Shadowlands Tank Rankings - Best Tanks for Mythic+ Season 1

Posted 2020/12/15 at 12:18 AM by trellsky

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Mythic+ Season 1

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Hi, I’m Trell. I am a writer for tanks in Mythic+ for Wowhead, and a host of the Titanforge Podcast. I started playing WoW in Legion and have loved it ever since. I have been a top ranked tank player focused on high Mythic+ since the launch of BFA. I enjoy competing for the highest keys possible on live servers, and competed on several MDI teams throughout the BFA seasons. I am a monk player at heart so you can be sure to find lots of Brewmaster-focused content on my Twitter, My Youtube channel or Live on Twitch. Feel free to stop by and say hello!

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Aspect of the TurtleGushing SlimeGlobgrogOverall Tank Rankings (pros/cons)Front RunnersVengeance Demon Hunter

Pros: Vengeance is in a great spot right now, with very high damage output in dungeons mainly from Elysian Decree and Spirit Bomb. Vengeance mitigation improved from BFA with the addition of Fel Devastation baseline, which when paired with the Demonic talent allows more uptime on meta alongside Fiery Brand and Demon Spikes charges as mitigation options. Vengeance is the highest damage tank class and has quite a bit of self healing like usual. Vengeance still has high magic damage reduction built in, with more being available through conduits, something that not every tank has access to. It is a high mobility class that brings a mass silence in the form of Sigil of Silence and Sigil of Chains for grouping as well. Both sigils are strong in mythic+ (Sigil of Misery is also great for stops). Vengeance also brings Chaos Brand, a flat damage increase for the group depending on their damage profiles.

Cons: On the flipside, DH still has gaps in mitigation still, and may need to play a lower damage build with higher mitigation in super high keys (this is usually the case with Vengeance). The combination of Burning Alive, Agonizing Flames, and the Fiery Soul legendary allows a build where fiery brand is active on several mobs in the pull quite often.

Covenant utility: Aside from the popular Elysian Decree for damage and soul generation, Demon Hunter has access to some unique utility in the Venthyr ability Sinful Brand. This ability is very interesting and can change the entire spell queue of a boss by slowing its attack and cast speed at the right time. It also can be applied to an entire pack of mobs by entering Metamorphosis and could be quite impactful on what is possible to pull without running out of interrupts or stops in my opinion.

Guardian Druid

Pros: Bear is the most sturdy tank in most situations in dungeons currently, especially during major cooldowns. Berserk is now baseline, with the talent Incarnation: Guardian of Ursoc as an option to make it last longer and more powerful. Bear has several great legendaries and conduits to choose from (some tanks suffer in this area). Druids in general have pretty solid endurance and finesse conduits compared to most classes as well, such as Front of the Pack and Well-Honed Instincts. New utility can be brought to the group with the return of Call of the Elder Druid off-healing in Restoration Affinity (or damage in Balance Affinity). Much of the same utility still exists for bear as well: access to a battle rez with Rebirth, Typhoon or Ursol's Vortex, Incapacitating Roar, Stampeding Roar, Soothe, and a poison/curse dispel: Remove Corruption. Guardian is looking to be a very well rounded tank for many dungeons.

Cons: Bear lacks damage outside of Berserk or Incarn. It’s not terrible damage, but it’s not Vengeance levels. As usual, bears are vulnerable going into a pack or boss, but after the first 10 seconds or so of combat they have full resources flowing for Ironfur uptime and full stacks of Thrash on the targets.

Covenant Utility: Kyrian and Night Fae both give Guardian new and interesting abilities that help the group in different ways. Kindred Spirits can save a party member's life quite often, as well as increasing damage output. Convoke the Spirits is a very flexible ability and can be used for damage or healing in large numbers, and can be cast in different forms to produce different spells.

