Midnight DPS Rankings: Raiding Tier List (Midnight (12.1))

Arcane Mage received a ton of changes leading up to Season 2, with some of the most notable being a rework on their Apex Talents, the complete redesign of Arcane Pulse, a large durability tuning pass, and much more. After a not-so favorable first season in Midnight, the buffs to the spec are more than welcome and will hopefully elevate both their damage and defensive capabilities. The spec is much stronger in both single-target and AoE, and unlike before you're not dying whenever a boss looks at you funny either. All of this combined points toward Arcane being one of the best Ranged options for Raid Progress.

Demonology Warlock received no changes going to Season 2, with the only new feature added being their tier-set. Their core rotation will remain identical, meaning you can expect a consistent damage profile, with minor spikes built around your Summon Demonic Tyrant. In addition to that, Demonology offers a "free" cleave option when having to focus your main target without sacrificing any single-target DPS!

When it comes to changes for Arms Warrior in Season 2, the primary focus seems to be on the reworked Ravager as well as several reworked talents like Bloodletting and Broad Strokes. Of course there will also be a brand-new tier set. Overall the rotation will be quite similar to what you are already used to, with the tier-set being more AoE-focused this time around.

Arms Warrior's DPS output is extraordinary with incredible ST and great priority-target damage and funnel, making it one of the best melees for the upcoming raiding tier. Oh, let's not forget their execute ability too!

In Season 2, Subtlety Rogue is going to see a reduction to their burst damage capabilities, while having better sustained damage to make up for it. The rotation will play noticeably slower, with some talents likely becoming mandatory picks such as Goremaw's Bite and a newly reworked Lingering Shadow.

From a pure damage point-of-view, their single-target is one of the best, but the spec lacks the capabilities for a strong cleave damage while focusing on a boss (unless they sacrifice their AoE for it). They fit within the raid comp if Rogue Atrophic Poison is needed, which received a buff for Season 2, or whenever high burst damage for a specific fight window is required.

Devastation Evoker only received minor changes leading into Season 2. Outside of the new tier-set, the only other notable changes are the redesign of Rising Fury, and the most recent nerfs to the Scalecommander tree. This leaves Devastation Evokers largely unchanged compared to Season 1, which is quite disappointing. That being said, their current on-demand burst is decent, both in single-target and AoE, but when major cooldowns are no longer available, they fall behind quite hard.

Going into Season 2Balance Druid will benefit from a variety of changes, with the most prominent one being a redistribution of damage, with fewer spenders and more generators. You can expect the core rotation to stay similar to what it was in S1 though. Moonfire & Sunfire, use cooldowns, and then blast - even if the spell distribution might be slightly different. As always, Boomkin remains an incredible spec at spread-cleave like council fights, while also offering a competitive single-target this season.

For Season 2, Shadow Priest is looking at a redesign for Ancient Madness & Improved Voidform, a brand-new talent Shadeburst (great design, love it), and a gameplay that is more focused on using Void Volley during cooldowns. The current playstyle of Shadow Priest is likely one of the most fun gameplay experiences of all the specs, especially when playing around the Archon & Misery combo. Their damage profile is quite similar to S1: You can still expect great priority-target damage while doing AoE, thanks to the ever-changing Psychic Link, while also sporting good on-demand burst during the Voidform & Power Infusion combo. If you are looking for a good council-fight spec (cleave) this is one of the best!

Outlaw Rogue received a handful of changes thus far, which mostly aim to increase the build diversity by buffing underperforming talents and introducing a ton of quality-of-life changes. While the core rotation remains quite similar to what the spec played like in Season 1 already, Killing Spree is finally not just a vehicle for Trickster, and Hidden Opportunity builds might become more viable again as well if they tune the numbers a little higher.

The new tier-set will flatten out some of the previous Energy issues, which are hopefully mostly resolved with Season 2. Anytime there is a passive cleave while having to focus ST, Outlaw can definitely shine!

Elemental Shaman is looking to play familiar, yet different, for Season 2. Some of the most important changes are a shift of damage away from their Ascendance cooldown and towards their baseline spells, which will result in better sustained damage, and a nerf for the currently high-performing Stormbringer build.

The nerfs to the dominant hero talent open the door towards Farseer builds, which are currently performing much better. You can expect Elemental Shaman to have a lot better rotational flow and better sustained damage. 2-target is the main struggle for Elemental Shaman, so anytime you have spread-cleave and they are not within Chain Lightning range, expect Ele to struggle!

