Fury Warrior, Demonology Warlock and Survival Hunter lead our WoW Forever tier list for damage, Protection Warrior leads the tank list ahead of the Bear and Protection Paladin, and Holy Priest is the healer raids will want first. In PvP the picture flips: Shadow Priest, a mid-table raid spec, sits in S tier next to Hunters and Soul Link Warlocks. This page ranks every spec for level 60 PvE and PvP in one place, so you can pick a main before launch on November 4 and see how the same class does in each role.
Below you will find one table that grades every spec for leveling, dungeons and raids, and PvP side by side, then four tier lists (DPS, tank, healer and PvP) with a short reason for every placement, a set of fun off-meta builds, the best classes for dungeon spam and for getting a raid spot, and advice on the best class for leveling and for new players. The last sections show what each class spends on ammo, pet food and reagents, and every class and racial change from the final beta build to the hotfixes on live servers.
A tier list for a game that nobody has played at maximum level needs clear rules. Each spec is placed by what it is expected to do at level 60 in dungeon and crafted gear, the gear most players will wear in the first weeks. For damage dealers, single-target raid damage counts first, then cleave and the buffs or utility a spec brings to a group. Tanks and healers are ranked by how well their toolkit covers raids and dungeons, since there are no reliable simulations for threat or healing yet.
The tiers mean the same thing in every list:
You may have seen lists that look very different, with every Hunter and Warlock spec at the top. Those are level 30 rankings from the beta. At 30, pets and damage over time spells carry a character whatever the gear, so those classes dominate. At 60, weapon damage, critical strikes and talent capstones take over, and the order changes. Experimental hybrid builds that show up in simulations, such as Shockadin or Frostfire, are not placed in the main lists; you will find them in the fun specs section.
The tier lists further down rank each spec for one job at level 60. Most players want to know something simpler first: will the spec that levels fastest still hold a spot in dungeons, raids and battlegrounds? This table puts the three jobs side by side for all 28 specs.
The Leveling grade covers the road from 1 to 60 as a solo player: kill speed, downtime between pulls and how safe the spec is when a pull goes wrong. The Dungeons & Raids grade is the spec's place in our PvE tier lists for damage, tanks and healers, and the PvP grade is its place in the PvP tier list.
These grades are our own assessment. They combine level 30 beta data, the Mobalytics level 30 tier lists for leveling, dungeons and duels, the results of the Forever Open beta tournament and testing by content creators. No major guide site has graded level 60 yet: their Forever tier lists still mark every spec as to be decided, so read each letter as a forecast for launch.
| Spec | Leveling | Dungeons & Raids | PvP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arms Warrior | D | A | A |
| Fury Warrior | C | S | B |
| Protection Warrior | B | S | C |
| Holy Paladin | B | A | A |
| Protection Paladin | A | A | C |
| Retribution Paladin | A | A | B |
| Beast Mastery Hunter | S | A | A |
| Marksmanship Hunter | A | A | S |
| Survival Hunter | A | S | S |
| Assassination Rogue | B | C | B |
| Combat Rogue | A | B | B |
| Subtlety Rogue | B | C | A |
| Discipline Priest | C | A | A |
| Holy Priest | B | S | A |
| Shadow Priest | C | C | S |
| Elemental Shaman | C | D | A |
| Enhancement Shaman | B | B | B |
| Restoration Shaman | A | A | B |
| Arcane Mage | B | A | C |
| Fire Mage | B | A | B |
| Frost Mage | A | B | A |
| Affliction Warlock | S | B | A |
| Demonology Warlock | A | S | S |
| Destruction Warlock | B | B | B |
| Balance Druid | D | D | C |
| Feral (Cat) Druid | B | B | B |
| Feral (Bear) Druid | B | A | C |
| Restoration Druid | A | A | A |
Hunter and Warlock are the only classes with an S grade in all three columns, which is why they are the safest first characters. Warrior and Priest are the slowest to level but have S grades waiting at 60: Fury and Protection Warrior in raids, Holy Priest as a healer and Shadow Priest in PvP. Balance Druid is the one spec that is weak everywhere, and raids still want one for Moonkin Form.
The beta tournament points the same way for PvP. In the finals, Warlocks won 79% of their matches, while Mages won 25% and Warriors 27%. That event was played at level 30 with heavy use of consumables, so it says more about the beta than about level 60. All Hunter grades were set before the October 28 hotfix to Aspect of the Hawk and Trueshot Aura, which is covered at the end of this page.
The PvE lists cover raids and level 60 dungeons. At launch that means Onyxia's Lair, Hyjal Summit and Barrow Deeps, plus the dungeons that gear you for them. Pick your role in the tabs below to see its tier list.
