Protection Warrior Tank Gear and Best in Slot — 12.0.5

The best gear you can find will come from the Weekly Mythic+ chest, now known as the Great Vault, and from Mythic Raiding. In addition to these, you can also place crafting orders once you have the necessary pieces.

While a definitive BiS list is hard to create, there are cases where specific gear can be best in slot. For example, some trinkets have extremely powerful special effects, and you will want to seek them out regardless of the item level. Sometimes, some rings have special effects that outweigh item level increases or the benefit of specific secondary stats.

As a general rule of thumb, any increase in item level is an upgrade. For Protection Warriors, the value of all the secondary stats is close enough together that you should only look at what secondary stats a piece has if you are comparing across the same item level. Not only that, but Stamina and Strength increases are significant as well.

All in all, if you come across gear that is an item-level upgrade (or has a socket and your current piece does not), equip it. If two pieces of equipment are the same item level, equip the best piece according to the stat priority. Finally, be aware of gear where the item level does not matter as much, which is the case for specific trinkets, rings, and gear with special effects, etc.

Upgrading gear in Midnight continues to use the Crest system which lets you increase the item level of gear along tracks that relate to where you obtained the item, which harder content dropping gear that can be upgraded to higher Item Levels. For more information, read up on our dedicated page on how the gearing system works and what has changed in the Midnight expansion.

OverallMythic+Raid

This list contains the Best in Slot Gear for Season 1 of Midnight. BiS lists are created in a vacuum, so for the best result, always sim yourself.

Below you can find some quick information about the delicate trinket tuning.

• Heart of Ancient Hunger is as strong as Umbral Plume. The upside of the latter is that it can be switched over to Radiant Plume for a Mastery boost instead.
• Algeth'ar Puzzle Box is theoretically a strong trinket. If you can use it consistently, it is competitive with the trinkets mentioned above. If you cannot use it consistently, or the on-use puts you at the risk of dying, do not use it.

FAQWhich Tier Set Pieces Do I Want?

Season 1 is a great season for us. Almost all of our Tier pieces have Haste and Crit on them! The odd one out are Gloves. As such, we want to prioritize Helmet, Shoulders, Chest and Legs. Even after you get all 4, using the Catalyst to convert Feet or Waist into Tier is a great option as they also come with Haste and Crit!

Protection Warrior

1.1.

Overall Best in Slot

Night Ender's Tusks Helm

Catalyst or Lightblinded Vanguard

Voidclaw Gauntlets Hands

Seat of the Triumvirate

Eternal Voidsong Chain Neck

Crown of the Cosmos

Night Ender's Girdle Waist

Catalyst

Night Ender's Pauldrons Shoulders

Catalyst or Fallen-King Salhadaar Silvermoon's Mending

Night Ender's Chausses Legs

Catalyst or Vaelgor and Ezzorak Forest Hunter's

Adherent's Silken Shroud Cloak

Crafted by Tailoring

Night Ender's Greatboots Feet

Catalyst Shaladrassil's Roots

Night Ender's Breastplate Chest

Catalyst or Chimaerus Mark of the Worldsoul

Eye of Midnight Ring

Midnight Falls Enchant Ring - Silvermoon's Alacrity

Shirt

Occlusion of Void Ring

Nexus-Point Xenas Enchant Ring - Silvermoon's Alacrity

Tabard

Gaze of the Alnseer Trinket

Chimaerus

Spellbreaker's Bracers Bracers

Crafted by Blacksmithing

Umbral Plume Trinket

Belo'ren

Turalyon's False Echo Main Hand

Crown of the Cosmos Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Ward of the Spellbreaker Off Hand

Magister's Terrace

The below list consists of gear, which is only found in Mythic+ dungeons. This does not mean that these items are the best for Mythic+, but that they just drop from dungeons instead of anywhere else. BiS lists are created in a vacuum, so for the best result, always sim yourself.

TipsWhich Dungeons Should I Farm?

If you have limited time to play the game, we recommend to farm the following dungeons:

• Seat of the Triumvirate: Drops 3 decent items, including a weapon.
• Algeth'ar Academy: Algeth'ar Puzzle Box as an all-around strong trinket.
• Magister's Terrace: Drops your best shield.

