Well, there are certain subsidiary questions that will need to be answered in order to find the right answer to that main question. I'm reposting what I wrote back then for their forums over here since someone else might find some interesting info that they want to capture and include in their own build strategies.
First and foremost, Warriors are one of THE most gear dependent classes in the game. A Warrior's gear pretty much defines them in terms of what they can (and can't) do. If you feel like you aren't producing enough damage output, that's because your weapon is weak and/or you haven't been investing in Attack Power mods to boost your damage up to "useful" levels (invest in Strength mods to boost your Attack Power, regardless of the weapon you're using!). If you feel like you're taking too much damage and are therefore something of a glass cannon, or simply need to spend too much time recovering after each fight, that's because you've invested yourself towards offense at the expense of defense (or Spirit for fast recovery from damage out of combat).
So the gear you use determines what kind of Warrior you can be.
This means that starting out, when your gear is crappy, your Warrior's performance profile will likewise be crappy. Lousy starting gear makes for a lousy/weak Warrior. So, it's going to be A WHILE before you can start getting some sweet Warrior gear that will begin to make you feel powerful. Just understand that it really is a case of learning to walk before you run (let alone Charge) into battle with a sense of invulnerability.
The other side of this involves RAGE ... or more to the point, what I call Rage Starvation. Unlike almost every other class, your resource (Rage) needs to be built UP in order to burn DOWN. It's not like you're passively generating Rage from Spirit all the time like casters do with mana, or even just passively generating Rage from nothing over time like Rogues and Cat Form Druids do with their Energy resource. Your Rage comes from three basic sources ... hitting things, being hit by things, and talents. Managing your Rage effectively/efficiently thus becomes THE real challenge of How To Warrior in a manner that you'll find satisfying to play.
What follows is going to be my personal preferences for how to level a Warrior, specifically how to level a Protection Warrior ... which I know that "everyone says" is horrible, terrible and should never be done under ANY circumstances. Well I'm of the considered opinion that how you play from 1-10 determines how you'll play at the level cap, because the habits and patterns of thought you develop while leveling will play an incredibly important role in HOW you'll want to (and prefer to) play once you reach Level 60. That's because if you want to "git gud" you need to already be in the groove of how to use the toolset you've got available to you, and Warriors get an enormous array of options available to them. The challenge though is that you can't BE everything all at once ... you need to pick and choose, starting with Stances, and deciding whether or not you're going to be a Stance Dancing Warrior.
WARNING: WALL OF TEXT CRITS YOU!!!
Seriously, you should know the drill by now if you've read my other build posts ...
Level 60 Warrior ( 11 / 0 / 40 )
https://classicdb.ch/?talent#LV0xzZZvizseMzio
- Arms (11 points)
- Deflection - Rank 5/5
Increases your Parry chance by 5%. - Tactical Mastery - Rank 5/5
You retain up to 25 of your rage points when you change stances. - Anger Management - Rank 1/1
Increases the time required for your rage to decay while out of combat by 30%.
- Deflection - Rank 5/5
- Fury (0 points)
- None
- Protection (40 points)
- Shield Specialization - Rank 5/5
Increases your chance to block attacks with a shield by 5% and has a 100% chance to generate 1 rage when a block occurs. - Anticipation - Rank 4/5
Increases your Defense skill by 8. - Improved Bloodrage - Rank 2/2
Increases the instant Rage generated by your Bloodrage ability by 5. - Toughness - Rank 5/5
Increases your armor value from items by 10%. - Last Stand - Rank 1/1
When activated, this ability temporarily grants you 30% of your maximum hit points for 20 seconds. After the effect expires, the hit points are lost. - Improved Shield Block - Rank 1/3
Allows your Shield Block ability to block an additional attack and increases the duration by 0.5 second. - Improved Revenge - Rank 3/3
Gives your Revenge ability a 45% chance to stun the target for 3 sec. - Defiance - Rank 5/5
Increases the threat generated by your attacks by 15% while in Defensive Stance. - Improved Sunder Armor - Rank 3/3
Reduces the cost of your Sunder Armor ability by 3 rage points. - Improved Taunt - Rank 2/2
Reduces the cooldown of your Taunt ability by 2 sec. - Concussion Blow - Rank 1/1
Stuns the opponent for 5 sec. - Improved Shield Bash - Rank 2/2
Gives your Shield Bash ability a 100% chance to silence the target for 3 sec. - One-Handed Weapon Specialization - Rank 5/5
Increases the damage you deal with One-Handed Melee weapons by 10%. - Shield Slam - Rank 1/1
Slam the target with your shield, causing 225 to 236 damage, modified by your shield block value, and has a 50% chance of dispelling 1 magic effect on the target. Also causes a high amount of threat.
- Shield Specialization - Rank 5/5
Okay, so there are some interlocking synergies here that are going to need some explaining, so bear with me (as usual, the WALL OF TEXT warning was not idle!).
Perhaps the biggest overall factor that will decide how enjoyable (or well) this build will play for you is going to be determined by ... investing in Arms from Levels 10-20 so as to acquire Anger Management. I cannot stress enough how important this investment is to your efforts (or should I say, NEED) to fend off Rage Starvation during your adventuring career. That's because Anger Management IS … hands down, bar none … the single BEST source of Rage generation in ANY talent tree or item you can equip or invest in. It is simply that level of game changing.
