Comments

Comment by rinkx

Currently (november 3 '08) the best tanking weapon for both paladin and warriors available pre-dungeon. It offers a great amount of def rating (26) to be uncrittable for your heroics and raids, and a decent amount of stamina and strength to survive and produce threat.

It is a reward from a 3-man wanted quest, way more easily obtainable than Grom'tor's Charge in TBC.

Upgrades from heroic dungeons:
Rare quality
Clouderstrider's Waraxe (Varos Cloudstrider in The Occulus Heroic)
Infantry Assault Blade (Prince Keleseth in Utgarde Keep Heroic)
Both are the same stats, except the axe is faster than the sword.

Epic quality
Red Sword of Courage (King Ymiron in Utgarde Pinnacle Heroic)

Upgrades from Raids:
10-man
Slayer of the Lifeless (Gothik in the Military Quarter of Naxxramas )
25-man
Broken Promise (Four Hourseman Chest, Naxxramas)
Last Laugh (Kel-Thuzad, Naxxramas)

source: Wowhead, 1h gear sorted by protection warrior weight scale

Comment by Turnip86

This is quite an interesting weapon tbh. There's not many slow 1h'ers that have defensive stats on, in fact I can't recall any off the top of my head.

From a Prot Warrior's point of view this is an excellent weapon for solo play or small groups. The slow speed is great for Devastate and Cleave due to the high end damage so you'll be seeing some pretty nice hits. The stats and expertise really top it off as a good all round weapon giving you less chance to be dodged or parried and the strength will add 10 block value (I may have to be corrected on that point but i'm under the assumption that 2 str = 1 BV?) which adds to shield bash

Personally I'd take this over the other tanking rewards for this quest - https://www.wowhead.com/wotlk/item=44734 and https://www.wowhead.com/wotlk/item=44736 - for levelling purposes just because of the harder hitting Devastates and Cleaves which really do help when aoe tanking. Between Sword and Board and Glyph of Revenge you're gonna be kicking out some pretty decent dps with this. Also at this level a fast tanking weapon shouldn't really be needed and there's quite a bit of choice in later levels for a fast weapon to start raiding with.

But again, as with most items, it's down to personal preference and you're play style :)

Comment by Mortenz

This is actually a very good mace for a protection Paladin.

It will cause Hammer of Righteousness to do even more damage, thus more threat. (Single target).

The str also provides some block value for Shield of Righteousness, which is also nice.

Id say its a matter of playstyle.

Comment by 250776

I have been looking for a slow weapon to level and tank 5 mans with. If your looking at this for that purpose its great because of the slow speed and defense.

Comment by frmorrison

I picked this reward for tanking because it has the most defense, which is the most important stat imo until the cap. Also the faster one may be more threat, but that isn't an issue.

Comment by 251688

This is by far the best weapon for prot leveling warriors to pick.
This is because of two reasons;
- Slow speed, harder hits with almost every attack. And believe me that makes a huge difference. A weapon with 1.6 or 1.7 hits revenge for about 800-900 on 74 (crit 1600-1800 +10% from imp defensive stance) weapons with 2.6 hit revenge for 1100-1300 and crit for 2500-2600.. now that's damage for a prot leveling warrior.
- The reason that you got to have a fast weapon because of hs dump isn't as valid anymore as before. HS dump is less relevant because of the use of revenge and it's glyph.

In therms of tanking the other two are a bit better. But since the instances are really easy and don't require alot, please get this for leveling and get another faster weapon from a later instance. easy enough.

Ultimately it would come to personal taste I guess, so don't criticize people because of their personal favor.

My two cents.

Comment by 146438

this is an excellent prot warrior weapon. the slow weapon speed is obviously horrible for infinite rage situations, but i've found myself rage starved while soloing or doing trash, so im not using heroic strike as much anyway. if you find yourself in a situation where you just have TOO much rage, put on a faster weapon (you can switch weapons during combat) and HS away. problem solved. nothin says you only need one weapon

Comment by Keidric

There has been considerable changes in WotLK for Protection warriors.

Some of the comments above either rely on the outdated protection tanking mentality, or don't fully encompass all the issues in one single post.

The first thing to consider is this quest can, and should, be completed at 64. That means whichever weapon is picked, it will be used primarily for leveling. When a player moves into raiding at 80, there will be upgrades. (This weapon can last to 80. For reference, here is a level 80 quest that offers a fast avoidance sword Def/Parry Sword

Why leveling as protection warrior, we often mix in some pure DPS plate, although not usually that much because of what Blizzard has done with Strength and Shield Slam. Generally speaking, in WotLK, defense plate for shield using deep protection warriors, is like DPS plate without +crit, and at times, without +hit. (Which is why we tend to add in a piece or two.)

So, since we don't level in full defense plate, going full defense weapon would be counter productive for the vast majority of our time.

