In our WoW Classic Best Tank Rankings, we’ll discuss the best available classes that can take on the tank role in WoW Classic. We will provide you with the Tanks Tier List for WoW Classic Fresh, go through the strengths and weaknesses of each class, why they are good tanks, and how their unique abilities make them great dungeon and raid tanks. This guide will help you pick just the right tank class for adventuring in WoW Classic Fresh. You can learn about the best DPS Classes, too, with the help of our WoW Classic DPS Tier List.
4.9WoW Classic Fresh Tank Tier List
The tanking role is one of the most important roles in any group in WoW Classic. A true tank can hold aggro, take damage, and ensure that the party stays alive. Below you’ll find all potential tanks available for WoW Classic Fresh, ranked in tiers based on their utility in PvE content.
| Tier | Class |
|---|---|
| S | Protection Warrior |
| A | Feral Druid |
| B | Protection Paladin |
📌 Note: WoW Classic Fresh Tank Tier List is reviewed for Phase 5.
In WoW Classic, tank tiers are determined not only by their survivability but primarily by the damage they deal. At this stage of Classic WoW, the Protection Warriors class faces almost no competition in terms of both survivability and damage output in the tank specialization. Druids can compete with Warriors in survivability, but they fall short when it comes to damage output.
With that being said, damage output is a crucial metric for tanks in WoW Classic, as it directly affects their threat generation. Paladin and Druid tank specs struggle to deal enough damage to maintain aggro, whereas Warriors can, even without the best gear.
The final trial for every tank will be Blackwing Lair — the toughest raid, which will test your skills more than anything else in WoW Classic. If you want to complete the raid, but you don’t think you want to try hard, our pro players can become your helping hand.
S-Tier
In WoW Classic, S-Tier tanks are usually the classes with the best survivability and a set of useful skills and taunts. S-Tier tank is usually an outstanding leader of the group with excellent damage mitigation tools and can maintain threat through damage to avoid mob attacks on their teammates, as well as provide immense DPS rates.
Protection Warrior
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| ✅ Survivability | ⛔️ Difficult leveling |
| ✅ Huge damage | |
| ✅ Crowd control |
Leveling a Warrior is full of challenges and hardships, but the reward is well worth it — you’ll become the most sought-after tank in WoW Classic. You will most likely stick to the WoW Classic Protection Warrior tank path, but we can not say that the Warrior tank is pure Protection, it’s more of a hybrid.
If we need to pick one best classes in the role of tank, the Warrior is currently the best Tank Class and DPS in the WoW Classic. Many players will opt for so-called “Fury Tanking” as a primary tank choice that balances survivability with impressive damage output. Compared to other classes, the Warrior is a strong tank with an advantage in damage and AoE crowd control through its taunts. Warriors also have good survivability and damage.
These defensive tanks will be in high demand everywhere, from dungeons to raids. The unmatched utility of Warriors comes from defensive CDs like Last Stand and Shield Wall. Additionally, they possess a variety of taunts like Challenging Shout, and Berserker Rage, which boost your rage generation. Warriors also have a wide array of debuffs that add to their utility. These include abilities like Sunder Armor, Thunder Clap, and Demoralizing Shout.
Essentially, once you get good gear, you won’t just be a tank — you’ll also be a damage dealer, likely topping the damage charts in dungeons or raids. Some people say that even as an undergeared tank, a Warrior can perform well. But if you are well-prepared, you can perform even better. To get the best gear quickly and without grinding, grab our Pre-Raid Gear, which will turn you into a PvE clearing machine, ensuring that you have enough required stats and weapon damage.
A-Tier
Classes that can be placed in A-Tier are second-best tanks for PvE who have good skills, both defensive and offensive, and can survive any attack. However, they are usually not as impressive as S-Tier Classes. Depending on your personal skill, your A-Tier tank can perform on the same level or even better than S-Tier classes.
Protection Paladin
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| ✅ Good survivability | ⛔️ No taunt |
| ✅ Massive multi-target threat generation | ⛔️ Limited access to raid-tier tanking gear |
| ✅ Excellent at tanking large groups of mobs | |
| ✅ Can tank dungeons more effectively than warrior tanks |
WoW Classic Protection Paladin tank spec is the rarest in WoW Classic Fresh due to their design flaws. So, Paladins have a primary advantage — Paladins are fantastic AoE dungeon tanks. However, the biggest issue with Paladins is their inability to control crowds with taunts. They simply don’t have any taunt abilities.
Paladins rely on Holy Shield to generate threats while being attacked. This wouldn’t be an issue if Paladins had a taunt. Anyway, since they don’t, it makes them less effective as tanks in raids. Paladins also lack consistent damage reduction. This is a significant drawback in raids.
However, thanks to strong threat generation through AoE damage spells, Paladins excel at clearing trash mobs. Thus, as a tank for dungeons, they are doing fine. For instance, Shadowfang Deeps is a good place to test your skills. But if you don’t want to risk, our team has your back — we will run the dungeon for you.
Paladins are a very niche class, performing exceptionally well in undead dungeons like Stratholme and Scholomance. They are also the only tank class that uses mana instead of other resources. This creates a mana regeneration problem since Paladins wear plate armor. As a result, they are not very viable in raids, as the group cannot afford a tank that runs out of resources. However, Paladin is a relatively beginner-friendly class, so you can choose this option to learn to tank.
B-Tier
Classes that end up being in the B-Tier in WoW Classic Fresh are often good enough to perform on a decent level in any raid or group. But, they lack some specific or outstanding abilities to be placed on the same level as A-Tier classes. In fact, we can say that B-Tier characters will show average or slightly above-average performance in most cases.
Protection Paladin
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| ✅ Good survivability | ⛔️ No taunt |
| ✅ Massive multi-target threat generation | ⛔️ Limited access to raid-tier tanking gear |
| ✅ Excellent at tanking large groups of mobs | |
| ✅ Can tank dungeons more effectively than warrior tanks |
WoW Classic Protection Paladin tank spec are the rarest in WoW Classic Fresh due to their design flaws. Once again, you will not go for 51/51 out of the Protection tree.
So, Paladins have a primary advantage — Paladins are fantastic AoE dungeon tanks. However, the biggest issue with Paladins is their inability to control crowds with taunts. They simply don’t have any taunt abilities. Paladins rely on Holy Shield to generate threats while being attacked. This wouldn’t be an issue if Paladins had a taunt. Anyway, since they don’t, it makes them less effective as tanks in raids. Paladins also lack consistent damage reduction. This is a significant drawback in raids.
However, thanks to strong threat generation through AoE damage spells, Paladins excel at clearing trash mobs. Thus, as a tank for dungeons, they are doing fine. For instance, Shadowfang Deeps is a good place to test your skills. But if you don’t want to risk, our team has your back — we will run the dungeon for you.
Paladins are a very niche class, performing exceptionally well in undead dungeons like Stratholme and Scholomance. They are also the only tank class that uses mana instead of other resources. This creates a mana regeneration problem since Paladins wear plate armor. As a result, they are not very viable in raids, as the group cannot afford a tank that runs out of resources. However, Paladin is a relatively beginner-friendly class, so you can choose this option to learn to tank.
4.9All in all, our WoW Classic Best Tank Rankings provide you with a reliable tank tier list. Based on this information, you can choose the best tanking class in WoW Classic Fresh for yourself. As you can see from our guide, Warrior is a top-notch option for the upcoming season with high survivability and DPS potential. In the second place, we put Druids, who are also effective at tanking damage and dealing relatively good DPS. Finally, Paladin can be a strong A-Tier choice. This class is easy to play and fast to master. So choose wisely.