So what does the tooltip on the talent say Anger Management does?
- Anger Management - Rank 1/1
Increases the time required for your rage to decay while out of combat by 30%.
Sounds pretty useless, right?
Why should anyone care if it takes 30% longer for Rage to decay when you're OUT of combat? You need Rage while IN combat, not while OUT of combat, right? So Anger Management doesn't *DO* anything for you while you're actually IN combat, right?
WRONG.
Here's what Anger Management ACTUALLY DOES under the game mechanical hood. Ignore what the tooltip says and pay attention to what *I'm* telling you it does.
- Anger Management - Rank 1/1
- Gain +1 Rage every 4 seconds.
Note the lack of a proc chance in that description.
Also notice the lack of an in combat versus out of combat distinction.
Anger management is simply ON ... at all times.
But wait ... there's more ...
I've run a quick little test using my Warrior in Stormwind. I cast Taunt on a Rat within 5 yards ... with Anger Management ... while starting with zero Rage to test the notion.
Taunt put my Warrior into combat, which turned off Rage Decay.
Combat mode lasted for about 13 seconds (PvE), while the Rat ran around and I just stood there, waiting for the Rat to "leash" and come back.
Anger Management started ticking for +1 Rage every 4 seconds ... even though I'd started at zero Rage!
Which must mean that the ACTUAL Rage gain formula for Anger Management works something more like this (which is more complicated to explain quickly/easily/simply):
- For mathematical/game mechanical purposes, Rage must be able to fall to an integer value of -1, rather than simply being limited to zero at the lower bound (like we'd all assumed based on the UI display). This means that a Rage Decay tick from either (positive) 0 or 1 will result in stored value of -1 being recorded. All subsequent Rage Decay ticks that occur while out of combat will apply and then "boundary reset" at a stored integer value of -1 being recorded game mechanically.
- For display purposes only, Rage is displayed as being limited to a lower bound of zero. So even if Rage is "actually" at -1 for record keeping/game mechanical purposes, it will never display as having fallen to -1, but will simply show as being zero Rage on the Player's UI. This helps prevent Player confusion due to the UI doing something the Players won't expect and will easily misinterpret.
- Rage can ONLY fall to a minimum value of -1 when OUT OF COMBAT.
- While IN COMBAT, the minimum game mechanical value for Rage is automagically changed from -1 to zero. This must be done as a first order operation before any Rage gain from combat actions (such as Charge) can apply their Rage gain.
- While out of combat, Rage Decay and Anger Management continue to tick perpetually, applying their -2 Rage every 2.5 seconds (Rage Decay) and +1 Rage every 4 seconds (Anger Management) effects ... but because the lower bound while not in combat is actually -1, the UI will never display a lower bound value for Rage above (or below) zero. So to the Player, it will LOOK LIKE in the absence of Rage generation while in combat (which stops Rage Decay), Rage will eventually decay to zero and stay there out of combat ... when in actual fact it just bouncing between -1 and zero while out of combat as far as the game engine itself is concerned. Either that or Rage Decay (and Anger Management?) "shut off" when Rage reaches -1 so as to not bother the game client/servers with needless computations. Either way, the results (as far as the Player's UI is concerned) are the same. Show zero and stay zero.
This is then why I can walk out of Stormwind to the Deer and Fawns just to the southwest of the gate, park beside the two Fawns, and alternate casting Taunt on them and slowly gain Rage at a rate of +1 Rage every 4 seconds, staying in combat the entire time (meaning no Rage Decay), even when starting with zero Rage ... because use of Taunt puts my Warrior into combat mode for what looks like 13 seconds (3 seconds of Taunt duration plus 10 seconds of no other damage or interaction) before the Critter, in this case one of two Fawns, would "leash" and drop combat so as to return to spawn point, Evading the whole way.
But Taunt has a 10 second cooldown (untalented).
This means that with Anger Management and Taunt, it is perfectly possible to make use of Critters (without killing them!) to generate additional Rage for your Warrior by deliberately putting yourself into combat, turning off Rage Decay for a short time (13 seconds = 5 Rage Decay ticks = -10 Rage loss avoided), during which time Anger Management will gain +3 to +4 Rage (depending on the timing of the +Rage ticks during those 13 seconds) ... before you drop out of combat (if you haven't Taunted a different Critter, or the same Critter again as soon as Taunt cooled down) and Rage Decay starts taking effect and "overpowering" Anger Management (like it's supposed to) in order to drag your Rage down to zero again.
For comparison purposes, you could spend 5 talent points on Unbridled Wrath in the Fury tree for a 40% chance to gain +1 Rage every time you deal damage with a weapon. 40% of 4 seconds is the (rough) equivalent to needing a 1.60 Weapon Speed in order to rival the Rage generation you'd get from 1 talent point spent in Anger Management. You can get close to (or even exceed) that by use of fast(er) weapons, or similar fast weapon Dual Wield combos, such as Dual Swords with Sword Specialization and possibly Sweeping Strikes thrown into the mix ... but that's turning into a LOT of investment of talent points!
