Mythic+ Tank Rankings: Beta Tier List for The War Within (Patch 11.0.2 / Season 1)
From the weakest to the strongest specialization, each provide unique character distinction and add value toward shaping the seasonal "meta" of Mythic+. These Beta-based Tank specialization rankings provided for The War Within's first Season of Mythic+ are based on pure Tanking survivability, DPS and group-added-value such as utility, mobility, and defensive options.
This list will be updated as new tuning and class changes come out over the course of leading up to the season's start and beyond.
About the Beta Tier List
Our analysis provides an estimate of the current Mythic+ meta with weekly updates every Sunday on the website, immediately after Sunday live on stream, until Season 1 arrives. However, it is important to remember that there will be many more changes, and what you see is not the final product. Instead, it is a progression of how each specialization performs from the start of the beta to the actual season release.
If you are interested in the DPS and Tank versions of this 11.0.2 Beta Tier List, check the links below!
If you are interested in our current tier list for Season 4 Patch 10.2.7, you can find that below:
Please note that anything I say is purely subjective and represents my opinion. However, it is an educated guess based on numerous hours of Beta testing and extensive discussions with some of the best theorycrafters from each of their specs. If you have a different opinion, that is perfectly fine. I will be happy to answer any questions in the comment section. After the Beta testing is completed, we will compile all the data and create the official Tier List of Season 1. Thank you for reading, and enjoy!
Criteria of the Tier List
This tier list is entirely based on several factors, such as tank durability, group composition synergy, mobility, damage profile, self-sustain, and external party-wide cooldowns.
Please keep in mind that what you're about to read is a preliminary iteration of the 11.0.2 Season 1 tier list in The War Within expansion, and it WILL change before the season is released. Nothing written here is a guarantee or promise. All opinions are subjective and should be taken with a grain of salt. I update this tier list every Sunday at 14:00 CEST live on my stream, before being uploaded on the website. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Tank Tier List for Season 1 of Mythic+ in The War Within
Below, you can find the full rankings for Tank specializations in The War Within Mythic+. We encourage you to read further and understand why some classes are placed lower or higher than expected, with several factors considered, such as having a 4-piece tier-set active at all times and the key levels.
BETA HAS CLOSED AND THE OFFICIAL RANKINGS FOR EACH SPEC/CLASS IN TWW ARE DOWN BELOW.
Full Tank Class Rankings
Best choice
Guardian Druid
Patch 11.0.2 update: Guardian Druid received a decent amount of changes through the Beta cycles, paired with 2 brand new Hero Talent choices - Elune's Chosen / Druid of the Claw and a new tier set. The 2-piece will allow for Thrash and Moonfire to increase your damage done and reduce the damage you take by 1% for 8 sec, stacking up to 3 times. In addition, the 4-piece increases the Arcane damage you deal by 5% and Bleed damage by 8%.
Guardian Druid did receive some attention in the early stages of The War Within, for better or worse, only time will truly show. Their damage profile against many enemies is one of the highest, and so is their durability. There are a lot of spec-specific talents that do not fit well with Guardian Druid and are considered a "burden." In addition, their versatile utility can tackle any situation, as both offensive and defensively support your team. All that considered, the bears are in a commanding position to be one of the best tanks of the season, despite its rotational flaws.
Cons
Hero Talents are quite boring (so is your rotation), mostly passive, and do not have a massive impact on the gameplay. Talent positioning is a significant issue for Guardian Druid both in the spec-specific and general tree talents.
