Dragonflight DPS Rankings: Vault of the Incarnates Raiding Tier List (Patch 10.0.2)

February 5 update: Class balance has improved substantially thanks to multiple tuning passes since the season began. Hopefully this continues, as almost every class/spec is now viable and quite competitive in the right circumstances. There are still some outliers like Retribution Paladin, which is openly acknowledged as being in need of a rework, but overall DPS balance is in a great state.

Hello! I am Impakt, the raid leader of the North American guild "BDGG", or Big Dumb Golden Guardians. We finished Sanctum of Domination as the second-best guild in North America, and at World 4th. We are prepping hard for the new raid tiers in Shadowlands, and this list reflects how we are currently feeling about the various classes and specializations for progressing the new raid tier in Patch 9.2, Sepulcher of the First Ones. In addition to our own experience, this list was created and will continue to be update in consultation with raiders of other top guilds.

This tier list is entirely based on DPS viability for the new raid in Patch 10.0 of Dragonflight, Vault of the Incarnates. The primary traits we are looking for have not changed, and are what you would expect for raiding content. Mainly, we care about single-target damage, some burst cleave or AoE, and then defensive capabilities on a raid-wide or individual scale.

While the traits that make a character valuable in a raid have not changed much, there are two incredibly important new factors to consider.

• Raiding now has a new gearing system, the same group loot system that exists in Classic WoW. This completely changes how your raid should view loot and class distribution. Having a varied raid comp is more important than ever to make full use of all loot drops. Even more so, if you stack too many classes on specific armor types or tier tokens, those classes will gear up significantly slower than if you have a well-balanced raid composition.
• Because of the new talent trees, classes now have the freedom of choice to decide how to build in various situations. However, this also means that certain classes are forced into specializing in either AoE or single target for different bosses. While some classes have excellent pure single target damage, they can lose a significant portion of that damage when forced to take even a few points of AoE talents.

It is incredibly important to emphasize that just because a DPS specialization is low in the tier list, it does not mean that you should ignore it completely. For the vast majority of cases, you should choose to bring the better player, not the better specialization. That does not mean you never need to think about your raid composition, just that most of the time player skill will be more important than the difference between classes, assuming you already have the required raid buffs. All being lower tier means is that, all else being equal, those specs will be less desirable for the raid based on current tuning.

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.

As you might expect for a huge game-wide system overhaul like in the new talent system, balance is much worse than it was towards the end of Shadowlands. This will very likely smooth out over time as Blizzard has more data to work with, but for now there are definitely some outliers when looking at DPS specializations.

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

If you are interested in our other rankings for the Season 1 Raid in Dragonflight, please click the links below.

February 5 update: Arcane has shown just how powerful burst can be when properly planned for. While Arcane is a top-heavy spec in terms of the skill required to truly make use of its phenomenal toolkit, in the hands of the right player it is unmatched in terms of the raw damage and burst potential.

Important Utility: Arcane Intellect.

Arcane Mage has competitive single target, but more importantly has the best single target burst damage in the game right now for small burst windows. On longer burst windows it gets beaten out by Unholy DK, but they only get to burst every 3 minutes while Arcane has much more frequent windows. At the moment Arcane is your go-to Mage spec on primarily single target fights. Mages are also still quite strong defensively, and immunities like Ice Block will always have value in a raid.

Important Utility: Chaos Brand, Darkness

Demon Hunters have probably the most well-rounded damage toolkit in the game, able to excel in every situation. Even more importantly, they can excel in every situation with a single talent build, which is an incredibly valuable asset to have for fights with blended styles of fighting. Demon Hunter's biggest strength comes in the form of strong 2-5 target cleave and burst AoE. Specifically, Demon Hunters have the best burst AoE in the game, which is amazing for sporadic add waves like on some of the harder encounters in the raid. Finally, DH still has Darkness, which is another incredibly valuable raid cooldown.

