Prot PVP General Guide
April 22, 2008 – 10:51 pm
This is a general guide on how I play, how & when to use certain skill appropriately.
Charge - Using charge first is of course important, use it whenever possible againts all class EXCEPT MS Warriors, while you gain 15 rage, they gain 1000hp heal and 20 rage. If you have MS its not so bad because the heal will be reduced by 50%. It is best to mount up and demount on top of the warrior.
Shield Bash - Shield bash as prot spec will silence for 3 second and provide a 6 second dazed effect same as Piercing Howl effect. Use this 1st after charging most casters, this will give you 3 second head start to build rage and shield slam to start removing magical buffs. I spam shield bash whevener possible except vs healers remember to save it after they loose a bit hp they will try to cast a healing spell, so its better to save it for the hard cast to interrupt them for 6 seconds.
Concussion Blow - I like to use this early in a fight if Shield Bash and Spell Reflect is on cooldown, this will give you the opportunity to use it again late in the fight. Saving it can be a good idea sometime but can prove annoying if it miss/dodge/parry so really can’t rely on a 45 second cooldown ability to win a fight. Save it towards the end vs Warriors to finish them off that way they won’t get the full benefit of second wind as they should be dead by the end of 5second stun.
Spell Reflect - A lot of mind reading involve as to when to use it, the best spells to reflect are usually the instant ones. Like most warlocks I encounter always seem to hit deathcoil button straight after a
charge > shield bash 3 second > shield slam > conc blow 3.75 second > spell reflect
because after this stun lock of 7.75 second they would have loss around 2k hp and they still havent cast a single spell.
But its spell reflect usually just need to be spammed constantly vs Spell DMG class be aware when spell reflect is about to become available and save rage for it. Vs ice lance happy mages, try to be aware when they use Fire Blast because its a 8 second rotation and try to reflect that instead of ice lance. But reflecting ice when you’re frozen is ok because it would have hit you for 1500 otherwise.
Shield Block - Shield block is very usefull for buying time. MS Warriors is actually a tough fight in TBC because of Second Wind will heal at 100%. Use this strategy vs MS Warriors for a guarantee win, don’t charge, use Demorilizing Shout and Thunderclap then go defensive and spam Shield Block, Devastate and Revenge (if you don’t have improve revenge) try to keep slowing effect on the warrior to prevent intercept stun by using Piercing Howl, Hamstring or even Shieldbash.
You can also use Shield Block while chasing Hunters especially the Beast Mastery specced Hunters as you can’t slow them for 18seconds, and you can shield block to mitigate their range damage. Shield Block will prevent wing clip for hunters who likes to wing clip you and as they run right through you.
Going Defensive and using Shield Block is also good vs Rogues during evasion (only if you can’t get away from them) and Good vs Ret Pally and Bear Druid as you need to buy time and outlast them somehow. Ret Pally and Feral Druid are extremely hard when they’re good but this is a problem for MS spec warrior aswell.
Improve Revenge - You may notice I spec 3/3 improve revenge on my video but I think this is a mistake, most fight revenge is not used and when I fight vs MS Warriors it is actually a bad idea to use Revenge because I might stun them for 1 second giving them a free heal. Next time I would use 3/3 Defiance instead for 1.50% reduction of opponents dodge & parry which stack with weapon mastery for -3.5% dodge.
Devastate - With PVP gear and talent 9 Rage Devastate offer lots more Damage per rage than Shield Slam, its a good idea to skip shield slam if there is no important buff that you need to dispel and begin spamming Devastate early to start stacking sunder armor.
Shield Slam - I usually still use this first a part of my DPS rotation, even thou it deal less damage per rage than devastate you can dump your rage faster and offers the biggest hit when you know you will only be able to hit them once before they get away.
Last Stand - Make sure you use your Battlemaster Trinket and Battle Standard (in bgs) before last stand because you will 30% of your total hp, with Battlemaster Trinket and Battle Standard you gain an extra 3500-4000hp and last stand will gain over 1000hp more, create a macro.
40 Responses to “Prot PVP General Guide”
what are you thoughts on a spec with mace stun, 3 crit in fury and the rest in prot for shield slam dmg talents? Id be using a mix of arena gear with the ZA helm (block value), gnomish autoblocker and mabye a block ring or two.
