Mythic+ Tank Rankings: A Tier List for The War Within (Patch 11.1 / Season 2)

Last updated on Feb 23, 2025 at 12:55 by Petko 43 comments

From the weakest to the strongest tank specialization, each provide unique character distinction and add value toward shaping the Season 2 "meta" of Mythic+ in The War Within. The Tank specialization rankings provided for The War Within's Season 2 of Mythic+ are based on pure tanking strength and group-added-value such as utility, survivability, mobility, damage and self-sustain.

This list will be updated as new tuning and class changes come out over the course of the season.

1.

About the Tier List

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 2. 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 2 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.

LAST UPDATED - 25th of February

1.1.

DPS and Healer Class Rankings

If you are interested in our other rankings for Mythic+ in The War Within, Season 2, please click the links below.

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.

2.

Tank Tier List for Season 2 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 taken into consideration.

S
Vengeance Demon Hunter Vengeance Demon Hunter

Vengeance Demon Hunter is entering Season 2 in a much better spot compared to the previous season. One of the biggest changes is the buff to the durability toolkit of the spec, allowing you to have less "kiting" tanking than before. The spec still possesses one of the best mob controls across any tanking spec in Mythic+, which will turn valuable for any team looking for a tank. One of their biggest advantages is having one of the highest damage profiles across all tank specs (even after the bug fixes), extremely high self-sustain and great mob-control, which are the mains reason why we believe their current performance warrants S-tier.

Protection Warrior Protection Warrior

Protection Warrior has a ton of attention leading to the next season, primarily changing the spell priority and the focus of the class rotation (with the bread-and-butter basics staying the same). Luckily, the compensation buffs that came, (% flat damage adjustments, stronger Ignore Pain Icon Ignore Pain, and better self-sustain thanks to more Rage) which makes up for all the other nerfs. In addition, a new recent build has been discovered, making their single-target and AoE damage the best among any other tank DPS, which immensely improves their performance. Although you can have durability troubles at time (especially against continuous magical damage) your damage profile offsets the negatives, making them one of the best choices starting in Season 2.

A+
Protection Paladin Protection Paladin

Protection Paladin is looking yet again incredibly strong, with them already being one of the most durable tanks on PTR, they will also retain their signature overpowered utility. Although the recent nerfs will lower their durability and DPS numbers, they will still have one of the highest outputs across all tanks. In addition, they have incredible mob control which is another reason why the spec is so highly desired. Overall, they are currently ranked as one of the better tank entering Season 2.

A
Blood Death Knight Blood Death Knight

Unfortunately, for Blood Death Knight there are not a lot of changes leading to the Season 2 of Mythic+. They are getting a new tier set supported by a hefty amount of RNG and arguably worse than what the Season 1 set had to offer. In addition, defensively and offensively are at a disadvantage compared to the top-ranked tanks, further pushing them down the list. Overall, it is still early to have a final estimate of how the spec will rank. Still, preliminary thoughts are that the spec performance is much better on the lower level keys (the main factory is the highest self-sustain) compared to the higher level ones, where you might struggle when tanking several packs together.

Guardian Druid Guardian Druid

Guardian Druid received a complete shuffle on the general talent tree, which will positively impact them. They have introduced some new cool talents (like Symbiotic Relationship and further increased their damage performance. Although their damage profile appears to be just fine (depending on the talent choices), durability is still an issue for the spec as it fails to compete against the higher-rated tanks at this stage of PTR.

B+
Brewmaster Monk Brewmaster Monk

Unfortunately for Brewmaster Monk, received no major changes leading up to Season 2. Their performance is currently better than what it was in Season 1 as the durability aspect of the spec has been improved. But, usual issues yet remain to be solved: not enough self-sustain, which often relies on much more "babysitting" from your healer. On top of this, they are one of the most difficult tanks to master, further pushing the barrier of entry higher and higher (especially with that many buttons in your rotation). We expect further tuning to hit PTR and hopefully, we can revisit the rankings.

3.

Full Tank Class Rankings

3.1.

S-tier

3.2.

