Abstract: Tobacco black shank, a soil-borne oomycete disease caused by Phytophthora nicotianae, is one of the most devastating root and stem diseases in China’s tobacco production, posing a severe threat to the yield and quality of tobacco leaves. Elucidating the pathogen and its epidemiology, and actively promoting the breeding of disease-resistant varieties and the cloning of resistance genes are of great significance for advancing the sustainable development of tobacco industry. This paper reviews the physiological race differentiation of the tobacco black shank pathogen and the damage it causes, with a focus on reviewing the development and current status of resistance sources and resistance breeding for tobacco black shank, the genetic laws of resistance, and the research progress in resistance gene mapping and functional characterization. Furthermore, it points out the existing problems in current black shank resistance breeding, including the relatively limited resistance sources, the uncloned key resistance genes, and the negative impact of introducing exotic resistance sources on flue-cured tobacco quality. This review aims to provide a reference for future resistance breeding against tobacco black shank.