Introduction
This guide is meant to compare tankadins vs. warrior and feral druid tanks in raid level boss encounters. Comparisons assume that tankadins are as equally geared as comparable warrior and druid tanks. This guide makes two comparisons: MT: Having a tankadin specifically maintank the boss(when applicable) vs. having a warrior maintank the boss, and TC: Having a tankadin as part of your tanking core for the encounter vs. having a tanking core consisting of only warriors and druids. Some boss encounters have only a MT, others have MT and TC duties united as one, and others have the rest of the TC split off from the MT. Designations reflect this.
Each encounter will be rated one of the following:
Null: The tankadin has no disadvantages or advantages when compared to warrior or druid tanks. Choose your best geared tank.
Offsetting: The tankadin has advantages specific to this encounter that offset disadvantages the tankadin has specific to this encounter. Choose your best geared tank.
Extremely Disadvantaged: The tankadin is at an extreme disadvantage in this encounter. You should not have a tankadin tank this encounter.
Disadvantaged: The tankadin is disadvantaged when compared to other tanks in this encounter. When available have another tank handle this encounter.
Minorly disadvantaged: The tankadin has a minor disadvantage when compared to other tanks. When equally geared, choose another tank. If the tankadin has a slight gear advantage, consider the tankadin.
Minorly advantaged: The tankadin has a minor advantage when compared to other tanks. If the tankadin has a slight gear disadvantage, consider the tankadin.
Advantaged: The tankadin is considerably advantaged in this encounter compared to other tanks. Choose the tankadin unless entirely out-geared.
Overall Notes
Tankadins have a threat advantage on demon and undead bosses when compared to similarly geared warrior and druid tanks. Tankadins also have a threat advantage in early T4 content which evens out in T6 content.
Tankadins have a stamina disadvantage in early T4 content which evolves into a stamina advantage in T6 content. In T6 and later content, this stamina advantage is offset by slightly lower avoidance when comapared to warrior tanks. A warrior tank has two primary active oh-shit buttons: last stand and shield wall, both available during each boss attempt. A tankadin only has a passive oh-shit capability in Ardent Defender, and a 1 hr cooldown Lay On Hands, which is fantastic for spike damage, but cannot be used pre-emptively to prevent future damage. All the above differences are assumed to be present for all encounters, and will only be mentioned when they play a prominent role in the encounter.
Karazhan
Almost all Karazhan bosses are undead, and tankadins provide superior threat generation in these encounters. However, threat is generally not an issue at this gearing level for most capable tanks.
Boss : Attumen the Huntsman
MT: Advantaged
A fairly well geared paladin tank or a marginally geared paladin tank backed by well geared healers can easily double tank the entire encounter. Consecration makes both transitions easier even when using an offtank. Tankadin burst threat plays a prominent role in the second transition.
Boss : Moroes
MT: Advantaged
A paladin has the ability to aoe tank several mobs if his gear or the healers are up to the task. Blessing of Sacrifice enables a workaround to the gouge debuff, allowing more flexibility in offtank(secondary threat) choices.
Boss : Maiden of Virtue
MT: Minorly Disadvantaged
Silence makes this encounter more difficult for a tankadin to generate threat and remain uncrushable.
Boss : Opera Event : Big Bad Wolf
MT: Minorly Advantaged
The paladin can use ranged aggro abilities while the wolf is chasing LRRH around the stage. This is a minor advantage, but still something warriors and druids are unable to do.
Boss : Opera Event : Romulo and Julianne
MT: Advantaged
A sufficiently geared paladin tank can easily double tank and generate threat on both mobs. This reduces the healing load and amount of movement during the encounter.
Boss : Opera Event : The Wizard of Oz
MT: Minorly Advantaged
A paladin tank can tank multiple mobs during this encounter more easily than a warrior, and just as well as a bear tank ... but this usually isn't necessary because of the mechanics of this fight. Ranged aggro moves help on picking up Tito.
Boss : The Curator
MT: Minorly Advantaged, TC: Null
The ability to burst threat during evocation phases may make it slightly easier to kill him. As an OT, the tankadin soaks arcane bolts just as easily as other tanks.
