A Protection Warrior's Guide to PvP

So you're a raiding protection warrior and you've realized that thanks to Blizzard's terrible PvP/PvE balancing, some pieces of PvE gear you've gotten are not as good as the welfare epics you can get just by mindlessly running around in battlegrounds. The most obvious piece is probably your shield because the Season 2 shield is arguably better than anything you see until T6 content. You probably don't like PvP, but you've decided you'll suck it up and grind for the gear.

Hold on there! I see you running to your warrior trainer to respec. Stop! Don't waste your 100g switching back and forth - it's not worth it! It's more important to me to have the option to unexpectedly jump out of PvP and do a spontaneous guildie heroic or raid. Nope - don't put on your random assortment of DPS gear either. You won't be needing it. Do grab your trinket, though, and stick that thing somewhere easily accessible on your toolbar. Once ready, jump in the queue and get started!

Now, if you've had any visions of doing damage or actually killing someone in PvP - forget them. It won't happen. You should do your best to make PvP as close to PvE play as possible where you're taking/avoiding/mitigating a lot of hits and the rest of your team isn't - because that's your biggest strength. Your role in PvP is not to be a damage dealer - it is to be an incredibly annoying, ridiculously-hard-to-kill obstacle.


Some general tips:

• The small amount of damage you do put out should typically be focused on enemy players that are already near death. I strongly suggest pressing v so you can always easily see the lowest enemy health bars.
• Shield slam is your best chance to actually do more than tickle someone (and dispels as an added bonus!), so a few pieces of extra shield block value are nice. Every once in awhile you can ninja a killing blow.
• Disarm often, especially those epic'd out rogues who are actually doing some damage to you. They may be immune, but try anyway.
  
• You're going to get feared. A lot. This is what your trinket is for, but that two minute cooldown can feel like an eternity, so know when to use it. Alternatively, one of my favorites is spell reflect on warlock fears, although it can be hard to time it right if you've got multiple casters on you.
  
• If you can get close enough to an enemy healer, focus your energy on interrupting their heals.
• Everyday pvp'ers will be amazed when they see you over 20k health when you get buffed with things like Stormpike Salvation. They are definitely not used to seeing that kind of hp. Some people may laugh at you when they see you come into the battle with all tanking gear, but they'll stop laughing when they see your ability to hold a strategic position.
  

Arathi basin

Get to a flag your team controls and sit on it. When the enemy comes and starts trying to grab it, begin spamming tclap. Throw out random shield slams and devastates if you've got extra rage. Once the casters start targetting you, spam spell reflect - constantly. When things really start to get crazy, keep aware of the status of the rest of the battle to know if it's worth it for you to really dig in. If you're holding a really critical spot, use last stand, shield wall, and fear bomb everyone away from the flag. (Remember, though, that the player you have targeted will only be feared in place without running away. For this reason, I usually try to have a nearby hunter's pet targeted, because pets aren't trying to grab my flag.)

If you get feared, keep an eye on the flag. As long as no one is trying to cap it, just let the fear run out. If someone's going for it, hit your trinket and stop them. Also, if it's death coil, you can probably let it run out since it's usually short enough for you to get back.


Warsong Gultch

You have one purpose here - to be an impossible-to-kill flag carrier. Get over to the enemy base with an ally or two and grab the flag. Try and stay near your escorts. Keep commanding shout up. Spam tclap. Flip around for a second to stun rogues. Use cooldowns/trinkets. If the enemy has your flag and you can't cap, run on up to your roof to hide and keep your back to a wall. Be careful about running away from your teammates as it will probably just leave you more vulnerable. If your team gets your flag back, run to the edge of the roof and make sure your path to the cap spot is clear. Don't jump down if 4 enemies are there - they'll probably grab your flag again before you can cap anyway. If the enemy team is mostly melee and you have at least 1 or 2 teammates willing to heal, you will be totally unstoppable.


Eye of the Storm

This is probably my least favorite as a prot warrior. The ideal way to win is to hold 3 towers for most of the time, but that pretty much never happens for me. Your team will need to balance holding 2 towers and making at least a small effort on the flag, depending on what the other team is doing, which is hard to do without a pre-made. There are no specific strategic points to defend people from capping, so your best bet here is to be as annoying as possible. If your team already has plenty of people going for the flag, your most useful role is probably chasing down healers and interrupting/stunning them.


Alterac Valley

This is the easiest one, because it behaves more like PvE tanking than any other - you even have a boss at the end! It's also my favorite because it's pretty much the only BG that alliance can win in my battlegroup. Mount up and run straight to Galv/Belinda. I've never tanked Belinda, so my experience is limited to Galv. Once you've got a healer or two, start the fight. For Galv, the most critical thing here is to be ready to hit your trinket as soon as you get feared. All too often, people get feared straight out of the keep, which resets him. If you forgot to equip the trinket, just tank him against the far wall so you won't run all the way out when you're feared. Help your team secure the towers and then rush the graveyard inside their base. If I'm in the lead, I usually ride right past the flag and pull the guards away so someone else can cap. Find a tower flag to defend while it's being destroyed and do your tclap spam if enemies get too close.

Once the towers are all down, go for the boss. It's nice to announce you're available to tank so the one or two healers that are actually reading chat will actually throw some heals on you. Tank and spank your way to the end.



Granted, I can only keep this up for so long until I become bored to tears, but it at least gets me the honor I needed for those few pieces of gear. I really hope Blizzard adjusts this system in WotLK. It's ridiculous for me to spend a couple days in BG and come out with a T6-level shield, especially when a T6-level PvE shield is crap in PvP since it has no resilience. If I had it my way, PvP gear would either be unusable outside of PvP or else would have stats that are totally worthless in PvE. But for now, we're stuck with it, and an upgrade is an upgrade, so you may as well make the most of it.