Shadowlands Tank Tier List - Mythic Castle Nathria Rankings for Patch 9.0.5

Live Опубликовано 22.04.2021 в 08:00 Squishei

Disclaimers About This Tier ListГрязешмякStone Legion GeneralsСир ДенатрийPatch 9.0.5 Shadowlands Tank Tier List for Castle Nathria

S: You are valuable on every encounter in Mythic Castle Nathria, bringing strong throughput, exceptional survivability and universal utility.

A: You excel in most situations in Mythic Castle Nathria but have some weaknesses on one or two encounters with your throughput, survivability or utility.

B: You are a solid choice in Mythic Castle Nathria. You may have a niche on some encounters but lack throughput, survivability and/or utility.

C: You are viable in Mythic Castle Nathria but suffer from many weaknesses in your throughput, survivability and utility.

D: You are viable, but the spec suffers from many weaknesses and should only be brought if there isn't another option.

Ranking

Spec

Writer Comments

A+

Vengeance Demon Hunter

Blood Death Knight

Guardian Druid

Brewmaster Monk

A-

Protection Paladin

Comments by Lincoln

B+

Protection Warrior

Comments by Llarold

Patch 9.0.5 Shadowlands Tank Rankings and ExplanationsA Plus Tier SpecsOverall Rating: A+

Vengeance Demon Hunter remains a strong pick in Patch 9.0.5 for Mythic Замок Нафрия despite minor nerfs to our covenant abilities, as well as bug fixes and compensations. While we have never been the strongest spec defensively or offensively in raids, we have more than made up for it through exceptional mobility and strong utility for this tier. In general, outside the World First Race, tanks are tuned within a small margin of each other, so differences in survivability or damage are rarely the determining factor for tank selection. As always, we are reliant on borrowed power, this time from our legendary Пылающая душа for those still doing progression. That said, our Демонические обереги was buffed to 20% from 15%, making us more survivable against physical damage, which has always been our biggest weakness outside of Метаморфоза and our magical survivability remains high (though no longer the best) despite being knocked down a peg by the bug fix.

Our high mobility through Инфернальный удар with the talent Удар Бездны allows for kiting of adds on encounters such as the Council of Blood and Stone Legion Generals during progression, reducing the burden on healers significantly. While unnecessary on farm as most guilds now have the DPS to burst them, we are the premiere option in such situations. In addition, we bring a required raid buff in Печать хаоса, good add control and solid burst threat, as well as a strong passive cheat death through Последнее прибежище that can be used as an additional cooldown or to save a pull. Kyrian Vengeance Demon Hunters also offer solid burst for adds and vulnerability phases with Элизийский декрет lining up for every pillar on Грязешмяк and every other add spawn on Сир Денатрий. Defensively, we have powerful, short cooldowns in both Огненное клеймо and Демонизм enabling consistent mitigation for tankbusters such as Сокрушительная боль and a good amount of self-healing through Фрагмент души and Раскалывание душ. Finally, our spell priority is fairly simple and has some empty GCDs, with none of our cooldowns aside from Опустошение Скверной requiring any resources, so it's generally easy to plan around using cooldowns, focus on positioning for the raid, and use our utility without losing too much.

Our weaknesses remain the same as always, but none of them are debilitating enough to overshadow our strengths in this tier. We are one of the lowest overall sustained DPS on Single Target encounters, especially for priority target damage and that has been exacerbated by the 9.0.5 blanket reduction of 10% to Covenant abilities. Without Пылающая душа, we would struggle to survive on encounters with 100% tanking uptime and high physical damage such as Грязешмяк without liberal use of externals, due to the low uptime on Демонические шипы and our base armor being one of the lowest among tanks. On farm, we can choose to play higher DPS builds at the cost of survivability due to outgearing the content, but in an undergeared progression scenario where every bit of extra DPS helps, we often have to give up a significant amount of damage to maintain the required survivability for an encounter. We also lack raid utility in general, being dependent on how strong our counterparts in Havoc are for the raid. Since Havoc has been lackluster this tier, we are favored more since only Demon Hunters bring Печать хаоса. However, should Havoc gain representation in future tiers, they bring a better raid cooldown in Мрак compared to our sigils.A Tier SpecsOverall Rating: A