Boss : Shade of Aran
No Tank: Offsetting
This mob is not tankable. Warriors are extremely useful because of their ability to interrupt a school of magic. For a 10-man which may be short on interrupts, this is very useful. However, tankadins can don healing gear and provide more raid utility than prot warrior dps. Tankadins can easily control 2-4 elementals via consecration, judgment, melee damage, and avenger's shield.
Boss : Terestian Illhoof
MT: Advantaged
A tankadin can tank every mob in the encounter, easing the healing load and allowing DPS to go all out, all the time. Also pretty much the only way to do the encounter without a warlock AOE tank.
Boss : Netherspite
MT/TC: Minorly disadvantaged[/]
The only disadvantage for a paladin tank is a disadvantage when taking over the green beam because of the mana pool reduction. It is feasible, but more difficult, and not suggested. If not tanking the green beam, the tankadin has an advantage in burst threat when Netherspite comes out of his portal phases.
[b]Boss : Nightbane
MT: Offsetting, TC: Advantaged
The fear mechanic makes this fight trickier for a paladin tank. It can be done with the 2 min CD PVP trinket and bubble and decently fast DPS, but it is significantly easier for a warrior tank to stance dance. A paladin must also sacrifice a trinket slot to tank this encounter. This disadvantage is nullified with fear wards/tremor totems. A paladin's ability to attack Nightbane while he is airborne is useful preventing Nightbane from targetting others with his breath attack, and is extremely useful when Nightbane comes out of his air phase, preventing Nightbane from aggro'ing an unlucky clothy. AE tanking the skeletons in stage 2 is a significant advantage.
Boss : Prince Malchezzaar
MT: Advantaged
Paladins can generate threat on the demon lord very easily, which allows DPS to start immediately (instead of using white damage only for an entire phase 1 as some groups do). Paladins are also considerably less crushable vs. fast hitting bosses such as the Prince, which makes healing the encounter considerably easier. Paladins can completely disengage Prince during Phase 2, utilizing only passive threat generation, which almost trivilializes Phase 2.
Zul'Aman
The timed event and many 3-5 mob trash pulls make tankadins invaluable for speeding up the trash pulls. A single tankadin can tank almost all trash pulls in the game, allowing the OT to dps, if arms/fury or feral. In a 10-man, the extra aura and blessing a tankadin provides are also invaluable, especially since bringing two holy paladins greatly gimps your healing in such a raid-healing intensive zone.
Nalorakk
MT/TC: Minorly advantaged
It is easier for a tankadin to be hit-capped, guaranteeing taunts. However, Nalorakk has a bug when switching to bear form wherein he lacks a main target, causing Righteous Defense to fail. Carefully timed taunts can avoid this. Nalorakk does not crush, and bleed effects are mitigated by armor, making bear bosses the ideal tank. However, a tankadins bubble provides an emergency debuff-clear in case two phases need to be tanked simultaneously, but can be used only once. Burst threat enables dps to start earlier, saving seconds off the timed event.
Akil'zon
MT: Minorly advantaged
Burst threat, again, enables dps to start earlier. Consecrate provides an additional source of AE damage to down birds.
Jan'Alai
MT: Minorly advantaged, TC: Advantaged
Burst threat, again, enables dps to start earlier. A tankadin makes tanking the eggs almost trivial, as one full side can be hatched and tanked at once, simplifying the encounter enormously.
Halazzi
MT/TC: Advantaged
During Phase 2, a tankadin can tank both the Spirit of the Lynx and Halazzi simultaneously, freeing up a feral druid to dps during this phase. Burst threat, not only enables dps to start earlier, but also secures aggro on the lynx form faster if dps'ing the lynx form during phase 2. Righteous Defense also works on the lynx in case it aggros a ranged or healer. Tankadins can judge righteousness on corrupted totems, as well, speeding up dps on them. If a prot OT must be used, to soak the cleaves, the tankadin can wear partial healing gear, healing either himself or the tank after each cleave.
Hex Lord Malacress
MT: Minorly Disadvantaged
The tankadin may provide an extra concentration aura, allowing easier casting during spirit bolts. Judgment of light will help mitigate raid damage on melee. The interrupts a warrior tank brings, however, is invaluable in preventing HLM from healing himself.