By bjorn on Apr 23, 2008
and I’m really againts PVP build without Piercing Howl
By Murth on Apr 23, 2008
Grats on realising very skilled pvp movie from my server (Illidown ftw yeah!) =)
I would like to see more 1v1 against scrub whosad lol
really nice job! keep it up
By Kyonsuh on Apr 23, 2008
Thanks for the tips Murth! =D
By Damibur on Apr 23, 2008
May I ask what mods you were using? For when your cool downs were up the graphic popped on your screen. Also the timer on the mage ice block.
Btw awesome video.
By Druzzil on Apr 23, 2008
and Afflicted is the ice block timer thing
By Murth on Apr 23, 2008
Loved the video, if possible you should post your spec build from a talent calculator. I would be more than interested in trying it out.
By Andross on Apr 24, 2008
You are awesome, good work on breaking away from the pack and playing what you love, with very decent skill aswell only thing i could say is stack a bit of block gear, sunder em up and shield slam your way to big numbers XD
By Anonymous on Apr 24, 2008
oh, and a shield spike would be hot!
By Anonymous on Apr 24, 2008
there’s an earlier post with a talent calculator link http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=LZVVzu0xZfVtoI0zbxst
By Murth on Apr 24, 2008
Can you please list your AddOns used in Murth 6 please? Thanks. Really enjoyed the video btw.
By Kor on Apr 24, 2008
Hi!
First of all, amazing video mate
2nd, i would love to know what kinda songs you used in the video cause they made the video (atleast for me they did). Keep up the good work man, alternative pvp ftw !
By Adran on Apr 24, 2008
Jim’s cooldown pulse
Afflicted - this is the mod that shows other players cooldowns
Gypsy unit bars
OmniCC
Music:
Weapon of Mad Distortion - Crystal Method
Poison (remix) - Razed in Black
Climbatize (remix) - Geezer
Thousand - Razed in Black
By Murth on Apr 24, 2008
You are awesome. I love seeing abstract pvp builds and watch them shine. Every dog has his day, even the underdog.
By Megapants on Apr 24, 2008
Hi, Murth!
First of, I love your videos. Alternative pvp builds are the ones who really show skill, and it’s important to be original in this world of cookie cutter specs. But I’ve got one question for you, why do you use 3/3 imp sunder armor instead of imp disarm? Since I’d rather use Devastate to build up sunders and for damage, I see a 3 second longer (13 sec all in all) disarm to be much more powerful.
By Anberlin on Apr 25, 2008
Definately a must have for any devastate build
By Murth on Apr 25, 2008
Oh, damn I need to learn how to read the tooltips before I click the talents. Thanks for the info! *goes off to waste 50 more gold on respecs*
By Anberlin on Apr 25, 2008
Thanks. I can’t get over how awesome your musical choices were. Unfortunately, I also can’t find them anywhere.
By Androssx on Apr 25, 2008
By Murth on Apr 25, 2008
Nice vid ! ..nice to see, when hunted ( eazy HP, for many classes ) prot warrs became predators…
By Britva on Apr 28, 2008
Were you using executioner in your video? I think the ton of armor debuff is what makes this build so successful? Also did you ever experiment with deep wounds/impale. I know it would suck with out piercing howl, but I wanted to hear your two cents on it.
thanks loved the video just hit 70 and wearing prot gear in hopes to farm pvp/pve gear at the same time.
Any advice is very welcomed.
By Lanks on May 2, 2008
deepwound prot build in my opinion is not good, DPS suffer a lot without devastate and you don’t have piercing howl either. The DPS gain from deepwound is far less then what you would gain with devastate.
By Murth on May 2, 2008
Hello,
I’m playing a Warrior on a german server and found this page and was very happy! Long time I haven’t played my warrior because it was boring… but with the PvP-Def Specc it’s exciting again! Thanks Murth!
I still have a few questions which would make the comment too long! But one I will ask:
What about a 14/5/42-Build with Improved Overpower? I mentioned, that I can overpower about 3-5 times in a fight.
Do You have another Video in which You could show the different PvP-Def Specs?
Regards from Germany
Yeetoh
By Yeetoh on May 6, 2008
I really dislike any build that doesn’t have piercing howl. But a build like 14/5/42 should definately be something that I should consider
because 0/20/41 is not a true tank build because you’re missing 5% parry which is a huge mitigation loss for PVE.
if you have a low ping and don’t have a problem applying hamstring then the build will work fine. I find it frustrating playing a warrior without piercing howl as whenever I charge or intercept usually i’m not close enough to hamstring.
don’t have any other video up atm but I’m always looking out for something new. currently i’m working on DW Fury PVP spec.
thanks for the comment and good luck.
By Murth on May 6, 2008
ATM I’m on a good way to the shoulders… but don*t have enough points for the S3-2Handweapon… and I think, that there isn’t enough time to gather the points for it.