Assassination Rogue received amazing changes leading up to the new raiding tier. Managing the Apex Talent is a lot smoother and less of a headache now, and the natural flow of the spec feels better as a result as well.

Assassination will retain its great damage profile with high burst and amazing funnel and priority-target damage, although an attempt has been made to nerf its burst DPS by moving damage out of its cooldowns, Deathmark and Kingsbane. The added nerfs are offset by bolstering some of the spec's core DPS abilities, which will result in a better sustained damage output. So far, from a playstyle point of view and performance, the spec is great.

Retribution Paladin received its fair share of changes leading up to the launch of Midnight Season 2, with some increases to their sustain damage output, which come at the cost of some nerfs within their burst windows. Additionally, Art of War now stacks to a maximum of 2 charges, and no longer activates from additional Skyfury attacks, making the spec less reliant on having a Shaman in the group.

Overall the spec plays quite similar to Season 1, although there are some rotational changes due to their new 4pc tier-set being built around pressing Final Verdict in AoE, which will help where there is a cleave included, without sacrificing ST damage doing so.

Marksmanship Hunter received a ton of changes for Midnight Season 2, with some of the most important ones being the re-introduction of the newly reworked Explosive Shot, a bunch of talents being redesigned & updated, and shifting the damage profile to a more sustain-oriented one (although it is still quite bursty). When on-demand burst is needed, Marksmanship Hunter can shine in a niche situation. Unfortunately a massive drawback of their is their sustained damage, which will drag them down in raid, and our rankings.

Destruction Warlock received a bunch of changes leading up to Season 2, from the fairly recent damage buff, to a redesign of Conflagration of Chaos. For Season 2 you can expect great damage spike every time your Summon Infernal is off cooldown. As always, Mayhem / Havoc are always a great choice when you have to do spread cleave on targets that are far away from each other, and judging from the upcoming raiding tier, there are plenty of these fights!

Fire Mage, like many other specs, will see some reduction to their burst and cooldown-based damage from Combustion, towards a more sustained damage output. This is accomplished by a nerf to their Apex Talents, while buffing some of the baseline spells like Pyroblast & Flamestrike, as well as the recent aura buffs that affect all of the spec's spells.

Rotationally the specialization plays quite similar to Season 1, especially if you are used to the Pyroclasm playstyle,, which the new Season 2 tier-set is reinforcing as well. Fire mage can be utilized in boss encounters where damage on-demand is needed for a specific window, but other than that, its not looking too hot!.

Beast Mastery Hunter has received quite a lot of changes leading up to the second season of Midnight, with the most notable ones being nerfs to Kill Cleave & Piercing Fangs, several new talent reworks ( Razor Sharp and Blood Frenzy) and easier Beast Cleave management due to its duration being increased to 10 sec (while Wild Thrash cooldown is 8 sec). In addition, their 4-pc tier set will shift quite a lot of focus towards Cobra Shot, often playing talents that further bolster its damage, which contributes a decent chunk to their overall output, especially on single-target. Their current raid performance is sadly just about average, which is reflected in their current rankings.

Affliction Warlock has seen barely any changes leading up to Season 2, with the only significant gameplay addition being their new Season 2 tier set & Nightfall rework. Compared to the launch version of the spec, their gameplay in Season 2 with the new set does feel way smoother, thanks to Seed of Corruption applying Unstable Affliction at 20% strength to your main target. This feature improves your priority-target damage and also adds an option for a funnel damage profile, which is going to be quite useful on some of the upcoming boss fights in Season 2.

Devourer Demon Hunter received a lot of attention prior to the launch of Season 2. The spec's Mastery has been severely nerfed, and so has their damage during Void Metamorphosis, which is what every build of the spec was built around. While the spec was an absolute powerhouse in Season 1, the version for Season 2 is looking just as good in raid with their new "Melee" Devourer DH build that doesn't play around Collapsing Star at all. This spec has incredible niche-usability since their major cooldowns are so frequent, and it is the perfect DPS to progress tough encounters with high survivability and strong damage at all times.

Fury Warrior's core rotation will remain quite similar to what players are used to from Season 1 already, but this time around the new tier-set is making Raging Blow a much bigger priority than before. You can expect a faster-paced playstyle, short offensive cooldowns, and good priority-target and single-target damage, with the only current weakness being heavy cleave (10++).

