Fury/Prot build for TBC
#1
Hey all. The slew of recent topics I've read here, the Basin and *shudder* the WoW forums have got me thinking a lot about my build for TBC. I know I want Fury/Prot because Arms is boring. I know that I want 34 points in Fury, 5 points in Arms and the rest in Prot (unless Imp Thunderclap is really worth it from a tanking standpoint). I'm level 45 and have my Fury talents finished and am going to go Arms until 62 at which time I will respec. At that respec, I still want my 34 in Fury and I want Defiance. I'm considering this for 62 and this for level 69 (have 1 point to blow; don't know where).

tl;dr version: Need a Fury/Prot spec for level 62 (I'll be respeccing at 62) and for 70.

Edit: While I'm at it, what are some full prot builds people like? The Prot tree early seems so weak and I wonder if I'm missing something.
"Just as individuals are born, mature, breed and die, so do societies, civilizations and governments."
Muad'Dib - Children of Dune
Reply
#2
Quote:Hey all. The slew of recent topics I've read here, the Basin and *shudder* the WoW forums have got me thinking a lot about my build for TBC. I know I want Fury/Prot because Arms is boring. I know that I want 34 points in Fury, 5 points in Arms and the rest in Prot (unless Imp Thunderclap is really worth it from a tanking standpoint). I'm level 45 and have my Fury talents finished and am going to go Arms until 62 at which time I will respec. At that respec, I still want my 34 in Fury and I want Defiance. I'm considering this for 62 and this for level 69 (have 1 point to blow; don't know where).

tl;dr version: Need a Fury/Prot spec for level 62 (I'll be respeccing at 62) and for 70.

Edit: While I'm at it, what are some full prot builds people like? The Prot tree early seems so weak and I wonder if I'm missing something.


Find a way to squeeze Improved Shield Block into your spec. Not very useful for trash, but it's handy against bosses.

I'd also find a way to get Tactical Mastery if you have any chance of ever being in PvP; 10 Rage is adequate for tanking, but horrendously weak for PvP.

Late Prot brings a great deal of useful abilities to the table; Shield Slam is a great method of doing a little extra DPS and causes a solid amount of hate, which means it's usually the first attack I use after a taunt if Revenge isn't available. Concussion Blow is a stun, and we know what that's useful for. Devastate allows you to put out some extra DPS along with some extra threat, and it's very handy for when you need to offtank (Devastate spammage!)
ArrayPaladins were not meant to sit in the back of the raid staring at health bars all day, spamming heals and listening to eight different classes whine about buffs.[/quote]
The original Heavy Metal Cow™. USDA inspected, FDA approved.
Reply
#3
I've heard people say that you can get most of protection's utilities with 15 points. I'm not a big-time warrior enthusiast but I've gotten one to 60 and tanked Hakkar with her. She's currently 5 arms/5 fury/41 protection.

My suspicion is that you could do a build like this: 5 arms, 35 fury, 15 protection at level 64 (just put your remaining points in precision until you hit that level) ... Might be decent enough for levelling.

Personally though, I really enjoyed having these later protection talents: Concussion Blow (great utility for interrupting a caster about to heal himself), Improved Shield Bash (100% silence; useful for pulls where there's a caster you need to drag back), Shield Slam (the dispel came in very handy when tanking Lor'khan, to remove his Lightning Shield), Focused Rage (you really notice the 3 rage reduction on all your skills), and Devastate provides actual DPS when you're done sundering an enemy you're tanking.
Reply
#4
Quote:Find a way to squeeze Improved Shield Block inte]o your spec. Not very useful for trash, but it's handy against bosses.
Yeah, I'm getting that at level 63 if I do my planned build.

Quote:Late Prot brings a great deal of useful abilities to the table; Shield Slam is a great method of doing a little extra DPS and causes a solid amount of hate, which means it's usually the first attack I use after a taunt if Revenge isn't available. Concussion Blow is a stun, and we know what that's useful for. Devastate allows you to put out some extra DPS along with some extra threat, and it's very handy for when you need to offtank (Devastate spammage!)
I'm really considering full Prot at some point. I did it once back when I thought I was going to have the opportunity to raid on my last Warrior. I liked it for tanking but being impotent outside of a group was annoying. They appear to have somewhat fixed that with the new talents.

