Dragonflight Tank Rankings: Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope Raiding Tier List (Patch 10.2.7 / Season 4)
World of Warcraft has never been perfectly balanced, and Dragonflight is no exception. Some classes are better than others at the high end for raiding, and inevitably, a meta will exist. This ranking is based on the viability and strength of the various tank specializations for the second season of raiding in Dragonflight.
Disclaimer: This list will be updated as new tuning and class changes come out over the course of the season.
About the Tier List
Season 4 Update: All raids return for this season which brings a wide variety of utility that each tank can provide. When all of this is aggregated together there are no tanks which are strictly better than the others (assuming that all of your required strategic utility is covered already).
This tier list is entirely based on Tank viability for all raids in Season 4 of Dragonflight. The main things you want to look for in tank choice are damage dealt, ability to handle or recover from incoming damage of all types, cooldowns, and utility.
A Final Warning
It is incredibly important to emphasize that just because a tank is low in
the tier list, it does not mean that you should ignore it completely. For
the vast majority of cases, you should choose to bring the better player (or what
the player is more comfortable playing), not blindly play the subjectively better
class. Your raid composition may demand that tank choices are made regardless
of their strength, such as needing Mystic Touch,
Chaos Brand, or
Death Grip.
Dragonflight Tank Tier List for Season 4
Below is a quick summary of the full rankings that we have detailed on this page. While this gives a good outline of the standings of specializations in comparison to one another, we recommend reading the full rankings to understand why certain specializations are ranked as they are.
- Protection Paladin (A-Tier)
- Blood Death Knight (A-Tier)
- Brewmaster Monk (A-Tier)
- Protection Warrior (A-Tier)
- Vengeance Demon Hunter (A-Tier)
- Guardian Druid (A-Tier)
DPS and Healer Class Rankings
If you are interested in our other rankings for Season 4 Raiding in Dragonflight, please click the links below.
Full Tank Class Rankings
Tanks are reasonably close together when it comes to defensive power. Defensively, every tank is 100% viable. The major differences between the tanks are damage output, utility, and unique buffs that they bring to the raid. Some tank choices will perform better on some encounters, but for the raid as a whole, you are more than fine to pick any option.
A-Tier
Protection Paladin
Season 4 Update: Protection Paladins have their set bonus from Season 1 returning,
and a wider pool of trinkets which increase their damage output even more. The off-healing they can provide has proven
to be invaluable in progression raiding, especially for the final two encounters on Mythic in every raid.
Healers are also big fans of having a Protection Paladin in the raid as they can get Blessing of Spellwarding
to focus on the raid instead of dodging mechanics.
Segmented Ranking:
- Damage: A-Tier.
- Utility: A-Tier
Protection Paladins bring lots of useful raid tools
in the form of Auras and External Cooldowns, but are also a good tank choice with the flexibility
to play more defensively with Sentinel or offensively without it. Historically
Protection Paladins boasted the highest DPS of any tank. However, this is no longer the case.
You will opt to bring a Protection Paladin for the External cooldowns it can provide
with
Blessing of Protection or
Blessing of Spellwarding to negate
mechanics where you would otherwise sacrifice a player. You also ideally want to have
two Paladins in a competitive Mythic raiding roster to have both
Devotion Aura
for passive damage reduction and
Retribution Aura for additional raid DPS.
What does Protection Paladin bring?
Functionality | Spells | Notes |
---|---|---|
Auras | ![]() ![]() |
Having both of these auras is a must for any competitive Mythic raid group. |
Immunity | ![]() |
A complete immunity to any type of damage. This can be augmented with the
talent ![]() |
External Cooldowns | ![]() |
All Paladins can bring ![]() ![]() ![]() |
AoE Interrupt | ![]() |
Being able to interrupt multiple enemies on demand is very valuable on quite a few bosses in every raid this Season. Notable examples include Dathea, Sarkareth and Larodar. |
Blood Death Knight
Season 4 update: Season 4 brings back the tier set bonus
from Aberrus increasing your uptime on Vampiric Blood and baseline damage of core
rotational abilities. This, in addition to the continuation of the legendary weapon, makes Blood
Death Knight a tank that is a great choice for raiding in Season 4.
Segmented Ranking:
- Damage: B-Tier.
