[Saltycracker]

Source: Bluepepper I think that the ranking chart is a great idea, but the ranks have to be backed up by some empirical evidence. Also, just a suggestion, what about adding mobility (i.e., ease of engagement, Deathgrip, charge, intercept, etc.)? I agree with Kininye on the fact that although the ranking system is great in helping tanks identify some strengths and weaknesses the single biggest factor in determining a tank's actual ranking versus theoretical ranking is their skill level. Skill Level can't negate the weaknesses, but can help offset them. I'd really like to see this developed further, it's a start and it looks promising.

Mobility sounds like a very good category. I think I will add it.

Thanks for all the feedback. I am not trying to say tank A > tank B, but I think it is good for everyone to know that all classes have strengths and weaknesses. I will add more dialogue to all the catagories as I have more time to spend. This is a first pass, and I know I skimmed in terms of what my assumptions are and the level of detail provided.

[Dubzil]

it'll be interesting seeing where this goes, without making it a A>B tank thread, all you can really do is throw up each classes talent tree and ability lists, and put little descriptions next to them

[Blueduck3285]

What exactly is your intention with making this comparison? Is it what others have stated, a way to easlier identify at a glance strengths of a class, for new tanks?

To be perfectly honist, because of the difference in mechanics between some of the classes, their scaling, and overall use of resourse, shouldnt be compared to one another. Everyone keeps saying "all things being =, why does x have a but y has b?". I play a DK, I have tanked as a warrior. I like the style and mechanics used by the DK better, but wouldnt say that a DK is better, or worse. They both do a job, just differently. I dont mind seeing a listing of strengths and weaknesses as stated by others, where is this information coming from? Whats its purpose? How did you come to your conclusion?

Just some thoughts.

[Bluepepper]

Changes
I've made some alterations to you're table. I've left the rankings out until there's some facts and numbers provided. I've added another factor in ranking (Mobility/Ease of engagement).

The colors in the table are to represent what a player has control over (green) and what a player doesn't have control over (red).

Questions
Are there any other factors that should be placed in the table?

Any recommended changes?

Can someone provide some Theory along with actual numbers in order for us to fill out this table?

[Saltycracker]

Source: Blueduck3285 What exactly is your intention with making this comparison? Is it what others have stated, a way to easlier identify at a glance strengths of a class, for new tanks? To be perfectly honist, because of the difference in mechanics between some of the classes, their scaling, and overall use of resourse, shouldnt be compared to one another. Everyone keeps saying "all things being =, why does x have a but y has b?". I play a DK, I have tanked as a warrior. I like the style and mechanics used by the DK better, but wouldnt say that a DK is better, or worse. They both do a job, just differently. I dont mind seeing a listing of strengths and weaknesses as stated by others, where is this information coming from? Whats its purpose? How did you come to your conclusion? Just some thoughts.

I agree, every tank has the basic tools to tank anything in the game, however I think some tanks shine more than other depending on the encounter.

I would rather have a warrior tanking Mimiron, as they have cooldowns to deal with the Plasma Bursts and can charge back in faster after a Shock Blast in order to keep the target stationary. I would rather have a Paladin tanking Vezax due to steady damage output, higher threat, healing bonus to stretch the healer's mana futher, as well as 15% runspeed for kiting him around.

True not every guild has four equally geared and skilled tanks around for raids, but they sometimes have these options when they want to make some encounters less painful.

[no.fear3224]

So I made an account just to reply to this topic. I have tanked as both a Death Knight and a Druid so I do have a bit of experience to back me up. I would just like to ask why the Druid isn't considered a mobility tank as the warrior is? I swear it's just as easy for me to run to a few mob and Swipe him as it is for a Warrior to run to the same mob and Thunder Clap away. I could even Swipe spam any other mobs that are trailing behind me (like the Chow in Naxx).

Bring the player, not the Class

[Blueduck3285]

Theres the problem, "Bring the player, not the Class" is what is ultimetaly being argued. One class may have an "easier" time with something because of their mechanics but that doesnt mean it cant be tanked by another class. Arguing whats easier and what simply just cant be done are two very different things.

Many people base their reasoning on "easier" rather than "doable". Warriors CAN tank 3D but DK's may have an "easier" time. Its all well and good to talk about some differences with cooldowns and such, but in the end its all subjective. DK's are more point of fact than anything. With 3 different specs comes 3 different flavors, not just in playstyle but cooldowns and mechanics as well. To just simply blanket all DK's under the same catagory is like comparing an apple to an orange. As Blood, I have different cooldowns that act in different ways compared to Frost and Unholy. The catagories themselfs are subjective, DK's unlike Pallies can place their DnD just about anywhere, for Grob, as I walk backwards, I have my camera zoomed out so that I can place a DnD behind me for him to walk through. That is mobility is it not? Pallies have a harder time with that encounter but it is doable, especially with the creep methed where little to no boss moving occurs.