Quote:Personally though, I really enjoyed having these later protection talents: Concussion Blow (great utility for interrupting a caster about to heal himself), Improved Shield Bash (100% silence; useful for pulls where there's a caster you need to drag back), Shield Slam (the dispel came in very handy when tanking Lor'khan, to remove his Lightning Shield), Focused Rage (you really notice the 3 rage reduction on all your skills), and Devastate provides actual DPS when you're done sundering an enemy you're tanking.
Again, full Prot really interests me.

Either of you guys (or anyone else) mind sharing your full Prot builds?
"Just as individuals are born, mature, breed and die, so do societies, civilizations and governments."
Muad'Dib - Children of Dune
Reply
#5
I've considered switching to DW, and these are the two builds I've considered:

more damage oriented: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=pcZVV0VxgRiuVocbt

more balanced: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=TZVV0VbgoVzZcAtoI0z0x

If you require 5 points in arms for parry, I think you're best off going with a full fury build.

In the first build I am considering leaving out defiance because I've no real aggro issues with my current build and this build should be higher aggro than my current build.


RE imp thunderclap:

It is a very nice skill. Putting the 3 points into it makes it:
better damage per rage than heroic strike
since it's threat caused is 250% of damage, it's actually decent threat per rage, even in battle stance
equal to the damage reduction of TF

The only issue is that you have to waste time changing stances to use it. It's not "natural" to use it when tanking like the defensive stance abilities.
Conc / Concillian -- Vintage player of many games. Deadly leader of the All Pally Team (or was it Death leader?)
Terenas WoW player... while we waited for Diablo III.
And it came... and it went... and I played Hearthstone longer than Diablo III.
Reply
#6
Having played heavily as a Fury/Prot warrior in the past, I see several ways to try to min/max your way to a fury/prot build. Here are some basic ideas:

If you're going Fury/Prot, you're probably looking for a mix of tanking and DPS with as much utility as you can muster. To this end, there are some key talents in all three trees to consider:

Arms
In general, there are only 3 talents in the Arms tree that are really that big a deal for a Fury/Prot hybrid. There is also Improved Thunder Clap, which is a good skill but I would say that generally those points are best spent elsewhere.

Deflection - +5% Parry
This is great for tanking purposes and it leads into more good stuff further down the tree

Improved Heroic Strike - 3 less rage for Heroic Strike
This improves both tanking and DPS if you want to start spamming Heroic Strike. This is a bit less effective than it was pre-2.0 because you generally won't have quite as much rage available for Heroic Strike spam while DPSing.

Anger Management - More Rage
This talent gives you more rage, which is always very nice.


Fury
In general, the basis of a Fury build is the following 31 points in Fury. There can be some modifications made (like 5/5 Improved Battle Shout instead of Piercing Howl or Improved Demoralizing Shout instead of Unbridled Wrath), but this is the most common basis for a Fury build. In addition to this, you find the following talent options:

Improved Execute - 5 less rage for Executes
This is great for execute spam situations, particularly with lower rage generation while DPSing.

Improved Berserker Rage - 10 instant Rage when using Berserker Rage
I love this skill and have missed it terribly since I spec'd out of it. It makes Berserker Rage into a mini-Blood Rage that can be used every 30 seconds without the cost of life. Great for grinding out mobs and when DPSing on bosses. Also useful for pulls while tanking.

Precision - +3% hit
This is a good upgrade, but if you have a lot of +hit gear it will likely only benefit your white hits. In that case it would essentially be +0.5% DPS per talent point. Good but not great, in my opinion.

Improved Berserker Stance - +10% attack power in Berserker Stance
Attack power is great for fury warriors, but this only applies for Berserker Stance so it won't be as useful for tanking. This works out to be ~1% DPS per talent point, by my 10 second estimation, so it is good for DPSing.

