Welcome to the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King DPS tier list! We will be ranking each DPS class available for the expansion, as well as explaining each class’s position on the tier list.
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- Affliction Warlock (S-Tier)
- Unholy Death Knight (S-Tier)
- Assassination Rogue (S-Tier)
- Frost Death Knight (S-Tier)
- Arcane Mage (S-Tier)
- Demonology Warlock (A-Tier)
- Balance Druid (A-Tier)
- Survival Hunter (A-Tier)
- Enhancement Shaman (A-Tier)
- Marksmanship Hunter (A-Tier)
- Shadow Priest (A-Tier)
- Fire Mage (B-Tier)
- Retribution Paladin (B-Tier)
- Feral Druid (B-Tier)
- Combat Rogue (B-Tier)
- Elemental Shaman (C-Tier)
- Arms Warrior (C-Tier)
- Destruction Warlock (C-Tier)
- Fury Warrior (C-Tier)
- Beast Mastery Hunter (C-Tier)
- Blood Death Knight (D-Tier)
- Subtlety Rogue (D-Tier)
- Frost Mage (D-Tier)
Our equipment is at its weakest in Phase 1, and that has major implications on the meta.
For example, armor penetration is very rare in Phase 1 gear. This means that physical DPS specs that also inherently deal magic damage will have a major advantage in this phase, as their damage bypasses armor. This includes specs such as Assassination Rogues and Survival Hunters; they do really well in this phase, but fall off once armor penetration becomes more common.
Furthermore, DPS specs that have good scaling but low base damage will unfortunately be at their worst during this phase. Fire Mages and Fury Warriors, for instance, will have to wait a while for their turn to shine in the spotlight, as they lack the stats they need in order to succeed, such as crit and armor penetration.
S-Tier
The S-Tier represents the most powerful classes in the current meta – those with the highest damage and utility. These specializations are usually recruited in larger numbers due to their outstanding performance.
Affliction Warlock
Affliction Warlocks see a drastic shift in playstyle in WotLK. We go from a budget version of Destruction, spamming Shadow Bolt, to a fully-fledged, damage-over-time-focused spec. No longer are we a strictly support spec; instead, we take the number one spot in any DPS charter and a well-deserved spot in the S-tier in Phase 1 of WotLK.
Affliction has great single-target damage, thanks to our high damage-over-time and Drain Soul’s new execute-like component. Where we truly shine, however, is in cleave & AoE fights, thanks to our multi-dotting ability — you will very commonly be on the top of the DPS meters on those fights.
Utility is one area where Affliction Warlocks have seen a major nerf in WotLK. Our Curse of the Elements and Improved Shadow Bolt are no longer unique — we don’t even use the former anymore, since Balance Druids and Unholy DKs apply it automatically, though we’re still the best at applying the latter. This means our unique utility is now limited to Healthstones, Soulstones, and summoning, which is by no means bad, but we aren’t the utility powerhouses we once were.
Even if fights will tend to be shorter in WotLK Classic when compared to the OG WotLK, Affliction Warlocks will still deal massive amounts of single-target damage. While the health pool of some of the Bosses has been diminished, Drain Soul‘s damage still proves to be one deadly execution ability.
Unholy Death Knight
Unholy Death Knights are often forgotten about in Phase 1 DPS discussions because Frost Death Knights are slightly flashier, but that doesn’t make them weak at all. In fact, the opposite is true — by most metrics, they belong in the S-tier.
The reason here is quite simple: the bulk of our damage is magic, meaning it bypasses armor. Thus, we don’t care about the lack of armor penetration on Phase 1 gear.
Just like our Frost brothers, we Unholy DKs bring some top-tier AoE & cleave damage on top of our stellar single-target damage. It should be said, however, that we are typically slightly weaker than Frost in short AoE encounters, as our diseases take a while to deal their damage, while Frost DK’s Howling Blast damage is front-loaded. We also have slightly weaker utility than Frost: we offer Horn of Winter just the same, but we lack Improved Icy Talons, trading it off for Ebon Plaguebringer, which isn’t a great trade since Balance Druids automatically apply the same debuff.
Unholy stays competitive throughout every Phase in WotLK, and eventually outshines Frost during the last phase, with the Icecrown Citadel raid. Thus, if you’re looking for a solid melee DPS class to play for the entire expansion, Unholy is a great pick.
Assassination Rogue
Assassination Rogues find themselves in the top spots of the DPS charts in the first Phase, commonly considered to be one of the best damage-dealing specs.
The reasons are clear: a very big percentage of an Assassination Rogue’s damage comes from poison effects (Deadly Poison, Envenom), and thus bypasses their enemy’s armor. This makes them relatively unaffected by the scarcity of the armor penetration stat on Phase 1 equipment.
Assassination Rogues don’t have the utility many other specs do, but we more than make up for this deficiency with raw damage — particularly in single-target fights, where Assassination Rogues will typically top the meters. Furthermore, the addition of Fan of Knives makes our AoE top-tier as well. Yet, we do lack slightly in the cleave department, since Death Knights will usually beat us in fights with 2-3 targets.
The biggest drawback of the Assassination specialization is that it’s seen as a “temporary” spec, so to speak. We never really become useless, but Combat begins outscaling us starting with the next phase (Ulduar), and the gap only gets bigger with every phase. This means that the amazing daggers you picked up in Phase 1 aren’t as impactful later on, so keep an eye out for some good Combat gear for the future phases instead.
Frost Death Knight
Frost Death Knights are the new kids on the block in Wrath of the Lich King, and they certainly make a splash — instantly finding themselves near the top of DPS rankings.
Similar to the Top Dogs (the Unholy Death Knights and Affliction Warlocks), this will happen largely because Frost DK’s damage (Frost Strike, Howling Blast, etc.) is magic, and thus bypasses armor. Where other melee DPS get held back by the lack of armor penetration on Phase 1 gear, a Frost DK shines.
Frost DKs have incredible single-target damage, lagging very slightly behind Assassination Rogues. However, we have something they don’t: an excellent cleave tool, in Howling Blast. This means that, on cleave-type fights in specific, you will likely be at the top of the damage meter. Yet, damage isn’t all we have going on for us: Frost DKs bring some excellent raid utility, in the form of Horn of Winter and Improved Icy Talons (only shared with Shamans), making them a highly desirable spec.
Frost DKs remain a highly competitive specialization throughout WotLK. However, in Phase 4 (Icecrown Citadel) our Unholy brothers become noticeably stronger and steal the spotlight. Seeing how that’s the last phase in the game, however, you can roll a Frost DK and not regret it at all.
Arcane Mage
Arcane Mages were a powerhouse for most of TBC, and they’re still very much a powerhouse in early Wrath. While they barely cling onto their S-tier spot for this first phase, there’s nobody who doubts just how powerful their damage is.
Single-target damage is what Arcane Mages always excelled at, and this is very much still the case. Our cleave damage is virtually non-existent, but our single-target damage is absolutely jaw-dropping. Phase 1 fights are typically pretty short, meaning we don’t have to worry about mana and can just go to town, pumping Arcane Blasts to our heart’s content. It won’t be rare to see Arcane Mages at the top of the DPS meters, particularly on some of the more melee-unfriendly fights.
What’s more, Arcane Mage gets a modest utility buff in WotLK. On top of the the brand-new Focus Magic buff available to all Mages, we get the Arcane-exclusive Arcane Empowerment. Your raid now has no reason to bring a BM Hunter at all, as our buff doesn’t stack with their Ferocious Inspiration, and we deal far superior damage. Only the strong will survive; sorry, BM friends.
Arcane has the same issue as Assassination for Rogues — our Fire specialization has superior scaling and eventually surpasses us in damage, particularly in phases 3 & 4. Still, it’s a very solid specialization for most of the expansion and is highly recommended for people who enjoy machine-gunning Arcane Blasts.
A-Tier
The A-Tier represents strong DPS specializations that offer a great amount of damage and utility, but not offering the best possible damage output. They will be found in almost every raid group and it will be common to see more than one of each.
Demonology Warlock
Demonology also sees a drastic playstyle shift in WotLK, going from a PvP-focused spec to a fully fleshed-out DPS spec. It typically lags slightly behind Affliction in terms of raw damage, but offers a unique piece of utility in Demonic Pact that makes the spec worthy of the A-tier.
Demonology’s single-target DPS has been greatly buffed, with a multitude of new talents empowering our Felguard pet. Our single-target is now respectable, and we even see an improvement in our AoE and cleave capabilities. Our new Metamorphosis cooldown gives us access to 2 AoE abilities (Shadow Cleave & Immolation Aura), which help our AoE a lot. In shorter fights, where we get to have Metamorphosis active for a big chunk of the fight, our damage will be very good — though, it’ll suffer and fall behind some of the other A-tier specs in longer fights.
The main benefit of Demonology is in our utility. While Warlocks in general saw a utility nerf, Demonology didn’t have that much to begin with, and it now gets access to Demonic Pact. This is an improved version of the spell power buff offered by Shamans (Flametongue Totem), though an Elemental Shaman’s version (Totem of Wrath) will be slightly superior until you have attained more than 2800 spell power. Many raids will elect not to bring an Elemental Shaman, however, so caster-heavy groups will definitely bring a Demonology Warlock instead.
The main disadvantage of Demonology is that you only need one for Demonic Pact, and more than that is pointless, as Affliction typically does superior damage. Thus, if you’re interested in playing Demonology, you should coordinate with your guild’s other Warlocks — but, if you get the Demo spot, you’re in for a very solid Wrath of the Lich King experience.
Balance Druid
Balance Druids, also affectionately called Boomies or Boomkins by the community, are in a similar boat to Shadow Priests — massive buffs to our damage take us from zero to hero when compared to our performance in TBC. We’re now a solid A-tier spec.
Boomie single-target damage goes from the laughingstock of DPS specs to being very respectable — particularly in the earlier phases, before other casters take off due to their superior scaling. Our new 51-point talent, Starfall, deals great AoE damage on a 1-minute cooldown, so it won’t be rare to see Boomkins near the top of the damage meter in fights that have lots of adds.
Incredibly, our utility also saw a buff in WotLK. We still have the Druid staples like Gift of the Wild and Innervate. Furthermore, we gain access to the new 3% haste buff (Improved Moonkin Form, shared with Ret Paladins) and 13% spell damage debuff (Earth and Moon, shared with Warlocks and Unholy DKs). In exchange, our Moonkin Form’s 5% spell crit buff can now also be offered by Elemental Shamans, but they generally aren’t as strong as we are. Finally, our Improved Faerie Fire has been changed to provide 3% spell hit rather than physical hit, and it can now be applied by Shadow Priests as well, which is a bit of a bummer but not a huge deal.
We also have a brand new rotation, focusing on alternating between Wrath and Starfire based on the new Eclipse mechanic, which is incredibly fun. If being a giant chicken of doom was something you were interested in previously, but have been put off by the low DPS of a Boomie, you now have nothing to worry about — it remains a solid, desirable spec for all of Wrath, usually near the middle of the damage meters.
Survival Hunter
Survival Hunter has received a massive revamp with the coming of WotLK. Gone are the days of being a budget version of Marksmanship — we now have many unique talents and abilities, such as Explosive Shot and Black Arrow, that give us a playstyle distinct from other specs.
Survival Hunters find themselves solidly in the A-tier during Phase 1 of WotLK, thanks to the fact that our main DPS spells, Explosive Shot, Explosive Trap, and Black Arrow, deal magical damage and thus bypass armor, so we aren’t as affected by the lack of armor penetration on Phase 1 gear.
Survival Hunters deal excellent single-target damage, and we have an edge over many other ranged damage-dealers, since most of our abilities are instant and thus we aren’t interrupted by movement. Explosive Shot and Explosive Trap both deal AoE damage, meaning we also have extremely good cleave / AoE damage, unlike our Marksman brothers. However, we have been penalized in the utility department, as Expose Weakness has been nerfed to only being able to increase our own attack power, meaning that Misdirection is the only utility we can bring to a raid.
Survival is one of the “temporary” specs of WotLK, as our scaling is somewhat lacking. Marksmanship eventually surpasses us in damage in the later phases, when armor penetration starts becoming more plentiful. It still remains decently competitive in Phases 2 and 3, but if you’re interested in playing Hunter, you might want to look into Marksmanship as well, so you’re ready for Phases 3/4.
Enhancement Shaman
Enhancement also gets a fairly major revamp in WotLK, shifting away from the support-centric gameplay of TBC, to a fully-fledged DPS spec in WotLK. We have a brand-new playstyle with a new ability, the Lava Lash, and a combo-point-esque system, the Maelstrom Weapon.
Enhancement has very solid single-target damage, dealing both physical and magical damage. Thanks to the Maelstrom Weapon, Enhancement Shamans have a very dynamic rotation through Lightning Bolt weaving in between their abilities. Due to this brand-new mechanic, we can claim a much higher spot on the DPS charters in Single-Target fights. Our cleave damage is slightly better thanks to Chain Lightning, but it’s still not as good as the “big boys” above us and, as a result, we lack a unique niche, a type of a boss fight where we really excel.
Compared to our glory days of TBC, Enhancement suffers a tragic fall from grace in the utility department. We still have access to a thousand different totems, but almost none of our buffs are now Shaman-exclusive. Even the once highly sought-after Unleashed Rage buff is no longer Enhancement-exclusive, as MM Hunters and Blood DKs both can bring it. The days of stacking Enhancement Shamans are long gone: most raids will bring 1 Shaman of any spec for Heroism / Bloodlust, then possibly 1 more in order to round up totem buffs, and that’s about it.
There is some theorycrafting showing that a spell power version of Enhancement, dubbed “Spellhance”, could have some potential, though it remains to be seen if that pans out in WotLK Classic. If it doesn’t, things won’t be looking great for Enhancement, as we only get weaker from this point on, usually finding ourselves in the lower middle parts of DPS meters. Still, if you enjoy the playstyle, Enhancement is very much viable, so if your guild’s looking for an extra Shaman to fill all totem slots, you shouldn’t hesitate to give it a go.
Marksmanship Hunter
Marksmanship saw some minimal changes to its playstyle, with Chimera Shot entering the mix and Aimed Shot now being instant. More importantly, it saw some minor damage buffs, finding itself at the bottom of the A-tier for the first phase of WotLK.
The reason for this relatively low placement is simple — while Chimera Shot does Nature damage, the rest of our abilities are physical, meaning we suffer greatly from the lack of armor penetration on gear in these first few phases, just like the most of physical damage-dealers. Furthermore, while we have very respectable single-target damage, we lack powerful AoE, meaning we fall behind on fights with many adds where our Survival counterparts can reach some of the top spots of the DPS meters.
Marksmanship has also seen a small nerf to its utility, as Trueshot Aura now offers the same 10% attack power buff that Enhancement Shamans and Blood DKs offer, without stacking. This means that the only unique utility we have is Misdirection, which is great, but unfortunately doesn’t really make up for our disadvantage in raw damage.
Still, Marksmanship is very much still competitive, so long-time Marksmanship veterans could stick to their guns (har-har, pun intended) if they don’t enjoy Survival’s playstyle. Our damage is not that far behind Survival and, starting in Phase 3, we completely blow their damage out of the water thanks to the abundance of armor penetration. So, if you enjoy your Hunter, Marksmanship is not a bad choice at all!
