All Tanks Evaluated (BFA)

Classes Druid
1

So they removed the “roles” area, so i just chose Druid because there seems to be so much drama here and how they are “bottom of the barrel”. This evaluation is coming from someone who primarily does Mythic+ and Normal/Heroic raids when I have time.

My wife and I been playing since release and I primarily tank 80% of the time with 20% time healing. My wife heals 95% of the time with 5% dpsing. I also have experience tanking 5 years in Everquest before WoW. So I like to think I have a respectable perspective. But, hey its the internet so I’m sure good/bad comments will ensue. Also note, this expansion I have leveled every single tank and geared them 390+ before making this post.

So, without more text to bypass before the evaluations here we go:

Druid - Our go to tank for pushing keys. Druid has always been very similar to warrior tanking over the years. It is our go to tank because the up time on its mitigation is incredible and I barely take big spikes due to high armor/hp. Wife plays Holy priest and she loves healing this guy due to how well he mitigates and prevents high spikes of damage. Damage could be a bit better, but I hold threat fine. Compared to all the other tanks, he has a good amount of cool downs to rotate through. I see Druids complaining on the forums about how they are bottom of tanks, but I honestly feel its due to lack of experience.

Paladin: Another solid tank, wife is on the fence with this guy. Doesn’t hate/love healing him. But from a tanking perspective I like the fluid play and the good amount of group utility and cool downs. Holds threat well and does a good amount of damage. I can say to her “i’m good get one of the dps up” during bad times because I can hold my own if needed for a bit, even on big pulls.

Warrior: So, warrior is in a weird spot right. They buffed them a bit taking IP off GCD, but that really hasn’t helped much. They have a good amount of cool downs, okay mobility with leaps/charges and yea there AOE damage is pretty high on pack pulls. If i dont put devastate on a passive ability, i feel the rotation feels clunky and odd. I started the expansion on this toon and quickly shelved him after doing mythic+s.

Demon Hunter: This is the one I picked up after my warrior got shelved. Was a little excited to play him. But once we geared him up and started doing Mythic+ we quickly learned that his mitigation wasn’t going to cut it. I think most people like his leaping abilities, but good grief his cool downs are very bad and they spike so hard that it stresses my healer even when I’m trying to mitigate as much as possible. This puts him near the bottom of tanks for me.

Blood Death Knight: Okay so lets talk about the elephant in the room. I get it, you wanna push level 35+ mythic keys, its probably the tank you’re gonna have to use. But from a group of people who work full time jobs and dont live on WoW, this class is not it. At first I was like, okay Demon Hunter wasnt cutting it. Let’s see what all the hype is about. This was pre-nerf right, and I was like damn you dont have to do much with this guy just hit a few buttons and you’re back to full health. And his mitigation up-time is easy AF. But here is the thing about DK’s, you ready? They are like Ping Pong balls, meaning sure… you can heal yourself up well, but holy crap they spike very hard. This stresses your healer and isn’t very fun from a group perspective. Has good cool downs and can breath easier when playing this class. Probably should be the class of the beginner tank, but from a experienced tank perspective he brings nothing to the group and mobility is terrible with low damage output. Very bottom tank for me and cant talk my wife into letting me play this even if i wanted to, sorry guys, just isn’t fun to play.

Monk: Everyone is talking about how amazing this tank was, meh… another Ping Pong. Sure they can mitigate a % of the incoming and have brews etc. I found that it was a huge hassle to play, but there are going to be people who like the interactions. Does have a high skill cap, dont recommend for beginner tanks. Has great mobility with teleports and torpedoes. Crappy cool downs though, you pull a big group and your healer is who gets stressed out. Your stagger gets out of control and they are struggling to get you up because you already used your defensive’s… now what? Oh let me kite adds, /facepalm now your dps just dropped off and it will take forever to kill them. Another tank the wife hates to heal due to its spiky nature and low cool downs. Oh, let me before someone else does “manage your brews better” meh, okay sure. I’ll let someone else play this but we’ll never bring one to a serious run. Grievous was especially hard this week, stagger with another dots… ugh was a nightmare.

Top tanks for Mythic+ and Raids:
Druids/Paladins

Middle of the road:
Warriors

Bottom tier:
Death Knights
Monks

4 Likes
2

Glad you’re having fun with your bear!

Tell the Mrs to roll a druid healer next time you want to experiment with your monk :slight_smile:

3

Yes, I’m sure that DK’s really are the worst tanks in the game, as you say, and it’s just the REST of the world that is wrong.

Sure… :no_mouth:

10 Likes
4

I stopped reading right there. What do you consider “Pushing Keys”. Just a quick glance at your armory shows a few 8’s (albeit still early in Season 2) .

I am not a Bear Hater, but even I can’t sit here with a straight face and say that Bears are the Top Tier for M+ and Raids. I still maintain my bear even though I recently leveled a Blood DK to see what the fuss was all about and Tanking on a DK is night and day compared to Druid. It actually make me mad that developers allow specs to be so far apart.