Utility Package
Functionality | Spells | Notes |
---|---|---|
Core | Mark of the Wild | Increasing the Versatility of your raid/party by 3%. |
Core | Entangling Roots | Single-target root effect. |
Optional | After the Wildfire | Extra off-healing. |
Optional | Innervate | Allowing 1 friendly healer to cast spells without spending mana for 8 sec. |
Optional | Stampeding Roar | Increasing the movement speed to all raid members by 60% for 8 sec. |
Optional | Remove Corruption | Removes all Curse and Poison effects from a friendly target. |
Optional | Soothe | Dispelling all Enrage Effects from an enemy target. |
Optional | Hibernate | Single-target crowd-control effects against beasts and dragonkins. |
Optional | Incapacitating Roar / Mighty Bash | You have the choice between AoE disturb effect or a single-target stun. |
Optional | Typhoon | Aoe knockback. |
Optional | Mass Entanglement / Ursol's Vortex | You have the choice between AoE root effect or AoE wind-of-vortex, pulling all the mobs to one location. |
Excellent choice
Protection Warrior
Patch 11.0.2 update: Protection Warrior received minor changes leading to the final stages of Beta. However, just like every specialization, they will be introduced to 2 new Hero Talent options - Colossus / Mountain Thane, and a new tier-set. The 2-piece will trigger when your Shield Slam cooldown is reset by Strategist, you gain Expert Strategist, increasing the damage of Shield Slam by 5% and reducing all damage taken by 3% for 6 sec. In addition, the 4-piece will enable Shield Slam critical strikes to increase the damage dealt by Thunder Clap and Revenge by 10% for 8 sec.
Protection Warrior is performing exceptionally well, which will significantly increase its damage profile, which is now considered one of the highest across all tanks going into the The War Within expansion. Spell Reflection is proving to be an useful utility in the Season 1 dungeon pool, which will positively influence their rankings. On top of this, they will be receiving some nice quality-of-life changes such as no longer being damaged and punished by running Defensive Stance and the Storm Shield + Intervene combo. Additionally, with the strength of melee characters, Battle Shout is looking much more appealing. Overall, Protection Warrior has a great offensive and defensive profile, making it a promising choice.
Cons
As always, Protection Warriors may suffer if anything cannot be blocked or reflected. Although their utility and mob control have never been considered the best, they make up for it with their raw power in terms of damage and survivability.
Utility Package
Functionality | Spells | Notes |
---|---|---|
Core | Rallying Cry | Temporary increasing the health of your raid/party. |
Core | Battle Shout | Extra 5% attack power. |
Optional | Spell Reflection | Usable in niche situations. |
Optional | Intimidating Shout | AoE disturb effect capped at 5 targets. |
Optional | Storm Bolt | 4 sec single-target stun. |
Optional | Shockwave | AoE Stun |
Vengeance Demon Hunter
Patch 11.0.2 update: Vengeance Demon Hunter received their fair share of changes, paired with 2 brand new Hero Talent choices - Aldrachi Reaver / Fel-Scarred and a new tier set. The 2-piece enables Soul Cleave to deal 15% increased damage and have a 35% chance to shatter 1 Lesser Soul fragment from a target it hits. In addition, the 4-piece triggers once consuming a Soul Fragment, increasing the damage and healing of your next Fel Devastation by 2% up to 30%.
The Most recent consecutive buffs to Vengeance Demon Hunter have placed them in a much better state, due to their incredible synergy with the current top tier DPS specs (caster-comp / exodia-comp), as well as having one of the strongest damage outputs compared to the rest of the tanks. They have lost their amazing tier set from Season 4 of Dragonflight and replaced it with a much inferior version of the tier set, which will make their gameplay and maximise its potential a lot harder to extract. On top of that, their Illuminated Sigils talent (which previously allowed you to have one extra charge of Sigil of Misery / Sigil of Silence), has been nerfed, but they will still have one of the best mob control across any tanking spec. In addition, their defensive profile does need a bit of love to be a truly irreplaceable tank across any key level in Mythic+. Overall, we believe that if the DPS meta favours magic damage, they will have a much bigger incentive to be taken due to Chaos Brand, which provides a noticeable damage boost for the entire group, and likely become the best tank spec.
Cons
There are quit a few bugs that surround Vengeance Demon Hunter that ultimately increase their survivability / self-sustain of the spec. This further improves their great Mythic+ performance and we hope that gets to be resolved soon.
