Updated Defender Tank Builds in DnD 2024

by Brandon Gregory

(This guide is for the DnD 2024 rules. DnD 5e tank builds can be found here.)

In gaming, tanking involves standing between the enemies and your more fragile allies to protect them from death and dismemberment. This is a very popular concept in video games but is more difficult in DnD due to the tank fallacy. There are few mechanics to force an enemy to focus on you, so nothing is stopping an enemy from running right around your Barbarian to attack the Wizard behind you. Despite these limitations, tanking can help your party and provide a fun way to play the game.

Since smart enemies will focus on high-threat targets, making yourself a major threat on the battlefield makes you a more effective tank. Some abilities make it harder for enemies to ignore you, making you a more effective tank. If you want a defensive powerhouse that protects other party members, here are some of the best ways to do that.

Best DnD 2024 Classes and Subclasses for Tank Builds

Barbarian – Path of the Wild Heart

While the Eldritch Knight focuses on avoiding damage, the Wild Heart Barbarian shrugs it off by having resistance to most damage. Combine that with the Barbarian’s high hit points and you have a very durable character. If you want the toughest character who’s nearly impossible to put down in a fight, the Wild Heart Barbarian might be for you.

In DnD 2014, the Totem Warrior was one of the best defensive options for having resistance to all damage except Psychic. While the 2024 version (now Path of the Wild Heart) dials that back a bit, now excluding Force, Necrotic, Psychic, and Radiant damage, it’s still a great defensive option for players. One big improvement is its versatility. Previously, you had to choose a totem on level-up, locking you into a defensive build versus other options. With the 2024 version, you can pick a totem every time you rage, giving you much more versatility in battle to focus on defense, support, or mobility.

One important change is in the level 14 options—specifically, the Lion, which makes it harder for nearby enemies to target anyone but you. Thanks to superior defensive traits and an actual tanking ability, the Wild Heart Barbarian is probably a best-in-class tank.

Strength is the most important stat for Barbarians and should be your priority with stat increases, but Dexterity and Constitution are both important. Barbarians cannot wear heavy armor, so you’ll need 14 Dexterity to get the most out of medium armor. Despite their high hit points, a good Constitution score helps any tank. Wisdom is also important because it’s a common saving throw for enemy spells. With so many important stats, most of your feats will be tied up in improving your stats, so don’t count on having too many other feats.

Best Backgrounds for a Path of the Wild Heart Barbarian

• Farmer - Increasing Strength is vital, and both Constitution and Wisdom are important to Barbarians. The Tough origin feat is redundant with the Barbarian’s already high hit points, but more hit points never hurts. This also makes Constitution less important. Animal Handling and Nature aren’t vital to the build but can be nice flavor for a Barbarian in tune with nature.
• Guard - Another Strength increase, and Wisdom is a good secondary stat to help with saving throws. Alert is a great origin feat for any tank because it allows you get into a defensive position at the beginning of battle. Athletics and Perception are both great skills to have and will come up a lot in gameplay.

Fighter – Eldritch Knight

Eldritch Knights are absolute tanks who use defensive magic to avoid enemy damage. Spells like Shield and Absorb Elements will be your bread and butter and other spells and cantrips can boost your melee damage or give you some potent ranged options.

Eldritch Knights are built for melee damage, so both Strength and Dexterity builds can work. If you want an agile and dextrous warrior, you’ll want to use a rapier and shield and take the Dueling fighting style. For strong warriors, Dueling is a good option for sword and board builds, but taking the Defense fighting Style and a great weapon is also a good choice. Intelligence is an important stat for Eldritch Knights, as that improves the effectiveness of many of your spells. If you don’t want to focus on Intelligence, you can compensate by taking spells that don’t require a saving throw.

Eldritch Knights can replace some of their melee attacks with cantrips (a change from the 2014 version, which required you to use a bonus action), so taking cantrips like Booming Blade, Green-Flame Blade, or Lightning Lure is a vital damage boost and provides some battlefield control options. Taking at least one of those cantrips is mandatory; taking several gives you more options for controlling enemies. Don’t feel bad about picking some utility cantrips, though.

Melee warriors should have ranged attacks as a backup, and having access to magic gives way more options to Eldritch Knights. Cantrips like Firebolt are good, but your Intelligence will likely be lower than a Wizard, so your accuracy might struggle to keep up with your melee abilities. Magic Missile is a fantastic way around that. While the damage might seem low, each missile is guaranteed to hit, so it provides reliable damage that scales with higher-level spell slots.

Besides attack spells, there are some basic spells that are helpful for Fighters. Misty Step, a basic teleportation spell, is great for any character. Expeditious Retreat gives you a burst of speed when you need it. Other spells like Detect Magic and Feather Fall are important for any party, so if you don’t have a caster ally who can take those spells, they’re important. Just be aware that you don’t have a lot of spell slots, so be careful with spell usage.