Rampage - Extra AP skill that costs rage
The reports that I have heard about this skill are that it is ok. It doesn't scale (which is bad) and it costs rage (which is also bad), but it can give you a fair amount of extra AP. I would say it is ok.

Overall, I think that Fury/Prot hybrids who want to put more than 31 points in Fury are best off picking up Precision and those last points in Improved Battle Shout and Dual Wield specialization. Points beyond that are purely DPS talents and would not really be a benefit to tanking.


Protection
There are many very good talents for tanking found throughout the Protection tree. However, the key talent to pick up in a Fury/Prot build is Defiance. Defiance requires that you spend at least 13 points in the tree. Those points are usually spent on the following:

Tactical Mastery - Save 15 rage when swapping stances
This is obviously a great warrior talent. I suggest 3/3

Beyond Tactical Mastery, you generally get to choose to put 2 points into one of the following:

Improved Bloodrage - 6 instant rage when Bloodraging
This improves the rage generation of Bloodrage. This is primarily a boon to tanking (usually on the pull) though it can also help out a great deal while DPSing if you can stand the damage it deals.

Anticipation - 4 defense skill (+0.20% Parry, Dodge, Block, -20% chance to be crit) per point
This is a decent talent that will improve the base defensive talents by a fair amount. Pure mitigation talents are in limited supply so I think it is worth the points if you can spare them.

The second tier of points is generally split between either Shield Spec or Toughness. Shield Spec is good because it leads to Improved Shield Block that gives an extra block when using Shield Block (which is great for boss tanking). Toughness is nice because it increases your base mitigation (via armor) in both DPS and Tanking situations. Both are very nice so this is often an interesting toss-up pick if you can't get both.

The third tier of skills is usually pretty easy to pick from: 3 points in Defiance, 1 in Last Stand, 1 point in Improved Shield Block if you invested in Shield Spec or 1 point in an earlier tier if you didn't. From here on out, the decisions are more wide-open:

Improved Revenge - Chance to stun on Revenge
Personally, I don't care for this talent because it seems like it only helps on trash mobs (where you don't usually care about it) and not on boss mobs (where you wish it did work). But some people like it.

Concussion Blow - 5 second stun for 15 rage
Great skill. I love stuns that you can actually control. One point in this is definitely worthwhile if you are going this deep in the protection tree.

Improved Sunder Armor - 3 less rage to Sunder Armor
This is a very good skill since Sunder Armor is a warrior's best friend (particularly if it doesn't have Devestate). I would definitely take this if you go far enough in the tree.

Improved Disarm/Improved Taunt/Improved Shield Bash/Improved Shield Wall
All of these are somewhat "meh" talents compared to the other protection talents out there. I would generally say that Improved Shield Bash is hte best of the bunch, Improved Taunt the next best and the other two not very good. If you have extra points, I would put them into those talents in that order.

One-Handed Weapon Specialization - +10% damage with one-handed weapons
This talent is the BEST passive DPS bonus you can get with a fury warrior. +2% DPS per point is amazing. It also helps to increase rage generation for both DPS and tanking situations as well as extra threat while tanking. This talent is perhaps THE reason that warriors can largely go for a fury/prot hybrid rather than a full fury build and not really lose any DPS effectiveness (while gaining a ton of tanking utility). This talent is amazingly good.


Now that I've laid out the talents, here are some builds that use them (starting with my favorite). In general, I would say that the natural cut-offs for putting points into Protection are at 30 points, 19-21 points and 14 or 15 points. Generally, how much of the Protection tree you want will dictate what other talents you pick up:

0/31/30
This build uses (or perhaps abuses) the fact that One-Handed Weapon Spec is amazing for DPS to put 30 points into Protection without sacrificing much DPS power. Some slight modifications could be made to the points leading up to it, but the key talents are the 31 point fury base, Defiance, and One-Handed Weapon Spec. Great hybrid build.

5/35/21
This build picks up Concussion Blow and then dumps the rest of the points into Precision, Deflection and one other point to float around. It is nice to have those other talents, but those DPS upgrades can't make up for losing the +10% damage of One-Handed Weapon Spec.

