Cataclysm Protection 85 Warrior Leveling Build Guide

This guide will show you the leveling build for a Protection Warrior, updated for wow Cataclysm patch 4.0.6.  The talent specs include glyphs and will take you from level 1 through 85.

Remember, there is no perfect build.  The perfect build is one that fits your playstyle, so feel free to change some glyphs or talents here and there to fit your own needs and playing style.

These are the best talents to level 1-85 to go along with the best leveling route guide: Zygor’s Leveling Guide.

Cataclysm Protection 85 Warrior Leveling Build Guide

Level 85 Warrior (9/1/31) (Link)

Protection (31 Points)

Incite – Rank 2/3
Increases the critical strike chance of your Heroic Strike by 10%, and gives your Heroic Strike criticals a 66% chance to cause the next Heroic Strike to also be a critical strike. These guaranteed criticals cannot re-trigger the Incite effect.

Toughness – Rank 3/3
Increases your armor value from items by 10%.

Blood and Thunder – Rank 2/2
When you Thunder Clap a target affected by your Rend, you have a 100% chance to affect every target with Rend.

Shield Specialization – Rank 3/3
You generate 15 extra rage when you block an attack. You generate 60 extra rage when you Spell Reflect a magic attack.

Shield Mastery – Rank 3/3
Reduces the cooldown of your Shield Block by 30 sec, your Shield Wall by 180 sec and your Spell Reflect by 3 sec.

Hold the Line – Rank 1/2
Improves your critical strike and critical block chance by 10% for 5 sec following a successful parry.

Gag Order – Rank 2/2
Gives your Shield Bash and Heroic Throw a 100% chance to silence the target for 3 sec. Also lowers the cooldown on Heroic Throw by 30 sec.

Last Stand – Rank 1/1
Temporarily grants you 30% of your maximum health for 20 sec. After the effect expires, the health is lost.

Concussion Blow – Rank 1/1
Stuns the opponent for 5 sec and deals (75 / 100 * AP) damage (based on attack power).

Bastion of Defense – Rank 2/2
Reduces the chance you’ll be critically hit by melee attacks by 6% while in Defensive Stance. In addition, when you block, dodge or parry an attack you have a 20% chance to become Enraged, increasing physical damage done by 10% for 12 sec.

Warbringer – Rank 1/1
Your Charge, Intercept and Intervene abilities are now usable while in combat and in any stance. In addition, your Intervene ability will remove all movement impairing effects.

Improved Revenge – Rank 2/2
Increases the damage of your Revenge ability by 60% and causes Revenge to strike an additional target.

Devastate – Rank 1/1
Sunder the target’s armor causing the Sunder Armor effect. In addition, causes 150% of weapon damage plus 336 for each application of Sunder Armor on the target. The Sunder Armor effect can stack up to 3 times.

Vigilance – Rank 1/1
Focus your protective gaze on a group or raid target. Each time they are hit by an attack your Taunt cooldown is refreshed and you gain Vengeance as if 20% of the damage was done to you. Lasts 30 min. This effect can only be on one target at a time.

Heavy Repercussions – Rank 2/2
While your Shield Block is active, your Shield Slam hits for an additional 100% damage.

Sword and Board – Rank 3/3
Increases the critical strike chance of Devastate by 15%. In addition, when your Devastate or Revenge deal damage, they have a 30% chance of refreshing the cooldown of your Shield Slam and reducing its cost by 100% for 5 sec.

Shockwave – Rank 1/1
Sends a wave of force in front of you, causing (75 / 100 * AP) damage (based on attack power) and stunning all enemy targets within 10 yards in a frontal cone for 4 sec.

Arms (9 Points)

War Academy – Rank 3/3
Increases the damage of Heroic Strike, Cleave, Victory Rush and Slam by 15%.

Field Dressing – Rank 2/2
Increases all healing received by 6%, and the effectiveness of your self-healing abilities by an additional 20%.

Blitz – Rank 1/2
Your Charge generates 5 additional rage and stuns an additional nearby target.

Deep Wounds – Rank 3/3
Your critical strikes cause the opponent to bleed, dealing 48% of your melee weapon’s average damage over 6 sec.

Fury (1 point)

Cruelty – Rank 1/2
Increases the critical strike chance of Bloodthirst, Mortal Strike and Shield Slam by 5%.

Glyphs

Glyph of Shield Slam (Prime Glyph)
Increases the damage of Shield Slam by 10%.

Glyph of Devastate (Prime Glyph)
Increases the critical strike chance of Devastate by 5%.

Glyph of Revenge (Prime Glyph)
Increases the damage of Revenge by 10%.

Glyph of Cleaving (Major Glyph)
Increases the number of targets your Cleave hits by 1.

Glyph of Thunder Clap (Major Glyph)
Increases the radius of your Thunder Clap ability by 2 yards.

Glyph of Shockwave (Major Glyph)
Reduces the cooldown on Shockwave by 3 sec.

Glyph of Command (Minor Glyph)
Increases the duration by 2 min and area of effect by 50% of your Commanding Shout.

Glyph of Berserker Rage (Minor Glyph)
Berserker Rage generates 5 rage when used.

Glyph of Battle (Minor Glyph)
Increases the duration by 2 min and area of effect by 50% of your Battle Shout.

Do You Want To Level Faster Like The Pros?

If you are having trouble leveling or need to level faster in WoW Cataclysm I highly suggest you check out Zygor’s Leveling Guide. It has the perfect leveling path that gets you to 85 faster and easier than any other way. No matter what level you are, you load the guide and it points with an arrow to the direction of each monster, quest giver, trainer etc. Its pretty crazy. It also has an in game box that tells you exactly what to do, like kill 5 boars, run west 10 miles, etc. If you dont have this in game add on guide, honestly, you are missing out. You can find out more here or check out the Zygor Cataclysm Leveling Guide Review.