DPS Rankings / Tier List for Mists of Pandaria Classic

December 5 update: Updated for the launch of Throne of Thunder and phase 3 of Mists of Pandaria Classic!

You can find below a quick summary of the current PvE DPS rankings:

1. Affliction Warlock (A-Tier)
2. Arcane Mage (S-Tier)
3. Subtlety Rogue (S-Tier)
4. Frost Mage (A-Tier)
5. Fire Mage (A-Tier)
6. Arms Warrior (A-Tier)
7. Destruction Warlock (S-Tier)
8. Feral Druid (A-Tier)
9. Assassination Rogue (A-Tier)
10. Elemental Shaman (A-Tier)
11. Unholy Death Knight (B-Tier)
12. Frost Death Knight (B-Tier)
13. Balance Druid (B-Tier)
14. Shadow Priest (B-Tier)
15. Survival Hunter (B-Tier)
16. Enhancement Shaman (B-Tier)
17. Demonology Warlock (B-Tier)
18. Fury Warrior (B-Tier)
19. Combat Rogue (B-Tier)
20. Beast Mastery Hunter (C-Tier)
21. Marksmanship Hunter (C-Tier)
22. Retribution Paladin (C-Tier)
23. Windwalker Monk (C-Tier)

In order to further understand the reasoning behind these ranks, we would recommend you read the rest of the page, as that is explained in more detail in the next few sections.

If you are interested in other PvE role rankings for Mists of Pandaria Classic, check the following links:

When sorting out the rankings for DPS in PvE, we are primarily concerned with two things:

1. Damage Throughput — first and foremost, DPS are there to deal damage. The value brought by each class and spec to the raid is primarily determined by how much damage they provide. This is calculated both by each spec's personal DPS combined with the value of the buffs and debuffs that they may bring.
2. Desirability — expanding on the last sentence above, there are stark differences in how "desirable" certain DPS classes are depending on the number that you bring to raid. A significant factor in tier list placement is determined by the number of each spec that you might want in a raid group. For instance, Balance Druids are incredibly important for raiding because they bring extremely important buffs that benefits the whole raid, but their personal damage is mediocre early on. The value of the first Balance Druid in the raid is huge, but the second Balance Druid has significantly less value. At the end of the day, the question we are trying to answer is how desirable your class and spec is to a raid.

One important change to emphasize is that in Mists of Pandaria Classic, almost every single spec in the game brings some sort of important raid buff or debuff. However, all raid buffs come from multiple sources, so a single buff could be brought by 3 or 4 different specs. These buffs do not stack from different sources if it is the same buff. This means that for our purposes, outside of a couple of niche cases, we will be ignoring raid buffs for the most part. You should always ensure that your raid has all of the possible buffs, but there are numerous places to get each one, meaning with a moderately diverse raid comp you should be fine in 25-man raids.

For 10 man raiding specifically, this also means that you are extremely unlikely to ever use more than one of a spec, because you'll inevitably be missing out on valuable buffs. Mists of Pandaria is well-balanced enough that bringing a worse DPS spec along with a missing raid buff will almost always be better than bringing a second S-tier DPS spec that you already have one of.

These are the best DPS specializations for the first tier of Mists of Pandaria classic. Specifically, these are the DPS specializations that you will commonly see stacked in 25-man heroic Raids for how strong they are. You should expect to see multiple of these in most raid groups.

Affliction Warlock offers the strongest multi-target spread damage in the game thanks to their powerful DoTs, which allows them to both funnel more damage into a main target and do strong add damage at the same time. Spread cleave and multi-dotting is quite strong in general, making Affliction a solid choice overall and far and away the best choice on select fights. Affliction has the highest scaling potential out of any DPS in the game, and only gets better over time with more gear.

Arcane Mage has top tier burst and exceptional single target, offering scaling that propels them to the top of the meters as you gear up. Throne of thunder also specifically has the combination of several fights with either burn phases or damage amplification mechanics, which Arcane excels greatly at. Arcane also lacks some of the AoE power that Frost and Fire bring however, and is only really a standout in single target. But, Arcane's single target and burst is so powerful that it still takes an S-tier spot.

