Hunter is the best leveling class in WoW Forever: the pet tanks, you shoot from range, and you almost never stop to eat or drink. Warlock and Mage follow in A tier, Paladin, Rogue, Shaman and Druid make up a solid middle, and Warrior and Priest are the slowest to reach 60, even though both are among the strongest classes once they get there. The ranking is about how fast and how comfortably a class levels solo, not about its power at level 60.
Below you will find the leveling tier list, a table that rates every class for speed, downtime, safety and gear dependence, a short verdict on each class with a link to its full leveling guide, and picks for different playstyles: a first character, dungeon leveling, duos and PvP servers.
A leveling tier list is only useful if you know what it measures. Ours looks at a solo player who quests to 60 and runs dungeons along the way, and it weighs four things:
Forever also changes how dungeons fit into leveling. In Classic, some classes skipped questing and farmed one dungeon for ten levels. During the beta, the bonus experience from dungeon quests was cut in half on October 1, and experience from dungeon mobs was raised by about 20% on October 8, together with a fix for groups with mixed levels. Dungeons are now a good part of the route, not a replacement for it, so this list ranks solo questing first.
The level ranges and quests for each dungeon are in our WoW Forever dungeons overview.
The list below ranks all nine classes for the road from 1 to 60. Each class is placed with its best leveling spec in mind.
The letter is only a summary. The table below shows where each class gains time and where it loses it.
| Class | Best Leveling Spec | Speed | Downtime | Safety | Gear Dependence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter | Beast Mastery | Very fast | Very low | Very high | Low |
| Warlock | Affliction | Fast | Very low | Very high | Low |
| Mage | Frost | Very fast | Medium | Medium | Low |
| Paladin | Retribution | Medium | Very low | Very high | Medium |
| Rogue | Combat | Fast | Medium | Low | High |
| Shaman | Enhancement | Medium | High before 30 | High | Medium |
| Druid | Feral | Slow to 20, fast after | Low | High | Low |
| Warrior | Protection or Fury | Slow early, fast late | Medium | Medium | Very high |
| Priest | Discipline and Shadow | Slow | Very low | Very high | Low |
No class is a bad choice. The gap between S and C is a matter of days played, not of whether you reach 60.
Here is why each class sits where it does, from the fastest to the slowest. Every verdict ends with a link to the full guide for that class.
Hunter was already the fastest solo class in Classic, and Forever made it stronger. From level 10 your pet holds the mob while you shoot, and pets now scale with your gear, so they keep up all the way to 60. Aspect of the Cheetah at 20 cuts travel time, Feign Death resets a bad pull, and traps now work in combat. Beast Mastery is the leveling spec. The only real cost is upkeep: ammunition and a bag slot for it.
Pets, talents and the route are covered in our WoW Forever Hunter leveling guide.
Warlock is the closest thing to a Hunter among casters. The Voidwalker tanks from level 10, damage over time spells can now crit, and Bane of Agony tags a mob the moment it lands. You put Corruption on two mobs at once, heal with Drain Life and turn health into mana with Life Tap, so you rarely sit down. Fear saves you when a pull goes wrong. Affliction is the leveling spec. The first ten levels, before the Voidwalker, are slow, and Warlocks have no movement speed ability.
Our WoW Forever Warlock leveling guide explains which demon to use at each stage.
Mage has the highest kill speed in the game when it pulls several mobs at once, and it brings its own food and water. Frostbolt slows everything it hits, Frost Nova and the new Ice Lance talent punish frozen targets, and AoE pulls start with Arcane Explosion at 14 and Blizzard at 20. Mage is in A tier, not S, because the old shortcut is gone: Improved Blizzard slows less, and dungeon mobs give far less experience than in Classic, so farming one dungeon for ten levels is unlikely to work. Mage also wears cloth and has no pet, so mistakes cost more. Frost is the leveling spec.
For Frost builds and the new AoE rotation, read our WoW Forever Mage leveling guide.
Paladin is the most comfortable melee class to level, just not the fastest. Holy Strike gives you an instant attack from level 6, Judgement no longer consumes your seal, and Consecration and Blessing of Kings are trained by every Paladin at 20. Heals and Divine Shield mean you almost never die, and you rarely run out of mana. Kill speed is the limit: Retribution hits at the pace of its weapon, so an outdated weapon slows everything down. Pursuit of Justice adds 15% movement speed.