Best Backgrounds for an Eldritch Knight Fighter

• Criminal - A Dexterity boost is vital for Dexterity builds, and Intelligence is necessary for Eldritch Knights. Alert helps you get into a defensive position at the beginning of battle. Proficiency with Sleight of Hand, Stealth, and Thieves’ Tools make a roguish character which can be helpful if your party doesn’t have a Rogue.
• Guard - For Strength builds, this provides a Strength boost with Intelligence as a secondary skill. Alert is useful for the same reasons. Athletics and Perception are both skills that come up a lot in gameplay, with Athletics being doubly useful with your high Strength.
• Sage - This lacks a Strength or Dexterity increase, but Constitution and Intelligence are both useful. The real draw is the origin feat: Magic Initiate (Wizard). The Eldritch Knight has limited spells and spell slots, so getting more of them can help with the subclass’s style of gameplay.

Paladin – Oath of the Ancients

Like Fighters, Paladins can use shields and all armor, making defensive builds pretty easy with the base class; but, of course, effective tanking requires more than that. The Oath of the Ancients Paladin is the best Paladin subclass for defending your allies. Couple that with the Ancients Paladin’s powerful offensive capabilities and you have a very capable tank.

At level 3, Ancients Paladins can use their Channel Divinity to restrain nearby enemies. This is great if you have allies behind the front line, like Warlocks, Druids, or ranged martials. Locking down enemies away from your allies allows you to defend a much larger area than other tank builds.

The Paladin aura at level 7 can help defend all nearby allies. The 2014 version of this aura was, frankly, overpowered, granting resistance to all magical damage. The 2024 version is still a powerful defensive option for your whole party, giving all nearby allies resistance to Necrotic, Psychic, and Radiant damage. None of these are the most common types of damage, but if you’re dealing with enemy Clerics or undead foes, this feature can be a lifesaver.

Paladins are often built with high Strength, but Dexterity builds work equally well. With most of your damage coming from smites, sword-and-board builds work well. Charisma is important for spells and the saving throw for your level 3 ability, so don’t neglect that.

Ancients Paladins have many useful tanking spells including Compelled Duel, Protection from Evil and Good, and Protection from Energy. They also have useful support spells like Bless, Cure Wounds, and Shield of Faith. The Paladin’s iconic ability is smite, which uses spell slots, so don’t use all your spell slots on non-smite spells.

Best Backgrounds for an Oath of the Ancients Paladin

• Criminal - The Criminal background is great for Dexterity builds with Dexterity and Constitution attributes. The Alert origin feat is useful for any tank, but is amazing for Oath of the Ancients Paladins because of their area of effect buffs and debuffs. Everything else about this background makes for a roguish character that’s useful if your party wants to be sneaky or you lack a Rogue.
• Guard - The Guard background provides a Strength boost, but neither Intelligence nor Wisdom are vital for a Paladin build. The real draw is the Alert origin feat, which is amazing for Oath of the Ancients Paladins. Athletics and Perception are both common skills and proficiency will be useful throughout campaigns.
• Merchant - Constitution and Charisma are both useful stats for Oath of the Ancients Paladins and can fit into either a Dexterity or Strength build. The real draw is the Lucky origin feat, which works well with any character. Animal Handling won’t be very useful, but Persuasion can help you serve as a face.
• Wayfarer - Dexterity and Charisma work well for Dexterity builds, and the Lucky feat is once again useful in almost any situation. Insight can be a useful skill for a face and Stealth is great if your party uses it.

Druid – Circle of the Moon

Druids are nature-based casters who can use wildshape to transform into animals. For most Druids, wildshape provides utility options but not a lot of combat; however, the Moon Druid can turn into more powerful animals, making wildshape a viable combat feature. Even when you’re not wildshaped, you have a full list of Druid spells (including great support and control options), so you’ll always have something useful to do.

The way wildshape works, when you transform you gain the animal’s hit point pool. When you run out of animal hit points, you change back to your original form, but you can transform again for another pool of temporary hit points. This makes Moon Druids incredibly tanky, but also incredibly versatile with all of their spells and the regular Druid wildshape utility.

Compared to other tanks on this list, Moon Druids are not as offensively focused. That’s a fair tradeoff for all the other things the Moon Druid does well. But bear that in mind if you want to do a lot of damage.

As full spellcasters, Druids should focus on maxing out their spellcasting stat: Wisdom. Druids switch to the animal’s stat block when wildshaped, so Strength is not important. Druids can wear non-metal medium armor, but hide armor (medium) is roughly equivalent to studded leather (light) with 14 Dexterity, so feel free to use that. Constitution is doubly important, for keeping you alive but also helping you pass concentration checks—many of the most powerful Druid spell options require concentration, so passing those checks when you’re hit can really help.