Now I'm sure we will probably tank a few instances along the way. The main goal for all gearing up tanks is raw +defense to become un-critable. (Its no longer 490 at this level, and we no longer get +defense from our talents.) Its almost safe to say that a average warrior is going to need +defense in every slot other then their trinkets, which really should be +block related. This pushes the sword, which has no defense, down the list of appeal. The remaining reward is a mace with +dodge. +Dodge, and +Parry (Which is what the sword reward has.) is also somewhat unattractive for the leveling protection warrior because we actually want to be hit so we can block, gain extra rage from another talent, and do our passive damage shield. Blocking, and the damage shield is how we primarily "AOE" tank now. Been wondering why protection warriors are way up there in the damage done charts now? A big part of it is the shield blocking damage shield.

The part above about not wanting to dodge and parry, and instead block, applies to standard leveling as well, not just instances. (Which is another nod to this axe as the best reward.)

> Parry and dodge now suffer much more from "diminishing returns" which puts a nod towards this axe once again.

> Expertise is totally a tanking stat. It means more hits on the mob so more DPS, thus more threat. (Which is a bonus for both leveling and instancing.) This weapon has it, and when it comes attached to defense, strength, stamina, and good solid 1hand DPS its extremely attractive, much more then parry and dodge.

Add in what other people have said, and a little more:
> Devastate will cause more damage.
> Devastate can make protection warriors #1 DPS component cost zero rage.

> With the improvements on Revenge, its now part of a standard rotation, sometimes it was not pre-WotLK.
> With the improvements from talents to Thunderclap, its now part of a cycle when multi-target tanking, whenever it is available. Before WotLK it was to just keep it up before it ran out.
> With Concussion blow causing more threat then Heroic strike and Thunderclap, it to comes into the "max threat" Debate.
> Toss in Shockwave now as well.
> Heroic Strike might be free from using Revenge.
> Add the items above and we have less time for "rage dumping" before specials with higher threat then heroic strike become available.

(Could add in something about humans getting expertise with swords and maces, not axes.)

I suppose the final thing to add is, stuff is dead before we get a chance to heroic strike rage dump nowadays, so its another nod towards the slower weapon... this axe!

Wow, I sound like a fan boy or something.. =) So ill add even one more thing... Axes are cool! I'm tired of a sword!

Comment by 97145

I'll be succinct as possible so I don't wall of text you like everyone else.

Pick this if you already have a good tanking weapon and need an alternate weapon for using cleave as your aggro dump, or for getting extra yield out of retaliation as an aggro method, or tanking as arms using Bladestorm. If you don't have a good regular tanking weapon, I would pick either the sword or the hammer, since a fast weapon for single target tanking is important because of heroic strike.
Don't listen to people talking about devastate damage, devastate is horribly low on the priority list for prot skills, such as shockwave, shield slam, revenge, and does not occur as often as it used to. This will not generate more single target aggro than either of the one handed weapons, least of all as protection spec.
I would take both the mace and the axe if I could, but as I cannot, the mace is much more vital to replace King's Defender, so I took the mace.

Comment by persiarash

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet, but this is actually a pretty good axe for enhancement shamans as well. Although the defense rating isn't all that helpful, the expertise and strength help a lot. Not to mention the speed, it would make for some nice WF and SS hits. I also believe this is one of the earliest upgrades for enhancement shamans from TBC weapons.

Comment by 260241

If your a dwarf you may want to take the mace due to the +5 expertise to one handed and two handed maces and so has greater expertise than the 2.7 (at 74 so it wont scale as you level) you get from the axe.

Comment by kingkingdon

i don't think this would be an ideal weapon for warrior tanks. its too slow.. you don't need to do a load of dmg since u already can hit with devastate a lot which generates the right threat. i would personally pick the mace out the lot for this quest reward since i am a warrior and i think your threat generation should be smooth and constant not in long jumps.

Comment by 98621

in case you didn't know they change our mechanics, prot warriors that is, devastate is a support move, and heroic is a dump at best, they are not the same as tbc, they fall far behind revenge and ss along with others like tc etc....weapon speed is not as important as it was before plain and simple, you either adapt with the new mechanics or fall behind, your choice

Comment by 292572

IMO this is one of the best warrior tanking weapons until you get the Red Sword of Courage from H-UP.

Dev and H-strike rank the lowest of all my priorities. Sheild Slam, Revenge, and T-clap being my higher ones.

Currently, warrior tanks have enough and avoidance mitigation to breeze through just about any encounter. (Reference tankspot) Thus, many tanks (including myself) have been maximizing DPS by going into talents such as Deep Wounds (in lieu of max Cruelty).

Deep wounds isn't fail like it has been in the past since it is now a rolling dot.

A slower weapon will max the dps from the deep wounds proc as it can proc off dev, SS, revenge, h-strike, and cleave.

As mentioned before, the rage dump capacity of this weapon will be less, but it isn't as big of a deal as it has been in the past. With threat gen higher than ever and avoidance on diminishing returns (and currently not that much is necessary to complete all content), just max dps instead.

Comment by 25840

Guys, thank you very much for giving me facts for chosing that weapon.

Actually me as dwarf prot warrior had no other choice than the mace. Because of the racial and the old school blabla.

But the looks! This axe looks so much better than the tanking log and the rusty saber.