Protection Warrior

1.2.

Best Mythic+ Gear

Night Ender's Tusks Helm

Catalyst or Lightblinded Vanguard

Voidclaw Gauntlets Hands

Seat of the Triumvirate

Necklace of the Twisting Void Neck

Seat of the Triumvirate

Riphook Defender Waist

Windrunner Spire

Night Ender's Pauldrons Shoulders

Catalyst or Fallen-King Salhadaar Silvermoon's Mending

Night Ender's Chausses Legs

Catalyst or Vaelgor and Ezzorak Forest Hunter's

Adherent's Silken Shroud Cloak

Crafted by Tailoring

Night Ender's Greatboots Feet

Catalyst Shaladrassil's Roots

Night Ender's Breastplate Chest

Catalyst or Chimaerus Mark of the Worldsoul

Omission of Light Ring

Nexus-Point Xenas Enchant Ring - Silvermoon's Alacrity

Shirt

Occlusion of Void Ring

Nexus-Point Xenas Enchant Ring - Silvermoon's Alacrity

Tabard

Heart of Wind Trinket

Windrunner Spire

Spellbreaker's Bracers Bracers

Crafted by Blacksmithing

Algeth'ar Puzzle Box Trinket

Algeth'ar Academy

Scepter of the Endless Night Main Hand

Seat of the Triumvirate Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Ward of the Spellbreaker Off Hand

Magister's Terrace

The below list consists of gear that is only found in the Raids. Raid. This does not mean that these items are the best for Raiding, but that they just drop from there instead of anywhere else. BiS lists are created in a vacuum, so for the best result, always sim yourself.

TipsWhich Raid-Items Do I Want Most?

There are a lot of good items from the various raids. Below you can find a few which you should prioritize first.

• Gaze of the Alnseer: Drops from Chimaerus in The Dreamrift. The same boss also drops our Tier chest.
• Turalyon's False Echo: Drops from Crown of the Cosmos in The Voidspire, with just the right stats.
• Radiant Plume / Umbral Plume: Drops from Belo'ren in March on Quel'Danas and is a really solid second all around trinket.

Protection Warrior

1.3.

Best Raid Gear

Night Ender's Tusks Helm

Catalyst or Lightblinded Vanguard

Emberborn Grasps Hands

Belo'ren

Eternal Voidsong Chain Neck

Crown of the Cosmos

Ezzorak's Gloombind Waist

Vaelgor and Ezzorak

Night Ender's Pauldrons Shoulders

Catalyst or Fallen-King Salhadaar Silvermoon's Mending

Night Ender's Chausses Legs

Catalyst or Vaelgor and Ezzorak Forest Hunter's

Adherent's Silken Shroud Cloak

Crafted by Tailoring

Night Ender's Greatboots Feet

Catalyst Shaladrassil's Roots

Night Ender's Breastplate Chest

Catalyst or Chimaerus Mark of the Worldsoul

Eye of Midnight Ring

Midnight Falls Enchant Ring - Silvermoon's Alacrity

Shirt

Bond of Light Ring

The Voidspire Enchant Ring - Silvermoon's Alacrity

Tabard

Gaze of the Alnseer Trinket

Chimaerus

Spellbreaker's Bracers Bracers

Crafted by Blacksmithing

Radiant Plume Trinket

Belo'ren

Turalyon's False Echo Main Hand

Crown of the Cosmos Acuity of the Ren'dorei

Bulwark of Noble Resolve Off Hand

Imperator Averzian

Itemization

Enchants and Stat Priority

Looking to optimize your character? Check out our Enchant and Stat Priority guides for more information!

EnchantsStats

Trinkets are some of the more unique items in the game due to their various effects. They can either help bolster your defenses or assist in dishing out even more damage. Regardless of which you will choose, below you can find a list of other noteworthy trinkets for us. There is still number tuning on-going, so this list will be volatile depending on the changes to come.

