With the release of WoW: Cataclysm, the tanking meta has shifted towards other classes compared to Vanilla, Burning Crusade and WotLK. Players jumping into the tank role after having played the previous Classic expansions will need to know what to expect for the class now that Cataclysm has made some changes to its skills. This article will be ranking Cataclysm's best tank classes and specs based on four criteria:
- Damage mitigation
- Overall DPS
- Aggro generation
- Tankbuster survival
The best tanks in WoW know when to pop their mitigation cooldowns, while also juggling between DPS and maintaining aggro for the raid team. Tanking in general has plenty of factors that can make each spec good or bad, depending on the encounter and player skill. In Cataclysm, all tanks specs are viable for Heroic raiding.
đS-Tier: Blood Death Knight
Blood Death Knights are currently the best tanks in Cataclysm Classic, thanks to changes allowing them to excel in all four criteria of tanking. They have some of the best mitigation skills in the game, paired with their innate proficiency with shields. Blood Death Knights also have solid DPS rotations and can even provide self-sustain in case the raid healer dies or is too occupied. They even have a raid-wide buff that complements the team, allowing Blood Death Knights to effectively satisfy every niche in the raid team. This Death Knight spec can play well consistently and have no real weaknesses in their kit, as they are flexible enough to function as a DPS or healer should the moment in a raid call for it.
With magic damage becoming prevalent in Cataclysm's raids, Blood Death Knight’s array of anti-magic damage mitigation spells makes them the overall best tank for Heroic raiding.
A-Tier: Feral Druid
In terms of DPS, Feral Druids have the highest damage potential out of any other tank class. They have the best single-target and cleave damage skills but lack AoE utility. Feral Druids generate aggro well, but they require good gear for damage mitigation and other defensive stats. Should Feral Druids obtain their BiS gear, they should be able to catch up with Prot Paladins in terms of defensive stats. For bosses with no adds, this spec absolutely excels in 1v1 fights, but when it comes to pulling large groups of mobs, they are far more vulnerable.
Thanks to their solid DPS rotations, Feral Druids are best suited as off-tanks since they can pop their cooldowns in case the main tank is hit with a debuff and requires an aggro swap. They can survive well enough to buy the main tank time to cleanse debuffs and swap back again.
B-Tier: Protection Paladin
Back in Wrath of the Lich King, Protection Paladins were considered the best tank class, but due to the spec seeing some nerfs in Cataclysm, it's lost much of its power. Protection Paladins still retain their raid-wide buffs, but other classes can provide the same utility, kicking this spec down a notch. Its defensive buffs have been slightly toned, giving the Blood Death Knight spec an edge in mitigation. Their overall damage has also been significantly reduced, now doing less DPS than Feral Druid. In terms of aggro generation, their AoE and single target damage skills can be enough to hold enemy attention.
Protection Paladins are still viable as main tanks, but compared to Blood DK and Feral Druid, Protection Paladins perform worse in both DPS and sustained mitigation. These balance changes made it that Paladins have to sacrifice offensive power for their defensive abilities.
B-Tier: Protection Warrior
While the Protection Warrior spec is viable for tanking in the endgame, it requires far more player skill and understanding of individual boss encounters to be an effective tank. One of the biggest stopgaps for Warriors, in general, is their heavy reliance on gear, as much of their class power relies on good gear to function. Tanking while undergeared is risky as Protection Warriors have far lower effective HP compared to other tank specs. This spec requires more work to perform even marginally well as the other specs mentioned above. They can survive large mob pulls but struggle greatly against singular boss encounters. In addition, Aggro generation can be difficult for this class.
