Tank Rotation & Cooldowns

This rotation offers a general priority list for Protection Warrior abilities, along with key cooldowns at the bottom. It's based on a standard build and is here to help while we work on a smarter, build-aware system. If you are very new to the game or this class, we added info on the new assisted rotation features at the bottom of this guide. Updated for the latest patch in World of Warcraft: Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0.0).

Single Target

Ensure Battle Shout is active before combat begins.

• RavagerView detailsUse at the start of combat.
• AvatarView detailsActivate before engaging melee.
• Shield BlockView detailsMaintain uptime for defense.
• Thunderous RoarView detailsUse for additional damage.
• Demoralizing ShoutView detailsBoost damage and reduce incoming damage.
• Champions SpearView detailsUse for damage and utility.
• Shield ChargeView detailsGenerate rage and deal damage.
• Ignore PainView detailsPrevent rage capping.
• Shield SlamView detailsUse on cooldown for rage generation.
• ExecuteView detailsUse when available.
• RevengeView detailsUse to fish for Shield Slam resets.

Start with Ravager and Avatar, maintaining Shield Block uptime. Use Thunderous Roar and Demoralizing Shout for damage boosts, and prioritize Shield Slam for rage generation.

AoE

Ensure Battle Shout is active before combat begins.

• RavagerView detailsUse at the start of combat.
• AvatarView detailsActivate before engaging melee.
• Shield BlockView detailsMaintain uptime for defense.
• Thunder ClapView detailsEstablish early threat.
• RevengeView detailsUse to generate threat on multiple targets.
• Demoralizing ShoutView detailsBoost damage and reduce incoming damage.
• Champions SpearView detailsUse for damage and utility.
• DemolishView detailsUse for AoE damage.
• Shield ChargeView detailsGenerate rage and deal damage.
• Ignore PainView detailsPrevent rage capping.

Open with Ravager and Avatar, using Thunder Clap and Revenge to establish threat. Maintain Shield Block and use Demolish for AoE damage.

Cooldowns

• AvatarView detailsPrimary offensive cooldown; use frequently.
• Demoralizing ShoutView detailsBoosts damage and reduces incoming damage.
• RavagerView detailsGenerates rage and boosts AoE damage.
• Shield ChargeView detailsGenerates rage and provides utility.
• Champions SpearView detailsModerate damage with utility.
• Shield WallView detailsPrimary defensive cooldown; use liberally.
• Spell ReflectionView detailsReduces spell damage or reflects spells.
• Rallying CryView detailsGroup-wide defensive cooldown.

Use Avatar and Ravager for offensive bursts, while Shield Wall and Spell Reflection provide strong defensive options. Demoralizing Shout serves both offensive and defensive roles.

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.