- Utility: S-Tier
Blood Death Knights are the tanks with the most
absolute control over their own survival due to Death Strike, but
any mismanagement of your resources can lead to it not being as strong in
this department as they should be. In addition to this control, they bring
the ability to bring enemies to you with
Death Grip and a raid cooldown
with
Anti-Magic Zone, but they can't have it all, and the main weakness
is damage. Blood does not bring any required buffs or cooldowns, but on encounters
where you need to group enemies together their utility is invaluable.
What does Blood Death Knight bring?
Functionality | Spells | Notes |
---|---|---|
Raid Cooldown | ![]() |
Absorbs 20% of magic damage taken up to 150% of the DKs health. As Blood has a significantly larger health pool than Frost/Unholy the AMZ from Blood is much more reliable. |
Debuff | ![]() |
Similar to ![]() |
Enemy Displacement | ![]() ![]() |
In each raid, there are encounters that have adds that need to be grouped up. Notable examples include Dathea, Raszageth, Zskarn, Sarkareth and Fyrakk |
Debuff negation | ![]() |
AMS can be used to prevent debuffs from being applied to you, which makes some encounters such as Nymue, Igira the Cruel or Tindral Sageswift easier, but is also a very large magic damage absorb which is useful for Sarkareth, Raszageth and Fyrakk. |
Knockback/Pushback negation | ![]() |
This will completely prevent you from being moved by any knockbacks or pushbacks. |
Brewmaster Monk
Season 4 Update: Season 4 brings back the tier set bonus
from Aberrus as well as item options from every tier in Dragonflight. If your guild doesn't have a Mistweaver or Windwalker Monk it is still
a must-have tank. Otherwise, they are a very flexible tank with great damage output and utility ( Mystic Touch,
Leg Sweep,
Generous Pour to name a few).
Segmented Ranking:
- Damage: A-Tier.
- Utility: B-Tier
Brewmaster Monk is a strong all-around choice
for tanking, but has by far the most rotational keybinds of any tank. This
can be reduced by passive talent options such as Press the Advantage.
However, each of these switches lower the damage but make the spec easier to manage.
Monks bring solid damage output,
can smooth out their damage taken with Stagger, and have strong but infrequent
defensive cooldowns. The main reason to bring a Brewmaster would be for
Mystic Touch, as both other Monk specializations are quite weak
comparatively.
What does Brewmaster Monk bring?
Functionality | Spells | Notes |
---|---|---|
Debuff | ![]() |
Increases physical damage dealt to the target by 5%. |
Buff | ![]() |
Reduces AoE damage taken by players within 10 yards by 4%. |
Buff | ![]() |
Increases healing taken by players within 10 yards by 8%. For many encounters in the raid, the group is stacked near melee range, so this benefits more than just the melee clump! |
Speed Taunt | ![]() |
This forces bosses to run faster when you taunt them. |
Defensive Cooldown | ![]() |
Not only is this a very strong magic damage reduction for the Monk, it can also dispel Magic debuffs. |
AoE Taunt | ![]() |
If you use ![]() |
AoE Knockback | ![]() |
This targeted AoE knockback has some value for this season in raids. Dathea for the platforms, Raszageth for the adds in Intermission 2, Sarkareth for the adds in Phase 2 + 3, Fyrakk as an emergency knockback in Phase 2 as some examples. |
Protection Warrior
Season 4 Update: Protection Warriors keep their set bonus from Season 3 but have access to a wider variety of trinkets. It's still a great all-around tank option for raiding! (If all of your other raid composition requirements are met with buffs/debuffs/grips).
Segmented Ranking:
- Damage: A-Tier.
- Utility: A-Tier
Protection Warriors have not only a required
buff, but also the strongest non-healer raid cooldown in the game with
Rallying Cry. Protection Warriors also provide a good amount of damage
and have more than enough defensive tools to make them a good tank choice.
What does Protection Warrior bring?
Functionality | Spells | Notes |
---|---|---|
Buff | ![]() |
A mandatory raid buff for any physical damage dealers. |
Raid Cooldown | ![]() |
This is one of the strongest defensive cooldowns available. It increases the effective Health of every player in the raid at a similar
level to ![]() |
AoE Silence/Taunt | ![]() |
This is not only an AoE silence, it's an AoE taunt as well! With 3 raids to work with this has uses on certain encounters in each one. Notable examples include Broodkeeper Diurna, Raszageth, Sarkareth, Larodar and Fyrakk. |
Vengeance Demon Hunter
Season 4 Update: Vengeance Demon Hunters keep their set bonus from Season 3 but their utility is now more accessible from the last time some of these raids were last available. This increased raid utility pushes them up to A-Tier. Their popularity in Mythic+ has increased participation in raiding and if all of your other raid requirements have been met in terms of buffs/debuffs/grips they are a strong tank option to bring.