PvE Tier Lists by Role
Level 60 forecast for raids and dungeons
DPS Tier List
20 damage specs · Raid damage first, then cleave and utility
Twenty damage specs are ranked here. The gap between S and B is smaller than it looks: in current simulations most of A and B tier sit within about 20% of each other, so skill and gear will matter more than the letter.
S Tier DPS
These three specs lead for different reasons, and each of them scales well with gear.
A Tier DPS
A tier is where most raid spots will be filled. Every spec here is close to the top and brings something a group needs.
B Tier DPS
B tier specs do their job, but each is either behind a stronger sibling in the same class or brought mainly for its utility.
C Tier DPS
These specs are behind on numbers in every source we checked.
D Tier DPS
Two specs sit clearly below the rest.
Tank Tier List
6 tanks · Ranked for raid bosses
Warrior, Paladin and Druid have full tanking trees in Forever, and Shaman, Warlock and Hunter can tank dungeons with community builds. This ranking is about raid bosses, where cooldowns, taunts and raid debuffs matter most.
Protection Warrior is the safest main tank, the Bear is the natural second tank, and Protection Paladin shines more in dungeons than in raids. Separate leveling and dungeon rankings and a threat and survivability table are in our WoW Forever tank tier list.
Healer Tier List
5 healing specs · Ranked by group healing
All five healing specs are viable, and the difference is mostly about group healing. Forever adds raid-wide damage to many fights, so healers with strong multi-target tools move up.
Holy Priest answers group damage best and is the only S tier healer; the four in A tier each lead in a narrower job.
Rotations, talents and builds for each class are covered in our class guides, starting with the WoW Forever class changes overview.
A tier list ranks what a spec does on a boss. Two practical questions sit next to it: which classes clear dungeons fastest while you level and farm, and which ones get a raid spot most easily. The answers are not the same as the S tiers above.
Dungeon spam rewards area damage, little downtime between pulls, crowd control and a tank who holds a whole pack. These picks come from beta play up to level 30, so treat them as a guide for leveling and early farming rather than a level 60 verdict:
Two group setups work best. A caster group of three Mages with a Protection Paladin and a Discipline Priest pulls big and drinks together. A melee group with a Warrior or bear Druid tank, a Shaman for Windfury and Warriors or Rogues as damage has the least downtime of all. Retribution Paladins and Balance Druids run out of mana in long runs, Rogues have no area damage until Blade Flurry, Holy Paladins have to stand in melee to add damage, and Warlock damage over time spells can be too slow when packs die in seconds.
Getting a raid spot depends on what you bring that nobody else does and on how many other players rolled your class. The October 15 build made Battle Shout, Trueshot Aura, Leader of the Pack, Moonkin Form and four Shaman totems raid-wide. One of each now covers the whole raid, which makes the first one valuable and the second one much less so.
The riskier picks are specs a raid needs only one of. A single Balance Druid, Shadow Priest or Retribution Paladin covers the raid buff, so a second one has to win the spot on damage. Rogues bring no raid-wide buff, and Expose Armor does the same job as a Warrior's Sunder Armor. Hunter damage is very strong in simulations, but Hunter was by far the most played class on the beta, so competition for Hunter spots will be the heaviest. Tank spots are few in any raid, whatever the class.
Raid sizes, locations and the Onyxia attunement are covered in our WoW Forever raids overview.
PvP in Forever has no resilience and no arenas, so matches are decided by burst, control and how hard a spec is to kill. This list combines battlegrounds, world PvP and duels into one ranking; the notes after it show where each spec is strongest.
The S tier specs share one trait: they deal damage and stay alive at the same time.
A tier holds the specs that win with the right setup. Subtlety Rogue controls a fight with Cheap Shot, Kidney Shot and Vanish. Frost Mage has Polymorph, Counterspell, Frost Nova and an Ice Lance that hits frozen targets for 300% more damage on an 8 sec cooldown. Arms Warrior and its Mortal Strike rise to S tier with a healer behind them and drop when left alone. Holy Paladin, Discipline Priest, Holy Priest and Restoration Druid are the healers premades are built around, and Elemental Shaman brings Purge, an Earth Shock interrupt and burst.
B and C tier specs can still win games, but they either lack control or give up too much to play their PvE role.
The overall ranking hides some sharp differences between modes:
Ranks, Honor and rewards are explained in our WoW Forever PvP overview.
Forever rebuilt the talent trees so that hybrids and old meme builds actually work. None of these are ranked above, because they sit between roles or have not been tested enough, but each of them is a real way to play.