5/36/20
Same as above, but drop Concussion Blow to max out Improved Battle Shout. I would pick the above build before this one.

11/36/14, 11/35/15, or 11/31/19
These builds drop either the shield talents, Toughness, or the extra fury talents to pick up Anger Management. Good rage pick-up, but it's tough to lose any of the talents that you have to drop.

There are obviously other builds you could come up with (like 5/5 deflection, 15 points in protection and the rest in fury), but I think they would tend to get overshadowed by the 0/31/30 build. It really is an excellent hybrid build if that is what you're shooting for.


As far as protection builds go, I would tend to go with 5/5/41 + 10. This is a great base protection build that can be modified a number of ways (such as 11/5/45, 5/11/45 or 5/5/51). After the base 60 points in 5/5/41, the rest of the points are very variable and can be played with to find your favorite mix. :)
-TheDragoon
Reply
#7
Quote:0/31/30
This build uses (or perhaps abuses) the fact that One-Handed Weapon Spec is amazing for DPS to put 30 points into Protection without sacrificing much DPS power. Some slight modifications could be made to the points leading up to it, but the key talents are the 31 point fury base, Defiance, and One-Handed Weapon Spec. Great hybrid build.
I like this build. I disagree with Imp DW (I would rather have Blood Craze and top off Imp BS) but the Prot talents are exactly what I would choose. Not having Deflection seems weird, though. Since... forever... every build I've messed around with has started with 5 points in Cruelty and 5 points in Deflection. However, 10% damage > 5% Parry anyday:)
Quote:5/35/21
This build picks up Concussion Blow and then dumps the rest of the points into Precision, Deflection and one other point to float around. It is nice to have those other talents, but those DPS upgrades can't make up for losing the +10% damage of One-Handed Weapon Spec.
That's a build I've considered but, again, different points in Fury.
Quote:5/36/20
Same as above, but drop Concussion Blow to max out Improved Battle Shout. I would pick the above build before this one.
20 points in Prot and no Concussion Blow? That's just silly:P
Quote:11/36/14, 11/35/15, or 11/31/19
These builds drop either the shield talents, Toughness, or the extra fury talents to pick up Anger Management. Good rage pick-up, but it's tough to lose any of the talents that you have to drop.
Agreed. AM isn't worth it.
Quote:As far as protection builds go, I would tend to go with 5/5/41 + 10. After the base 60 points in 5/5/41, the rest of the points are very variable and can be played with to find your favorite mix. :)
--
Thanks for all the input. I've got a new build floating around in my head now after looking at all of yours. The main thing is this. Is Precision and 3/5 Deflection > 1h Spec? I don't imagine I'll have all that much +hit gear while tanking so precision could be nice (missed Sunders hurt:() but then again, 10% damage...:wacko:Luckily I'm only level 46 and I won't respec until 62 so I have a lot time to think:lol:
"Just as individuals are born, mature, breed and die, so do societies, civilizations and governments."
Muad'Dib - Children of Dune
Reply
#8
Quote:I've considered switching to DW, and these are the two builds I've considered:

more damage oriented: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=pcZVV0VxgRiuVocbt

more balanced: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=TZVV0VbgoVzZcAtoI0z0x
Bleh @ Imp Berserker Stance and Rampage. They're not worth the points. At least in my playstyle, I spend most of my time in Battle Stance anyway. Gone are the days of Warrior DPS monkeys.
Quote:It is a very nice skill. Putting the 3 points into it makes it:
better damage per rage than heroic strike
since it's threat caused is 250% of damage, it's actually decent threat per rage, even in battle stance
equal to the damage reduction of TF

