What Tank Should You Play in Season 4 of Mythic+?

Posted 2020/01/09 at 3:52 AM by trellsky

corruptionAbout the Author

Hi, I’m Trell. I am a guidewriter for Brewmaster Mythic+ on Wowhead, and a veteran in the Peak of Serenity discord and community. I am a cohost on the TitanforgeWoW podcast. I have been a top ranking tank player focused on high Mythic+ since the launch of BFA. I enjoy competing for the highest keys possible on live servers, and competed in both 2019 MDI 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!

Tier List for Tanks in Mythic+S-tierA-tierB-tierNew Seasonal Affix - AwakenedAwakenedBeguilingVoidweaver Mal'thir (caster)

The least dangerous for tanks, this mini-boss casts on random players constantly. Most of the damage from this mob is avoidable with a good kick rotation. This is a good option to pull with the final boss of the dungeon.

Explosive Scarab: These summoned adds do little tank damage and there is plenty of time to step away to avoid the explosion they cast on death.

Samh'rek, Beckoner of Chaos (fear)

The magic debuff fear mechanic Cascading Terror goes on 3 random players, including the tank sometimes. The tank should have dispel priority, or they will get feared and killed from behind by the mini-boss and adds on higher levels.

Ravenous Fleshfiend: apply a nasty stacking bleed on the tank constantly, requiring kiting to drop the stacks. They will target the nearest player when the tank is not in range, much like many other mobs in BFA dungeons.

Blood of the Corruptor (slime)

Move this mob constantly to avoid the high damage Defiled Ground that spawns under the mini-boss and 2 random players every few seconds. Stacking and moving as a group tends to work well with the puddles. This is also a good option to pull with the final boss of the dungeon.

The most dangerous adds of the four Awakened mobs: Mindrend Tentacle. These adds can easily combo players as they greatly slow and keep them in ground effects while also dealing high damage. The best options to deal with these are to move completely out of range, as a group, to cause them to teleport near a random player stacked up, or to avoid them entirely by doing this mini-boss with the final boss.

Urg'roth, Breaker of Heroes (tankbuster)

The most dangerous mini-boss for tanks – Be ready on pull for the 15-second cooldown Spirit Breaker cast. At the +15 level, this will nearly one-shot most tank classes early in the season and the remaining 8 second debuff after the hit will likely finish the job. Have a plan to mitigate this damage heavily or alternatively run from the mob the entire time it is in combat. The cast can be outranged by 20 yards or line-of-sighted, but will be re-cast at the tank until it lands. Brewmaster, Vengeance and Guardian have the mobility to effectively kite Urg’roth around while staying out of range of the cast consistently; Plate tanks will have a harder time avoiding the cast. The damage from this ability is scary-high currently, and the best solution at the moment is to run away and avoid it entirely until it is reduced or changed in some way.

Spirit Breaker is currently physical damage but is not blockable, dodgeable or parry-able. It can be staggered, or prevented with blessing of protection. It is no longer spell-reflectable.

Malicious growths spawn around Urg’roth which slow and deal damage in an area around them (similar to the G’huun encounter!).

Voidweaver Mal'thirBlood of the CorruptorMechagon Mythic+JunkyardGreasedReinforcedConductiveGunkerHK-8 Aerial Oppression UnitAnodized CoilbearerMechagon RenormalizerWorkshopK.U.-J.0.Mega-ZapNotable Essences and Corruption EffectsStrength of the WardenThe Formless VoidRacing PulseEchoing VoidMasterfulBastion of MightArticle by SquisheiEchoing VoidStrength of the WardenThe Formless VoidTank Changes and ExplanationK value and dungeon scaling Article by SquisheiGift of the OxNy'alotha, the Waking CityVision of PerfectionTouch of the EverlastingConclusion

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Comments

Comment by TOMRUS

So basically play warrior or get declined by most of pug groups. Also it's sad to see where Blood DK end up due to all those unwarranted nerfs in previous patches.(##RESPBREAK##)

Comment by TrueFighter

players should play what they want, articles like this encourage the players to be a meta slaves which is bad, and it also encourage players to decline other players for playing none-meta classes for example class B instead of S

Comment by Vexthor

Very good and insightful article. Nice how you lay out the pro's and con's of different tanks and how they will grow over the season. It's a shame to see the load of negative comments, when the people commenting on that are most likely to be the cause of the problem they blame you for: "Community perception". If they had only read the tl;dr conclusion, they would've known better. Keep being awesome, Trell! Also: delete Tol Dagor!

Comment by AyrinEU

Are you high? Did you even read the article? How does it encourage people to be meta slaves? Multiple times throughout the article he states that all 6 tank specs will be closer in power-level than they've been so far in BFA.