Shadow Priest
Shadow Priests were the butt of all jokes in TBC due to our low DPS, but nobody’s laughing now — our damage has been buffed significantly in WotLK, and we no longer will be dead last on the DPS meters. As a result, Shadow Priests belong solidly in the A-tier of the DPS rankings.
DoTs scale with haste in WotLK, and we have a decent amount of it early on, meaning Shadow Priests are at a good spot in Phase 1. This is particularly true in fights with multiple targets, where multi-dotting pushes us high on the DPS meters. This comes at a cost, though, as our single-target damage is just about average.
Shadow Priest utility saw a fairly substantial nerf in WotLK, but it’s still top-notch. We’re no longer the mana batteries we once were, but we still get to support our group with Prayer of Fortitude, Prayer of Spirit, and Vampiric Embrace. We’re arguably the best at offering the Replenishment mana restoration buff, since we proc it all the time. Moreover, every raid will want at least 1 Shadow Priest or Balance Druid for the spell hit debuff, which we offer with Misery.
The bad news here is that that this is our best phase — we only get weaker from this point on, though we’re never really bad per se, just consistently average. Regardless, Shadow Priests will always be highly desirable in raids thanks to the amazing utility and great multi-dot damage. So, if that’s something you find appealing, Shadow Priest may just be the spec for you.
B-Tier
The B-Tier represents mediocre damage specializations. They are still considered viable, as they do a decent amount of damage, but they typically cannot compete with the A-tier specs on the damage meters. However, in many cases they provide valuable raid buffs that make them worth bringing anyway, as their utility makes up for their deficiency in raw damage.
Fire Mage
Fire Mage has received a complete overhaul in WotLK, intended to restore the spec to its former Classic glory. Most of our talent tree has been reworked, and gameplay is now completely different — focused on machine-gunning instant Pyroblasts with the Hot Streak and, to a lesser extent, on the upkeep of the new Living Bomb DoT.
Fire Mages have the potential to be one of the most powerful specs in the game, with incredible single-target and AoE damage. But therein lies the issue: we cannot yet actualize that potential in Phase 1. Our scaling is superb, but in the earlier phases of the game we lack the crit necessary for Hot Streak to take off, meaning we lag significantly far behind our Arcane brothers, finding ourselves in the B-tier. On the plus side, while we lose on single-target damage, we do have very respectable AoE and cleave damage, unlike Arcane, which has almost 0 cleave.
Besides the lack of crit, we also suffer from a minor lack of utility. We offer most of the same utility as the other Mage specs, such as Arcane Brilliance and the brand-new Focus Magic — our only Fire-exclusive utility is the 5% spell crit debuff (Improved Scorch). Unfortunately, this one is redundant, since every single spec of the ubiquitous Warlock class will be applying it automatically.
None of this should dissuade you from playing a Mage if Fire looks interesting to you, however, as we tie Arcane in Phase 2, and then finally blossom into one of the strongest specs in the game in Phases 3 & 4. You may want to try Arcane for Phase 1, but start window shopping for Fire gear right away.
Retribution Paladin
Retribution Paladins used to be considered a weak spec in OG TBC, though that ended up not being the case in TBC Classic. Blizzard reworked them dramatically in WotLK and, for a short period afterwards, Ret was wildly overpowered. Blizzard quickly brought the nerf-hammer upon our specialization and, as a result, we are now about as average as it gets, finding ourselves in the middle of the B-tier.
Ret single-target damage is slightly underwhelming, if we’re being honest, typically being middle of the flock. However, our new ability, Divine Storm, pushes our cleave damage to an upper A-tier level — that’s how strong it is. However, the majority of Phase 1 boss fights are primarily single-target, so we don’t get to take advantage of this strength as much as we’d like just yet.
But what Ret may lack in single-target damage it more than makes up for by having arguably the most useful raid buffs & debuffs of any spec in the game. We, of course, have Paladin staples, like the Blessings, but there are also many Retribution-exclusive goodies: Judgements of the Wise, Heart of the Crusader, Sanctified Retribution, and Swift Retribution. We have so much utility that nearly every raid will bring a Ret, and many will bring multiple.
If you are a fan of the Paladin class but feel disappointed by the low ranking of Ret, don’t be. We are the definition of a late bloomer: while our damage is just about average in the first 3 phases of the game, Phase 4 turns is into absolute monsters of cleave damage, thanks to Shadowmourne and our overpowered Tier 10 set 2-piece bonus. Ret Paladins will very commonly be near the top of damage meters in Phase 4, so you could see your Ret as a long-term investment who also provides crucial utility to your raid. You will never struggle to get a raid spot as a Ret.
Feral Druid
Feral Druid gets a massive change in playstyle in WotLK. Powershifting is gone, to the dismay of players that enjoyed it, and is replaced by a more straightforward energy management system. We gain a whole lot of DPS tools focused around bleed effects, meaning we are no longer a tank spec that can occasionally DPS if tanking is not needed — flipping the roles, many Ferals will now be cat mains that occasionally off-tank when needed.
Ferals have great single-target damage, keeping up with or surpassing some of the specs mentioned above. Ferals can also boast of incredible AoE in the form of the newly-introduced Swipe (Cat). Their main drawback is that they lack powerful cleave abilities, and that a big chunk of their DPS comes from bleeds, which take a while to apply, so we’re kinda slow to start. They will do really well with some fights, but they will struggle with some others. This inconsistency is why we find ourselves near the bottom of the B-tier.
Feral utility is basically unchanged compared to TBC. We still have Druid staples like the Gift of the Wild and Innervate. Sure, our 5% crit buff (Leader of the Pack) and bleed damage debuff (Mangle) can now be applied by Fury & Arms Warriors respectively, which is technically a nerf, but we’re still the best at applying it overall, so our utility is not at all threatened.
The great news about Feral Druids is that we only get better from this point. We’re S-tier in Phase 2, and we remain incredibly competitive for the rest of the expansion, meaning that you have nothing to fear if you like the Cat playstyle. The fact that you can double up as a tank when needed will always be a great boon as well, with many guilds running multiple Ferals for this exact reason.
Combat Rogue
Blizzard took a very simple “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach with Combat Rogues, as there’s barely any changes to their gameplay in WotLK. We gain a new DPS cooldown in Killing Spree, and we can finally use weapons other than swords, as the Sword Specialization talent becomes Hack and Slash. The biggest change we see is being liberated from our Expose Armor duties — we no longer use it in Wrath.
Combat Rogues suffer from a very common melee issue in Phase 1: our gear is simply too weak and there’s almost no armor penetration on it. We have incredible damage scaling, but we can’t use it yet, so both our single-target and AoE / cleave damage is hampered. So, we find ourselves at the bottom of the B-tier as a result, looking at our Assassination counterparts at the top of the DPS meters with jealousy.
To make things worse for us, we have extremely little utility. Expose Armor is no longer our responsibility, as mentioned above, so the only thing we really offer is the spec-agnostic Tricks of the Trade, which Assassination is better at thanks to their superior damage. Our only Combat-exclusive utility is Savage Combat, which only a single Rogue needs to bring and Arms Warriors can offer as well.
The great news here is that all of our damage issues are limited to Phase 1. Unlike other scaling DPS specs, which typically don’t become strong enough until Phase 3 or 4, Combat Rogues immediately propel to the top of the DPS meters starting in Phase 2 with the Ulduar raid, and remain S-tier to A-tier for the rest of the expansion. So, get your daggers ready for Phase 1, Assassinate some bosses, and then prepare yourself for Combat glory in Phase 2!
C-Tier
The specializations that make up the C-Tier are on the weaker side of the DPS spectrum. They can still be considered viable, occasionally offering useful buffs and debuffs, and can very often be very fun to play. However, you aren’t likely to be on the top places of DPS meters with these specs, and you won’t have the easiest time finding a raid group, as they aren’t in high demand.
Elemental Shaman
Elemental Shamans see very few changes in WotLK. The main difference is the addition of a new spell, Lava Burst, but that doesn’t amount to much more than a differently colored nuke button. Our improvements are more under-the-hood: we now do much more competitive damage compared to TBC, and our mana issues are gone thanks to Thunderstorm.
While our damage is much more competitive overall, the single-target side of it is just about average, hence our position at the top of the C-tier. However, our cleave damage is very decent thanks to Chain Lightning — it’s just a shame there aren’t more cleave-heavy fights in Phase 1 where we can take advantage of this strength.
Similar to our other Shaman brothers, Elemental experiences a major nerf in utility in Wrath, since nearly all of our totems stop offering Shaman-exclusive buffs. For Phase 1 in specific, we still offer the strongest spell power buff with Totem of Wrath, but Demonology Warlocks close the cap with their own spell power buff in every phase. Most guilds will bring 1-2 Shamans of any spec for Heroism / Bloodlust + totem buffs, and that may or may not be an Elemental.
Elemental Shamans are still very much viable, so if your guild needs a 2nd Shaman for totem buffs and you enjoy the playstyle, you don’t have to feel bad about playing one at all, as you more than pull your weight; you’re just not likely to see yourself near the top of the DPS meters. But, if you’re a long-time Elemental main you’re probably used to that, so it isn’t a deal-breaker.
Arms Warrior
Arms is another case of Blizzard’s “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” policy, having very few changes in WotLK when compared to other specs. Our biggest change is the addition of Bladestorm, as well as Sweeping Strikes being moved back to the Arms tree after a brief stint in the Fury tree.
The two changes mentioned above heavily slant Arms damage towards the cleave side and, indeed, we have some of the best cleave damage in the game — especially in shorter fights, where we get to enjoy high cooldown uptime. But, at the same time, our single-target damage is unimpressive. This issue is further compounded by the lack of armor penetration on Phase 1 gear, with our damage being 100% physical. Thus, we find ourselves in the C-tier, since, unfortunately, most Phase 1 fights are single-target focused.
Furthermore, it would appear that Blizzard had a bone to pick with Arms Warriors in PvE, as our utility is severely nerfed compared to TBC. Our Battle Shout no longer stacks with Blessing of Might, and Combat Rogues can bring our previously exclusive Blood Frenzy. Even our shiny new debuff, Trauma, is applied automatically by a much more powerful spec, Feral Druids.
Many Warriors will roll Arms for Phase 1, as it’s generally stronger than Fury, while being more fun to play and easier to gear to boot. However, Fury starts outscaling us as early as Phase 2, so have as much fun as you can spinning-to-win with Bladestorm in Phase 1, but prepare a second two-handed weapon in the meanwhile!
Destruction Warlock
Well, well, well, how the mighty have fallen. Destruction Warlocks go from an undisputed S-tier spec in TBC, to the lower echelons of the tier lists under the C-tier in WotLK. It’s pretty clear that this has, in large part, happened due to the removal of the Demonic Sacrifice spell and a lack of new abilities to replace it — newcomer Chaos Bolt simply doesn’t do enough to close the gap.
Our single-target damage is decent, and our AoE damage is still very competitive. Yet, we simply do not excel in either category. This is further compounded by the fact that Destruction has virtually non-existent utility in WotLK — the only Destruction-exclusive utility we have is Replenishment (Improved Soul Leech), which is also offered by significantly stronger specs. We, of course, have access to Warlock staples, like Demonic Soulstones, but our other specs are better, so there’s unfortunately no reason to bring a Demonology Warlock.
Destruction sees a brief jump in power during Phase 2, reaching the A-tier temporarily. So, if you enjoy Destruction, you could stick with it for a while. However, only the biggest Destruction die-hards will play Destruction past that point, as most of the Warlocks will gravitate towards our other specs.
Fury Warrior
A titan has fallen. Fury went from the #1 single-target and top-3 cleave DPS spec in TBC, to the pits of the C-tier during WotLK’s Phase 1. “How could that even happen?” some may ask, since barely anything changes for Fury in the expansion. If anything, our weapons are bigger thanks to Titan’s Grip, and we get instant Slams with Bloodsurge, so we should be stronger, surely?
It’s tragic, but all of our damage is physical, and there’s almost no armor penetration in Phase 1, so our powerful 2-handers hit like wet noodles. Our single-target damage is comparable to Arms, but their cleave damage is significantly better, so Fury tragically finds itself replaced by our traditionally weaker brother. It should be noted that our cleave damage is still okay, so it could be argued that we’re perfectly viable, but Arms’ is just better.
Our utility is nothing to write home about either. We gain access to the 5% crit buff with Rampage, but Feral Druids still have it and are all-around way better than us, so we usually don’t even pick up the talent. Meanwhile, our Battle Shout no longer stacks with Blessing of Might, so our utility has seen an overall nerf, which puts the last nail on our titanic coffin.
The good news is, this is all temporary. Fury Warriors famously have the best scaling in the game next to Fire Mages, becoming better with every phase. Every single phase sees us jump up a tier, until we’re finally the strongest DPS spec in the game during Phase 4 — truly a “zero to hero” line of evolution. So, if you’re looking for a DPS spec to play, don’t let Fury’s low place in the Phase 1 rankings deceive you — it just takes a while for it to reach its potential.
Beast Mastery Hunter
Beast Mastery is last in the line of specializations that fell from grace. An S-tier single-target DPS spec in TBC, now near the bottom of the totem pole in Wrath. How did things go so wrong?
You may have heard this story before, but all of BM Hunter’s damage is physical, so the lack of armor penetration on Phase 1 gear cripples us. Our only major change is the addition of Beast Mastery, which pushes our single-target damage to acceptable levels (at best), while doing nothing for our sub-par cleave and AoE damage. Ret Paladins also offer our BM-exclusive utility, Ferocious Inspiration, so there’s no real reason to play BM over any of our other specs.
Unlike many of the other “fallen titan” specs that find themselves lower in the DPS rankings than where they used to be, things don’t ever get better for BM. Our damage is never truly and utterly garbage, but it’s never good either — meaning that only the most dedicated Beast Masters will run this spec.
D-Tier
Simply put, specs in the D-tier are considered to be not viable. They can be fun to play, but you will struggle to get invited to raids when playing one of these, and you may even find yourself getting kicked from groups, as your damage will be really bad.
Blood Death Knight
Blizzard tried their best to make all 3 of the Death Knight specializations viable as both tanks and DPS. At the start of the expansion, Blood was actually the strongest DPS spec, since Death Knights in general were wildly overpowered. However, in Classic, we have to play on the last patch of the expansion, which sees Blood’s DPS nerfed to being completely lackluster. This spec shines as a tank instead, due to a plethora of self-healing and mitigation abilities which give it a distinct edge over other specs when it comes to tanking.
Yet, our damage is the worst in the game, plainly put — both single-target & cleave. However, it can be argued that we’re better than the other D-tier specs due to our exclusive access to Hysteria, the most powerful buff in the game. Sadly, though, a tank Blood DK can offer this buff all the same, and no sane guild will bring a DPS Blood DK just for an extra Hysteria.
Blood DPS is sadly a meme, and not all memes can be dreams. If you’re interested in a DPS spec that can moonlight as a tank, have a look at Feral Druids — they’re actually very good.
