In this section of the guide, we will go over each stat that a Protection Warrior requires and explain how they function along with any possible stat caps that you will have to consider. Protection Warriors have a similar stat priority to other Strength-based Tanking Roles, with one stat being exceptionally strong.
Since stats have been revamped in Cataclysm, we will no longer have to deal with Defense Rating, Block Rating, or Block Value. What matters the most for tanks is the total Avoidance that they can gather, with Avoidance itself being a result of the cumulative values of our defensive stats such as Block Chance, Dodge Chance, and Parry Chance. Block Chance is the most powerful stat in terms of raising your Avoidance, being much more valuable than Dodge or Parry. Protection Warrior also benefits from a special mechanic called Critical Blocking, which allows players to effectively block twice the amount of damage they would normally be able to block.
The total Avoidance cap is 102.4%!
Stat Priority
- Stamina
- Mastery
- Dodge Rating
- Parry Rating
- Hit Rating
- Expertise Rating
- Strength
Stamina is a primary stat, vital to any Tanking specialization. You will want this stat on most items as it increases your Health Points!
Mastery is the most important secondary stat a Protection Warrior can acquire. This stat empowers the Mastery: Critical Block effect, massively increasing Block Chance and Critical Block Chance by 1.50% for each Mastery Point. Since Avoidance is so important and Mastery acts as your main way of improving your Block Chance, stacking this stat as much as possible is mandatory!
Dodge Rating is a defensive secondary stat that has a similar importance to the Parry Rating. It allows you to dodge your foe’s attacks, effectively working as a damage mitigation tool and one of the primary ways of increasing your Avoidance. This stat also synergizes with your Bastion of Defense talent.
Parry Rating is another secondary stat that should be prioritized, allowing a Protection Warrior to parry a foe’s attacks. This stat adds towards the total Avoidance you can gather, having the same type of importance as Dodge Rating. This stat also synergizes with your Bastion of Defense and Hold the Line talents.
Hit Rating is a secondary stat that is required in order not to miss your attacks on the target. As a Protection Warrior, you will only need an 8% Hit Chance, known as a Melee Soft Cap. Each 120.25 Hit Rating grants a 1% Hit Chance.
Expertise Rating is a secondary stat that allows you to prevent your target from dodging or parrying your attacks. You will need 26 Expertise to reach the Soft Cap upon which your target can’t dodge your attacks. and 56 Expertise to reach the Hard Cap upon which your attacks won’t be parried. You will only want to reach the Soft Cap. Each 30.0272 Expertise Rating will grant 1 Expertise.
Strength is a primary stat that increases your Attack Power! While Strength is considered one of the main stats that you will want to stack, you will only prioritize this stat after the rest of the stats. Furthermore, you will also gain a considerable amount of Attack Power from the Vengeance passive effect, meaning that you will only need to consider Strength-based items and not any additional source of Strength as a priority.
Reforging
Reforging is introduced in Cataclysm as an additional way to adjust your equipment’s secondary stats. Through reforging, you can acquire a plethora of different stats in exchange for a portion of your current gear’s secondary stats. However, you may not replace any of the main stats on a piece of equipment such as Strength or Stamina.
The main stat that Protection Warriors will reforge any non-beneficial stats into is Mastery! Since Mastery is so impactful to your gameplay, allowing you to massively increase your Block Chance, you will want to reforge as many stats as possible into it. The only scenario in which you won’t reforge stats into Mastery is in the case of Hit Rating and Expertise Rating if you are below the Soft Caps. Once you cross that threshold, you should reforge Hit Rating and Expertise Rating as well!
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