Again I am just asking where this is all heading...

[Jock]

Source: Bluepepper Questions Are there any other factors that should be placed in the table? Any recommended changes? Can someone provide some Theory along with actual numbers in order for us to fill out this table?

1) total hp is a stat that only matters for magic fights. EH is a better stat to compare

2) ranking on a 1-4 (best to worst) doesn't work. Example: Dks/druids have 50+k raid buffed hp when warriors have 40-44k at the same gear level. The difference between a dk and druid may be 1-2k hp whereas the difference between either and a warrior is closer than 6-10k. Ranking on a scale of 10 or 100 or something would be much more effective.

3) strike out all opinions. Find some math/wws reports people have done. There are tons out there.

4) ranking hp (even if you made it EH) and armor or cooldowns as equal categories doesn't work either. I was actually thinking about this earlier this morning, but 9 times outta 10 I'd take high the best cooldowns (look at the warlock pets pre 3.1 that had 100k hp).

5) Taking all 4 classes and going side by side by side by side is going to be very complicated math. Taking pairs of classes and going side by side is going to be much easier and if you develop a good system for that, you should be able to apply it to each of the pairs (6 pairs) of tanks to find out what works and what doesn't.

6) I'd use the following stats if I were going to do a comparison:

Effective health, avoidance, mitigation (armor + sbv/sbr), cooldowns (anything longer than 10 seconds include standard uptime-not all classes use their cds every time it's up like dks), threat, damage, aoe threat, scalability (see below).

To get a really good comparison, you would also have to use all three specs for dks. In addition, 2-3 sets of ilvl gear to account for scalability.

[Jock]

Source: Blueduck3285 Many people base their reasoning on "easier" rather than "doable". Warriors CAN tank 3D but DK's may have an "easier" time.

Figures you're a dk. To answer your question of where this is going.... dks can tank every fight and require less gear to do a better job at it than warriors do. The "separate but equal" philosophy that Blizzard has put out isn't working as intended no matter how much they back it. Warriors and to a smaller extent paladins and druids require more gear/skill to do what dk tanks can do. There is no way in the world that you can argue this mathematically with me as there are hundreds of posts out there proving me right. It's a problem the whole community sees and some people (the OP of this thread) are trying to prove (not that he does a good job of it).

[Blueduck3285]

If you read the rest of my post, I didnt defend Blizz's "Separate but equal" but your to say DK's can do it with lesser gear isnt quite true. By lesser do you mean blues? The blues most NEW tanks pick up? The same set Warriors and Pallies can run with? If I walked into Naxx with that gear I would get crushed. And just for the recored, I have tanked as both DK AND Warrior. So dont bring up the whole "DK's are ignorent of other tanks blight because DK's are OP". Im getting tired of this and am trying to help out my Warrior, Pally, and Druid counter parts with Issues that they have come accross. Its not like Im sittin here saying "OMG why cant you do it... I can /sign DK". Im just simply trying to understand how comparing something as different as Night and Day helps in our quest to better persue a enlightend community of FELLOW tanks. As stated above, some people have pointed out the differences in DK's specs, even Warriors have vering specs for survivability, treat, and so on. Blank bundling of just Overall class mechanics doesnt show whats actually going on. Cider plays a warrior. I dont see him having great dificulties. You can say that some of these "short comings" can be lessend or even sidesteped by skill and knowhow. I dont discount the fact that there are some issues that need to be address, with my class included. I think there are some things that DK's have that we could use a "decrease" to bring us more inline with the other tanking classes.

I just get miffed when people try and compare apples to oranges. We all do the same thing, just in different ways, and "Ranking" best to worst only fulls "DK's are OP" or "Pallies are weaksause".

Source: Jock Figures you're a dk.

And statements like that just really piss me off. You dont know my past history of class playing. I have been playing since beta. Ranged dps, Warrior tank and DK are all part of my toon resume. Next time, leave that at the door if you dont mind.