Vengeance Demon Hunter

Utility Package
Functionality Spells Notes
Core Chaos Brand Icon Chaos Brand 3% extra Magical damage
Core Darkness Icon Darkness % chance to avoid all damage from an attack.
Core Sigil of Silence Icon Sigil of Silence Silences all enemies affected by the Sigil for a short time.
Optional Sigil of Chains Icon Sigil of Chains All enemies affected by the Sigil are pulled to its center and snared.
Optional Imprison Icon Imprison Single-target out of combat crowd-control.
Optional Consume Magic Icon Consume Magic Remove 1 beneficial Magic effect.
Optional Sigil of Misery Icon Sigil of Misery AoE disturb effect.
3.3.

Protection Warrior

Utility Package
Functionality Spells Notes
Core Rallying Cry Icon Rallying Cry Temporary increasing the health of your raid/party.
Core Battle Shout Icon Battle Shout Extra 5% attack power.
Core Shockwave Icon Shockwave -
Core Storm Bolt Icon Storm Bolt -
Core Intimidating Shout Icon Intimidating Shout -
Optional Spell Reflection Icon Spell Reflection Usable in niche situations.
3.4.

A+tier

3.5.

Protection Paladin

Utility Package
Functionality Spells Notes
Core Avenger's Shield Icon Avenger's Shield Extra interrupt option that has a follow-up silence effect.
Core Devotion Aura Icon Devotion Aura Permanent 3% group/raid-wide damage reduction aura.
Core Lay on Hands Icon Lay on Hands Heals a member of your party/raid to full health.
Core Intercession Icon Intercession Combat-resurrection
Core Hammer of Justice Icon Hammer of Justice -
Optional Blessing of Spellwarding Icon Blessing of Spellwarding Granting magical damage immunity for 10 sec on a chosen ally.
Optional Blessing of Sacrifice Icon 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 Icon Sacrifice of the Just.
Optional Blessing of Protection Icon Blessing of Protection Physical immunity, which can help you with some boss encounters.
Optional Blessing of Freedom Icon Blessing of Freedom Immunity to movement impairing effects.
Optional Cleanse Toxins Icon Cleanse Toxins Removes all PoisonPoison and DiseaseDisease effects from the target.
Optional Turn Evil Icon Turn Evil Be able to fear any Undead, Aberration or Demon, which is an additional form of crowd control.
3.6.

A-tier

3.7.

Blood Death Knight

Utility Package
Functionality Spells Notes
Core Anti-Magic Zone Icon Anti-Magic Zone Provides extra durability against heavy magical damage.
Core Death Grip Icon Death Grip Repositions an enemy of your choice.
Core Raise Ally Icon Raise Ally Combat-resurrection.
Optional Blinding Sleet Icon Blinding Sleet AoE disturb effect.
Optional Abomination Limb Icon Abomination Limb Every 1 sec an enemy is pulled close to you.
Optional Gorefiend's Grasp Icon Gorefiend's Grasp Mass-grip.
Optional Insidious Chill Icon Insidious Chill Reduces the auto-attack speed of your target by 5% stacking up 4 times.
Optional Control Undead Icon Control Undead Mind-control an undead enemy to fight on your side.
Optional Asphyxiate Icon Asphyxiate 5 sec single-target stun.
Optional Vestigial Shell Icon Vestigial Shell Adding Anti-Magic Shell Icon Anti-Magic Shell on 2 nearby allies.
3.8.

Guardian Druid

Utility Package
Functionality Spells Notes
Core Mark of the Wild Icon Mark of the Wild Increasing the Versatility of your raid/party by 3%.
Optional Innervate Icon Innervate Allowing 1 friendly healer to cast spells without spending mana for 8 sec.
Optional Stampeding Roar Icon Stampeding Roar Increasing the movement speed to all raid members by 60% for 8 sec.
Optional Remove Corruption Icon Remove Corruption Removes all CurseCurse and PoisonPoison effects from a friendly target.
Optional Soothe Icon Soothe Dispelling all Enrage Effects from an enemy target.
Optional Hibernate Icon Hibernate Single-target crowd-control effects against beasts and dragonkins.
Optional Incapacitating Roar Icon Incapacitating Roar / Mighty Bash Icon Mighty Bash You have the choice between AoE disturb effect or a single-target stun.
Optional Typhoon Icon Typhoon Aoe knockback.
Optional Mass Entanglement Icon Mass Entanglement / Ursol's Vortex Icon Ursol's Vortex You have the choice between AoE root effect or AoE wind-of-vortex, pulling all the mobs to one location.
3.9.