Zul'Jin
MT: Minorly Advantaged
Phase 1: Consecration provides quick control of the adds, preventing unnecessary early raid damage.
Phase 2: Self-cleanse is invaluable in preventing Nalorakk's paralyzation from killing the tank. A tankadin also provides extra cleanses to the raid. More importantly, consecration, burst threat and JoB/SoV stacks secures aggro during the phase transitions.
Phase 3: The Tankadin can toss on a healing weapon/shield/libram, bubble, and toss off invaluable raid heals for 12 seconds. Concentration aura also helps the raid here.
Phase 4: Consecration and burst threat is invaluable in securing initial aggro. A tankadin provides an extra Blessing of Protection to use on a squishy raid member beset upon by Saber Lash.
Phase 5: Again, consecration, burst threat, and JoB/SoV stacks are invaluable in securing initial aggro. The tankadin also provides instant switching to fire resist aura for one group.
Gruul's Lair
Boss: High King Maulgar
MT: Null, TC: Minorly Advantaged
Tankadins do not need a misdirect to pull their own target, freeing up a MD for others. Avenger's Shield needs to be used very carefully, and a Judgment is recommended as a pulling tool. Tankadins can tank Blind-Eye or Maulgar equally as effective as other classes. Tankadins have a slight advantage tanking Olm, using ranged threat to pull, and using consecration to pick up initial aggro on felhunters prior to enslavement or banishment.
Boss: Gruul
MT: Disadvantaged, TC: Minorly disadvantaged
Silencing effect opens up periodic vulnerability to crushing blows due to being prevented from using Holy Shield while silenced. Lack of fast-movement ability such as Intercept or Feral Charge to use after knock-backs prevents a Paladin from ensuring they stay in melee range, which can cause a melee DPS player to die to a Hateful Strike if the Paladin is off-tanking, or at best causes the boss to be constantly moving around the room chasing the Paladin if the Paladin is main tanking. Shield Wall and Last Stand are simply too powerful an advantage to give up in favor of using a Paladin tank, and they go incredibly far towards solidifying a kill in the later growths which would have resulted in a wipe using a Paladin tank. The only advantage a Tankadin has in Gruul's is faster and more consistent threat gen, which is not insignficant if DPS is constantly threat-capped. The preferred off-tank is a bear, and tankadins cannot generate OT threat as well as a bear. When compared to warrior OT's, however, tankadins are equally capable, and perhaps advantaged when teamed with a shadow priest.
Magtheridon's lair
Boss: Magtheridon
MT: Offsetting, TC: Advantaged
At 30% Magtheridon shatters the walls of his lair, causing the roof to crash down on the entire raid. This deals 5250-6750 physical damage to every member of the raid. Warriors can use shield wall or last stand to mitigate this. Tankadins can only resort to bubbling to mitigate this, but must cancel the bubble quickly to ensure no aggro loss. Topping off the tank prior to shatter should eliminate the need for last stand/shield wall/bubbling, though. Tankadins have a minor advantage in the initial pick up of Magtheridon from both consecration and burst threat. Tankadins have an advantage tanking the initial adds for the Magtheridon encounter. They can tank the first two adds at once, and allows dps to start aggro early in a very time intensive encounter. Tankadin consecration can also help control the occasional rogue infernal.
SSC
Hydross
MT: Offsetting , TC: Advantaged
Tankadins have a threat disadvantage on elementals, since elemental attacks cannot be blocked. A tankadin using trinkets and wings to burst threat may be able to mitigate this. This disadvantage is offset by stronger add-control and smoother transitions. Consecration by the MT helps control the adds. With strong AE dps, a max-resist tankadin can tank all the adds and hydross during one phase as long as the adds die before debuffs stack up. During the off-phase, consecration can help control adds to allow OT's to pick them up easier. Tankadins enable transitions to be made much easier, Horde paladins can use JoB to guarantee a high threat pickup, and Alliance paladins can stack SoV prior to the transition, guaranteeing a consistent DoT that ticks after transition. Tankadins using this method should let the threat expire before pulling Hydross back across, so the other tank can grab aggro. As add-tanks, tankadins are clearly superior. Their AE threat allows them to pick up all adds at once, and with correct gearing, a tankadin can single tank all adds for both nature and frost phases, freeing up multiple raid spots otherwise devoted to off-tanks.