Important Utility: Windfury Totem

Enhancement Shaman has excellent single target and cleave damage on their own, but when you factor in the damage gained from Windfury Totem, they become one of the most valuable DPS in the game. Most melee classes still enjoy the totem just as much as they always have, with certain specs gaining significant amounts of damage from it. Even without the totem Enhancement would be a A-tier spec from its own damage output, but the added value of the totem makes it an S-tier spec where depending on the number of melee, bringing 2 would be strong.

February 5 update: Both Outlaw and Subtlety have seen substantially more play recently, primarily due to Assassination's poor AoE conversion on fights where you need both single target and cleave. While Assassination is still extremely strong for pure single target and execute, it is dropping into the A-tier.

Important Utility: Atrophic Poison.

Assassination Rogues are S-tier for one reason: damage. They deal the most single target damage in the game overall, and then are one of the best execute damage classes in the game as well. Rogues are strong defensively and you will always need at least one Rogue thanks to Atrophic Poison, but the primary strength of Assassination Rogue is simply single target damage output. Assassination is relatively weak on multi-target however, but Rogue has two other specs that are excellent on AoE, meaning as a class Rogue is able to excel on any boss.

Important Utility: Mark of the Wild, Innervate, Stampeding Roar.

While Balance Druid may not have the highest single-target output, they instead have the most well-rounded, all-inclusive damage toolkit in the game. Starfall specifically is a truly unique ability, enabling them to constantly cleave spread groups of enemies in a way that no other class can match. While this is not important on most fights, when you do encounter it, Boomkins are irreplaceable. On multi-target fights, Boomkins are one of the most valuable DPS classes in the game, however their mid-tier single target damage is what keeps them in A-tier.

Important Utility: None

Beast Mastery Hunter is the best Hunter specialization for raiding right now by a decent margin. Beast Mastery has competitive single target damage with the option to respec for substantial sustained cleave, and is overall strong throughout the raid. The most compelling reason to bring them is their unparalleled ability to deal with movement. Beast Mastery is the only ranged DPS spec in the game that is able to perform 100% of their rotation while moving. While not as "required" as some other classes and specs, having at least one Hunter on your roster will ensure the gear is not wasted and will help round out your raid composition.

February 5 update: Marksmanship is one of the specs that has received multiple rounds of buffs over the last few weeks, bringing it up drastically in power.

Important Utility: None.

Marksmanship Hunters excel at 3-5 target cleave and offers decent AoE burst, but ultimately their damage is just low. Marksmanship has mediocre single target damage in the game, does not bring any sort of required raid utility, and is mediocre at best defensively. Beast Mastery is still a better choice for most single target situations, but Marksmanship shines when versatility is required, and specifically where AoE burst is needed.

Important Utility: Blessing of the Bronze

Devastation Evokers have exceptional burst AoE, decent single target damage, and perhaps most importantly are able to deal with movement better than almost any other ranged. It is important to note that Devastation Evokers only have a range of 25 yards while still being classified as ranged DPS, which can be a huge drawback on some encounters depending on your raid positioning. As a ranged DPS they are A-tier given their damage, but depending on how the tier plays out it is possible they will need to be dropped to the B-tier.

Important Utility: Death Grip, Anti-Magic Zone.

Unholy Death Knight has three main strengths. Firstly, it has quite possibly the highest burst damage in the game once every three minutes. Second, it has exceptional execute damage under 35% health thanks to Soul Reaper. Finally, Unholy has the best high-target AoE in the game. While high-target AoE is less useful in raid than in M+, there is still some AoE where Unholy can shine. Overall Unholy is a solid melee spec that is competitive in terms of damage, but does not bring any required utility in a raid where Death Grip is rarely needed.

February 5 update: Subtlety's ability to spec for both cleave and single target damage at same time has proven to be quite valuable on several encounters, especially on fights like Raszageth.

Important Utility: Atrophic Poison.

Subtlety Rogues have solid single target damage, strong AoE and cleave, and bring all of the standard defensives and utility that Rogues bring. On their own an argument could be made for Subtlety to be A-tier, but Assassination brings superior single target damage while Outlaw brings superior cleave and AoE. However, when you need a combination of both, Subtlety is quite a strong choice.

Important Utility: Atrophic Poison.

