World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer

Things to Consider (Continued)

Buffs and Utility - All of the tanks offer some sort of buff and utility to the group they are with.  Which are best though?  Here once again the Druid and Paladin seem to win out, although the Warrior is not that far behind.  Druids have their GMotW for a stat boost, while Paladins have Kings for everyone.  Both have some form of wipe recovery, although the Paladin’s is easier to use since it is an instant.  Druids have Innervate, however as a tank, it is hard to use it.  Also Paladins have Blessing of Protection as an instant to save that healer that is being hit. 

For utility all four have some form of crowd control, but here though the Death Knight and Druid win out by having multiple versions.

Which is easiest to play? Hardest to play? Most likely to be a noob? - A big issue with tanking is skill level.  Tanks are the lynch pin that holds a group together.  There are few single players that can cause a wipe faster than a bad tank. That being said some tanks are easier to play to a competent level than others.  I know for a fact that Paladins are several times easier to tank well with than Death Knights for example.  Warriors and Druids fall in between the two extremes. 

All this means that if you are looking for a tank for a group, and it is a PUG, your best chance at getting a competent tank seems to be, grab a Paladin.  The class that offers up the worst tanks in general is the Death Knight.  This is simply because they are so plentiful and still fairly new.

Which is the best tank class for instances and raids - For instances, while levelling and at end-game, almost any tank works well.  However the best tanks are AOE based tanks due to their ability to control large numbers of enemies and make CC and multiple target threat management a non-issue.  This means that Paladins and Death Knight rule the roost as the best instance tanks.  My strong preference is to Paladins as they have steadier mitigation in instances against many light hitting creatures due to block.

For Raids there is currently good reason to take a Death Knight as a main tank for hard mode content due to their ability to have more avoidance and mitigation than almost any other tank.  When properly geared they can have 4-5% more in each area than any other tank.  They also have more cool downs than the other tanks which helps as well.

The Messiah’s Take on Tanks

While any of the four classes are able to tank and do it to a competent level some have more issues than others simply due to attracting more players that do not have a clue.  Many players get into tanking simply because they have a class capable of it and can get the gear to do so easily.  However, many of them have neither the knowledge or aptitude for it.  Death Knights are a great example of this, almost everyone has a DK, and at some point gets tired of not being able to find a group as DPS and tries to tank.  While DK’s have a ton of potential as tanks, the pure number of players that attempt to tank without really understanding how ruins the classes reputation for others.

Right now as the game stands, I think that Paladins are the best overall tanking class in the game.  They can AOE tank, single target tank, have good cool downs, and more.  In almost any single situation I choose a Paladin, as do most of the players I group with.  There are other tanks that we run with, but given a choice it’s always a Paladin.

In the end, for the most important of tanking roles, it is hard to say that there is any single “Best” raid tank, due to the fact that most raids require more than a single tank.  This means that you can, and should, bring more than one tanking class if at all possible.  That being said, I firmly believe the best combination is Warrior/Paladin.  If that is unavailable there are several good mixes including Paladin/Druid, Warrior/Death Knight or Paladin/Death Knight, due to the many reasons listed in the editorial.

One last hugely important thing to remember though is that everything in the World of Warcraft is subject to change.  Some classes become better as time goes on, and some get worse.  While right now I would pick Paladins over everything else, but when patch 3.3 comes out they may be the last class I pick. 

All of this also means that while I have a favourite tanking class at all times, I also really rely on the player.  While my least favourite tanking class right now is the Death Knight, there are some that I know that I would take over other tanks, but that is based on the person playing, not the class itself.  Sometimes it really does come down to “take the player, not the class”.