Blood Death Knight started off a bit rocky this round of Mythic progression as the damage values in the raid were higher than expected, so it meant that the damage intake was at overwhelming levels when undergeared. With 9.0.5, most players have enough gear to overcome the majority of challenges in Castle Nathria, with optimal use of the toolkit favoring a much more independent style of play. However, if a player does not manage their Rune/Runic Economy well, then they will be a burden to the raid team as they will require more healing than any other Blood Death Knight player, thus losing all of the benefits of bringing a Blood Death Knight. During the first few weeks of Mythic raid progression there was a concern with Blood Death Knights simply not having enough gear (Effective Health) to survive in the raid. However, this is no longer of concern as there are multiple avenues available to obtain gear faster and Ветеран Третьей войны was changed recently to provide a baseline 10% damage reduction (a much welcomed change).

Антимагический панцирь has very good opportunities to shine on encounters in Castle Nathria. It can be used to remove Стазисная ловушка on Artificer Xy'Mox as you will negate the stun effect from running into the trap, it will line up with a majority (if not all depending on boss push timings) of the Танцевальная чума debuffs on the Council of Blood, and can negate the stun and reduce damage taken from Кристаллизация on Stone Legion Generals. On Sire Denathrius, it can negate the debuff from Нестерпимая боль, reduce damage taken from Кровавая цена (will be available for each cast in Phase 3) and lower damage taken from Глумление.

Blood Death Knight also has one of the lowest levels of DPS of any tank and in early raid progression scenarios this can be a factor. There have been some changes to alleviate this however the DPS still remains low (as of right now this is not a concern as raid DPS levels should be at a level where DPS from tanks is not a requirement for progression).

Historically the main piece of Utility Blood Death Knight bought to a raid team as Хватка Кровожада. There were no real useful applications of this in Castle Nathria, however with Shadowlands, Death Knights obtained Зона антимагии as a baseline ability. Зона антимагии has really good applications on nearly every boss, notably on the final two encounters of Castle Nathria. It has applications on Stone Legion Generals for Кристаллизация and for Sire Denathrius for Очищающая боль in Phase 1 andСокрушительная боль in Phase 3. However, Зона антимагии is also bought by DPS Death Knights (with Unholy Death Knight being one of the best melee specs to bring in on progress) who saw high amounts of representation in Mythic progression so the necessity of having a Blood Death Knight for their utility is not there.

Blood Death Knights were rarely seen on progression as tanks were often used to fulfil the needs of the buff/debuff matrix (Печать хаоса, Таинственное прикосновение, Боевой крик) so representation will be at the mercy of the relative strength of Havoc Demon Hunter, Windwalker Monk, Mistweaver Monk, Arms Warrior and Fury Warrior.
Overall Rating: A

Guardian Druid is still an excellent pick overall in Patch 9.0.5 for Mythic Замок Нафрия. We received minor buffs to covenants that weren't well represented which brought them up a bit closer to the mighty Night Fae for PvE. Night Fae has proven to be an extremely flexible and powerful covenant for Guardian, with Созыв духов being able to be used as a powerful DPS cooldown, raid healing cooldown or defensive cooldown, depending on the required situation. In addition, we also received a buff to Опытный медведь which now makes us take a further 10% reduced damage as part of the tank tuning hotfixes. Guardian has been widely hailed as one of the sturdiest tanks in the game since the release of Shadowlands and it continues to be one of the strongest defensive and offensive tanks in the game with extremely powerful legendaries like Воспоминание о ярости Урсока, Воля естественного порядка and Настой глубокой концентрации really boosting us to the top of the tanks.

Our flexibility and enormous defensive capabilities have been the true strengths of Guardian in Mythic Замок Нафрия, trivializing high tank damage encounters like Stone Legion Generals with Воспоминание о ярости Урсока and our extremely high physical damage reduction from Железный мех, allowing us to tank the Голиаф из Каменного Легиона safely and easily, or using Воля естественного порядка on Сир Денатрий and having Дубовая кожа available for all the spooky parts like crossing through the mirror.