Like Frost Mages, Subtlety Rogue is redesigned significantly going into Mists of Pandaria. Subtlety is no longer a purely PVP specialization and does incredible single target damage in raids. Subtlety has a relatively complex rotation requiring lots of planning to upkeep several buffs such as Recuperate and Slice and Dice. If you can pull it off successfully, Subtlety Rogues deal the most single target damage in the game on pure sustained single target. However, Rogues also lack almost any good AOE or cleave options, which is what keeps them in A-tier. Rogues additionally bring Smoke Bomb, which is one of the best defensive raid cooldowns in the game that DPS bring.

These are the strong DPS specializations that you will always see at least one of, maybe two. They are still relatively powerful, have their own unique niche, but outside of raid buffs are still going to be worse than S-tier options.

Like Destruction Warlock, Frost Mage is one of the strongest casters in the first phase of Mists thanks to their raw damage output. Mages have an incredibly deep defensive and offensive toolkit, meaning if you are a strong player, Mages offer you a lot of options in any situation. Frost Mages were reworked heavily coming into Mists of Pandaria and are no longer strictly a PvP-based class. Frost has an incredible number of instant cast procs that give then a stream of high, on-demand burst spells to cast at will. Their built-in ability to guarantee crits is what gives them so much power early on in Mists, and they remain strong going into phase 3. However, they ultimately will not scale as well as the other Mage specializations.

Thanks to the power of Combustion, Fire Mage in Mists of Pandaria has one of the highest DPS ceilings out of any class in the game, growing exponentially with gear. The spec is a bit RNG-heavy and does require some luck for good setup, but Fire has the potential to set up some absolutely monstrous burst damage through proper ignite stacking that can then be spread to all targets in range for AoE that no other spec could ever even hope to come close to. It's not a reach to say that Fire Mages has one of the single most powerful cooldown ever introduced in WoW, but only when luck goes your way. Fire Mage is still heating up however and needs a significant amount of crit and haste to really scale to its full potential.

Arms Warrior was absolutely dominant all the way through Cataclysm and continues to be a top contender in Mists of Pandaria. Thanks to Colossus Smash, Arms Warriors have incredible sustained single-target damage along with low cooldown burst windows inside their smash. Arms still has some of the best 2-target cleave in the game thanks to Sweeping Strikes, providing them a niche where they're ahead of even the S-tier classes. Arms will remain strong throughout the expansion, but will eventually be out-scaled by Fury. For now, they remain one of the strongest melee DPS.

One important addition however, Warriors bring Skull Banner, which is the strongest, stack-able raid DPS cooldown. This gives Warriors a slight edge, all other things being equal, when compared to other DPS.

Destruction Warlock is a solid, all-around standout DPS in Mists of Pandaria that stays A-tier through the remainder of the expansion. Warlock has an incredibly array of damage cooldowns to pull from, but Destruction in particular utilizes a high base level of damage thanks to some reworked abilities to deal incredible damage, especially early on. Havoc is Destruction's signature spell however, which causes them to deal the most two-target cleave damage in the game. Destruction will be one of the best casters for the first phase of Mists of Pandaria thanks entirely to their damage output.

Feral Druid has one of the most complex rotations in the game, but when played properly offer exceptional single-target damage. Feral lacks single-target burst and sustained AoE, but their burst AoE when combining Berserk and Swipe is quite strong. Outside of sustained single-target and burst AoE, Feral does suffer since they require a significant time investment to get their damage and DoTs rolling on new targets. Feral scales exceptionally well, and will become one of the best single target damage dealers later on in the expansion.

Assassination Rogue offers decent sustained single-target damage and are extremely consistent. The meta for Rogue specs largely comes down to tuning and scaling. For the first tier of Mists of Pandaria, Subtlety is the far superior specialization. It does more damage than Assassination, making it the better choice, especially when both specs share the same niche of only being good in single target scenarios. Rogues still all bring Smoke Bomb, which is a compelling defensive choice however.

