Addons are tools that we use all use in World of Warcraft to improve our gameplay and customize our game to our will. As a tank, your highest priority is keeping your agro on every single mob you've pulled and also to have everything under control so your DPS and healers can stay alive and fulfill their role.

It's hard to foresee every situation and occasionally, your group will get wiped because someone pulled an extra pack or your allies didn't have their CDs ready. That's why we are here to help you out and make your life as a beefy mountain of Hp. 

These addons will make your UI clean and crisp so you can oversee everything and minimize the wipe potential.

10. OmniCD

Addons for Tanks | Tank Guide | Shadowlands  (start watching at 2:03)

Ever had a wipe when you pulled a bigger pack but your healers had no viable cooldown ready? Well fear not, for the OmniCd is here. You will be able to see all your ally's important cooldowns.

Why You need OmniCD

• The addon itself is pretty easy to configure, there's an option for every single CD that you want to track for each specific class.
• Once you got it ready, ability icons will show up next to your allies' frames and you will be able to monitor everything.

Now, pulling a bigger pack of mobs won't be Russian roulette, but a safely planned pull.

All the specific reasons why its useful and how it will benefit you

- It is extremely reliable while using a fraction of the CPU consumption.
- Detects all in-game cooldown reduction and adjusts the timers on the fly.
- Important for tanks that are really into m+ and aiming high

Get OmniCD here: https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/omnicd

9. Sunn - Viewport Art

Addons for Tanks | Tank Guide | Shadowlands (start watching at 4:40)

So this is actually an addon that barely anybody knows about, but it can come in handy in some niche situations. This is an add-on that changes your UI a little and gives it a cool look but that's not the reason why I'm recommending it.

The reason why I would recommend this addon is actually because it allows you to make your camera even further away and allows you to see any pack of mobs that's incoming way before anyone else can.

Why You Need Sunn - Viewport Art

• Gives you a cool looking UI.
• Allows your camera to go even further away and when you zoom out completely, you will have a drastically bigger view of the terrain you are fighting in, giving you the ability to see any danger coming your way and warn your allies.

All the specific reasons why its useful and how it will benefit you

-So I've already mentioned the camera part and the cool UI and though, that's partially all that it is, you should consider the benefits once again. 
-Say, you are fighting a big group of ads and another pack is coming your way. Without the addon, you will not be able to see them in time and your DPS or healer could be in a bad position. 
- To minimize the threat of your allies pulling additional mobs to an already huge group of ads, you will just warn them a few seconds before the ads even start being a danger.
Get Sunn - Viewport Art here: https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/sunn-viewport-art-pack-5

8. Bartender

WOW How to setup Bartender4 Guide | WOW Bartender4 Setup | WOW Bartender4 Tutorial   (start watching at 2:31)

It provides you with free drinks 24/7 and suits your need for drinking. JK, of course, this is the famous addon that is changing your entire spell bar and making your UI as clean as it gets, allowing you to focus on your tanking and agro instead of your spells.

Why You Need Bartender

·Easiest UI setup in the world

• You can literally put your spells anywhere on your screen
• Allows you to focus more on your tanking rather than where your spells are or what keybinding you should use.

All the specific reasons why it's useful and how it will benefit you

- You should 100% use this addon if you don't like Blizzard's default spell bar and the official UI.
- You can customize everything from spells to menus whenever you want.
- You can make some spells bigger or smaller which will make your screen clean and ready for tank and spank.

Get Bartender here:  https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/bartender4

7. Details

Details Damage Meter Setup Guide

This addon as its name suggests is made for you to see your DPS all the time, but this is not why tanks are using it. The more important role of this addon is to see your and your allies' threat generated.

Why you need Details

• Shows the DPS done by you and your teammates
• Shows the threat generated by you and your allies.

All the specific reasons why its useful and how it will benefit you

- Besides tracking the DPS of the group, the addon tracks threat that you generate on all the mobs and bosses which will provide you with enough info to immediately switch the target that you are losing threat on.

Get Details! Damage Meter here: http://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/details

6. Threat Plates

Threat Plates Addon Guide: Recommended Setup & Custom Nameplates

Threat Plates is an add-on made for the customization of your nameplates. It offers quite a lot of options when it comes to customization. 

This add-on is great because it allows you to track your DoTs as well as your threat generation which is a must-have for tanks.

Why You Need Threat Plates

• As mentioned, the add-on keeps you up on your threat generation and helps you with controlling the pack.
• It will save your allies from going overboard with their threat which can end up in their deaths.
• It also provides you with pretty neat customization of your nameplates that will further help with tanking since you will be able to see everything clearly.

All the specific reasons why its useful and how it will benefit you

- It will provide you with all the standard nameplate fetaures like healthbar, name, castbar, coloring (e.g., based on threat), scaling and transparency and so on.
- Custom syles for nameplates for extra customization for units based on name, auras or casts.
- Makes life so much easier for a tank role since you can warn your teammates to use their defensive CDs or stop bursting when they are about to take aggro.

Get Threat Plates here:  https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/tidy-plates-threat-plates

5. WeakAuras

Addons for Tanks | Tank Guide | Shadowlands  (start watching at 12:03)

WeakAuras is a powerful and flexible framework that allows the display of highly customizable graphics on World of Warcraft's user interface to indicate buffs, debuffs, and other relevant information. This add-on was created to be a lightweight replacement for Power Auras but has since introduced more functionalities while remaining efficient and easy to use.

