Tanking Cataclysm bosses.

After a period of testing, talking, messing, trying, laughing, fighting, swearing and disagreeing, I reckon I've finally come up with what I think are my tanking specs for the Cataclysm warrior. In truth, not much has changed since my original assessment of the talents and I still believe that Protection warriors are absolutely spoiled in their options for this expansion. Additionally, and I don't know about you, but I'm absolutely LOVING the new content and how my warrior is performing in it. In a world where raw power and effective health is far from the be-all-and-end-all, Protection warriors that can play are absolutely shining when they put their fabled toolkit to use.

It's also uplifting to see that Blizzard have pretty much nailed incoming tank damage and how much healing each class needs over the course of a fight; nothing worried me more than being "the guy the healers hated" and I'm happy to reference Zarko's look at the facts regarding it.

Well done, Blizzard - all we wanted was balance and you've provided it. The fact warriors and death knights are still working harder to achieve the same results doesn't bother me one little bit; it just means we're having more fun.

So, with the congratulations out of the way let's look at the talent specialization I've settled on.

The Boss Tanking Specialization.

I've arrived at 5/5/31 when you're up against the meanest and nastiest. It sacrifices the majority of your AoE tools, while picking up single-target DPS/TPS options and tries to make the most of our endurance talents considering we're likely to be taking the biggest hits.

So, some reasoning then (staring with the Protection tree):

Incite is pretty close to the best single target threat talent we have. Heroic Strike remains our biggest difference maker with regards to threat, so you can't build a single-target spec without it. In fact, a guaranteed critical Heroic Strike almost takes priority over everything else.

Toughness... Really? You want me to explain?

Shield Specialization truly shines when you're tanking more than one mob, but it keeps the rage flowing when you block - and with at least 40% block through mastery, you're blocking a lot.

Shield Mastery lowers the cooldown on Shield Wall (major cooldown) and Shield Block (minor cooldown) significantly; what's not to love?

Hold the Line is fantastic and the reason warriors favour parry over dodge. 10% Critical Block may sound underwhelming when it's a chance of a chance, but 10% critical strike rating for 10 seconds after a parry? Awesome, with an awesome uptime and even better when you're tanking more than one mob. Two of the best points you can spend.

Last Stand is pretty mandatory - it's our second major cooldown and marries well with Enraged Regeneration which, in turn, marries well with Field Dressing. Take it.

Concussion Blow remains part of the warrior mitigation toolkit, but works on bosses surprisingly often.

Bastion of Defence provides your immunity to critical strikes. Good luck to you if you consider it in any way optional.

Warbringer is my favourite talent, ever. I've waxed lyrical about it more than once, but this is where our fabled PvE mobility comes from, and if I came across a tanking warrior without it I'd consider spending a number of years learning how to hack their account. Don't be that warrior, please.

Improved Revenge gives more damage to Revenge itself, practically your most rage-efficient attack. Optional, I suppose, but I've yet to see anyone without it.

Devastate is one of those "rite of passage" talents that mark your arrival to that point in the tree. It's your basic filler attack that scales with weapon damage and replaces your (by now) much used Sunder Armor.

Impending Victory is potentially the most controversial choice in the list. It's awkward, doesn't heal for all that much (even with the Major glyph you'd have to take) and only works for the last 20% of an opponents health; which, funnily enough, is when your healers will want it most. The execute phase is almost always the worst part of a fight due to encounter mechanics and the fact that large parts of your raid will be running on fumes. It's up to you, but this is one of those talents that you desperately miss when you don't have it anymore.

Vigilance is a talent I've questioned the validity of a couple of times recently but, for any raiding content, you're going to want to have it. Get it on your other tank and let the taunt mechanic and extra Vengeance work for you when he's taking any form of damage. It's not always great when boss tanking and I wouldn't necessarily criticize anyone for leaving it out of this spec, but it fits nicely enough with everything else.

Heavy Repercussions gives you more Shield Slam damage while Shield Block is up. Other than for specific mechanics, you want to be keeping both on cooldown so it's a fairly unambiguous upgrade to your single-target damage and, therefore, threat.

Sword and Board is another gimme, really, so take it. As the late, great Veneretio pointed out, it's not exactly compelling; you'd be hitting Shield Slam every time it's available, anyway. But it lets you get more of 'em in, so it's pretty much mandatory.

Shockwave is our 31 pointer and there isn't much choice here. Nice for filling a GCD when Shield Slam and Revenge is unavailable, or if you're possibly looking for an extra stun. It's also pretty awesome for those "oh f**k" moments when your other tank dies and it's your turn to be raid hero.

Next up is our usual second stop, the Arms talents.

War Academy is relatively far ranging in its ability to buff Heroic Strike, Cleave and Victory Rush. For us, Heroic Strike is bolstered further and Victory Rush gets a bit more bite for the execute phase. Unambiguous threat upgrade, really.

Field Dressing is a talent that I expect pretty much every raiding warrior will take. It saves on healer mana, but also gives Protection warriors help with Blood Craze, Enraged Regeneration and Victory Rush; well worth the points.

