My guild, and my realm in general, has a tank shortage. This is neither new nor unusual; in my experience, tanks have always been the most in demand on most servers (although that may be colored by the fact that my main is a
healer). So I've decided to level a tank. The problem is, I've decided that a few times now, which means I currently have one of each tanking class languishing in the level 40 range somewhere: a
paladin, a
druid, and a
warrior. And I just can't decide which one to work on, or even if I should bother as opposed to just waiting until
Wrath of the Lich King comes out and I can get an instantly-level-55
Death Knight for a tank.
What do you guys think? What's funnest to level? What makes the best tank for heroics/early raiding? Which one should I drag out of Stranglethorn, kicking and screaming, ultimately into Outland and beyond?
Which class should I level to 70?| Druid | 2658 (24.8%) |
|---|
| Paladin | 3293 (30.7%) |
|---|
| Warrior | 2652 (24.7%) |
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| Wait for Death Knight | 2132 (19.9%) |
|---|
Tags: druid, leveling, paladin, polls, tanking, tanks, warrior
Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Warrior, Polls, Breakfast Topics, Leveling, Alts, Death Knight
Jun 2nd 2008 at 8:00AM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
drewstockman Jun 2nd 2008 8:08AM
It sort of depends on what you want to do with the tank. If it will be a main, I would lean towards prot warrior. They make the best pure MT for big nasty raid bosses. If it is going to be an alt and you want an easier time gearing it up in your off-time, I would go pally. They are always in demand and are a blast to take through heroics without needing CC.
Jordrah Jun 2nd 2008 9:43AM
er.... pallys arent very easy to gear i thought. the whole having to get uncrushable and maintain it is kind of a pain. but yea if you're just going to tank 5 mans and heroics pallys are great. as drew said, if you're going to raid with this tank i would level the warrior. and if you want to have flexibility when you don't want to tank, as well as having an easier time soloing/doing dailys/farming then i would level the druid.
im not even going to consider starting a death knight myself until after i've gotten at least one of my toons to level 80 and other people have had time to play around and figure out how they work.
Hilton Jun 2nd 2008 8:11AM
I've been pondering the same lately.
Leaning towards a Druid.
Naix Jun 2nd 2008 9:34AM
Good choice. You can also roll on healing leathers and dps cloth (if no one else needs it) as main tank.
Druids are so fun to play.
Eamara Jun 2nd 2008 8:11AM
Druid, especially for early raids and heroics. They're fantastic threat generators, can tank everything in Karazhan/Gruul's/Magtheridon, and you can solo very easily while remaining tank specced. It's also fairly easy to gear them up for heroics/raiding: Heavy Clefthoof, Stylin' Purple Hat, Earthwarden, some quest rewards from SMV and you're ready pretty much. And then, if you get all the badge rewards and some T4, you can tank pretty much everything in T5 successfully.
Tom L Jun 2nd 2008 9:58AM
The same can be said for warriors, though. Don't underestimate prot DPS (just be flexible in what you consider acceptable gear) for grinding and the rewards/crafted gear are comparable.
No class has all the tools necessary for being a good tank at the 5/10 man level like a warrior does. I've tanked with all 3 classes and prefer the warrior. It's the role the class was built for. Moreover, learning to AoE tank with a warrior is a challenge. Mastering that aspect of the warrior will mean you will never want for groups and can hold your own in ZA, MT'ing or DPS'ing as needed.
I will say, though, look around you and see what's in the shortest supply for your playgroup/guild. If pallie-tanks are less plentiful than warrior tanks then bring up the pallie. Having a mix of tanking classes to run 10 mans with (*cough* ZA *cough*) is more powerful than 2 of any 1 class.
Our group is short on pallie tanks, hence my rush to level one up for WotLK.
Ta,
timdeluxe Jun 2nd 2008 1:24PM
just like to take issue with your abuse of the english language - "funnest"? please, no....
otherwise, i have a paladin tank, and that is INVREDIBLY fun for tanking heroics - ripping through shattered halls with no cc is an awesome experience, however, levelling was quite a slow and boring process cos unless ur AOEing a nice big group of melee, it takes a long time to kill most things :-)
Eliah Hecht Jun 2nd 2008 11:19AM
The person who writes "ur" wants to criticize my use of the word "funnest"? Amusing.
Zali Jun 2nd 2008 12:21PM
And is it really that hard to hit the shift key at the begining of a sentence? What ever happened to capital letters? I can understand if you are texting from a cell phone, but most people posting here are at a computer. How hard is it to type out "because" instead of "cos?"
Pet Peeve #1
Dawookie Jun 2nd 2008 8:18AM
Pally if you are looking to do 5-mans and kara only.
Druid if you want ease of leveling.