Click for Protection Warrior Trinket Rankings

Ranking	Raid	Mythic+
S Tier	Gaze of the Alnseer	Umbral Plume / Radiant Plume
A Tier	Umbral Plume / Radiant Plume Heart of Ancient Hunger Algeth'ar Puzzle Box - Click for Details It has a 2 second cast-time, so be sure to take that into consideration. It can be used fairly easily in Raids, but would require more management in Mythic+. If you cannot use it on CD, it drops down to B/C tier.	Heart of Ancient Hunger Gaze of the Alnseer - Click for Details Still an incredibly strong trinket worthy of, but in Mythic+ it loses some value due to traveling between packs. Void Stalker's Contract
B Tier	Heart of Wind Light Company Guidon Darkmoon Dominion: Hunt Kroluk's Warbanner - Click for Details Only decent in single-target, any additional targets lower this trinkets value. Solarflare Prism Vessel of Tortured Souls - Click for Details This is only worth it if you can actually pick up the souls consistently. Otherwise it falls off dramatically and should not be used. Undreamt God's Oozing Vestige - Click for Details Not great in single-target, but its value rises slightly in AoE. Rotting Globule - Click for Details Not an offensive trinket, but a defensive one. One of the few actually useful ones that you want to pick up. Solar Core Igniter - Click for Details Not an offensive trinket, but a defensive one. One of the few actually useful ones that you want to pick up.	Heart of Wind Light Company Guidon Darkmoon Dominion: Hunt Latch's Crooked Hook Rotting Globule - Click for Details Not an offensive trinket, but a defensive one. One of the few actually useful ones that you want to pick up. Solar Core Igniter - Click for Details Not an offensive trinket, but a defensive one. One of the few actually useful ones that you want to pick up.
C Tier	Mark of Light Void Stalker's Contract Latch's Crooked Hook

As a general rule, you do not want to have two on-use trinkets, since if you use one, the other one will also get a 30 second cooldown. Considering this, you should aim to use either two passive trinkets, or one passive and one on-use. Few example combinations of trinkets can be found below.

Example Combo #1

On-Use - Algeth'ar Puzzle Box
Passive - Gaze of the Alnseer

Example Combo #2

Passive #1 - Umbral Plume / Radiant Plume
Passive #2- Gaze of the Alnseer

Algeth'ar Puzzle Box is a great trinket overall, but it has the downside of a 2-second cast time. The issue here is that while you are channeling the trinket, you will not be able to block incoming damage. In raids this is usually not a dealbreaker, since you are not tanking constantly. However, it becomes more problematic in Mythic+. This creates two main issues when using this trinket in dungeons.

1. If you channel the trinket before the pull and then start gathering mobs, which usually takes about 5–10 seconds, you end up wasting a large portion of the trinkets duration.
2. If you channel the trinket during the pull, you take significantly more damage and risk dying because you cannot block while channeling.

Because of this, although the trinket has great theoretical damage, it can be risky and often impractical to use in real dungeon situations.

In the following sections, you can find some additional noteworthy gear. To better understand the secondary stat prioritization for gear, look at the guide below, where each of the stats is broken down into bite-sized pieces.

A good shield is the most important piece of gear. Shield upgrades provide a much larger defensive boost than upgrades to other slots.

You can acquire high item-level shields from dungeons, raids, and the Great Vault weekly chest. The following shields are available from current dungeons and raids.

Item	Source
Ward of the Spellbreaker	Seranel Sunlash, in Magister's Terrace
Reflux Reflector	Chief Corewright Kasreth, in Nexus-Point Xenas
Crawth's Scaleguard	Crawth, in Algeth'ar Academy
Viryx's Indomitable Bulwark	High Sage Viryx, in Skyreach
Bulwark of Noble Resolve	Imperator Averzian, in The Voidspire

Use the highest item level shield you can, regardless of its secondary stats.

Just as shields are important, so are weapons. They increase our damage output, allowing us to provide more to the group's performance. Below, you can find a solid selection of weapons.

Item	Source
Turalyon's False Echo	Crown of the Cosmos, in The Voidspire
Scepter of the Endless Night	L'ura, in Seat of the Triumvirate
Spellbane Cutlass	Vexamus, in Algeth'ar Academy
Malfeasance Mallet	Arcanotron Custos, in Magister's Terrace
Beakbreaker Scimitar	Rukhran, in Skyreach
Blade of the Final Twilight	Fallen-King Salhadaar, in The Voidspire
Warworn Cleaver	Commander Kroluk, in Windrunner Spire

As with shields, use the highest item level weapon you have, regardless of the secondary stats.