Subtlety Rogue
Subtlety is traditionally a PvP-focused spec, and Blizzard made no effort to change that in WotLK. Our new cooldown, Shadow Dance, gives us okay damage for 8 seconds, but then we go back to dealing some of the worst damage in the game. Coupled with the fact that Subtlety has no unique utility whatsoever, you get a highly undesirable spec for PvE.
Frost Mage
Frost Mages cause terror on their enemies inside battlegrounds and the arena… but, unfortunately, their reign of terror does not extend beyond PvP, as they’re an awful PvE spec. Blizzard made an effort to make us more PvE-viable with Deep Freeze, but it was simply not enough — our single target damage is so low that several classes can beat us while half-AFK.
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- Affliction Warlock (S-Tier)
- Unholy Death Knight (S-Tier)
- Demonology Warlock (A-Tier)
- Arcane Mage (A-Tier)
- Assassination Rogue (A-Tier)
- Survival Hunter (A-Tier)
- Frost Death Knight (A-Tier)
- Combat Rogue (A-Tier)
- Fire Mage (A-Tier)
- Balance Druid (A-Tier)
- Enhancement Shaman (A-Tier)
- Shadow Priest (A-Tier)
- Marksmanship Hunter (B-Tier)
- Elemental Shaman (B-Tier)
- Destruction Warlock (B-Tier)
- Feral Druid (B-Tier)
- Fury Warrior (B-Tier)
- Retribution Paladin(C-Tier)
- Beast Mastery Hunter (C-Tier)
- Arms Warrior (D-Tier)
- Blood Death Knight (D-Tier)
- Frost Mage (D-Tier)
- Subtlety Rogue (D-Tier)
Armor penetration starts to become more common in Phase 2 with the introduction of the Ulduar raid, which means that physical DPS classes are starting to ascend toward their most powerful states. However, that does not mean our beloved casters find themselves in worse spots! On the contrary, we will find quite a few caster specializations among the top spots on the Damage Meters. Everyone gets a bit stronger, and specs with good scaling start moving higher in the DPS rankings.
The main difference between this raid tier compared to Phase 1 is that there are a lot of AoE- and cleave-type fights in Ulduar. This has major implications on the metagame, with some big winners (as you can see on the tier list!), and some specs that are visibly starting to lag behind.
S-Tier
The S-Tier represents the most powerful classes in the current meta – those with the highest damage and utility. These specializations are usually recruited in larger numbers due to their outstanding performance.
Affliction Warlock
Since the release of WotLK Classic, Affliction Warlocks,have been high on the tier list — they are simply on a whole ‘nother level! Affliction Warlocks retain the S-Tier mark, becoming utter monsters in terms of both Single-Target and Area-of-Effect damage. They also bring a wide range of Utility tools for the raid in addition to their insane capacity for pumping out damage.
Since Ulduar is designed around longer fights with high health pools and a multitude of adds, Afflictions Warlocks will shine both in terms of “Multi-Dotting” and “Execution Phase. They will achieve this by spamming their overpowered curses and afflictions upon multiple enemies at the same time while also focusing on “Draining the Soul” out of their main target.
Not only do Affliction Warlocks bring insane amounts of DPS to the Raid setup, but they also possess extreme survivability, being healed by the afflictions they spread! Besides the overpowered damage, they also have a variety of debuffs (their curses), and a variety of utility spells that can aid the raid group in achieving victory. Since our DPS Tier List does not take into account only the raw damage output of a class, specialization spells such as Ritual of Souls, Create Soulstone, and Ritual of Summoning combined with the vast array of curse spells available to Affliction Warlocks truly put them in the first spot in our Tier List.
Besides the capacity for extreme AoE damage through multi-dotting (applying damage-over-time effects to multiple targets), Affliction Warlocks also have one incredibly powerful tool in their arsenal, the Seed of Corruption. With this spell, they are able to output very similar damage to Unholy Death Knights, and we all know that Unholy Death Knights have long held the title of “AoE Kings”.
Affliction Warlocks will be well-rounded in the majority of the fights. They also excel in fights such as XT-002, Kologarn, Iron Council, Mimiron, Hodir, and Yogg-Saron, since all of those fights favor multi-dotting and their powerful execution tool, Drain Soul. The best possible fight for Affliction Warlocks will be Yogg-Saron, since they will be able to spread their malicious DoTs on all the tentacles.
Unholy Death Knight
Phase 2 greets Unholy Death Knights with a big grin, granting them spectacular boons. First of all, the new “Morb” spec seems to have completely popped off, granting Unholy an entirely new way of playing the specialization. Secondly, Unholy Death Knights hold the crown of AoE Kings — they’re one of the most proficient AoE specs in the entire expansion. This is mainly based on their Wandering Plague talent, granting them insane AoE capabilities as a form of passive damage that has no special prerequisite in order to be triggered.
Not only is their AoE damage is completely insane, but their Single-Target damage is also quite astonishing. This is thanks to the hybrid damage they produce, both from their own attacks and that of their pets. Besides their spectacular damage, Unholy Death Knights also grant a high amount of utility through different spells such as Death Grip and talents such as Ebon Plaguebringer, helping their raid by providing displacement, a magical damage-increasing debuff, and many more effects.
While it may take a while for Unholy Death Knights to produce their best damage output, their efficiency can be seen even at the beginning stages of Ulduar, especially in AoE fights! You can expect to display similar types of damage output whether you play the new “Morb” specialization or choose a much more traditional two-handed standard build.
While Unholy Death Knights are very well-rounded and powerful in the majority of fights, they will especially shine in fights such as Mimiron, Razorscale, Kolorgarn, Iron Council, and Yogg-Saron. This is mainly due to how powerful their AoE spread is and how much damage they produce through Wandering Plague.
A-Tier
The A-Tier represents strong DPS specializations that offer a great amount of damage and utility, but not the best possible damage output. They will be found in almost every raid group, and it will be common to see more than one of each.
Demonology Warlock
Demonology is in an interesting spot in Phase 2. On one hand, fights are starting to get longer, so this spec experiences a slight drop-off in damage due to having a lower uptime on Metamorphosis. On the other hand, there are a lot of AoE-heavy fights, allowing Demonology Warlocks to spam Seed of Corruption with Immolation Aura for some incredibly high burst AoE damage. So, while they don’t gain quite as much out of their Tier 8 set (Deathbringer Garb) as the other 2 specs do, Demonology is still very competitive, finding itself near the top of the A-tier.
With the changes that Ulduar brings to its items, Demonology Warlocks have an even greater potential, going as far as reaching the first spot in the A-Tier and bringing along enough utility to be considered low S-Tier. Not only are they incredibly tanky — meaning that survivability will never be an issue — but they also bring in a vast array of utility spells. Spells such as the Ritual of Souls, Create Soulstone, and Ritual of Summoning allow them to aid their teammates in many situations.
Furthermore, as our gear sees improvements, so does our Demonic Pact — the main reason why many caster-heavy raids will be bringing a Demo Warlock. Since the Demonic Pact is so powerful, many raids choose to offer their loot to Demonology Warlocks before gearing up any other caster, with the exception of Affliction Warlocks.
Demonology Warlocks will shine in fights such as Thorim, Algalon, Ignis, and XT-002, providing plenty of AoE with their Immolation Aura and Seed of Corruption, especially since getting rid of the adds as fast as possible will be one of their top tasks during the encounters.
Arcane Mage
With the changes to Ulduar reverting back to the “Pre-Nerf” and the item updates, Arcane Mages find themselves in a far better spot than they were before. In some fights, they can be particularly powerful, reaching as far as the top 3 spots of the DPS Meter. Arcane Mages are extremely powerful in regards to Single-Target, however, they have issues performing on the same basis when it comes to AoE fights, as they have to rely on Arcane Explosion.
While they may be one of the most powerful damage dealers in the entirety of Phase 2, they do suffer from a rather serious mana management issue. In the short term, they have the potential to produce an astonishing amount of damage, but it will make them run OOM extremely fast. Since Ulduar’s fights have been prolonged, Arcane Mages find themselves having a harder time with mana management, however, if Arcane Mage players do manage to find the right balance between pumping damage and maintaining a healthy mana pool, they can be very powerful.
Mages get two seriously powerful set bonuses out of the new Tier 8 set (Kirin Tor Garb) obtainable in Ulduar, and Arcane gets great use out of both of them. However, fights start to get a bit longer in this phase, meaning our mana problems start showing up.
Besides their amazing damage, Arcane Mages also bring a special type of utility in the form of Arcane Empowerment, granting all nearby allies a powerful 3% damage-increase buff. However, everyone should keep in mind that this buff will not stack with other similar buffs, such as BM Hunter’s buff.
Since Arcane Mages are very potent yet face huge mana issues, the fights where they will excel the most will be Ignis the Furnace Master, Razorscale, Kolorgarn, General Vezax, and Algalon.
Assassination Rogue
While everyone thought that Assassination Rogue will be inferior to Combat Rogue, the changes to Ulduar’s bosses and the items themselves have entirely shifted the meta toward Assassination Rogue. While they have little to no utility besides Tricks of the Trade, Assassination Rogues excel at completely obliterating a target via single-target damage, and with little to no specific prerequisite (as most of their damage comes from poisons).
Their single-target damage will still be superb as Assassination, and their AoE damage will be stronger than a Combat Rogue’s. This is because they still get to exploit the 2-set’s Fan of Knives boosting gimmick with Deadly Poison while also benefiting from the double daggers bonus. However, while they have very high Single-Target damage, their low survivability combined with the lack of utility skills (besides Tricks of the Trade) does not allow Assassination Rogues to go higher than A Tier.
There are no specific fights where Assassination Rogues thrive, as they always must be close to their targets, and they mainly specialize in single-target damage.
Survival Hunter
With the upcoming changes to Ulduar, Survival Hunter seems to gain the complete upper hand compared to the other two Hunter Specializations, given the new “Trapweave” meta and 4-3-4 rotation. However, with time, they will be eventually out-scaled by MM Hunters.
While Survival Hunters are the most efficient throughout the majority of Ulduar — both from a DPS perspective and in regards to mana efficiency — they will tend to fall short towards the later stages of Ulduar once other classes start to scale up.
As far as survivability itself goes, well, “Survival Hunter”, am I right? Survival Hunters benefit from a high health pool and quite sturdy defensive stats, due to them stacking as much Agility as possible.
There are no specific fights that benefit a Survival Hunter, being overall very well-rounded both in AoE fights and single-target fights.
Frost Death Knight
Frost Death Knights remain extremely competitive in Phase 2. They find themselves in a great place among the top spots of the A-Tier, with the potential of being considered S-Tier when compared to Unholy in some fights. While they don’t gain as much of a benefit from armor penetration stat found on Phase 2 gear, the Tier 8 set (Darkruned Battlegear) has 2 incredible set bonuses for Frost.
Frost DK single-target damage is still top-tier in this phase, as they continue to hit like absolute trucks. However, their cleave and AoE damage starts to lag very slightly behind what Unholy can do, as Howling Blast‘s 8-second cooldown means they don’t get to spam it as much as they’d like. Still, there’s no way you could call Frost’s damage poor by any metric so, if you enjoy the playstyle, there’s no real reason to swap to Unholy if you don’t want to.
Since Ulduar will receive some major changes with a shift toward heavy AoE fights, Frost Death Knights will still pull insane amounts of damage, even if they do not benefit from a very strong effect such as Wandering Plague. Additionally, in some fights, Frost Death Knights will prove to be monsters in Single-Target damage output, managing to even out-damage Unholy Death Knights in some cases.
Frost Death Knights also benefit from very high survivability due to their Unbreakable Armor while also providing the raid with Improved Icy Talons, a buff that grants 20% increased melee haste for all nearby raid members. Coupled with the increased haste and on-demand no cost interrupt effect, they can provide plenty of utility besides the normal Death Knight utility spells available to all the specializations.
Combat Rogue
Combat Rogues find themselves just a few spots below their Assassination Rogues brethren once again in the second phase of the expansion. However, they find themselves in a way better spot compared to the first phase of the expansion. This is in part because of their superb scaling, and the armor penetration stat finally becoming more widely available, but largely because of our new Tier 8 set (Terrorblade Battlegear) with its two fantastic set bonuses.
Both of these set bonuses are great for single-target damage, which the spec typically deals. However, the 2-piece set bonuses have major implications on our AoE damage. Fan of Knives ability already does top levels of AoE damage, but the fact that it applies poisons (including Deadly Poison for the 2-set bonus effect) means Combat Rogues will also be constantly regenerating a high amount of energy in AoE-heavy fights, thus overcoming Fan of Knives‘ major weakness — its high energy cost. The spec won’t be putting out quite as much damage as Ferals with their Swipe (Cat) spam, but with superior single-target damage, they remain extremely competitive within this tier.
However, besides the standard Tricks of the Trade utility tool that all Rogue Specializations have access to, Combat Rogues do not actually bring in any utility, and their overall survivability is quite low. Nevertheless, they can confidently say that they will bring “tons of damage” in every possible fight, especially with the Tier 8 item set bonus (since the new Ulduar will have an emphasis on AoE-heavy fights).
Compared to Assassination Rogues, Combat Rogues have the potential to out-scale, if they manage to acquire enough gear. In the end, both specs have the potential for tremendous amounts of damage, and it really depends on player skill as much as the specialization itself.
Fire Mage
Fire Mage finds itself in a very good spot at the beginning of the second phase of the expansion! This is the very beginning of their ascent, as they only become stronger from this point forward. However, the spec itself scales slowly, meaning that Arcane Mages will be a lot stronger, especially in the beginning and throughout the progression of Ulduar.
As Fire Mages gain more Critical Strike Chance, their Hot Streak becomes exponentially stronger. Coupled with the incredibly powerful set bonuses found on the new Tier 8 set (Kirin Tor Garb) we can obtain in Ulduar, Fire Mage finally manages to reach the A-tier.
Arcane still has the superior single-target damage, athough — as mentioned in their section — they’re starting to get held back by their mana issues. Additionally, Fire has slightly better AoE damage, thanks to being able to use Flamestrike from afar. You’ll still likely see better performance by staying Arcane in this phase, but every single Ulduar item you get shrinks that gap a little. By the time you’re fully Ulduar-geared, you could switch to Fire without any issues if you prefer the playstyle, or want to prepare in advance for the phases to come.
In terms of staying alive, Fire Mages suffer from the same issue as Arcane Mages. While they do not have to worry about their mana, their extremely low survivability coupled up with the increased difficulty of Ulduar will force them to be a bit warier of their environment instead of the DPS Meter.
Balance Druid
Balance Druid finds itself in quite a favorable spot in the A-Tier list, due to their strong damage potential for both single-target and AoE fights. The spec also brings some powerful utility!
Despite two incredible set bonuses on their Tier 8 set (Nightsong Garb), Balance Druid’s lack the single-target damage to compete with some of the “big boys” above them. However, thanks to Starfall, they have great AoE damage during an AoE-heavy raid tier, meaning they’ll still very often find themselves decently high on the damage meters.
Since Ulduar has been reverted to its “Pre-Nerf” state, a “Boomy”‘s AoE damage will be in high demand, especially in fights such as Freya, Mimiron, and Yogg-Saron! Since Ulduar fights will be significantly harder, all the utility a Balance Druid brings, together with its high survivability, will make them one of the most desired specializations in any raid. To some extent, Balance Druids become even more wanted than Feral Druids, often taking their spots.
