An End to A Myth
October 6th, 2008 Posted in General, Theorycrafting, Wrath of the Lich KingSay it with me: 3.0.2 will make protection soloing viable. There, you’ve just uttered something almost completely incorrect.
It’s based on a complete misassumption that so many people seem to hold, that Prot soloing is non-viable currently. I’ve no idea who started this thought, but so many people seem to hold it in their heads that they can’t solo as a Protection warrior. All too often I’ve seen warriors on the Isle of Quel’Danas, or elsewhere, laying into mobs, shield in one hand, sword or axe in the other. The only explanation I can think of is that no-one has educated them in how to gear for soloing.
Protection warriors, when soloing (or dpsing), should gear entirely differently to when tanking. It’s OK to be indestructable, but it’s also incredibly dull. No, there are much better ways of doing things, and it disappoints me to think that no-one has ever told these warriors how to not want to kill themselves when they’re not tanking for a group.
When Soloing, Prot warriors should gear to dual wield, with slow weapons in each hand – something like [item]claw of molten fury[/item] in one hand, and [item]fury[/item] in the other. Go for at least 142 hit, but no more than 200, and stack crit and strength. Just hit devastate repeatedly, and use Whirlwind whenever it’s up.
Using such a rotation and gear on bosses I’ve offtanked, I’ve hit over 1000 dps in raids. That’s not too shabby given most of my gear is unenchanted and I almost never have any dps-oriented consumables with me.
Come the patch, the gearing will change somewhat – go for no more than 142 hit, and stack the rest in strength. The incoming Sword and Board talent and changes to shield block value will mean that you will be able to dps effectively with a shield, much better than now.
In one way, it’s a shame that such massive and far-reaching talent changes are needed to dispel the myth that a protection warrior can’t dps. On another, I look forward to no longer having to beat my head against a brick wall when I see someone trying to down a mob with a [item]Shield of Impenetrable Darkness[/item] and a [item]King’s Defender[/item].
Well, maybe, the sword is still probably a bad pick for dps, but it’s still an improvement on before…
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3 Responses to “An End to A Myth”
By Kadomi on Oct 6, 2008
Of course you can currently DPS, and protection warriors who currently DPS in their tanking gear need to be hit with a clue-by-four. I e.g. have fury DPS gear, not the best, but a couple nice pieces, and use Blazing Comet in the MH and Fury as off-hand. I have no real problem soloing. But you still cannot compare it to the solo abilities of DPS classes or feral druids, and you have to be in zerker for highest effectiveness.
In 3.0, you will be solo-viable as protection warrior, in your tanking gear, never leaving defensive stance at all. That’s what’s going to happen, and it makes current prot warrior DPS styles look like a joke. It also means that we can be effective off-tanks and you won’t gimp a raid in one-tank encounters when you have a prot warrior along.
By Namthe on Oct 7, 2008
“In 3.0, you will be solo-viable as protection warrior, in your tanking gear, never leaving defensive stance at all.”
Well… yes and no. You’ll still need to gear differently to do the best dps, and you’ll still want to be in berserker stance most of the time.
Incidentally, one of our other tanks did some testing on the PTR vs live, and prot’s dps in its new form was about 30% better than the current version (when wearing appropriate gear for each).
It’s a decent increase, but it’s not the world-changing one that many people seem to be proclaiming.
By Tankette on Oct 13, 2008
For a while I used to do dailies in my tanking gear. I’d attack a mob and walk away from the computer. When I got back the mob would be dead and I had lost little health.
Now I do what you suggest, DW and spam devastate and whirlwind. I’ve collected some decent DPS gear without really trying and my AP is 1820 with battle shout up. I haven’t DPS’ed in a raid or 5 man but I’m guessing I’d be pretty decent.
What I find also interesting is having 2 premade specs that you can change back and forth quickly and without going to a trainer.