I say this as a BDK main, putting BDK below the other tanks in the rankings absolutely makes sense.

Comment by mmrghost7

RIP Bdk may i rest in peace D:

Comment by waelkd

So brewmaster is the way togo ... kerp the 100% damage metigation up and ull be fine

Comment by minka25

Jeah, glad I rerollled from DH to Warrior Tank for 8.3 :)

Comment by lovelywaz

Title of the article and conclusion don't match each others. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Title says what tank you should play (obviously at the "start" of this season) and not only throught the article but specially in conclusion it stats all tanks will roughly be equal by the "end of the season".

That won't be the case at the start tho and does amyone REALLY care where their class and spec will stand in EIGHT months when this misrebale x-pac is over? I certainly don't.

Comment by BrokenWarr

Removed(##RESPBREAK##)908##DELIM##Uchur##DELIM##Provide feedback in a civil manner

Comment by VeSanter

Saying that unpopular Tanks timing +23 (instead of the highest +25s) indicates "balanced" meta is just inaccurate. There is a reason why Brewmaster and Protection Warrior have ~80% playrate combined. People just don't want to invite weak Tanks to >20 Keys because it's easier, safer and >>>>>FASTER<<<<< to take Brewmaster (Mystic Touch and unparalleled Single Target damage) and Protection Warrior that both contribute ridiculous damage output themselves and at the same time they don't require a lot of attention from the healer which also translates to even more overall damage.

In BfA there is no such a thing as "skillful" Tanking. Dungeons in BfA are very teamwork oriented which means that every time someone doesn't use their CC, utility, kick, rotation or cooldown properly and efficiently it will echo towards your Tank. And it doesn't matter how skillful you are you can't have Mystic Touch on any other class than Monk.

Finally your Tier List doesn't really look like a prediction when 4 out of 6 placements are in the same Tier. This kind of balanced meta will have a miniscule chance of happening since Healer and Tank balance are intricately connected - like you see now with Restoration Druid having ~80% playrate because of how well his abilities synergize and work with Brewmaster and Protection Warrior. But yeah we've already had Blood DK with 90% playrate so the same thing can happen with Protection Warrior.

Comment by Kukkai

I’ll keep my brewmaster whatever happens. <3

Comment by coldwinter18

Are we going to have a similar thread for Healers too?

Comment by HernanMaslowski

I will take this post as a tank 8.3 first approach, after a few weeks when everything is being decoded in terms of corruption gear and new essences perhaps will see changes in the tank roosters.

Comment by Sackless

Ain't no one got time for a reasonable assessment of objective strengths. Popularity is all that matters.

-comments section

Comment by bobbis91

No it doesn't, it even says at the end, play what you want. If you want to play at the very top, the very best level, then there will always be a single best, that's how it works, how it always has and will work given the nature of difference between the tanks.

So basically play warrior or get declined by most of pug groups. Also it's sad to see where Blood DK end up due to all those unwarranted nerfs in previous patches.

Do you get alerts from WH whenever they post a news article about 8.3 / S4? Or are you just actively looking for things to #$%^ on?

Comment by LordKrenzo

I played my Tanky bear in season 1,2,3 and i will continue to do so in season 4, don't let these guides tell you to play something you don't want to play, the only time it matters to play the meta is when you want to push 20+, but if you are like me and only do 10s-15s then play whatever you want... you can make it work, and if you have friends you don't have to worry about playing meta, yes my life would have been easier had i played meta but if you don't enjoy it why do it.

Comment by BudaBudie

Thanks for this article

Comment by Spanky2k

So Warrior Tank + Resto/Paladin Healer + Rogue + Demon Hunter + Windwalker Monk for the meta? Again.

Comment by calmboar

So, what? You're not allowed to talk like that if you're a casual. There's always going to be a meta, it's just inherent to the current way WoW is and that's fine, there cannot be a situation where all specs are viable. Either play the best class or don't get invited. Simple.

Do you not realize that what you're asking for is (because you're a hypocrite) for someone to lower their chances of success by taking your class?

Would you do it? Yeah, I guess we both know the answer.

Comment by sinangelus

So basically play warrior or get declined by most of pug groups.

If you meant most pugs for 20+ then yeah. Majority of playerbase are pugging low to medium keys and will have a trouble finding ANY tank, so if they're smart and value their time, they should accept the first one with suitable ilvl / r.io / any other criteria because the next one might not queue in the next 20 mins. Even if it's "the worst class". Same applies to healers. If you see resto shaman with good gear and xp I can guarantee he's suitable to heal your +10.

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