We break down the stats and talents that matter in our WoW Forever Paladin leveling guide.
Rogues level faster in Forever than they ever did in Classic. Energy now regenerates continuously, combo points stay on a target when you switch, poisons scale with Attack Power, and Rogues can use axes. Combat with Sinister Strike and Slice and Dice is the reliable spec, and Stealth lets you walk past mobs on the way to a quest target. Rogue stays in B tier because it has no healing and lives on its weapons. Evasion and Vanish are your only answers to a bad pull.
Weapons, poisons and builds are in our WoW Forever Rogue leveling guide.
Shaman is safe and flexible, with a slow stretch before level 30. Enhancement is the leveling spec, and its real limit early on is mana, not damage. A few Restoration points for Mindfulness and a free Water Shield solve most of that, and Stormstrike and Windfury Weapon at 30 speed everything up. Heals, totems and Ghost Wolf cover the rest, and in Forever Shamans can also tank dungeons.
The talent path through those first 30 levels is in our WoW Forever Shaman leveling guide.
Druid starts slowly and gets faster with every form. The first ten levels are a caster grind with Wrath and Moonfire, Bear Form at 10 makes you tough, Cat Form at 20 makes you quick, and Travel Form at 30 cuts the walking. From 20 on, Feral fights with energy or rage while mana regenerates for heals, so downtime is low, and Prowl lets you skip mobs you do not need. Druids can also tank or heal any dungeon, which gets you into groups at once.
Class quests for every form are listed in our WoW Forever Druid leveling guide.
Warrior is still the hardest class to level, but less so than in Classic. Rage is now normalized around weapon speed, Victory Rush gives every Warrior a self-heal from level 20, and the October 8 build fixed several bugs that reduced Rage from damage taken. Protection with a shield is the safest way to quest solo, and Fury is the faster option for players who know the class. Warrior remains in C tier because it depends on its weapon more than any other class and has no way out of a bad pull. With a healer or in dungeon groups it levels much faster.
To see which spec fits each level range, explore our WoW Forever Warrior leveling guide.
Priest is the safest class in the game and the slowest killer. Spirit Tap, Meditation and a wand let you fight mob after mob on a full mana bar, and Power Word: Shield absorbs most of the damage. The cost is time per kill: wands no longer gain damage from spell power in Forever. Things improve with Penance at 30 and Shadowform at 40. A Priest can heal any dungeon in any spec, so finding a group is never a problem.
Our WoW Forever Priest leveling guide shows how to get your first wand on launch day.
The tier list assumes a solo player who wants to reach 60 quickly. If your plans are different, the best pick changes too:
If you plan several characters, our WoW Forever alt leveling guide shows how to share rested experience and professions between them.
A fast leveler is not always a strong class at 60, and the reverse is true as well. The two slowest classes on this list are among the best at the level cap: Fury Warrior leads our damage forecast, Protection Warrior is an S tier tank, and Holy Priest is an S tier healer. Beast Mastery, the best leveling spec in the game, sits in B tier for raid damage, and most Hunters will move to Survival or Marksmanship at 60.
So pick the class you want to play at 60, and use this list to know what the road will look like. Rankings for raids, dungeons and PvP are in our WoW Forever tier list.
If you would rather skip the road, our WoW Forever leveling service can take any class to 60.
These are the questions players ask most often when they choose a class for launch.
Hunter. It kills fast, has almost no downtime and is the hardest class to die on, because the pet holds the mob.
Hunter for most players. A skilled Mage can match it with AoE pulls, but that route is riskier after the changes to Blizzard.
Hunter or Warlock. Both have a pet that tanks from level 10, and both rarely need to stop between fights.
Priest kills slowest, and Warrior has the hardest early levels. Both speed up a lot in a group.
Not on its own. Bonus experience from dungeon quests was cut in half on October 1, and dungeon mobs give about 20% more since October 8. Dungeons work best as part of a questing route.
Yes. It is based on the beta, which stops at level 30. We will update it when players reach 60 on live servers.
These guides cover the systems that shape your leveling:
