Warrior - Protection

Purpose

The purpose of a protection warrior is to absorb damage. Basically, you're the guy getting beaten on by the baddie, because you can take it.

Talents

Standard Build, 5/8/54∞
This is the standard starting point for all tanking builds. This build takes Deflection 5/5, Armored to the Teeth 3/3, and Cruelty 5/5 from the arms and fury trees. All other points are allocated to the protection tree. With this build, you are left with 4 points to either put into Puncture or Improved Spell Reflect. For alternate more advanced/specialized builds, see below.

Impale build, 12/5/54∞
This build has an emphasis on getting to Impale using the minimum number of points, while keeping all mitigation talents in Protection maximized. Alternatively, you can use a 12/8/51 build, taking points from Shield Specialization or Focused Rage.

Deep Wounds build, 15/5/51∞
This build sacrifices three points in Shield Specialization and Cruelty, and puts them into Deep Wounds. This spec will PROBABLY not be viable come the Deep Wounds nerf in an upcoming patch. However, it is currently the most popular tanking build due to its high damage, especially if you have an arms warrior or feral druid in your raid.

Ability Rotation

The standard Protection rotation doesn't really follow a rotation of abilities so much as a priority. In order of priority, your skills are thus:
- Shield Slam
- Revenge
- Shockwave
- Concussion Blow
- Devastate
- Heroic Strike*


Provided you have one of the talent builds in this above post, you will have all of the necessary tools that you need in order to generate enough threat to keep aggro from any equivalently-geared damage-dealer, and most likely, some that outgear you.

Whenever Shield Slam comes off cooldown, every 6 seconds, you should hit it straight away. If Sword and Board procs, giving you a free Shield Slam, you should also hit it straight away. Shield Slam is the single highest threat ability that you have and as such, it should be your number one priority at all times. Following this, ensure Revenge is kept on cooldown at all times. Once you have a 5 stack of Sunder Armor up, Devastate moves below Shockwave and Concussion Blow on the priority list, however until then, it remains above them.

This is a graphical illustration of what I have been referring to:


* Heroic Strike is not so much in the rotation as an ability that you toggle when your rage permits. In general, if you are over 50 rage at any time, your next attack should be a heroic strike. If you find yourself frequently at or above 50 rage, queue heroic strike after every single ability you use.

Keybinds

Keybinds are a tricky topic. Everyone has their own preferences, and ideally, you should build your own set of keybinds based on what works for you. However, there is one thing that you should do first as a tank.

Learn to turn using your mouse.
If you want to tank, and you expect to be able to perform to your best while turning using your keyboard, you will consistently be outperformed by equally skilled tanks who do not. It makes a massive difference in your reaction speed.
To force yourself to do it, unbind A and D from Turn Left and Turn Right, and rebind them to Strafe Left and Strafe Right.

Besides that, these are my own personal keybindings.

1 - Taunt
2 - Heroic Throw
3 - Concussion Blow
4 - Shield Bash
5 - Shield Block
Mousewheel Up - Devastate/Heroic Strike macro
Mousewheel Down - Revenge/Heroic Strike macro
Q - Shield Slap
E - Thunderclap
F - Shockwave
V - Charge
Side Mouse Button - Devastate on its own

Then, running along the middle of my screen is a bar with Shield Wall, Last Stand, my trinkets, Enraged Regeneration, Indestructible Potions, Healthstones, and Health Potions. I don't keybind these abilities. Very rarely is there a time where the speed difference between clicking Shield Wall or hitting a key for it will make the difference, but there are plenty of times where not having Shield Wall available because you accidentally hit the keybinding can make a different.

Key Cooldowns

Shield Block - Use every cooldown. Once you have activated it, do nothing but Shield Slam/Revenge/Devastate. Ideally, you will get a chain of Sword and Board procs, if luck is with you, and the rotation will happen like this.
Shield Block, Shield Slam, Revenge, Shield Slam, Devastate, Shield Slam, Devastate, Shield Slam. You will notice a significant jump in your threat during this period.

Enraged Regeneration - Save this to couple it with Last Stand. The 30% extra health grants you extra healing from Enraged Regeneration.

Heroic Throw - Use this to pull caster trash mobs, as when specced into 2/2 Gag Order in the Protection tree, it silences them for two seconds, usually long enough for them to get to you. It is also handy for picking up running mobs who are out of range of your Taunt. Also can be used against bosses, it does more damage than Devastate and doesn't usually need to be available during a boss fight.

Last Stand - Grants an extra 30% health for 20 seconds. Good for any fight where you need extra HP to give the healers a buffer zone to help you survive burst damage. Use when necessary. Good times to use Last Stand include Maexxna's Web Wraps, Faerlina's Enrage, Patchwerk's Enrage, and other similar effects.

Shield Wall - 60% damage reduction for 10 seconds. It is similar to Last Stand in its application, but it is a better panic button, and it actually reduces damage rather than just allowing you more of a buffer zone for your healers. Coupling Last Stand and Shield Wall together can be effective in seriously drastic situations. I like to use Shield Wall at the last 5-10% of a boss fight, in the last 10 seconds, to ensure a smooth kill.

Stats (In Order of Importance)

Protection warriors, or rather, tanks in general, do not have a specific list of stats that you can point to and say "get these". Rather, we have a number of stats that must all be balanced.

The most important stat to get, before all else, is Defense. If you intend to clear 5man Heroic dungeons, you need 535 Defense to remove critical hits as a possibility. To clear raid dungeons, 10 or 25man, you require 540.

