Mythic+ Tank Rankings: PTR Tier List for Midnight (Patch 12.1 / Season 2)

Protection Paladin arguably received the biggest set of changes going into Season 2, especially among tanks. Other than the typical numbers tuning, a lot of their talents were repositioned in their spec tree, and the result has been quite pleasant to play with. On the current PTR version, they absolutely dominate any key, regardless of level.

Not only are they one of the most durable tanks on the PTR, but they also sport incredibly high damage, with no other tank spec currently being able to compete. Since the spec historically also has one of the best group-wide utility kits, they are an absolute menace. Damage nerfs are likely to happen, as we are quite sure they won't allow for such a high damage output coming from a tank. But, for now, they will be placed in a league of their own with a well-deserved S-tier placement.

Vengeance Demon Hunter received minor changes leading up to Season 2, with some of the highlights being a healing gain adjustment to some of the spec's abilities, like Soul Cleave, Fel Devastation, and Feast of Souls, as well as some quality-of-life changes such as making Sigil of Chains a baseline spell, rather than a talent. VDH's current performance on the PTR is great - It is tanky, does great damage, and has amazing party-wide utility. While your defensives won't have 100% uptime unlike some other tanks, you still have no trouble kiting until things are ready again. We believe this spec is one of the better tank options so far on the PTR, but only further testing and potential upcoming tuning passes will determine their final ranking.

Protection Warrior in Season 2 of Midnight is expected to have an even stronger defensive and offensive package. Protection Warrior's current performance on PTR is solid, as the spec has been steadily climbing the rankings with its performance. They offer great durability and strong damage, on top of providing solid group utility with their crowd control and Battle Shout group buff. Especially in Physical-DPS oriented comps, Protection Warrior might be one of the best tank picks available if their performance continues to stay the way we currently see it on the PTR.

Brewmaster Monk has received some attention for Season 2 of Midnight. Celestial Brew & Celestial Infusion absorbs are increased by 25%, Vital Flame heals for more, and the Stagger reduction from Staggering Strikes increased by 25%. In addition, their new tier-set will further increase their damage output, which is hopefully allowing the spec to compete with other high-DPS tanks.

The current state of Brew is largely unchanged though, as they struggle to compete against the best-performing tanks in the durability department, which once again, becomes their biggest nemesis. Brewmasters core spot has always been physical comps and if the specs sees some additional improvements to their defensives or passive mitigation, we have no doubt the spec will, just like last season, be a great choice for pushing M+ keys.

Guardian Druid received a complete Apex Talent revamp, and will now have to be a bit more careful in regards to spending their Rage. Although the durability of Guardians is great, they currently suffer in the damage department, where compared to the rest of the Tank specs they have one of the lowest DPS outputs. They do bring Mark of the Wild to the table though, which is always a nice group-wide DPS and survivability buff. As we already saw during Season 1, this spec can really excel and be one of the most dominant tank options with the right tuning. But, so far into the PTR, they are far from being the best.

Blood Death Knight received barely any changes leading up to Season 2, with the only notable change being a new tier set, beyond some small numbers adjustments. Blizzard has attempted to make Blood DK a more desirable tank choice for the upcoming season, and although their damage output is within the competitive range, when it comes to pure durability, the spec is still leaving something to be desired.

In addition to that, Blood DK remains the only Tank spec in the game that does not bring unique party-wide utility, while all other tank specs do, putting them at a severe disadvantage even if their DPS and survivability is competitive. Furthermore, both DPS Death Knight specs have been very desirable for the past four seasons, and this is looking to continue into Season 2. Any value that the ability to grip targets or some of its class-based utility could offer, will more than likely be handled by a DPS DK instead - after all, we rarely play the same spec in multiple roles to ensure the group has access to as many group buffs as possible.

Blood DK can certainly handle the majority of the key levels even into high keys, but there will be a point where your HP might go from 100% to 0% in a matter of a second, simply due to running out of defensive options and not having strong enough passive mitigation.