Hello,
I just got some advice from a very good and experienced tank that tanking in Classic is only fury prot dw and that prot specc have become so called “meme specc”.
Is this correct and I can forget about doing it the Vanilla way even if being an Offtank in the later raids? And is the webpages like icy veins totally wrong when they say fury prot is when you overgear the content? Or is it still possible to use the good old Vanilla prot specc with talents for threat without letting down the raid later on in the raids (works good in MC to be prot).
I would like to know if there is really no other way or if its just someone told someone but you can still do decent as tank in prot specc? Can for example 2 tanks be fury dw and one be prot specc? I would like some more opinions before I give up the way I always played 
Fury/prot is gear dependant if you plan to wear full mitigation gear and a sheild or you are a fresh 60 then protection is superior as it doesn’t require the offensive gear or DW to output threat and for dungeons prot is better than fury prot.
However you will be threat capped regardless of spec if your fresh 60 tank just don’t duel wield in pre raid unless u like repair bills.
Late game when u got a good amount of crit for flurry uptime this is when fury/prot starts to shine if you got good mitigation gear you can mix and match your offensive and defensive gear to the point your way ahead in threat while mitigating enough damage where your health isn’t jumping up and down like a ping pong and on bosses that you cannot taunt fury/prot is better than prot to threat when you don’t have the aggro as prot you do low threat because you can’t sheild block/revenge or have the rage generation aggro gives.
There is no denying that fury/prot is better threat wise
That did not like answer my question if its possible for me to stay being prot specc and not let down the raid when being offtank.
If its possible I love being prot like in old Vanilla.
You can go full prot, but this will also mean fights will take alot longer.
DPS will have to hold back constantly and healers will have to chug alot more consumables.
In short, noone will like you and you will let the team down.
depends entirely on the raid you are in. a lot of people would consider it griefing or would gladly replace you with someone that can easily outperform you with a different talent set
Well looks like real Vanilla is really dead and retail is here too then, I dont understand this fury dw at all probably cause it was not intended by gamedevelopers either.
Will try to read about it but seems the guy who told me its needed was right, theorycrafting crushed the game.
2 Likes
Not entirely true as a healer I prefer deep prot tanks because most fury/prot tanks do not know when to pop on a sheild and sheild block and wonder why they die when they take 2 crushing blows in a row and die in a second you don’t get that problem with deep prots they always have sheild block and mitigation gear and the damage they take compared is night and day and I have never needed a consumable until patchwerk regardless of how long the fight takes.
DPS on the other hand will hate deep prots as they do need to hold back on damage and half of the DPS reading a threat meter is too complicated and they like to Zug Zug their 1 button rotations until they die.
Deep prot is entirely viable I’ve seen deep prots tank all raids and they make great off tanks and main tanks if the DPS wanna chill but there does need to be a fury/prot tank for geared raids on kill targets that need to die fast.
Hi,
Let me start by saying
Fury Prot does not mean squishy no shield, besides the 4% armor increase and the rage conservation when stance-dancing, fury prot should be as tough as deep prot.
If your tank doesnt know when to pop a shield , or is too squishy, its his gameplay and or his gear, NOT the talent tree.
Now for the OP:
Deep prot kinda works when youre MT. If you wanna be OT its even worse, because as an Offtank , most of the time youre doing practically nothing much , and as fury-prot you can dual wield and do some damage with flurry and bloothirst.
Its not a meme spec and no vanilla didnt die. But you standing for 3 hours doing 100 Damage per Second and tanking 25% of the time (offtank role) there is absolutely no reason for you to be a deep prot tank.
Idk why you put a negative spin to it as “oh, I guess the game is ruined by theorycrafting blizz didnt mean this”. The rotation is the same; replace shield slam by bloodthirst and thats literally it.
Try it out and see for yourself.
Tldr: deeprot is fine for MT, bad for OT.
deepprot doesnt not make a tank less squishy.
1 Like
It kinda does make them more squishy as you need alot of crit gear for flurry uptime as it’s a big factor for your threat as sword and board and if your wearing full mitigation gear you will do less threat than a deep prot in full mitigation gear as sheild slam is the highest threat ability with lower rage than bloodthirst and it is not effected by gear as much well unless your tanking without a sheild then fury prot will threat more but then again you are more squishy with no sheild.
Fury/prot hands down are better tanks on taunt immune bosses as you can do good threat without aggro and you do more DPS than a prot can ever do.
Squishiness again depends on the player and his gear.
A lot of tanks abuse the crit chance and wear ridiculous amounts of “threat” gear, looking more like a DPS warrior.
