WoW Dragonflight 10.2 Tank Tier List: Best Tank Specs Ranking for Season 3 M+ & Raids

9/11/2023 2:35:11 PM

The WoW Dragonflight 10.2 tier set bonuses are out, we're evaluating the power levels of all these set bonuses for all 6 tanks for Season 3, and talking about the biggest losers and the winners when it comes to the next patch.


WoW Dragonflight 10.2 Season 3 Tank Ranking

The WoW Dragonflight 10.2 Tank Tier List is a comprehensive guide that ranks the best tank specs for Season 3 Mythic+ and Raids in World of Warcraft. The guide takes into account the 10.2 tier set bonuses for each tank spec, which can significantly impact the performance of the tanks in various activities. In this article, we will go over the 10.2 tier set bonuses for each tank spec and provide an in-depth analysis of their strengths and weaknesses. We will also discuss the overall ranking of each tank spec based on their performance in Season 3 Mythic+ and Raids. Whether you're a seasoned tank player or new to the role, this article will provide valuable insights to help you optimize your tanking experience in WoW Dragonflight 10.2.

Related Read:

WoW Dragonflight Season 3 Preparation Guide: Top 10 Things To Do Before 10.2 Patch

WoW Dragonflight 1v1 Tier List - Best Specs Ranking for Dueling PvP


1. Blood Death Knight (S Tier)

(2) Set Bonus: Consuming a Bone Shield charge has a chance to cause your next Heart Strike to apply Ashen Decay, reducing damage dealt to you by 10% and increasing your damage dealt to afflicted targets by 20% for 8 seconds.

(4) Set Bonus: Soulreaper's execute damage and Abomination Limb's damage applies Ashen Decay to enemy targets, and Heart Strike and Blood Boil's direct damage extends Ashen Decay by 1 second.

A 10% damage reduction that is very nifty. Now remember heart strike also Cleaves when you are standing in death and Decay, which means that it's going to apply Ashen Decay across multiple targets. So naturally this two-piece bonus shines brightness in Mythic+ versus raids. In raids if you're not the one actively tanking the boss say you're doing a ton swap with a meta tank, you then don't really have many opportunities to have your Bone Shield charges be consumed. We think the plus 20% damage boost from this two-set bonus is also massive, we are all aware of Blood DK damage which hasn't been the style of the show this expansion, so the bump in power is a welcome change promising so far.

This 4-piece tier set clearly seems to be nudging us towards using Soulreaper and on top of that is making that already tantalizing two-piece set even more appealing. We think this is massive for Mythic plus, because not only do you get extra ways to slap on that Ashen Decay on your mobs but your bread and butter moves like Heart Strike and Blood Boil also extends Ashen Decay.

So just picture this, Blood DKs that pop and power Rune weapons dancing Rune weapons you use your ghoul and you pop Abomination Limb, and you just go ham on a bunch of mobs once Ashen Decay has been laid down on a big pool, that plus 20% damage is going to come out real big in the M+ scenarios. Also taking a step back think back to the 10.1 tier set, which was full focus on reaping the rewards from a longer uptime on vampiric blood, but this 10.2 tier set it feels like an evolution - a robust upgrade from the 10.1 set it gives you reliable damage reduction and also a boost in your damage output. So we see the 10.2 tier set as a firm upgrade to 10.1 overall a good win for Blood DK.


2. Brewmaster Monks (A Tier)

(2) Set Bonus: Breath of Fire deals 20% bonus damage as Shadowflame and causes you to heal for 50% of all Fire damage dealt.

(4) Set Bonus: Your attacks against targets afflicted by Breath of Fire have a chance to deal 5% extra damage as Shadowflame, and each Celestial Brew also grants a Stagger absorb equal to the amount of Shadowflame damage you have dealt, causing damage delayed by Stagger to instead be prevented.

Considering the tools in our Arsenal like chart passions, exploding cake, and Breath of Fire, all of which light up our enemies with glorious fire damage, this bonus becomes even juicier. And if you add in the new Shadow flame goodies from 10.2 that should count as fire damage. And having half of that being funneled back to you as a heal that is a game changer to some hammers. Stacking it up against what we've seen so far, we think this is definitely giving the Blood DK two-piece bonus a run for its money. Dare we say so far, this seems to be one of the top contenders for the best bonus in this patch.

The four-piece bonus might come off as confusing or underwhelming to the way, but we think it's very strong. So picture this you're doing Mythic plus, you're holding the line against a massive pool, your stagger starts spiking, and you're a little anxious, but just as things are looking dicey you pop your Celestial Brew, not only do you get the sweet absorption shield from Celestial Brew but your staggered incoming damage is suddenly gone, and that's an absolute Game Changer in terms of survivability. Now something to consider is whether Child Passions is still a go-to pick for season 3, it's looking light and if that's the default play style, we think Brewmaster Monks are going to see an impressive search and self-healing. So to sum it up, we think the monks tier set bonuses is a slam dunk, definitely one of the most promising sets we have seen so far. Brewmaster Monks might just be the Dark Horse to look out for as we count down to 10.2.