Brewmaster Monk

Pros: Brewmaster got some good stuff going into Shadowlands. With the addition of Celestial Brew to the base kit, Monks have a powerful shield to pop once or possibly twice every pull. Monk damage in mythic+ is currently looking above average after a few buffs and changes namely to the Invoke Niuzao, the Black Ox ability. Brewmaster now has more tools to attain threat at the start of pulls with the addition of Spinning Crane Kick baseline, and the revamped Shuffle playstyle feels great (I’m a little biased). Brewmaster continues to be a very strong utility source with Ring of Peace and Leg Sweep, as well as bringing Mystic Touch, and a poison/disease dispel in Detox. An attempt was made to give Brewmaster a death grip, but unfortunately Clash is extremely buggy and doesn’t really move the targeted mob far at all. It’s better used as a short mass root on the mobs near the targeted mob.

Cons: Stagger values are lower in the first season, and will be pretty noticeable until monks are geared around heroic raid item level (210-213ish). Early on, monks will take a lot of damage and might not seem great, but after some time and more stats they will likely flow better defensively and be able to get much better use out of Celestial brew on any given pull.

Covenant Utility: Brewmaster covenant active abilities don’t add a ton of utility, only damage and healing in different forms. When using Bonedust Brew or Faeline Stomp, try to hit some of your party members as well for some extra group healing.

Middle of the PackProtection Paladin

Pros: Prot Paladin was changed to use holy power again, and in doing so gave much higher uptime on Shield of the Righteous (SOTR). Prot pally remains similar to BFA otherwise but the big change is that instead of having gaps in mitigation by default, the paladin can choose whether to drop SOTR to use more casts of Word of Glory (WOG), or to keep SOTR rolling and only use the free WOG from every 5 SOTR casts. I think Pally is in a great spot rotationally, and brings a lot of utility to the group like usual. Every Paladin spec now has Devotion Aura (and other auras) as well. Blessing of Protection, Blessing of Sacrifice, and Blessing of Freedom remain powerful tools, as well as having a personal immunity to solve some dungeon mechanics: Divine Shield. Paladin excels in many dungeons with more interrupts than the average tank because of Avenger's Shield, brings a disease/poison dispel with Cleanse Toxins, and currently does quite a lot of damage during cooldowns as well.

Cons: The downside of Paladin is the base mitigation. Even though is up almost full time now, the armor it gives is fairly low in the grand scheme of things. Paladin received an armor nerf a few weeks back and I think that will cause it a struggle to survive higher level keys.

Covenant Utility: Divine Toll is a very flexible active ability, and can be used as a mass silence on several caster mobs. This is pretty big for Paladin to have access to for mythic+. The Night Fae ability Blessing of Autumn may be pretty impactful by giving cooldown reduction to a party member. If there is another situation where one DPS spec is extremely powerful (late-BFA fire mage) in high mythic+, this has potential to be very good when paired with that specialization.

The OthersBlood Death Knight

Pros: DK continues to be the most self sufficient tank in terms of self healing, but at the cost of low armor. Going into Shadowlands, DK was given Rune Tap baseline and easier access to Blood Tap to help with extra mitigation windows and some on-demand rune generation. Anti-Magic Zone is also a welcome addition and will be quite impactful in many heavy group damage situations. DK utility has always been top notch, having Death Grip and Gorefiend's Grasp as great grouping tools. DK brings a battle rez in Raise Ally, immunity to certain kinds of debuffs through Anti-Magic Shell, Control Undead and Asphyxiate. DK also has a conduit that may scale well eventually to do some great group healing: Blood Bond

Cons: DK is liable to get one-shot by high amounts of physical damage through Bone Shield. This has been true for the last few patches and will continue in high keys due to the nature of how the tank spec is designed. It is very hard to balance blood dk to a point where it is sturdy enough to live tons of damage, but not too overpowered because of having an enormous amount of self healing through the synergies of Death Strike and cooldowns like Vampiric Blood. DK lacks quite a bit of damage currently, especially burst AOE damage, and struggles to get threat on pull against experienced or well-geared DPS players. DK could use some love for dungeons! Until damage or threat is buffed DK's are mostly forced into running all offensive talents and options, such as Bonestorm and Swarming Mist.