The only issue is that you have to waste time changing stances to use it. It's not "natural" to use it when tanking like the defensive stance abilities.
I don't think I want to talent it, but I will try putting it into my tanking strategy to see how it works out.
"Just as individuals are born, mature, breed and die, so do societies, civilizations and governments."
Muad'Dib - Children of Dune
Reply
#9
Quote:Thanks for all the input. I've got a new build floating around in my head now after looking at all of yours. The main thing is this. Is Precision and 3/5 Deflection > 1h Spec? I don't imagine I'll have all that much +hit gear while tanking so precision could be nice (missed Sunders hurt:() but then again, 10% damage...:wacko:Luckily I'm only level 46 and I won't respec until 62 so I have a lot time to think:lol:
I think it comes down to what you want to do. I don't think you can necessarily equate Deflection to One-Hand Spec because they really are apples and oranges (damage versus damage mitigation). I imagine that your build would be slightly better for tanking than the 0/31/30 build, but getting One-Hand Spec would be much, MUCH more effective for damage dealing (on the order of between 7-8.5% more damage with it than with Precision and 3/5 Deflection). Personally, I'd go the 0/31/30 route since it gives you the more potent talent, overall. :)
-TheDragoon
Reply
#10
Quote:Gone are the days of Warrior DPS monkeys.

Don't tell that to the Lurkers on Terenas where well played DPS warriors are still beating the rogues, hunters, mages, warlocks, and shadowpriets. Of course that is when that warrior has Windfury and Strength of Earth I don't know if that happens without the shaman buffs, but those buffs are so powerful for a DPS warrior that it makes up for other's potentially not getting buffed. So I don't believe that DPS warriors are dead or less valuable than they used to be. Of course I'm still in the 64-66 range, maybe itemization at the end game will change that yet again.
---
It's all just zeroes and ones and duct tape in the end.
Reply
#11
Quote:Don't tell that to the Lurkers on Terenas where well played DPS warriors are still beating the rogues, hunters, mages, warlocks, and shadowpriets. Of course that is when that warrior has Windfury and Strength of Earth I don't know if that happens without the shaman buffs, but those buffs are so powerful for a DPS warrior that it makes up for other's potentially not getting buffed. So I don't believe that DPS warriors are dead or less valuable than they used to be. Of course I'm still in the 64-66 range, maybe itemization at the end game will change that yet again.
I love DPS Warriors, my old Warrior was made to be DPS all the way but, my roommate just got his HWL Dagger and let me tell you... Mutilate is sick. For single target DPS, I can't see anything topping an equally geared Mutilate Rogue. YMMV
"Just as individuals are born, mature, breed and die, so do societies, civilizations and governments."
Muad'Dib - Children of Dune
Reply
#12
Quote:I think it comes down to what you want to do. I don't think you can necessarily equate Deflection to One-Hand Spec because they really are apples and oranges (damage versus damage mitigation). I imagine that your build would be slightly better for tanking than the 0/31/30 build, but getting One-Hand Spec would be much, MUCH more effective for damage dealing (on the order of between 7-8.5% more damage with it than with Precision and 3/5 Deflection). Personally, I'd go the 0/31/30 route since it gives you the more potent talent, overall. :)
Yeah, I think 1h Spec is the way to go. I hear mitigation is actually a hindrance of sorts when tanking since healing is powerful enough to deal with more incoming damage.
"Just as individuals are born, mature, breed and die, so do societies, civilizations and governments."
Muad'Dib - Children of Dune
Reply
#13
From memory, here's my warrior's level 60 41 prot/5/5 build. I had a spare point that I tossed into Improved Defensive Stance (2% reduction to spell damage taken in defensive stance).

Not much to say about it, other people have done an excellent job outlining the talents available. I chose to progress to the end of Protection for Devastate and Vitality, since I had in mind that Lirdalys would be tanking a lot of instances.
Reply
#14
Quote:I love DPS Warriors, my old Warrior was made to be DPS all the way but, my roommate just got his HWL Dagger and let me tell you... Mutilate is sick. For single target DPS, I can't see anything topping an equally geared Mutilate Rogue. YMMV

I don't think I can keep up with rogues on sustained single target DPS, but I can keep up okay with the mages and hunters I think. I expect things will even out more at higher levels. I'm averaging something 420-450 DPS on the zerg runs through Underbog and Blood Furnace if we have CC and if I have a WF totem. It can push a bit higher if there's no CC and I can use Sweeping Strikes and Cleave more liberally.