You can plan any of these builds in our WoW Forever talent calculator.
Raid rankings say little about the road to 60. For leveling, Hunter is the fastest class, Warlock and Mage follow closely, and Warrior and Priest are the slowest to reach 60 but have strong endgame roles waiting for them. If this is your first character, a Hunter or Warlock forgives the most mistakes, because the pet takes the hits.
Every class is rated for speed, downtime and safety in our WoW Forever best leveling class ranking. If you are still choosing between classes for how they feel to play, our WoW Forever class guides compare all nine.
Each class has its own leveling guide with talents, rotation and route:
If you would rather start at the level cap, our WoW Forever leveling service can take any class to 60.
Gold is scarce in Forever, and some classes pay to play while others do not. Hunters burn arrows with every Auto Shot and keep buying food for the pet. Casters and hybrids buy reagents for group buffs, teleports and resurrections, Warlocks need a steady supply of soul shards, and Warriors have no class reagents at all. If you have little time to play, a Mage is the cheapest class to run: it needs no arrows, no pet food and no shards, and it conjures its own food and water.
The Legacy perk Reagent Economy removes part of this bill. It costs one Legacy point at the end of the Resourcefulness tree, and its tooltip says that your class abilities no longer require reagents you can buy from vendors; it also makes the Tier 1 camping features free to craft. The key word is vendors. The perk covers vendor reagents only. It does not cover Soul Shards, which no vendor sells (Blizzard fixed a bug on October 15 that let the perk summon an Incubus without a shard), and it does not cover arrows, bullets, pet food or Blinding Powder, which Rogues craft.
We explain how to earn and spend Legacy points in our WoW Forever Legacy points guide.
Ammo is consumed in Forever: Blizzard fixed the bows and guns that were not using it early in the beta. A vendor sells arrows and bullets in stacks of 200, and each step adds damage to your ranged weapon. The prices below are base vendor prices from the beta data; reputation discounts take a little off.
| Arrow | Bullet | Required level | Vendor price | Added damage per second |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rough Arrow | Light Shot | 1 | 10c per 200 | 1.5 |
| Sharp Arrow | Heavy Shot | 10 | 50c per 200 | 3.5 |
| Razor Arrow | Solid Shot | 25 | 3s per 200 | 7.5 |
| Jagged Arrow | Accurate Slugs | 40 | 10s per 200 | 13 |
Arrows sit in a Small Quiver or Medium Quiver and bullets in a Small Ammo Pouch. Each one adds ranged attack speed, but it also takes one of your bag slots. Always carry a spare stack before a dungeon: a Hunter who runs out of arrows halfway through has to finish the run in melee.
Pet happiness still drops over time, so you need to Feed Pet regularly. Meat is the safest choice, since most tameable beasts eat it. Fruit, bread and fish follow the same price steps at the same levels, and the table shows the meat ladder.
| Pet food | Required level | Vendor price per 5 | Price per piece |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haunch of Meat | 5 | 1s 25c | 25c |
| Mutton Chop | 15 | 5s | 1s |
| Wild Hog Shank | 25 | 10s | 2s |
| Cured Ham Steak | 35 | 20s | 4s |
| Roasted Quail | 45 | 40s | 8s |
Most reagents are only needed for group buffs, resurrections and travel, so solo leveling costs little. The bill grows at level 60, when you rebuff a raid after every wipe. One Priest on the beta forums put it at 27 silver per death just to recast the three group prayers. The last column shows whether Reagent Economy removes the cost.