Segmented Ranking:
- Damage: A-Tier
- Utility: B-Tier
Vengeance Demon Hunters are a strong all-round tank. The tier
set greatly improves the defensive capabilities of the tank and has great damage output.
The utility bought by Vengeance is not showcased in this raid as Havoc is a strong Melee DPS option,
and there are not many circumstances where Sigil of Silence is invaluable.
If your raid team needs
Chaos Brand, then playing Vengeance can be a solid option.
What does Vengeance Demon Hunter bring?
Functionality | Spells | Notes |
---|---|---|
Debuff | ![]() |
You will want this in any raid group for the 5% bonus to magic damage. Even physical damage dealers benefit from this as a good portion of their damage is buffed by this. |
Raid Cooldown | ![]() |
This cooldown shines when the entire raid is stacked together. |
AoE Silence | ![]() |
An AoE Silence that can be applied from 30 yards away! |
AoE Grip | ![]() |
The last time we set foot in Vault of the Incarnates and Aberrus this talent was not easy to obtain, but this has changed! You will find good uses for it on Dathea, Raszageth, Sarkareth and Fyrakk. |
Guardian Druid
Season 4 Update: Guardian Druids have their set bonus from Season 2 returning and get pushed up to A-Tier with every other tank as their damage is good but their utility isn't as impactful as some other tank choices. They're still a great all-around tank option for raiding! (If all of your other raid composition requirements are met with buffs/debuffs/grips).
Segmented Ranking:
- Damage: A-Tier.
- Utility: B-Tier
Guardian Druids are still a strong tank option in Mythic+ however, this does not translate into raid as well as it did before. They provide high amounts of Single Target damage and are a good all-round tank option. They, unfortunately, do not have any boss-breaking utility that is required for the raid, but the utility they do bring is still valueble! (But everything they bring can be bought by another Druid spec.)
What does Guardian Druid bring?
Functionality | Spells | Notes |
---|---|---|
Buff | ![]() |
A mandatory raid buff which increases Versatility for every player. |
AoE Movement Speed | ![]() |
Aberrus is largely a raid with minimal raid movement; every piece of raid movement is a set piece movement requiring the raid to move from one static location to another. Speeding this process up increases raid DPS. |
Healer support | ![]() |
Most raid builds can include this piece of core Healer utility. This can make a healer do an entire ramp on the raid without needing to worry about their mana. |
Enemy Displacement | ![]() |
This can be very impactful on encounters where adds need to remain in a static position such as Raszageth , Sarkareth and Larodar. |
Changelog
- 18 Apr. 2024: Updated for Season 4.
- 28 Mar. 2024: Updated for patch 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Updated for patch 10.2.5.
- 29 Oct. 2023: Updated for Season 3.
- 05 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for patch 10.1.7.
- 23 Aug. 2023: Updated for another round of adjustments to Guardian Druid and Protection Warrior.
- 08 Aug. 2023: Updated for recent adjustments to Guardian Druid and Protection Warrior.
- 25 Jul. 2023: Overhauled rankings and added more granularity on what each tank brings to the table. Also updated for 25 Jul tank Tuning.
- 05 Jul. 2023: Updated for patch 10.1.5.
- 07 May 2023: Updated for Season 2 of Dragonflight.
- 06 Feb. 2023: Updated for patch 10.0.5.
- 22 Nov. 2022: Updated for Season 1 of Dragonflight.
- 18 Aug. 2022: Updated for Season 4.
- 23 Jun. 2022: Check-in since last update.
- 25 Apr. 2022: Updated after first few weeks of Mythic.
- 18 Feb. 2022: Updated for patch 9.2.
- 06 Nov. 2021: Updated for patch 9.1.5.
- 04 Aug. 2021: Updated for first couple of Mythic weeks.
- 13 Jul. 2021: Updated after Heroic week.
- 24 Jun. 2021: Page added.
This guide has been written by Panthea, who raids in Catalyst and is the author of TankNotes. He plays all tanks and is a Moderator for the Hammer of Wrath Paladin Discord. You can follow him on Twitter.
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