Mythic+ Tank Rankings: A Tier List for Midnight (Patch 12.1 / Midnight)

Blood Death Knight received its fair share of changes leading up to Season 2, with some of the highlights, being a brand new tier-set and a large damage buffs. Blizzard has attempted to make Blood DK a more desirable tank choice for the upcoming season, which they have definitely succeeded at. Blood DKs are currently not only one of the most durable tanks, but also have the highest damage output across all tank specs.

However, Blood DK remains the only Tank spec in the game that does not bring unique party-wide utility, while all other tank specs do, putting them at a disadvantage. Still, Death Grip can play a vital part in each dungeon, as stationary ranged and caster mobs are usually the hardest to group up. Overall, this is one of the few seasons where Blood DK is looking like a meta contender.

Protection Paladin arguably received the biggest set of changes going into Season 2, especially among tanks. Other than the typical numbers tuning, a lot of their talents were repositioned in their spec tree, and the result has been quite pleasant to play with.

Not only are they one of the most durable tanks leading up to Season 2, but they also sport incredibly high damage. Since the spec also has one of the best group-wide utility kits, they are an absolute menace.

Guardian Druid received a complete Apex Talent revamp, and will now have to be a bit more careful in regards to spending their Rage. Although the durability of Guardians is great, they currently suffer in the damage department, where compared to the rest of the Tank specs they have one of the lowest DPS outputs. They do bring Mark of the Wild to the table though, which is always a nice group-wide DPS and survivability buff. As we already saw during Season 1, this spec can really excel and be one of the most dominant tank options with the right tuning.

Vengeance Demon Hunter received minor changes leading up to Season 2, with some of the highlights being a healing gain adjustment to some of the spec's abilities, like Soul Cleave, Fel Devastation, and Feast of Souls, as well as some quality-of-life changes such as making Sigil of Chains a baseline spell, rather than a talent. VDH's current performance is great - It is somewhat tanky, does incredible damage, and has amazing party-wide utility. While your defensives won't have 100% uptime unlike some other tanks, you still have no trouble kiting until things are ready again. We believe this spec is one of the better tank options so far on the PTR, but sadly their middling durability is the only problem that holds them back from reaching a higher placement.

Protection Warrior in Season 2 of Midnight is expected to have an even stronger defensive and offensive package. Protection Warrior's current performance is solid, as the spec has been steadily climbing the rankings with its performance. They offer great durability and strong damage, on top of providing solid group utility with their crowd control and Battle Shout group buff. Especially in Physical-DPS oriented comps, Protection Warrior might be a great choice if their performance continues to stay the way we currently see it.

Brewmaster Monk has received some attention for Season 2 of Midnight. Celestial Brew & Celestial Infusion absorbs are increased by 25%, Vital Flame heals for more, and the Stagger reduction from Staggering Strikes increased by 25%. In addition, their new tier-set will further increase their damage output, which is hopefully allowing the spec to compete with other high-DPS tanks.

The current state of Brew is largely unchanged though, as they struggle to compete against the best-performing tanks in the durability department, which once again, becomes their biggest nemesis. Brewmasters core spot has always been physical comps and if the specs sees some additional improvements to their defensives or passive mitigation, we have no doubt the spec will, just like last season, be a great choice for pushing M+ keys.