WoW Forever Best Tank Tier List

WoW Forever Best Tank Tier List Quick Overview:

• Protection Warrior is an S-tier tank spec in WoW Forever since it is the most consistent option with multiple layers of protection and viable Threat generation tools.
• Feral Druid and Protection Paladin are A-tier tank specs, since both offer a bit of a hybrid approach to tanking instead of full devotion to it.
• All three classes are viable for the tank role as long as they are played to their unique strengths.

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WoW Forever Best Tank Tier List

What I have to mention first and foremost is that we’re very limited in terms of tank options in WoW Forever. Essentially, only three classes can act as tanks, meaning there’s not much variety in party composition, overall gameplay, and, therefore, tier list creation. Ranking tanks wasn't particularly difficult — most players who have tried Warriors, Druids, and Paladins for this role already know exactly how each of them feels in Forever. My duty here is to help you pick the most effective one as well as explain why these classes perform the way they do.   

Here’s my evaluation based on personal experience as well as some predictions supported by said experience:

Tier	Specs
S	Protection Warrior
A	Feral Druid, Protection Paladin

S-Tier Tanks in WoW Forever

S-Tier signifies the best tank class in the game, and I have no doubts or second thoughts about this one. Protection Warrior is currently the go-to pick for any player who wants nothing but a full-on tank.

Just to be clear — that doesn’t mean that Protection Warrior is the best overall class out of these three. There are multiple different qualities that each one brings to the table, and Protection Warrior actually lacks in several respects in comparison to Feral Druid and Protection Paladin — like damage dealing or versatility. However, as far as this particular role goes, it is far ahead of the competition.

Protection Warrior

Protection Warrior is an iconic representation of the class fantasy — grab your shield, stand strong, and survive until the party has dealt with everything in front of you. Move to the next room, repeat.

There is beauty in simplicity, and Forever finally brings this beauty back, making deep protection builds significantly more viable than mixed Fury/Protection builds that were kind of enforced on us before. It also makes sense that the tankiest tank class gets to reside in the S-Tier.

Pros	Cons
Incredible survivability and defenses	Comparatively low damage output
Unparalleled consistency
Simple and straightforward

There are many reasons why I think the Protection Warrior is the best tank in WoW Forever. Let’s start with what made it less than that in other WoW games: lack of Threat scaling combined with poor Rage generation.

Both issues are fixed through improved talents. When it comes to Shield/Rage relationships, Master of Defense and Shield Specialization give you much more rage than you would expect.

As for the Threat, Revenge does its job really well, and it’s even better at it with the Improved Revenge talent. You also get Defiance and Bastion to generate even more threat without having to do anything other than stand with your shield out.

Speaking of convenience, consider the fact that you can now use one of your best abilities, Thunder Clap, without exiting the Defensive Stance. All of that results in a much more synergistic and well-functioning class overall.

Now, the baseline Protection Warrior kit is the gold standard for tanking. Your defensive abilities like Shield Wall and Last Stand are simply unparalleled numbers-wise. Your debuffs — like Thunder Clap, Sunder Armor, or Demoralizing Shout — are incredibly impactful in basically every scenario, and the idea behind it all is so simple that it doesn’t require much processing — take less damage, and deal more.

Let’s combine that simplicity with the fact that Protection Warriors really don’t need much to be effective — you are a good tank at any level, so you’ll have no problem fitting into parties at any point in the game. Admittedly, full-protection Warriors aren’t the best at dealing damage, but no one in Forever expects you to do so anyway — leave the hybrid approach to Druids and enjoy your straightforward path to the endgame.

A-Tier Tanks in WoW Forever

A-tier is good, but nuanced. Since we only have three Tank classes in WoW Forever, it’s really hard to compete with the most dedicated specialization in the game, when both Druid and Paladin are hybrid to certain extents.

Everything is measured in relation to something else, and A-tier still means full viability. WoW Forever isn’t a game where only highly specific class roles are capable of achieving success — otherwise why have both of these classes in the first place?