Basically, Anger Management will be generating 15 Rage per minute for you ALL THE TIME ... FOREVER. Think about that. Other investments you can make on your Warrior can come close to that level of yield/return, but they'll be hard pressed to match or exceed it, and the only thing that really comes even close would be Unbridled Wrath and Shield Specialization, both of which are highly situational. In contrast, Anger Management is JUST ON ... and STAYS ON. ALWAYS.
You can get Rage generation out of Shield Specialization in the Protection tree too, but it isn't going to be able to match a +1 Rage per 4 seconds rate of return at all times that matter. At best, you'll be (reliably) generating about +2 Rage out of 5/5 Shield Specialization (plus 1/3 Improved Shield Block) per use of your Shield Block spell, which has a 5 second cooldown ... meaning +2 Rage every 5 seconds, when using Shield Block on cooldown ... yielding a 0.4 Rage per second rate of return, compared to Anger Management's 0.25 Rage per second rate of return. This means that Shield Specialization CAN, in the right circumstances (meaning while tanking, in combat), outperform the Rage generation of Anger Management ... but only when you're able to Block with your Shield, meaning melee attacks only. Ranged attacks and cast spells can't be blocked by your Shield, so Shield Specialization isn't helping you with Rage generation in those cases.
Now, to be fair, you'll also gain Rage simply by doing damage with your weapon, and also gain Rage by taking damage when hit. The preference is that you'll gain a LOT more than +1 Rage every time you hit with your weapon, and you'll often gain +1 (or a few more) Rage when you're hit for damage by an enemy attacking you, and both of these means of Rage generation will often exceed what Anger Management can yield, but both of these methods require a trading of blows in order to happen. Anger Management will continue generating Rage for you even in the absence of damage being dealt or taken.
The key thing here is that Anger Management is "working for you" AT ALL TIMES.
This is true while in combat ... and out of combat.
And better still, it's perfectly possible to keep your Rage above zero full time!
Now, while you're in combat, you aren't losing any Rage to the mechanic of Rage Decay. Rage Decay ONLY occurs while out of combat.
Rage will be lost at a rate of -2 Rage every 2.5 seconds while out of combat due to Rage Decay.
Anger Management will gain +1 Rage every 4 seconds AT ALL TIMES.
And this is where the tooltip on Anger Management "gets it right" (kinda, sorta, maybe?) while leaving out all of the other stuff I've been talking about above regarding the (actual) effects of Anger Management while in combat.
As you can see, losing -48 Rage per 60 seconds while out of combat from Rage Decay and gaining +15 Rage per 60 seconds from Anger Management in that same time span reduces the overall effect from -48 to -33 net Rage lost due to out of combat decay, which is actually closer to a 31.25% reduction in Rage Decay (30% would have been +14.4 Rage over 60 seconds, rather than +15 Rage, but I'm not complaining with the round up to integer). I consider this to be an acceptable margin of error with regards to the tooltip on the talent, given the complexities of what's ACTUALLY happening under the game mechanical hood, and that the "error" in this case is (slightly) in the Player's favor, no matter how you look at it.
But that's not the end of the story of how good Anger Management is for a Protection Warrior as a source of RELIABLE Rage generation, helping you to fight off Rage Starvation.
Over in the Protection tree, there is Improved Bloodrage, and with 2 talent points invested, you'll get an additional +5 Rage instantly upon casting Bloodrage.
Okay ... so what (I hear you ask)? Whoop-de-fricken-doo-doo.
+5 Rage on a 1 minute cooldown? YAWN!
Well, you can be forgiven for thinking that ... until you realize Bloodrage will put your Warrior into combat.
That means you can put yourself into combat ON DEMAND ... and when you do so, your Rage will ALWAYS be above -1 ... meaning that Anger Management will be generating additional Rage for you ... BECAUSE you used Bloodrage.
So here's what the Rage math looks like for that.
+10 Rage instantly (untalented), enter combat instantly
+5 Rage for 2/2 Improved Bloodrage
+1 Rage per second for 10 seconds, remain in combat for those 10 seconds (meaning no Rage Decay for those 10 seconds)
+2 to +3 Rage over those 10 seconds due to Anger Management adding +1 Rage per 4 seconds (variance purely due to the timing of the +Rage ticks during that time frame)
= +27 to +28 Rage ... after 10 seconds, due to use of Bloodrage
Bloodrage will go into its 60 second cooldown upon being cast, but by the time the buff effect ends, it will have 50 seconds of cooldown time remaining. During those 50 seconds, assuming you don't enter Combat again (thereby stopping Rage Decay), you will lose -40 Rage, at a rate of -2 Rage every 2.5 seconds. However, you gained +27 to +28 Rage from use of Bloodrage in the first place ... and Anger Management will continue generating Rage for you after Bloodrage's 10 seconds of combat effect ends! Let's take the more conservative estimate of only getting +27 Rage from (Improved) Bloodrage. This is actually enough Rage to prevent Rage Decay from letting your Rage fall to zero during the remaining 50 seconds before Bloodrage finishes cooling down, because Anger Management will generate ANOTHER +12 to +13 Rage (again, variance depending on the timing of the +Rage ticks) for you before you can use Bloodrage again over the course of the entire 1 minute cooldown for Bloodrage. The important thing to know here is that Anger Management will grant +15 Rage per 60 seconds.