We are able to provide massive burst damage or one of the strongest raid healing cooldowns in the game on Грязешмяк as a Night Fae Druid with Созыв духов, which lines up with every second pillar. Multiple fights in the raid, for example, Визгунья, Леди Инерва Дарквейн, Изобретатель Зи'Мокс and Алчущий разрушитель also allow for Catweaving, (using both Настой глубокой концентрации and Родство с силой зверя, and keeping up both cat bleeds throughout the entire fight) which enables us to do some of the highest tank damage possible, only really losing out to the powerful Protection Paladins. It should be noted, pure Bear damage (not utilizing the tools of cat/owl weaving) is quite mediocre and tends to be lower than other tanks just doing their normal rotation, so it can take a bit longer to master the art of damage as a Guardian, as weaving out of Облик медведя can be a dangerous task at times. Тревожный рев was also a great mobility tool this tier especially on most fights, for example Длань разрушения on Сир Денатрий and Идол штормов on Stone Legion Generals.

Our weakness however, remains the same, and it is the primary reason i'm not giving Guardian a higher ranking; the lack of a raid buff/debuff. Having a raid buff or debuff is such a massive contributing factor in the current raid environment, especially this tier as we saw DPS Warriors and Demon Hunters get quite low representation. Someone in your mythic raid HAS to bring that buff/debuff or you will be at a significant disadvantage and if a tank spec can comfortably bring that and allow for better raid compositions for fights, that will generally be the better choice. If Guardian was to receive a buff/debuff something like Вожак стаи or potentially, their representation would skyrocket and they would definitely be considered S tier. Alternatively if the buff/debuff system was to be removed again, that would be fantastic. Overall Rating: A
Brewmaster Monks have a lot of positives going for them. In addition to bringing a mandatory raid debuff in the form of Таинственное прикосновение, they have top-class mobility, a powerful self-shield (Божественный отвар), consistent damage output and good offensive cooldowns (Оружие ордена & Призыв Нюцзао, Черного Быка), and good physical damage management. Where Monks struggle is against sustained spell damage over time and bleeds. Ultimately, Brewmaster’s vulnerability to sustained damage over time made them one of the weaker tanks defensively against Сир Денатрий during early progression -- and being a tank that’s great against the first 9 bosses but loses a step against the last one is not ideal. The March 30th hotfix of 10% damage reduction has helped out with this a lot, and Сир Денатрий is not nearly as terrifying anymore.

Brewmaster Monks are unique among tanks in terms of their defensive cooldowns, due in large part to Пошатывание’s unique design. Божественный отвар, despite ostensibly being a self-heal, is effectively a major defensive cooldown on a ~30-second cooldown. It’s one of the absolute best tank cooldowns at mitigating quick bursts of damage such as the Stone Legion Generals’ periodic tank strikes, but it’s still much weaker than Vengeance Demon Hunter’s Огненное клеймо at mitigating sustained damage on hard-hitting fights like Сир Денатрий or Грязешмяк. Смягчение удара is more comparable, but on a much longer cooldown. Again, comparing to Demon Hunter in terms of mobility, Кувырок and Трансцендентность are excellent mobility tools that perform comparably to Инфернальный удар for the first 9 fights. Against Mythic Сир Денатрий, the ability to leap across gaps to adds and then leap back is a major advantage afforded to Vengeance Demon Hunters that Monks don’t have. You have to work harder to move between platforms or cancel Phase 3 Сокрушительная боль and Кровавая цена casts as a Monk than you do as a Demon Hunter, but having killed Mythic Сир Денатрий in comps without a Vengeance Demon Hunter, I can say from experience: It’s possible.

