Wow Forever Tanking Tier List

Protection Warrior [S-TIER]

The Protection Warrior is, without a doubt, the safest and most traditional tanking choice. It is your premiere purists tank; sword and shield… charge into the fray… hope for the best! 

Whilst this has always been true, those of you that have played Protection Warrior in classic will know that, whilst they’ve historically been the most complete tank, things have not always been so straight forward. Deep Prot has always been 2nd best to Fury Prot. WoW Forever looks to be changing that. It seems that we no longer need to play the prot warrior as a pseudo-dps tank that occasionally wears a shield. 

Protection Warriors are no longer rage starved with a vast variety of rage generation synergy being obtainable very early on in progression. When Master of Defense and Shield Specialization are maxed out, they give 100% chance to gain 5 rage whenever you dodge, parry or block. Couple this with the fact Shield Block gives +75% block chance on a 5 second cooldown for 2 attacks, you will be finding yourself generating rage much quicker than you are perhaps used to. This is further compounded by the fact that Revenge also procs after a block dodge or parry and only costs 5 rage, you are now getting a lot of mileage from this ability! It has been reworked to do up to 60% increased damage when you take 3 points in Improved Revenge and, perhaps most importantly, it also now generates a very high amount of threat. Anticipation also gives us a much heftier increase to our flat defence stats, so you will be leaning harder into avoidance mechanics much harder which increases the likelihood of benefitting from the +5 rage opportunities granted by Shield Specialization and Master of Defense.

Threat has also been an issue in the past; the new protection tree also changes that. Alongside passive threat increasing talents such as Defiance and Bastion. These talents both increase the threat generation and damage output by simply wearing a shield. This, coupled with the increased threat warriors now generate in defensive stance, makes tanking dungeons a very smooth experience!

Protection Paladin [A-TIER]

The Protection Paladin is has been completely changed in WoW Forever. 

Those of you that have played prot paladin in classic will know that whilst they’ve always been fantastic dungeon tanks, boasting of incredible AoE threat potential, the lack of a proper has always held them back when it comes to serious tanking. Well, that time is over! Prot Paladins finally have a proper taunt through Seal of Fury, which allows Judgement to taunt the target for 4 seconds whilst also dealing formidable Holy damage. This alone is a massive change for the Paladin and goes a long way towards making them a much more legitimate main tank.

Threat generation is solid with Righteous Fury now increasing the threat generated by Holy abilities by 90%. Couple this with new abilities such as Holy Strike, which deals a formidable 30% weapon damage and it's clean the Paladin is going to have a much easier time generating threat than they have previously been able to. Consecration is still going to be your bread and butter for AoE threat despite having it's wings clipped a little, whilst Holy Shield now deals solid Holy damage whenever you block, giving you even more threat! The real cherry on top is Templar's Bulwark, enables you to absorb equal to 100% of your maximum health for 8 seconds - a real panic button that will undoubtedly really come into it's in high-level content

With that being said, there are still some concerns around mana and the lack of a traditional damage reduction cooldown. Shield Specialization now restores 6% of your maximum mana when you block which somewhat alleviates this issue. With all this in mind, the protection Paladin is sure as hell a fun and engaging tanking experience for dungeoning. How it scales, still remains to be seen!

Feral Combat Druid [B-TIER]

The Druid is probably the most flexible tank on this list. However, it does lack in avoidance mechanics which can make it feel lacklustre.   

Those of you that have played Bear in classic will know that they’ve always been incredibly durable; huge health pools, huge amounts of armour and plenty of dodge. However, their threat tools have historically not been up to scratch. However, WoW Forever looks to be changing that! Lacerate gives Bear a proper sustained single target threat tool landing a tasty DoT over 15 seconds plus an additional 10% weapon damage per existing stack with a maximum of 5. Couple this with Primal Bite which now deals 100% weapon damage and you’ll be cooking with a much more reliable way of generating threat than the standard classic bear you’re all probably used to!

AoE threat is also looking much more attractive. Berserk allows Primal Bite to hit up to 3 targets whilst also removing its cooldown for 15 seconds. This gives Bear a very strong burst of threat when dealing with multiple targets and, when combined with the natural survivability of the form, makes them a very capable dungeon tank. @Natural Reaction also gives you 1% dodge per point and a chance to gain 5 rage whenever you dodge. This ensures that your defenses are now feeding directly back into your ability to generate threat; a very welcome addition! The biggest question mark for Bear is still the lack of a shield and block mechanics, particularly when we start looking at harder endgame encounters. However, with the added flexibility of being able to swap between tanking, DPS and even healing, there is a lot to like about the Druid. You’re essentially relying on a large health pool and a very savvy healer to keep you up. Nonetheless, lumbering around as a giant bloodthirsty bear and smashing things up is a whole lot of fun! I would also say this offers quite a unique playstyle!

Enhancement Shaman [C-TIER]

The Shaman is the most unusual tank on this list. Whilst there are plenty of tools that allow you to tank it really isn’t a fully supported tank in the same way that Warrior, Paladin and Druid are. This hasn’t deterred players from really doubling down on trying to make this work and I’m pleased to say, there have been some really promising results! 

Those of you that have experimented with Shaman tanking will know that the threat is actually surprisingly good. Rockbiter Weapon offers formidable damage alongside its increased threat generation. Earth Shock deals solid nature damage and generates a very high amount of threat. Couple this with Fire Nova having a significant damage output around your active fire totem and you actually have a surprisingly effective set of tools for holding multiple targets. It’s definitely the most off the wall setup I’ve seen so far!

The cracks in the armour start to appear when you look at the defensive side of things. You can pick up Anticipation, Toughness, Spirit Weapons and Guardian Totems to give yourself a reasonable defensive toolkit, whilst Stoneskin Totem provides additional physical damage reduction, but you are still going to be wearing mail rather than plate and, perhaps most importantly, you don't have a proper Taunt. Stoneclaw Totem can taunt additional mobs within 8 yards, but this isn't quite the same thing as having a traditional tanking taunt to get out of those true panic situations. So, whilst Shaman tanking looks like it could be a lot of fun and potentially very effective in dungeons, there are still a lot more question marks around its ability to scale into serious level 60 raid content.