+25 Rage (Improved Bloodrage over 10 seconds in combat)
-40 Rage (Rage Decay over 50 seconds out of combat)
+15 Rage (Anger Management over 60 seconds)
= +0 net Rage gain/loss per minute
This means that with 2/2 Improved Bloodrage and Anger Management, it is possible to perfectly break even on Rage gain/loss every minute without having anything around to target, attack or otherwise put yourself into combat against ... so long as you cast (Improved) Blood Rage on cooldown.
Which doesn't sound all that impressive … until … you add in use of Taunt against Critters nearby to you during a 1 minute cycle of Bloodrage cooldown and you're looking at a NET gain of roughly +13 Rage per Taunted Critter due to disabling Rage Decay while in combat for 13 seconds AND gaining +3 Rage from Anger Management during those 13 seconds for a single Critter you let run away and come back on its own ... or an outright cancellation of the -40 Rage lost to Rage Decay if you can "juggle Taunt" a pair of Critters that will run back to you after they drop combat while simultaneously gaining Rage from Anger Management!
Insert plug for The Art of Digratting here which will allow you to deploy a Critter you can Taunt for Rage gain anywhere in the world (aside from places that will DoT you, obviously).
What this means then is that you can, with Improved Bloodrage and Anger Management (and the occasional use of an Unconscious Dig Rat if needed), "carry" your Rage from fight to fight ... even while standing around waiting for the rest of your dungeon party/raid group to get organized ... without ever letting it drop down to zero. All you have to do is use Improved Bloodrage on cooldown and you're at net ZERO loss of Rage per minute thanks to Anger Management. If you can put yourself into combat through Taunting a convenient Critter, you will have net POSITIVE gain of Rage per minute … enough to top up and stay conveniently high, either while on the move or just standing around waiting to engage, without needing to resort to use of Charge for the privilege.
And yes, Bloodrage will cost you a small amount of health to cast ... but once the buff effect ends and you drop out of combat, it will typically take only a few ticks of Spirit recovery to heal that loss of health back up to full. In other words, your best use of Bloodrage will either be when out of combat (and planning to stay out of combat) for a while, so as to "carry" your Rage forward to whatever your next fight is going to be, or when you either have a healer willing to top you up real quick on the cheap, or you don't mind using Bandages on yourself to speed up your own recovery because you don't want to wait for Spirit to do the job for you.
Note also that this means that using (Improved) Bloodrage, Anger Management and Taunt only twice in a 1 minute Bloodrage cooldown cycle, carefully spaced to optimize your in combat/out of combat cycling, your Warrior will GAIN +33 Rage per minute ... meaning that in as little as 3 minutes of not that much work, you can push your Rage to near 100 and then keep it there until everyone is ready to go tackle something.
If you've got 2 Critters that have spawned nearby to each other, you can "juggle Taunt" the two of them to keep yourself in combat all the time and never drop out of combat. With a friendly healer who can toss a cheap Heal over Time spell onto you, you can generate +20 to +25 Rage from Bloodrage (untalented versus improved) alone per minute, and another +15 Rage per minute from Anger Management, for a total of +35 to +40 Rage per minute gained without needing to do damage to ANYTHING, or take damage from anything (aside from Bloodrage itself). Needless to say, a mere 2.5-3 minutes of that activity will give your Warrior up to 100 Rage to take into pretty much ANY battle!
So please, Warriors ... educate your groups about the value of letting the Critters in dungeons and raids LIVE so that you can Taunt them for Rage!
So, are we all clear now on the advantages to be had from Anger Management, despite what the tooltip for the talent says/implies?
Yes?
Alright, moving on ...
Deflection in Arms tier 1 is, I think, your best option ... given that this build is only investing 11 talent points into Arms. That's because not only is every Parry reducing the amount of damage you're taking, but it's also "hastening" the speed of your next weapon swing, which in turn increases (slightly) the rate at which your Warrior is outputting damage (and with it, threat). What happens is that every time you successfully Parry, the swing timer for your weapon has (up to) 40% of your weapon speed dropped from it.
So, for example, with a 2.00 Weapon Speed ... this amounts to a reduction of 0.80 seconds from the swing timer following a Parry until you attack again with your weapon. If the amount of time remaining on the swing timer is less than 40% of your weapon speed then the swing timer simply "bottoms out" at zero and you immediately attack. In the case of a 2.00 Weapon Speed then, if 1.0 second of the swing timer had elapsed when you Parried, then 0.8 seconds would be subtracted (this one time) from the swing timer and your Warrior would attack after another 0.2 seconds, instead of after another 1.0 second of waiting for the swing timer to reach zero.
The key terminology here is that (so called) Parry Haste will reduce up to 40% the amount of time between swings of your weapon. Because Parry results can happen at any time, there's no way to accurately model how much "faster" your weapon attacks will happen, but it's enough to say that every time you Parry an attack you'll be slightly faster afterwards than you would have been if you hadn't successfully Parried. So investing in the Deflection talent will not only help your defensive potential, reducing incoming damage, but it will also aid your offensive potential, by allowing you to swing your weapon more often within a given span of time (thereby increasing damage per second and threat, slightly).
