Dragonflight follows the trend of World of Warcraft as a whole, where some classes are better than others at the high end for raiding, and a meta will emerge inevitably. Last time, we talked about DPS tier list in Dragonflight. So, in this article, the tank specializations in Dragonflight's first raid season are ranked here according to their viability and strength.
When it comes to defense in World of Warcraft, Tanks are very evenly distributed. All tanks are equally effective in defense. The damage output, utility, and special bonuses that each tank provides to the raid are where the tanks really differ from one another. To simplify, most raids would be alright sending in any combination of tanks.
There is not enough data to make an accurate meta-prediction; therefore this tank tier ranking is based solely on speculation. Therefore, take this list with a pinch of salt, and remember, whatever we have described below is purely based on data research.
The Tank Tier list is summarized down below into S, A, and B classes.
S-Class
Protection Warrior
Even after numerous nerfs, the Protection Warrior class tree remains one of the best in the game and makes for a formidable mythic+ tank in Dragonflight. You're picking up whatever you need for your spec as you progress through this tree, and the class and spec trees work together quite well thanks to bleeds and other mechanisms.
Protection Warrior has one of the strongest tier sets among tanks, it's great for constant damage and defensive boost, and it doesn't really require you to change anything negatively to play it. They have nearly 100 percent uptime on Shield Block and Ignore Pain, more healing in their kit than ever, and extremely decent utility with low cooldown AOE and single Target stuns, and Commanding Shout.
Since they don't have any major flaws and Warrior shouldn't have any trouble with them, they'll be placed in the S-tier.
Demon Hunter
The Vengeance Demon Hunter is a powerful all-around tank with high resistance to damage, fast healing, and high endurance. They are an above-average choice when it comes to picking tanks for the raid due to their high damage output, excellent defenses, and reliable protection. If you don't already have a Havoc, Chaos Brand would be the major reason to bring a Vengeance Demon Hunter. While there are better offensive or defensive tank options, Vengeance is a great pick regardless of your playstyle.
Due to its increased AOE damage and a modest decrease in single-target damage, this class has been promoted to S-tier, joining the Protection Warrior. You're pretty much-maintaining demon spikes as you're 100 percent defensive; it's really strong, and playing around Meta, you're simply unkillable during Meta. It is now very tank-centric as their play style is going to revolve around Frailty; applying Frailty with your Sigil of Flame as well as with Spirit Bomb, you just deal crazy amounts of damage and healing, and it has an excellent magic resistance.
Demon Hunter is one of the finest defensive tanks and simple to play. Having your tank be able to bring it on a little bit on the single target side absolutely is nice if you've got a lot of AOE classes doing damage, and it just sustains more into that drain tank style of play; nerfs can hurt this class quite a bit because it doesn't have a lot of buttons to play around different situations.
A-Class
Blood Death Knight
In A tier, Blood Death Knights will have access to multiple talents that enhance Death and Decay, allowing them to do an additional 5% damage and receive an additional 5% healing while in the zone. If you're in your Death and Decay and everything is going well, and you go to hit a shattering bone, your Death and Decay drops off as you hit it, and now your big AOE nuke does only a quarter of the damage it would have done otherwise.
When it's played well, those mistakes are punished very harshly, but it's still one of the most self-sufficient tanks, they're very tanky, and it's almost impossible to die if you're playing. However, if you play Frost DK in raids and want to take four or five keys a week for your friends, Blood DK is probably not going to be the easiest spec to do that due to the high skill cap.
Protection Paladin
Two main factors put Protection Paladins in the A-tier: damage and immunity. Due to their enormous single-target damage output, Protection Paladins may play a pivotal role in Mythic difficulty encounter tuning. More notably, Paladins have two types of immunity, making them the only tank class with more than one. Especially considering the tank mechanics of some of the later encounters, the importance of Divine Shield and Blessing of Spellwarding cannot be overstated.
B-Class
Brewmaster Monk
The Brewmaster Monk is the tank with the weakest defensive capabilities, especially when the effect of stagger damage is taken into account. When compared to other tanks, their damage is average, and their cooldowns are among the most ineffective and unreliable of any tank's abilities. The primary advantage of bringing a Brewmaster is the icon of Mystic Touch, but because all of the other monk specialties are currently in a state of power, bringing a Brewmaster is not as valuable as it once was. Last but not least, the Brewmaster is the only monk specialization that cannot reliably deliver the buffs from the other class trees because their range is only 10 yards.
Guardian Druid
The great thing about the Guardian Druid is that it has a very straightforward offense and defensive rotation, and it's also a very easy class to pick up. If you're learning tank, you should think about starting with the Guardian Druid, especially if you heal or DPS an array and you want to build a tank for Dragonflight Mythic+, because it's not nearly as punishing of mistakes as some of the other classes are. Its gameplay is almost the same as what it was for the entirety of season one and season two, as well as for the majority of seasons three and four; they are powerful and provide good area-of-effect damage.
The disadvantage of playing this class in Dragonflight is that there are just so many two-point and three-point nodes, and a lot of the time, you end up being forced to accept talents that you don't want or that you just can't really put to good use. In addition, the lack of progression opportunities inside the class tree is a significant drawback for the standard as a whole.
Conclusion
After numerous changes were made to both the greatest and worst tanks, there are no longer any particularly strong tanks. This is the closest the tank's balance has ever been. The tank that accommodates the most formidable complement is likely to be the finest option. Since it is so easy to play a Warrior in, it is expected to become the most played tank class, despite not being the best at the very top levels.
Keep in mind that this list was compiled using the most recent update for the WoW Dragonflight meta, version 10.0.2. Depending on future adjustments made by Blizzard Entertainment, the Tanks tier list could be totally changed, so be sure to check back often to keep track of the meta and share your thoughts.
While some character classes and specializations may appear to be more potent than others on paper, a lack of experience on the side of the player controlling the character will likely prevent him from making full use of the class's or specialization's potential.
Furthermore, a player who has been playing his character for several years while he has been working on evolving a class that is not meta at the moment will certainly have much more to bring to your team than another who is just learning the game.
Related Link: https://www.mmogah.com/news/wow/wow-dragonflight-healer-tier-list