Besides Rebirth — a spell that will be crucial to any raid to prevent horrible wipes — Balance Druids pack a big punch in terms of utility through different effects and spells such as Improved Faerie Fire and Moonkin Aura.
Enhancement Shaman
Enhancement Shamans find themselves in an great spot during the second phase of the expansion, as we currently witness the rise of both standard Enhancement and Spellhance. Not only do they have the capacity to deal extremely high amounts of Single-Target Damage through their Maelstrom Weapon procs and their Fire Elemental Totem, but they also offer heavy utility that can amplify other strong specializations such as Unholy Death Knights.
Enhancement gets two incredibly powerful set bonuses from their Tier 8 set (Worldbreaker Battlegear), and decent use out of the additional armor penetration gained in Phase 2. As a result, the spec has some incredibly solid single-target damage. However, since Ulduar is generally comprised of multiple AoE fights, Enhancement Shamans seem to be at a massive disadvantage in that department.
Probably the biggest weakness of an Enhancement Shaman is their extremely low survivability, especially due to the high amounts of AoE damage that happen during a standard fight. This usually means that while they do have the potential to output extreme amounts of damage., they tend to die before they manage to do so. Luckily, the more items they acquire, the more they can mitigate this weakness.
Shadow Priest
Previously, we mentioned that Shadow Priests will struggle to compete with other casters at the beginning of Ulduar, however, they quickly proved that they can dish out damage just like any Mage or Warlock out there. While they were previously placed in the C-tier, we can now count them among the most powerful DPS specializations in the A-tier. This is mainly due to their enormous potential for scaling, especially when acquiring vast amounts of Haste.
Thanks to the two very strong set bonuses on the new Tier 8 set (Sanctification Garb), Shadow Priests excel in Single-Target encounters, managing to be on par with Arcane Mages and even coming close to Affliction Warlocks. Besides proving that they can dish out tremendous amounts of damage in Single-Target Encounters, they also possess excellent cleave damage (thanks to multi-dotting) and AoE damage (thanks to Mind Sear).
Shadow Priests have some interesting and solid pure utility tools: Dispersion, Vampiric Touch, and Vampiric Embrace. While the AoE healing effect can certainly be useful, it won’t make a tremendous difference in fights where your allies can be quickly burst down. Sadly, Vampiric Touch‘s replenishment effect can’t stack with a Retribution Paladin’s replenishment effect nor with a Destruction Warlock’s replenishment effect on the same person. However, it will still play a vital role, since replenishment effects have separate cooldowns with only a limited amount of players that can benefit from them. It will help out your raid greatly when it comes to mana management since there will simply be more people benefiting from the effect.
You will quickly notice that Dispersion is one of the reasons why Shadow Priests are great; it will especially shine in that coveted fight against Algalon the Observer, preventing wipes for many of the raid compositions.
B-Tier
The B-Tier represents mediocre damage specializations. They are still considered viable, as they do a decent amount of damage, but they typically cannot compete with the A-tier specs on the damage meters. However, in many cases, they provide valuable raid buffs that make them worth bringing anyway, as their utility makes up for their deficiency in raw damage.
Marksmanship Hunter
Marksmanship once again finds itself in a solid position. However, they’re slightly behind their Survival brethren, right on the top of B Tier. The spec is starting to carve out a very decent niche for itself, thanks to some amazing single-target damage brought about by superior scaling, new armor penetration items (such as Mjolnir Runestone), and the powerful 4-piece set bonus of the Tier 8 set, Scourgestalker Battlegear.
However, at the beginning of Ulduar and throughout its progression, Marksmanship Hunter will be completely overshadowed by Survival. This changes when the spec manages to reach their actual BiS. Still, as they are completely dependent on Armor Penetration procs from items such as Mjolnir Runestone, they can only be situated in the B-Tier, since their damage can be inconsistent.
As far as utility goes, Marksmanship Hunter has a 10% increased attack power that can be quite extraordinary, however, it does not stack with similar effects. What makes them truly shine in terms of pure utility and a tad of DPS burst is their Readiness spell. Through it, Marksmanship Hunters can use double Misdirection, and get an instant cooldown refill for their most powerful shots! However, compared to Survival Hunters, they struggle with their mana management.
Elemental Shaman
Elemental Shaman finds itself in quite a good spot, considering how bad its general scaling is. While its single-target and AoE damage is mostly mediocre when compared to other caster specializations, they are generally brought to a raid for their high survivability combined with the plethora of buffs that they can bring. However, some of their buffs do not stack, meaning that they will often be overshadowed by either a Demonology Warlock or a Balance Druid.
Elemental Shamans get two very decent set bonuses with the new Tier 8 set, Worldbreaker Garb. However, compounded by their mediocre scaling, neither of these bonuses really boosts the spec’s damage to the point where it can complete with most of the specs listed above, hence its position in the B-tier. Furthermore, Elemental Shamans also don’t really have all that much AoE damage to speak of, so they can’t take advantage of Ulduar’s AoE meta. Regardless, you’re unlikely to lose your raid spot as an Elemental Shaman, at least at the beginning of Ulduar (until Enhancement Shamans manage to get their hands on some gear to boost their extremely low survivability).
Destruction Warlock
Destruction sees a temporary surge in power in Phase 2, surprisingly finding itself among the top specializations of the B-Tier as a spec that’s commonly considered “bad”. This is partly because both of the Tier 8 sets (Deathbringer Garb) bonuses are very good for Destruction. More importantly, however, is that they have access to something that very, very few other specs do: an AoE stun in the form of Shadowfury, and with a pretty low cooldown to boot. This is incredibly useful in this phase, as the phase finally introduces hard-mode versions of fights that pose a greater challenge, and having an AoE stun fmakes the fights significantly easier to manage.
Destruction Warlocks are widely used for their Blood Pact during fights such as Freya, The Iron Council, and Algalon, greatly aiding the raid by offering vastly improved survivability. However, if we take into account their pure damage output — both single-target and AoE — as they approach their BiS gear, they will be completely overshadowed by many other caster specializations, potentially dropping as far as the mid to low parts of the C-Tier.
Feral Druid
Feral Druids find themselves in a rather tough spot, mostly due to the difficulty of the specialization itself. Still, Ferals have the potential to deal tremendous amounts of damage while also bringing in heavy utility through Mangle and Rebirth.
The main reason for their high damage is both of the set bonuses of their new Tier 8 set (Nightsong Battlegear) which are absolutely amazing. They boost Feral’s single-target damage a ton but, more importantly, they allow Feral Druids to produce astonishing AoE damage to levels other specs simply cannot reach. Swipe (Cat)‘s main drawback is the high energy cost, which is now circumvented by the fact that Feral’s are procing Clearcasting constantly thanks to the 2-set bonus. This allows the spec to spam Swipe (Cat) like there’s no tomorrow, topping the DPS meters comfortably on the many AoE-heavy fights.
However, even with all the boosts they receive from their new Tier 8 set, the high skill requirement combined with the lack of abundant Armor Penetration will place Feral Druids in the B-Tier, being simply surpassed by other specializations that can produce a higher damage output and better overall utility.
One aspect that Feral Druids benefit from is extreme survivability, not only through shapeshifting into a bear for an overall higher health pool, but also due to powerful defensive spells such as Barkskin.
Fury Warrior
Fury Warriors find themselves in quite a better spot compared to the last phase of the expansion, as they ascend to the B-Tier. However, their damage output can be chaotic, and it really depends a lot on how lucky they are with loot drops. There is a vast difference between a Fury Warrior that has just breached the gates of Ulduar and a Fury Warrior that has pillaged Ulduar a significant number of times. That being said, they find themselves in quite a sweet spot, especially since there is no abundance of Armor Penetration to help them ascend to a higher tier.
Their gameplay is entirely dictated by RNG, making it a tricky specialization to evaluate properly. However, they will provide invaluable AoE damage with their cleave potential, and they also pack quite a high amount of utility through Heroic Throw and Sunder Armor. If we consider a fully geared Fury Warrior with proper experience, they may as well be among the top places of B-Tier, being held back only by the lack of consistent Armor Penetration.
Fury Warriors will find themselves dealing hefty amounts of damage in fights that heavily employ AoE damage, however, they will have to be careful of any incoming damage (as they will only be protected against physical damage).
C-Tier
The specializations that make up the C-Tier are on the weaker side of the DPS spectrum. They can still be considered viable, occasionally offering useful buffs and debuffs, and can very often be very fun to play. However, you aren’t likely to be on the top places of DPS meters with these specs, and you won’t have the easiest time finding a raid group, as they aren’t in high demand.
Retribution Paladin
Retribution Paladins find themselves in a weird spot with the opening of Ulduar’s gates. Depending on the itemization and the fight itself, they can put out some interesting numbers, making their damage seem rather impressive. However, that is often not true for the majority of Ulduar, the specialization itself being brought more for its undeniable utility rather than pure damage output. Thus, they earn first C-Tier spot, with a possible argument for them being low B-Tier.
Their Tier 8 set (Aegis Battlegear) lacks any impressive set bonuses compared to what some of the higher tier specs get. Moreover, Divine Storm is limited to only damaging up to 4 targets — meaning they’re great in those cleave fights, but not so much in AoE fights. Still, things aren’t worse for Ret Paladins either, and their incredible utility means that they’ll still be commonly brought to raids.
Retribution Paladins will perform very well in fights such as Kolorgarn, Iron Council, Ignis, Freya, and Mimiron from a pure damage output perspective, however, they will be provide excellent utility throughout the entirety of Ulduar.
Keep in mind that due to their huge utility granted through multiple auras, various “Hands” spells, Divine Sacrifice, Lay on Hands, and Aura Mastery, they are an invaluable asset to any raid.
Shadow Priest
Shadow Priests find themselves in a tougher position compared to the other caster specializations in Phase 2. However, they maintain a solid damage output, even if they do not benefit from a powerful execution tool. Yet since Ulduar has been buffed, Shadow Priests will have a hard time competing throughout the progression of Ulduar with classes such as Balance Druids, Affliction Warlocks, Arcane, and Fire Mages in terms of pure DPS.
Despite two very strong set bonuses on our new Tier 8 set (Sanctification Garb), the spec simply lacks the single-target damage needed to compete with the DPS superstars, so it drops to the C-Tier. However, this flaw is somewhat mitigated by excellent cleave damage (thanks to multi-dotting) and AoE damage (thanks to Mind Sear).
One thing to keep in mind is their potential for scaling — meaning, with the right equipment and skillset, they may as well simply jump to the middle of the B-Tier.
Shadow Priests have some interesting and solid pure utility tools: Dispersion, Vampiric Touch, and Vampiric Embrace. While the AoE healing effect can certainly be useful, it won’t make a tremendous difference in fights where your allies can be quickly burst down. Sadly, Vampiric Touch‘s replenishment effect can’t stack with a Retribution Paladin’s replenishment effect nor with a Destruction Warlock’s replenishment effect on the same person. However, it will still play a vital role, since replenishment effects have separate cooldowns with only a limited amount of players that can benefit from them. It will help out your raid greatly when it comes to mana management since there will simply be more people benefiting from the effect.
You will quickly notice that Dispersion is one of the reasons why Shadow Priests are great; it will especially shine in that coveted fight against Algalon the Observer, preventing wipes for many of the raid compositions.
Beast Mastery Hunter
Nothing has really changed for Beast Mastery, as it finds itself at the bottom of the C-tier once again. The Tier 8 set’s (Scourgestalker Battlegear) bonuses aren’t particularly amazing for Beast Mastery, and, lacking the scaling to keep up with the other specs, it remains a fairly redundant spec that only the most die-hard Beast Masters will play. Its damage teeters on the edge of viability, which isn’t really a compliment.
This specialization is far better suited for beginner players and for PvP content, especially since their 3% damage buff is easily replaced by Arcane Mages. Since Beast Mastery Hunters don’t bring any other powerful benefits, they quickly find themselves quite underwhelming during Ulduar.
D-Tier
Simply put, specs in the D-tier are considered to be not viable. They can be fun to play, but you will struggle to get invited to raids when playing one of these, and you may even find yourself getting kicked from groups, as your damage will be really bad.
Arms Warrior
Arms Warrior finds itself in the very unfortunate position of being outclassed by Fury, which has now ascended to the B-tier, while remaining firmly stuck between the C-tier and the D-tier. Arms Warrios have a lot of the same upsides that Fury Warrios do — armor penetration items such as Mjolnir Runestone help a lot, and both Tier 8 set bonuses (Siegebreaker Battlegear) are great. Cleave damage is still great, but single-target damage is starting to fall off. As a result, most Warriors will likely be switching to Fury in this phase, after they’ve gotten a few upgrades and a 2nd powerful two-handed weapon.
Another reason why Arms Warriors find themselves in the top D-Tier – low C-Tier is due to Feral Druids and Combat Rogues completely annihilating their role and obliterating their “Bleed” buff. Basically, whatever an Arms Warrior can do, a Feral Druid or a Combat Rogue can simply do better. Since Arms Warriors are so reliant on Armor Penetration, Ulduar simply does not provide enough for them to deliver consistent damage.
Blood Death Knight
The gap between Blood’s damage and that of the other DK specializations becomes larger in this phase, as Blood sorely lacks AoE tools. The spec still offers an extra Hysteria buff, but tank Blood can do that, so there’s just no reason to play Blood DPS. If you’re interested in playing a class / spec that can alternate between a tank and DPS, try Feral — they’re very powerful damage dealers.
Just like Arms Warrior, Blood Death Knight suffers from the lack of consistency regarding Armor Penetration, meaning that they will begin to deal damage later on in the expansion when Armor Penetration becomes more available.
Frost Mage
Nothing changes for Frost — it still suffers from poor damage due to a large PvP focus on a lot of its talents. It has decent AoE, but that does not begin to patch up its horrible single-target damage.
This is mainly due to the fact that Frost Mage is highly dependant on the “Shatter” aspect of its gameplay. As there is no actual way to freeze a raid boss, this mechanic can simply not occur.
Subtlety Rogue
Subtlety is in the same boat as Frost is for Mages — the majority of its talents are tailored for PvP, so in the D-tier it remains. While the spec has access to Fan of Knives (as the other Rogue specializations), it has no talents to make it stronger. So, it has by far the worst version of the ability, along with terrible single-target damage and non-existent cleave damage.
There have been numerous attempts to make Subtlety Rogues viable for PvE content, however, it simply seems like the specialization itself has been crafted by Blizzard with the sole purpose of obliterating squishy targets in PvP content, with no real applicability in massive PvE content.
