WoW Forever DPS Tier List

WoW Forever DPS Tier List TL;DR

• Combat Rogue, Marksmanship Hunter, and Demonology Warlock are the S-Tier picks of the meta.

• Assassination and Subtlety now have complete PvE damage builds. Rotations are better than ever, and scaling is right where it needs to be to perform at the top of the damage meters.

• Fury Warrior remains a strong melee choice, but Rage normalization and Bloodthirst change how the spec should be built.

• Mage specs suit different fights, and each one gets a distinct and fully fledged playstyle. 

• Hutner’s Survival is now actually rewarding once you get the mechanics down.  

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WoW Forever DPS Rankings

The table below ranks all specs for level-60 PvE, weighing boss damage, cleave, resource use, and group contribution. S-Tier contains the strongest picks for their respective ranges and playstyles. A-Tier is full of competitive alternatives, and B-Tier specs need a more specific encounter type to show their strengths. 

These rankings are not set in stone; for example, in dungeons, Frost can be worth taking over a higher-ranked caster because roots and slows make difficult pulls way easier. Arms also gets a lot more value in cleave fights than in solo target fights. The main table puts more weight on solo target damage, so keep those differences in mind when choosing a dungeon spec.

S-Tier DPS Specs

All four specs in the S-Tier have strong damage talents, excellent scaling, and a huge damage output in solo-target encounters. In their own words, game designers said that classes with no damage/healing specs should be on top of the meters in terms of damage, and these specs are fulfilling these promises.  TL;DR Version of the whole thing is: 

Combat Rogue

Combat has a lot going for it before you even press Blade Flurry. The updated talents help here: Precision improves hit chance for attacks and poisons, Weapon Expertise reduces dodges and parries, and Flawless Execution makes Eviscerate cheaper. You simply get more attacks landing and spend way less Energy on finishers than in Classic, which helps with uptime throughout a boss fight.

Hack and Slash also means you have more weapons to choose from. A good axe or mace can be an upgrade, which makes itemization way easier and fun. In your tree, there’s support for both Sinister Strike and Backstab builds, so check your talents when swapping weapons. That’s why Combat gets the top melee recommendation here. It has the single-target damage expected from Rogue, and Blade Flurry makes its cleave extremely good, too.  

Marksmanship Hunter

Careful Aim turns Intellect into Attack Power, so the Intellect on Hunter gear does more than let you shoot for longer. You also have an option to spec into Lone Wolf if you want to play without a pet. That comes in handy in fights where keeping a pet alive is a pain, and serves as a cool way to RP your own way. Marksmanship gets the S-Tier spot for its ranged damage talents and Trueshot Aura. The new Intellect scallions also make the spec very fun and unique in terms of items you’re able to use. 

Demonology Warlock

A lot of Classic clunkiness has been fixed with the addition of Demonic Pact. You can sacrifice one demon for its bonus and summon a different one without losing that bonus. For a Fire build, that can mean sacrificing a Succubus and bringing out an Imp afterward. This is a huge deal in terms of how high your ceiling is in terms of scaling, and you’ll feel that immediately after getting the talent.

Pet management matters because so much of the build uses it. After an add dies in a Boss fight, check that your demon has switched back to the boss. Pull it out of dangerous ground effects before it dies, and so on; the real skill expression with Demo is the pet uptime.

A-Tier DPS Specs

There are plenty of good picks in A-Tier, including two Rogue builds and both of Warlock’s trees. Some of these do better in cleave situations, while others want to stay on the boss at all times. Here’s what you actually get from each one.

Assassination and Subtlety Rogue

Both Assassination and Subtlety have thematically cool playstyles, enhanced with Forever’s changes. But Combat gets the higher overall placement because Blade Flurry’s cleave is simply superior, while its solo damage is just as good as these two. Assassination and Subtlety are both worth playing if you prefer their rotations or visuals, especially when most of the fight is spent hitting one boss.

Fury Warrior

Fury still feels like Fury: keep Bloodthirst and Whirlwind going, use your damage cooldowns when you can stay on the boss, and finish with Execute. Good weapons and hit gear matter, and getting forced out of melee still hurts a lot. What I think makes the spec perform slightly worse is that the Rage from damage dealt is normalized, and Bloodthirst doesn’t scale as well as it has, so the spec has to find some new ways of getting up there in terms of damage.

