Level 70 Prot PVP build and possible Arena spec
September 3, 2008 – 12:22 am
When I saw the new changes to Prot tree, my jaw literary dropped. I really think Blizzard have finaly taking a more serious step towards Prot PVP. I even see the possiblity of arena setup that can include Prot PVP warrior in 3v3 and 5v5.
Now there are unique characteristing of Prot PVP that can make it a good option in arena,
- Anti kite ability - Toughness , Safeguard, in combat Charge ( which also increase rage generation)
- High Survivability - Last Stand, and massive amount of armor by holding a shield at all times.
- More Dispel potential with Sword and Board talent (with the 100% chance to dispel buff)
- Good synergy with Melee classes - Automatic sunder + DPS with Devastate,
- 30 sec cooldown ‘Pain Surpression’ - with Safeguard
- AOE stun ability - Shockwave
- Massive Increase in DPS - many talent have increase Prot DPS with
Shield Bash for 10% more Shield Slam Damage,
Incite and Critical Block for 15% to crit with Shield Slam,
Sword and Board for free Shield Slam, (DPS gain and better rage efficiency since its free)
Improved Defensive Stance for 10% Enrage
Not to mention Blizzard block value will scale with STR, I’m not sure of numbers yet. - Improved Disarm causes the target to take 10% more damage, the potential of using this a 5v5 cleave* setup can work extremely well and it will be available every 40sec.* Cleave setup is a term used for a 5v5 team with 3 melee DPS and 2 healer.
So here is a couple of build that I’d recommend for Level 70 when the patch comes out.
0/11/50 - Prot PVP with Piercing Howl
0/5/56 - Prot PVP with Shockwave
the hard choice is whether Shockwave is good enough to sacrifice Piercing Howl? I’d never know until I give both build a try.
Possible 3v3 arena setup - paired with a class that can apply -50% healing debuff (Warrior, Rogue, Hunter) and a healer , i think Prot spec can offer more than Arms or Fury setup.
setup such as Warrior / Rogue / Druid is already popular but the real question can Prot be better than Arms or Fury spec in this setup? I believe it can, because
- Rogue already bring the -50% healing debuff and the additional MS debuff from Warrior is not really required.
- and what Prot bring is the Dispels effect from Shield Slam, costantly dispelling HOTs and Buffs will prove more usefull than an additional MS
- the fast Sunder Armor and Improved Disarm will scale the overall team damage faster than Arms or Fury.
- This team setup is very vunerable from high damage of caster teams since Druid is unable to dispel DOTs (except curse), but Safeguard and Last Stand can prevent loses from high burst damage team.
- With the loss of Mace Stun, Prot Spec have a much better stunlock potential with Improved Shield Bash and Concussion Blow (and Shockwave if you have it)
- And with no dispels, Prot warrior should be able to stick to their target better than Arms or Fury warrior. (Arms have Bladestorm and Imp Intercept, and Fury have Heroic Leap but overall performance of sticking to a target is probably better done with prot because of Toughness, Charge, Safeguard)
What about the low Prot DPS ? while Arms and Fury will scale alot better in Raid situation, I think everyone will be pleasantly surprise that Prot PVP dps is not far behind to Arms or Fury in solo or party situation, the hidden DPS comes from dispelling with Shield Slam, hoping to test this on PTR when it is released to prove it.
anyway this is just all my theory crafting, I would love to shut up and prove it when the patch comes out.
15 Responses to “Level 70 Prot PVP build and possible Arena spec”
This made me wet.
By Thaems on Sep 3, 2008
I’m assuming you made a typo with “Out of combat Charge.”
The talent makes Charge usable IN combat (so you can break snares every 15 seconds with Safeguard and get extra rage to boot.)
And I’m glad to read someone actually excited by the changes. Bunch of damn whiners on the beta forums over this. <3
By PM on Sep 3, 2008
Yes the new charge is IN combat.
But totally agree this is just to good to be true.I smiled wene I saw being able to break snares and roots,few days later I see an in combat charge.I’m just..stunned,3vs3 here I come.
By Grinda on Sep 3, 2008
From a Prot PvP angle, now they just need to make Hamstring usable in Defensive Stance.
I can stand being out of zerker Stance if I’m fighting people who don’t have fears or what not. But without Hamstring handy prot warriors are very much forced to run around in at least Battle Stance which works against most of the Defensive Stance specific talents (like the Enrage talent, Improved Disarm, Improved Revenge, etc.)
