Looking for the best tank class in WotLK Classic? Well, you are at the right place. Here we will be taking a look at the best tanks in WotLK Classic and ranking them from S through C.
S Tier - Protection Paladins
The combination of abilities that come with the Protection Paladin makes it the best tank in WotLK Classic. Here are some of the main features that allowed the Protection Paladin to land in the S-Tier.
Ardent Defender
Probably the main reason that we consider Protection Paladins to be an S-Tier tank in WotLK is because of its Ardent Defender talent. An overwhelming majority of people from the WotLK community agree with this statement. Some go as far as to say that the Ardent Defender is an overpowered passive. But what does it do?
As a Paladin's health drops and gets below 35% of the total, the Ardent Defender passive ability will reduce any incoming damage. However, that does not seem like an overpowered ability. But wait, there is more.
The reason that a lot of people consider the Ardent Defender overpowered is that it makes Protection Paladins practically unkillable. When Protection Paladins receive an attack that can kill them, the Ardent Defender causes them to get healed instead of dying. However, this effect can not be used more than once every two minutes.
Divine Plea
The Divine Plea is a great instant mana bost ability. It proves to be most useful in situations where mana is completely depleted or is very low, and an instant mana boost is required to get out of that situation.
With the Divine Plea ability, you instantly get 25% of your total mana. However, the amount of healing that the Flash of Light, Holy Light, and the Holy Shock spells provide is reduced by half. But if the instant mana bost can help get out of sticky situations, the 50% reduction is not a bad trade-off.
The Divine Plea requires level 71, so make sure you are stacked up on WotLK Classic gold to level up fast. If you don't have enough Classic WotLK gold, you can simply buy it, which is way faster than grinding for it.
Divine Sacrifice
The Divine Sacrifice is arguably one of the best damage mitigation abilities, which is also why the Protection Paladins is in the S-Tier. The Divine Sacrifice protects all party members within 30 yards by redirecting 30% of all the damage taken to the Paladin.
However, the damage mitigation will not work at the expense of the Paladin's life. If the total damage is high enough to reduce Paladin's health below 20%, then it will not be redirected to the Paladin. That being said, it is still quite effective at managing some of the incoming damage, which is a big plus for a tank in WotLK.
A Tier - Protection Warriors
Protection Warrior is one of the best tanks in Classic WotLK because of its mobility and ability to take tons of damage. Here are some of the main features that make the Protection Warrior soo great.
Warbringer
The strong suit of the Protection Warriors is their mobility. They can move around way better than other tanks in WotLK Classic. One of the main reasons for this is the Warbringer Talent.
The Warbringer ability allows Protection Warriors to Charge, Intercept, or Intervene in combat while being in any stance. Along with that, Warbringer also allows Protection Warriors to be impervious to all movement impairing effects.
Spell Reflection
Another major feature that makes the Protection Warrior such a great tank is its Spell Reflection ability. With this ability, a Protection Warrior can reflect incoming spell casts. Protection Warrior is also the only tank that can reflect incoming spells.
However, to reflect spells, either the defensive stance or the battle stance is required. Another thing that is needed to reflect incoming spells is shields. When the Protection Warrior initiates spell reflection, he will lift his shield and use it to reflect the spells.
The Spell Reflection requires level 64, so you will need some gold in WotLK Classic to reach that level. If you need more gold and don't want to spend all that time grinding for it, there are places from where you can purchase them, one of which is MmoGah. It's a safe and reliable place to purchase accounts, items, and in-game currencies like WoW WotLK Classic gold and TBC Classic gold.
Shield Wall & Shield Block
Some of the most useful abilities of the Protection Warrior include Shield Wall and Shield Block. Why are they soo important? Well, it's simple because these abilities are some of the tackiest, which is a big plus if you are looking for a great tank.
The Shield Block ability will instantly increase your chances to block and increase the block value by 100%. The Shield Block ability will last for 10 seconds.
The Shield Wall ability will instantly reduce all the damage taken by 60%. The Shield Wall will last for 12 seconds. Both these abilities are also some of the main reasons why Protection Warrior gets the A-Tier.
B Tier - Blood Death Knights
While the Blood Death Knight is at the B-Tier, it is certainly not a bad tank. The Blood Death Knight is most effective against magic with his anti-magic abilities. Other features make the Blood Death King a strong tank as well. Here are some of them.
Will of The Necropolis
Just like the Ardent Defender passive ability of the Protection Paladin, the Blood Death Knight also has a passive ability that works similarly. However, it is not as powerful as the Ardent Defender.
The ability in question is the Will of the Necropolis. This passive ability reduces all damage taken while having 35% health. It also applies to damage that can drop the health below 35%. The Will of the Necropolis reduces damage by 15%.
Anti Magic Shell & Spell Deflection
The Blood Death Knight shines the most with his anti-magic abilities. Some of the most powerful anti-magic abilities in his arsenal include Anti-Magic Shell and Spell Deflection.
The Spell Deflection ability gives chances to reduce damage from a direct damage spell. The damage reduction is 45%, while the chances are equal to the Parray chances.
On the other hand, the Anti-Magic Shell ability creates a shell around the Death Knight. The shell can absorb 75% of the incoming damage from harmful spells and can also prevent any harmful magical effects from being applied to the Blood Death Knight. The Blood Death Knight also receives additional runic power as the Anti-Magic Shell absorbs damage.
Both of these abilities make the Blood Death Knight the strongest tank against magic damage.
Blood Worms
Another great ability of the Blood Death Knight is the Bloodworms talent. With this ability, the Death Knight gets to annoy his enemies with constant damage and get some healing in return.
The Bloodworms ability will spawn two to four bloodworms upon striking the enemy. These worms will start attacking the enemy as they get spawned. As they attack and damage the enemy, the Blood Death Knight will receive healing. This will last for a total of 20 seconds. Or it can also end before 20 seconds if the enemy kills the bloodworms. The chances of the bloodworms spawning are 9%.
C Tier - Feral Druids
The Feral Druid proves to be the best tank for beginners because of how easy it is to use and how forgiving it is. Here are some of the features that make the Feral Druid a great tank.
Large Health Pool
One of the main reasons that most people prefer Feral Druid is his insanely large health pool. The Feral Druid is like a damaged sponge that can keep on taking damage. However, there is not much armor on the Feral Druid. Having a large health pool makes the Feral Druids much more forgiving and easy to use.
Dire Bear Form
Dire Bear Form is a great addition to the Feral Druid's arsenal to combat his low armor. The Dire Bear Form increases the armor contribution from cloth and leather items by a whopping 370%. The Dire Bear Form also increases the melee attack power by 120
However, that's not all. The Dire Bear Form protects from Polymorph effects. For the protection effect to work, the Feral Druid must shapeshift, during which both the Polymorph and Movement Impairing effects will be removed.
Conclusion
Before ranking any of the tanks mentioned above, we tried them out ourselves extensively. We also tried out each of the abilities and features that we have mentioned; only then were we able to create an effective tier list.
However, the difference in each tier from S to A or from B to C is not a lot. In other words, all the tanks mentioned in our list are great. The main reason for this is that Blizzard designed them this way. Blizzard does not want everyone to choose the same tank.
Another thing that should be kept in mind is that games change a lot over time. The developers constantly add new changes to their games with updates. This is why the tier list may change in the future.
Related Links:
Wrath of the Lich King Classic DPS Rankings Guide
WotLK Classic Class Guide - The Best Class and How to Pick It