It only means that if you’re looking for the best tanking option, you have a better, more consistent alternative. It’s not something that judges Protection Paladin and Feral Druid as a whole — you can still absolutely play them and find them strong and reliable, especially if your party composition suits these class specs nicely.  

Feral Druid

Feral Druid has always been known for its ability to tank through Bear Form, which offers some really bonkers benefits in terms of Health and Armor. In Forever, they have kept that identity, although I’d say that the devs mostly focused on improving the Cat Form and its usability.

Pros	Cons
Great Health Pool and Armor	Lacks Block and Parry options
Good Threat Generation	Requires skillful play to be efficient
Good damage output and mobility

The problem is that staying in Bear Form isn’t enough for a Feral Druid — you might have great raw stats, but Crushing Blows will still get you due to the lack of Block and Parry options, and Barkskin can only do so much.  Later on, you can get Natural Reaction to increase your Dodge chance and earn Rage by dodging hits, but it’s still not on par with what Protection Warriors can do without much effort. The truth is, Feral Druid is deliberately designed to be a hybrid specialization, and you’re going to have to abide by the rules.

What makes you stand out, however, is your damage potential as well as Threat generation. Berserk + Primal Bite is very powerful, Lacerate is super solid, and you are always able to shift into a Cat Form to help the party once the tanking is mostly done — something that other classes on this list cannot really afford. The issue is that most parties would rather have a simple and understandable dedicated tank instead of whatever it is that you are, and sometimes it’s hard to convince them otherwise.

As a Tank, you are mostly a bunch of numbers with not so much utility: your buffs like Thorns and Mark of the Wild are nice, but many parties already run them without you anyway. You are a cool character that can even self-sustain a bit, but it’s not like your healers have better things to do than to heal the party tank anyway, so it’s a bit excessive.

I would say that Feral Druid’s effectiveness is entirely in your hands, and that can either be the class’s strength or weakness. Unlike other tanks, you will always be able to optimize something and squeeze more out of almost every situation.

Overall, Feral Druid is a decent tank, especially when it comes to dealing with predictable sustained damage, but it’s hard to say how well the class will fare in the endgame sections, especially when Warrior is right there, offering much more stable tanking capabilities in any circumstances.

 

 

Protection Paladin

Protection Paladin is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to tanking. The issue with this spec is that it’s actually really good at secondary tanking utility like Threat generation and utility, but lacks, well, tanking. You aren’t going to be as consistently tanky as a Protection Warrior, and you won’t have the stats and flexibility of the Feral Druid to make up for it.

On the bright side, your Seal of Fury offers the best Taunt currently available in the game, lasting four whole seconds against the normal three, and you can apply it consistently thanks to Swift Judgement.

As for the Threat, Righteous Fury is a very powerful tool in your kit. It is there for a good reason — you will need all the attention you can get, because you will rely on Holy Shield to become a self-rewarding loop of extra protection, damage, and additional Threat generation. If things get really bad, you always have access to Templar’s Bulwark and even Divine Shield, which is a completely unique tool that other tanks can’t get even if they ask for it really nicely.

Pros	Cons
Great utility with cheesy options	Tanking is conditional
Great Threat generation and Taunt	Mana-hungry
Good overall damage output

There are also a whole lot of awesome buffs that your party will want to have, like Blessing of Protection, Blessing of Might, Blessing of Wisdom, and, of course, Blessing of Kings. Cleanse also deserves a separate mention. However, these are the things that they won’t need specifically Protection Paladin for, and they will be correct in this judgement (pun not intended).

In the end, it all comes down to just how good your survivability ends up being, since it’s clearly the most lacking component in your overall reasonable tanking kit. If you find ways to consistently stay alive through huge spikes of damage without sacrificing your positioning or Threat generation, then you have solved the class.

 

 

Read our other WoW Forever guides:

• Healer Tier List
• Rogue Guide
• Warlock Guide

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