WF is an incredibly huge boost though, I'm only in the 300s without it. I don't have the rage to consistently sustain MS every 5 seconds without WF, and being able to use the 5 points spent in improved MS is a big part of the DPS equation. I notice it in something like Mana Tombs where Grounding totem is requried instead of WF.

Warriors are still king of trash with execute and Victory rush going hand in hand, plus the better ability to cleave / sweeping strikes. But I think I'm not going to be coming close to any rogues on single target sustained DPS. I'd have to spec fury to even try, but until 70, I don't see enough decent +hit rating gear that Fury can be a serious consideration. My spreadsheet guesstimates are only showing about 15 DPS benefit for DW Fury at current gearing, and I'd lose sweeping strikes, second wind, and some of the benefit of WF (benefits 2H more than DW), but as you stack on the hit rating DW starts looking better and better.

I wouldn't give up on warrior DPS completely though. and I wouldn't shun the bottom of Fury too much either, my calcs are showing the full fury build being 7-10% more DPS in battle stance and 10-15% more DPS in zerker than the 31 Fury / 30 Prot build (depending on how much AP bonus Rampage averages out to)
Conc / Concillian -- Vintage player of many games. Deadly leader of the All Pally Team (or was it Death leader?)
Terenas WoW player... while we waited for Diablo III.
And it came... and it went... and I played Hearthstone longer than Diablo III.
Reply
#15
Quote: but getting One-Hand Spec would be much, MUCH more effective for damage dealing (on the order of between 7-8.5% more damage with it than with Precision and 3/5 Deflection). Personally, I'd go the 0/31/30 route since it gives you the more potent talent, overall. :)

I tend to agree with this. Max mitigation isn't critical if you're not a raid MT. Since nerd is talking about 5-mans, there is enough margin that you don't have to worry a ton about it. I haven't even seen a ton of really hard hitting bosses. Most of the tough bosses I've seen have some kind of elemental attack to go with their normal hits so that you aren't going to make or break 5-mans with 5 talent points.
Conc / Concillian -- Vintage player of many games. Deadly leader of the All Pally Team (or was it Death leader?)
Terenas WoW player... while we waited for Diablo III.
And it came... and it went... and I played Hearthstone longer than Diablo III.
Reply
#16
Quote:I tend to agree with this. Max mitigation isn't critical if you're not a raid MT. Since nerd is talking about 5-mans, there is enough margin that you don't have to worry a ton about it. I haven't even seen a ton of really hard hitting bosses. Most of the tough bosses I've seen have some kind of elemental attack to go with their normal hits so that you aren't going to make or break 5-mans with 5 talent points.

Keshi's set up for mitigation, *but*, she has Cruelty, 1h spec, and <the one that makes offensive specials -3 rage> in her build. I was a raid tank with Cruelty and 1h spec....

--Mav
Reply
#17
Quote:Keshi's set up for mitigation, *but*, she has Cruelty, 1h spec, and <the one that makes offensive specials -3 rage> in her build. I was a raid tank with Cruelty and 1h spec....

You have no reason not to take Cruelty and One-Handed Spec. They both increase your damage/aggro output, and increase your Rage generation.

You'd be insane not to take Focused Rage.
ArrayPaladins were not meant to sit in the back of the raid staring at health bars all day, spamming heals and listening to eight different classes whine about buffs.[/quote]
The original Heavy Metal Cow™. USDA inspected, FDA approved.
Reply
#18
Quote:Either of you guys (or anyone else) mind sharing your full Prot builds?

Full prot is really 5 Fury / 5 Arms / 41 prot (at 60) and the only real choices in the prot tree are things like:

imp sunder vs. filling out anticipation
or shield mastery vs. imp. defensive stance vs. vitality.