Elemental Shaman previously had some severe scaling issues, but in Mists of Pandaria, this is gone completely. Shamans bring a high number of important raid buffs, making them a great choice to round out your caster groups in any raid. While Elemental lacks the single target burst damage of the other S-tier classes, their AoE with Chain Lightning and Fire Nova is exceptional. The combination of sustained single-target damage through their new and improved rotation along with on-demand AoE that also cleaves for single target damage is quite powerful and a solid choice in the new expansion. It's also worth noting that Shamans bring Stormlash Totem, which is a minor raid DPS cooldown that can be useful in some burst scenarios.

These are the middle of the pack DPS specializations. You would expect to see exactly one of these in a raid, usually for the explicit purpose of a raid buff, or possibly for some required utility on a specific fight.

Thanks to their powerful spec cooldowns, Unholy has some of the highest burst damage in the game, specifically due to the power of Summon Gargoyle. Death Knights in general are strong all expansion, and fully live up to the title of hero class. Perhaps one of the biggest weaknesses of Unholy is that while it may be one of the strongest DPS at the start, Blood DK is so absurdly strong as a tank that every raid is almost guaranteed to already have a DK in a tank spot already. Unholy DK offers incredibly defense, burst damage, and the powerful combination of sustained single target and large scale AoE that allows them to excel in any encounter. Death Grip is also unique utility that is impossible to replicate with other specs.

Frost Death Knight has many of the same strengths as Unholy, but are different in a couple of key ways. While Unholy is based around pets and DoTs, Frost focuses instead on hard hitting strikes along with powerful short burst cooldowns and procs. They have similar relative strengths as both do exceptional damage, top-tier single target, and amazing on-demand AoE. Unholy does more damage overall however, and has a more powerful burst window, specifically when it comes to single target. Additionally, Frost loses out on more single-target damage during its AoE. However, Frost is one of the best AoE and sustained cleave specializations in the game thanks to the power of Howling Blast. The best DKs will play Frost on some fights over Unholy when there are always multiple targets to cleave down.

Balance Druid has some incredible utility, specifically with Typhoon and Innervate. These are both highly sought after, and invaluable to certain other classes. Boomkins do decent single-target damage, but have some of the better AoE in the game thanks to Starfall and their powerful multi-dotting. Boomkins also have incredible funnel damage potential thanks to a unique mechanic where DoTs can reset their Starsurge cooldown, allowing them a powerful, constant stream of priority target damage. That being said, their damage overall is still a bit weaker than the classes in the tiers above with low scaling early on. Most raids will have a single Boomkin, usually because they bring so many important buffs as just a single spec.

Shadow Priest offers some strong utility options when brought to the raid, and Priest in general is even required on a couple of encounters for their utility. Shadow as a damage specialization is strong, offering decent damage in most situations, but getting far outmatched by specs like Survival Hunter and Destruction Warlock in AoE and burst damage. Multi-dotting is still certainly a strong niche, and is actually quite useful in several encounters, but Shadow Priests are the weakest option early on for spread cleave. The primary weakness will be Shadow's single target damage, where they are exceptionally weak.

Survival Hunter require very little gear to be effective in Raids, but still scale decently well with Agility as you get more gear. Hunter in general has some amazing utility tools like Misdirection that make having at least 1-2 critically important in most raids, but even without the utility, Survival is quite strong. Survival Hunters have the best on-demand AoE in the game, both for burst and sustained AoE damage with the power of Explosive Trap and Serpent Spread.

Enhancement Shaman is possibly one of the most difficult specs to play well, but have a high ceiling when played properly. Enhancement has a huge arsenal of competing cooldowns which can make their rotation hard to perform well, especially in a tier where swapping between AoE and single target is critical. Enhancement has great damage potential, but is still a bit lacking compared to the melee above. However, Enhancement also brings decent AoE with their Fire Nova, making them a compelling choice on any cleave fights without a huge sacrifice to single target throughput. Shamans also do bring Stormlash Totem, which is a minor raid DPS cooldown that can be useful in some burst scenarios.

