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.
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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Very intresting read
This build works very well for AoE grinding. I am level 71 (started the build at 70) in full season 1 gear and sword n board. I can take on mobs of 10 guys at once and end the fight with about half of my hp (6k).
What skill rotation are users using when using the protection build? FOr single and ae?
Well y im gonna try it now it looks very nice to do and another thing u are prot so easy tanking/ finding groups
and u are gonna get protection gear so u will be good geared at lvl 80 so u can start raiding 
I disagree with the points in Improved Heroic Strike, Last Stand and Improved Revenge.
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=LGMZhZVIzrxczibIzsGo is a better spec at 70 imo.
More mitigation/avoidance without impacting you DPS. Come patch 3.10 where warriors get rage from block/parry/dodge, high avoidance protection warriors are going to be unstoppable.
And never ever leave defensive stance even when levelling. Shield Slam plus Devastate is your bread and butter Dps rotation.
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Nice Man .. I hate fury .. because I used to tank before WOTLK ..
Any way .. noob Question .. What sort of weapons I have to use? and should I use shields?
Thanx
Reply to tankid. Yes you should use shields and for leveling i would use a good amount of str and crit gear with a good dps sword. with tanking instances and group quests(if needed)use your def gear.
this is a nice build….
but i also disagree with the imp heroic strike… i find myself hardly ever using it.
shield slam, devistate, shockwave + revenge w/e it pops up, i burn threw them. altho im not lvl 70… 68 =p i solo all my group quests, i havent pulled 10-15 mobs yet tho! i should give it a try… i pull average of 5…. great build… in fact mine is almost the same!
the new prot build is amazing. i cant see myself respecin any time soon. unless they make fury warriors as durable! lol… dual wielding 2h prot!? wtf =p
I’m giving this a shot.
But I wasn’t too crazy about improved revenge and last stand.
This is what I’m using right now at 73:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#LGZhxZVIhMxczibIzsGo
Do you guys think a slow or fast weapon is better for this?
ledskof, you should really think about using imp reveng cause 2/2 you get 50% chance to stun. and when youre mass aggroing thats about 500 less damage you will be taking from 1 mob per tick. as well as imp disarm because specing 2/2 gives your target 10% more damage taken. and if youre using this spec just to level all the rest is good; if youre using to tank as well, vigilence is a must. and last stand is good as well for those not too sure of bosses
So what is your ideal build for just leveling? And how fast of a weapon would you use?
I’m assuming for fighting multiple mobs that the faster the better for rage dumping via Heroic Strike… But for single mobs a slower weapon perhaps?
My interests are purely for leveling, not grouping at all. I’m concerned that if I don’t focus on leveling to 80 I’m going to just quit for another 6 months again. I’m not going to tank or anything until I hit 80 and then I’m going to respec as a pure tank for doing nothing but tanking.
http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?warrior=0422000000000000000000000000000305000000000000000000000000253350205003012520330113321&glyph=000000000000&version=9947
Try to see if this spec is ok for you. Its maxxed out but still. you can take some pointers to it.
I am doing the provided spec up to 70 (bear in mind the Bloodrage changes made me do 2/3 Puncture and 1/2 Imp. Bloodrage. 10 rage devastate is cheap enough!), and it works a treat in AoEing down mobs.
A tip is if you Shockwave with shield block up, you’re wasting it.
Pull the mobs, Demo Roar, Shockwave, TC, THEN Shield Block.
great build even for pvp. all the stuns can usually preven casters and healers from doin much of anything. mobs are noooo problem w a good shield and weapon. plus my armor is over 16000 for lvl 73 dwarf
How should you be gathering up high amounts of mobs(5 and up)? I’ve just been running around via mount and collecting usually 5-6 before losing aggro range…
@PB&J
Simple way to gather mobs. Go to a well populated area, and try to take the shortest paths there is. If you have a range weapon,I.E. bow or gun, then use that or heroic throw would work as well. Try to use an aoe Like Thunderclap or Shockwave as to not lose aggro on all or most of the mobs. Keep spamming the aoe and you should be fine. Hope this helps
I’m trying this build atm, seems to be working great! Have gemmed my gear with STR/crit gems, and I can tank all the instances around my level, and kill multiple mobs at the same time.
Thank you, this has brought me some knowledge of the prot warrior levelling. <3
I see how a spec like this could be good for multiple mob grinding, but wouldn’t a titan’s grip spec be faster for just general questing, which mostly involves single mob targeting?