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- Unholy Death Knight (S-Tier)
- Affliction Warlock (S-Tier)
- Fire Mage (S-Tier)
- Feral Druid (A-Tier)
- Assassination Rogue (A-Tier)
- Survival Hunter (A-Tier)
- Demonology Warlock (A-Tier)
- Combat Rogue (A-Tier)
- Frost Death Knight (A-Tier)
- Enhancement Shaman (A-Tier)
- Shadow Priest (A-Tier)
- Retribution Paladin (B-Tier)
- Balance Druid (B-Tier)
- Fury Warrior (B-Tier)
- Marksmanship Hunter (B-Tier)
- Elemental Shaman (B-Tier)
- Arcane Mage (B-Tier)
- Destruction Warlock (B-Tier)
- Blood Death Knight (C-Tier)
- Beast Mastery Hunter (C-Tier)
- Arms Warrior (D-Tier)
- Subtlety Rogue (D-Tier)
- Frost Mage (D-Tier)
The third phase of Wrath of the Lich King sees the introduction of the Trial of the Crusader (ToC) raid, a raid that brings a lot of Cleave opportunities, along side the return of Onyxia. None of the bosses featured are fought entirely by themselves, heavily tipping the balance in favor of Classes that can dish out both high Single-Target and passive Cleave damage.
Armor Penetration is now found as a passive stat on gear rather than a Trinket proc, and Weapons are overall stronger in this Phase, which greatly favors Physical Damage dealers, and specs with good scaling.
While some specs such as Fury Warrior may perform better than Assassination Rogue or Feral Druid in a strict Cleave scenario, their overall performance will still be lower due to weaker Single-Target in the early weeks of Trial of the Grand Crusader (ToGC). As soon as players approach their BiS, their damage outputs will shift considerably according to the performance of the player and the overall performance of the raid group. As the majority of the ToGC fights are Cleave fights, you can expect classes that are capable of dealing both AoE & Single Target damage to climb up the damage meters as long as they are played properly.
Some specializations such as Balance Druid, Shadow Priest, and Retribution Paladin are still used primarily for their utility instead of their actual damage output. Even if mainly desired for their utility, Balance Druids and Shadow Priests still scale well, with the latter being especially strong as it approaches its BiS gear.
S-Tier
The S-Tier represents the most powerful classes in the current meta – those with the highest damage and utility. These specializations are usually recruited in larger numbers due to their outstanding performance. Those specific specializations provide outstanding performances throughout the entirety of ToGC, with both peak BiS Gear and Progression Gear taken into account.
Unholy Death Knight
By far the most powerful specialization in Phase 3. While you will see a change to the Dual-Wield Build in favor of Scourge Strike for the new Sigil. You will still be able to use the Dual-Wield build to generate the highest damage output, followed up very closely by the standard Two-Handed Build.
The DK Tier 9 set, Thassarian’s Battlegear, has powerful set bonuses that keep us firmly planted in S-tier. However, the main reason Unholy Death Knights are so strong this Phase is ToC consisting primarily of Cleave-type fights. This means we go to town with Pestilence and Wandering Plague, topping damage meters. Unfortunately, there are some encounters where Unholy Death Knights won’t shine quite as bright, such as the Northrend Beasts. Since this fight has large portions with no Cleave, our DPS suffers accordingly. Luckily, Gargoyle can potentially be used multiple times during that fight.
Besides their insane damage output, Unholy Death Knights will continue to provide powerful utility effects such as Ebon Plaguebringer. Death Knights are also incredibly value due to Death Grips many uses.
Affliction Warlock
The kings of execution phases, Affliction Warlocks retain their position as one of the most powerful specializations in the entire expansion. Among other things, two of the main reasons are execution Drain Soul, and their heavy Multi-DoT/Cleave capabilities.
Besides their damage and crowd control capabilities, Warlocks provide a variety of class-specific utility spells, including Ritual of Souls, Create Soulstone, and Ritual of Summoning. Their passive survivability is also very high due to the Siphon Life talent.
Fire Mage
Fire Mages have historically always scaled massively with gear. ToGC gear can give upwards of 45-60% Crit chance. This lets Hot Streak proc repeatedly for massive damage, as we finally overtake Arcane in nearly every single aspect. It obviously helps a lot that both of our Tier 9 (Khadgar’s Regalia) set bonuses seem tailor-made for Fire.
Our single-target damage is in a league of its own, with very few classes capable of catching up to us, particularly when we get lucky. While our Cleave damage isn’t the highest in the game, the ability to apply Living Bomb on multiple targets and then spam Pyroblasts works pretty well. Most Mages will swap to Fire here for this reason, and some guilds will start stacking Fire Mages.
The primary downside of Fire Mage is their weak execution damage and high reliance on gear. Fire Mages will be heavily reliant on the Tier 9 4-item set bonuses. The most dominant fight for Fire Mage is Lord Jaraxxus, as you can Spellsteal the damage-increase buff, resulting in an insane damage output. However, due to their low execution damage, you can expect guilds to heavily prioritize Affliction Warlocks instead of Fire Mages, even if their Single-Target Damage is somewhat similar.
A-Tier
The A-Tier represents strong DPS specializations that offer a great amount of damage and utility, but not the best possible damage output. They are found in almost every raid group and it is common to see more than one of each.
Feral Druid
Did someone say King of the Jungle? Well, with the buffs Feral Druids received, they might become the kings of DPS when played properly. Feral Druids received a massive buff to their Faerie Fire (Feral) in the form of Glyph of Omen of Clarity as it will now always grant the Omen of Clarity effect! Feral Druids have an outstanding Single-Target damage output when played properly, but the class has a high skill cap and can be very lacking in Cleave Damage.
The main issue is that Swipe reduces your overall Single-Target damage output without impressive AoE damage. Unfortunately due to the way Combo Points work, this is often your only choice for AoE damage.
Despite the lacking AoE damage, Druids bring invaluable buffs for their raid group. Innervate and Rebirth are among the most powerful mechanics in the entire expansion, making them truly invaluable. These two spells are available to every other Druid Specialization, meaning that you won’t necessarily need a Feral Druid for those effects. Fortunately, you can stack multiple Druids to cast more Innervates and Rebirths per encounter!
Feral Druids provide two raid buffs, shared with Warriors. The first is an increased Bleed damage debuff with Mangle. The second is a 5% Critical Strike Chance increase through Leader of the Pack. Those two raid-wide buffs are mutually exclusive with Trauma and Rampage respectively.
Assassination Rogue
Assassination Rogues find themselves in an amazing spot when it comes to dishing out Single-Target damage with their main issue being a lack of Cleave Damage and utility. Their Single-Target damage is absolutely amazing, coming close to the S-Tier Specializations. The main issue is that Fan of Knives is poorly suited to Cleave, needing a lot more enemies to be worth using. This is very similar to the Feral Druid Specialization, lacking a solid way of multi-DoTting adds or target swapping due to the way Combo Points work.
Their utility is also lackluster as they only provide a single raid tool, Tricks of the Trade. However, while they might lack utility, they pack a large amount of crowd-control abilities that are extremely useful for the Faction Champions encounter. You will often see Rogues assigned on Healers or Casters during this encounter in order to permanently CC-lock them.
Survival Hunter
ToGC is a fantastic raid for Trapweaving, allowing Survival Hunters to blast as one of the top-tier DPS Specializations, bringing both high Single-Target Damage and Cleave Damage. However, they lack consistent utility tools, leaving them in the A-Tier.
Due to the focus on Cleave in ToGC, Survival Hunter should outperform Marksmanship Hunter. Survival Hunters can constantly dish out great Cleave Damage, and as the majority of the fights will feature adds and movement, you can expect them to perform way better than most Single-Target Specializations. Survival Hunters also have the option of speccing into Aimed Shot for Anub’arak to bring healing reduction in case the raid composition lacks another method.
The only downside of Survival Hunters is that it doesn’t bring any unique effects for the raid group. Replenishment is provided by other classes, Misdirection is provided by other any Hunters.
Demonology Warlock
Demonology Warlocks are definitely one of the most important specs. Since Demonology DPS is generally worse than Affliction, the spec is brought for Support over pure DPS. This comes from Demonic Pact, which not only cements at least one Demonology spot for every raid, it only ever gets stronger as we move throughout the expansion.
This buff alone places the Demonology Specialization close to an S-Tier Rank. Since they lack the Multi-DoT capabilities of their Affliction Specialization counterpart, they make up for it with short heavy AoE burst damage from Metamorphosis & Immolation Aura. They also have Seed of Corruption, however, this generally isn’t enough to keep up with Affliction.
Besides their damage and crowd control capabilities, Warlocks provide a variety of class-specific utility spells, including Ritual of Souls, Create Soulstone, and Ritual of Summoning. Although, ideally the Afflictions should be providing Summons & Healthstones, as Demonology does not generate any Soul Shards with their standard rotation.
Combat Rogue
Combat Rogues are very close to Assassination Rogues with the main differences being their improved Cleave Damage over Assassination Rogues. While they benefit from a higher AoE damage output, they have weaker Single-Target Damage, albeit, by a small percentage.
The reason why they excel at Cleave Damage is due to Killing Spree and Blade Furry, which are especially useful during Twin Valkyrs and Anub’arak.
Combat Rogue bring the raid debuff Savage Combat, which increases Physical Damage taken by 4%. This debuff is only provided by Arms Warriors and Combat Rogues, and most raids will generally want to avoid bringing Arms Warriors. Because of this, Combat Rogues almost always find a spot in any raid comp.
Just like Assassination, Combat Rogues are especially useful for the Faction Champions due to the large amounts of crowd-control available to the Rogue Class.
Frost Death Knight
Frost Death Knights find themselves falling further behind their Unholy brethren. They can still deal a considerable amount of damage in both Single-Target and Cleave. While their Single-Target Damage is comparable to the other Top Tier Specs, their main issue is their Cleave can be quite difficult to integrate properly into their rotation. Their AoE Damage is also considerably weaker than Unholy due to their proc-based gameplay. Even with all the mechanical difficulties, their AoE Damage can still hold its own against other classes such as Enhancement Shaman, Shadow Priests, and Fire Mages.
Their Tier 9 set, Thassarian’s Battlegear provides them a massive bonus to their Blood Plague. Unfortunately, this is considerably lower than the bonus provided to the Unholy Specialization. One of their main strengths is the unique utility they bring, namely Improved Icy Talons. This buff is extremely useful if you can’t bring any Enhancement Shamans to your raid, as the buff is mutually exclusive with the Windfury Totem.
You can consider Frost Death Knights to be the Jack of all Trades, as they are great at every single aspect but they do not excel at a single particular thing.
Enhancement Shaman
Enhancement Shamans find themselves in a great spot with solid Single-Target and Cleave Damage paired with a plethora of utility spells. Their overall damage was also buffed with the Fire Elemental reset change. Since ToGC is a Cleave-centered raid, Enhancement Shamans will see their AoE damage skyrocket by consistently using Chain Lightning with Maelstrom Weapon procs. Both Enhancement and Spellhance are completely viable during Phase 3, with Spellhance having better Cleave, and standard Enhancement having better Single Target.
Enhancement brings two buffs to any raid composition, Windfury Totem and Unleashed Rage. These buffs aren’t unique to Enhancement though. Windfury Totem can be replaced by a Blood/Frost Death Knight’s Improved Icy Talons while Unleashed Rage can be replaced by Abomination’s Might and Trueshot Aura. However, as they can bring buffs that would require multiple raid spots to fulfill, Enhancement quickly became one of the favorite specializations for the top guilds.
As for the other utility effects that they can provide, the most impactful will be Bloodlust/Heroism, followed by Nature Resistance Totem, and Wrath of Air Totem. They can also use Purge for Lord Jaraxxus if your raid doesn’t have any Mages!
Shadow Priest
Shadow Priests find themselves in a great spot for Phase 3, having great scaling. Both their Single-Target & Cleave damage is great with a lot of tools for both Single-Target and AoE situations. For Single-Target damage , they benefit from a unique effect, namely Mind Flay activating Reign of the Dead. This means that the trinket will constantly proc while performing your standard Single-Target Rotation resulting in ramping damage output. As for AoE Damage, they have serious multi-DoT capabilities with Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word: Pain. The only issue with their AoE Damage is that it is completely dependent on the position of the adds in relation to the boss as Mind Sear has a low range.
Their T9 set (Zabra’s Regalia) also brings them a very potent 2-item set bonus that enhances their overall multi-dot capabilities, transforming Vampiric Touch into an amazing Cleave ability.
Shadow Priests also bring in a large amount of Utility, being almost mandatory for any raid composition. They provide a Spell Hit boost, shared with Balance Druids and a large damage soak using Dispersion. They can also provide a large amount of mana through the use of Vampiric Touch & Hymn of Hope.
B-Tier
The B-Tier represents mediocre damage specializations. They are still considered viable, as they do a decent amount of damage, but they typically cannot compete with the A-tier specs on the damage meters. However, in many cases, they provide valuable raid buffs that make them worth bringing anyway, as their utility makes up for their deficiency in raw damage.
Retribution Paladin
One of the most debated specializations to place in a Tier List, Retribution Paladins are a mandatory addition to any raid composition. This is mostly due to the plethora of utility effects that they bring rather than their Damage. Though they are mainly wanted for their utility, their damage is nothing to scoff at, having both decent Single Target & Cleave Damage.
Their Single-Target Damage has been improved due to one massive change which turns Hand of Reckoning from a taunt into a pure damage ability through Glyph of Reckoning. This allows them to gain an additional offensive button, raising their damage substantially. Sadly, this won’t be enough to top the meters. With most bosses in ToGC bringing Cleave opportunities, Retribution manages to make up for their low Single-Target Damage through the use of powerful AoE abilities such as Divine Storm, Consecration, and Seal of Command.
Fortunately, they grant a plethora of effects ranging from different Auras such as Fire Resistance Aura, Frost Resistance Aura, and Shadow Resistance Aura to “Hands” (Hand of Salvation, Hand of Freedom), and even passive effects. These include a 3% damage increase buff, Sanctified Retribution, and a 3% increase in Critical Strike Chance from the Heart of the Crusader talent.
Retribution Paladins also have two massive defensive cooldowns that are almost mandatory for any raid. Aura Mastery and Divine Sacrifice/Divine Guardian provide massive survivability to the entire raid group and are crucial for certain encounters such as Twin Valkyrs and Anub’arak.
Balance Druid
Balance Druids find themselves in the middle of the pack with decent Single-Target Damage and outstanding Cleave Damage. While their Single Target Damage is quite similar to the other Middle-Tier Damage Specializations, they have outstanding AoE Burst potential due to how powerful Starfall is. Since the majority of ToGC is Cleave-oriented, most of their damage will come from these burst AoE phases. Their damage also varies significantly based on fight duration, favoring longer fights.
While Balance Druids lack in Single-Target Damage, they make up for it with solid survivability and a plethora of raid-wide effects. Their Moonkin Form grants them a lot of survivability while also giving increased Critical Strike Chance and Haste to any raid member in their vicinity. They can also provide a Spell Hit Debuff in the form of Improved Faerie Fire that enhances all other caster’s Hit Rating.
Besides those effects, they also have access to the staple Class-wide utility effects such as Innervate and Rebirth which are mandatory for any solid raid composition. You can also choose to stack multiple druids to ensure that you maximize the potency of those two effects and reduce any Raid Wipe possibilities.
Fury Warrior
With the release of ToGC, Fury Warriors became a potent specialization since the fights are Cleave-Oriented. While their Single-Target Damage is still underwhelming, their AoE damage is particularly strong, especially in fights such as Lord Jaraxxus, Twin Valkyrs, and Anub’arak. Their performance is hard to gauge since they are extremely gear dependent, with the initial weeks and middle of ToGC progression looking grim for Fury Warriors. Once they manage to acquire BiS gear, Fury Warriors receive a massive bump in their damage output.