Also to know when to switch mid fight DW/shield depending on where youre at:)
Again, youre partially right for the gear, but the talent tree has nothing to do with it
Talent wise your right but I’m talking about fury prots who do wear the crit gear if your going full on mitigation all the time then deep prot is better but overall fury/prot is more flexible as you can swap and change gear to increase threat or increase mitigation wear a sheild or go ham on 1 handers so many options but you cannot deny a deep prot in full mitigation has the edge Vs fury prot in same setup I mean world buffs are massive for fury/prot but meh for a deep prot as crit effects his threat less
I made a guild struggled a lot to find ppl who want to progress from the beginning that is do guild MC (cleared) and guild BWL, then AQ40 etc. But in order to make the guild I got another guild to join us with very experienced players including a raidleader who is MT.
He says all 3 of us tanks should be fury prot and forget everything about the old Vanilla. He is very good and knowledgeable and I would like to listen. But first of all I wanted to enjoy the game plus when I dont know how to play or what to gear in the different specc I will most likely fail mobs go loose and raid dies cause of me when I am fury tank.
So I was wondering if there is any chance I can stay prot and explain myself not just “I am GM of guild I deserve to be what I want”. Or if I have to reroll some other class since it cant be defended to be prot in the raid. Or just WoW quit since this is no Vanilla at all but some new kind of game.
I love playing with the shield and knowing what gear to aim for and stuff like this, for fury prot I have no idea what to gear and I got information I need different gear on different bosses without info where to find out what gear. I cant stand being the reason of raid failing cause I dont know how to play the new kind of warrior that someone theorycrafted and gamedevelopers did not intend for 
Tanking these days is dynamic and depends on alot of factors. Setup, boss, wBuffs, consumbles, damage, raids gear etc will change what gear you wear (depending on what gear you have), when and if you go in with shield, and so forth.
Since the treshold is threat these days, and not mitigation/damage input, its naturally something speccs and playstyle lean towards.
So if you planned on having 1 static set and a cookiecutter build for all encounters and events, then dont expect the other factors to be optimal (if people would tag along at all).
Sure you could go oldschool, but as it lowers the threat roof for the raid they would have to hold back or be undergeared not to risk taking threat from you.
Deep prot does fine it’s actually better to go deep prot if you have less gear as your threat will be low ether way may as well wear a sheild so u don’t die often.
When your geared you have to consider going fury prot for the flexibility and an easier time since anyone doing 700+DPS is gonna be capped if your main tanking the kill target as deep prot.
No difference man stop making up a whole scenario of failure.
I told you its the same:
When tanking a mob. Wear shield, use taunt and same rotation:
Replace SSlam by bloodthirst.
BT/SS > Revenge > Sunder Armor > Heroic Strike
When NOT tanking a mob but you wanna be second on threat behind the Main Tank , use the same thing but instead of a shield be dual weild.
No raid is going to die because youre fury prot man.
And what do I gear for different bosses, what shall I for example wear to ZG to train the new specc ? I could do it easymode as prot since I have some gear on me.
Shall I use fury prot specc for icy veins (they say its if you overgear the place)?
Same gear.
Hit till 9%>stam> Armor > stre/agi
Same gear but when you see some rings or necklace that has crit and stuff take them aswell.
ZG is easy whatever gear is fine.
In general just have some Stam/armor heavy pieces, and some crit/agi pieces that you could replace them with.
Edit: I understand youre used to an old way and feel safer, but trust me afte a couple of runs you’ll its as easy, and youll do more damage and threat.
Tried today the new way and got a feeling the threat depend a lot on luck if some abilites procc (used wowheads talent build for fury/prot) and give much less control over what we are doing + rage is depleted very quickly.
But maybe it will work will see, would prefer the old long raids but if the only way is like this now to see the raids then well lets do it that way 
1 Like
Seems like the tanks you play with are eighter brain afk or just bad.
Hi all, I’d like to share my experience with the original poster.
I am an old school vanilla tank, grown up with “sword and board” style starting from end game dungeons and proceeeding into raids with my shield. I really love shields, and the only things that I love more, is SHIELD SLAMMING

Considered this, I joined a guild that started clearing the endgame content on phase1. I am still a OT in the same guild and for some bosses, I go MT. I always used deep prot spec and no raid mate was ever complaining my threat. Other tanks (also the MT) go fury/prot and have an advantage on threat generation, but they pay this with a lot more deaths. Since aq40 was released I was be able to loot some heavy crit/agi plate gears that bumped up my crit chance. I respecced then as impale/prot, a deep prot variations that sensibly generate more threat, still using shield and shield slam.
In conclusion: play the tanking style you love, mate. You still can stay prot and be very useful in the raid.
Good game all, guys!
Moah
1 Like