B+tier

3.10.

Brewmaster Monk

Utility Package
Functionality Spells Notes
Core Mystic Touch Icon Mystic Touch 5% extra Physical damage for your raid.
Core Leg Sweep Icon Leg Sweep 3 sec stun effect.
Optional Tiger's Lust Icon Tiger's Lust Removes all roots and snares.
Optional Ring of Peace Icon Ring of Peace It can be used to help your tank kite and as a AoE disturb effect.
Optional Detox Icon Detox Removes all PoisonPoison and DiseaseDisease effects from the target.
Optional Paralysis Icon Paralysis Single-target disturb effect.
4.

Changelog

  • 23 Feb. 2025: Pre-Season Update of the Prgoressive TWW Season 2 tierlist.
  • 15 Dec. 2024: Further Adjustments based on the most recent class hotfix.
  • 12 Dec. 2024: Reviewed and updated for 11.0.7 Patch.
  • 02 Dec. 2024: Further Adjustments based on the most recent class hotfix.
  • 14 Nov. 2024: Updated based on the most recent class hotfixes.
  • 28 Oct. 2024: Upgaded based on the most recent class changes.
  • 20 Oct. 2024: Reviewed and update for 11.0.5 Patch.
  • 09 Oct. 2024: Further Adjustments based on the most recent class hotfix.
  • 15 Sep. 2024: Further Adjustments based on the most recent class hotfix.
  • 01 Sep. 2024: Further Adjustments based on the most recent class hotfix.
  • 21 Aug. 2024: Fully Updated for Season 1 of The War Within.
  • 02 Jun. 2024: Reviewed and updated based on the most recent class changes.
  • 07 May 2024: Reviewed and update dfor 10.2.7 Patch.
  • 23 Apr. 2024: Reviewed and updated for Season 4.
  • 25 Mar. 2024: Reviewed and updated for 10.2.6 Patch.
  • 12 Mar. 2024: No changes needed.
  • 28 Jan. 2024: Further Adjustments based on the most recent class hotfix.
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed and updated for 10.2.5 Patch.
  • 18 Dec. 2023: Further Adjustments based on the most recent class hotfix.
  • 04 Dec. 2023: Further Adjustments based on the most recent class hotfix.
  • 12 Nov. 2023: Further Adjustments based on the most recent class hotfix.
  • 05 Nov. 2023: Reviewed and Updated for 10.2 Patch.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed and Updated for 10.1.7 Patch.
  • 22 Aug. 2023: Further Adjustments based on the most recent class hotfix.
  • 09 Aug. 2023: Further Adjustments based on the most recent class hotfix.
  • 25 Jul. 2023: Further Adjustments based on the most recent class hotfix.
  • 17 Jul. 2023: Further Adjustments based on the 10.1.5 Patch.
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Further Adjustments based on the 10.1.5 Patch.
  • 27 Jun. 2023: Further Adjustments based on the most recent hotfixes.
  • 06 Jun. 2023: Further Adjustments based on the most recent hotfixes.
  • 23 May 2023: Further Adjustments based on the most recent Patch.
  • 07 May 2023: Further Adjustments based on the most recent hotfixes.
  • 01 May 2023: Fully Updated for Season 2 of Dragonflight.
  • 21 Mar. 2023: Updated based on the most recent changes for 10.0.7. Patch.
  • 04 Mar. 2023: Further Adjustments based .
  • 14 Feb. 2023: Further Adjustments based on the most recent Patch.
  • 25 Jan. 2023: Further Adjustments based on the upcoming 10.0.5 Patch.
  • 21 Dec. 2022: Further Adjustments based on the latest class changes.
  • 18 Nov. 2022: Updated with the initial iteration for Season 1 of Dragonflight.
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