3v3 Arena Composition Tier List / Guide for WotLK Classic

In this guide, we will be presenting the compositions that form "the meta" of Wrath Arena in the 3v3 bracket.

The meta changes over time, but it will naturally change less and more slowly in a game as well understood as Wrath of the Lich King Classic. We will also be getting the final talent balance of Wrath right away, and thus most of the changes will come from having better gear for classes that scale well as we progress in tiers. To give a practical example, Physical damage dealers will start off with low Armor Penetration and thus have much lower damage potential than they will in the later phases of Wrath.

While most compositions have a favored healer, alternative healers can often be employed to some degree of success, especially as healers are significantly more versatile and capable with Wrath talents and spells. Also, note that within each tier the compositions are not listed in order of power.

3v3 is the most balanced Arena bracket, with more viable compositions and classes than the 2v2 bracket, while avoiding the craziness and one-shot meta of the 5v5 bracket.

The best 3v3 team compositions bring a lot of offensive and defensive abilities, as well as diverse crowd control (CC) on separate diminishing return (DR) categories or overwhelming damage. This allows them to set up prolonged crowd control chains or pressure the enemy team into making mistakes, often leading to a kill.

Retribution Paladins are particularly notable for bringing great burst damage, crowd control, defensive abilities, and off-healing in a single package, making them very strong with any other class, even when not explicitly listed below.

This list will be adjusted over time as teams match against each other in Wrath Classic.

Composition	Strengths	Weaknesses
Thundercleave: Arms Warrior Elemental Shaman Holy Paladin Alternative healer: Discipline Priest	Huge burst damage potential with Bloodlust and Bladestorm, which is hard to recover from due to Wind Shear and Mortal Strike; Excellent survivability with high Armor, off-healing, Sacred Shield, Divine Shield, and Hand of Protection; Good mobility through Intercept, Cleanse, and Hand of Freedom.	Low CC when compared to most compositions.
TSG: Arms Warrior Unholy Death Knight Holy Paladin Alternative healer: Discipline Priest	Huge burst damage potential with DK diseases and Bladestorm, which is hard to recover from due to Death Grip, Chains of Ice, and Mortal Strike; Excellent survivability with high Armor, Sacred Shield, Divine Shield, and Hand of Protection; Good mobility through Intercept, Cleanse, and Hand of Freedom.	Very low CC when compared to most compositions; Lack of ranged DPS allows enemies to kite, although this is a composition that works well to keep enemies within range as much as possible.
Shatterplay: Frost Mage Shadow Priest Restoration Shaman	Excellent burst damage, especially during Bloodlust and Deep Freeze; Multiple ranged interrupts and silences, as well as great CC from Hex, Psychic Horror, and Polymorph; Double offensive dispel plus Spellsteal allows for very high pressure against compositions that rely on defensive buffs.	Hex and Polymorph share diminishing return categories, limiting maximum CC chain length; Line-of-sight usage by enemy team can severely impact damage done.
LSD: Destruction Warlock Elemental Shaman Restoration Druid Alternative healer: Holy Paladin Discipline Priest	Huge one-shot potential between Lava Burst, Chain Lightning and Chaos Bolt; Strong crowd control with Hex, Fear, Seduction, Cyclone, and Entangling Roots.	High skill requirement composition due to the low survivability of most members, especially the Warlock who needs constant peeling in order to cast; Line-of-sight usage by enemy team can severely impact damage done.
Cupid Cleave Marksmanship Hunter Retribution Paladin Discipline Priest Alternative healer: Holy Paladin Restoration Shaman	Excellent mobility from Disengage, Hand of Freedom, double defensive dispel, and Master's Call; Aimed Shot plus Retribution Paladin burst for high pressure. Excellent CC chains with Psychic Scream and Scatter Shot into Freezing Trap or Hammer of Justice into Repentance;	Can be difficult to fend off high incoming damage, especially if Hunter can be disarmed, which prevents the use of Deterrence.
WMS: Warlock Mage Restoration Shaman Alternative healer: Restoration Druid	Allows for multiple specs (Affliction / Destruction and Frost / Fire) to be viable with the playstyle mostly depending on the Warlock's spec, Affliction will put out pressure on multiple targets for swaps, Destruction will focus on CC into one shot Chaos Bolt combos; Huge amount of high-duration CC, allowing for infinite CC chains with Polymorph, Fear, Seduction, Frost Nova, and so on.	Long casts are required for burst damage; All members are weak when pressured.
Turbo: Arms Warrior Enhancement Shaman Holy Paladin Alternative healers: Discipline Priest Restoration Druid	Very high burst damage potential, with Bloodlust, Bladestorm, and totems; Good mobility through Intercept, Cleanse, and Hand of Freedom; Mortal Strike makes it hard for the enemy healer to keep up.	Gear-dependent composition; Lack of ranged DPS allows enemies to kite.
RMP: Rogue Frost Mage Discipline Priest Alternative healer: Restoration Druid	Strong burst damage, especially with offensive cooldowns; Wide array of CC, including stuns and interrupts; Great swap potential, hard to predict burst target until the final moment.	Mana runs out quickly in a prolonged fight; Mistakes are easily fatal due to the long cooldowns on critical abilities; Requires the most coordination out of any team due to damage being setup-dependent.
Shadowplay: Affliction Warlock Shadow Priest Restoration Shaman	Best spread and overall damage, plus Bloodlust; Multiple ranged interrupts and silences, as well as a great CC chain with Hex, Psychic Horror, and Fear; All members have offensive and defensive dispels, allowing for easy magic CC breaking.	Low mobility and damage often requires casting, allowing for enemy disruption; Line-of-sight usage by enemy team can severely impact damage done; Limited CC, mostly composed of fear effects.
Beastcleave Beast Mastery Hunter Enhancement Shaman Holy Paladin	Excellent mobility from Disengage, Hand of Freedom, defensive dispel, and Master's Call; Extreme damage and pressure on the opener through Bestial Wrath, Feral Spirit, Bloodlust, and Aimed Shot.	Loses pressure on the opener if Hunter is disarmed during Bestial Wrath; Can quickly run out of steam once cooldowns are all used, as BM Hunter and Enh Shaman both rely on their cooldowns for most of their damage.
Junglecleave Marksmanship Hunter Feral Druid Discipline Priest	Excellent mobility from Disengage, Feral Charge and shapeshifting, defensive dispel, and Master's Call; Extreme damage and consistent pressure through high Hunter and Feral damage, Maim with Cyclone, offensive dispel, and Aimed Shot.	Hard to keep pressure high against strong offensive pressure as it forces the Druid into Dire Bear Form where outgoing damage is limited; Hunter and Priest are vulnerable to swaps due to having low defensive capabilities.
LDS: Affliction Warlock Balance Druid Restoration Shaman	Huge AoE damage with Starfall and Balance plus Warlock DoTs, as well as Bloodlust; Multiple ranged interrupts and silences, as well as a great CC chain with Hex, Fear, Cyclone, and Entangling Roots. Less impact on damage from line-of-sight usage relative to most caster cleaves due to most damage coming from DoTs;	Low survivability of both Warlock and Druid requires great peeling abilities in order to stay alive for a kill to happen; Casting requirements on some of the harder hitting abilities allow for interrupt / silence disruption from enemy team.