Finally, moving on to the Fury tree.

Blood Craze has been hit pretty savagely by the nerf bat, but still finds its place into my boss tanking spec. It's uptime remains very impressive and, over a prolonged battle, it's still going to save healers a fair amount of mana. Not mandatory by any stretch, but still definitely worth it.

Cruelty was a talent I originally underestimated. I was concentrating on what it didn't do under my first assessment, not on what it did do. Okay, so we get no benefit from the buffs to Mortal Strike or Bloodthirst - but an added 10% critical strike chance to Shield Slam is obviously attractive. Marry your baseline critical strike chance to Rampage/Leader of the Pack, then toss in Hold the Line with Cruelty and you're looking at a 30% chance for your Shield Slam to hit harder than a rejection from Cherie Blair.

And we're there.

Obviously, these are my choices and many disagree. If you look at warriors on the blogosphere (or Premonition's Xav, my personal favourite) you'll see so many choices it's unbelievable. But, that means the developers succeeded in something else; returning choice to the playerbase. Cookie cutters may well develop but, for now, we're at an almost unprecedented stage in warrior PvE - there are several choices and all are viable.

Next up I'll have a look at the off-tanking/heroic spec and share my thoughts on it. But this is enough for today - I'd hate my readership to get bored.

Before I go, though, use the comments to share your thoughts - what talents have surprised you with their relevance, or perhaps been an underwhelming let down?

The return of the Warbringer.

The last expansion saw quite a few nerfs to Protection as a spec. We saw some pretty awesome buffs (Revenge being a particular highlight), but nerfs always get more emotional attention.

The most difficult nerf to accept over the last expansion, for me, was the nerf to Warbringer. It was a talent that was absolutely iconic to the Protection warrior and it was the "flavour" that truly distinguished the spec. Those who learned to love Warbringer (easy) and those who learned to get the most out of it (difficult) soon found themselves in a winter wonderland of mobility that other tanks couldn't touch.

Then the nerf bat came out again because of PvP and how Protection was performing in that environment - Warbringer no longer broke roots.

This was the lowest point of the expansion for me, I'd say. I could stomach the other changes and "re-balances" because I wasn't there to do damage or have the highest effective health; so long as I could do my job, which I could, I was content. But the nerf to Warbringer cut into our PvE utility so much it was rough to take. Yes, I can understand why it happened and that Protection warriors were doing too much damage while being too much of a nuisance in arena. The cut in Concussion Blow damage was another symptom. I can also appreciate that the use of Intervene mitigated the squeeze, as did the fact you didn't spend all that much time rooted. But the way the talent FELT was just so right for the Protection warrior; that last bastion who defends his comrades at all costs and is at his most dangerous when backed into a corner.

This is why I love talents such as Hold the Line or Impending Victory. For me, they eloquently capture what a Protection warrior is, and they're the reason I play the game. My DPS contribution and stamina are just numbers; they don't directly contribute to my enjoyment of the game. But talents or abilities that have feeling, tradition or the oft-maligned "flavour" are what keep me playing my warrior to the exclusion of all else.

There is another ability I played around with in beta and, despite its bad press, I loved it. Again, the relative strength of the ability concerns me less than what it does, how it looks and what it represents. There is nothing that fits a warrior more than seeing him hurtling through the air, risking life and limb, to defend his friends at all costs.

Of course, I'm talking about Heroic Leap.

Despite the mauling it received from sceptics and cynics who either took Ghostcrawler's words too literally or flat-out didn't understand them, Heroic Leap is FUN. It adds to the Protection warrior mobility repertoire, while also looking absolutely fantastic (and warrior-like) when it's used; heck, it also provides that extra boost to our AoE output during a pull. But it's an ability that absolutely screams "warrior" and for that reason alone, I'm destined to love it no matter its numerical relevance.

I have one problem with it, though. Your friends are under siege, you need to get there faster than a squirrel with diarrhoea, and you need to get there with purpose. You know, making a statement. This is where Heroic Leap shines for you as a Protection warrior, in feel and effect, but it's also potentially the most aggravating occasion.

"FFS, I'M ROOTED!"

This is where my beloved Warbringer comes in (and where, if you were smart, you might have started reading).

Why can't Warbringer break roots for both Intervene and Heroic Leap?

I understand it's a powerful point for any tanking warrior, but why can't Heroic Leap be freed up for warriors as that last ditch, final effort that lets them put it all on the line for comrades? Heroic Leap itself has a 60 second refresh which means such a thing couldn't be abused, and the Fury tree has Heroic Fury to get them out of a pickle on a similar cooldown. I don't think it would be overpowered to give tanks back their way of breaking roots via the use of an ability that hints at such use by its very name, and from a talent that Arms or Fury won't have access to in order to double dip it.

I want to bring war to all opponents who choose to attack my friends.
I want to heroically leap to their defence when they're in any danger.

Let's see Warbringer granting the root breaking power of Intervene to Heroic Leap.

Come on, Blizzard.

You know it makes sense.