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In
a battleground, when someone clicks a
player in the distance and sees no secondary bar, they know it's one of
two things ; a free kill on a death knight, or a warrior who is
probably seconds away from charging into their face.  Do you
know
what to do once you reach them?  Playing a warrior in PvP well
is
an art, and one or two wrong moves can lead to you being feared,
controlled, thrown off a cliff, or otherwise humiliated.  Our
place in PvP is the same place it is in PvE, and that's right on top of
them.  Staying in that range is half the battle, and in this
guide
we'll take a look at some basic strategies for fending off some classes
and making the best of our strengths in the various warzones.



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alt="Don't be this guy."
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/66913">

How not to play Wintergrasp.

 

    The Fullback of the Team - The Protection PVP
Tank Path
 

 

     We'll go over this first to provide a
point of view
you might not have considered.  From a basic standpoint, we
absolutely dominate melee classes when we aren't stunned or
incapacitated due to our ridiculous mitigation.  We have an
extremely potent stun setup if diminishing returns aren't against us,
packing a solid 10 seconds of pain in the most ideal
situation. 
The big problem is, we don't have a lot of offense between our stuns so
we're better off supporting others in anything outside of 1v1, and
against most opponents and situations, that simply doesn't
happen!   Someone will either get bored, realize the
futility
of their efforts, or reinforcements will show up.  It's time
we
channeled our efforts more specifically. 

    Our stuns are all the rage (well, maybe
literally
unless we're getting targeted) but our Silences are perhaps our most
devastating tool.  Do not forget that Heroic Throw has a
silence
component!  This is extremely effective vs. mages when our
chase
skills are on cooldown and we're encased in a Frost Nova.  If
you
do get some time to beat on a healer, shield slam as much as possible
to dispel their heals and buffs.  You can use Shield Bash in a
pinch to daze runners and flag carriers, but you are almost always
better off doing a quick switch to Battle or Berserker and landing a
Hamstring, saving the bash for when it really counts. 
Remember
that at the higher ranks, you do get a bonus against dazed targets with
Heroic Strike, so let it fly! 

    So if you're done being an annoying pest
to enemy
casters and laughing at melee challengers, there's
something better you could probably be doing instead of
assisting
the offense.  We make for outstanding runners in defensive,
even
more so if you took Improved Spell Reflection to help
deflect spells for anyone.  Speaking of deflection,
the
moment anyone targets you that could have a cast bar, start hitting
Spell Reflection every time it's up and don't stop!  The new
3.1
patch glyph of it is recommended, even though it's only one second
faster, that one second can mean an entangled warrior or a entangled
druid.  Make sure you abuse the hell out of
Warbringer.  If
there is a target, friend or foe between you and your capture point,
use them as a stepping stone!   Charge ->
Intervene ->
Intercept can provide more than 60 yards travel in a matter of seconds,
and the rotation pays for itself in terms of rage.  You'll
have
some trouble pulling this off in Eye of the Storm, but in Warsong's
middle zone, it's not as hard as you think and will leave the mage who
thought he could catch you blinking... both as the skill, and on the
player's face as you get out of range. 

    We make a good defensive emplacement
too.  We
have the endurance and panic buttons to hold key positions to alert
others.   We make an excellent sentry at Arathi Basin
and Eye
of the Storm as a result, battlegrounds where they have to go through
you to capture the objective.  Unfortunately our output simply
isn't enough to be an effective defender in Warsong Gulch, but if
you've played it lately I'm pretty sure you've noticed no one defends
anyway.  In Wintergrasp, we make good turret users on defense
for
our ability to quickly get in the fray should someone threaten your
position from below. 

    In PvE, we are protectors of the
weak.  In PvP,
we are the sword that defends the points, and the back that carries the
flag back to those points for glory.  If you really want to
take
an attacker off guard though, try hitting Lavanthor's Talisman, Shield
Block, and then Shield Slam.  You'll see the biggest numbers
protection is capable of via this method, and probably scare a lot of
people in the process!  Oh, and good luck aiming Shockwave
well
against mobile PvP targets.  Needless to say, you'll miss a
lot. 