They bring only one passive raid buff, Rampage, that can’t stack with the Feral Druid’s Leader of the Pack. However, Fury Warriors will be able to provide Commanding Shout in the absence of a Protection Warrior which will increase the raid’s general survivability. Fury Warriors will also be useful for the application of Sunder Armor in the eventuality that there is no Protection Warrior in the raid group or no Rogue whatsoever. With the Glyph of Sunder Armor, they can effectively stack the effect on multiple targets, doing a better job than Rogues. Finally, they also provide Shattering Throw, adding a little bit extra to your raids burst phases.
Marksmanship Hunter
Marksmanship Hunter trails behind Survival Specialization and its outstanding AoE capabilities. They will remain stuck around the middle of the Tier List with a few tools and surprisingly good Single-Target damage.
Marksmanship excels at single-target damage, particularly burst damage. Unlike many of the other ranged DPS specs, they aren’t really penalized by having to move, as most of their spells are instant cast anyway — which is a very big bonus in TotC, with many of the fights requiring frequent movement. Their cleave damage is limited to Multi-Shot, which isn’t the strongest cleave ability out there, but the overall damage you deal will be good enough that that’s not a major issue.
They also benefit from the T9 set (Windrunner’s Pursuit), putting them nearly above the Survival Hunter Specialization in terms of pure Single-Target Damage.
Marksmanship Hunters will offer two unique effects, with the latter being useful in multiple situations. The first unique effect is Trueshot Aura which grants a 10% increase in Attack Power. The only issue is that it can be replaced by other similar effects such as Unleashed Rage and Abomination’s Might. The second effect is truly unique and can’t be replaced by any other class or specialization in the game, namely, Readiness. This effect can be used in two pivotal ways, you can use it for two consecutive Misdirection casts or you can use it for two consecutive Detterence casts during the Twin Valkyr Vortex soak phase.
The primary issue is that Marksmanship is a very mana-hungry specialization, running out of mana fairly quickly. This forces the specialization to constantly switch aspects and micromanage their mana reserves.
Arcane Mage
Arcane has the potential to top the damage meters since ToGC encounters are fairly short. The specialization is unique due to how mana-hungry it is. Arcane Mages will find it harder to manage their overall mana since ToGC requires a lot of movement. This factor paired with how easy it is to run out of mana as an Arcane Mage, especially as a beginner, will place Arcane Mage at the lower end of B-Tier.
Arcane also suffers from a complete lack of Cleave Damage which places them way below all the other specializations capable of dealing large amounts of AoE damage. Luckily, our Single-Target Damage outweighs that to an extent. While the spec is viable, the majority of Arcane Mages will prefer to respec to Fire once they get close to that 45-50% Crit Chance point, despite doing very respectable damage as Arcane.
Besides its high Single-Target Damage, Arcane Mages also bring one powerful damage-enhancing effect, Arcane Empowerment. This does not stack with Retribution Paladins Sanctified Retribution, so you only need one or the other. Since Retribution Paladins are one of the most useful specializations in the entirety of the expansion, you can expect Arcane Empowerment to be entirely useless unless all of your Retribution Paladins meet an untimely demise.
Elemental Shaman
Since the last phase of the expansion, Elemental Shamans have steadily climbed the damage meters, transforming from a bottom-tier low-end DPS specialization into a heavy burst specialization with consistent damage thanks to the ability to reset Fire Elemental Totem after every encounter. Since we can snapshot Fire Elemental, this allows us to deal powerful damage, both in Single-Target and AoE situations.
We now also get to fully utilize Chain Lightning, as all the ToGC encounters are have Cleave components. An issue with Elemental is that it requires proper positioning and in-depth knowledge of the encounters, as you can lose a significant portion of your damage if you’re out of position. Since almost all the encounters require a significant amount of movement, you will find yourself heavily relying on instant-cast spells while moving around.
The Tier 9 set Thrall’s Regalia also provides us with a big damage increase once we have the 4-set bonus. Elemental Shamans will struggle until they can gain the majority of their BiS equipment, with the first early weeks being rough.
While our damage is great once we get close to the BiS set, another issue we will encounter is with our utility effects. All of our utility can be replaced by other specializations. Our Elemental Oath won’t stack with a Balance Druid’s Moonkin Aura, and our Totem of Wrath will get obliterated by Demonic Pact. However, Demonic Pact will be empowered by Totem of Wrath before it activates, meaning that our spell still brings in some utility.
Besides the effects that don’t stack, all the rest of our utility spells can be brought by either a Restoration Shaman or an Enhancement Shaman, meaning that our specialization doesn’t actually bring any unique benefit to the raid. This means that raid compositions will tend to prefer bringing Enhancement Shamans or Restoration Shamans instead.
Destruction Warlock
Destruction Warlocks retain their position as one of the strong contenders in the B-Tier due to their impressive Single-Target damage output. The main issue with this specialization and the reason why it remains stuck in B-Tier is its lack of Execution Damage and Cleave Damage that the other two Warlock Specializations provide.
They retain the same utility spells (Ritual of Souls, Create Soulstone, and Ritual of Summoning) and crowd-control as the other two Warlock Specializations, with Fear being just as useful for Faction Champions. In addition to Fear, they can also use Shadowfury which can be used as a powerful crowd-control tool in the Faction Champions encounter. You may also use Shadowfury to temporarily stun adds tanked by the Off-Tank if they find themselves in a dangerous situation. Besides Replenishment and Shadowfury, Destruction Warlocks bring no unique effects whatsoever, rendering them the weakest of the three Warlock Specializations.
C-Tier
The specializations that make up the C-Tier are on the weaker side of the DPS spectrum. They can still be considered viable, occasionally offering useful buffs and debuffs, and can very often be very fun to play. However, you aren’t likely to be in the top places of DPS meters with these specs, and you won’t have the easiest time finding a raid group, as they aren’t in high demand.
Blood Death Knight
With the recent changes, Blood Death Knights have increased in popularity as a DPS spec. They received a massive revamp to Dancing Rune Weapon, fixing the majority of the issues the spell previously had. In addition to those changes, we see a rise in Armor Penetration gear through ToGC, which can make us expect Blood Death Knights to gain a massive damage buff. Still, even with all those changes, their overall damage is weaker when compared to the rest of the DPS Specializations, only coming close once they attain their BiS.
The Tier 9 set Thassarian’s Battlegear will bump up our overall damage once we hit the 4-item set bonus, however, we can still expect our damage to be lower than the majority of the B, A, and S-Tiers.
The main issue Blood Death Knights face is the lack of utility buffs that they can provide. The first buff, Abomination’s Might, is easily replaceable by Trueshot Aura or Unleashed Rage. Since the majority of raid compositions will prefer an Enhancement Shaman or a Marksmanship Hunter, you will have a tough time finding a raid group. The second buff that they provide is actually unique and can’t be granted by any other classes, namely Unholy Frenzy. The issue with Unholy Frenzy is that you will sacrifice a DPS spot for a simple potential damage increase for your main Physical DPS. This means that Blood Death Knights take on a more supportive role as they are often chosen just for this effect. Furthermore, you can also gain the same effect from a Blood Death Knight Tank if you tweak their builds a bit.
Beast Mastery Hunter
Beast Mastery Hunters reading this are probably looking at the Tier 9 set Windrunner’s Battlegears 4-set bonus and getting excited for this phase. Yes, it’s a very strong proc, boosting our damage by a decent bit but unfortunately, it’s just not enough to put us on the damage meters for real. Our Sngle-Target is serviceable for now, but our Cleave isn’t really impressive enough for this to have an impact.
Besides the strong 4-set bonus, Beast Mastery Hunters have nothing going on for them, as their utility is completely replaced by the other Hunter Specializations and their damage-enhancing buff, Ferocious Inspiration, is simply replaced by an Arcane Mage’s Arcane Empowerment and Retribution Paladin’s Sanctified Retribution.
D-Tier
Simply put, specs in the D-tier are considered to be not viable. They can be fun to play, but you will struggle to get invited to raids when playing one of these, and you may even find yourself getting kicked from groups, as your damage will be really bad.
Arms Warrior
Arms Warriors find themselves in the worst possible spot in the third phase of the expansion. While the specialization has the potential for generating a large amount of Cleave Damage, its high cooldowns such as (Bladestorm & Sweeping Strikes) will result in subpar damage output. Furthermore, their utility effects such as healing reduction from Mortal Strike and increased bleed damage from Trauma are provided by effects such as Wound Poison and Mangle.
Their Single-Target damage is also terrible compared to most of the DPS specializations, with Fury Warrior completely out-damaging Arms Warrior from any point of view. The only reason why you might want to bring an Arms Warrior in a raid composition is due to their Trauma talent. However, you will really want to opt for a Feral Druid in almost any scenario, as it brings the same effect and a lot more Single Target Damage.
Subtlety Rogue
Subtlety Rogue is designed around PvP content as it has no long-term impactful Single-Target damage output while also lacking any form of Cleave Damage. You might argue that the only encounter in the entire ToGC where Subtlety Rogue may be viable is the Faction Champions encounter. This is due to the heavy array of crowd control that Subtlety possesses, resulting in a viable supporting role for completely inhibiting one or two of the caster mobs.
Frost Mage
Just like with the Arms and Subtlety Specializations, Frost Mage was designed for PvP content. Even so, a dedicated community of Frost Mages has made several attempts at making the specialization viable for PvE content. As such, several ways to enhance Frost Mage’s damage have been discovered, albeit, with no real success in generating comparable damage to the rest of the specializations. As their damage is completely subpar to the other Mage Specializations, you will only want to use this specialization if you want to enjoy an “Ice Master” fantasy.
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- Feral Druid (S-Tier)
- Fire Mage (S-Tier)
- Affliction Warlock (S-Tier)
- Fury Warrior (S-Tier)
- Shadow Priest (S-Tier)
- Marksmanship Hunter (S-Tier)
- Balance Druid (S-Tier)
- Retribution Paladin (S-Tier)
- Combat Rogue (A-Tier)
- Demonology Warlock (A-Tier)
- Unholy Death Knight (A-Tier)
- Frost Death Knight (A-Tier)
- Survival Hunter (A-Tier)
- Elemental Shaman (B-Tier)
- Enhancement Shaman (B-Tier)
- Destruction Warlock (B-Tier)
- Assassination Rogue (B-Tier)
- Arcane Mage (B-Tier)
- Blood Death Knight (C-Tier)
- Beast Mastery Hunter (C-Tier)
- Arms Warrior (C-Tier)
- Subtlety Rogue (D-Tier)
- Frost Mage (D-Tier)
The last phase of Wrath of the Lich King sees the introduction of the raid that everyone has been waiting for: The Ruby Sanctum! Just kidding — we’re, of course, referring to the Icecrown Citadel, featuring the final battle against Arthas, the Lich King himself.
Our gear is at its absolute prime in this phase, with many of the scaling DPS classes finally maturing into their final, most powerful states. This holds doubly true for physical damage dealers, as Icecrown Citadel items are overflowing with the armor penetration stat, allowing them to hit like jet-powered trucks. The raid itself features a good balance of single-target, cleave, and AoE fights, so specs that excel at different types of damage will all get their turn in the spotlight.
Phase 4 is vastly different when compared to the previous phases, with the overall damage of all classes uniformizing. This makes it extremely difficult to accurately estimate their ranking since the majority of the specializations deal similar damage. Since both Melee DPS and Caster DPS specializations can now deal with similar damage outputs, Human Error becomes a much more important factor when talking about overall performances.
This DPS Ranking list is a rough estimate based on the changes that occurred in WotLK Classic Phase 3! The list itself will receive an update once the Phase 4 Public Test Real becomes available for accurate information. While the items themselves won’t change in terms of item level and overall stats, the classes will most probably receive different revamps which will balance their gameplay.
Due to the Human Error component and the individual player skill involved in high-end PvE content, Tier S through B is highly relative, with only a few select specializations ranking clearly higher than the other specializations based on the currently available information.
S-Tier
The S-Tier represents the most powerful classes in the current meta – those with the highest damage and utility. These specializations are usually recruited in larger numbers due to their outstanding performance. With Icecrown Citadel offering a good balance between Single-Target fights and AoE fights, the S-Tier specializations are capable of performing extremely well in both situations in terms of pure damage output while also providing a great amount of utility.
Feral Druid
All hail the king, the King of the Jungle! If Armor Penetration was a luxury in the previous phase of the expansion, ICC brings an abundance of Armor Penetration which secures the top spot for Feral Druid! Furthermore, if there won’t be any changes to Faerie Fire (Feral) and the Glyph of Omen of Clarity, we can expect Feral Druid to top the damage meters in the majority of the fights. If you are not aware of the changes, Feral Druids received a massive buff to their Faerie Fire (Feral) in the form of Glyph of Omen of Clarity as it will now always grant the Omen of Clarity effect!
Besides the insane buff they received in the previous phase of the expansion, Feral Druids also receive a massive buff once they manage to activate the Lasherweave Battlegear‘s 4-item set bonus. T10 allows Rake‘s periodic ticks to deal critical strikes, increasing our overall damage even more!
Feral Druids have an outstanding Single-Target damage output when played properly, but the class has a high skill cap and can be very lacking in Cleave Damage. The main issue is that Swipe (Cat) reduces your overall Single-Target damage output without impressive AoE damage. Unfortunately due to the way Combo Points work, this is often your only choice for AoE damage.
Despite the lacking AoE damage, Druids bring invaluable buffs for their raid group. Innervate and Rebirth are among the most powerful mechanics in the entire expansion, making them truly invaluable. These two spells are available to every other Druid Specialization, meaning that you won’t necessarily need a Feral Druid for those effects. Fortunately, you can stack multiple Druids to cast more Innervates and Rebirths per encounter!
Feral Druids provide two raid buffs, shared with Warriors. The first is an increased Bleed damage debuff with Mangle (Cat). The second is a 5% Critical Strike Chance increase through Leader of the Pack. Those two raid-wide buffs are mutually exclusive with Trauma and Rampage respectively.
Fire Mage
Fire Mage truly reached its peak in this phase of the expansion, overcoming even the mighty Affliction Warlock! This is mostly due to the extremely powerful ICC items, but more importantly, due to its amazing T10 item-set bonuses. While there haven’t been any significant class changes, with Blizzard promising to take a look over the Ignite Munching mechanic, we can expect Fire Mages to have amazing damage outputs in both Single-Target and Cleave scenarios. While Fire Mages are extremely good in both scenarios, we can clearly see that their Single-Target damage output far exceeds their Cleave damage output, with other specializations such as Balance Druids, Fury Warriors, Retribution Paladins, and Affliction Warlocks dominating Fire Mages in AoE situations.
The main star of the show in this phase of the expansion is the T10 set, Bloodmage’s Regalia, which grants us access to two very powerful effects. The 2-item set bonus is especially strong as it grants us 12% Spell Haste each time you proc Hot Streak and use Pyroblast! This is especially convenient for us as we can technically benefit from a permanent Haste bonus as long as we keep on proccing Hot Streak.
Secondly, the T10 set empowers our Mirror Image spell, offering us an additional offensive cooldown! We will now benefit from an overall 18% overall damage buff for 30 seconds after casting Mirror Image.
