Today I’m going to look at tanking cooldowns. This is not supposed to be an argument over who has the best cooldowns or who is overpowered or blah blah blah. This is a learning exercise so that everyone can better understand their tanking teams. Remember that cooldowns are not balanced in a vacuum; Blizzard takes everything into account when they balance tanks, not just your damage reduction cooldowns.
All pictures are from Wowhead.
— Last updated: Patch 4.3 (March 30, 2012) —
Major Cooldowns
These are pretty consistant. It’s always something that reduces all damage taken by around 50%, lasts for around 12 seconds, and has around a 3 minute cooldown.
Druids
Survival Instincts, 50% damage reduction, 12 second duration, 3 minute cooldown.
Warriors
Shield Wall, 40% damage reduction, 12 second duration, 2 minute cooldown if talented. Because of the glyph, the warrior can choose between:
- 40% damage reduction, 12 second duration, 2 minute cooldown, or
- 60% damage reduction, 12 second duration, 4 minute cooldown
Paladins
Protection specific version of Guardian of Ancient Kings, 50% damage reduction, 12 second duration, 3 minute cooldown if talented.
Death Knights
Icebound Fortitude, 50% damage reduction if talented, 12 second duration, 3 minute cooldown.
Flavor Cooldowns
These cooldowns tend to vary significantly between classes. Some classes have more than one; some are relatively weak, some are relatively strong. I’ve included anything that qualifies as “something that might save a tank’s life”.
Druids
Frenzied Regeneration, 30% increased maximum health + 30% increased healing if glyphed, 20 second duration, 3 minute cooldown.
Warriors
Last Stand, 30% increased maximum health.
Enraged Regeneration, regenerate 30% health over 10 seconds.
Paladins
Divine Shield + Taunt, 100% damage reduction, 3 second duration (from the taunt duration), 5 minute cooldown. Also reduces damage that the paladin does by 50% and leaves the Forbearance debuff on the paladin (so they can’t be the target of another Forbearance-causing ability for 1min).
- This cooldown requires precise timing if you want to use it while tanking. You have to pop Divine Shield and Taunt immediately after, then cancel your Divine Shield buff before the taunt wears off.
Ardent Defender, 20% damage reduction, 10 seconds, 3 minute cooldown. If the paladin takes a killing blow while it’s up, it will instead heal them to 15% health.
Lay on Hands, heals the paladin for a total equal to his maximum health and leaves Forbearance on the paladin.
Word of Glory, heals the paladin for a medium amount, 20 second cooldown. Scales with Vengeance, and usually heals the paladin for around 30k.
Holy Shield, Increases the amount a shield blocks by 20%, for a total of 50% physical damage reduction, 10 second duration, 30 second cooldown.
Death Knights
Anti-Magic Shell, 75% magical damage reduction (up to 50% of the death knight’s health), 5 second duration, 45 second cooldown.
Vampiric Blood, 15% increased maximum health + 25% increased healing, 10 second duration, 1 minute cooldown.
- Can be glyphed to grant 40% increased healing but no increased maximum health.
Rune Tap, heals the death knight for 10% health, 30 second cooldown.
Will of the Necropolis, (passive) 25% damage reduction if the death knight drops below 30% health, 45 second internal cooldown.
Dancing Rune Weapon, 20% parry chance, 12 second duration, 1.5 minute cooldown.
Lichborne + Death Coil, Gives the Death Knight the ability to heal himself with Death Coils, 10 second duration, 4 min cooldown.
Minor Cooldowns
Back to consistency. Minor cooldowns are approximately 20% damage reduction, 10 second duration, less than or equal to 1 minute cooldown.
Druids
Barkskin, 20% damage reduction, 12 second duration, 1 minute cooldown.
Warriors
Shield Block, increases chance to block by 25% for 10 seconds and reduces magic damage by 20% for 6 seconds, 30 second cooldown if talented.
Paladins
Divine Protection, 20% damage reduction, 10 second duration, 1 minute cooldown. Can be glyphed to grant 40% magical damage reduction, but no physical damage reduction.
Death Knights
Bone Shield, 20% damage reduction, lasts as long as 1 of the 4 charges remains, 1 minute cooldown.
As always, please let me know if I missed something. I only actively play a druid and a warrior tank, so death knights and paladin tanks are less intuitive to me.