Best Backgrounds for a Circle of the Moon Druid

• Farmer - Constitution and Wisdom are both useful for times when you’re not wildshaped. The Tough origin feat helps offset the Druid’s lower hit points, but isn’t vital because you’ll be using your wildshape animal hit point pools in combat. Animal Handling and Nature are both thematic for Druids.
• Guide - Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom are all useful for Circle of the Moon Druids. The Magic Initiate (Druid) is redundant but can give you a few free spells that fit your gameplay. (Cantrips have amazing utility.) Stealth and Survival both work well with this build.
• Wayfarer - Dexterity and Wisdom are both vital for Citcle of the Moon Druids. The Lucky feat is useful for all characters, so that’s an easy pick. Insight and Stealth are both useful and make good use of your stats.

Cleric – Life Domain

If you’ve played a lot of video games, you know that enemy healers should be the first thing you take out. Clerics are excellent healers but are also offensively powerful, making any Cleric on the battlefield a huge threat. With the new 2024 rules, any Cleric can choose proficiency in heavy armor and use a shield to make them as tanky as most martial characters (although they get fewer hit points than martials).

In DnD, healing to keep up with damage is usually inadvisable because it’s easier to kill enemies quickly and use healing for quick saves when someone is close to going down. Life Domain Clerics are the best healers in the game by a pretty wide margin and can make healing much more effective. It’s still better to focus on ending fights quickly, but Life Clerics have meaningful options for keeping their allies alive.

Despite the Life Cleric’s powerful offensive and support capabilities, they don’t have any features to force enemies to focus on them, so they’re not as useful at actually tanking as others on this list. They can hold their own on the front line, but their effectiveness as tanks relies on their threat to the enemy party.

Clerics are full spellcasters, so Wisdom should be a top priority with stats. For armor, you’ll want to aim for either 15 Strength (for heavy armor) or 14 Dexterity (for medium armor). Constitution is also important for passing concentration saving throws, so pump that as high as you can in your build.

Best Backgrounds for a Life Domain Cleric

• Farmer - Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom are all great fits for a Cleric, but the real draw is the Tough origin feat. Clerics have fewer hit points than most of the tank options but don’t have a huge supply of temporary hit points like the Circle of the Moon Druid, so this helps Life Domain Clerics keep up with other tanks. Animal Handling can be useful with your high Wisdom.
• Guard - Strength and Wisdom work well for a Life Domain Cleric. The Alert origin feat helps you get into position earlier in battle, which can be vital with area of effect spells like Spirit Guardians being so central to Cleric gameplay. Athletics and Perception are both common skills that come up a lot in gameplay.
• Guide - Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom are all useful (assuming you’re boosting Dexterity rather than Strength). Having Druid spells might seem odd, but picking Shillelagh allows you to use Wisdom for your attacks, meaning you can keep Strength and Dexterity pretty low and still have good attacking power. Stealth is great if your party is using it and Survival makes use of your high Wisdom.
• Wayfarer - Dexterity and Wisdom can be great for Life Domain Clerics, and the Lucky origin feat is useful for any character. Insight is useful with your high Wisdom score and Stealth is great if your party uses it.

Best Feats for Tanks

The right feats can bring a Tank build from good to great. Here are some powerful options.

Best Backgrounds and Origin Feats for Tanks

• Alert - Positioning is important for tanks, so going earlier in battle can help you protect your allies. Available from the Criminal and Guard backgrounds.
• Lucky - At-will advantage and disadvantage are useful for any character. Available from the Merchant and Wayfarer backgrounds.
• Magic Initiate - There are a lot of good level 1 defensive spell options, and cantrips have many useful utility uses. Available from the Acolyte (Cleric), Guide (Druid), and Sage (Wizard) backgrounds.
• Tough - More hit points are always good, but this is most useful for tanks with lower HP like Druids and Clerics. Available from the Farmer background.

Best General Feats for Tanks

• Heavy Armor Master - This feat is improved from the 2014 rules, now scaling with your proficiency bonus. A few points of damage may not sound like a lot, but when you get it on multiple attacks per round, it adds up quickly.
• Resilient - The big three saving throws are Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom, and no class has more than one of these proficiencies. Even with high AC, failing a saving throw can take you out of the fight, so being better at them helps any tank. For spellcasters, proficiency in Constitution saving throws also helps you maintain concentration on spells.
• Sentinel - Probably a best-in-class tank feat, this allows you to hit an enemy moving past you and stop them in their tracks. This is amazing for keeping enemies away from your allies.
• Slasher - Reducing the speed of an enemy can make it harder for them to reach your allies. Remember that you’ll have to use a weapon that does slashing damage.
• War Caster - Great for spellcaster tanks like Clerics or even half-casters like Paladins.

About the Author

Brandon Gregory

Brandon Gregory is a web developer and writer in the Kansas City area. He's been playing TTRPGs since 2020 and is involved in the disability-related TTRPG podcast Tales from the Crips. He's into classic movies, mental health, and, of course, DnD. Also, he's in a band. One time, they rocked so hard it killed a man.