While the teams listed above are, arguably, the best ones in the current meta, there are plenty of other strong options as well which we will list below. If your desired composition is not on this list, it is likely because it lags further behind the current state of the meta.

This list will be adjusted over time as teams match against each other in Wrath Classic.

Composition	Strengths	Weaknesses
Vanguards: Retribution Paladin Unholy Death Knight Discipline Priest	Massive burst damage from Retribution and Death Knight cooldowns; Double defensive dispel and great survivability with Pain Suppression, Divine Shield, and Hand of Protection;	Low amount of CC; No Mortal Strike effect allows enemy healing to quickly top people off if your burst does not overwhelm.
WLD: Arms Warrior Affliction Warlock Restoration Shaman Alternative healer: Restoration Druid	High spread pressure between Bloodlust, Warlock DoTs, and Bladestorm plus Sweeping Strikes; Able to do strong swaps quickly and effectively.	Warlock's low survivability makes it hard to survive against enemy damage, especially of the Physical kind; Limited friendly dispel from Devour Magic, which makes Warrior mobility very weak against roots.
2-healer Warrior Arms Warrior Restoration Shaman Holy Paladin Alternative healers: Discipline Priest Restoration Druid	Strong, consistent damage supported by Mortal Strike, totems, and offensive dispel; Huge healing potential, supported by defensive dispel.	Damage is completely reliant on the Warrior; Vulnerable to Curses, especially Curse of Tongues.
2-healer Hunter Marksmanship Hunter Discipline Priest Restoration Druid	Mana Burn and Viper Sting enable no-DPS wins; Huge healing potential which can just as quickly be diverted into Mana Burning and CC'ing when healing is not required.	Very low damage potential; Can be difficult to burn Druids and melee comps.
RLS: Rogue Affliction Warlock Restoration Shaman Alternative healer: Discipline Priest Restoration Druid	Well-rounded damage, with plenty of interrupts, CC and Bloodlust; Great target swap potential, with Warlock DoTs and Rogue stuns being able to be deployed quickly.	Weak against melee cleaves as all members all squishy against Physical damage; Requires great CC coordination in order to survive, with mistakes being punished heavily.

No matter what class or specialization you play, there is always a strong team composition you can utilize. Every team has a weakness and it is important to know them. Teams and their weaknesses can change frequently throughout a season. If there is a team comp that is missing, please let us know in the comments so we can add it to the list.

Feel free to check out our 2v2 and 5v5 arena tier list / comp guides as well if you are interested in those brackets: