Shadowlands Tank Tier List for Sanctum of Domination Patch 9.1.5

With the latest patch, Sanctum of Domination has brought a new tank hero and some exciting changes to its gameplay. This article will give you information on how I feel about the newest Tank list as well as what is needed for your team composition if you want to be successful in any given game mode.

Welcome to Wowhead’s Shadowlands Tank Tier List for the Sanctum of Domination Raid, updated for Patch 9.1.5. We’ve created a Tier List for raiding in Patch 9.1.5 with the assistance of our class writers, reflecting on the pros and drawbacks of each Tank spec for the raid as well as how each spec performs.

This page will be updated when new information becomes available, so keep checking Wowhead for updates!

Strategy Guides for the Sanctum of Domination

If you want to pick your class based on its raid strength, this article will go through the strongest Tank specifications in the current raid tier, as well as an explanation from our Class Writers on why.

Notices Regarding This Tier List

With comments from our Class Writers, this guide was created to offer you a summary of how each Tank performs in Mythic Sanctum of Domination for Patch 9.1.5. If any tuning changes are made, we will update this tier list. This Tier List was created for players who like to choose a class depending on its utility in the current Mythic raid tier. You don’t have to play this way, and you may choose your class based on any criteria you like.

The rankings are based on the criteria of throughput, utility, and defensive value in Sanctum of Domination, and employ a typical Tier List methodology to rate each spec on a scale of best (S Tier) to unviable (F Tier). These rankings were created by our Class Guide Writers, who are experts in their field, but they are still their own opinions. Because everyone values things differently, you may disagree with some of their findings.

Sanctum of Domination Tank Tier List for Patch 9.1.5 Shadowlands

Here’s how each Class Writer scored each Tank spec in Sanctum of Domination for Patch 9.1.5 for this Tier List.

• S: You are an outstanding option in Sanctum of Domination, delivering powerful throughput, exceptional survivability, and universal usefulness to practically every encounter.
• A: You’re a decent pick in Sanctum of Domination and succeed in most settings, but you have a few flaws in certain confrontations.
• B: In Sanctum of Domination, you’re an okay choice. You may have a specialty in certain situations, but you’re still a good choice.
• C: In Sanctum of Domination, you are below average and fail to stand out in many confrontations owing to your flaws.
• D: You’re a viable character, but the Sanctum of Domination encounters highlight your flaws rather than your virtues.

Because all specifications are feasible, no spec has been assigned below a C tier.

Buttons for Filtering

S

A+

A

From Shadowlands Patch 9.1 to Patch 9.1.5, tank rankings have changed.

There have been no changes.

Class Guides for the Sanctum of Domination

Each boss in the raid includes suggested skill builds, gear, and raid recommendations on the Sanctum of Domination page in our Class Guides!

Tank Rankings and Explanations for Patch 9.1.5 Shadowlands

Tier Specs A+

Death Knight of Blood

Overall Score: A+ Blood Death Knights are essentially in the same position as they were during the Battle of Castle Nathria: they’re a great tank with the one significant flaw being their limited damage output.

Because of the modifications to Anti-Magic Zone in Patch 9.1, one carried by a Blood Death Knight is virtually an unmodified version of the spell, and will give the same high value in almost all circumstances as it did during Castle Nathria.

Sanctum of Domination’s bosses have less overall mobility, but when they do, it’s massive set piece moves that may interrupt the feel and flow of how you play Blood Death Knight since you can’t use Death Strike to survive. Painsmith Raznal, for example, requires you to flee with the weapon thrown at you, such as Cruciform Axe, or Fatescribe Roh-Kalo with Invoke Destiny. As a result, Rune Tap will likely be used more often to counter these ranged tankbusters.

There are several situations in Sanctum of Domination where grips are useful: Eye of the Jailer (Heroic/Mythic) to summon the Stygian Abductors, The Nine to summon the Formless Mass, and on Fatescribe Roh-Kalo Gorefiend’s Grasp to summon the Fatespawn Anomaly adds together.

With Patch 9.1.5, you may freely change covenants, allowing you to play Necrolord in place of Soulrender Dormazain, rotating between Gorefiend’s Grasp and Abomination Limb to collect each wave of Mawsworn Agonizers. You may also play Venthyr for increased mobility with Door of Shadows, making battles with Painsmith Raznal and Fatescribe Roh-Kalo simpler (but is not necessary by any means).