Beast Mastery Hunter

I think that BM is actually extremely good in Forever. Your pet now scales with your gear, and Unleashed Fury and Ferocity also help your Hawk summons. This way, BM gets more out of every upgrade than stronger shots alone. It also keeps some damage going while you move, provided the pet can stay on its target. But your damage output is still extremely dependent on your pet, so if it keeps dying or chasing the wrong enemies around, you lose a lot of what you specced into. BM is always a good pick for players who enjoy using a pet, but leaving it on follow and forgetting about it won’t get much value out of the tree.

Arcane and Fire Mage

Arcane has two good reasons to want Intellect. Arcane Blast builds a spell-damage buff based on it, and Arcane Wrath gains extra spell damage from your maximum mana. The Blast buff stays up when you cast other spells, so you can use those spells while benefiting from the stacks greatly. The downside is how easy it is to completely burn through your mana; the spec feels really gear-dependent and in desperate need of copious amounts of intellect stacking to perform at its best. 

Fire gets more damage from crits through Ignite, while Heating Up speeds up Pyroblast. Each Mage has their own Ignite now, so you don’t have the old shared-Ignite situation when several Fire Mages hit the same boss. Fire works well when you can keep casting and maintain your effects, but when fights have lots of low HP mobs, this spec struggles with getting value out of its spells.

Affliction and Destruction Warlock

Affliction gets better scaling now that DoT damage can crit. You can build around Shadow Bolt as your filler or take Wrack, which boosts your other Shadow DoTs while you channel. But I have to point out that going all the way down the tree can actually be worse than spending those points elsewhere. Affliction does well on the meters when there are several enemies with lots of health for the DoTs to tick for long enough. 

Destruction is easier to use when the raid needs adds dead immediately - most of its damage comes from direct casts, so it spends less time setting up each new target. Affliction has the better reason to spread damage across enemies that will stay alive; Destruction is more comfortable switching to the next kill target. What feels like the biggest drawback is how awkward the talent distribution feels compared to Demonology.  

B-Tier DPS Specs

These specs have useful tools, but more of their damage depends on the fight. But all of them are still playable in Forever; some of them could even be called great dungeon specs, etc. Frost, for example, brings control that a boss-damage comparison doesn’t show very well.

Every spec can perform in the right hands; you just have to understand the rotation, stat scaling, and know enemy encounters. Personally, I think the best approach to choosing a spec is just based on visuals and gameplay feel. You’re going to be stuck with certain spells and playstyles for hundreds of hours, so stuff like lore and animations matter way more than damage meter performance. 

WoW Forever PvP Tier List

Aspects like CC and strong defensive CDs move several specs up the list in PvP. These rankings are mainly based on level-60 battlegrounds and smaller world PvP fights:

Demonology Warlock is hard to burst down with Soul Link transferring 30% of incoming damage to the demon. Fear buys time, and a Felhunter gives you Spell Lock and Devour Magic against casters. Keep an eye on the pet: if it dies, you lose both its abilities and a large part of your defense with it.

Frost Mage can make life miserable for melee. Roots and slows keep them away, Polymorph takes another player out of the fight, and Shatter adds damage when the target is Frozen. Save Blink for a dangerous stun or gap close. Spending it just to cover a few yards often leaves you stuck when you actually need it.

Subtlety Rogue lets you choose the opener and decide who gets to respond. Sap one player, stun the kill target, and use Blind or Kick to stop help arriving. Be careful with Rupture if you plan to reset, since its ticks can break your own Blind or Gouge. Cutthroat and Thousand Cuts give you more damage when you stay in the fight.

Shadow Priest brings damage alongside dispels, shields, Fear, and Silence. Shadowform cuts Shadow spell mana costs by 50%, which helps when the fight drags on. Hold Silence until the healer needs to cast something important. Using it while their whole team is healthy gives them time to wait it out.

Check out other helpful WoW Forever articles:

• WoW Forever Best Professions

• WoW Forever Paladin Class Guide

• WoW Forever Best Classes