Warriors have a history of being the toughest class to level, they actually made it to #1 hardest class to level out of any class in the game in my previous article.

With the release of WOTLK blizzard shook up all the talent tiers and introduced new spells/talents. They did something pretty interesting with the protection tree and made it a very viable leveling option.

Protection has been highly regarded as the best leveling choice for 70-80 due to its high survivability, no downtime, and ability to AOE grind mobs and complete group quests solo! Combine this build with the best leveling guide to get to 80 the fastest possible.

You are also able to use this protection build to efficiently main tank in instances all the way up to level 80, which is great because you save money on respeccing, the only talent you’ll really miss is vigilance for the threat generation.

Continue reading for the build.

Build

Here is the build you should start off with at level 70: (7/3/51)

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=LGMZhZVIzrxczibIzsGo

This build gives you the ability to AOE 10-15 mobs at once. Stay in defensive stance and remember your Titanium Shield Spike’s. Tunderclap + Shockwave deal out ridiculous amounts of damage to a group of mobs and when you need health use shield block then activate Enraged Regeneration and you will leave a 10-15 mob fight with 90% health left.

This is the final level 80 build you should be working towards: (12/8/51)

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=LAM00bZhxZVIzrxczibIzsGo

Gearing for Prot Leveling

You should have a mix of tanking gear and STR/Crit gear, only taking Defense rating for tougher fights like group quests. Block Value has some great benefits as well but focus on STR/Crit, Coren’s Lucky Coin is a great trinket to use with this build.

While DW prot is best for single target leveling; Berzerker stance, DPS gear, Dual Wield. AOEing mobs for quests is a lot more fun and time efficient, plus the prot tree has a lot of synergy with multiple mob fights.

Major Glyphs

Here are some great glyphs that work the best with this build.

Major: Glyph of Revenge

Major: Glyph of Heroic Strike

As Fury used to be the best leveling spec from 20-70, Prot has come to the forefront making leveling much easier for warriors and providing survivability and great DPS with minimal to no downtime. Combine this with a great leveling guide like Zygor’s Guide or Joana’s Guide to get to level 80 the fastest possible. For the best FREE leveling guide read the review here.

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