3 - Guardian Druid (B Tier)

(2) Set Bonus: 20% of your damage and healing and 100% of the armor you gain during Rage of the Sleeper fuel the growth of Dream Thorns, which wreath you in their protection after Rage of the Sleeper expires, absorbing 10% of damage dealt to you while the thorns remain.

(4) Set Bonus: Each 40 Rage you spend while Rage of the Sleeper is active extends its duration by 1 second, up to 5. Your Dream Thorns become Blazing Thorns, causing damage absorbed to be reflected at the attacker.

Moving on to the kings of Mythic+ in Season 2, it seems like Guardian Druid's got the budget version of the Prop Warriors ignore pain, what it does is that when you pop Rage of the Sleeper you store any healing and damage that you deal out, plus any bonus armor gains via say iron fur. So once Rage of the Sleeper times out, you are left with a shield that blocks 10% of incoming damage based on the value you store and after a few test runs on the PTR it seems like this Shield sticks around for roughly 30 seconds. But if you rewind to 10.1, Guardian Druids was sitting with a power pack tier set for the two-piece and four-piece. So seeing this new change from of the two pieces can't help but feel like it's a step backward in 10.2.

This four-piece set bonus for our furry friends seems to be extending the duration of Rage of the Sleeper - a bump from 10 seconds to a maximum of 15 seconds, Blazing Thorn might throw in a bit of a damage uptake but the real issue lies deeper. So the combined two-piece and four-piece bonuses seem to be nudging Druids to go all out during Rage of the Sleeper, urging them to drop big damage numbers and burn through their cooldowns during this window. But if you try to squeeze in a power move like Incarnation during this window, it feels like you're just piling all your big ticket cooldowns into a tiny window, we are not sure if it's worth indexing for the storing of that buff for your Thorns later on. Remember what we mentioned about Avengers Demon Hunters, it looks like Guardian Druids are walking down a similar path with this 10.2 tier set bonuses, it's almost as if no Blizzard looked at the top two tanks from 10.1 and they thought to themselves, let's not make them too strong this time round. But given how dominant bears were in Mythic Plus for 10.1, we are not really surprised by the downgrade in tier set bonuses for 10.2, but it definitely feels like our tree-hugging friends are getting the short end of the stick this time around.


4 - Vengeance Demon Hunters (B Tier)

(2) Set Bonus: Sigil of Flame's periodic damage has a chance to flare up, shattering an additional Soul Fragment from a target and dealing additional damage. Each 40 Fury you spend reduces its cooldown by 1 second.

(4) Set Bonus: When you attack a target afflicted by Sigil of Flame, your damage and healing are increased by 2% and your maximum health is increased by 2% for 8 seconds, stacking up to 5.

Vengeance Demon Hunters are in for a tough transition from 10.1 to the 10.2 tier set, the fiery brand bonus from the 10.1 tier set absolutely legendary, it really catapulted Vengeance into Mythic+ limelight, making them like one of the top two tanks to roll with at a certain point in time in Season 2. But glancing in this new 10.2, 2p set bonus seems like it will struggle to hold a candle versus its predecessor but read on 4p set bonus when you attack a Target afflicted by Sergio or flame your damage and healing are increased by 2% and your max Health has increased by 2% for 8 seconds stacking up to 5. So doing the math here, hypothetically if you maintain those stacks, you are looking at an extra 10% damage and an extra 10% Health with the 4-piece set - it sounds decent. But when you stack that up against the mighty ability from the 10.1 set where you can keep fiery brand on a horde of mobs with a fantastic uptime, there's just no beating around the bush here 10.2 tier set bonus for Vengeance - looks like they are taking a significant hit. And of course, there's a bit of a glimmer of hope, Blizzard has hinted at some tweaks to the Demon Hunter talent trees before 10.2 drops, so maybe we could see some wild synergies with the new four-piece bonus. But if we are being honest, the hopes aren't too sky high, losing the 10.1 4-piece bonus is going to sting and we are genuinely going to miss the 10.1 Vengeance Demon Hunter when it comes around to next season.


5. Protection Paladin (C Tier)

(2) Set Bonus: Judgment grants a stack of Sanctification, increasing your armor by 1% per stack. Upon reaching 10 stacks, your next cast of Consecration is empowered, increasing its damage and healing by 200% and its radius by 30%. Sanctification's stacks are reset when your empowered Consecration ends.

