Paladins and Druids to get a Lift

[Kevin]

What I find maddening about Protection is that there are some VERY good talents in there (especially PvP-wise), but it's very difficult to justify digging deep enough to get them.

Improved Shield Bash and Concussion Blow are great to have in PvP, but can you really justify giving up Mortal Strike and Improved Hamstring to get them?
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Yep. The tree has a lot of junk and very situational stuff. Even in PvE giving up MS or bloodthirst (and everything else that goes with them) is hard to justify. I can only do it for role play purposes to be honest with you. As I've said a 15/31/5 build is probably going to be a better tank given the same equipment.

T1: Improved Shield spec is pretty marginal as is anticipation.
T2: Toughness is good. Iron Will doesn't really help in practice. Imp Bloodrage is better the less people you have around and is marginal.
T3: Last Stand is better with less people around but is still only marginal. Improved Shield block is pointless after about L40 when you have a high enough parry and dodge to have revenge available all the time. Improved Revenge is alright for 5 man and less, pointless in raid as the thing is stun immune if revenge procs. Defiance is very helpful for holding aggro while tanking.
T4: Imp Sunder is OK, it doesn't hurt since you spam that skill a lot but it doesn't help that much. Imp disarm is eh, 3 more seconds where you can't be mortal striked is nice but 10 vs 13 sec isn't that big a deal. Shorten the cooldown by say 10 seconds and I'd probably take it. Imp Taunt is just to help with oh #$%& moments is very easy to live withouth.
T4: Imp Shield wall gets you 15 vs 10 seconds of shield wall. That isn't bad. One of the few higher tier skills that actually helps you tank better but again 5 more seconds usually doesn't matter for the times when you are using the skill. Imp Shield Bash is very good in PvE and PvP. Concussion Blow is excellent in PvP and very good in 5 man PvE but marginal in raids.
T5: 1H Weapon Spec is actually nice since it helps you all the time. Now that i got some 1H upgrades I'm do higher dual wield DPS on single targets in part thanks to this talent.
T6: Shield Slam is a good rage dump and alright in PvP. You can get 1K crits against low armor foes. I find I do a lot of dual wield then swap in shield and slam and go back to dual or the 2 hander. When I solo it's about 20% of my total damage output.