So confused about warrior talents, please help...

[swirly]

So nstead of just thinking damage, I'll think defense and damage.
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One thing that I think all warriors need to know is that when they are tanking, damage isn't the most important thing for them. The most important thing for a tanking warrior is threat. You don't need to maximize your damage when tanking, you need to maximize your threat. Now doing damage does give you threat and so it would seem that if you maximize your damage then you would also be maximizing your threat. There are several problems with this.

First off is the fact that there are other classes who will always be able to do more damage than you. So if you are purely trying to maximize your damage, then you will find that you won't be able to keep mobs off these classes unless they hold back. If they are having to hold back then the total damage that the group is doing is probably less that if you went for maximizing your threat which would enable them to do more damage. They may still have to hold back, but they will have to do so much less.

Another problem is that you need to tank multiple mobs. This means that the damage you do is going to be spread around more than it is with other classes. If you just focus on one mob, all the other mobs are going to go running to the healer when the first heal goes off on you. As the tank, it is your job to make sure this doesn't happen. So you have to make a point of staying on top of each mobs threat list. They need to hate you the most. This is tough to do if you are just focusing on damage. While you are spreading your damage around on all the mobs, the other damage dealers will be focusing on one mob. So now that mob will go running to one of those damage dealers. If you focus on maximizing your threat, then you are much better able to keep all the mobs hitting you. In both cases, it requires learning the balance of what you need to do to keep any extra mobs on you and what you need to do to keep the main mob on you. Its much easier when focusing on threat though.

The problem that comes up is that when soloing, threat doesn't do anything for you. So you need to be able to do damage to be able to solo effectively. Damage is also good in groups because it does add threat. My point is that you shouldn't be focusing solely on damage when in a group. You need to learn to use things like sunder armor and other skills that add alot of threat even if they may not add as much damage as other skills you could have used.

I actually don't have any recommendations for you as far as talents go, because my warrior went protection spec and was happy soloing slowly. I actually think that any talent build will be able to tank decently as long as the warrior knows when to do damage and when to do threat. So that is what I want to impart to you. When you are in a group (in instances specifically) you should pay less attention to how much damage you are doing and more attention to how much threat you are doing. Make a point of trying to keep all the mobs hitting you. When you are soloing, feel free to do as much damage as you can.

As has been said here, using a shield does make things easier when you are tanking (as does defensive stance). Since you are going to be having all the mobs hitting you, the huge defense that a shield gives makes a healer's job alot easier. Whether it is necessary or not is something I think you need to decide on your own. Watch how much damage you are taking, watch how much mana your healer has after a fight, watch how long fights are lasting...these are things that will help you judge if you need a shield or not. If fights are going quick, if you aren't taking much damage, if the healer isn't using much mana...then a shield may just slow things down. If fights are taking a while, if you are noticing your life drop in huge chunks, if the healer is having to drink after every fight...then it may be time to break out the shield. You should be able to pick up on what is needed as you play more.