Vikirnoff Jun 2nd 2008 9:24AM
Pally can MT 25 man bosses. I have mt gruul, mag, and beyond. I hate it when people say pally tank this or that. That is just a bunch of bull.
-Vikirnoff of Bloodhoof US
Angus Jun 2nd 2008 9:27AM
Our tankadin has tanked bosses in SSC.
Tankadins are amazing in that they can gear up like a warrior with small differences and be able to main tank. They can also do their phenomenal AoE tanking during fights that require it.
5 man and Kara only. Yea, way to be preBC in mindset there.
Heilig Jun 2nd 2008 10:35AM
I'm so tired of tankadins with chips on their shoulders. Yes, we can tank almost any boss in the game, and have, successfully. No one is saying we can't. They're saying we shouldn't, and they're right. It seems that all the arrogant prot pallies always throw out "i've tanked Gruul and Mag and SSC!" Great. Good for you. Go take the step up into BT/Hyjal and you will see that we are simply not designed for progression MTing. The panic buttons aren't there. Warriors are built for pure mitigation, they should be tanking the big bosses. Yes, Paladins can do it. But it's like hammering in a nail with a shovel. Yeah, it works, but it takes a lot longer, it's clumsy, and you're really just making the best of a shoddy situation. If you have a hammer, you should use it. Refusal to use the best tool for the job is arrogance in the extreme, and you are doing a disservice to your raid. No one would ask a warrior to tank Hyjal trash waves, because they're not built for it. Everyone has a job. The sooner you accept that ours is AoE tanking and begin to embrace it and gear for it, the faster you will move into the real endgame and out of the minor league stuff.
Chuddy Jun 2nd 2008 12:16PM
"Go take the step up into BT/Hyjal and you will see that we are simply not designed for progression MTing."
Maybe I read this wrong, but I just don't see the truth in this statement. Especially with Hyjal.
rick gregory Jun 2nd 2008 12:27PM
Agreed. I've seen pallies tank far beyond this, but I think some of the replies here miss the point - for 5 mans and Kara a good pally tank is MUCH easier on the group. A warrior and even a druid are much more reliant on the skill of the player to manage threat on multiple targets - it's NOT easy and if the tank and the dps are out of sync you can spend a lot of time managing aggro issues. I saw this once again last night where we (the dps) just outgeared the decently geared prot warrior. They were fine... but I'm mostly in epics and my dots alone were pulling aggro. Pallies have a much easier time getting threat on multiple mobs and so can tank the trash packs and can easily tank 5 mans, Kara etc. Beyond? Sure. But that's a lot more gear.
to the OP - it really depends on what you think you'll do before WotLK. If you just want to be able to tank up through Kara and mybe Gruul/Mag, pally. If you want to gear it through SSC/TK... I have to wonder if it's not just best to wait. Unless this will become your new main for a bit it will be awfully hard to level it and gear it for that all in the next 3 months. And if we're right and WotLK will hit in ~6 months you need to do it that fast since SSC+ becomes irrelevant when WotLK ships.
Ikarus Jun 2nd 2008 3:09PM
I'm gonna jump on the pally band wagon. I don't have one myself, but my guild leader has a prot pally. makes runs a breeze. don't have to worry about CC. I can unload (mage) without fear of pulling aggro.
Neil T. Jun 2nd 2008 8:20AM
To echo what Eamara said, druids are great if you plan to do some soloing as a quick gear change and a swap into cat form instantly puts you into a strong DPS role. Prot warriors have very poor DPS, prot paladins are so-so, but may improve in WotLK.
As for waiting for a death knight in WotLK, there is the obvious advantage of having a level 55 character available instantly but it may be that you can get a character to 70 before then (assuming WotLK comes out around November time). Also, paladins, druids and warriors are 'tried and tested' tanks - death knights are new and unknown so there are fewer strategy and gear guides available.
Tom L Jun 2nd 2008 9:58AM
Prot DPS is absolutely not poor. In comparison to a rogue? yes, it's poor. In comparison to a prot-pallie? It's outstanding.
I regularly do 600-700 DPS in Kara and ZA on my Tank in DPS gear, a mismash of kara/za/badge leather/mail/plate. Rage efficiency and devastate-spam is a lot more impressive than people think. In no way will you challenge the top of the meter, but you should more than hold your own.
In our group, if we're running with a pallie-tank, the warrior-tank goes DPS b/c in that role he won't hurt the raid, while the pallie is a boat-anchor, doing DPS like a healer.
Ta,
Aigarius Jun 2nd 2008 8:20AM
Paladins in prot spec can solo fenomentally well by AoE grinding. Also they are best for levelling via 5-man group dungeons.
Hot$auce_Magik Jun 2nd 2008 8:21AM
I would pull your warrior, respec to Fury with a few points in protection and bloodthirst your way to 70, then go full prot.