Offensively, Brewmasters are fine at dealing damage. Their potential damage output is still too low for the effort when compared to a proper DPS, which is a systemic problem for non-Paladin tanks, but Brewmasters are in a highly-competitive third place spot among tanks. Not great, but not bad. When comparing Monk damage to the two superior tanks, the main problem is just that Protection Paladins are grossly overtuned in their ability to deal burst damage on the opener. Druids are strong, too, but they’re not nearly as far out in front, and relative to the difficulty of Cat/Owlweaving properly, it’s a fair balance of risk and reward. On a relatively straightforward single-target fight like Грязешмяк, a top-tier Brewmaster Monk will be lucky to deal two-thirds of the damage of a comparable Protection Paladin, and for fights with specific burst windows, the disparity grows wider. That being said, Brewmasters are good enough offensively to not be a liability, and a great utility companion to any class of co-tank. Any raid can benefit from having a Brewmaster Monk.

Again, Таинственное прикосновение is mandatory. Although Brewmaster may not be Monk's clear strongest spec at this very moment, it has been the most consistently popular for years. Mistweavers and Windwalkers are pretty good right now, but they are still nowhere close to Brewmasters in terms of popularity, and that's not likely to change soon. Consequently, Brewmaster Monks will remain a popular tank until the current buff/debuff system is removed, burned, buried, and forgotten for all eternity.
A Minus Tier SpecsOverall Rating: A-

As of 9.0.5, Protection Paladin is a middle of the road tank spec for Mythic Замок Нафрия once you consider everything they bring to the table. The most obvious area to start this analysis is a discussion around the impact of borrowed power. Venthyr is a very high DPS covenant and allows Protection to reach DPS levels that beat even standard DPS specs. The combination of Пепельное освящение, synergy with Воспоминание о безумном идеале and the existing kit of Гнев карателя and Серафим really allow the specialization to push damage. The value of tank damage can change from boss to boss, raid to raid and even can depend on your guild ranking. The lower you go in guild ranks, the less important tank damage is because your raid has so much more gear to kill bosses. The same is true in Замок Нафрия. There is no denying that damage output is the clear strength of Protection Paladin right now. On the other end of borrowed power, conduits were also good to us for this tier. Священная проницательность and Звенящая ясность add more value to their respective covenant abilities and are good for raiding. Protection also has one of the best endurance conduits with Решительный защитник as it reduces Ревностный защитник's effective cooldown to one minute. This conduit is as strong as a legendary option on another tank class.

If this was a tier list based on damage output or even borrowed power and how they affect tanks, then Protection Paladin would be S tier. But there is more to consider than just how much damage a tank does. You have to consider defensive strength and utility and these are the areas where the Protection Paladin loses ground compared to other tanks. On the utility front, Protection brings standard Blessings or Auras. However, the issue here is that Holy Paladin (or even Ret. Paladin) also brings most of these buttons and Владение аурами which is a more general purpose ability for raiding scenarios. The most unique button a Protection Paladin brings over other Paladins is Благословение защиты от заклинаний and there are no mechanics on the last three bosses that are made easier with Благословение защиты от заклинаний. This has hurt the representation of Protection Paladins more than anything I can write about here.

The eternal question about Protection Paladin always is: can it survive the harder bosses in the raid? Is it as squishy as everyone says it is? In terms of raw damage taken, Protection Paladin does better than other tanks when put in similar situations. If you compare logs of Paladin and Demon Hunter tanks on Грязешмяк, the Paladin would take less damage and require similar amounts of external healing. Paladins are not squishy. There is a community perception of being squishy which comes from situations where people can't react to health spikes and just die. A mistake, usually the mismanagement of resources, can kill a Paladin tank that another tank might survive. It can be quite common for Paladin to sit at low health and while an experienced player might know how to handle it, it can be too much for people less familiar with it. It also causes heart-attacks for healers that don't heal Paladin tanks often. The combination of all of these factors can lead to a very low return on investment in the Mythic raiding scene where the goal is to kill bosses as quickly as possible.