Lurker Below
MT: Minorly Disadvantaged/Null, TC: Minorly Advantaged
When using the two tank method, not having intercept means the off-tank has to tank longer, lowering threat and increasing the chances for something odd to happen, like a spout starting on the OT. However, this fight doesn't need two tanks, if the MT uses correct positioning. Tankadins have a slight advantage in snap aggro on the adds with a pre-cast consecration as well as judgements and AS. When a ret paladin is unavailable to the raid, Judgment of Light kept up by the tankadin greatly mitigates Whirl damage taken by melee.
Morogrim
MT: Advantaged, TC: Advantaged
Tankadins' Holy Shield mechanic make them the ideal tank for Morogrim. They should not be exposed to crushing blows at all compared to warrior tanks, who will inevitably suffer crushing blow spike damage, or druids who will always take crushings. However, tankadins shine even more in their ability to control all 12 add spawns at once, freeing up up to 3 extra raid slots normally devoted to off-tanks. This is one fight where having two tankadins is a great boon to the raid.
Karathress
MT: Minorly Disadvantaged, TC: Minorly Advantaged
For tanking karathress himself, tankadins are at a slight disadvantage, as they cannot intervene out of spitfire range (which is used in some strategies). For tanking the shaman, they are by far the worst tank due to high burst and no crushings. For tanking the priest, they are disadvantaged due to lack of a spell interrupt. Tankadins are advantaged at tanking the hunter due to their ability to easily hold aggro on both targets, freeing up an off-tank.
Leotheras
MT/TC: Advantaged
Whirlwind occurs often and clears the aggro table. A paladin's ranged attacks (Avenger's Shield, Judgement) can more quickly return aggro to the tank, thus allowingdps to start sooner. If no warlock is available to tank the demon form, a tankadin's ability to bubble-clear the debuff stack is beneficial. Additionally, for melee heavy groups, a tankadin can ranged-tank the demon form, albeit with a very low aggro ceiling. Tankadins never have problems with inner demons whereas warrior tanks may sometimes end up mind control due to inability to lack of dps.
Vashj
MT: Minorly Advantaged, TC: Minorly Advantaged
Tankadins provide an extra Blessing of Freedom, and specifically, one that the tank controls, greatly simplifying Vashj's entangle and multishot mechanic. A tankadin can also bubble out of Static Charge, simplifying that mechanic as well. Ranged aggro moves simplify picking up the nagas.
The Eye
Boss: Void Reaver
MT/TC: Advantaged
The high threat generation of a tankadin allows him to hold aggro through multiple knockbacks. It is highly advised to have a tankadin begin initial threat for the encounter, as even a poorly geared tankadin can burst enough threat to survive the first couple knockbacks, allowing other tanks to generate aggro. It is also advised to stack a threat heavy group for a tankadin in this encounter.
Boss: High Astromancer Solarian
MT: Null TC: Advantaged
If possible, warriors should be assigned to tank the priests, as their interrupt is invaluable. However, tankadins are strongly advantaged during the portal phase when multiple adds are summoned. If the full raid groups up directly on the tankadin, the tankadin will hold aggro on all 12 adds simultaneously, and enable quick and easy AE dps to clear the adds.
Boss: Al'ar
MT: Offsetting TC: Advantaged
During Phase 2, Al'ar will apply a debuff on the current tank that reduces armor by 75%, and so Al'ar must be taunted off by another tank immediately. As Warrior/Druid taunt is on a shorter cooldown, and both classes have backup taunts available in case of a resist, it is much easier to have them on the boss. Tankadins tanking Al'ar should use swiftness potions after fire quill to compensate for lack of intervene. Tankadins are capable of solo tanking the adds, opening raid slots for more dps. 3/3 Pursuit of Justice talents also help in chasing down either Al'ar or the embers.
Boss: Kael'thas Sunstrider (Phase 1)
TC: Minorly Advantaged
Tankadins have an advantage tanking Telonicus: He can simply bubble out of the Remote Toy if he gets it.
Boss: Kael'thas Sunstrider (Phase 2)
TC: Minorly Advantaged
A tankadin can AE tank 3-4 weapons, freeing up a tank spot for another DPS or AE.
