Kinless' Chronicles

Fury+Protection. Looking for some thoughts.

Can I play a Fury Warrior, and be Protection at the same time? I.e. can I level, and tank, with one build?

My experience with playing a Warrior has been pretty much that of leveling one up. I've never been a regular group's "main tank."

But I do know a thing or two about tanking, I think, and I always carry a shield and a +STA one-hander for tanking purposes.

A couple of days ago I joined a pug in the Auchindoun. Not sure which part of it. The level 70 Mage that went with us (Shadow priest, two hunters, the mage, and me) complimented me on my tanking. Thanks. Not bad for a Fury + some Arms Warrior I guess.

But I'm always wondering "Can I do more?"

Blackhoof got a whisper the other night. "You Resto?" "No." Nothing more. Somebody was seeking a healer for an instance, and they decided to go with a Shaman?? Hmm. But I do know, as an Enhancement Shaman, that I'll sooner or later need to set up one of those "Take a number" units to dispense tickets, and then I'll call out, in general chat, "Alright. #53. #53? I'm ready to join your group now. /Invite please." You know everyone wants an Enhancement Shaman along to join their groups. Ah, ha, ha! I jest! qq

Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes, "Can I do more?" Can I be of more use to others than just myself. And, frankly, now that we've made Droonda a killer queen, gunpowder, gelatine, dynamite with a laser beam, guaranteed to blow your mind, anytime windfury procs, she does do a little DPS. She gives my DPS numbers a run. Stormstrike and she steals my aggro.

So, could I party better if I were a tank that could do some damage? I.e. keep some of my Fury, to let me put my The Planar Edge to use someday, and still be more of a tank than I am now, go into the Protection tree some?

Can I be Fury/Protection and enjoy the benefits of both worlds? It's got to improve my tanking from what it is now. But would I give up too much DPS?

What do you think? My reasoning is below...

Link to build.

Warrior Talents TalentsMinimum Required Level: 70Required Talent Points: 61

Fury Talents - 30 point(s)

Cruelty - rank 5/5
Critical strikes are good.

Unbridled Wrath - rank 5/5
Need more rage!

Commanding Presence - rank 5/5
Improves Battle Shout for fighting, Commanding Shout (at 68) for tanking.

Dual Wield Specialization - rank 5/5
I need to remain viable in DPS for grinding/questing.

Enrage - rank 5/5
This leads to Flurry.

Flurry - rank 5/5 (filling this talent last to 70)
This for the fighting.

Protection Talents - 31 point(s)

Anticipation - rank 5/5
Defense skill is good.

Shield Specialization - rank 5/5
Put that shield to use when I'm using one.

Improved Shield Block - rank 1/1
More blockage.

Improved Revenge - rank 3/3
Stunning.

Defiance - rank 3/3
Need threat to hold aggro.

Improved Sunder Armor - rank 3/3
Faster, cheaper, sunders, easier threat maintenance.

Improved Taunt - rank 2/2
"Don't hold back too much. I've got it."

Concussion Blow - rank 1/1
Stunning. If it's stunned, it can't hurt me.

Improved Shield Bash - rank 2/2
Silence.

One-Handed Weapon Specialization - rank 5/5
This must apply to off-hand one-hand weapons as well.

Shield Slam - rank 1/1
Threat.

So, to you Warriors out there that Tank and DPS. How does this look? I don't PvP at the moment so don't see the need for Mortal Strike.

Now I briefly played around with a 41 point Protection build earlier. I liked the feel of Devastate.

Now with a The Planar Edge in hand, would Devastate be worth getting vice the ten points I've put in Enrage+Flurry?

I'm thinking the One-handed Weapon Specialization + Dual Wield Specialization must stack so for PvE/non-tank fights, I'd be dual wielding.

110% damage on main hand + 85% damage on off-hand. (vs. 110% on main hand + 60% on off-hand).

Or I could skip Shield Slam and take Blood Thirst.

Is the 30 rage getting me 217+ damage and +150 health recovered worth it?

Versus the 20 rage 478-502 damage, plus threat?

Thoughts on the proposed build please.

Edit: Some further analyses on my part, and using Llew Mason's Armory analyses, and the numbers there.

Improved Shield Bash silences for 3 seconds. Ordinary Shield Bash will interrupt the spell and stop casting from same school for 6 seconds. That's probably enough, and this would be a PvP ability. 48% of Protection Warriors use it. So I could drop that. Improved Revenge is used even less, 43% of Protection Warriors use it.

Now Concussion Blow, Defiance, Shield Slam, and Shield Specialization, all of which I've planned, these are the Top 5 talents Protection folks take. Good. Vitality is next, but too far down the tree. Toughness next, and I can take that.

So I'll drop Improved Shield Bash, and Improved Revenge and put the points into Toughness.

The same 0/30/31 build, but following the crowd.

P.S. Yes, yes, my gear sucks. I'm casual and suffer from self-induced altitis. I won't be tanking your Karazhan raid. Nonetheless, advice would be appreciated.

Edit: Deflection. 5% Parry. How do I work that into the build? I'd assume 5% parry chance is 5% damage avoided. Which means rage generation is avoided. Keeping One-handed Weapon Specialization over in the Protection tree generates 10% more damage, which implies more rage. Parry would decrease my rage, more damage would increase it. Since I'm also Fury, and need rage, it seems that it's best to not take Deflection at the cost of One-handed Weapon specialization.