Protection is a priority rotation with one upkeep button. Keep Shield Block up, and the blocks it makes pay the Rage for everything else and unlock Revenge.

Before the pull

Stand in Battle Stance a few seconds before the pull, cast Retaliation, then step into Defensive Stance before the boss reaches you. Retaliation lasts 15 seconds and strikes back at every melee swing from the front, so the boss's first swings pay you damage and threat. A stance change keeps up to 10 Rage and you have none yet, so the swap is free. The opening is worth 6.1 % on a one-minute single-boss fight, and most on short fights: 6.1 % on one minute.

Priority

Read the list from the top: press the first ability that is ready and allowed, then look again from the top. It isn't a sequence to repeat.

1. Shield Block whenever it is down. For 10 Rage you get +75 % block for 7 seconds or two blocks. The boss swings every 2 seconds, so the two blocks last about 4 seconds and the 5-second cooldown leaves a short gap. Each block pays 5 Rage through Shield Specialization and opens Revenge, which is why the line is worth 11.7 % of your threat.
2. Shield Slam on cooldown. 17 Rage with Focused Rage, every 6 seconds, worth 18.9 %.
3. Revenge whenever it lights up. It costs 2 Rage, and after a block, dodge or parry you have 5 seconds to use it. At 25.8 % it is the most valuable line in the rotation.
4. Heroic Strike at 23 Rage or more. It replaces your next swing, and that swing pays no Rage, so it only spends what the rest of the list leaves over. It goes out about 14.7 times a minute and is worth 12.4 %.
5. Bloodrage when you are short of Rage. The line itself is level (0.0 %), because the automatic cooldowns would fire Bloodrage anyway.

The list also has Thunder Clap for when its slow is about to run out. On one boss, skip it. The benchmark raid already keeps the slow on the boss, so the cast only adds a hit worth 0.9 % of your damage for a global and its Rage, and taking the line out gains 0.3 %. If nobody else in your raid claps, keep it up: the boss waits 20 % longer between its swings.

More than one target

Against three bosses the list changes in three places. Cleave takes over as the rage dump in most rotations and becomes your largest damage source, 40.2 % of your damage on a three-minute fight against three bosses. Thunder Clap goes on cooldown, because it reaches all three bosses: about 9.4 casts a minute against 2.2 on one boss. And Shield Wall goes out the first time you fall below 90 % health.

Shield Block still goes up on cooldown, but three swing timers eat its two blocks in about a second, so it is up 35.9 % of the fight instead of 88.2 %.

That is why its line drops to 2.1 % there, while Shield Specialization's rage from all those extra blocks is worth more (9.3 %).

Cooldowns

Mighty Rage Potion goes at the pull and again two minutes later. It is worth 3.9 % on a one-minute single-boss fight, and most on short fights, where one potion is a bigger share of your rage: 3.9 % on one minute. Trinkets with a use effect go at the pull too.

Shield Wall takes 60 % off your damage taken for 12 seconds on a 15-minute cooldown. On one boss the threat lists only press it below 40 % health, which our healed tank never reaches, so keep it for the moment your healers need it. On three bosses it goes out the first time you drop below 90 %.

Retaliation has a 15-minute cooldown, so you get it once, before the pull.

Bloodrage costs health, not a global: press it whenever you are short of Rage.

Cooldown	Uses	At
Retaliation	1	0:00
Bloodrage	1	0:01
Elune's Light	1	0:01
Everlook Pathcarver	1	0:01
Mighty Rage Potion	1	0:01

What your log should show

Put your Warcraft Logs report next to this table. A Revenge count well below it means you are letting the window run out. A low Shield Block count means swings are landing unblocked.

Ability	Casts per minute	Of damage	Crit
Revenge	10.7	25.6 %	24.6 %
Heroic Strike	14.7	25.3 %	25.8 %
Shield Slam	9.7	18.4 %	24.9 %
Auto attack	11.0	12.1 %	23.7 %
Auto attack via Windfury Totem attack	5.2	6.4 %	24.8 %
Retaliation	4.4	6.0 %	31.6 %
Retribution Aura	–	3.0 %	0.0 %
Everlook Pathcarver	1.0	1.2 %	17.2 %
Thunder Clap	2.4	0.9 %	11.4 %
Thorns	–	0.8 %	0.0 %
Dragonbreath Chili	–	0.3 %	9.6 %
Bloodrage	1.0	–	–
Retaliation	1.0	–	–
Battle Stance	1.0	–	–
Defensive Stance	1.0	–	–
Shield Block	10.7	–	–
Elune's Light	1.0	–	–
Mighty Rage Potion	1.0	–	–

Look for about 10.7 Shield Blocks, 10.7 Revenges and 9.7 Shield Slams a minute.

Thorns shows up as your own damage, and so does Retribution Aura when a Retribution paladin is in your group: their threat is yours.

With a Shaman's Windfury Totem you get a second auto-attack row for its extra swings.

Uptimes

Buff or debuff	Uptime	Times per fight
Defensive Stance	100.0 %	2.0
Windfury Totem aura	100.0 %	13
Thunder Clapon the boss	100.0 %	3.2
Shield Block	87.9 %	11
Blood Craze	84.7 %	15
Revenge	68.9 %	22
Enrage	66.7 %	5.7
Heroic Strike	44.8 %	14
Holy Strength	37.4 %	2.1
Mighty Rage Potion	33.3 %	1.0
Elune's Light	25.0 %	1.0
Retaliation	23.3 %	1.0
Overpower	18.5 %	2.5
Windfury Totem	5.6 %	8.9

Watch Shield Block most: it should be up about 87.9 % on a one-minute single-boss fight. While it is down, the boss's crushing blows and crits are back on its table. Revenge's window is open about 68.9 % of the fight, and you have 5 seconds to use each one.