Without knowing the changes that may occur during the Phase 4 PTR, we can confidently assume that Fire Mage will top the DPS meters in every single fight. Realistically, even if the class receives some heavy nerfs, we will still expect them to be at least in the top 5 of the damage dealers during the fourth phase of the expansion.
Affliction Warlock
Affliction Warlocks find themselves in a slightly weaker spot than they did in the previous phases of the expansion when compared to other top-tier specializations, however, they still retain their S-Tier spot as one of the most powerful DPS specializations in the entire expansion. They retained the majority of their gameplay mechanics without huge changes, albeit, one could argue that the specialization is pretty balanced already.
Affliction Warlocks retain their extremely powerful execution tool, Drain Soul, while also retaining their Multi-DoT/Cleave capabilities. Their Multi-Dot is especially useful in Icecrown Citadel as the majority of the fights include adds that will move around. They also benefit from an insane amount of survivability in any encounter that features adds, as Siphon Life procs on any Corruption tick.
Affliction Warlocks also benefit a great deal from Multi-Dotting thanks to Dark Coven’s Regalia‘s 4-item set bonus. While the 2-item set bonus is quite decent, the 4-item set bonus is extremely powerful, granting us a 10% overall damage increase based on Unstable Affliction‘s damage ticks. This is directly correlated to our Multi-Dot mechanic, as you will increase the frequency of the 4-item set bonus proc the more targets you afflict with the debuff.
Besides their damage and crowd control capabilities, Warlocks provide a variety of class-specific utility spells, including Ritual of Souls, Create Soulstone, and Ritual of Summoning.
Fury Warrior
Fury Warriors finally get their time to shine! With the release of ICC, Armor Penetration can be acquired in abundance, going as far as reaching near the 1400 AP Cap. This means that their overall damage skyrockets, both in Single-Target encounters and AoE encounters. Their Cleave Damage clearly outshines their Single-Target Damage, however, there is one major concern when it comes to the specialization. Fury Warriors require a large amount of gear until their damage becomes sizeable, with Shadowmourne boosting their DPS by a considerably high amount. Until you can acquire Shadowmourne, your Single-Target Damage will be completely overwhelmed by other classes such as Feral Druid, Shadow Priest, Marksmanship Hunter, and even Retribution Paladin.
Keep in mind that Shadowmourne is extremely hard to acquire, meaning that you will need to have an entire guild dedicated to creating this legendary weapon if you want to acquire it. On the plus side, Glorenzelg, High-Blade of the Silver Hand is a great weapon that can be dual-wielded in case you can’t manage to acquire Shadowmourne.
The T10 Ymirjar Lord’s Battlegear doesn’t grant us bonuses as strong as the other DPS specializations, however, the 4-item set bonus can be extremely strong for us since it massively boosts Execute. The 2-item set bonus can also be quite powerful, however, its proc chance is extremely low. This makes it very unreliable in Single-Target encounters where there are no adds available to place multiple Deep Wounds debuffs.
If the changes from Phase 3 stick in Phase 4, Fury Warriors also gain access to one strong utility ability without losing their DPS anymore. With the Glyph of Shattering Throw, Fury Warriors can now instantly cast the ability at the cost of no longer removing vulnerabilities and no longer being able to target other players with the ability. With this change that occurred in Phase 3, Fury Warriors gained access to a powerful utility ability, namely Shattering Throw, that can be used to empower the entire raid without DPS loss anymore.
Just like in the previous phase of the expansion, they bring only one passive raid buff, Rampage, that can’t stack with the Feral Druid’s Leader of the Pack. However, Fury Warriors will be able to provide Commanding Shout in the absence of a Protection Warrior which will increase the raid’s general survivability. Fury Warriors will also be useful for the application of Sunder Armor in the eventuality that there is no Protection Warrior in the raid group or no Rogue whatsoever. With the Glyph of Sunder Armor, they can effectively stack the effect on multiple targets, doing a better job than Rogues.
Shadow Priest
Shadow Priests are here to win glory and fame as they ascend to the S-Tier with one of the best Single Target Damage in this phase and quite strong Cleave Damage potential that is almost on par with Affliction Warlocks and Balance Druids. Due to the T10 Crimson Acolyte’s Regalia‘s 4-item set bonus, their Single Target rotation mainstreamed into Mind Flay spam, completely replacing the use of Mind Blast.
As for AoE Damage, they have serious multi-DoT capabilities with Vampiric Touch and Shadow Word: Pain. The only issue with their AoE Damage is that it is completely dependent on the position of the adds in relation to the boss as Mind Sear has a low range. Since ICC has adds that tend to move around, you will heavily rely on Multi-Dotting as your main AoE damage source. This is of course valid only for the Boss Encounters, as the adds in between bosses will always be found in large groups. The Phylactery of the Nameless Lich trinket plays a huge role in boosting both our Single-Target and Cleave Damage as we will find ourselves placing DoTs consistently in both situations!
Shadow Priests also bring in a large amount of Utility, being almost mandatory for any raid composition. They provide a Spell Hit boost, shared with Balance Druids, and a large damage soak using Dispersion. They can also provide a large amount of mana through the use of Vampiric Touch & Hymn of Hope.
Dispersion is seen as an extremely valuable tool for the Lich King encounter as Shadow Priests are expected to be the main damage soakers for the spirits in the last phase of the encounter!
Marksmanship Hunter
Marksmanship Hunters find themselves in an amazing spot, climbing the ladder all the way up to the S-Tier! This is mostly due to several factors, the most important among them being the abundance of Armor Penetration that Icecrown Citadel offers. This is a clear shift when compared to the previous phase of the expansion where Survival Hunters entirely dominated the playfield. One of the other factors is that Trap Weaving now becomes a general standard for all the Hunter Specializations, albeit, done in a weaker version by the Marksmanship and Beast Mastery specializations.
Another one of the important factors is the massively overpowered Ahn’Kahar Blood Hunter’s Battlegear. Both the 2-item set bonus and the 4-item set bonus provide a massive damage boost for both ourselves and our pets. The only issue with the T10 set is that its proc chances are quite low, with the 4-item set bonus coming in stronger in AoE encounters rather than Single-Target encounters. This is due to the fact that the proc itself can be triggered more easily if you have multiple Serpent Stings active.
Marksmanship Hunters offer two unique effects, with the latter being useful in multiple situations. The first unique effect is Trueshot Aura which grants a 10% increase in Attack Power. The only issue is that it can be replaced by other similar effects such as Unleashed Rage and Abomination’s Might. The second effect is truly unique and can’t be replaced by any other class or specialization in the game, namely, Readiness. This effect can be used in two pivotal ways. You can use it for two consecutive Misdirection casts or you can use it to reset your entire burst, with the best use being a reset of Rapid Fire. The first method implies that you won’t fully benefit from two consecutive Rapid Fire casts if you are the only Hunter in the raid or if your tank barely holds aggro and you need to aid him immediately.
Balance Druid
Balance Druids find themselves among the best DPS specializations in the fourth phase of the expansion, however, this is only at first glance with the current available data. In theory, both their Single-Target Damage and AoE Damage are insane once they acquire most of their BiS ICC gear. Depending on whether or not changes might happen during PTR, we can expect them to consistently dominate the AoE encounters by using Starfall and to place themselves among the top spots on the damage meters in Single-Target encounters.
While Balance Druids won’t benefit from the Glyph of Omen of Clarity as Feral Druids do, they will get a massive boost from their Lasherweave Regalia‘s item-set bonuses whenever Omen of Clarity procs! Furthermore, Balance Druids will also gain a new DoT thanks to the 4-item set bonus which works perfectly in conjunction with the Phylactery of the Nameless Lich.
Their Moonkin Form grants them a lot of survivability while also giving increased Critical Strike Chance and Haste to any raid member in their vicinity. They can also provide a Spell Hit Debuff in the form of Improved Faerie Fire that enhances all other casters’ Hit Rating.
Besides those effects, they also have access to the staple Class-wide utility effects such as Innervate and Rebirth which are mandatory for any solid raid composition. You can also choose to stack multiple druids to ensure that you maximize the potency of those two effects and reduce any Raid Wipe possibilities.
Retribution Paladin
Just like we mentioned in the previous phase, Retribution Paladins are a mandatory addition to any raid composition. This is mostly due to the plethora of utility effects that they bring rather than their Damage. However, unlike the previous phase, their damage receives a massive boost, especially since they will now be able to access Shadowmourne. Even without the legendary weapon, Retribution Paladins place themselves among the top DPS specializations in the fourth phase, displaying an extraordinary performance in both Single-Target and AoE encounters.
Keep in mind that Shadowmourne is extremely hard to acquire, meaning that you will need to have an entire guild dedicated to creating this legendary weapon if you want to acquire it. On the plus side, either one of Glorenzelg, High-Blade of the Silver Hand, or Oathbinder, Charge of the Ranger-General are great weapons that can be used in case you can’t manage to acquire Shadowmourne.
Another major improvement that Retribution Paladins benefit from is their substantial gameplay changes thanks to the Lightsworn Battlegear‘s set bonuses. The most impactful change that the set brings is the 2-item set bonus which now allows us to reset our Divine Storm after each physical attack. The proc chance itself is 40%, meaning that a high amount of Haste Rating and trinkets such as Tiny Abomination in a Jar will heavily boost Retribution Paladin’s damage output. Another thing to take into consideration is that all abilities that are categorized as Physical Damage abilities can proc this effect, meaning that Judgement, Crusader Strike, Auto-Attacks, and even Divine Storm in itself can proc the effect.
Retribution Paladins will also continue to benefit from the changes that occurred during the second phase of the expansion. Their Single-Target Damage has been improved due to one massive change which turns Hand of Reckoning from a taunt into a pure damage ability through Glyph of Reckoning. However, it is up to you whether or not you will want to sacrifice one of your other Glyphs for an additional cooldown, as Retribution Paladins should focus on proccing as many Divine Storm resets as possible.
Known for their massive utility besides their damage, they grant a plethora of effects ranging from different Auras such as Fire Resistance Aura, Frost Resistance Aura, and Shadow Resistance Aura to “Hands” (Hand of Salvation, Hand of Freedom), and even passive effects. These include a 3% damage increase buff, Sanctified Retribution, and a 3% increase in Critical Strike Chance from the Heart of the Crusader talent.
Retribution Paladins also have two massive defensive cooldowns that are almost mandatory for any raid. Aura Mastery and Divine Sacrifice/Divine Guardian provide massive survivability to the entire raid group and are crucial for certain encounters such as Lord Marrowgar, Festergut, Professor Putricide, and even the Lich King!
A-Tier
The A-Tier represents strong DPS specializations that offer a great amount of damage and utility, but don’t offer the best possible damage output. They will be found in almost every raid group and it will be common to see more than one of each. The A-Tier specializations in Phase 4 will have a very similar damage output to the S-Tier specializations, with individual skill playing a big part in the overall performance of each specialization.
Combat Rogue
Combat Rogues retain their A-Tier spot, with the mention that they could easily earn a spot in the S-Tier if played properly! The reason why they remain in A-Tier is large due to the uniformization of the damage output across the DPS specializations. Although there are other specializations that provide an overall higher damage output, Combat Rogues may as well be considered the last S-Tier specialization due to one very specific effect that almost no other class can bring. Combat Rogue brings the Savage Combat debuff for the raid, which increases Physical Damage taken by 4%. This debuff is only provided by Arms Warriors and Combat Rogues, and most raids will generally want to avoid bringing Arms Warriors. Because of this, Combat Rogues almost always find a spot in any raid comp.
Their Single-Target and AoE damage also skyrockets due to the abundance of Armor Penetration that they can get their hands on, with the most optimal setup granting them around 90% Armor Penetration! They perform far better than their Assassination Rogues brethren, with Fan of Knives, Killing Spree, and Blade Flurry constituting their best tools for AoE encounters. We can all remember the Sindragosa whelps, right?
Sadly, their T10 Shadowblade’s Battlegear‘s item-set bonuses are quite underwhelming when compared to the majority of the other DPS specializations. The main issue with it is that its 4-item set bonus proc chance is quite low when compared to other specializations, making it heavily reliant on RNG. This creates a damage drawback when compared to other specializations, albeit by a low amount.
Besides Savage Combat, they also provide three raid tools, Tricks of the Trade, Distract, and Expose Armor. They also possess a large number of Crowd-Control abilities that they can also use to stunlock trash mobs or certain adds during boss encounters.
Demonology Warlock
Demonology Warlocks find themselves in the same position as they did for the majority of the expansion. Just like previous phases, their damage output is lower than Affliction Warlocks, especially as they have a primarily supportive role due to Demonic Pact. Phase 4 is definitely the moment when Demonic Pact truly begins to shine, quickly becoming a must-have for heavy caster compositions. Demonology Warlocks are vital even in heavy melee comps since their buff also empowers healers.
Nonetheless, their overall damage is nothing to scoff at, being comparable to Combat Rogues and even surpassing them in certain scenarios where their execution damage kicks in. This specialization heavily relies on individual player skill for the majority of an encounter’s length, quickly becoming a “One-Button Wonder” once a fight reaches the execution phase. They certainly have a strong potential in both Single-Target and AoE situations.
Since they lack the Multi-DoT capabilities of their Affliction Specialization counterpart, they make up for it with short heavy AoE burst damage from Metamorphosis & Immolation Aura. They also have Seed of Corruption, however, this generally isn’t enough to keep up with Affliction. Metamorphosis will also play a huge role in Single-Target encounters, especially in situations such as Festergut and Rotface where burst damage is essential.
Just like Affliction Warlocks and Destruction Warlocks, they can benefit from Dark Coven’s Regalia by Multi-Dotting any enemy in sight to proc the effect faster!
Besides their damage and crowd control capabilities, Warlocks provide a variety of class-specific utility spells, including Ritual of Souls, Create Soulstone, and Ritual of Summoning. Although, ideally the Afflictions should be providing Summons & Healthstones, as Demonology does not generate any Soul Shards with their standard rotation.
Unholy Death Knight
Unholy Death Knights certainly take a hit during the fourth phase of the expansion when it comes to Single-Target Damage, however, they retain their monstrous capabilities in any AoE encounter. Of course, their damage output is also heavily reliant on the individual player’s skill and whether or not they acquire Shadowmourne. If played properly, they have the potential to rise up to the S-Tier once again, especially in Cleave-oriented encounters!
Even if their Single-Target damage output is similar to Frost Death Knights, their AoE potential clearly puts them in a league of their own when compared to Frost Death Knights. You can expect Unholy Death Knights to always dominate a Frost Death Knight in Cleave encounters thanks to Wandering Plague!
One of the biggest changes that come to Unholy Death Knights in Phase 4 is the complete transition from the new meta Dual-Wield Unholy to the standard 2-Handed Unholy build. This is mostly due to Shadowmourne but also due to the existence of the Sigil of the Hanged Man which forces players to use Scourge Strike in order to obtain the proc.
Keep in mind that Shadowmourne is extremely hard to acquire, meaning that you will need to have an entire guild dedicated to creating this legendary weapon if you want to acquire it.