Covenant Utility: Abomination Limb is definitely an interesting ability for mythic+ as it gives DK’s even more grouping utility. While it’s a little unreliable, it could be great for dealing with mobs that constantly jump away (example: half of the mobs in Spires of Ascension).

Protection Warrior

Pros: Shadowlands Prot warrior continues to have the highest base armor, and when Shield Block is up has the highest physical mitigation by far. Warrior is quite a bit different now with the many talent changes coming out of BFA but still brings the unique and powerful Spell Reflect. Recent data has come out indicating that this no longer damages bosses in mythic+, but it will still allow warriors to ignore certain mechanics on bosses, and reflecting trash mob abilities is still very impactful as well. Warrior doesn’t do a ton of damage currently, but it does have some decent burst with , Dragon Roar and covenant abilities. Warrior still has access to much of the same utility from BFA: Shockwave, Storm Bolt, Intimidating Shout, and Intervene to protect party members from some physical attacks. Shattering Throw was added baseline in Shadowlands - use it on the Nalthor the Rimebinder fight to shatter his shield).

Cons: Warrior talents were completely changed around, ending the era of Anger Management cycling with Bolster to give nearly 100% uptime on shield block. This means that shield block has many more gaps in uptime now and it is very dangerous for the warrior when it’s not up. This will cause big problems in high keys, similar to the issues with Vengeance mitigation uptime. Avatar is no longer a strong defensive ability without the synergy of the azerite trait Bastion of Might. Some threat issues now also exist for warrior because the playstyle is so different, but Challenging Shout was added at least to solve threat issues on some pulls.

Covenant Utility: Warrior has some unique covenant abilities that add damage and good utility. Ancient Aftershock can stop many casts back to back if there are casters all grouped in the effect. Spear of Bastion is similar to Ursol's Vortex and allows the warrior more freedom of kiting, as well as adding good burst damage. Conqueror's Banner can also help the group a bit by adding some HP to 2 other party members to help survive a one-shot.

Conclusion

Comment by QuanruonThis might just be me but the guardian druid, Prot paladin are Markman hunter class guide links and bloodDKs link doesnt even work.Comment by kevincuomoHealed a 190 BDK in a +8 and it felt like i was healing a mage tank.Comment by kattenHealed a 190 BDK in a +8 and it felt like i was healing a mage tank.Comment by AinarikOnly issue with those rankings is that some people will reject any tank classes that is not in the top tier for pushing their +3 key, despite all the disclaimers that tell that it doesn't matter if not pushing +20 keys.Comment by ChungtaoBDKs are long overdue on their Mastery rework. I hope there is some potential to be fulfilled, as the puny overshields they get are as good as no Mastery passive at all.

As stats begin to accumulate, their resource economy gets better and reduces the mitigation downtime. But that only applies to encounters where they are not getting one-tapped in 2 seconds. The amount of casters and anti-kite mechanics doesn't make it any bit easier as well.

Also, if you make an unkiteable mob in a dungeon that 100 to 0% you with one ability (Aboms in Necrotic Wake on high keys), maybe make all tanks actually tanky enough to reliably survive that for a 6th time in a row.Comment by seijulalaAs a healer (doing 10-12 this week) I just refuse to join a party with either Warrior or Dk. Those tanks are broken, it's a nightmare to heal them (depleted key almost sure)Comment by BlacKcuDHealed a 190 BDK in a +8 and it felt like i was healing a mage tank.Comment by EqualsthreeBDKs are long overdue on their Mastery rework. I hope there is some potential to be fulfilled, as the puny overshields they get are as good as no Mastery passive at all.

As stats begin to accumulate, their resource economy gets better and reduces the mitigation downtime. But that only applies to encounters where they are not getting one-tapped in 2 seconds. The amount of casters and anti-kite mechanics doesn't make it any bit easier as well.