I will buy the S3- 1Handsword and hope I’ll have enough points for the S3-Shield at the end… which also has a rating… what I’m pretty angry about!
Which Build do You use for Your DW-Fury-PvP video?
By Yeetoh on May 7, 2008
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=LVZVVzuxxRiuVof0t
By Murth on May 7, 2008
Hm… how far have You tested this by now? Did You use Last Stand often enough to spent that much points to it? I’m asking because most time I didnt’t got a chance to use it but in an duel.
If You don’t want to answer my questions in public, You can send me an E-Mail!
regards, Yeetoh
By Yeetoh on May 7, 2008
I dont think there’s much of a sacrifice to get last stand as most of the good Fury talent are already taken, an alternative i guess is to spend the rest of the points on Iron Will, Imp Heroic strike, Anger Management, Imp overpower , Imp WW and Commanding Presence.
not enough points to get all of them but if I would to drop last stand I would probably get 5/5 Iron will, Anger Management and 2/2 Imp Whirlwind. so 11/47/3
Reason i pick last stand is to bring more uniqueness to the build, from MS build and try a few 2v2 arena with it. It will be pretty good vs 2 DPS teams but not good vs other warrior healer teams. I don’t think the DPS would make up for the loss of MS and loss of Improve Intercept. Would require quite of bit of switching and hard burst on to catch a healer of guard to win. It will be fun to try and see how high I can go.
I don’t mind discussing your questions here, so others can read about it.
By Murth on May 8, 2008
Hey I loved your video. It was very entertaining and you showed some great skills there and what’s even more important proved that you can pvp with prot awesome job. Now I am really looking forward to your DW fury pvp video. Good work please keep it up.
By Daimon on May 15, 2008
Hey Murth, nice work! Love the video and the guide. I was wondering if it wouldnt be to much trouble to post the Macro’s you use in this video? Would really help a noob Warrior like myself
By Grimlark on May 27, 2008
Hey Murth,
love ya style just have one question for you.
Why no shield mastery for pvp spec ? Is it just not worth it ? Logical thinking would suggest 30% is worth having ?
Gonna hit 70 any time now, lvled as prot from 58 + loving every minute just always had that ability by speccing it though would not be able to get enrage… which you think is best to have.
regards
Rekkr
By Rekkr on Jul 1, 2008
http://arenajunkies.com/macros/warrior/
my block value was about 190 with pvp gear, and shield slam is not the main source of damage, devastate is..
I don’t think the talent is worth it unless you stack block value.
By Murth on Jul 1, 2008
Dont you have any resistance gear with you when fightinh mages, warlocks etc.
I am defencive specced and i hate those mages casting while standing behind trees. Mostly get amboushed when grinding. Would it help enough to survive?
By R Koppelman on Aug 28, 2008
By Murth on Aug 28, 2008
Murth m8 i like your pvp style …. i need some advices i have brutal chest , full venge and got S3 sword i need mace for high rating on 2v2 and i dont know what to do to take my head or hold the points and make rating for S3 mace or S4 mace ?? whats your advice
Blademaster Sylvanas EU
By Blademaster on Aug 29, 2008
Killing druids is a bit easier with mace spec, but definately possible to get PR for s4 weapon, just need a good healer :).
be aware that content patch maybe coming out within a month and mace spec might not be worth it anymore.
By Murth on Aug 29, 2008
so your opinion is to get PR for s4 weapon to not getting brutal pieces ( repeat i have brutal chest and full venge ) so hold points for S4 weapons big improvment . right ?
By Blademaster on Aug 29, 2008
With 3750 points you can buy 2 big armor items instead and this will help you get the PR you need for s4 weapon if you’re struggling.
S4 weapon vs 2 piece of s4 armor
is 69AP vs 8 Crit, 8 Hit, 16 Stam, 294 armor.
so the stat gained from armor piece is more a balance upgrade providing a survibility aswell as some damage, which is still important in 2v2.
so in my opinion depending on your skill level, get the armor pieces first if you’re struggling to gain 2050 rating. You might aswell spend your points and gain the benefit from it as you raise your rating.
By Murth on Aug 29, 2008
thanks murth thats i will gonna do ! thx for advices.
one more question which abilites i must to cylce cause i never use HS imo its useless
i spam MS WW and harmstring and white damage i dont know if its good thats i asking cause for me it was working but i need to know what is better to cycle abilites !
By Blademaster on Aug 30, 2008
By Murth on Sep 2, 2008