[Saltycracker]

Source: Jock Stuff

Effective health is a good measure of a tanks ability to take hits yes, but as far as I can tell, every tank has about the same effective health if they are all geared with similar iLvl stuff. A warrior and a druid can have about the same effective health, but a warrior will have a much harder time tanking Sarth breaths because he lacks the HP and the cooldowns to do so consistently. The classes are designed with an HP parity to compensate for other shortcomings (Druids with no parry/block, DKs with no block/lower armor)

Ranking on a 1-4 scale takes out a lot of the nuances of a 1-100 scale. There is much less point inflation, and it forces a clear 1, 2, 3, 4 candidate. These rankings might be subjective to your point of view, but I don't see any weighting system existing that doesn't have some form of personal opinion built into it. Even mathematical models are based on assumptions of the modeler.

Right now I am defining the scope of this question. I want to find evidence, WWS, math proofs as needed but right now I need to refine my question. I appologize if any of this looks like opinion or just plain wrong. If it is, let me know and I will try to find evidence behind my claims.

Please, take the Bliz likes my class best bickering into another thread. I am trying to have a real discussion among tanks to probe where our strengths and weaknesses lie. We all put a lot of time into our characters and we want to be able to be the best for every encounter. Even the best tanks know their limitations.

[Pluekiller]

Source: no.fear3224 I would just like to ask why the Druid isn't considered a mobility tank as the warrior is? I swear it's just as easy for me to run to a few mob and Swipe him as it is for a Warrior to run to the same mob and Thunder Clap away. I could even Swipe spam any other mobs that are trailing behind me (like the Chow in Naxx).

Warbringer. Warriors can Charge, Intervene and Intercept in defensive stance.

[Stengel]

I would compare the tanks using their most common tanking spec, wearing BiS Ulduar gear with full enchants/gems/raid buffs.

Instead of a scale it would be best to simply write the resulting number.

Areas that should be looked at are

- Effective hp against physical attacks, not including block
- Effective hp against magical attacks
- total avoidance
- Blocking against a fast (1 sec) and a slow (2.5 sec) attacker.

Threat and dps statistics should ideally be derived from sample wws since those can be quite different in reality than on paper.

A "cooldowns at a glance" list should be included, as well as a "raid buffs&debuffs at a glance".

Mobility also deserves some mention since I find it to be quite important as warrior in some situations.

I think this leaves multi mob tanking which could be quantified for each ability, say "Consecration: x threat and y damage per second on unlimited amount of targets within z yards."

Yes this is a lot of work for a single person... perhaps split the workload and ask volunteers to take up one part of it?

[MouseDK]

Needs more evidence.

[Hythloday]

Correctly specced, paladins have 3 cooldowns, Divine Protection, HoSalv, and Imp LoH. The last one will tend to mitigate 25-30% physical damage for 15 seconds.

[Esch]

Source: Jock Figures you're a dk. To answer your question of where this is going.... dks can tank every fight and require less gear to do a better job at it than warriors do. The "separate but equal" philosophy that Blizzard has put out isn't working as intended no matter how much they back it.

Before I look at your armory, I suggest you look into fights. I can name a few off that top of my head where warriors are superiour to any other tanking class. Playing to the strengths of specific tanks is far better than assuming a DK is the defacto tank to toss at a boss. The catch is, sometimes X class is better on adds, trash or something other than the boss, but may be 'perfect' for the next boss you encounter. I'm currently fighting the defacto belief everyone other than a warrior is on OT, even though some fights would be considerably easier with that warrior elsewhere. Trade ups have proven that, though it's overlooked after the fact.


@OP - I skimmed the thread, but I did not you mention DKs bring no utility. I would have you look at Abominations Might, Improve Icy Talons and Ebon Plaguebringer. I specifically included AM when we lack enhancement shaman, and regularly employ EP as very effective debuff.

[sicness]

Source: Esch Before I look at your armory, I suggest you look into fights. I can name a few off that top of my head where warriors are superiour to any other tanking class. Playing to the strengths of specific tanks is far better than assuming a DK is the defacto tank to toss at a boss. The catch is, sometimes X class is better on adds, trash or something other than the boss, but may be 'perfect' for the next boss you encounter. I'm currently fighting the defacto belief everyone other than a warrior is on OT, even though some fights would be considerably easier with that warrior elsewhere. Trade ups have proven that, though it's overlooked after the fact. @OP - I skimmed the thread, but I did not you mention DKs bring no utility. I would have you look at Abominations Might, Improve Icy Talons and Ebon Plaguebringer. I specifically included AM when we lack enhancement shaman, and regularly employ EP as very effective debuff.