Blood Death Knights are in a great defensive position for Sanctum of Domination, and Anti-Magic Zone adds a lot of value to the raid composition. However, like with many raid levels in recent memory, the DPS and Buff/Debuff Matrix Meta determine the worth of your tank selection. Arms Warriors, Windwalker Monks, and Havoc Demon Hunters are all meta alternatives in this tier, which means the tank position will have more options. This might change at any time, thus many guilds may wish to hedge their bets by utilizing Warrior of Defense, Brewmaster Monk, or Demon Hunter of Vengeance.

Brewmaster Monk

Overall Score: A+ Brewmaster Monks are a tank with very few flaws. They aren’t the greatest at doing damage (Protection Paladin), self-healing (Blood Death Knight), or even mobility (Vengeance Demon Hunter… debatably), but they excel at everything they do, and they have the most well-rounded toolset of any tank. A Brewmaster Monk is capable of completing any task. Since the introduction of Mystic Touch in BFA, having a Monk in your raid has been required, and Windwalker and Mistweaver have performed well in Patch 9.1. You’d think that with their growing popularity, a lot of Brewmasters would switch to other classes, but that hasn’t been the case. Due to their diverse set of abilities, the Brewmaster Monk has remained the most popular tank (approximately tied with Blood Death Knight), and that won’t change in Patch 9.1.5.

Covenant switching, Conduit swapping, and Legendary availability will all alter. As a result, Windwalker and Mistweaver players will be able to transfer into the Brewmaster role with more ease — and vice versa. Monk has gone from being a horrible choice (all three specs HIGHLY emphasize various Covenants, Conduits, and Legendaries) to a fantastic option if you want to be a well-rounded character (apart from ranged DPS). You may be the greatest Necrolord Windwalker, Venthyr Mistweaver, and Kyrian Brewmaster on the same day without sacrificing any of your player strength in the sake of “important player choice.”

Patch 9.1.5 provides less to offer Brewmaster Monks who don’t care about offspecs, but the ability to transfer Covenants freely still has a lot of utility. For raid and Mythic+, Kyrian is still the most popular Brewmaster Covenant, but Night Fae’s Soulshape is useful for movement-heavy encounters like Painsmith Raznal and Kel’Thuzad, and Necrolord’s Bonedust Brew can provide a smaller, more consistent defensive bonus on tougher encounters like Sylvanas Windrunner (this will likely be more important in future raids than the current one, as it was relatively easy from a tank damage intake standpoint). I would have had an easier time advancing on those monsters if I had the increased mobility provided by Soulshape, and I would have switched back to Kyrian for more conventional battles despite Night Fae’s lower DPS.

Finally, Special Delivery’s damage has been increased by 100%. I don’t believe the meta will change much since it’s still in the same talent tier as Rushing Jade Wind, but it’s possible. It may still miss moving targets, which is a major flaw. The process of developing and testing theories is currently continuing.

Protection Paladin

Overall Score: A+ Protection Paladins in Sanctum of Domination have the same possibilities to provide value to their squad and stretch their existing abilities as they did in 9.1.5. The main reason for this is because the Venthyr version of the Protection Paladin does the greatest damage of any tank and may help you overcome any DPS check. Venthyr Protection Paladins that focus on damage with skills, trinkets, and legendary choices will do more damage than other tank specifications. Furthermore, the damage taken is minimal enough that a Protection Paladin may use Holy Power or Shining Light on off-healing through Hand of the Protector.

Protection Paladins still do well on defense in Sanctum of Domination. They take less physical damage than Vengeance Demon Hunters or Blood Death Knights in all scenarios, and Guardian Druid in certain situations, thanks to their higher-than-average constant armor value and block probability. Protection Paladins may use Holy Shield, Mastery: Divine Bulwark, Aegis of Light, and Word of Glory to counter the many spell kinds and damage profiles that confront tanks in this raid. Because “magic block” on particular boss mechanisms like Banshee’s Bane on Sylvanas Windrunner or even Blackened Armor from a previous monster like Painsmith Raznal, Holy Shield is a standout mechanic in Sanctum of Domination. On a few bosses, such as The Nine and Kel’Thuzad, Blessing of Spellwarding may be utilized to lessen the amount of group soaks required. On Painsmith Raznal, Blessing of Protection may help with spikes and ball mechanics.