Boss: Kael'thas Sunstrider (Phase 3)
TC: Null
Boss: Kael'thas Sunstrider (Phase 4)
MT: Minorly Disadvantaged TC: Advantaged
During Phase 4, Kael will occasionally shield himself and begin to chain-cast three Pyroblasts at the MT. They hit for ~40k base damage, which is reduced in half by the buff given by the Cosmic Infuser (healing mace). It is up to the DPS to burn through the shield and interrupt Kael as quickly as possible. The first Pyroblast will almost definitely go through, but is absorbed by the Phaseshift Bulwark's use effect. The second Pyroblast should be interrupted, but in the event that it is not (particularly on learning attempts), a Warrior can use Last Stand and a Nightmare Seed to put themselves well over the 20k mark, thus surviving the Pyroblast with some hit points to spare. They can also use Shield Wall. Without Last Stand, the Paladin must use a combination of PW:S, Major Fire Prot Potion, Nightmare Seed, and the badge trinkets. On the other hand, if it is absolutely certain that the third pyroblast will be interrupted, the Paladin can bubble, taking no damage. The risk of this is that the third pyroblast will target a different raid member, if not interrupted. For low dps raids, the warrior's ability to use last stand on the 2nd pyroblast and shield wall on the 3rd outweighs a tankadin's ability to bubble once since the consumables mentioned above are usable by both classes. For higher dps raids, the tankadins ability to entirely eliminate 2nd pyroblast damage is preferred.
Additionally, Tankadins take more spell damage than a warrior(3%, 6% or 10% more depending on talents). For tanking the phoenixes, a tankadin is advantaged: ranged aggro abilities allow allow them to grab the phoenixes without entering melee. If correctly used toghether with Consecration, the tankadin can just kite the phoenix around without taking any damage.
Boss: Kael'thas Sunstrider (Phase 5)
MT: Minorly Advantaged
Ranged aggro abilities allow a tankadin to continue stacking threat during gravity lapse, giving the dps a slightly higher threat ceiling.
Mt Hyjal
All bosses here are undead, giving the tankadin a minor threat advantage. Tankadins have a clear advantage AE tanking all the Hyjal trash waves.
Boss: Rage Winterchill
MT: Minorly Advantaged
When Rage casts death and decay onto the tanking position, the tankadin can continue producing threat with ranged spells while the warrior/feral usually has to wait out of melee range.
Boss: Anetheron
MT: Null, TC: Advantaged
Tankadins provide superior threat for infernals, allowing dps to start earlier and burn them down faster. They are also able to provide their own fire resistance aura when tanking away from the raid.
Kaz'rogal
MT: Offsetting
The mana burn mechanic is troublesome for tankadins, as they must monitor their mana and manage it via potion and dark runes so that they don't risk exploding on melee dps. However, the mana burn is not significant enough to impact threat generation when the above consumables are used. This means that tankadins have an advantage over warriors because of their superior threat generation. The dps-race nature of this encounter favors the tankadin's superior threat. Ironically, once the tankadin outgears the encounter, even slightly, they run into mana issues, causing their threat advantage to disappear when compared to a similarly overgeared warrior tank.
Azgalor
MT: Offsetting, TC: Advantaged
Azgalor's 5 second silence mechanic slightly reduces tankadin threat, but tankadin threat on undead is high to begin with. He can't crush, so Holy Shield uptime is not an issue. Tanking the doomguards, however, is a strength for tankadins due to ranged threat moves(exorcism, AS, RD), and superior damage output from the add-tank compared to warrior tanks. Tankadins also can tank doomguards if necessary.
Archimonde
MT: Minorly Disadvantaged
Archimonde's fear mechanic makes this slightly more difficult for tankadins when compared to warriors.
Black Temple
Tankadins have a minor threat advantage as all bosses here are demonic.
Reliquary of Souls: Phase 1: Essence of Pain
MT/TC: Advantaged
There is zero healing in this phase and tanks cycle control of the boss relying on blocks and avoidance to stay up. As a class which relies on blocks tankadins can possibly tank 2 whole non-enraged portions. Ardent Defender is a strong advantage for Tankadins here.