Tactical Mastery is required for Anger Management, the value of which I've already expounded upon (at length) above. However, making a full investment into 5/5 Tactical Mastery offers additional benefit when it comes to Stance Dancing in that it gives you a "reserve" of Rage to work with, while Anger Management just keeps slowly adding to that Rage stack over time. So with 5/5 Tactical Mastery you hold onto up to 25 Rage whenever changing stances, which lets you do things like switch to Battle Stance to Thunder Clap (20 Rage) and then switch back to Defensive or Fury Stance to resume what you were doing with 0-5 Rage remaining. Being able to carry over 25 Rage through a stance shift lets you get VERY creative (and slippery) while playing at the lower end of your Rage bar when you won't be losing much/any Rage by shifting stances. And although this seems (and sounds) obvious on its face, it requires a LOT of practice and experience to be able to make use of this particular advantage to the greatest possible extent, so Player Skill is a MUST for this kind of Stance Dancing.
And that takes care of the Arms tree for this build.
Remember, your best play is to invest in Arms FIRST from Levels 10-20 before switching to the Protection tree to start investing there from Levels 21-60 ... and that's simply because Anger Management simply brings THAT MUCH VALUE to playing your Warrior ... forever more. Do not skimp and go Protection first, Arms after, thinking you can get by without Anger Management until Level 30/40/50/60. You'll only be sorry (and angry with yourself) if you do.
Meanwhile, in the Protection tree ... Shield Specialization is something of a no brainer. However Improved Shield Block being left at 1/3 instead of going to 3/3 is worth mentioning a reason and rationale for (in case it wasn't already obvious).
With Improved Shield Block, the first talent point invested increases the number of (block) charges per use of the Shield Block spell you get ... from 1 to 2. So instead of getting a massive block chance for 1 block, you instead get a massive block chance for 2 blocks. The Shield Block spell only consumes these block charges when you successfully block. However, going from 1/3 up to 2/3 or even 3/3 does not keep adding additional block charges (over and above the first) to the talent. Instead you're simply increasing the duration of the Shield Block spell effect ... from 5.0 seconds (untalented), to 5.5 seconds (1/3) or 6.0 seconds (2/3) or 7.0 seconds (3/3).
In the opinion of a great many Warriors (myself included), the extra 1.5 seconds of spell duration (not block charges, just effect duration) for Shield Block when going from 1/3 to 3/3 talent points simply isn't worth the investment. That's because 5.5 seconds of duration is just fine against attackers with a weapon speed of 2.70 and below, which permits at least 2 weapon swings to hit your Warrior every 5.5 seconds, which is going to be most of the situations you'll find yourself in. Furthermore, with careful timing of when you actually USE Shield Block (so, immediately prior to an incoming attack) you can keep almost any "pair" of weapon attacks within that 5.5 second window of opportunity for maximal protection value from your Shield.
So for the 6 talent points invested into 5/5 Shield Specialization and 1/3 Improved Shield Block you not only get excellent protection out of using a Shield, but you can also generate up to +2 Rage per 5 second cooldown on your Shield Block spell (along with a marked reduction in damage taken, depending on the block value of your shield).
Improved Bloodrage, in combination with Anger Management, is not only what allows your Warrior to sustain a net balance of Rage per minute when not in (heavy) combat as I explained earlier, but also unlocks Last Stand. Make no mistake, Last Stand is very much a (main) tanking talent, since it allows you to endure a LOT more incoming damage than you ought to be able to withstand. You want to be using Last Stand pretty much any time you pull more aggro than you were really wanting/intending to pull, so as to give either yourself or your "medic" the opportunity to respond to the amount of damage you're taking. It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like, in that it's a "lifeline" talent that allows you to live through punishment that really ought to have killed you.
Anticipation (Defense), Toughness (Armor) and Defiance (Threat) are all de rigeur talents for anyone who aspires to be an aggro magnet, or if you prefer the common vernacular ... a tank ... main or otherwise, using Defensive Stance. Without these talents, you're simply NOT a (very good) tank ... or at least you're not a Defensive Stance tank.
Now I know that there are two schools of thought about Improved Revenge. Raiding Warriors, particularly of the main tank bent, will tend to skip Improved Revenge, simply because the biggest bosses you'd want to use it on are immune to stuns. However, a tremendous number of other targets in the game are NOT immune to stuns ... and against targets that are not immune to stuns, Improved Revenge is incredible. That's because when you're fighting in Defensive Stance, which you ought to be doing about as much as you can once you can afford to pick up Improved Revenge, you'll be getting so many blocks out of your shield (thanks to your Shield Block spell) that you'll be using Revenge pretty much every Shield Block cycle (meaning once every ~5 seconds or so) for not only extra damage on the cheap but also outright damage mitigation (thanks to the stun) when improved with the talent. Revenge costs only 5 Rage to use and is THE most efficient way to convert Rage into Threat for a Defensive Stance tank. Being able to inflict stuns with Revenge just adds insult to the injuries you're inflicting on your target at that point, and it can help prevent runners from getting too far.