The staples are all obvious (focused rage, last stand, defiance, 1H spec, Shield Slam, Devastate, shield block, toughness, etc... )

The decisions, while a little difficult to make, are not the kind of decisions that make huge changes to the build, they are kind of like minor slants to it. Just go with what feels right. It's clear by your other posts that you know the important stuff. Give it your flavor and go with it.

as you go from 60 to 70, you can choose to add a small amount of more damage (imp. overpower for soloing and anger management are nice for that, as is going for imp. battle shout in fury) or you can keep similar damage and just start filingl in the "decisions" you made in protection to keep it down to 41 points. I dunno, I just don't see a clear and obvious MUST HAVE anywhere that isn't already covered in 5F / 5A / 41P, so do whatever feels right.
Conc / Concillian -- Vintage player of many games. Deadly leader of the All Pally Team (or was it Death leader?)
Terenas WoW player... while we waited for Diablo III.
And it came... and it went... and I played Hearthstone longer than Diablo III.
Reply
#19
Quote:The decisions, while a little difficult to make, are not the kind of decisions that make huge changes to the build, they are kind of like minor slants to it. Just go with what feels right. It's clear by your other posts that you know the important stuff. Give it your flavor and go with it.
Yeah, that's my problem. I don't see anything that stands out and I feel like I'm missing something crucial. This is something I'm thinking about for a level 70 tanking / Arena build. As far as on my way to 70 and for a time while I'm there, I'll be doing the 0/31/30 build that Dragoon mentioned.
"Just as individuals are born, mature, breed and die, so do societies, civilizations and governments."
Muad'Dib - Children of Dune
Reply
#20
Quote:Yeah, that's my problem. I don't see anything that stands out and I feel like I'm missing something crucial. This is something I'm thinking about for a level 70 tanking / Arena build. As far as on my way to 70 and for a time while I'm there, I'll be doing the 0/31/30 build that Dragoon mentioned.

This is the build I'll be using for PvP/tanking. I spend a great deal of time stancedancing in PvP, so kind of ability that is good in only ONE stance is largely pointless for me. Most of my damage will come from Shield Slam, and I've taken talents to maximize it. Because I've taken Unbridled Wrath, I'll likely use a speedier weapon (probably below 2.40) to assist in Rage generation; Devastate is normalized, so the faster speed is less of a concern than it might be otherwise.

I regularly kill Lv.70 Rogues who get the gank at Lv.64, and I highly doubt it will change at 70. Surely some of the Rogues (maybe even most of them) have been pretty poor examples, but I've fought multiple Rogues who did all the right tricks against Warriors (Evasion kiting with crippling poison, Blind to counter Disarm and buy a bandage, Vanishing the second I miss a Rend refresh, and so on) and still lost, even when they got the first hit. I simply cannot be bursted down because of very high HP and armor (I'm sitting at about 7700 HP and 9600 Armor unbuffed, in greens and quested blues, at Lv.64), and most Rogue builds are focused on burst damage. At least, that's what I see Mutilate as being. Combat Rogues are the hardest, by far, but they still generally go down, though it's a much closer fight.

Because of that, I don't believe stun resistance via Iron Will will benefit me much. The protection it affords to Seduce would be handy, but I think the additional Rage from UW will benefit me more. The paladin Hammer of Noob can be reflected (I've done it several times now; many pallies are predictable when they'll try to use it), Rogue stuns are a minor threat due to high HP and Armor, and most other stun sources aren't a big deal, especially if I can assume I'll have someone helping me (either by healing me or by killing the person attempting to get through my HP and Armor.) And I can always trinket out of critical stuns:)

Finally, 8 Defense will make a very minor difference when compared to the 6 extra Rage from Bloodrage. Improved Bloodrage essentially gives you the ability to open with a Shield Slam immediately after making a ranged pull, which is a much better alternative to Sunder Armor:)

So, for the tl;dr summary:

Shift 4/5 Iron Will to 4/5 Unbridled Wrath.
Shift 3/3 Improved Defensive Stance to 3/3 Shield Mastery.
Shift 2/5 Anticipation to 2/2 Improved Bloodrage.

YMMV, of course.
ArrayPaladins were not meant to sit in the back of the raid staring at health bars all day, spamming heals and listening to eight different classes whine about buffs.[/quote]
The original Heavy Metal Cow™. USDA inspected, FDA approved.
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 9 Guest(s)