To summarize what Protection Paladin can do defensively, it's very easy to hit 100% Щит праведника uptime (or ~60% damage reduction from armor) on Грязешмяк, Stone Legion Generals, and Сир Денатрий. On Грязешмяк, you can layer on Ревностный защитник for each tanking cycle making you that much sturdier. On Сир Денатрий, you'll have it for nearly every Сокрушительная боль along with a Благословение защиты (which is also brought by a Holy or Ret) on a healer to help deal with the knockback. The biggest issue is the amount of movement on Сир Денатрий and how often you lose the ~12-15% damage reduction from Освящение / Искусность: священный оплот in phase 2 and 3. However, the addition of Эгида Света should help any Protection Paladins still progressing the raid and this boss in particular.

B Plus Tier SpecsOverall Rating: B+
Protection Warriors are in an okay spot right now. They have received several buffs, and are generally performing much better than they were at the very start of Shadowlands, but they still have some flaws in their toolkit that limit their popularity and power relative to other tanks. While their damage was increased by 10%, that was still only enough to bring them up to a tough fight for fifth place with Blood Death Knights in terms of tank damage. Overlapping offensive cooldowns and Копье Бастиона gives Protection Warriors good burst damage on pulls and on Грязешмяк’s pillars, but outside of those special cases, their desynched cooldowns and low sustained DPS make them a pretty weak offensive choice.

Protection Warriors offer some of the best group utility provided by tanks in the form of Ободряющий клич and Боевой крик (and potentially Охрана as an external cooldown). Ободряющий клич is one of the strongest defensive cooldowns for countering Сир Денатрий’ Кровавая цена casts in Phase 3 on Mythic difficulty (one of his most dangerous mechanics late in the fight), and having 3 Warriors on Сир Денатрий just to have a Shout ready for each cast isn’t a terrible idea. Unfortunately, the prevalence and decent performance of DPS Warriors who can also bring Ободряющий клич and Боевой крик limits Protection Warrior’s utility value across the majority of the other 9 bosses. Warrior’s mobility is great thanks to Рывок, Вмешательство, and Героический прыжок, and they can be particularly convenient for countering knockback effects on Stone Legion Generals as well as Сир Денатрий’ Кровавая цена. Отражение заклинаний can still be used to nullify occasional boss mechanics (such as Стазисная ловушка on Изобретатель Зи'Мокс or the knockback/grip from Сир Денатрий' Сокрушительная боль) -- although Castle Nathria is a bit light on boss abilities that can be reflected for a meaningful DPS gain, and Death Knight’s Антимагический панцирь is usually a much better tool. For example, a Death Knight can clear all three Изобретатель Зи'Мокс Стазисная ловушка every other time they come out, whereas a Warrior can only clear one each time they come out, meaning that two Death Knights can handle the same job that requires three Warriors.

The biggest defensive issue Protection Warriors face is a lack of defensive versatility, which is caused by low cooldown uptime. Because Управление гневом was heavily nerfed going into Shadowlands, Protection Warriors are no longer able to have a regular stream of defensive cooldowns to cover up occasional gaps in Блок щитом and damage that can’t be blocked. The good news is that Warriors haven’t had problems with blockable damage in this tier, and they are easily the #1 tank at mitigating physical (i.e., blockable) damage. Where Warriors struggle is sustained unblockable damage, such as spell damage, damage over time, and bleeds. Monk is the only other tank that struggles with these mechanics to the extent that Warriors do, and unfortunately, these mechanics are key ingredients of the Stone Legion Generals and Сир Денатрий fights. While Стена can help by cutting Глухая оборона’s cooldown by ~50% (under 1 minute with Управление гневом!), Warriors have one of the least forgiving defensive cooldown toolkits among tanks. This is not due to lack of strength, Глухая оборона is great -- but due to nearly every other class having access by either Legendaries or talents to major defensive cooldowns (Огненное клеймо, Кровь вампира, Дубовая кожа, Божественный отвар) on a ~30 second cooldown. Other tanks have defensive layers that are available much more often, Деморализующий крик is undertuned for its cooldown, and Rage generation simply isn’t high enough for Стойкость к боли to fully offset that deficiency.

Protection Warriors are not unusable by any means -- it’s not a bad class, really! -- but I believe their strengths don't compensate for their weaknesses well enough, and they’re still average or below-average in enough important offensive and defensive categories to be the lowest-ranked tank at this point in the expansion.

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