Outlaw Rogues have exceptional cleave and AoE entirely due to the power of Blade Flurry. Even outside of AoE, Outlaw still has incredible single target damage, a strong defensive toolkit that all rogues bring, and can bring the required Atrophic Poison debuff. Assassination is still going to be a better choice on single target, but Outlaw becomes much better as soon as more targets are added into the equation.

February 5 update: Shadow has received multiple rounds of massive buffs, bringing it solidly into the A-tier. They are now more than competitive on their own for damage output, not even factoring in the value that Power Infusion brings.

Important Utility: Power Infusion, Mass Dispel, Power Word: Fortitude.

Shadow Priests have mid-tier single target damage, decent AoE potential, and some mild execute damage. Overall, Shadow Priests are mediocre damage dealers that do not bring much in the way of damage output themselves. However, this changes when you factor in Power Infusion. Priests can now use Power Infusion on someone other than themselves and it also applies to the Priest. This is a huge damage increase for the target you apply it to, and when that damage is factored in, Shadow becomes significantly more attractive as a damage dealer.

Important Utility: Battle Shout, Rallying Cry.

Arms Warriors are incredibly strong on 2-target cleave due to Sweeping Strikes and then in execute due to their Execute. Warrior single target damage is a bit lacking at the moment especially when compared to other melee, but they of course still bring possibly the strongest non-healer raid cooldown in the game, Rallying Cry. DPS Warriors do lose some value however because of how strong Prot Warriors are, meaning there is a strong alternative way to bring their utility.

Arms Warriors are extremely close in power at the moment to Fury Warriors. If one of them pulls ahead then that spec would remain A-tier while the other falls into B-tier, but for the moment it is a tossup.

While not as strong as the A-tier specializations, these specs are still viable, and will not be uncommon in raid groups. Some of these might be rarer to see, but more so because the other specs of that class are just so much stronger.

February 5 update: Affliction Warlocks are another spec that has received solid buffs, and is now worth moving up the list.

Important Utility: Demonic Gateway, Soulstone, Healthstone. Warlocks are also the most durable non-tank class in the game by a large margin.

Every raid will always want at least one Warlock for the class utility that they provide. After recent buffs, Affliction has emerged to be quite a popular choice on several encounters. Affliction offers a DoT-based play style that is actually quite strong on movement, and offers decent AoE conversion with the proper talents. All three Warlock specs are more viable now, and have their niches for where you might consider utilizing them.

Important Utility: Demonic Gateway, Soulstone, Healthstone. Warlocks are also the most durable non-tank class in the game by a large margin.

Demonology Warlocks have mediocre single target damage, but deal incredibly strong cleave and burst AoE with relatively little talent tree investment. As a damage dealer they are still decently weak for raids, but given that you need at least one Warlock and that they are the most durable non-tank class in the game, it warrants a spot in the B-tier at minimum.

February 5 update: Windwalker is still quite strong on AoE, but other specs have surpassed it on single target, thus dropping Windwalker slightly on the list.

Important Utility: Mystic Touch, Generous Pour, Close to Heart.

Windwalker Monks have exceptional burst AoE and solid single target damage, making them quite formidable even without factoring in the numerous group buffs that they bring. Every raid always needs at least one Monk, and Windwalkers are possibly the best option when it comes to applying Mystic Touch. Additionally, Monks can talent into two incredibly useful buffs with Generous Pour and Close to Heart, which could be critically important on high-damage Mythic encounters where you are stacked with the raid group.

February 5 update: Fury is now generally worse than Arms, and thus has been dropped a tier on the list. Fury is still quite strong for AoE, but lacks the single target, 2-target, and execute potential that Arms brings.

Important Utility: Battle Shout, Rallying Cry.

Fury Warriors are incredibly strong on low target sustained cleave and then in execute due to their Execute. Warrior single target damage is a bit lacking at the moment especially when compared to other melee, but they of course still bring possibly the strongest non-healer raid cooldown in the game, Rallying Cry. DPS Warriors do lose some value however because of how strong Prot Warriors are, meaning there is a strong alternative way to bring their utility.

