Talent Questions [PvP] (I will rate you up)Follow

I am making a PvP protection-based -- defensive stance -- build.
35 points in Protection
5 points in Arms (Deflection)

I don't want to be a major damage dealer, but I want to be "that annoying Tauren" that just won't die easily. Sunder Armor, Disarm, Shield Bash, these things will keep the enemy annoyed while my friends do some damage. Also, hoping I might be able to take on a mage one on one, with the help of potions.

I have 11 points to distribute between the following... (These are where my questions are located)--->

Option I: (11 points)
Anticipation: 10 defense... How much does 10 defense really help? I've heard of shields that add 1500+ defense, so is it worth "wasting" 5 skill points in anticipation? (5 points)
+
One-Handed Mastery: +5% damage... Let's say a one-handed axe does 100 damage... So, the +5% is only, like, 5-10 extra damage? >_> (0/5 points)
+
Improved Sunder Armor: Adds 20%(2/3) or 30%(3/3) armor reduction to the Sunder Armor skill I would only need 1 extra point to max this talent.

Option II: (6 points)
Tactical Mastery: Keep 25 rage when stance-change... By having Tactical Mastery, it will allow me to initiate a fight with a Charge or Intercept. If I do not have this talent, is it still worth it to pull off an Intercept/Charge, then switch stance to defensive? Or, should I just not take Tactical Mastery, and initiate the battle with a defensive skill? (0/5 points)
+
Anger Management: 30% more time before rage decay... If I go with 5 Tactical Mastery, I might as well put an extra point into Anger Management. (0/1 point)

Option III: (11 points)
None of the above + Battle Shout, Improved Demoralizing Shout, Piercing Howl. (0/11 points) Leaving me as nothing really but a Demoralizing Shout debuffer and a stunner/tank. [Most PvP builds I see have Piercing Howl, so should I not even bother making a PvP build that does not include this skill? If I take it, I will not have any of the other skills above "Last Option:," plus only have 2/3 in Improved Sunder Armor.


Any suggestions, or able to comment on my questions, please? Options can be mixed. Thank you, I greatly appreciate your time.

Edited, Sun Dec 12 03:20:05 2004 by Shpongle

Thank you for your response. May I ask your Warrior credentials? =:-) Like, did you play in beta or something? Do you currently play a warrior in PvP? Just wondering... =:-)

Anyway, you are right, what is the point of putting 5 points into "One-Handed Mastery" if I didn't even bother to add any other types of offensive talents.

Also, thank you for the information on "Anticipation." I figured an extra +10 defense might not be worth the loss of 5 points in another skill, especially with a shield I saw that goes up to 1800+ defense.

I will have to find another talent to take 1 point out of, because if I go for "Piercing Howl" it will use up all 11 of my points, thus leaving me missing 1 point to maximize "Improved Sunder Armor."

I figure 3/4 of the talent builds I've seen are offensive, so I might as well be that "other kind" of warrior. =:-)

Thanks again!
Shpongled

"Anticipation: 10 defense... How much does 10 defense really help? I've heard of shields that add 1500+ defense, so is it worth "wasting" 5 skill points in anticipation? (5 points)"
-Shpongle

Just thought id point out that your youre confusing the defense skill with the armor stat. Though related, they're two different things. As for how effective the talent is, theoretically it should be as if you had the defense of somebody two levels higher than you. In reality however, i have yet to fully test this out, because my char only has two points in that talent right now. As for its effectiveness so far, its noticable, but nothing to get excited about...yet. I'll give more information when i put another 3 points into it.

5 Defence does the same as having one additional lvl, defensive wise. From what i can see levels do nothing in WoW. Only the skills and stats you gain from leveling.

Adding additional defense would help but i have not gone that way.. yet..

Also don't just put points into things for the effect. You have to think of the big picture or you end up loosing allot of money on respects.
Like, for instance i wanted to spec into Maces (adds 6% chance to do a 3 sec stun every time i hit) and im using 2 one hand maces. So i needed to spend 25 point into the Arms spec before i could train into it, so i speced accordingly. I also have spec into overpower so i have a 50% chance to crit. So basically i use my two maces and when my target dodges my attack i switch to my Axe that has a max of 148dmg (slower the better), then i use overpower and then switch back to my maces. I have also gone into bleed and additional crit dmg. So when i crit i also get 38dmg a tick bleed on my target.

Now im going to go into the protection tab and get some stuns. Also improve my aggro holding and tanking capabilities.