Go ahead and name those fights where a warrior is so much better. Off the top of my head the only two I can think of are Auriaya due to breaking fear and off tanking Brundir because of interrupts and stuns. All other fights all other tanks are generally equal when it comes to main tanking. And even if you look at them it's not such a significant advantage that other tanks are so outdone by warriors that you'll take a warrior over any other tank. Just as the poster you quoted took things out of proportion saying that warriors are inferior you did as well saying that warriors have such advantages. Blizz has actually done a great job when it comes to the MT role making it so you can decide on the person playing rather than their class.

[Satorri]

I appreciate the sentiment but not the method.

I think it is worthwhile to discuss and educate the community about the capabilities and skill sets of each tank class/spec. That said your method is cursory, subjective, and very much reductionist.

So, rather than starting with what you think each tank is good at while admitting you don't know more than half the options well at all, why don't we compile how each class works and what tools they have?

There are 6 tank class/specs, mind you, suitable for heavy end-game tanking:
Prot Warrior
Prot Paladin
Bear-oriented Feral Druid
Blood Death Knight
Frost Death Knight
Unholy Death Knight

I make a point to separate the DK specs because each one operates very differently, has it's own strengths and weakness, and even it's own tanking tools and CDs.

==================================================
If you want to compare important tanking factors there are many items and some of the class specs work in particularly unique ways. Here's a very brief summary in terms of survival:

Warriors = Plate armor and shields, can dodge/parry/block. Warriors get 10% dmg reduction just from being in defensive stance. They can get 10% more armor from gear, 5% dodge, 5% parry, and 5% block directly from talents, along with +30% block value. They have a 30% chance to crit-block for double their normal block value. They get +6% to Strength, +6% to Stamina, and 6 expertise from talents. Against magic they get 6% spell dmg reduction and can get improved Spell Deflection (normal version can reflect a single spell cast on 10 sec CD, improved it can reflect from the four closest party members and reduces your chance to be hit with spells by 4%). Warriors get a few different CDs.
Shield Block = 100% block chance for 10 sec, with double the base block value, on a 1 min CD, talentable down to 40 sec CD.
Shield Wall = 60% less damage taken for 12 sec on 5 min CD. Talents can reduce this to 4 min CD (glyph commonly used can reduce the CD by 2 min more but reduces it to 40% dmg reduction).
Last Stand = talented this increases the warrior's health by 30% for 20 sec on a 3 min CD. Glyphed it is only a 2 min CD.

Additional special skills, warriors can intervene a target which will reduce their threat by 10% and take the next melee/ranged attack instead of the target on a 30 sec CD. Warrior's method of applying the de-hasting melee debuff to targets is improved Tclap which hits unlimited targets in a 10 yrd range (*fact check please*). Warriors can provide AP reducing shout (as can Lock's curse, Hunter pet special, and Bears) and health increasing shout (as can Lock demon and dps warriors).

Paladins = Plate armor and shields, can dodge/block/parry. Paladins rely on Righteous Fury for threat buffing, which talented reduces all damage taken by 6%. They get 3% additional reduction in all damage taken by another talent, and when their health is below 35% health they take 30% less damage from everything on top of those. They get 6% less spell damage taken from a separate talent, this represents the only specific anti-magic ability. They get +15% strength, +14% stamina, and 6 expertise from talents. They also receive the standard 5% dodge and parry, +30% block value, and +10% armor from gear. From talents they have a 10% chance on being hit to increase their chance to block by 30% for 10 sec or 5 blocks, and can increase all healing effects on themselves by 5%. For CDs:
Holy Shield = +30% chance to block for 10 sec or 8 blocks on 8 sec CD.
Divine Protection = 50% all damage reduction for 12 sec, 3 min CD. With prot talents it is reduced to a 2 min CD.
Lay on Hands = gives a target (tank possibly) an amount of health equal to the pallies' max health (for the tank restores them to full health, can crit >.>) and a chunk of mana. 20 min CD can be talented down to 16 min which also makes it buff the targets armor by 25% for 15 sec, and can be glyphed to trim 5 more minutes off the CD to a minimum of 11 min CD fully buffed.

Pallies can Hand of Protection to make a target immune to physical damage for 10 seconds on a 5 min CD. They can Hand of Salvation to reduce friendlies' threat on a 2 min CD. They can also hand of Sacrifice to take 30% of the damage for the target until it's transferred the tank's full health. A prot tank's aura's increase healing effects on everyone affected by 6%, though this is exclusive with Resto druid's tree aura. Pallies can increase party/raid members' fire, frost, or shadow resists by 130, or armor by 1200 (1800 with prot talents), though these can be offered by any pally in the raid. Prot pallies can provide Blessing of Sanctuary which reduces all damage taken by 3%, though that buff can be provided to other tanks in the same raid with a prot pally and it does not stack with a warrior's vigilance or a Disc Priest's Renewed Hope. Judgement and Seal of Light can restore health to the tank, though this too can be provided by other pallies in the raid. Pally's melee de-hasting ability is applied with their judgment so it is functionally single target only.