Demonology Warlock utilize their Metamorphosis form to deal incredible burst damage, primarily for AoE cleave. Warlocks are a staple of the S-tier meta, but Mists of Pandaria will be mostly focused on Destruction and Affliction. Demonology is still quite competitive and a solid choice throughout the expansion, but the pressence of the other more powerful Warlock specs will overshadow it. Demonology's primary strength will be its burst AoE however, where certain encounters will make it quite desirable.

Fury Warrior continues to be quite weak after suffering for most of Cataclysm. Just like in Wrath, Fury is set up to fail early on as it requires a significant amount of haste and crit to really scale well. However, unlike previously, Fury will eventually outscale Arm. Arms Warriors will be one of the best DPS specs in the game early on, but Fury will surpass it in the final tier. Fury has decent low target cleave damage, but doesn't bring the same single target damage that Arms does. Fury suffers from a lack of Rage early on, making it feel slow and bulky.

Combat Rogue requires a bit of gear and scaling, but once they have some solid raid gear, they can output some incredible numbers. Combat's strength is still its cleave thanks to Blade Flurry, but overall it just does less damage on single target than Subtlety. On fights where you can utilize Blade Flurry however, Combat deals incredible cleave damage. Unfortunately there are not many fights in the first tier where this is critically useful, but Combat will eventually scale into a powerhouse at around the time fights will allow you to make far better use of your built-in cleave.

These are the specializations that, while still viable, are under powered compared to the specializations in the tier above. These are not requested specializations in raids.

Beast Mastery Hunter is a weak option just like in Cataclysm, at least early on. Survival heavily outclasses Beast Mastery, as your pet is significantly less important to your overall damage. This is mainly true because the other two Hunter specs offer meaningful DPS talents to increase their damage done, specifically giving powerful build-defining shots that their rotations are based around. Ultimately there isn't much to say besides just that Beast Mastery does not do adequate damage without the necessary scaling to make your pet powerful. Beast Mastery does have the best damage cooldowns out of any Hunter spec however, giving them one clear niche. Beast Mastery also now has Beast Cleave, giving them a great way to deal cleave damage now.

While Marksmanship Hunter does require some gear to scale, massives buffs to their core abilities have really pushed their effectiveness up in the first tier of Mists of Pandaria. Marksmanship still ultimately scales worse than Beast Mastery, and is weaker than Survival early on, putting them in a weird middle ground throughout the expansion. Marksmanship is slightly weaker in terms of raw output, but has one of the strongest opening burst combos due to Careful Aim. It may be popular in PvP, but that success just does not translate into PvE at the moment. Marksmanship notably has the worst AOE options out of any Hunter spec as well, with no significant way to cleave.

Retribution Paladin has every benefit of being a Paladin, but unfortunately do not bring quite the same power level that Holy and Protection bring. Retribution offers some strong damage cooldowns giving them decent burst damage for single target, but lacks the AOE and cleave that Arms Warriors and Unholy DKs bring. While still a solid melee choice, the other melee DPS above offer just a bit more in the way of both throughput and utility. Retribution still shines when it comes to burst damage thanks to great cooldowns, but their sustained single target and AoE is where they fall behind.

Windwalker Monk is the new DPS in Mists of Pandaria, starting the expansion with quite a decent showing. While Windwalker is not quite S-tier in terms of pure single target output, it has incredible burst damage that allows for exceptional AoE burst with the right setup utilizing Storm, Earth, and Fire. Windwalker also has incredibly mobility and defensive cooldowns, giving you plenty of ways to deal with every raid encounter. This will be a specialization that heavily rewards skillful play; when played well, great Windwalkers can still be decently competitive, just it will require far more effort for very little reward.