5 Likes
5

I liked the part about how everyone else just has a lack of experience in tanking. But then again, his character IS named “Arrogance”, so…

8 Likes
6

First I’d like to say thanks for compiling this list, as I’m on the fence about whether or not to roll another tank.

I agree with almost every point, especially demon hunters and DKs being difficult to heal because of damage predictability. Healers need warning before your health drops like a ton of bricks, and DH/DK doesnt always provide that.

As a Monk main though, and obviously I’m biased, this is precisely why I don’t agree about monks being another ping pong tank. They are quite literally the furthest away from that as you can get, although you’re 100% correct they do lack a bit in the cooldown department.

Why Fortifying Brew has a SEVEN MINUTE cooldown is beyond my ability to understand.

For mythic+ I’ll rely on leg sweep, ring of peace, fortifying brew, and sometimes healing elixir.

Btw, it’s possible the reason your wife likes healing the Bear is because of its Mastery (increases healing received by %).

On that note, she should also like healing the monk because of Celestial Fortune (chance to receive crit heals), but I digress.

Great post.

2 Likes
7

My friend, I appreciate the fact that this is based off your experiences and your wife’s, and it’s your opinion. I have to tell you though, that even thought his is how you both feel, you are both a bit off on “how it really is”.

When I look at your list, I see you put monks and DK’s at the bottom. Those two tanks require “active mitigation” or more of a “know your class and how to recover from hits” type role. Maybe because you have many alts you have never mastered any of them, so you have this view.

I’d say that you have this list more on a “ease of use” type list…in that a druid and paladin are extremely easy to tank on, while a DK and monk take a bit more of knowing how to manage cool-downs and resources to be successful.

8 Likes
8

it’s a 7 min cooldown but your other abilities used lower its cooldown.

2 Likes
10

She has a Mistweaver, she is in the process of obtaining better gear for it. She says its night and day burst healing over her Holy Priest but, she prefers the Priests group heals. We did a +10 with my Brewmaster Monk and her 380 geared Mistweaver (beat the timer too) and she had zero issues with the Grievous dot.

I can understand why people like DK/Monk combo for Mythics.

11

I literally did the same thing, Literally did not read one more word after as it immediately showed an overly biased opinion.

12

Well thanks for the bump at least.

13

If your wife has played each of the healers I’m curious what her opinion is on what she prefers and why

14

Hmm, your +10’s not showing yet - nice work timing it - Good luck catching up to that with your bear this week!

Which one did you clear?

1 Like
15

What’s your go to talent setup when pushing Mythic+ as a bear? if possible I’d like to see your bear to compare secondary stats.

1 Like
16

You clearly didn’t read the whole post. OP is saying he hates how unpredictable the damage spikes can be on Blood Death Knights, and honestly, I’m inclined to agree.
You see, I usually pug my keys, so I get to run with every kind of tank. As a HoT based healer, I can say for sure that I rather run with a Protection Warrior or Guardian Druid. Not a big fan of ping pong here.

17

I feel so appreciated :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

3 Likes
18

Look up Conceíted on Tich - he’s got a definite theme to his tank names, although his Pally’s a bit off message!

It’s great to see someone pushing toward 10s on a bear, especially after coming into season 2 without a 10 under your belt from the previous season - got to be a little daunting when you’re playing one of the less popular tanks.

We may have some shortcomings, but don’t let anyone tell you we’re not perfectly capable in our own right :slight_smile:

1 Like
19

Always fun to see other people perspectives on things. As a former healer, I can totally attest to the ‘stress’ of healing a BDK. However, now as someone that plays BDK regularly with a buddy (resto druid) that heals me, the key to healing BDK is to not panic and know that if they take a huge hit of damage their going to turn around and heal most of that back almost instantly. And we passively take 30% less damage when below 30%, that on top of all of the CD’s we have.

Step 2 is to track CD’s. I helped my healer set up his UI in a way where he can see when I’m using my CD’s and what CD’s I have available to use. If he sees me throw up a 10 second bonestorm and I have rune weapon off CD he knows I don’t need much healing for ~20 seconds so he throws a rejuv on me, drops and efflo, and goes full catweave dps. Additionally, he knows when to iron bark me. There’s something super satisfying about my last CD running out and immediately being iron barked without having to call for it.

Regarding not bringing anything to the group, apologies but this is completely false. Mass grip/grip are arguably the best utility CD’s in M+. You also bring AMS which negates a ton of abilities as well as group snare in the form of DnD. The only class that rivals this type of utility is DH, but they are far less superior in BfA than they were in Legion. BDK’s don’t have much mobility, but with DnD slow it’s basically not needed. Kiting on a BDK is leaps and bounds easier than on a DH.

1 Like
20

As a resto Druid… I’m gonna have to disagree with your views on BDK.

They are my absolute favorite tank to heal. Or should I say not heal?.. You roll a few hots on them and then forget about it.

Plus they drop a pretty red circle on the ground which pairs nicely with my pretty green circles. It’s Christmas time all year!

Given the choice I’ll pick BDK every single time.

7 Likes
21

You must pick some bad DKs or not know how healing them works. Healing a DK is a different kind of healing all in all and spikey health is part of how they function.

1 Like