So I'm of the opinion that Improved Revenge is DEFINITELY worth the investment for a Warrior who is leveling their way to 60. If you decide later on that you want to drop Improved Revenge, you can easily take the 3 talent points spent on it and move them to add 1 more talent point to Anticipation (bringing that talent up from 4/5 to 5/5) for an extra +2 Defense, leaving you with 2 extra talent points that can be invested in a number of different places, depending on your preferences ... Improved Charge, Improved Overpower or even Improved Shield Wall being some of the more obvious options. Alternatively, you could swap 3/3 Improved Revenge for 3/3 Improved Disarm, so as to rather dramatically increase the uptime on your Disarms. Whatever you decide however will depend upon how you like to play YOUR (Protection) Warrior, if following this build plan but intending to play a variant of the theme.
Remember, this is merely ONE way to play a Warrior ... it's not the ONLY way to play YOUR Warrior.
Improved Sunder falls into the category of VERY nice to have, simply because of how much time it saves you in terms of stacking Sunders onto your (main) target that you're wanting to hold onto the attention of. Sundering while in Defensive Stance generates LOADS of Threat, so use of Sunder (up to 5 stacks) is very much your responsibility as an aggro magnet to produce, and the faster you can throw Sunders, the quicker the rest of your party can start unloading into your target in relative safety. It may not seem like much, but even as little a difference as 12 vs 15 Rage per Sunder can have a dramatic effect on how quickly you can stack Sunder onto a target. In many cases, it's the difference between being able to Sunder NOW rather than after your next weapon hit.
Basically no honest Defensive Stance Warrior should be without Improved Sunder.
The flipside to this investment in Improved Sunder is Improved Taunt, especially when combined with Tactical Mastery (to reach Anger Management), although the reason for why may not be immediately obvious ... because it involves Stance Dancing.
With Improved Taunt, you reduce the cooldown of Taunt from 10 to 6 seconds.
Okay, so what? How is that useful?
In order to Taunt, you need to be in Defensive Stance, and Taunt will last for 3 seconds. Taunt also costs zero Rage to use. But ... Taunt only lasts for 3 seconds, and you can't get the cooldown below 6 seconds. But with Tactical Mastery, you can Stance Dance and retain up to 25 Rage. This means that you can (with the intercept steps being optional depending on the situation, and how far away the danger is from your Warrior at the time):
- Squishy in Trouble!
- (Optional) Switch to Fury Stance (1.5 second global cooldown, zero Rage cost, any Rage in excess of 25 is lost)
- (Optional) Intercept (1.5 second global cooldown, 10 Rage cost, 30 second cooldown, 8-25 yard range, requires Fury Stance)
- (Optional) Switch back to Defensive Stance (1.5 second global cooldown, zero Rage cost, any Rage in excess of 25 is lost)
- Taunt (1.5 second global cooldown, 3 second duration, 6 second cooldown, zero Rage cost while in Defensive Stance)
- Switch to Battle Stance (1.5 second global cooldown, zero Rage cost, any Rage in excess of 25 is lost)
- Mocking Blow (1.5 second global cooldown, 6 second duration, 2 minute cooldown, 10 Rage cost, requires Battle Stance)
- Switch back to Defensive Stance (1.5 second global cooldown, zero Rage cost, any Rage in excess of 25 is lost)
- Shield Block (1.5 second global cooldown, 2 Block charges, 5 second cooldown, 10 Rage cost, requires Defensive Stance)
- Sunder (12-15 Rage cost) or Revenge (5 Rage cost, if available) depending on available Rage remaining, otherwise Auto Attack until Mocking Blow debuff expires
- Taunt (1.5 second global cooldown, 3 second duration, 6 second cooldown, zero Rage cost while in Defensive Stance)
What this complex set of actions does is it allows your Warrior to speed to any location within 25 yards QUICKLY (via Intercept) and then proceed to Taunt, Mocking Blow, Taunt ... for a continuous I AM YOUR OPPONENT!! aggro grab (and hold!) lasting for up to 12 seconds when someone in your group gets a little too threat happy with their DPS (or healing). It's a complicated enough set of moves that you'll want to have practiced this trick before trying to use it in combat to save someone who has drawn aggro when they shouldn't have.
However, there's another use for Improved Taunt that becomes possible in combination with Anger Management.
Since Critters don't fight back, you can use Taunt on them to keep yourself in combat, preventing Rage Decay, without killing them ... making those Critters "reusable" for your purposes of generating Rage, thanks to Anger Management. With the reduced cooldown of Improved Taunt, you can (much more easily) chase a fleeing Critter around and keep Taunting them (repeatedly) so as to keep yourself in combat, without taking damage, and allow Anger Management to passively gain +1 Rage every 4 seconds for you in the absence of Rage Decay. Alternatively, if you're so lucky as to find 2 Critters that spawned near each other (like the aforementioned Fawns outside the Stormwind gate), you can just park beside their spawn point and "juggle Taunt" the pair of them to keep yourself in combat and in the absence of Rage Decay simply gain Rage until you're ready to move on. Definitely a great way to kill time (without killing Critters) when you're waiting for a group!
Just one of those little Warrior Rage Hacks made possible by the awesomeness of Anger Management synergizing so well with pretty much everything else that makes a Warrior a WARRIOR.
Did I mention that Anger Management is awesome yet?
I did?
Okay, moving on ...