Why you need WeakAuras

• It's an addon that will make your UI cleaner and with that make it easier for you to focus on tanking and keeping your aggro.
• You can see all your main cooldowns that are ready which will help you out when your healer is out of CDs.

All the specific reasons why its useful and how it will benefit you

- It will provide you with an intuitive and powerful configuration interface
- Its custom textures include all textures from Power Auras and Blizzard's spell alerts  - Progress bars and textures that show the exact duration of auras
- Displays based on auras, health, power (mana, rage, soul shards, holy power, etc.), cooldowns, combat events, runes, totems, items, and many other
- Custom side-effects such as chat announcements or sounds

Get WeakAuras here: http://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/weakauras-2

4. DBM

Shadowlands MUST HAVE ADDONS & IMPROVEMENTS - Voice Alerts & Chat Bubbles | WoW (start watching at 1:00)

This is the most important Addon for anyone who wants to be a good PvE player. It is Providing visual and audio notifications of important stuff that is incoming in the boss fight you're currently in.

Why you need DBM

• Every second of the encounter, you will know what's going to happen and what to do.
• There will be no need for your Raid leader to yell unnecessary stuff on Discord because everyone that is using this addon will already know what's going on.
• It will make your life easier and your dps/healers lives easier as well.

 All the specific reasons why its useful and how it will benefit you

- If you are an old player and you know every single mechanic of every encounter from Vanilla to shadowlands, then you don't need this add-on. For us mortals, it's a must-have addon because it will provide you with priceless information and help you improve your tanking drastically.
- When I say to improve your tanking, I don't mean do your job while you are AFK. What I mean is it will keep you safe and allow you to plan ahead your positioning and what defensive cooldowns to use or call for your healers to use on you. 

Get DBM here: https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/deadly-boss-mods

3. MDT - Mythic Dungeon Tools

Clean TANK UI - Shadowlands Tank UI/WAs/Addons (start watching at 14:15)

Now, this is what I call a quality made an addon that you must have as a tank in order to plan your path through all the m+ dungeons and push through the limits

Why You Need MDT - Mythic Dungeon Tools

• It's an addon that shows you how much % you get from ad packs and helps you to plan your path through each dungeon.
• By making a plan you can actually let your DPS department know when you'll be encountering a bigger group so they can save their CDs for that.

All the specific reasons why its useful and how it will benefit you

- As I said, just by planning the path beforehand, you will improve the time needed for the full clear of a dungeon.
- DPS players will have full information about the size of the group you will be pulling soon so they can prepare their CDs and not waste them on a small group of ads.

Get MDT - Mythic Dungeon Tools here: http://https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/mythic-dungeon-tools

2. Raiderio 

What is Raider IO? How to use Raider IO? - World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth

This is a companion addon to go along with the Raid and Mythic+ Ranking site, Raider.IO: https://raider.io With this addon installed, you'll gain access to an easy way to view the Mythic Keystone scores and Raid Progress for players -- all without leaving the game!

Why You Need Raider.IO

• ·If you love making awesome raid groups or the best m+ groups and you're having a tough time because people even though they have gear, seem to not be doing their job well. Then this addon will show you their progress in everything and with that allow you to choose the best of the best.
• ·It will also help you track your progress as well and motivate you to keep grinding and catch up to the rest of the elite PvE players.
• ·You will be able to see your weaknesses and which m+ dungeons are you popping off or failing to represent.

All the specific reasons why it useful and how it will benefit you

- It's tracking the information from the retail website of all your progress in m+ and raids
- It's tracking the information from the retail website of everyone else
- By simply hovering over a player with your mouse, your guild roster, or even the Group Finder list where you see queued people you will be able to see the minimum qualifications then you'll see their score and best run in the tooltip.
- Additionally, you can right-click players from the standard target unit frame and then easily look up the full profile on the site.

Get Raider.IO here: https://www.curseforge.come/wow/addons/raiderio

1. SimpleRaidTargetIcons

Bear Tanking addons I recommend! (start watching at 5:35)

This is not the most important tank add-on but it surely helps a lot and I use it all the time. It allows the player to quickly mark raid targets by performing modified clicks or pressing keybinding, on the 3d models in the game world.

Why You Need SimpleRaidTargetIcons

• ·For people who don't have keybindings to mark the targets or just simply are forgetting them, this is the perfect add-on.
• ·You will be able to simply double click on the 3d model and mark the target in less than 2 seconds.

All the specific reasons why its useful and how it will benefit you

- With just a click you will be able to configure modifiers and setup the addon
- It will drastically help you with marking the targets that need to be focused
- Your Dps party will immediately know who needs to be damaged fast.

You can get SimpleRaidTargetIcons here:  https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/simple-raid-target-icons

These addons are used by almost every tank I know. The reason for that is that they create a clean and useful environment with a great UI, camera distance, threat tracking, and easy-to-use marking. Combining all that will dramatically help you out with pushing your tank limits further.

You may also be interested:

• Wow Shadowlands Best Horde Servers To Join
• WoW Shadowlands Best Burst DPS With Explosive Damage
• WoW Shadowlands Best DPS Addons
• Wow Shadowlands Best Alliance Servers