Patch 12.0.5 brings back two familiar bonus roll systems, which help reduce the randomness of item drops.

• Nebulous Voidcore is a Bonus Roll which can be used on bosses. Every boss has a specific loot table, and each time you get a item with Nebulous Voidcore, it gets removed from any further bonus rolls on that boss.

• Ascendant Voidcore is used to increase the item level of any fully upgraded Hero- or Myth-track trinkets or weapons, in addition it can also be used on any maximum quality crafted items.

Seasonal Mechanics

Voidforge and Voidcores

Check our our guide on the Voidforge to learn how to acquire this powerful upgrades!

Go to Guide

Nebulous Voidcore usage is dependant on the content you are doing. You do not want to waste them on Heroic Raid bosses if you know you will be killing the same boss on Mythic difficuly down the road. Opposed to that, if you know that you will be only raiding Heroic, then using the Voidcores there makes perfect sense.

Voidcore (Bonus Roll) Priority

1. Mythic Track Weapon, if you do not have a crafted one
2. Mythic Track Shield, if you do not have a crafted one
3. Mythic Chimaerus for Gaze of the Alnseer
4. Mythic Crown of the Cosmos for Eternal Voidsong Chain
5. Mythic Belo'ren for Umbral Plume / Radiant Plume

While all the loot in the list is from Raids, the same item slot logic follows when using Nebulous Voidcore in Mythic+ dungeons instead. If you use them after a Keystone 10+, you will obtain a Mythic track gear piece.

Properly prioritizing the usage of Ascendant Voidcores is fairly simple, as there are only a few items you can upgrade with them.

1. Weapon on Mythic track is your first upgrade.
2. Trinkets on Mythic track, but only long-term ones like Gaze of the Alnseer and Radiant Plume.

Embellishments are various additional effects on craftable items. These can be either baseline effects on certain items or other effects that can be added by optional reagents when crafting an item.

While there are multiple embellishment options, you can have only two active at any time. There is still tuning on-going, so I recommend not to rush with crafting embellishments. That said, below we provide some initial feedback based on current tuning. Remember to use Thalassian Missive of the Fireflash as your default stat combination.

Protection Warrior Crafting Order

1. Spellbreaker's Blade
2. Spellbreaker's Bracers
3. Swap the Spellbreaker's Blade for Adherent's Silken Shroud once you get access to a Mythic upgraded weapon.

Crafting a shield first instead of a weapon is also a valid option, you will not go wrong either way.

Protection Warrior Embellishments

• Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt on a weapon as your initial craft.
• Arcanoweave Lining on a low budget armor slot like Wrists or Back.
• Swap the Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt to another Arcanoweave Lining once you get access to a Mythic upgraded weapon.

For more information about crafting gear you can visit our Professions page.

To upgrade your gear, you will use Crests, obtainable from various forms of content in the game. They can be used to upgrade gear depending on which track they drop in.

Since you need more Crests per upgrade level, it would be advisable to not upgrade your gear with Mythic crests in the first couple of weeks of Midnight. Once you do decide to upgrade, below you can find a list of rough priority on which items to upgrade first. For the best upgrade option for your character, be sure to sim yourself.

Crest Upgrade Priority

Weapon = Shield ➜ Helmet/Chest/Legs ➜ Trinkets ➜ Shoulders/Gloves/Belt/Boots

Throughout this page and elsewhere in our guide, we regularly refer to the importance of simming yourself on Raidbots. This is because every character is unique, and each gear piece you have access to can change what is best right now for you.

While we do offer recommendations for gear and trinkets, these are not complete replacements for simming yourself. The only way to truly optimize your character to that degree is by making use of the tools available!

Optimization

Simulations and Tools

For further reading on how to truly maximize your character's potential, check out our guide on Raidbots!

Go to Guide

Mwahi

Guide Author

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This guide has been written by Mwahi, a Protection Warrior theorycrafter and moderator of the Skyhold Warrior Discord.