WoW Classic WotLK Tank Tier List: Best Classes & Specs in Phase 1

Published: Sep 22, 2022, 6:00 pm Updated: Sep 20, 2022, 9:25 pm

World of Warcraft Classic's next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, not only ushers in new content for players to enjoy but also signifies a brand-new Tank meta.

Up to this point, the game only housed three classes and specs that could tank, namely Paladin, Warrior, and Druid, but now with the additions of Death Knights, the meta receives a significant change-up. That makes it all the more difficult when choosing which one to play.

But don't worry, we've you got covered. We went ahead and put every class—and spec—into a tier list to make your life easier when it comes to choosing a Tank class to play.

Here's our tier list of the best WoW Classic WotLK Tank classes and specs.

WoW Classic WotLK Tank Tier List (Phase 1)

To kick this off, we'll begin by diving all of the four tank classes and specs into tiers. In this list S tier will be the absolute best specs, ones that you'll want to have one to multiple of in a Raid group, while the D tier can be considered the specs that bring little to no gain over others.

S Tier

Protection Paladin

A Tier

Blood Death Knight

B Tier

Feral Druid (Bear Tank Variation)

C Tier

Protection Warrior

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Breaking It Down

Now that we've categorized each class and spec into tiers, we can explain our reasonings.

S Tier - Protection Paladin

Protection Paladins sit alone at the top for one reason and one reason only, they can do a little bit of everything well. Do you need them to survive for a significant period of time? You got it. Do you need them to provide some much-needed damage to push past a phase? You got it. Do you need some off-healing in a panic moment? You also got it.

The numerous changes they received in the new expansion were key in this placement. The Ardent Defender and Divine Protection change put them up to par in survivability with the best of the tanks. When it comes to threat, Hammer of the Righteous and Shield of Righteousness pull through. The same can be said for AoE threat with Consecration as it now scales with Attack Power and Spell Power.

Add the fact that are bonafide utility monsters for the role, their Buffs, their Blessings, their numerous Auras, and top it all off with Divine Guardian and Divine Sacrifice, it's hard to beat them on this list.

A Tier - Blood Death Knight

There's just so much to say about Blood Death Knights. For starters, they are the spec to the newly added, extremely powerful Death Knight. Just by that alone, they are extremely strong.

Blood Death Knight WotLK Classic — SELF-SUSTAIN SUPREME: Blood Death Knights thrive on their own survivability

They are the best at single target threat, have godly self-sustain with their healing, and bring some of the highest numbers DPS-wise when it comes to a single target.

Ultimately though, their only pitfall is their severe lack of AoE threat capabilities as they seem to have put all of their eggs into the single target basket. One could also include their lack of tankiness but their self-healing more than makes up for it.

C Tier - Feral Druid (Bear)

The kings of physical damage tanking, Feral Druids, took a strong hit in Wrath of the Lich King but they still remain strong.

The class still is solid as can be when it comes to AoE threat and can still dish out strong AoE damage. Now, in exchange for passive survivability, Feral Druids' cooldowns have become stronger. Barskin has now become a more reliable damage reduction cooldown, Frenzied Regeneration now heals for percentage HP, and Survival Instincts brings more bang for your panic moments.

Lastly, they also bring Leader of the Pack, Gift of the Wild, Innervate, and Rebirth, all great group-wide buffs. They also add great debuffs to targets in Faerie Fire, Mangle, Demoralizing Roar, and Infected Wounds, which was newly added to their arsenal.

Feral Druid Tank WotLK Classic — BEARLY A SCRATCH: Feral Druids physical damage is second to none

Unfortunately, with the new expansion, they now struggle with single target threat pretty heavily.

D Tier - Protection Warrior

Protection Warriors kind of got the short end of the stick in Wrath of the Lich King. With the new expansion, they now have more viable options when it comes to AoE threat capabilities, stronger talents and abilities, as well as a better overall toolkit.

Thanks to these aforementioned changes, although they don't put them at the tiers of Protection Paladin or Death Knight, they are still completely viable—there's no such thing as an unplayable tank in this list. They carry buffs such as Battle and Commanding Shout and bring an AoE stun, which is the only tank class and spec to do so and can do some strong damage.