Concussion Blow is needed as a pre-req for Shield Slam ... but what often goes unappreciated is that you can pull off a caster lockdown move using Concussion Blow and (Improved) Shield Bash that is very similar to what I just described being possible to do with the Taunt, Mocking Blow, Taunt via Stance Dancing combination. Except, against casters, you won't need to Stance Dance in order to pull off this combo move to keep a caster locked down!
Against a caster, what you can do is use Shield Bash when they're casting to interrupt their cast, then Concussion Blow when the Shield Bash debuff expires to stun them (interrupting their casting AGAIN) ... and then when the Concussion Blow debuff expires and they start casting, your Shield Bash will have already cooled down and you can Shield Bash them AGAIN (interrupting their casting for a third time in a row!). That's because Shield Bash (untalented) will lock out a spell school for 6 seconds, while Improved Shield Bash will silence ALL spell schools for 3 seconds (meaning all schools for 3 seconds and the school that got interrupted for an additional 3 seconds beyond that). This yields a 3-6 seconds of silencing on an Improved Shield Bash (3 all, 6 interrupted cast), and Shield Bash has a 10 second cooldown ... but the 5 second duration of Concussion Blow can "bridge the gap" in that spell silencing. So use of Shield Bash, Concussion Blow, Shield Bash can rather effectively deny a caster the ability to cast spells for some 13-16 seconds ... which would seem to be a ... useful ... ability to have, in the right circumstances against some casters.
I mean ... if you're playing a Protection Warrior, you're going to have a Shield equipped ... right?
Why not carry the courage of your convictions to their logical conclusion?
Improved Taunt ... Mocking Blow ... Improved Taunt ... for aggro lockdown in clutch situations.
improved Shield Bash ... Concussion Blow ... Improved Shield Bash ... for silencing/interrupting spellcasters in clutch situations.
I mean ... if you're going to be good at what you can do, you might as well be REALLY GOOD at it.
Am I right or am I right?
The rest of the Protection tree investment is pretty much predictable from here ... One Handed Weapon Specialization for added damage and threat production ... and Shield Slam, which will become your go to Rage dump skill instead of Heroic Strike.
Speaking of which, I think a few words about Heroic Strike are in order ... and why I didn't bother to invest in it in this build plan.
The main reason is because I'd rather spend Rage on Improved Sunder and Improved Revenge than on Heroic Strike. But the other big reason is that Heroic Strike is an ALL RAGE LOSS spell. Normally you gain Rage from the damage that you do, EXCEPT with Heroic Strike. With Heroic Strike you gain ZERO Rage when using Heroic Strike, no matter how much damage that you do. This means that there is no "upside" in Rage generation from damage you output through use of Heroic Strike ... while just about every other skill/spell you could be using will involve Rage generation from using that spell or skill. This makes Heroic Strike the Rage dump ability that it is. If you want to (or need to) dump Rage, Heroic Strike is definitely the way to go.
However, when it comes to Rage, I take the view that it is better to HAVE and NOT NEED than it is to NEED and NOT HAVE.
That's why the only time when I'll use Heroic Strike on my Warrior is when I know that I don't need to have a lot of Rage "banked" for emergencies or unexpected developments. Usually this will only happen while I'm soloing and thus can completely control the situation(s) I find myself in (or at least anticipate contingencies). The rest of the time, I'd rather let the Rage "pile high" so that I can pull off a number of successive moves in hurry should they prove necessary. While I've got Rage, I have more options as a Warrior for how to respond to a dizzying array of situations and circumstances. It also lets me be a bit more "forgiving" of the need of any casters I'm partied up with to take a moment or few to recover mana, by either not casting for a bit or sitting down to chug a drink. Refraining from using Heroic Strike will, over the course of a dungeon run, often times help my supporting casters enough to balance things out more favorably for the group overall, leading to fewer opportunities for failures and the resulting acrimony.
Something else to mention is I all too often see Warriors who forget their Shouts. Most Warriors will remember that they have a Battle Shout, because that's Attack Power for themselves (and the physical damage attackers in their party), but I see all too often Warriors who decline to use Demoralizing Shout, and that's a mistake ... especially in combination with 5/5 Defiance and using Demoralizing Shout while in Defensive Stance. That's because Demoralizing Shout not only debuffs Attack Power, which has a VERY different "gearing ratio" for NPCs (it can reach 1.0 DPS per 2 Attack Power for Level 60+ NPCs, unlike the 1.0 DPS per 14 Attack Power for PCs), but Demoralizing Shout also generates Threat. Furthermore, the threat generated by Demoralizing Shout can be increased by the Defensive Stance buff and by the Defiance talent. Demoralizing Shout is also a PBAoE that costs only 10 Rage to use.
Because of the way that threat mechanics work, it is always best to use Demoralizing Shout on a group of enemies BEFORE anyone else starts shooting (or casting) into the crowd. That way, your Warrior will have a higher baseline of Threat established with the "pile" of mobs before anyone (everyone?) else starts pouring in their own damage (and thus, threat) into the group and causing the resulting "tear off the flypaper" behavior that can cause them some dismay when they draw aggro in their over eagerness to "help" you kill everything around you as quickly as possible. The more threat you stack up yourself before everyone else joins the fray, the harder it will be for them to foil your attempts at being an aggro magnet.