In no particular order, the stats that a tank needs to accumulate are as follows
-Stamina
-Strength
-Agility
-Expertise
-Hit Rating
-Block Value
-Defense
-Dodge
-Parry
-Block

Your defensive mitigation stats are Stamina, Agility (gives a small amount of armor), Armor, Block Value, Block Rating, and Strength (gives block value)
Your defensive avoidance stats are Defense, Dodge, and Parry.
Your offensive (threat) stats are Strength, Agility, Expertise, Hit, and Block Value.

Recommended Gems

As a protection warrior, there are many gems that can help you.
I may add a comprehensive list later on, but these are the three gem choices that I believe to be superior to all others.

Red slot:
8 expertise/12 stamina
Blue slot:
24 stamina, or 8 expertise/12 stamina depending on the socket bonuses
Yellow:
8 hit/8 expertise, or 16 defense if you require defense rating.

Recommended Glyphs

Glyph of Blocking (author preference) - Unmissable. You must have this glyph.

Glyph of Revenge (author preference) - A very powerful glyph, a free heroic strike after every Revenge is great for low-rage situations. However, in a high-rage situation, this glyph effectively does nothing.

Glyph of Devastate (author preference) - This glyph is very helpful for trash clearing, as it allows you to get your five-stack of Sunder Armor up on the target much quicker, increasing your own threat and also increasing the damage done by any melee damage-dealers.

Glyph of Sunder Armor- Excellent for some additional AOE threat, and also helps with getting Sunder stacks up on trash, as oftentimes an adjacent mob will gain 5 stacks of Sunder before the first one is dead.

Glyph of Last Stand- Effectively changes the type of cooldown that Last Stand is. as a 5min/30%health cooldown, it is a major panic button. You should only hit it when absolutely necessary, you don't want it to be on cooldown when you really need it. However, with this glyph, Last Stand becomes a 2min/20% health cooldown, reducing it to being similar to a trinket in both usefulness and utility. However, if you're finding it absolutely necessary blowing Last Stand more than once every 5 minutes, you're either severely undergeared for your content, or your healer is underperforming or undergeared. I experimented with this Glyph for some time, but I found that I just wasn't using Last Stand every two mintues, effectively wasting the beneficial effect of the glyph.

(Coming soon) Glyph of Cleave - This glyph adds an additional target to your Cleave ability. Probably the best glyph for trash clearing, as a lot of trash pulls are 3-4 trash mobs.

I believe that a tank's first two Glyphs should be Glyph of Blocking (hard to argue this one), and Glyph of Revenge. From there, the current best glyphs is a personal preference decision between Glyph of Devastate and Glyph of Sunder.
When Glyph of Cleave is released, I believe it will be superior to either the Devastate, Sunder, or Revenge glyph, depending on personal choice.

Recommended Enchants

This is not a comprehensive list of enchants, but rather, only enchants which I believe to be of equal value to you.

Head - Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector (Argent Crusade revered)
Shoulder - Honored or Exalted Sons of Hodir dodge/defense enchant, Inscription 400 skill enchant, or the old Aldor/Scryer exalted enchant (which is identical to the Honored Sons of Hodir).
Cloak - 240 armor, 16 defense (Titanweave), 22 agility (author preference)
Chest - +8 all stats, +10 all stats (author preference)(expensive), +275 health, 22 defense rating
Wrists - 12 defense (only if you need defense), 15 expertise rating (author preference) *edit* as of patch 3.0.8 Major Stamina (40 stam) is a top notch enchant.
Gloves - Armsman (author preference), 20 agility, 15 expertise rating, 20 hit rating
Legs - Frosthide Leg Armor
Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality, 22 stamina (author preference)
Rings - If an enchanter, 2x 24 stamina
Shield - 20 defense (author preference), 35 stamina (coming soon), 20 block value (coming soon)
Weapon - Mongoose, Titanium Weapon Chain (author preference), Accuracy (author preference), Titanguard (coming soon) (Titanguard was removed from the game during PTR testing).
The reason why I have two preferences here is that Accuracy is an incredibly expensive enchant and does not increase your threat over and above the weapon chain by all that much. Titanium Weapon Chain is 28 hit rating, Accuracy is 25hit/25crit. To decide which is for you, figure out what the best weapon you have access to is. If you do heroics only, it is Red Sword of Courage from Heroic Pinnacle. If you do 10mans, it is Slayer of the Lifeless from Gothik the Harvester. If you do 25mans, it is Last Laugh from Kel'Thuzad. Once you get your particular best in slot weapon, put Accuracy on it, until then, stay with a Titanium Weapon Chain.

Recommended Consumables

-Flask of Stoneblood
-Elixir of Major Agility
-Elixir of Major Fortitude

Food buffs:
-40 stamina/80 attack power-Poached Northern Sculpin -or- Mega Mammoth Meal
-40 stamina/40 crit rating-Spicy Blue Nettlefish -or- Spiced Wyrm Burger
-40 stamina/40 agility-Blackened Dragonfin
-40 stamina/40 expertise rating-Rhinolicious Wyrmsteak
-40 strength/40 stamina-Dragonfin Filet

Additional Tips

-Always ensure that you are facing towards the mob that is attacking you. You cannot dodge, parry, or block from behind.
-WARN your healers when you pop things like Last Stand, Shield Wall, or dodge trinkets. They may notice you taking less damage, and assume that you are no longer in danger. I have seen many tanks pop Shield Wall without announcing it, live for 10 seconds, and then drop like a rock because the healers noticed he was not taking much damage and went to heal someone else.

Sources and Other Resources

Typed up from my own memory. Will add Wowhead links in a few hours time.