do prot warriors need to stance dance?
Thunderclap is the 1 non def-stance ability that seems very helpful for prot to use. Both for the aoe damage and for the 10% enemy attack speed reduction.
Currently I am planning on stance dancing.
I already will pull with charge if able, then generally thunderclap then switch to Defstance.
Im planning on specing into Tactical Mastery (4 of 5 at least) then it looks like it will be pretty easy to quickly switch to battlestance, thunderclap, then switch back.
I can also see Mocking Blow and Retaliation being useful at times.
Is this how warriors should be played, or should we be staying in def stance at all times when tanking?
You should very rarely use Thunderclap, if ever. It is a high cost, low damage, low threat ability. The only reason I do sometimes is for the attack speed reduction on 4+ mob pulls.
Swapping between stances is helpful for Charge, Retalliate, etc. Abilities only available in specific stances. Swap to Battle Stance, activate Retalliate, swap back to Defensive. Basically you will want to stay in Defensive Stance most of the time.
Also, you’ll want 5/5 Tactical Mastery and Anger Management. There is an unlisted effect that this talent has that causes you to generate 1 rage per 3 seconds while in combat.
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Stance dancing is helpful for using specific abilities, especially for encounters involving fear mechanics. 1-60 you can get by without dancing, but it’s good to get into the practice. However lower-mid dungeons I’d say this would ultimately depends on your style of tanking and how you communicate/work with your group.
Currently I’m just full prot spec and I’ve just been sticking with staying in defensive stance, demo roar if its multiple and tab sunder. However my friend is starting arms and that works well for them.
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Stance dancing is very important. Tactical mastery is very important.
Taunt on cooldown? Swap to battle and mocking blow.
Fear break? Swap to zerker.
Need to intercept a target that got out of the pack? Swap to zerker.
Maintaining rage is important to fully utilize the toolkit the warrior has.
Stance dancing is definitely something you’ll wanna be doing as your tanking as others have said to use your different abilties. This will also come in hand when you’re in the open world as well as stance dancing really is something any good warrior will have to learn to do at some point.
Taking advantages of those overpowers, getting off a beserker’s rage before a fear, popping retaliation and swapping to D stance, and more will require you to master where those stance keybinds are on your keyboard and learning how to do so effectivly early will definitely pay off in the long run for you.
P.s; Yes you are 1000% correct, get tactical mastery!! It is extremely helpful and honestly in my book I am unsure how warriors can play without it.
Yes.
I don’t even TC when I tank, I stance dance for WW, Overpower, Execute, when I’m charging in, when I need to Intercept, when I need to Zerker Rage, or when I need to Mocking Blow.
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Cool,
thank you all for the imput.
Next question: pulls with 4+ mobs, do you use DemoShout to get initial aggro?
For 4+ mob
Charge->Bloodrage->Thunderclap->Defensive Stance->Demo Shout
I will use demo shout on initial large pulls to hold aggro long enough to get tab sunders off. Engineering can also really help with snap aoe aggro on large pulls using cheap dynamite with the 5 yard range.
For groups of 4+ I usually charge in and Demo, swap to D-stance and start tab sundering. For groups 5+ I usually use a dynamite after the initial demo shout for additional aggro in D-Stance.
Fury warriors should be applying tc for the attackspeed slow. Not the main tank.
With 4 mobs I: Charge-> Demo-> Bloodrage if up → WW
I have a slower 1h so my WW does a lot more damage/threat than TC.
My initial point was that Thunderclap is not to be used for threat. Only the attack speed reduction. Anyone using Thunderclap for threat is doing it wrong.
You are right on with WW though.
Meh… I mean it’s 10%, I don’t think I’ve ever wiped because the mobs were hitting me for 10% faster. Most of the wipes on trash come from a random DPS pulling threat and dying. So I’d rather use abilities that help me get aggro.
I suggest pulling with your ranged weapon, staying in def stance, and mark cc. The charge, thunderclap is only viable when you outgear our out level the content. Everyone else has pointed out when to stance dance but thats when things go wrong. The best scenario pull is almost always line of sight pulls with your ranged weapon in def stance.
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It’s not about wiping vs not wiping. It’s about efficiency. Slower attack speed of mobs = less damage taken = less mana spent by the healer = faster run.
hmmm…
I wouldn’t really use TClap for aggro, but if you are looking to reduce the mob attack speed, then sure.
SS and WW are excellent threat generators for opening on multiple mobs. And if you are trying to keep threat, after an AoE dps has started, then BS is your friend.
Yes you should absolutely stance dance when appropriate. But don’t bother with Thunderclap. The time it takes to get the rage for it is time wasted getting aggro on 2 initial mobs. TC has terrible aggro and is way too expensive.
Use it for bosses or big pulls as needed. Use your best judgement, but Charge + TC is probably not a very strong opener, generally.
There are also way more abilities than TC you’d want to stance dance for. Overpower, Mocking Blow, Sweeping Strikes, WW etc… Even berserker stance is useful when tanking for bosses that fear and for when you’re rage starved.
But WW = more damage = mobs dead faster = less mana spent by healer 
I personally would never play as prot without putting enough points in Arms to get tactical mastery. I would feel like I was gimping myself.
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You want them hitting you for more rage.
Faster the better.
It’s always been simple and the same.
Charge, blood rage, defensive stance, battle shout, demo shout
Then shield block, revenge spam cycle.
Dump excess rage.
Sunder on bosses.