Best Tank Classes in WoW Shadowlands

Raiding is a pinnacle PvE activity in World of Warcraft. Those looking to climb the ranks will want to pay attention to the meta and master the classes leading the pack. This list is based on the current player popularity and mortality rate. Popularity determines the meta, with mortality being the second defining attribute.

Shadowlands Tank Rankings

6. Protection Warrior

With less than 1% of raid groups utilizing the Protection Warrior, it's lowest on the list for a good reason. Despite being the originally dedicated tank in WoW, the Protection Warrior has fallen out of favor due to its lack of self-healing, bouts of downtime in the rotation, and being wide open to taking damage when cooldowns aren't active.

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5. Guardian Druid

The Guardian Druid isn't much of a step up from the Protection Warrior. This is because it is extremely gear dependent, leaving it feeling extremely lackluster early on. While it excels in dealing damage, this comes at the cost of survivability and spending rage on attacks instead of defensive abilities.

4. Vengeance Demon Hunter

Despite having the same pick rate as the Guardian Druid at 2%, the Vengeance Demon Hunter has a higher survivability rate. It has an extremely strong opening rotation which makes it great for gobbling up aggro and maintaining it with consistent AoE damage. This does leave its single target damage lacking. While not awful, the spec doesn't do anything spectacularly well.

3. Blood Death Knight

Rounding out the top three is the Blood death Knight, with a 29% popularity rating. Interestingly, it has the lowest mortality rate of all the tanks. Through the use of a multitude of abilities, the Blood DK has a large number of immunities, more so than any other tank. It has multiple taunts and unique group utilities. The only real drawback is that it relies on taking damage and healing it back, making it a risky tank.

2. Protection Paladin

The Protection Paladin has an excellent group play mentality through its Blessings. Its survivability is nothing to sneeze at with its ability to self-cleanse and heal. That being said, the Protection Paladin is fairly unforgiving to play, and mistakes in the rotation are punished heavily. But for those looking for a more technical play, this could be the perfect tanking class.

1. Brewmaster Monk

Just barely edging out the Protection Paladin is the Brewmaster Monk. The two share an identical popularity rating, so the 3% lower mortality rate is the determining factor. After all, why not pick the tank that has higher survivability? The Brewmaster Monk is a great all-rounder tank and can trade blows with the most nefarious beast.

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