Protection Warrior Suggestions

In Development The War Within Patch 11.0.5 PTR
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Hey everyone,

I’ve been messing around in Shadowlands and came accross something I didn’t know about Condemn during Shadowlands for Prot warrior.

Like all other warrior specs, it allows an empowered version of Execute to be used from 100% → 80% of the enemy’s health as well as during the execute phase.

However, for Protection Warrior only, it also reduces the damage that the target to you by up to (120% Attack Power), giving it a significant defensive component. Given how much damage execute does, especially in boss fights, you are heavily incentivized to use that button and dump all of your rage into it, but this comes at the cost of defensive capabilities.

I also have some other suggestions for Protection Warrior based on some of the things I’ve noted in my Beta testing

Protection Warrior Suggestion

My suggestion for this long lost and cool ability (Condemn) is simple: turn it into a talent. Specifically, I would like for the defensive component of Condemn to turn into a talent for Protection Warrior. I’ve also added some other suggestions to address some problems Blizzard has had with Protection Warrior (i.e. Spell Reflect; easily the strongest offensive and defensive spell in the game), as well as some of the defensive weaknesses present with Colossus Protection Warrior (namely due to significant lower rage generation than Mountain Thane).

  • Spell Reflect (New Effect): Raise your shield, causing you to reflect the next spell cast against you, dealing (300% Attack Power) Physical damage to the caster and reduces the damage dealt by the ability to the tank by 25% (decreased from 100% damage taken from this ability). Also reduces your magic damage taken by 25% for 5 seconds.
  • Note: all abilities that contain magic damage are now Spell-reflectable (including tank busters in Raid, M+, etc.)
    • Explanation: This is going to be controversial because this is a MASSIVE nerf to Spell Reflect, but I want to suggest this as a package deal, meaning the ability gets a massive nerf BUT now all spells and magic-based tank busters that target the Prot warrior are spell reflectable. The purpose, very clearly, is to allow this fantastic ability to be used more often, which Blizzard is struggling to do given how strong offensively and defensively it turns out to be. I think this is a fair compromise on the matter. Why bother having the strongest offensive and defensive ability in the game if it can never be used to reflect anything? Just nerf it and make it useable.
  • Challenging Shout: Removed; talent position replaced by Disrupting Shout
  • Disrupting Shout: Replaces talent position of Challenging Shout
    • Explanation: We are currently forced into the vastly inferior version of Disrupting Shout at all times just to access the left side of the tree. In M+, Disrupting Shout becomes mandatory in situation with kicks (which is every dungeon ever), and thus makes Challenging Shout feel like a simple point dump that simply steals a precious talent point from the Prot spec tree.
  • Bloodborne (reduced to 1 point): Now increases bleed damage by 20%, switched from 2-point talent to 1-point talent.
    • Explanation: This talent feels completely impossible to put 2 points into it just because of how tight the Protection Warrior tree feels. I would recommend turning it into a 1 point talent for the ultra-parsers as way to get down to Punish/Juggernaut for those who don’t want to pick up Spell Block or Bolster (i.e. Raid situation w/ no spell casts)
  • Dance of Death (New Effect): Casting Execute reduces the cooldown of Ravager by 5 seconds.
  • Storm of Steel (New Effect): Ravager’s cooldown is reduced by 45 seconds and it generates 5 additional rage every time it deals damage.
    • Explanation: Both of these talents also feel out of reach due to competing with significantly better talents (especially Dance of Death, which feels really bad at the moment). This is meant to provide a more interesting option to both choices.
  • Battering Ram (new effect): Shield Slam now reduces the cooldown of Shield Charge by 1 second.
    • Explanation: This talent is also not picked as far as I’m aware, likely due to competition with better talents. Adding CDR to a Spell like Shield Charge, which has both offensive and defensive benefits, would be massively useful.

Colossus-Specific Suggestions

  • Dominance of the Colossus: Duration increased from 24 seconds to infinite
    • Explanation: Why does this even have a duration? This is going to be such cancer in Mists of Tirna Scithe as you watch your stacks falling off while you try to figure out why maze door is the correct one. Very frustrating decision to give this a duration.
  • Tide of Battle (new effect): Revenge no longer costs rage, instead generates 5 rage when cast and has a 3 second cooldown (reduced by Haste). Gaining the Revenge! effect (free Revenge proc) now causes your next Revenge cast to generate 10 rage.
  • Colossal Might (modified slightly): Revenge now generates a stack when it hits a target (down from 3 target minimum to generate a stack)
    • Explanation: The purpose of this change is to provide Colossus with increased Rage generation via the use of Revenge, which this tree is focusing on more than Mountain Thane. Allowing Colossal Might to generate stacks when casting Revenge in single target also further incentivizes using Revenge in single target (even moreso than Thunder Clap). As a trade off, Revenge now has a cooldown (although very short) and its damage is significantly reduced (by loss of the 10% damage per Colossal Might stack from Tide of Battle). This does create a problem where Colossus Prot no longer has an offensive rage dump due to the loss of Revenge costing rage. This is addressed with the next change.
  • Precise Might (new effect): When above 80 rage, you gain the ability to cast Execute regardless of your current target’s health. This Execute cleaves 50% of its damage to nearby enemies and consumes up to an additional 40 rage (total maximum of 80 rage consumed) to deal up to 100% additional damage.
    • Explanation: Execute is the perfect rage dump in my eyes. It does a ton of damage and feels fantastic to press. In a lot of tanking situations, you may not be able to even get to 80 rage due to the fact that you need to spend it on Ignore Pain and Shield Block, but in situations where you can get away with it, this is going to do a ton of damage, cleave and generate a stack of Colossal Might, thus serving as a satisfying rage dump that fits both single target and AoE situations.

Mountain Thane-Specific Suggestions

  • Give the dev who made this tree a raise. What a banger of a tree. I main Arcane (who also has amazing trees) and Prot War, and this tree (in my opinion) beats both Sunfury and Spellslinger by a solid mile. Incredible to play.

Let me know your thoughts!