Fury Warriors are extremely close in power at the moment to Arms Warriors. If one of them pulls ahead then that spec would remain A-tier while the other falls into B-tier, but for the moment it is a tossup.

Important Utility: Death Grip, Anti-Magic Zone.

Frost Death Knight's main damage strength comes from their AoE and cleave, specifically from Breath of Sindragosa. Their damage itself is competitive, but primarily for cleave and AoE. When it comes to pure single-target damage, Frost is unfortunately a bit lacking. Frost will excel at a few key fights, but for any fight where you primarily single target the boss, it is a poor choice. Death Knights in general are lower value this raid as Death Grip is not required on any encounter.

Important Utility: Demonic Gateway, Soulstone, Healthstone. Warlocks are also the most durable non-tank class in the game by a large margin.

Destruction Warlocks have mediocre single target damage, but solid 2-target cleave thanks to Havoc. Their burst windows with Summon Infernal are also decent, and overall Destruction is close to Demonology as the most compelling raid specialization for Warlocks. Warlocks are still incredibly durable and at least one is always required for the utility as well, making them at least a B-tier class.

Important Utility: Arcane Intellect

Fire Mage is possibly the weakest Mage specialization right now for raiding, entirely due to low damage output. While Fire can be decent in M+ and in some AoE scenarios, that is not the case inside the raid. Fire is one of the weakest single target specializations in the game at the moment. Both Arcane and Frost are significantly more attractive options to get your mage buff.

Important Utility: None

Elemental Shaman's main strength is that it brings solid single-target damage in a build that still gives it exceptional cleave and AoE, allowing them to excel at fights where several unique damage profiles are found throughout the encounter. Elemental Shamans purely from a DPS perspective would actually be ranked higher, but are a bit lacking in their raid utility and durability compared to other classes like Mages and Warlocks. The one major advantage that Elemental has over other classes is movement – Elemental Shamans are easily in the top 3 of ranged specializations who can deal with forced movement most efficiently.

Important Utility: Arcane Intellect.

Frost Mage has mediocre sustained single-target damage, but it excels at two things: funnel damage and 2-3 target stacked cleave. Arcane does more single target damage and substantially more burst, but Mages will probably still look to play Frost on some of the more AoE-focused encounters. Mage are also still quite strong defensively, and immunities like Ice Block will always have value in a raid.

February 5 update: Survival has had several tuning passes, and is doing significantly better damage than before. It still is not quite as strong as most other specs, but is at least worth taking out of the C-tier.

Important Utility: None.

Survival Hunters have been entirely gutted from how strong they were towards the end of Shadowlands. Now the spec brings mediocre single target damage, poor AoE/cleave, and is the weakest defensively of the Hunter specs when you consider that it has to play in melee range. Melee space is always a concern in raids and there are simply far more attractive options, especially in a meta with multiple S-tier melee.

February 5 update: Feral is just looking a bit less desirable after rounds and rounds of buffs to other specs, and thus is dropping slightly on the list.

Important Utility: Mark of the Wild, Innervate, Stampeding Roar.

Feral Druid brings all of the standard Druid utility, even including Innervate. However, in a tier where melee is exceptionally strong overall, slotting a Feral Druid is much more difficult than slotting a Balance Druid. Feral Druids are quite competitive overall however, with decent single target damage and some of the strongest AoE and cleave in the game. If other melee specs were not so compelling, Feral would easily be A-tier, but unfortunately as a melee they are B-tier.

There are a few specs that, while they may perform well in Mythic+ and on certain bosses, have damage kits that are completely counter to what the important fights of the tier call for.

Important Utility: Devotion Aura, although they lose damage if forced to use this.

Retribution Paladin is one of the weakest melee options at the moment, especially in a meta with several S-tier melee specs that are far more compelling. Every raid needs at least one Paladin to bring Devotion Aura, but Retribution is the worst option due to their need to run a different aura for more damage. This is by no means a comment on how enjoyable or fun Retribution might be to play, but unfortunately at the moment it is simply undertuned, and is in the C-tier as one of the worst options purely from a damage perspective.