Mythic+ Tank Rankings: A Tier List for The War Within (Patch 11.0.2 / Season 1)

This tier list is NOT FINAL; it will change and will be updated as often as necessary prior and during The War Within Mythic+ Season 1. There are often moments of tier set and class tuning, as well as talent changes and secondary stat scaling that will impact the placement of the specs.

I am Petko, a competitive Mythic+ player, known to be pushing the boundaries of High Mythic+ with several World first and Europe first rankings among past seasons on multiple classes. I have worked hard on preparing for Season 1 of The War Within, spending numerous hours per day examining each and every spec in a dungeon environment on Beta. This Tier list will continue to be updated as much as it requires over the course of The War Within and it will also focus on what the "meta" will look like as it stabilizes. Along the way, this Tier list will also be supported by various professional Mythic+ players with high credibility in the community, theorycrafters across all specializations, and my own empirical evidence.

To begin with, this Tier list will exclusively focus on the first Season of Mythic+ in The War Within. There will be no Warcraft Logs rankings added nor simulation data for the majority of the classes and specs. As a result, this Tier list will be solely based on empirical evidence of the current state of the classes' performance in Mythic+ from my own point of view and the point of view of the group of players testing those classes who are among the best representatives of the specs in the community. Moreover, this Tier list will take into consideration every impactful class change and tier set tuning before and after the start of the season.

It is important to note that opinions might vary and that is completely okay, but remember to be respectful when providing feedback as the sole purpose of this tier list is to help the WoW community with their choice of main or alt each season.

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.

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 taken into consideration.

1. Guardian Druid (Best)
2. Protection Warrior (Excellent)
3. Vengeance Demon Hunter (Excellent)
4. Blood Death Knight (Excellent)
5. Brewmaster Monk (Good)
6. Protection Paladin (Good)

If you are interested in our other rankings for Mythic+ in The War Within, Season 1, please click the links below.

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.

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.

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 a 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 amazing choice.

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

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 favors 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.

Further buffs on their survivability are needed for them to be considered the best tank. They will still rise in rankings if you are playing a full magical composition team due to their Chaos Brand debuff.

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.

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.