(4) Set Bonus: While you are within an empowered Consecration, your abilities have a chance to deal 20% bonus damage or healing as Fire.

This two-piece bonus not exactly blowing anyone's socks off. If you are consistently managing those 10 stacks of the buff, you're getting roughly 10% extra armor. In the grander scheme of things that translates to what is probably a two to 3% damage reduction against physical hits, that's barely a dent in the armor no pun intended. Now about the empowered consecration though, we get the idea it's a fun concept but here's the hiccup - when you are tackling a raid or doing some M+ encounter, there are moments in time where you're throwing a curveball. Let's say a mechanic that forces you to dance away or one where you just have to dash away from a specific area on the map. And suddenly you are out of your Empowered Consecration and trying to play around with that, it feels like you're walking in sheilds that are two sizes too small, it's clunky and it just doesn't feel right. We think it sounds more complicated than it's worth to play around the empowered consecration.

It seems like Blizzard is putting all its chips on empowered Consecration and while we tip our head to them for the creative effort, it just doesn't hit the mark in terms of practicality. We could Shuffle over to the talent tree and pick all the concentration focus enhancing talents and potentially milk the most we can out of our tier set bonus, it means that we are being funneled into a very narrow path of the talent tree and that's not always a good feeling flexibility.  While an empowered consecration might boast a larger AOE and just more throughput, we circle back to the same issue, you have those unpredictable moments that nudge or shaft you out of your beloved consecrated ground. It's kind of like having a fancy new toy for 10.2 and then you're being told that there are restrictions on when and how you can play with it. Reflecting on the 10.1, Protection Paladin set that you'll be losing for 10.2 though, the 10.1 set wasn't jaw-dropping but this new set for 10.2 feels worse just for practical reasons. Mathematically it might be better or the same, but it still feels like a slight nerve to Protection Paladin.


6. Proptection Warriors (D Tier)

(2) Set Bonus: Spending Rage has a chance to cause your next Shield Slam to consume your bleeds on a target, instantly dealing 100% of the remaining damage and reducing the target's damage dealt to you by 10% for 5 seconds.

(4) Set Bonus: When your bleeds are consumed on a target, their damage dealt to you is reduced by an additional 2% per bleed consumed, the cooldown of Thunder Clap is reset, and the cooldown of Thunderous Roar is reduced by 1 second.

On the face of it, this 2-piece bonus feels tailor-made for those intense rate boss fights, so when you're focusing on a single boss Target consuming Rand and Grievous wounds with your Shield Slam, the power in a one-on-one setting can be quite impressive. But if you shift the scenario to Mythic+ AOE situations though, this is where things get murky - its practicality falls apart. Just imagine you're surrounded by a bunch of mobs, Are you supposed to tap Target and Shield Slam each of them individually? That's kind of cumbersome and that's not exactly efficient in the chaos of large-scale battles if you're not seasoned.

On one hand, the reset on Thunderclap and the reduced cooldown on Thunderous Raw are helpful, its Blizzard's not acknowledging the AOE void left behind by the tier set, given how it seems to be focused on a single Target. But when you stack it up against the gold standard of the 10.1 Prop Warrior set, we think the 10.2 set just falls flat in terms of bonuses. In rate single Target fights, we think the 10.2 tier set just might be superior in terms of damage, but it feels like prop Warrior got handed the short end of the stick when it comes to Mythic Plus for 10.2 Season 3.


If we look at all the new 10.2 tier set bonuses, it's clear as day that Brewmaster Monks and Blood DKs have basically hit massive wins here, they are definitely climbing up the ranking on the tank tier list. On the flip side, we think Vengeance has been knocked off their pedestal, it's not really their fault though, the 10.1 fiery brand bonus set was just such a superstar that anything following it had big sheild to fill. And then talking about our raiding champion from Season 2 Mythic Plus, the Guardian Druid looks like they have been handled with quite a big Nerf with this new tier set that might ruffle some feathers amongst the Druid Community. Now as for Prop Warriors and Paladin, since both of them seem to have drawn the short straw in their own different ways, Paladins are wrestling with their own bizarre consecration bonus. As for Prop Warriors, they're kind of leaning into their single Target power which makes us wonder does this really gives them the same M+ power level they held in 10.1. Probably not. But the big picture though from where we stand Blood DK and Brewmaster Monks are probably the dark horses to watch, they've gotten quite a neat Power Bomb compared to the giants in 10.1 which is really the bear and to a lesser extent Vengeance Demon Hunters, they also seem to be outshining Prop Warriors and Prop paladins in terms of tier set bonus, that said though we think the 10.2 meta is still really early and we will definitely keep you folks posted.

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