Reliquary of Souls, Phase 2: Essence of Desire
MT: Extremely Disadvantaged
Essence of Desire will occasionally cast a debuff on the Main Tank called Deaden that increases damage taken by a large percentage. It must be spell reflected onto Essence of Desire. She also applies an aura onto the raid that reduces everyone's total mana by an increasingly large percentage as the phase progresses. Typically it takes 4 or 5 Deadens to kill her, and as even one missed or accidentally interrupted Deaden can mean a wipe on learning nights it is definitely not possible to use a non-Warrior MT for that phase unless your DPS outgears the encounter by a currently unreachable margin.
Reliquary of Souls, Phase 3: Essence of Anger
MT: Advantaged
Seethe increases threat generation by 300% for 10s. A tankadins burst threat mechanic scales perfectly with this, allowing a massive frontloading of threat. Essence of Anger periodically uses an attack that burns mana, rage, or energy from everyone in front of him. It burns up to 100 rage, or somewhere around 4000-5000 mana. It also does damage based on the amount of rage or mana burned. Tankadins can mana dump more effectively than druids or warriors, minimizing damage taken during this phase. Tankadins steady mana intake from Spiritual Attunement is enough to hold aggro, after the initial threat burst from Seethe. Tankadins can spike mana regen by purposefully taking damage(first mana burn), mana potions, and dark/demonic runes.
High Warlord Naj'entus
MT: Null
Supremus
MT: Minorly Advantaged
Easier pickup after a volcano phase is extremely helpful.
Teron Gorefiend
MT: Advantaged
Tankadin's Holy Shield prevent the occasional crushing blows taken by warrior tanks, providing better survivability.
Gurtogg Bloodboil
MT/TC: Advantaged
A tankadins ability to control burst threat via exorcism and judgments allows micro-management of threat, enabling him to either overtake the top aggro spot, or drop down to secondary aggro. Burst threat combined with the ability to bubble out of a high stack of Acidic Wounds allows the tankadin to tank Bloodboil for longer when not disoriented, allowing other tanks more time to build aggro without a knockback. The paladin also provides an additional BoP in case a tank has too much aggro.
Shade of Akama
MT: Null, TC: Advantaged
A tankadin simplifies add-tanking in this encounter enormously, easily able to 1-man tank a hallway, picking up all 3 adds with Avenger's shield, and AE tanking them.
Mother Shahrazz
MT: Null, TC: Null
Illidari Council
TC: Offsetting
Tankadins can serve as a priest tank, but the lack of interrupt is a drawback. For rogue tanking, a feral is probably better thank a tankadin, but a tankadin is better than a warrior. The important issue is how to pick up the rogue after a vanish if a blessing is applied. A feral can use either spell or melee damage to pick him up. A tankadin can use spell damage, and a melee-based taunt to pick him up. A hunter misdirect helps for when only the taunt is used. A warrior has no spell-based pick up option for when the rogue goes melee immune. For the paladin, however, warriors are the preferred tank due to spell reflect.
Illidan Stormrage
MT: Advantaged, TC: Advantaged
Tankadins are uniquely equipped to deal with dual-wielding bosses, and Illidan is no exception. Holy Shield's 8 charges over 10 seconds helps not only with avoiding crushing blows from both the dual-wielding hits, but also, and critically, with blocking Illidan's shears. It also guarantees that all of Illlidan's melee are blocked for full block value, easing healer load. T6 level tankadins typically have little problem stacking block rating to deal with shear. Burst threat makes it easier to pick up Illidan between phases. Tankadins can exorcise the flames, providing strong initial burst threat for dps, and ardent defender makes tankadins excellent tanks for the flames. The steady, smaller damage amounts that flames cause guarantees that ardent defender will kick in and mitigate significant amounts of damage. 3/3 Pursuit of Justice talent-speccing also helps in kiting while avoiding eye beams.
World Bosses
Doom Lord Kazzak
MT: Advantaged
The ability to frontload threat as well as burst threat with Avenging Wrath is critical for this entirely burst damage based encounter.
Doomwalker
MT/TC: Minorly Advantaged
Burst Threat and Snap Aggro with a Long range taunt allows the tankadin to pick up Doomwalker easier during phase changes.
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