And lastly ... a word about Runners.
It has sadly been my experience that not enough (would be) tanks are familiar with how to "control" which way a disengaging runner will run. To be fair, I didn't know this myself until someone else was kind enough to point it out to me ... so now I'm passing on this nugget of wisdom to every aspiring aggro magnet.
ALL Runners Run AWAY FROM Whatever Holds Their Aggro.
Which sounds obvious/silly when you say it like that ... until you realize that this means that if you're paying attention to your surroundings and situation BEFORE your target runs away from you, you'll be able to "point" them in the direction you want them to run. As soon as you realize you can "control" the direction runners will run (hint: away from whatever they're aggroed onto) you can make them "run away" in directions that are useful to YOU ... and decidedly NOT HELPFUL to them!
Murlocs are of course the WORST when it comes to running away and chain pulling aggro onto you. So play smart. Your Warrior may be a brick of a tank, but as a Player YOU need to have more than bricks for brains! Pay attention to your surroundings. Notice the positioning of yourself and the target you have aggroed onto you. Draw a line from your Warrior THROUGH your target out behind them.
Now ask yourself ... where does that line through your target GO?
If there's an obstacle behind your target (a wall, a tree, impassable terrain, etc.) along that line, you have positioned yourself correctly relative to your target. When they run, they'll run right into that obstacle/obstruction AND STOP ... where you (and your friends) can kill them.
If there's a pile of hostiles behind your target (a pack of Murlocs, a pack of Ogres, a pack of Hyenas, a pack of Pirates/Cultists/Fanatics, etc.) behind your target along that line, YOU ARE A BAD TANK. You're also an idiot. You're NOT paying attention. You're not anticipating. You're not thinking ahead to what's going to happen when your target runs. When your target runs, where are they going to run TO?
Duh ... they're going to run to THEIR friends, make noise, and bring a pile of aggro back to rip your (and your friends!) face(s) off!
And why did that happen?
Because YOU ARE A BAD TANK who couldn't be bothered to pay attention to your relative positioning vis-a-vis your target.
This behavior concerning which "way" a runner will run from aggro (not from Fear effects, since Fear directions are randomized) is very consistent. A runner that runs FROM aggro due to health loss will ALWAYS run AWAY from whatever/whoever that NPC was aggroed upon. If that's a PC holding aggro, it's the responsibility of that PC to ensure that they position themselves relative to that NPC such that if/when that NPC runs from them, they will run in a direction that is HELPFUL rather than FRUSTRATING.
Note that this principle applies to Pets just as much as it does to PCs. If a Pet has aggro and a runner runs, that runner will run AWAY FROM the Pet.
So when it comes to runners, please ... ALWAYS pay attention to your surroundings. Decide BEFORE a runner runs which direction you want them to go in, and maneuver yourself into a position to "point" them in that useful direction when they eventually do run away from you. You'll save yourself (and your parties!) an awful lot of time by proactively controlling which way a runner can run away from you. I, myself, prefer to "point" runners towards walls/obstacles that will stop them in their tracks, such that even if they do run, they won't get far before they die.
Remember kids ... Only You Can Prevent Chain Pulls By Runners.
And that is my perspective on How To Warrior.
If you want to play a Warrior, understand that it's a long hard slog ... of blood, sweat and tears ... until reaching Level 20, and Anger Management, and then after that it gets easier. If you can tough it out until reaching Level 20, you can make it to Level 31 when you can pick up Improved Shield Block to round out your Shield Specialization. Spend Levels 32-36 investing in Defiance and you'll be ready to be taken seriously as a main tank (who can hold aggro) for Scarlet Monastery and Razorfen Downs dungeon runs. After that, your build will only continue to mature, making your life easier and easier as you advance in Levels and march your way on down the Protection tree of talents.
As for professions, it's my personal preference to have Blacksmithing/Mining on my Warrior, so that my Warrior can craft both weapons and armor for my own use. Being able to craft your own gear is one of those things that helps free you from the "tyranny" of being entirely dependent upon drops and quest rewards for the gear that you require for good performance as a Warrior.
As for Attributes that a Warrior wants/needs:
- Strength
- Attack Power = WANT!
- Modifies the Block Value of your Shield to increase damage avoidance every time you Block = WANT!
- Agility
- Critical Hit chance = Nice To Have
- Dodge chance = Nice To Have (Night Elves get +1% Dodge chance as a racial passive)
- Extra Armor = Nice To Have ... and boosted by Toughness talent
- Stamina
- +10 Health per +1 Stamina = WANT
- The Warrior's version of "resist all" (kinda sorta), although it is an expendable/limited resource.
- Synergizes directly with use of Last Stand = WANT
- Intellect
- Helps you skill up faster on weapon and profession skills ... that's about it.
"Da head is on da neck."
"Da head is on da flo'!"
- Helps you skill up faster on weapon and profession skills ... that's about it.
- Spirit
- Recover Health when out of combat = Nice To Have
- A lot of people consider Spirit to be something of "dump stat" for their characters, since it does little to nothing for them DURING combat. The best way to think about Spirit is to regard it as the "anti-downtime stat" that lets you recover from adversity faster, without needing to devote inventory slots (food, bandages) to HP recovery.
