Tanking in Wrath of the Lich King is a different scene than prior expansions. In Vanilla, if you weren't a Warrior tank, then you were most likely doing it wrong. With Burning Crusade, Paladins and Druids all enjoy time in the spotlight. WotLK: Classic brings Death Knights to the mix; the Blood spec is a powerful tank option that enjoys success alongside Prot Paladin and Feral Druid. Protection Warriors are often meme'd upon due to various issues.

In reality, every tank class and spec has viability and use. Progression will never be held back due to the class/spec of your raid's tank. All four options are viable and can get the job done. Some classes will be able to fill specific roles while others are able to be a jack-of-all-trades. Despite the fact that each tank spec is being ranked on a tier list, it's important to say again: every tank is viable in Wrath of the Lich King.

Interested in our other Tier Lists for Wrath of the Lich King Classic?

WotLK PvE DPS Tier List

WotLK PvP Class Tier List

With that out of the way, let's talk tank specs.

Wrath of the Lich King Tank PvE Tier List

Protection Paladin

Protection Paladins can do just about anything you ask of them. They might not be the best at a given task, but they'll be more than capable of doing it with confidence. What Protection Paladins may lack in terms of the best threat, damage, or survivability, they more than make up for it with their toolkit. Ardent Defender helps enhance their survivability to be on par with Feral Druids. A rework to Divine Protection helps make it a cooldown on par with a Warrior's Shield Wall.

Threat wise, Protection Paladins still do exceptionally well. Hammer of the Righteous and Shield of Righteousness help Paladins become even better at gaining and sustaining threat. Consecration now scales with attack power and spell power via the Touched by the Light talent, making a core ability even better. The amount of threat Paladins can maintain in single-target and AOE abilities are very impressive.

To nobody's surprise, the utility toolkit of the Paladin class is still top-notch. Between Hands, Judgements, and various raid cooldowns, Paladins have always enjoyed being an extremely resourceful class. Divine Guardian and Divine Sacrifice are huge additions to help mitigate damage to your raid.

Blood Death Knight

The new hot topic, Blood Death Knights, are viable throughout every phase of Wrath Classic. When it comes to single-target threat, Blood DKs share no equal. Abilities like Icy Touch and Rune Strike aren't just a core of the class rotation but also dish out an insane amount of threat. However, the same can't be said when it comes to AOE threat. They can get the job done, but there's a necessary amount of ramp required. They can't keep up with Protection Paladins on this front.

When talking about survivability, few can match Blood Death Knights. The combination of a high health pool and self-healing allows the class to excel. It's not a singular ability but instead an arsenal of utility in this regard. Death Strike, Improved Rune Tap, Vampiric Blood, Death Coil, and the Lichborne talent all allow the player to self-heal. You won't be as beefy as other tank specs, but you'll definitely be able to take a hit or two. Or ten.

Like Paladins, Death Knights offer additional raid utility beyond being effective tanks, making them an essential part of your raid composition.

Protection Warrior

Let's be honest about Protection Warriors. They aren't as bad as people are making them out to be. While they won't be on the level of Paladins or Death Knights, this tried and true class can still hold their own as a tank in Classic WotLK. The spec sees several improvements in its talents, abilities, and toolkit compared to Burning Crusade. These help Protection Warriors deal damage, high threat, and get the job done.

YouTubers and content creators have claimed that Protection Warriors doesn't deserve a seat at the raid composition table. While they aren't as strong as the prior classes on our tier list, they are still more than capable of competing with threat generation and survivability. Most of their data is based on private servers, which has proven to not be a good indication of the actual Classic WoW experience.

Shockwave is an important new ability introduced in Wrath of the Lich King Classic. It allows Warriors to not just increase their threat for both single-target and AOE but also offer crowd control as well. Refined talents such as Shield Mastery, Shield Specialization, Improved Defensive Stance, Critical Block, Gag Order, and Vitality serve as an incredible quality of life improvement.

None of the aforementioned abilities are as important as Sword and Board; the Wrath ability is a Protection Warrior staple and offers not just an important proc for survivability and damage but also an improvement on the spec's play style as well. Sword and Board couples well with an absurd buff to the Revenge ability, allowing the spec to dish out an impressive amount of damage.

In terms of utility, Vigilance doubles as a method to reduce the damage an ally takes while also transferring a portion of their threat to you. Heroic Throw also now allows Protection Warriors to range pull without the need to carry ranged ammo.

Feral Druid

They had a great run in Classic TBC. Come Wrath of the Lich King Classic, Feral Druids see some nerfs and balance adjustments across the board. We place it as a B Tier for several reasons.

The biggest reason deals with the newly introduced diminishing returns for avoidance-related statistics. The days of completely avoiding damage are over, sadly. That's not to say the spec's survivability is bad. Far from it, actually; WotLK introduces survivability cooldowns for Feral Druid that are desperately needed. Barkskin and Frenzied Regeneration have received buffs that increase their importance. Barkskin can now be used in any Druid form, no longer resulting in the player shapeshifting out of bear form. Frenzied Regeneration now restores 3% of the Druid's health every second. This is a change from a static 100 health per second in Classic TBC. Survival Instincts is a new cooldown that temporarily grants 30% of the Druid's health for 20 seconds. These new abilities and reworks give the spec some much-needed abilities, but it comes at the cost of raw efficiency.

In addition, threat has been streamlined and better balanced across the other specs. Feral Druid is far from a bad choice, it's just no longer a clear-cut favorite over others in certain situations. To couple with this, other classes and specs have gained buffs and utility once unique to Druids. For example, Fury Warriors can give the raid a Leader of the Pack style buff. In addition, being able to perform as a DPS off-spec in cat form is wholly dependent on the player's gear. This isn't a big deal for some raid teams and won't be noticeable. For others that will be pushing to be the best of the best, it could be a make-or-break situation when building your raid composition.

Druids still have vital buffs and cooldowns, so they still have a spot in the raid. When it comes to tanking, however, the glory days of Burning Crusade are looking like a thing of the past.

Wrapping Up

When it comes to tanking, there truly is no wrong answer. It's a case of "bring the player, not the class." Are some specs better than others? Absolutely. Is there a tank spec that will be permanently sidelined? Absolutely not. It all comes down to personal preference, play style, and other factors outside of viability.

If you're looking to tank in WotLK Classic, there's no wrong choice. Play what you want and have fun!

• PvE DPS Tier List
• PvP Class Tier List