Also, if you make an unkiteable mob in a dungeon that 100 to 0% you with one ability (Aboms in Necrotic Wake on high keys), maybe make all tanks actually tanky enough to reliably survive that for a 6th time in a row.Comment by Paladinmaster44Blood DKs really need to be able to go back to using Runes for Death strike and it healing moreComment by SoupguyEven with Rune Tap baseline, getting initial defenses up consistently between pulls as a BDK is a real pita. I dont think the newest damage buffs to BDK will be helpful at all either. I play FDK/BDK and "playing what you like" isnt fun right now if you have an sort of competitive streak in you.Comment by JaycoBDKs are long overdue on their Mastery rework. I hope there is some potential to be fulfilled, as the puny overshields they get are as good as no Mastery passive at all.

As stats begin to accumulate, their resource economy gets better and reduces the mitigation downtime. But that only applies to encounters where they are not getting one-tapped in 2 seconds. The amount of casters and anti-kite mechanics doesn't make it any bit easier as well.

Also, if you make an unkiteable mob in a dungeon that 100 to 0% you with one ability (Aboms in Necrotic Wake on high keys), maybe make all tanks actually tanky enough to reliably survive that for a 6th time in a row.Comment by kbcorbettPaladins can just talent/conduit into cd reduction on bubble and use that to drop stacks on the necrotic wake aboms. Can do it on the first and third. Just remember to bring a hammer or spear weapon from below to help chunk the second one quickly =)Comment by nephriteReally tired of seeing Vengeance DH so high on damage and yet so high on mitigation too. All tanks need to be brought up to that level, then threat won't be a problem anymore.Comment by KakistocratFeels like I'm just spamming Marrowrend because the stacks keep falling off so quickly (to keep above 5). Not very fun gameplay tbh. Especially since it costs 2 runes.

And like someone said above; our mastery needs something more. The tiny shield is quite meh.Comment by dshiryuMy perspective as a (mostly) solo player:

I usually level tank classes just in case I'm in the mood for a short queue to random dungeons. Case in point, I finished leveling Warrior and Paladin to lv60 and I've got a DK at lv55 atm and between all the three, Warrior feels the strongest tbh. Recently I even managed to solo kill an elite rare Drust-mage, in Ardenweald, that had 500k HP (all thanks to him summoning adds to allow Victory Rush healing, of course).

But still, to do something similar with my pally (both have around 170 ilvl since it's way harder to get gear without doing group content this expansion (or so it feels like to me)) I have to use all my holy power to heal instead of dps-ing, since the incoming damage is so much higher. In Torghast is the same thing: pally has to keep healing himself to survive, while on the warrior all my rage goes to Revenge, most of the time (with the right upgrades). On average, the "10 rage spent = 1% heal" from warrior makes it basically don't receive any damage soloing against 100k HP rares/elites for instance.

Blood DK I only tried one dungeon at lvl 52 while my ilvl was below 110, so I know that was the reason, but even then healer's + self heal wasn't enough to avoid a couple wipes on trash and bosses alike.Comment by Flame6Care, everytime you use HP on healing, you're not using it on mitigation. SoR gives a crap ton of defense so often when you heal with HP you're just borrowing into future problems.Comment by fuzzybear99Our guild has a warrior/druid tank combo. Doesnt seem to be much if any difference between healing the two. The druids dmg output is about 5-10% behind the warrior though.Comment by 1249193WoWhead is not a tier list.Comment by NobleGunnerI kinda got forced into playing blood dk by guild and I absolutely hate it! It definately needs something to make it stronger. I hope the damage and the threat buffs will help it. I feel the haste levels make it hard to play. Need more rune regen rate cus right now its terrible using GCDs and also waiting for runes to come back up.Comment by DeezcowsMy perspective as a (mostly) solo player:

I usually level tank classes just in case I'm in the mood for a short queue to random dungeons. Case in point, I finished leveling Warrior and Paladin to lv60 and I've got a DK at lv55 atm and between all the three, Warrior feels the strongest tbh. Recently I even managed to solo kill an elite rare Drust-mage, in Ardenweald, that had 500k HP (all thanks to him summoning adds to allow Victory Rush healing, of course).