Utility Package
Utility Package
Functionality | Spells | Notes |
---|---|---|
Core | Chaos Brand | 5% extra Magical damage |
Core | Darkness | % chance to avoid all damage from an attack. |
Core | Sigil of Silence | Silences all enemies affected by the Sigil for a short time. |
Optional | Sigil of Chains | All enemies affected by the Sigil are pulled to its center and snared. |
Optional | Chaos Nova | AoE stun effect. |
Optional | Imprison | Single-target out of combat crowd-control. |
Optional | Consume Magic | Remove 1 beneficial Magic effect. |
Optional | Sigil of Misery | AoE disturb effect. |
Blood Death Knight
Patch 11.0.2 update: Blood Death Knight received a ton of changes since the start of the Beta testing and just like every specialization so far, inherited 2 brand new Hero Talents - Deathbringer / San'layn and a new tier-set. The 2-piece will trigger once you have one or more charges of Bone Shield, the damage you take is reduced by 2%. Losing a Bone Shield charge has a chance to reduce the damage you take by an additional 1%, up to 3% for 6 sec. In addition, the 4-piece allows your damage to be increased by 1% per active Bone Shield charge. Taking damage while below 6 Bone Shield charges has a chance to generate 1-2 Bone Shield charges.
The rework of Blood Death Knight has put them in a prominent position to be one of the best tanks this season as it most definitely strengthens their durability, self-sustain and damage profile by a large margin. On top of that, they will be getting a brand new utility, from the general Death Knight talent tree, which fits perfectly for a 5-man content - Vestigial Shell. In addition, one of their signature spell - Gorefiend's Grasp has much better positioning in the new Blood Death Knight spec-specific tree and is further supplemented by Tightening Grasp (if you talent it) which allows for a 3 sec of silence. Although you got some recent nerfs, we are extremely happy with the current version of specialization, since it already plays better and is stronger than its old Dragonflight version.
Cons
-
Utility Package
Functionality | Spells | Notes |
---|---|---|
Core | Anti-Magic Zone | Provides extra durability against heavy magical damage. |
Core | Death Grip | Repositions an enemy of your choice. |
Core | Raise Ally | Combat-resurrection. |
Optional | Blinding Sleet | AoE disturb effect. |
Optional | Abomination Limb | Every 1 sec an enemy is pulled close to you. |
Optional | Gorefiend's Grasp | Mass-grip. |
Optional | Insidious Chill | Reduces the auto-attack speed of your target by 5% stacking up 4 times. |
Optional | Control Undead | Mind-control an undead enemy to fight on your side. |
Optional | Asphyxiate | 5 sec single-target stun. |
Optional | Vestigial Shell | Adding Anti-Magic Shell on 2 nearby allies. |
Good choice
Brewmaster Monk
Patch 11.0.2 update: Brewmaster Monk received a ton of changes leading to the The War Within expansion, including 2 brand-new Hero Talents - Master of Harmony / Shado-Pan and a new tier-set. The 2-piece bonus will enable Blackout Kick and Keg Smash to deal 20% additional damage, and Shuffle also grants 3% damage reduction. The 4-piece bonus will trigger once you cast Blackout Kick, increasing your damage dealt by 1% for 15 sec, stacking up to 3 times, and has a chance to reset the cooldown of Keg Smash and make its next cast cost no energy.
Brewmaster Monk is entering The War Within with one of the highest damage profiles across all tanks and an improved durability profile. On top of the already good mob control, they still sync best with a physical damage-oriented squad due to their Mystic Touch debuff. Overall, playing Brewmaster Monk will be easier than in Dragonflight as a lot of button bloating has been cleared, which is a welcome change. We are happy with the current performance of the spec and we look forward see them develop through the Season 1.
Cons
Works well with a heavy physical damage-oriented team ( Mystic Touch) and a lot less with a full magical squad. Similar position as the Protection Warrior, if melees were to be meta, those 2 specs would climb much higher.