The need for buffs or debuffs from other classes still makes it tough to roster a Protection Paladin. They’ll have to make way for Warrior, Monk, or Demon Hunter simply because you’ll need their tank specs in the raid to cover buffs and debuffs if their DPS counterparts aren’t present. Similarly, Holy Paladin has a lot of similarities to Protection Paladin, but it also has a lot of damage and Aura Mastery, which makes it popular among healers. Blessing of Spellwarding, Divine Shield, and even Blessing of Protection have given this tier a lot more strategic worth by hard-countering certain mechanisms like Kel’Thuzad. And the plain reality is that as more players get gear, the requirement for a Protection Paladin will diminish as their damage and off-healing abilities become less vital.

Specs for A Tier

Vengeance Demon Hunter

A+ for overall quality

Because there were no notable changes to the spec from previous releases, Vengeance Demon Hunter remains a solid choice for Mythic Sanctum of Domination in Patch 9.1.5. While we have never been the most powerful spec in raids in terms of defense or offense, we make up for it with amazing mobility and utility at our tier. Tanks are often tuned within a tiny margin of each other outside of the World First Race, therefore variations in survivability or damage are seldom the deciding factor in tank selection. As usual, we rely on borrowed strength to advance, this time from our famed Fiery Soul. Our survivability is fairly good in general as long as we don’t have to tank continually, and the majority of encounters in this tier don’t demand a lot of active tanking time.

Our strengths and weaknesses haven’t altered much since patch 9.1.5, owing to the fact that our other Covenants, apart from Kyrian, don’t have any specific specialties in Sanctum. On every single encounter, Kyrian continues to be the best choice both defensively and offensively. Furthermore, since our spec adjustments mostly affect circumstances with more than 5 targets, they have little impact in this raid.

On encounters like Painsmith Raznal and Fatescribe Roh-Kalo, our great mobility from Infernal Strike combined with the skill Abyssal Strike allows for accurate placement of the numerous tank bombs and kiting any adds, considerably reducing the load on healers. In such instances, we are the best alternative. We also include Chaos Brand, a necessary raid boost with decent add control and great burst threat, as well as Last Resort, a powerful passive cheat death that can be utilized as an extra cooldown or to salvage a pull. With Elysian Decree lined up after every add spawn on Soulrender Dormazain, Kyrian Vengeance Demon Hunters also provide good burst for adds and vulnerability phases. In terms of defense, both Fiery Brand and Demonic have potent, short cooldowns, allowing for constant mitigation for tankbusters like Ranger’s Heartseeker and a decent amount of self-healing via Soul Fragment and Soul Cleave. There are a few add stages that need strong control on this tier, which we have enough of thanks to our sigils. On Sylvanas, we may avoid waiting for bridges by using Double Jump, Glide, and Infernal Strike, enabling us to reach there faster and disrupt Ruin. We’re also a good choice for absorbing the Banshee’s Bane that has to be cleared up, rather than tanking in the last phase, thanks to our passive decreased magic damage received. Finally, our spell priority is basic and has some empty GCDs, with none of our cooldowns needing any resources apart from Fel Devastation, making it very easy to plan around cooldowns, concentrate on raid location, and utilize our utility without losing too much.

Our flaws are the same as they’ve always been, and they do have an impact on our favorability in this tier. On Single Target confrontations, we still have the lowest overall DPS of all tanks, particularly for priority target damage, whether burst or sustained. Due to the poor uptime on Demon Spikes and our basic armor being one of the lowest among tanks, we struggle to live on confrontations with 100% tanking uptime and heavy physical damage without liberal usage of externals sans Fiery Soul, but thankfully there aren’t any battles like that this tier. We also lack raid utility and cooldowns beyond add control, making us reliant on our Havoc counterparts’ raid strength. We are less preferred in this tier since only Demon Hunters carry Chaos Brand, but Havoc provides an extra raid cooldown in Darkness.

Guardian Druid

A+ for overall quality

We’re well and well into Sanctum of Domination (too deep), and we now have a much clearer view of how the tier has played out and how farm is going for many legendary guilds, thanks to the release of 9.1.5. With this data, we can see that Guardian Druid is consistently in the center of the pack, that we do a lot of damage, have a decent raid mobility cooldown, and are incredibly tanky. We are excellent at every encounter and excel at the majority, however we need a significant raid damage reduction cooldown. Convoke the Spirits’ healing output, on the other hand, is a good replacement and may make some battles, such as Sylvanas Windrunner, considerably easier for your raid.

The elimination of the target cap on Swipe in 9.1.5 is a good benefit for clearing garbage, but it won’t have much of an influence on the raid itself since there aren’t any major AoE encounters. For most raiding Guardian Druids, the elimination of conduit energy and the ability to easily change covenants should have little affect, since Night Fae is by far our strongest raid covenant, with Venthyr getting a mention on the marginally more AoE focused encounters like Soulrender/Fatescribe.

Some pesky raid members may ask you to go Kyrian to buff them with the Kyrian specific legendary Kindred Affinity for their massive parses, which is actually one of the biggest buffs you can give to a single player in the raid, which is quite crazy and can net them upwards of 1000+ DPS, which can be quite fun and make you quite popular. The elimination of AoE limitations and the option to easily transfer covenants/conduits are both welcome additions to the game, and will benefit Guardian Druids who often complete Mythic+ or switch specs.

In comparison to the previous tier, this tier placed a greater emphasis on raid cooldowns rather than raid buffs and debuffs, but as gear improves, this becomes less of an issue as you can blast through content much faster, which is great for Guardian Druid and effectively eliminates one of our key weaknesses, the lack of raid cooldowns for progression.

Overall, Guardian is a defensive powerhouse with a fun and versatile playstyle, making it a fantastic pick for anybody entering Mythic Sanctum of Domination, since it can tank all of the monsters with ease.

Protection Warrior

In Sanctum of Domination, the A Protection Warriors are still in fine health. The class is currently suffering from the consequences of the Anger Management nerfs in Patch 9.0, which has placed them at a serious disadvantage while tanking high-uptime monsters, although Heavy Repercussions has gained in popularity to compensate (particularly so in Mythic+, but it is extremely popular for Sylvanas). The uptime of Shield Block has never been greater.

Patch 9.1.5 will enable Covenants and Conduits to be easily swapped, as well as make Legendary acquisition more quicker. All of this is fantastic, and it will allow Protection Warriors to focus on their other skills without having to make huge compromises. Throughout Patch 9.1, Kyrian and Night Fae have both been good, competitive covenants for Protection Warriors, and being able to freely swap Covenants can be beneficial for both players who are still progressing (for example, swapping to Night Fae to gain Soulshape for a movement requirement) and players on farm who are trying to parse. Even while Night Fae has somewhat more DPS than Kyrian during the farm, it is still less popular because to the switching limitations. Night Fae’s popularity among Protection Warriors is likely to grow somewhat as a result of the Patch. Personally, I’ll be flipping back and forth on a frequent basis. Both of them appeal to me. It’s also possible to swap to Necrolord for Conqueror’s Banner, which may greatly boost the DPS of other raid members. This has been extremely specialized thus far in Patch 9.1, and it will most likely stay so, but now that Covenant switching is free, it is much more accessible as a possibility.

Warriors are the best at reducing damage from autoattacks. Unblockable damage is the greatest annoyance for the Protection Warrior. Unblockable spells, such as Painsmith Raznal’s weapons and subsequent DoT (Blackened Armor) or Sylvanas Windrunner’s ticking DoT effects (Banshee’s Bane), are the most hazardous tank mechanics in Sanctum of Domination for Protection Warriors. Furthermore, Spell Reflection provides very little in the way of genuine damage reflection, instead relying on the ability to attenuate or deflect damage at a slower pace than Anti-Magic Shell. These defensive difficulties, though, are minimal in comparison. Protection Warriors are a defensively competitive tank even at their weakest. Unfortunately, their single-target damage output is low, and Sanctum of Domination is a raid with a lot of single-target damage. There aren’t many chances for Protection Warriors to flourish at AoE tanking. In Mythic+ and on raid trash, their damage output is decent, but that’s about it.

Protection Warriors have tremendous group utility in the form of Rallying Cry and Battle Shout, but their usefulness has been slightly discounted due to the popularity of Arms and Fury Warriors during this tier. Rallying Cry is the most adaptable raid cooldown in the game, and having more accessible is always a good thing. However, for parties who want more, stacking more DPS Warriors has shown to be a very simple justification.

Finally, these are the reasons behind the poor popularity of Protection Warriors in Sanctum of Domination. It’s a solid class with a nice toolbox, and Patch 9.1.5 will give Protection Warrior mains and offspeccing DPS Warriors more options — which is fantastic! — but it won’t change the class’ overall strength or community opinion.