Frost Mage's primary change for Season 2 is a reduction of their burst, achieved by nerfing their Apex Talents, and increasing their sustain damage via a flat 4% aura buff. Unfortunately, not many things have changed for Frost Mage. There has been quick a few 2-target raid fight designs which Frost mage is good at and we wouldn't be surprised if we see some of the mages going in that direction in this raiding tier.

Frost Death Knight in Midnight's Season 2 is looking to have a lot of power shifted out of their cooldowns, and towards a more sustained damage profile instead. The spec's core rotation will remain similar to the version in Season 1 though, as most of the changes simply shift damage numbers around.

Although it is no longer a hyper-bursty spec, Frost DK will continue to excel at high burst damage, since all other burst cooldowns have also been nerfed, but now it also has quite solid sustained DPS as well. Their current performance is not looking great, even after the most recent buffs, and we therefore judge them to still be in the bottom half of our rankings.

Enhancement Shaman continues to play similar in Season 2 as it already did in Season 1, especially when playing the very strong Stormbringer build. Season 2 sports a slightly higher emphasis on Crash Lightning and Voltaic Blaze though, but the core rotation largely remains the same. Their damage output remains competitive as well, with great damage during their Ascendance windows, decent sustained DPS (albeit a bit dependent on Doom Winds procs), and one of the most fun playstyles among all melee DPS. It will be a solid contender# within the melee grouping, but if Enhancement want to get to the highest tiers, further damage adjustments are needed.

Windwalker Monk in Season 2 is seeing some number adjustments, lowering some of their burst damage during Zenith towards more sustained damage, as well as adding some extra firepower to Spinning Crane Kick so it can enable more frequent uses outside of the free procs. Overall, after several consecutive rounds of buffs, Windwalker's AoE damage exploded and is now considered supreme. As one of the highest burst melee specs so far, your rotational core will remain quite similar to the Season 1 iteration of the spec, although an attempt has been made to put some more emphasis on Spinning Crane Kick with the new tier set.

Survival Hunter received similar changes to most other classes, with a shift of damage away from cooldowns, and instead pushing more damage into skills like Boomstick and Wildfire Bomb, rather than Raptor Strike and Raptor Swipe. The overall performance has been average all around for Survival, which is sadly reflected in their tier list placement.

Havoc Demon Hunter received a few changes leading up to the second season of Midnight. Overall, you can expect Havoc to have a similar rotation to before if playing Fel-Scarred, or you can also go for the alternative Aldrachi Reaver builds, which offers more priority-target & funnel damage when raid adds appear on some fights. Their current single-target is the biggest drawback, which directly reflects on the overall placement of the spec.

Unholy Death Knight's core rotation is looking to remain similar to the one they had last season. The only notable change for the spec is Soul Reaper no longer automatically triggering your Putrefy. Just like the spec's counterpart (Frost DK), an attempt has been made to shift the burst damage to a more "sustained damage" profile instead, and although there is a notable difference, Unholy will still retain its incredible burst and priority target damage, unfortunately their sustained single-target is, at best, average. Their tier set is will bolster their execute damage, which is always a very useful niche for raid progression, and of course we can't forget about Death Grip as a highly useful utility tool on most raid fights with adds.

Feral Druid has received minor changes leading up to Season 2, with much of it focused on buffing various crucial talents on the spec tree, like Rip and Tear, while simultaneously applying some slight nerfs to the Apex Talents. Feral Druids will retain their great sustain, AoE damage, good priority-target DPS, and a great burst. Furthermore, Energy issues have mostly been resolved, especially if you play Soul of the Forest & Tireless Energy, which leaves fewer "dead" periods of the spec. If cleave damage is needed, Feral can be great, however, without any other surrounding mobs to funnel, their single-target is not doing well.

Augmentation Evoker received quite a few changes leading up to Season 2, with the most significant one being the nerf towards Scalecommander, which has been their strongest build for a while now. For Season 2 you can expect your core rotation to remain fairly similar though; unfortunately, it will be a less powerful version than Season 1, with less Duplicate uptime. It's still a bit too early to estimate the specs full power, which always depends on how well it does in buffing other specs, but so far, they are definitely a lot weaker than the Season 1 version of the spec.