State of Prot warriors in TBC

[Fasc-atiesh]

@Delts-arcanite-reaper

If only you had another tank in the raid that’s built for single target fights and has a large health pool + cooldowns to handle big hits. They should probably add a class that can do this in wrath!

This would have more punch if you didn’t also include my own follow-up immediately after.

@Delts-arcanite-reaper

So then why bring a prot warrior? You have a pally tank all fights that involve adds, and a DK or maybe a feral tank single-target fights.

Protection Warriors bring Sunder Armor, Vigilance, and Intervene. Any Warrior can help apply Sunder, but Protection does it naturally and the alternatives of Expose Armor and whatever the BM Hunter pet skill is called are significantly worse. Intervene and Vigilance are the absolute best co-Tank skills in the game when paired with either of the EH monsters that are Druids and Death Knights. More EH on top of impressive EH to start with, infinite ranged Taunts for add control, and the ability to match nearly every Tank-killer mechanic with an external 30% reduction.

Honestly, if a guild ran any Tank for MT, and ensured it had a Warrior for OT, I don’t think there are any encounters that can’t be Tanked. Vigilance and Intervene are just fantastically good.

@Delts-arcanite-reaper

Siri, what’s Hand of Sacrifice? Or Divine Sacrifice, for that matter?

Inferior skills to the ones listed.

Hand of Sacrifice pails in comparison to Intervene, only transferring 30%, lacks the 1-2 melee swing redirect, and is only usable once every 2 minutes.

Divine Sacrifice is a party-survival tool, not a co-tank tool. It is also a 2 min CD. Furthermore, just like Hand of Sacrifice, it pumps a lot of damage into the Paladin as a result, so it is typically used in conjunction with Divine Shield… which a Protection Paladin cannot do if he’s actively doing his own Tanking job.

Both can work well enough, but the Protection Warrior does it so much better.

@Delts-arcanite-reaper

Also, every guild is gonna have a Blood DK tanking every fight that has a tankbuster, and they have Vampiric Blood and Icebound Fortitude to handle those abilities, plus Hand of Sac from their prot paladin.

Druids and DKs both can handle every Tank killing mechanic. Barkskin and Survival Instincts work just fine while having massive underlying EH. AMS is the deal breaker when it actually works (either because it is magic damage or is sufficient to guarantee survival), but whether you run a Druid or a DK, the Protection Warrior is simply a better fit as an OT support.

@Delts-arcanite-reaper

Right, and no one’s gonna bear the burden of having a prot warrior in their raid for that one fight. They’re just gonna have their prot paladin handle it, because they’re much more beneficial to a raid team both in the short-term and long-term. Imagine gearing up a character for one fight.

Imagine thinking having a Protection Warrior is a “burden” at all in Wrath? It isn’t like Warriors lack their own major CDs to survive Tank-killer attacks, and they have quite a bit of utility to boot.

Warriors don’t get a whole lot of sexy new toys to be sure, but they also didn’t need them to be effective.

I don’t get why everyone is so fixated on treating Warriors as 2nd class Tanks in Wrath, because they aren’t. Wrath and Cata are the era of needing a Block Tank and an EH Tank. You aren’t really restricted beyond that.