Tank Rotation & Cooldowns

A general priority guide for Protection Warrior abilities and cooldowns. Helpful for understanding the spec's fundamentals and getting comfortable with core synergies. Updated for the latest patch in World of Warcraft: Midnight (12.0.1).

Single Target

Ensure Battle Shout is active and you're in the correct stance before engaging.

• ChargeView detailsUse to engage combat.
• DemolishView detailsUse on cooldown.
• Shield SlamView detailsUse on cooldown.
• Thunder ClapView detailsUse on cooldown to apply Rend.
• Revenge
• Ignore PainView detailsSpend excess Rage.
• ExecuteView detailsUse on targets below 20% (or 35% with talent).
• Impending VictoryView detailsUse if low on health.

Start with Charge, then prioritize Demolish, Shield Slam, and Thunder Clap. Use Revenge and spend excess Rage on Ignore Pain. Execute low-health targets and use Impending Victory for healing.

AoE

• ChargeView detailsUse to engage combat.
• DemolishView detailsUse on cooldown.
• Shield SlamView detailsUse on cooldown.
• Thunder ClapView detailsUse on cooldown to apply Rend.
• Revenge
• Ignore PainView detailsSpend excess Rage.
• ExecuteView detailsUse on targets below 20% (or 35% with talent).
• Impending VictoryView detailsUse if low on health.

For AoE, follow the same priority as single-target: Charge in, then use Demolish, Shield Slam, and Thunder Clap. Use Revenge for AoE damage and spend Rage on Ignore Pain.

Cooldowns

• AvatarView detailsUse on cooldown for increased damage and faster Thunder Clap.
• Demoralizing ShoutView detailsUse to reduce incoming damage and generate Rage.
• Shield ChargeView detailsUse to stun targets and gain Shield Block.

Use Avatar for damage boosts, Demoralizing Shout for mitigation and Rage, and Shield Charge for stuns and defensive benefits.

New to Class? Try Assisted Rotation

Patch 11.1.7 introduced new features that make it eaiser to pick and play new characters. These new settings can be enabled from settings » gameplay enhancements:

• Single-Button Assistant
• Assisted Highlight
• Cooldown Manager

If you are new to World of Warcraft or a certain class, enabling Assisted Highlight and Cooldown Manager can help you learn which abilities to prioritize and use.

While the Single-Button Assistant can be a much easier and more accessible way to play the game, it does come with a slight performance hit due to a small GCD penalty, as you will have to wait 25% longer in between spells and abilities.

To see which specs are best with the Single-Button Assistant feature, you can check out our DPS Rankings which uses SimC to sim every class using this feature.