DPS Rankings / Tier List for WoW Classic

Below is a quick summary of the full rankings that we have detailed on this page. While this gives a good outline of the standings of specializations in comparison to one another, we recommend reading the full rankings to understand why certain specializations are ranked as they are.

1. Mage (S-Tier)
2. Warlock (A-Tier)
3. Warrior (A-Tier)
4. Rogue (A-Tier)
5. Hunter (B-Tier)
6. Feral Druid (B-Tier)
7. Shadow Priest (C-Tier)
8. Retribution Paladin (C-Tier)
9. Enhancement Shaman (D-Tier)
10. Balance Druid (D-Tier)
11. Elemental Shaman (D-Tier)

If you are interested in our other rankings for WoW Classic, please click the links below.

In the early phases, casters generally suffer slightly because of a lack of spell power on gear. Starting in the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, the amount of spell power available skyrockets and Mages and Warlocks start to really scale. However, in pre-raid BiS, casters end up being incredibly strong at the early stages due to their consumables being much stronger than those available for physical DPS, specifically Flask of Supreme Power. The flask gives 150 spell power, which is a huge increase compared to what is available from gear. Mages scale extremely well with spell power and have a naturally strong toolkit early on, due to high base damage on most of their spells, specifically for AoE. Mages are far and away the best class in the game for AoE, and it is the deadly combination of single target and AoE that puts Mages solidly into the S-tier.

Warriors, Warlocks, Rogues, and Mages will make up the S- and A-tiers for all of WoW Classic. These four classes are considered to be the core DPS classes, and will make up the vast majority of every raid group.

Similar to Mages, Warlocks scale extremely well with spell power. Due to Flask of Supreme Power, Warlocks will perform very well early on. However, there are a couple of key differences that put Warlocks into the A-tier instead of S-tier with Mages. Firstly, Warlocks have weaker AoE than Mages and, to do their max AoE damage, they must be in melee range using Hellfire. Secondly, Warlocks suffer from severe threat issues, meaning they will often need to stop DPSing to ensure that they do not pull aggro off of the tank, due to Shadow Bolt generating an enormous amount of threat. Warlocks are incredibly strong early on with full consumables, but the limitations on their damage for both single-target and AoE put them at the top of the A-tier instead of S-tier.

Warriors are the most powerful melee in the game, without question. Their base damage even while leveling is incredibly high, and when it comes to 2-4 target cleave, they are among the best in the game. Warriors and Rogues both require weapons though, and once they get into raid gear, they quickly become S-tier, where they will stay throughout the rest of WoW Classic. However, while in pre-raid BiS gear, they fall behind Warlocks and Mages slightly, due to the lack of an equivalent damage flask for melee.

Like Warriors, Rogues are incredibly strong. They have a rough time leveling, but even with little gear, they quickly become one of the best single-target specs in the game. Once you get raid gear, you will be topping meters in no time. However, in pre-raid BiS gear, Rogues fall below Mages and Warlocks due to the difference in strength between the available consumables.

These are strong DPS specs, but are still noticeably below the S- and A-tier specs. 2-4 Hunters and 0-1 Feral Druid will be the standard in most raids. Ferals are strong early on, but fill a very specific role and are hard to play, making them much rarer in raids than Hunters.

Hunters are the lowest out of the pure DPS classes. Hunters peak during late Molten Core due to the strength of their Tier 1 set and Rhok'delar, Longbow of the Ancient Keepers, and then peak again during Blackwing Lair, once they get Ashjre'thul, Crossbow of Smiting. In pre-raid BiS however, Hunters fall behind the top 4 classes, and while they do solid damage, will not be topping meters. Rest assured though, Hunters bring important utility with Tranquilizing Shot and Trueshot Aura, meaning at least a couple of Hunters will be needed in every raid group.

While Feral Druids may be an off-meta spec, they have some very real strengths. Feral Druids have access to Wolfshead Helm and Manual Crowd Pummeler early on, which are BiS for them all the way through WoW Classic. This gives them an early power spike compared to many other specs, putting them higher than they might be later on. Their major downside is Mana; Ferals need lots of Mana to power shift, and while consumables will help, they cannot do it indefinitely. In pre-raid BiS gear, fights can take awhile, limiting their damage potential when they cannot power shift for the entire fight.

The specs in this tier are not optimal, but you might see one in a raid occasionally.

Shadow Priests are not brought to raids for their damage. They have no real AoE and very little single-target damage. Their main contribution to the raid is Shadow Weaving, which increases the target's Shadow damage taken. Some raids will bring 1 Shadow Priest for this purpose. Sadly, Shadow Priests cannot do much damage themselves, since they can really only use Mind Blast and Mind Flay. Their DoTs cannot be used due to the limited number of debuff slots.

Retribution Paladins are a rarity in most raids. They bring Sanctity Aura for extra Holy damage, but only other Ret Paladins can benefit from it, since no other DPS do Holy damage. All of the Paladin buffs can be brought by Holy Paladins as well, meaning Rets are not necessary for Paladin buffs. Rets can make use of both melee and spell power consumables, giving them a slight edge early on when consumables are more meaningful, but Rets are already fighting for a spot, due to low damage, and are solidly in C-tier for all of WoW Classic.

This is the only tier that could be classified as being "non-viable." All of these specs have major issues, and while they could make it through raids, you would be struggling to pull your weight, even with full consumable usage.

Enhancement Shamans simply do not bring anything worthwhile. All of the important Shaman buffs and totems can be brought by Resto Shamans, while Enhancement does not have any unique buffs. Enhancement's damage is also very low, even with full consumables. Their one redeeming quality is that they can use Nightfall to keep up the debuff, although there are better classes and roles for it.

Balance Druids bring a small 3% spell damage increase to their group, but sadly their low damage and Mana issues are too severe to be worth a spot. Balance Druids can only use Starfire in raids for damage, which is a very Mana intensive spell. Because of the high Mana cost, you will be forced to downrank it quickly, especially in pre-raid gear, which will result in very low damage. While Balance Druids can bring some nice Druid utility, Resto Druids can bring the same spells while also healing, making Balance Druids a poor choice for most raid groups.

Elemental Shamans suffer from the exact same problems as Balance Druids, but they do not bring any sort of unique buff to their group. A Restoration Shaman will bring the same buffs, making Elemental a poor choice due to Mana problems and low damage.