Druid = Druids wear leather gear and get a big armor buff from being a bear (370%, talented it is 492% or 403% *fact check please*). Druids cannot parry or block, only dodge. In addition to the armor buff, bear form increases the druid's stamina by 25%. Talents give the bear +10% armor from gear, +10 Expertise, +10% dodge, +16% stamina, +6% Strength, +6% Agility, and 6% reduced chance to be crit. Bears get an ability called Savage Defense which is essentially a shield block type ability. When they crit they get a damage shield equal to 25% of their AP (functionally block chance = crit chance and block value = 25% of AP). This works out a bit different than block since it does not feature in the hit table, instead it is simply saved for the next hit (block is only possible if the strike isn't a miss/dodge/parry, but if you DO dodge, it doesn't store up that block that could've been for the next swing), bears do not have talents to buff this ability like warriors and pallies can buff their shield block ability. Bear CDs are as follows:
Barkskin = Bear's answer to the other class's protection abilities, this reduces all dmg taken by 20% for 12 sec, on a 1 min CD.
Frenzied Rejeneration = the bear converts up to 10 rage per second into health at a rate of 0.3% total health per point. Lasts 10 sec on a 3 min CD. Glyphed this also increases all healing effects on the druid by 20%. Note, this ability consumes rage so it is at the expense of dmg threat.
Survival Instincts = +30% health for 20 seconds on a 3 min CD. Glyphed this becomes +45% health.

Bears have Leader of the Pack that will allow them to regen 4% of their max health every time they crit, but this is graned raid wide by any feral druid in the party/raid. Bears provide the AP reducing ability that warriors do. The bear de-hasting debuff is applied by maul and mangle, so it is on restricted numbers of targets. Since you can only hit 1-3 targets at a time and requires two hits to stack it and one to maintain after that, it is not easy to maintain it on pulls with many targets.

Death Knights (general) = DKs wear plate armor with no shield. They can dodge and parry, but not block. All DKs normally will take +15% armor from gear, +5% dodge, and 5% all dmg reduction that will be functionally up 95-100% of the time (requires both Blood runes on CD once every 10 sec). Specific additional details depend on tree. Frost Presence increases the DK's armor by 80% and health by 10%. DK's get 25% of their Strength as parry rating which buffs their parry chance by a noticeable amount (~4-7% depending on gear at 80). All DKs share 2 main survival CDs:
Icebound Fortitude = 20% dmg reduction buffed by defense (~35% at 540 def) for 12 sec on a 1 min CD.
Anti-magic Shell = reduces all magic damage by 75% for 5 sec or until it absorbs 50% of the DK's total health.

Death Knights' melee de-hasting ability is applied with Frost Fever which is easily maintained on all targets in range and lasts 15-21 sec per application depending on talents.

Blood = from the blood tree you can get +8% Strength, +6% Stamina, and +6 expertise. Also one talent will give the DK a chance equal to his parry chance to take 45% less damage from direct damage spells (as opposed to periodic spell dmg). Another reduces the damage of any hit that takes the tank below 35% health by 15% on a 15 sec hidden CD (only procs on hits larger than 5% of total health). Otherwise Blood relies heavily on self-healing to offset damage. 3 CDs, 0-2 passive effects, and one common ability are used for this. The CDs are:
Vampiric Blood = increases the DK's total health by 15% and increases all healing effects on him by 35% for 20 sec (30 sec with glyph). 2 min CD.
Mark of Blood = for 20 seconds or 20 hits, the enemy target affected heals who they damage for 4% of their total health. This heal triggers immediately after the damage like Earth Shield and Prayer of Mending so it won't overheal unless the hit is smaller than 4% and can be used to support other tanks and raid healing.
Rune Tap = restores 10% of the tanks total health on a 1 min CD. Talented this becomes 13/16/20% of total health on a 50/40/30 sec CD (glyphed 22% on the tank and 10% to everyone else in the party).
DK's have Death Strike which restores 5% of their health per disease on the target which will heal for 50% more (next patch) for a Blood DK. Two less common talents allow the DK to regenerate 4% of his damage done as health while tanking, and another can proc Blood Worms to heal the tank for small amounts as they do damage.

Frost = from the Frost tree you can get +3% miss, +2% all dmg reduction, and 5 expertise. A special talent allows you a 30% chance when taking magic damage to get 50 resistance to that school of magic for 18 seconds, and that can stack up to 3 times and multiple types can be applied at the same time on individual timers (i.e. fire, frost, nature, arcane, etc). Frost buffs the duration of Icebound Fortitude up to 18 seconds, and has one CD only that it adds to the mix:
Unbreakable Armor = all damage taken is reduced by a value equal to 5% of the DK's armor (~1k-1.6k depending on gear, glyph increases that value by 20%) for 20 sec on a 2 min CD.
Frost DK's have access to Death Strike though it receives no buffing from Frost and is not the preferred threat tool for the cost.

Unholy = from the Unholy tree, you can get 6% magic damage reduction, buffs AMS to reduce magic damage by 100%, and adds 2 CDs to improve survival:
Anti-Magic Zone = this zone absorbs 75% of magic damage taken by all inside for 10 seconds up to a maximum buffed by AP (14-20k total dmg but will reduce the full 75% on every target from a single burst even if it surpasses the total allowance).
Bone Shield = this applies 4 charges (6 glyphed). So long as at least one charge remains the DK takes 20% less damage from everything. Each time the DK takes damage a charge is consumed, though charges have a hidden CD (~2 sec). Shield lasts 5 min otherwise and has a 2 min CD.
==================================================

Let's look at some passive buffed highlights:
Warriors = +6% Str, +6 Expertise, +6% Stam, +10% armor from gear, +5% dodge, +5% parry, +5% block, +30% block value. 10% all dmg reduction, 6% spell dmge reduction. 30% chance for double value block.

Pallies = +15% Str, +6 Expertise, +14% Stam, +10% armor from gear, +5% dodge, +5% parry, +30% block value. 9% all dmg reduction, 6% spell dmg reduction, 10% chance per hit to get +30% block chance for 10 sec. +5% heals on self.

Bears = -6% chance to be crit, +6% Str, +6% Agi, +10 Expertise, +25/16% Stam (*fact check* additive or multiplicative, 41% or 45% respectively), +10% armor from gear, +402% (492%?) armor from gear, +10% dodge. Crits create a damage shield equal to 25% of the bear's AP to act as a physical damage shield.

Blood DKs = +6% Str, +6 Exp, +6% Stam, +10% health, +15% armor from gear, +80% armor from gear, +5% dodge, 25% of Str as Parry rating. 5% all damage reduction with an additional maintained 5% all damage reduction. Chance equal to parry chance to reduce direct spell damage by 45%. Hits that take you below 35% are reduced by 15% on a 15 sec CD. Self-heals can be substantial and 'passive'.

Frost DKs = +5 Exp, +10% health, +15% armor from gear, +80% armor from gear, +3% miss, +5% dodge. 7% all damage reduction, with an addition 5% damage reduction maintained. 30% chance on spell dmg taken to stack 50 resistance to that school for 18 sec, can stack up to 3 times.

Unholy DKs = +5 Exp, +10% health, +15% armor from gear, +80% armor from gear, +5% dodge. 5% all damage reduction, with an addition 5% damage reduction maintained, 6% magic reduction.


Beyond the passives, all the class/specs get a big dmg reducer:
Warriors = 60% dmg reduced for 12 sec, 5 min CD (talented -1 min to CD, glyphed becomes 40% dmg reduction and -2 min to CD)
Pallies = 50% dmg reduced for 12 sec, 2 min CD.
Blood/Unholy DK = 35% (+/- with def) dmg reduced for 12 sec, 1 min CD.
Frost DK = 35% (+/- with def) dmg reduced for 18 sec, 1 min CD.
Bear = 20% dmg reduced for 12 sec, 1 min CD (glyph affects pvp only reducing chance to be crit further while it's up)

Warriors and Pallies get very short CD abilities that buff their survival well:
Warriors get guaranteed big blocks for 10 sec every 40, 25% uptime used on CD.
Pallies get much 30% higher block chance and blocks do reflective damage, 100% uptime on a single target, more targets reduce the uptime.

Bears, Warriors, and Blood DKs get a big activatable health buff. Bears' is +30(45)% for 20 sec every 3 min. Warriors' is 30% for 20 sec every 3(2) min. Blood DKs' is +15% health for 20(30) sec every 2 min and comes with a +35% all healing buff.