Comment by Obolox

Ok so I picked up Hammer of Quiet Mourning by accident. What should I get in order to start tanking heroic 5 mans?

Comment by NeoBlackheart

I am reading alot about this being good for Protection warriors. Really its ok for them and Pallies but where this really come in is for Dualwielding Death Knights. They like to have slower Main hands and faster off hands because alot of our skills are instant cast and are based off how much damage our main hand does. Meaning a slower main hand deals more TPS than a fast one for a Death Knight.

Again this is just for the few Death Knights who think Dual Weilding is a viable Tanking spec.

Comment by emilkva

is this weapon good for shaman dps?
im a 73 shaman almost 74 shaman and need a answer fast if this would be on my list of Must....

Comment by Brunk

Anyone know which Enchant I should put on this for leveling my 74 Prot Warrior? I was thinking Mongoose, but maybe there's a better enchant around for leveling?

Comment by Freakydiki

This axe should not ever be on a 80 tank imo...unless u need expertise for some reason...but for pala tanks Eternally Folded Blade is a way better sword...i used this till i got the one from H UK

Comment by 286621

Nothing I see here convinces me that a slower weapon is better for warrior tanking.

Yes, the axe is well itemized, but it's sloooow. Heroic strike has always made up a larger part of my threat than devastate, and with the glyph and sword and board, devastate has become an even smaller part of my rotation than it was in BC.

You're not exactly on target with your comparisons to BC tanking:

> With the improvements on Revenge, its now part of a standard rotation, sometimes it was not pre-WotLK.
> With the improvements from talents to Thunderclap, its now part of a cycle when multi-target tanking, whenever it is available. Before WotLK it was to just keep it up before it ran out.
> With Concussion blow causing more threat then Heroic strike and Thunderclap, it to comes into the "max threat" Debate.
> Toss in Shockwave now as well.
> Heroic Strike might be free from using Revenge.
> Add the items above and we have less time for "rage dumping" before specials with higher threat then heroic strike become available.

1) Revenge has always been a core part of the rotation: SS > Revenge > Devastate > Devastate. With 100% uptime on shield block, revenge was guaranteed to have procced by the time it was off cooldown.
2) Thunderclap has always been spammed when tanking large pulls. Yeah, it only hit 4 targets, but you needed it to keep 4 of the mobs off the healer. Now you can use it to keep the mobs off the AoErs, too.
3) Concussion Blow and Shockwave both cause more threat than Devastate, making them higher priority than that even on single target fights. Neither of these abilities preclude using heroic strike, though, it's on next attack, not on the GCD. It's either Shockwave/Conc Blow or Devastate, but it's Shockwave/Conc/Devastate AND Heroic strike.
4) Free heroic strikes from revenge means more heroic strike spammability, which argues in favor of a fast weapon.
5) Rage dumping through heroic strike takes Zero time, it's off the global cooldown and on next swing. It is not used in place of another attack, it is used in conjunction with other attacks.

Threat from individual Heroic Strikes are independant of weapon speed or damage, it's a flat x damage and y extra threat. That means the more often you can use it, the more threat you get from it. It doesn't replace a special attack, it's in addition to a white swing. So the more heroic strikes you use, the more threat you generate.

Finally, with our increased rage generation due to higher white DPS from all the AP we now get and the ability to use Berserker Rage in defensive stance, not to mention Warbringer, we have much more rage to burn than we did in BC.

Blocking, and the damage shield is how we primarily "AOE" tank now

This really hurt your credibility in my eyes. First, https://www.wowhead.com/wotlk/spell=58874 Damage shield does damage whenever you take damage OR block, you don't have to block. Secondly, warrior AoE tanking is primarily how it always has been: Tab target, Cleave, spam TClap. It's much easier and more effective now because we also have Shockwave and TC hits an infinite number of targets and much harder. Damage shield helps some, too. But it is far from the majority of our AoE TPS.

Bottom line: This axe would have been great early on in BC when I was sucking down rage pots and devastate spamming to offtank Gruul. Now, the speed hurts it. It's still well itemized, and an Orc should probably take it if he doesn't have an alternative axe, but there's no way I would have replaced my Cleavers of the Unforgiving (https://www.wowhead.com/wotlk/item=33476) for it.

The only reason I can think of Blizz putting in the slow tanking weapons was for DKs to dual wield. Fast weapons are still superior for warriors.

Comment by humma

As you hit 80 Axe of the Sen'jin Protector is the easiest to get a great upgrade for this axe. You can start doing quests for the Argent Tournament @ level 78. If you hit 80 in another 2 days, it would only take you 10 more days to get this axe. By then, you probably have enough gear to be hit-capped.

Good luck

Comment by 147328

can the the horde side do the quest to get that axe

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Crescent of Brooding Fury

	Phase 1

Item Level 175
Binds when picked up

One-Hand	Axe

203 - 378 Damage	Speed 2.60

(111.73 damage per second)
+20 Strength
+39 Stamina
Durability 90 / 90

Equip: Increases defense rating by 26.
Equip: Increases your expertise rating by 14.

Sell Price: 12 92 84

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