights that require tank swaps, or onsomeone prone to get hit by newly-spawned mobs, such as a healer.

• Safeguard

This turns your Intervene into a defensive cooldown for someone else,usually another tank. This talent is optional, but is usually recommended forthe added utility as Intervene is only a 30-second cooldown; this willsee plenty of use during the course of an entire raid.

• Warbringer

This is an amazing mobility talent, allowing you to use your Charge in combatas well as use Charge, Intervene, and Intercept in anystance. This allows you to stay in Defensive Stance more and move aroundquickly instead of spending time changing stances, charging, and changing back.It offers great utility and mobility for 1 talent point.

• Critical Block

Whenever you block, you will have a 60% chance to block double the amount ofdamage. This is a large part of your damage mitigation that unfortunately issomewhat random. With high amounts of Block Value, this can reduce a huge amountof incoming melee attacks, especially when using Shield Block.

• Shockwave

The powerful 51-point talent at the bottom of the protection tree,Shockwave has very high scaling with Attack Power, dealing great damageand threat, especially in AoE situations.

Glyphs are a new consumable of sorts introduced in Wrath of the Lich King.Glyphs greatly improve certain spells when you learn them, supporting and evenenabling some builds. Glyphs are not permanently learned, so you will want tocarry multiple glyphs on you so you can change them quickly depending on theraid or boss encounter you are in. Certain glyphs perform better in differentscenarios, so be sure to swap them around appropriately.

1. Glyph of Blocking — This glyph acts as both an offensive anddefensive choice, increasing your Block Value by 10% after usingShield Slam. This buff will essentially be permanent as it lasts 10seconds, while Shield Slam is only a 6-second cooldown. It is also worthnoting that this glyph bypasses the Block Value cap on Shield Slam,allowing you to deal even more damage with the spell.
2. Glyph of Vigilance — This glyph is a pure threat increase,transferring an additional 5% threat from the target of your Vigilanceto you for a total of 15%. Easily your best threat-generating glyph as long asyou are actively using Vigilance on the proper target.
3. Glyph of Devastate — This glyph makes your Devastateapply 2 Sunder Armors at once, which increases the threat generated byDevastate. This will equal out to roughly a 20% threat increase onDevastate itself, which is a fairly nice increase. That being saidDevastate is one of your lowest threat-generating abilities and isessentially only used as a filler.
4. Glyph of Taunt — In WotLK Taunt remains a spell, meaningit requires 17% Spell Hit to guarantee you never have a Taunt resist.This is great on bosses that require tank swaps, although you can work around aresist now and then thanks to Vigilance. You will want to carry thisglyph in your bags and swap it in over Glyph of Devastate on bosses thatrequire frequent use of Taunt.
5. Glyph of Cleaving — This is nice on trash and great on bossesthat have multiple targets for you to Cleave constantly. Cleavethreat is great in WotLK, so if you can hit 3 targets at a time on a boss youwill want to swap this glyph in.
6. Glyph of Shield Wall — This glyph can be a powerful defensiveoption, especially when paired with Improved Disciplines, reducingyour Shield Wall cooldown down to 2 minutes, but it will only reduce yourdamage taken by 40% instead of 60%. This trade-off is typically worth it if theencounter you are facing requires the use of a defensive cooldown after eachtank swap or in general every few minutes. Protection Warrior's mainweakness is the lack of defensive cooldowns, and this glyph aims to make whatyou do have available more frequently.

1. Glyph of Thunder Clap — Is great for a minor glyph, slightlyincreasing the range of your AoE ability.
2. Glyph of Charge — With Warbringer, you can useCharge while in combat and even in Defensive Stance. Theadditional range on Charge will slightly help with your overallmobility.
3. Glyph of Shattering Throw — Makes your Shattering Throwinstant cast and allows you to use it in any stance. Saves you time and rage asyou no longer need to change stances and cast this spell.
4. Glyph of Command — Most likely you will have aFury Warrior doing Commanding Shout due to them having theCommanding Presence talent, giving them a stronger shout. If youare responsible for buffing Commanding Shout, this glyph is a greatchoice instead of Glyph of Charge.