================================================== =
Now, using 8.5 tanking gear sets (only gear not trinkets, rings, necks, or weapons) to get an idea about how passive multipliers break down for mitigation and health:

Bears
Armor = 2400 * 1.10 * 4.92 = 12989 (+482 agi = 964 armor)
Stam = 530 * 1.16 * 1.25 = 769 = 7505 health
*7 non-meta sockets (3/2/2 RYB)

Warriors
Armor = 9538 *1.10 = 10492
Stam = 671 * 1.06 = 711 = 6934 health
*7 non-meta sockets (0/3/4)

Paladins
Armor = 9538 *1.10 = 10492
Stam = 671 * 1.14 = 765 = 7469 health
*7 non-meta sockets (4/2/1)

Death Knights
Armor = 9538 * 1.15 * 1.80 = 19744 (note: DKs cannot get shields)
Blood Stam = 697 * 1.06 = 739 = 7208 health *1.10 = 7929 health
Frost/Unholy Stam = 697 = 6790 health *1.10 = 7469 health
*7 non-meta sockets (2/1/4)

Armor Discussion
Shields at this level are just shy of 8k armor, so bears actually end up lowest for armor from gear even though they will have much more agility and therefore armor than the plate wearers will, and will likely be able to get more armor buffing on itemization since they don't need defense and they get a lot of value from Agi which will be distinctly better buffed for them in raids. DK's bonuses put them slightly ahead of the others in total armor value thanks to the multipliers, though they do not have a block-type mitigation effect like the other 3 tank classes.

Health Discussion
Warriors get the least straight health from stamina, but they also rely on it the least in their survival mechanics. Pallies, Bears, and Frost/Unholy DKs have about the same from core pieces, but again, Bears will likely pick up more from additional pieces since their multipliers are significantly larger than the other classes. Pallies gravitate towards stamina because it works well with Ardent Defender and Touched by the Light (30% of Stam = Spellpower for a big threat buff), so they will likely pick up stamina items the same way, but they won't get quite as much mileage as bears will. Blood DKs get the most from core gear by a small margin, and will get ever so slightly higher value for stam stacking than Pallies, though Bears multipliers will still out-pace them by a decent margin. Blood DKs of all the class/specs arguably get the most out of stam stacking since they have 4 self-healing abilities they rely on to functionally mitigate damage that scale on total health, and Blood DK's are unique in the tanking kingdom for that reliance on self-heals. I haven't mentioned it previously, but DKs can also use Rune of Stoneskin Gargoyle which will increase their stam by another 2%.
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Avoidance is hard to put a finger on as it diminishes and there are a variety of different non-set pieces that vary in value greatly for what they buff. Let me see what I can pull from core gear values, as we can say that anyone could get the other non-set pieces regardless of class/spec (though again, different classes value stats differently). I'll include Block % on this list, though they aren't avoidance they're easier to track here. Also, still speaking passively not factoring CDs.

Bears
Def Rating = 0
Dodge Rating = 0
Agi = 455 (note: druid weapons will likely also have high Agi values)
*+10% dodge
*damage shield is based on crit and AP for frequency and intensity respectively

Warriors
Def Rating = 257
Dodge Rating = 217
Parry Rating = 60
Block Rating = 51 = 3.11%
Block Value = 166 + (443 Str / 2) = 388
*+5% dodge, +5% parry, +5% block
*30% chance block value will double on block

Paladins
Def Rating = 268
Dodge Rating = 153
Parry Rating = 147
Block Rating = 80 = 4.88%
Block Value = 136 + (491 Str / 2) = 382
*+5% dodge, +5% parry
*10% chance on hit to +30% block

Death Knights
Def Rating = 294
Dodge Rating = 165
Parry Rating = 227 + (390 Str * 0.25) = 325
*all DKs = +5% dodge
*Frost +3% miss
*all DKs have access to personal runes that add avoidance/Def skill but don't effect the diminishing returns, this is +4% parry or +25 def skill (=1% miss, 1% dodge, 1% parry) with +2% stam.

Obviously the formulae are all rather messy and depend on what non-set pieces you are using so you know how diminishing returns break down. At a glimpse though we can tell that Warriors have about 30% more dodge on their core pieces, DK's will have 5 times the warrior's and over double the pally's parry rating, and the DK will have the most dodge/parry buffing from Def. DK's get the least % from talents but will get a nice buff from their rune (almost making up for that). Bears will rely very heavily on their Agility, though they match the Warriors and Pallies for raw avoidance from talents. In the wash, and based on conversations with tanks of other classes, I'd expect the avoidance values to go roughly in this order for similar gearing and gem/chant focus:
DK > Bear > Warrior/Paladin
Though I also expect the spread from highest to lowest to only be on the order of 4-8% at most.
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The last comparison I'll touch on today is cooldowns. Each class/spec has their own unique tools to use through adversity. Again we'll disregard trinkets since these could/should be universally attainable and different classes will like different trinkets for their own reasons.