Utility Package
Functionality | Spells | Notes |
---|---|---|
Core | Mystic Touch | 5% extra Physical damage for your raid. |
Core | Leg Sweep | 3 sec stun effect. |
Optional | Tiger's Lust | Removes all roots and snares. |
Optional | Ring of Peace | It can be used to help your tank kite and as a AoE disturb effect. |
Optional | Detox | Removes all Poison and Disease effects from the target. |
Optional | Paralysis | Single-target disturb effect. |
Protection Paladin
Patch 11.0.2 update: Protection Paladin received their fair share of changes leading to the The War Within expansion, including brand new Hero Talents - Templar / Lightsmith, and a new tier-set. The 2-piece bonus increases the damage of Shield of the Righteous by 10% and grants 3% damage reduction. Additionally, the 4-piece enables Holy Power abilities to increase the damage and healing you deal during your next Avenging Wrath by 0.5%, which can stack.
As with almost every specialization so far, Protection Paladin has received its fair share of changes, including a choice between Lightsmith or Templar Hero Talents, both of which will alter how you approach your gameplay, ability, and cooldown usage. The spec's durability is decent but not strong enough to compete with the rest of the tanks while still maintaining their unique (and sometimes overpowered) Mythic+ utility. However, their damage profile is quite impressive, and it is one of their strongest assets. Just like every Paladin spec, they will not benefit from Retribution Aura as it has been recently removed. Overall, we expect further changes to be made to Protection Paladin, specifically ones that increase the fun factor of playing while further enhancing their durability.
Cons
Significantly more difficult to play compared to most of the tanks. However, you have many tools to support your team if needed. If you are a beginner player, be cautious when choosing Protection Paladin as it is quite an advanced tank. Further tuning is needed, especially on behalf of their durability.
Utility Package
Functionality | Spells | Notes |
---|---|---|
Core | Avenger's Shield | Extra interrupt option that has a follow-up silence effect. |
Core | Devotion Aura | Permanent 3% group/raid-wide damage reduction aura. |
Core | Hammer of Justice | A powerful single-target 6 sec stun effect. |
Core | Lay on Hands | Heals a member of your party/raid to full health. |
Core | Intercession | Combat-resurrection |
Optional | Blessing of Spellwarding | Granting magical damage immunity for 10 sec on a chosen ally. |
Optional | Blessing of Sacrifice | Helps a single member of your raid in a critical situation. This can be further improved by talenting Sacrifice of the Just. |
Optional | Blessing of Protection | Physical immunity, which can help you with some boss encounters. |
Optional | Blessing of Freedom | Immunity to movement impairing effects. |
Optional | Repentance / Blinding Light | You have the option between single-target crowd-control effect or a powerful mass AoE stop. |
Optional | Cleanse Toxins | Removes all Poison and Disease effects from the target. |
Optional | Turn Evil | Be able to fear any Undead, Aberration or Demon, which is an additional form of crowd control. |
Changelog
- 18 Aug. 2024: Update #7 of the progressive Beta TWW tierlist.
- 11 Aug. 2024: Update #6 of the progressive Beta TWW tierlist.
- 04 Aug. 2024: Update #5 of the progressive Beta TWW tierlist.
- 28 Jul. 2024: Update #4 of the progressive Beta TWW tierlist.
- 21 Jul. 2024: Update #3 of the progressive Beta TWW tierlist.
- 14 Jul. 2024: Update #2 of the progressive Beta TWW tierlist.
- 07 Jul. 2024: Update #1 of the progressive Beta TWW tierlist.
- 29 Oct. 2023: New round of changes after the most recent PTR Build.
- 22 Oct. 2023: Second round of updates after the most recent PTR changes.
- 15 Oct. 2023: Page added.
This guide has been written by Petko, one of the top Mythic players of all time. He has accomplished several Europe- and World #1 Team and Solo Seasonal rankings with multiple specialization and classes. Moreover, he competes in the MDI and streams his runs live on Twitch, and shares his personal opinions on YouTube and Twitter.
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