 

    Arms
& Fury  -  2 schools,
one side effect - 'may induce death in opponents'
 

 

    Every time you charge an opponent, your
next move is
Hamstring.  This goes for even if they're afk, because you
never
know when they might try to foolishly get away.  From there,
the
hard part is keeping your target in front of you, and right up
alongside you.  Devastate your foes as quickly as possible,
and
no, I don't mean the Protection skill.  A DPS warrior
overwhelmed
will last about a tenth of the time as compared to a Protection Tanking
warrior. 

    The very same rotations you use for PvE
will work in
PvP, but I can't stress enough that your targets are not immobile and
will be doing everything in their power to get the hell away from you
before you shove your sword down their throat.  Be very
careful
when engaging groups, and have a shield ready for spell reflection if
you believe someone is preparing to hurl flaming death at
you.  If
forced, or rather, the opportunity arises to fight a melee class solo,
always remember you have a Disarm on command.  Defensive
stance
has a lot more than defensive uses; these are simply quick strikes that
can very easily turn the tide of small group based combat. 

    Remember that you have two interrupts in
the form of
Pummel and Shield Bash, the latter being an emergency
maneuver. 
The key is to use all of our tools, and not simply mash the hell out of
Bloodthirst and Mortal Strike to hope for the best.  Make your
own
luck and you'll survive long enough to get those obscenely large yellow
numbers on those silly elves.  Other good targets do exist
though,
besides elves.  Elves are always good, but... 

    We're the bane of siege weapons in
Wintergrasp as
long as we can stay ahead of
it.     Strafe along
the side (Do your best to avoid coming at it from behind or your charge
will leave you behind it and out of range!) and blitz them with
everything you've got, and that means your cooldown abilities as
well.  There's no point in Death Wish and Recklessness if you
don't get, well, crazy from time to time.  There simply isn't
a
better target than a vehicle with hardly any way to slow you down, let
alone stop you. 

 

    Things
to Keep in Mind 

   
-
If you get feared, Berserker Rage!  If
you get disoriented, berserker rage!  If you for any reason
lose
control of your character for a split second, this is your button to
immediately press. 
A 30 second cooldown is much better than the five minute one from your
insignia. 

    - Remember that if you're doing the
Protection
Style, you want every enemy in front of you so you're not losing out on
your 30-40 % mitigation bonuses.  It also helps to set up
shockwaves.  Don't forget to put Vigilance on a target as
well.  It's obviously not for the threat reduction, just the
nifty
reduced damage. 

    - If you see a cast bar, stop
it.  Unless it's
a Hearthstone, at which point you should pat yourself on the back for
the classic Shield Hearth you were just a part of. 

    - It's difficult, but do try to run some
kind of
interference against anyone targeting your healers.  A disarm,
a
fear, a bash - all can go a long way and without that healer, you're
not going to last so suck it up and Intervene liberally.



href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/66911"> style="border: 2px solid ; width: 256px; height: 192px;"
alt="I killed 100 gnomes to fight this?"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/66911">

Emalon, the new challenger of those who hold Wintergrasp.

 

    What's
the point? 

   
PvP
rewards are almost all designed to include
some form of resilience, or resistance to criticals and DOT type
spells.  If you are satisfied with your current gear levels,
try
out some resilience gear and see how it pans out for survivability vs.
output.  Your first purchase with your Honor points should be
the
trinket of your side to dispel any effects that cause you to lose
control, and has a large amount of resilience to boot. 
Similar
item levels of PvP and PvE gear typically sacrifice one stat category
for a similar pool of resilience on the item.  Balance your
equipment though.  It's okay to be crit as a protection spec
since... it probably won't hurt very much if it's a physical
hit. 
Going too heavy on resilience type gear will lower your actual offense
a good chunk.  After all it is a defensive stat, and that's
not
what we're typically looking for when we want to kick
ass.  
  

    You'll need some arena rating to get the
best of the
best unfortunately, and in order to compete there to get to the gear
ratings for the top end of the PvP spectrum, you'll need top notch
standard and PvP items.  If you're serious about PvP, don't
abandon PvE!  You can come into a battleground in full PvE
regalia
if you're a damaging class, and still tear through people with relative
ease while earning the gear to give you staying power in all
situations.  Keep raiding those instances and battlegrounds,
and
maybe I'll see you in Wintergrasp sometime.  My siege engine
could
use a Gunner!


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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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