Obviously, Bears have the least survival CDs, most of their CDs are threat focused. Barkskin is the smallest of the protection abilities, but it is on a fast timer like DKs. Survival Instincts gives them a significant health jump, and bears are already primed to have the largest health pools by a margin. Bears get the ability to regenerate a reasonably large amount of their health on a moderately long CD. Frenzied Regen is worth 3% max health, per second, for a total of 30% max health over 10 seconds in the best case. Glyphed this value alone increases to 36% plus it buffs other incoming heals. The 3 min CD leaves this as more of a once or twice per big epic boss fight. Bears are for all intents and purposes, designed to have a higher survival baseline before CDs.

Paladins also sport a pretty small number of CDs but they are very potent. Their protection skill, Divine Protection, is solid at 40% and a 2 min CD, and glyphed they can take a voluntary hit to their own threat to get another 20% damage reduction for 10 sec on a 2 min CD though this has it's own risks of course. Holy Shield as an always up ability is very powerful against one or two targets as it is functionally up 100%. Against very large pulls it won't last quite as long though it is not an extreme reduction. Like Shield Block for Warriors this value increases noticeably against faster swings with smaller individual hits. Lay on Hands is about as collosal a save as you can get, but it is the only remaining 'tank' ability on such a long CD. It's amazing the moment you need it, but it can't be used casually.

Warriors have versatile CDs that can suit a variety of needs. The Warrior protection CD, Shield Wall, is the biggest among the tanks, even though glyphed it matches Pallies, unglyphed it is a HUGE value but only usable half as often. Shield Block has a reasonably high coverage at 25% for ensuring that anything not avoided is blocked, making warriors pretty regularly capable of taking less physical damage particularly through fast swinging bosses or lots of small hits. Spell Reflection is a powerful ability in certain situations even if the target is immune to the effect being reflected.

DK's originally were the CD tanking class. Smart rotation of CDs for coverage was essential as they would otherwise take noticeably more damage than any other tank. Things have changed and times have shifted. DK's still have very useful CDs but they are far less essential. IBF rings in as the most pivotal core ability. Compared to the equivolant talents for Pallies and Warriors it is very powerful thanks to its 1 min CD, but you'll find looking over the values that this is to make up for the wealth of other survival tools that the other classes have, which is most notably the ability to block. Each tree has its own system of CDs that it relies on. Frost is by far the least CD dependent, though it sports a longer duration IBF and Unbreakable Armor it will take less damage without cooldowns. Unholy relies entirely on Bone Shield for the bulk of the mitigation work, and while it works well in good gear it requires a fair amount of attentiveness to get the full value. So long as it is up Unholy is remarkably durable, and it is fantastic against large count pulls and multiple damage sources that come simultaneously. Blood, as I mentioned, is unique among the tanks as it uses self-heals to off-set damage taken. Used to their fullest these heals can actually put the Blood tank at a higher effective mitigation level than the other two specs, but that hinges heavily on the degree of the damage being taken, the skill of the tank timing the heals well, and frequent use of the additional heals. Vampiric Blood may be the single most powerful CD available in 25-man raids, as a Blood tank with a significant health pool will be able to be healed through just about anything for 30 sec.
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Threat is a completely different matter, and I'll respond tomorrow with more on that, probably.

I don't think any of the classes stands noticeably above the others, they each have their own strengths and weaknesses that match well or poorly with the different challenges available. No tank is incapable of tanking some particular scenario, and no tank is TOO good at tanking something particular, Blizz has seen to that.

Forgive me my Wall o' Text. I crittededed. >.>

[Honorshammer]

I'd add that Paladins have a Minor Glyph that takes 5 minutes off the Lay On Hands cooldown. So base cooldown is 20 minutes, 15 with the Glyph, and 11 minutes with points in our Holy tree.

[Darksend]

@ satorri

I only read over the bear sections because that is what i know and there are a few inaccuracies

1) savage defense is only physical damage same as block

2) you omitted barkskin 20% damage reduction for 12 seconds 1 min CD

3) savage defense unlike block is not on the same table as avoidance. Thus if you have sd and you either get hit and absorb some of the attack or it misses and you absorb the next attack. unlike block which is either you avoid you block or you get hit.