They tweak that and a prot warrior could very well fight a whole fight in Defensive Stance with only stance dancing for charges and intercepts.
By PM on Sep 3, 2008
i disagree with PM.
if they gave Defensive stance Hamstring there would be little point in stance dancing or having stances in general which defines the warrior class.
also if you think about it, Hamstring is an offensive ability to stop your opponent getting away from you hence why its in battle and zerker stance. when you are in defensive stance you will have skills to help defend yourself (and others). Hamstring is really a form of attack and therefore isnt in defensive stance.
slowing your attacker down when they are close to you won’t help much unless you plan on running away which then defeats the purpose Prot PvP.
i like the idea that you change stances to access certain skills depending on if you are going on the offensive or defensive. this shouldnt be changed
By Ragonite on Sep 3, 2008
“if they gave Defensive stance Hamstring there would be little point in stance dancing or having stances in general which defines the warrior class.”
Getting rid of stance dancing would be the single greatest change to warriors you could ever do.
By PM on Sep 3, 2008
“Getting rid of stance dancing would be the single greatest change to warriors you could ever do.”
they may aswell take away; druids forms, priest forms, deathknights aura’s and all the other classes that i’m forgetting that have different stances/forms/aura/etc while they are at it since it all the same basic principle.
im sure that would go down well
By Ragonite on Sep 3, 2008
You’ll noticed besides druids (who only really change forms rapidly for anti-snare and CC purposes) none of those classes are required to change their stances/forms/auras a dozen times in a fight just to use their abilties.
You’ll also notice none of those abilties besides warriors apply debuffs to the user (short of Druid tree’s reduced movement speed.)
DK’s can enjoy their version of “Stances” by not having to waste time changing them all the time and none of them apply stupid debuffs like increased damage recieved or reduced damage done. They pick a Peresence that they want to use in a given fight, and PLAY. We have to fight our UI because none of our stances allow us access to all our abilities.
By PM on Sep 3, 2008
Warrior is a difficult class to balance because of the rage mechanics, if a Warrior never looses his rage switching stances, the amount of damage that a Warrior dish out will be out of control.
eg imagine an Arms/Fury warrior at 100 rage, and being able to spell reflect and still have 85 rage to intercept you and deal massive damage, that would make a warrior almost un-cc able (thats not a word lol)
wait a minute a Prot PVP warrior can do that with charge
regarding hamstring in Def Stance, I doubt this will ever change, this is what Piercing Howl is for. Trying to kill a warrior that stays in Defensive Stance the entire game is not fun.
By Murth on Sep 3, 2008
I never said to get rid of stances, just get rid of stance dancing.
We should be allowed to play it more “defensively” by using Defensive Stance, get a -10% damage recieved perk and +threat (for tanking) and still be able to use our key abiltites like Berserker Rage for fears or Interecept for it’s purposes.
Having to mash extra keys (or make a bunch of macros) just to allow us to play the class is retarded when I could roll a DK, pick a “stance” and do everything whenever without issue.
By PM on Sep 4, 2008
berserker stance reason for penalty is because of the strong abilities such as beserker rage, and intercept.
so under blizzard’s rule:
if you want ability to break fear, you must take 10% more damage.
if you want the ability to intercept, you must take 10% more damage.
otherwise warriors would be to powerful.
By Murth on Sep 4, 2008
Hardly. No other class besides druids have this kind of thing holding them back.
DK’s quite literally mimic warrior stances but have not a single Presence specific ability at all that I’m aware of. Nor do they suffer any negitive effects using one.
In a vacuum, the stances Positives and Negitives makes sense if all you were looking at were warriors. That kind of design adds depth to a game. But once you look at other classes, you see that we’re held back when they aren’t.
By PM on Sep 4, 2008
Warbringer - Your Charge ability is now usable while in combat and in any stance
By Murth on Sep 5, 2008
Wasn’t his wish to have Hamstring in Defensive Stance??
still the changes are indeed awesome!!
By Ragonite on Sep 7, 2008
Well like I said, it’s pretty much perfect besides a snare. We can catch up fairly easy now with Warbringer, we can dish out damage while still in Defensive Stance, and we can stop a cast without changing stances. Since not all classes can fear, I give up having to stance dance for zerker rage.
Arms is stuck ATM in the fact they can’t Intercept or pummel in Battle Stance. Their current design is to keep Rend up, Overpower as often as possible and MS. But Rend and Overpower aren’t useable in Zerker Stance. Catch 22.
By PM on Sep 8, 2008