The main issue that Death Knight encounters during this phase is their unimpressive item-set bonuses from their T10 Scourgelord’s Battlegear. They only receive a 10% damage increase for Scourge Strike and a measly 3% damage increase whenever all their runes are depleted. Those two bonuses are extremely weak when compared to the majority of the other DPS specializations that receive game-changing damage-enhancing buffs.
For players that are not aware yet of this change or simply forgot, Summon Gargoyle no longer takes into consideration the initial Haste Rating Snapshot but rather adjusts itself with each one of the Gargoyle’s attacks based on the current Haste Rating that you have. This means that Snapshotting remains redundant even in Phase 4 unless changes are made during the PTR period.
Wandering Plague along with Pestilence remain the most powerful AoE tools in an Unholy Death Knight’s possession, resulting in an almost complete domination of any Cleave situation. Their overall AoE is mostly comparable to Balance Druids, Retribution Paladins, Combat Rogues, Fire Mages, and Affliction Warlocks.
Besides their insane damage output, Unholy Death Knights will continue to provide powerful utility effects such as Ebon Plaguebringer. Death Knights are also incredibly valuable due to Death Grips’ many uses.
Frost Death Knight
Frost Death Knights remain pretty much in the same spot as in the previous phase, albeit with one major mention. Current sims show Frost having higher single-target DPS than Unholy, however, it completely loses when it comes to Unholy when it comes to Cleave situations. This is mostly due to a lack of tools when compared to Unholy’s Wandering Plague which results in massive damage.
Nonetheless, their Single-Target damage is quite insane once they manage to acquire the BiS items. The main issue with Frost Death Knights is that their damage is comparable to most of the other A-Tier and S-Tier specializations, fluctuating around the exact same damage output as many other DPS specializations. This removes any uniqueness from the specialization, with their main benefit being their Improved Icy Talons. This buff is extremely useful if you can’t bring any Enhancement Shamans to your raid, as the buff is mutually exclusive with Windfury Totem.
Just like with Unholy Death Knight, Frost Death Knight encounters the same issue during this phase with their unimpressive item-set bonuses from their T10 Scourgelord’s Battlegear. They only receive a 10% damage increase for Obliterate and a measly 3% damage increase whenever all their runes are depleted. Those two bonuses are extremely weak when compared to the majority of the other DPS specializations that receive overpowered damage-enhancing buffs.
Survival Hunter
Survival Hunters find themselves in a weaker spot when compared to the previous phase of the expansion. This is mainly due to the abundance of Armor Penetration found in ICC, with Marksmanship Hunter surpassing Survival Hunter by quite a decent amount. While Marksmanship benefits more from Armor Penetration, Survival Hunter still manages to hold its own and maintain a good spot in the A-Tier. Trap Weaving now becomes a general standard for all the Hunter Specializations, albeit, Survival Hunter comes on top in this regard when compared to its brethren thanks to its special talents.
Another one of the important factors is the massively overpowered Ahn’Kahar Blood Hunter’s Battlegear. Both the 2-item set bonus and the 4-item set bonus provide a massive damage boost for both ourselves and our pets. The only issue with the T10 set is that its proc chances are quite low, with the 4-item set bonus coming in stronger in AoE encounters rather than Single-Target encounters. This is due to the fact that the proc itself can be triggered more easily if you have multiple Serpent Stings active.
The only downside of Survival Hunters is that it doesn’t bring any unique effects for the raid group. Replenishment is provided by other classes, Misdirection is provided by other any Hunters. While they might not provide any unique effects, Survival Hunters are very well known for their insane survivability with their insane stamina.
B-Tier
The B-Tier represents mediocre damage specializations. They are still considered viable, as they do a decent amount of damage, but they typically cannot compete with the A-tier specs on the damage meters. However, in many cases, they provide valuable raid buffs that make them worth bringing anyway, as their utility makes up for their deficiency in raw damage.
Elemental Shaman
Elemental Shamans see a steady growth compared to the last phase, climbing all the way to the top of the B Tier. Their damage output now exceeds Enhancement Shamans, albeit by a small amount. Since they retain most of the bonuses from the previous phases, including the reset for Fire Elemental Totem after every encounter. This is mostly due to the amazing item-set bonuses they receive from their T10 Frost Witch’s Regalia. The 4-item set bonus synergizes extremely well with the Phylactery of the Nameless Lich, granting them enough damage output to even outperform their Enhancement Brethren.
All of this is of course available, only once they reach their BiS gear, as their overall damage is extremely dependent on the current gear that they possess. Without the proper ICC gear setup, their overall damage falls on the mediocre side, with the trinkets and T10 set playing a huge role in their damage output capabilities.
Besides their great damage capabilities, they encounter the same issues with their utility abilities as they encountered during the previous phases of the expansion.
All of their utility effects can be replaced by other specializations. Elemental Oath won’t stack with a Balance Druid’s Moonkin Aura, and Totem of Wrath will get obliterated by Demonic Pact. However, Demonic Pact will be empowered by Totem of Wrath before it activates, meaning that their spell still brings in some utility.
Besides the effects that don’t stack, all the rest of their utility spells can be brought by either a Restoration Shaman or an Enhancement Shaman, meaning that the specialization doesn’t actually bring any unique benefit to the raid. This means that raid compositions will tend to prefer bringing Enhancement Shamans or Restoration Shamans instead.
Among the few reasons why raid compositions might prefer an Elemental Shaman instead of an Enhancement Shaman is their overall higher survivability, with Elemental Shamans having a higher armor value due to their shields.
Enhancement Shaman
Enhancement Shamans see a decline in their performance when compared to the last phase of the expansion, although, we can certainly say that their damage is not the cause! With the major uniformization of the damage output across the board, a large majority of the mediocre classes have risen to unexpected heights. This resulted in a large amount of DPS specializations performing extremely well while also requiring far less skill than Enhancement Shamans.
While Enhancement Shamans and Spellhance Shamans have received massive damage boosts from the changes that occurred in the previous phases, their low survivability and high skill requirement have remained one of the major issues that make the specialization fluctuate in the DPS Tier List. They certainly have the ability to outperform more popular specializations such as Combat Rogue or Frost Death Knight, however, they require additional effort and quite a hefty amount of gear until they can manage to do so.
One thing Enhancement Shamans have really got going for them is their T10 Frost Witch’s Battlegear‘s item-set bonuses, which are extremely strong. Both their 2-item set bonus and 4-item set bonus provide massive damage-enhancing effects, with the 4-item set bonus providing a considerable Attack Power buff if their Maelstrom Weapon procs are consistent.
Apart from their damage, Enhancement brings two buffs to any raid composition, Windfury Totem and Unleashed Rage. These buffs aren’t unique to Enhancement though. Windfury Totem can be replaced by a Blood/Frost Death Knight’s Improved Icy Talons while Unleashed Rage can be replaced by Abomination’s Might and Trueshot Aura. However, as they can bring buffs that would require multiple raid spots to fulfill, Enhancement quickly became one of the favorite specializations for the top guilds.
As for the other utility effects that they can provide, the most impactful will be Bloodlust/Heroism, followed by Nature Resistance Totem, and Wrath of Air Totem.
Destruction Warlock
Destruction Warlock finds itself in a surprising spot, especially as it’s known for its overall weak damage output. Thanks to the potent ICC caster items, Destruction Warlock finds itself in a position where it has comparable damage to Elemental Shaman and Enhancement Shaman. As multiple specializations have their damage output uniformized, Destruction Warlocks find themselves in a spot where both their Single-Target damage & Cleave damage are quite strong. The main issue that Destruction Warlocks face, especially when compared to the other Warlock specializations is the lack of of an execution tool. As such, their damage can fall short when compared to the S-tier and A-tier specializations.
Just like Affliction Warlocks and Demonology Warlocks, they can benefit from Dark Coven’s Regalia by Multi-Dotting any enemy in sight to proc the effect faster!
They retain the same utility spells (Ritual of Souls, Create Soulstone, and Ritual of Summoning) and crowd-control as the other two Warlock Specializations, with Fear being just as useful for a few specific trash mobs. In addition to Fear, they can also use Shadowfury which can be used as a powerful crowd-control tool in Deathbringer Saurfang’s encounter. You may also use Shadowfury during multiple Cleave situations when you clear trash mobs, but the effect itself is quite inconsequential. Besides Replenishment and Shadowfury, Destruction Warlocks bring no unique effects whatsoever, rendering them the weakest of the three Warlock Specializations.
Assassination Rogue
Assassination Rogues find themselves in a weaker spot when compared to the previous phases of the expansion. As Armor Penetration becomes more abundant, their overall damage output shrinks when compared to their counterpart and the majority of the other physical damage dealers. However, this doesn’t mean that their overall damage is considerably weaker. Their overall damage output is on the high end of the damage meters, especially once they manage to get their hands on unique items such as Tiny Abomination in a Jar.
In terms of AoE damage, their output is considerably lower than their Combat Rogues counterpart. This is mainly due to the fact that Fan of Knives is mostly influenced by Armor Penetration, as it deals direct damage connected to your Weapon Damage.
Their utility is also lackluster as they only provide three raid tools, Tricks of the Trade, Distract, and Expose Armor. You could argue that their true utility comes in the form of Crowd-Control abilities, with many of them being functional on adds. One perfect example of this would be the trash mobs before Blood-Queen Lana’thel.
Arcane Mage
The Arcane Mage specialization finds itself in a weird spot when compared to the previous phases. It certainly has a large damage output, with the potential of overpowering even S-Tier specializations, however, it suffers from a general lack of mobility while also having major issues with mana management. The main issue with the specialization is that it manages to deal a large amount of damage in a very quick burst but it completely becomes OOM after roughly 20-30 seconds in the encounter. Even with Evocation and Mana Gems, the specialization is not sustainable in the long run and the lack of mobility lowers its overall damage in encounters where mobility is simply a crucial mechanic.
Besides their unreliable Single-Target Damage, Arcane Mages suffer from a notoriously low performance in AoE encounters, with the only reliable AoE that they have access to being Arcane Explosion. This ability generates a high amount of threat and makes them susceptible to being one-shot, as the ability itself has a low range which forces them to be right next to the mobs.
They have the same benefits from the T10 set, Bloodmage’s Regalia‘s item-set bonuses, however, their 2-item set bonus is considerably weaker for them when compared to a Fire Mage. This mostly happens due to the innate rotation of the specialization itself, even if Arcane Mage benefits more from Haste Rating than Fire Mage.
Apart from inconsistent damage, the specialization itself brings absolutely nothing in terms of utility for the raid. The only buff that they grant is a damage-enhancing effect, Arcane Empowerment. This, sadly, does not stack with Retribution Paladins Sanctified Retribution, so you only need one or the other. Since Retribution Paladins are one of the most useful specializations in the entirety of the expansion, you can expect Arcane Empowerment to be entirely useless unless all of your Retribution Paladins meet an untimely demise.
We might see a rise in popularity for the Arcane Mage specialization if Blizzard decides to tune its mana issues during the PTR of Phase 4. Until then, we can assume its performance will be entirely up to the respective player’s skill cap, and how lucky their RNG is.
C-Tier
The specializations that make up the C-Tier are on the weaker side of the DPS spectrum. They can still be considered viable, occasionally offering useful buffs and debuffs, and can very often be very fun to play. However, you aren’t likely to be in the top places of DPS meters with these specs, and you won’t have the easiest time finding a raid group, as they aren’t in high demand.
Blood Death Knight
Blood Death Knights find themselves in the same spot as the previous phase of the expansion, however, they will gain access to large amounts of Armor Penetration in Phase 4. With the hope that Blood Death Knights will retain their buffs to the Dancing Rune Weapon from the previous phase, their damage output based on current simulations seems to be on the upper echelon. Their damage output, if they manage to get enough Armor Penetration, can be seen as high C-Tier, with the potential of even being classified as low-end B-Tier.
The main issue that Death Knight encounters during this phase is their unimpressive item-set bonuses from their T10 Scourgelord’s Battlegear. They only receive a 10% damage increase for Scourge Strike and a measly 3% damage increase whenever all their runes are depleted. Those two bonuses are extremely weak when compared to the majority of the other DPS specializations that receive game-changing damage-enhancing buffs.
The main issue Blood Death Knights face, just like in the previous phase of the expansion, is the lack of utility buffs that they can provide. The first buff, Abomination’s Might, is easily replaceable by Trueshot Aura or Unleashed Rage. Since the majority of raid compositions will prefer an Enhancement Shaman or a Marksmanship Hunter, you will have a tough time finding a raid group. The second buff that they provide is actually unique and can’t be granted by any other classes, namely Unholy Frenzy. The issue with Unholy Frenzy is that you will sacrifice a DPS spot for a simple potential damage increase for your main Physical DPS. This means that Blood Death Knights take on a more supportive role as they are often chosen just for this effect. Furthermore, you can also gain the same effect from a Blood Death Knight Tank if you tweak their builds a bit.
Beast Mastery Hunter
Compared to the previous phases of the expansion, Beast Mastery Hunters finally become playable. In this phase, the abundance of Armor Penetration increases their overall damage by a great amount while the T10 set vastly improves their pet’s damage. However, their damage output remains subpar when compared to the majority of the other DPS specializations, with only Arms Warriors and Blood Death Knights being similar to them.
The Ahn’Kahar Blood Hunter’s Battlegear set will also increase your overall damage when you manage to activate the 2-item set bonus, however, your damage output will be very low until you manage to activate it.
Besides the strong 2-set bonus, Beast Mastery Hunters have nothing going on for them, as their utility is completely replaced by the other Hunter Specializations and their damage-enhancing buff, Ferocious Inspiration, is simply replaced by an Arcane Mage’s Arcane Empowerment and Retribution Paladin’s Sanctified Retribution.
Arms Warrior
Arms Warriors, sadly, won’t be desired in the fourth phase of the expansion. While Arms Warriors can benefit from the abundance of Armor Penetration in ICC, the specialization is simply completely overshadowed by their counterpart, the Fury Warriors. Furthermore, their utility effects such as healing reduction from Mortal Strike and increased bleed damage from Trauma are provided by effects such as Wound Poison VII and Mangle (Cat).
Unlike the previous phase of the expansion, they find themselves in the C-Tier due to the abundance of Armor Penetration which makes their damage output close to BM Hunter & Blood Death Knight. However, they are more of a “meme” specialization, with 99% of warriors preferring the Fury Specialization due to its overall better gameplay and far better damage output.
D-Tier
Simply put, specs in the D-tier are considered to be not viable. They can be fun to play, but you will struggle to get invited to raids when playing one of these, and you may even find yourself getting kicked from groups, as your damage will be really bad.
Subtlety Rogue
Subtlety Rogue is designed around PvP content as it has no long-term impactful Single-Target damage output while also lacking any form of Cleave Damage. You might argue that Subtlety Rogues provide a decent damage output by using the extremely powerful ICC items, however, their damage is completely subpar.
Frost Mage
Just like in the previous phases, Frost Mage was designed for PvP content. Even so, a dedicated community of Frost Mages has made several attempts at making the specialization viable for PvE content. As such, several ways to enhance Frost Mage’s damage have been discovered, albeit, with no real success in generating comparable damage to the rest of the specializations. As their damage is completely subpar to the other Mage Specializations, you will only want to use this specialization if you want to enjoy an “Ice Master” fantasy.