| Class | Reagent | Used for | Vendor price | Removed by Reagent Economy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Priest | Holy Candle | Prayer of Fortitude (rank 1) | 7s each | Yes |
| Priest | Sacred Candle | Prayer of Spirit, Prayer of Shadow Protection and higher ranks of Prayer of Fortitude | 10s each | Yes |
| Priest and Mage | Light Feather | Levitate and Slow Fall | No vendor listed in the beta data | Unclear, only vendor reagents are covered |
| Mage | Arcane Powder | Arcane Brilliance | 10s each | Yes |
| Mage | Rune of Teleportation | Teleport spells such as Teleport: Stormwind | 10s each | Yes |
| Mage | Rune of Portals | Portal spells such as Portal: Stormwind | 20s each | Yes |
| Warlock | Soul Shard | Ritual of Summoning, Create Healthstone, Create Soulstone and demon summons such as Summon Voidwalker | Not sold, you collect them with Drain Soul | No |
| Warlock | Infernal Stone | Inferno | 50s each | Yes |
| Warlock | Demonic Figurine | Ritual of Doom | 1g each | Yes |
| Rogue | Flash Powder | Vanish | 25c each | Not on the perk's list of spells |
| Rogue | Blinding Powder | Blind | Not sold, crafted by Rogues | No |
| Rogue | Empty Vial, Leaded Vial and Crystal Vial | Poisons | 4c, 40c and 5s each | Listed, but beta testers reported it not working |
| Paladin | Symbol of Kings | Greater Blessings such as Greater Blessing of Kings and Greater Blessing of Might | 30s per 20 | Yes |
| Paladin | Symbol of Divinity | Divine Intervention | 20s each | Yes |
| Shaman | Ankh | Reincarnation | 20s each | Yes |
| Druid | Wild Berries and Wild Thornroot | Gift of the Wild ranks 1 and 2 | 7s and 10s each | Yes |
| Druid | Maple Seed up to Ironwood Seed | Rebirth, one seed type per rank | 2s to 20s each | Yes |
Warlocks have no candles. Candles are a Priest reagent, and what costs a Warlock is the Soul Shard: shards do not stack, every summon, Healthstone, Soulstone and Ritual of Summoning uses one, and a soul bag takes up a bag slot. Plan a few casts of Drain Soul on dying mobs before every dungeon or raid.
If you are saving up for your first mount on top of these costs, our WoW Forever gold making guide shows how to reach 100 gold by level 40.
The last weeks before launch brought three rounds of changes. The final beta build of October 15 was the last big class pass, and our October 21 update already reflects it. Blizzard closed the beta on October 23 without new class notes, then reworked racial traits on October 26 and 27. On October 28 a Hunter hotfix appeared on live servers during name reservations. The tables below list what matters for the rankings, class by class and date by date.
This build carried dozens of class changes. These are the ones that move a spec's damage, healing, threat or raid value; bug fixes and changes to single ranks are left out, and Rogues received only bug fixes.
| Class | Change on October 15 | Effect on the rankings |
|---|---|---|
| All classes | Wands (Shoot) and Auto Shot need you to stand still for 0.5 sec before they fire. Auto Shot still fires while you cast Aimed Shot or Sniper Shot. | Hunters and wand users lose a little damage on the move, and kiting in PvP gets harder. |
| Warrior, Hunter, Druid, Shaman | Battle Shout, Trueshot Aura, Leader of the Pack, Moonkin Form and the Grace of Air Totem, Strength of Earth Totem, Windfury Totem and Flametongue Totem now reach the whole raid. | The first spec in a raid that brings each buff is worth more, and a second copy is worth less. This drives most of the raid spot advice above. |
| Hunter | Pets benefit from Expertise and use the higher of your melee or ranged critical strike chance. Dismember now cuts healing by 25% (was 50%), and Sonic Blast slows casting by 30% (was 60%). | Beast Mastery moved up to A tier in our October 21 update. Pet control in PvP is weaker, but Hunters stay in PvP S tier. |
| Mage | Arcane Blast was redesigned: each of 4 stacks grants Spell Damage equal to 15% of your Intellect, and its damage dropped by 40%. Arcane Wrath became a 16-point talent. | Arcane stays in A tier, but the new rotation has not been fully simulated. |
| Mage | Fire talents were reworked: Critical Mass gives 10% critical strike chance over 5 points, Fire Power adds up to 12% damage for Fire effects on the target, and Heating Up and Fire Blast always add a charge. | Fire stays in A tier and still grows with every critical strike item. |
| Mage | Ice Lance deals 200% more damage to frozen targets (was 300%). Frost Blast arrives at level 24, Winter's Chill was redesigned, and Cone of Cold slows the first 4 targets more. | Frost loses some PvP burst but stays in PvP A tier. |
| Paladin | Consecration spell power per tick fell to 0.042 (was 0.095), Seal of Righteousness lost a bug that nearly doubled its spell damage, Champion of the Light was halved, and a bug that gave Holy Shock 50% extra damage was fixed. | Protection holds dungeon packs with less threat, and Retribution and Shockadin deal less damage. Retribution stays in A tier. |
| Priest | Devouring Plague cooldown is 24 sec (was 1 min), Shadow Word: Death cooldown is 18 sec (was 12), and Vampiric Embrace has a 30 sec cooldown and cannot be resisted. | Shadow barely moves in PvE and keeps its PvP S tier. |
| Shaman | Elemental Mastery returns as the Elemental capstone and Lava Burst is the 21-point talent. Chain Lightning costs about 35% less Mana, while Fire Nova was cut hard. | Elemental is still last in simulations and stays in D tier. Shaman tanks lose some threat on packs. |
| Shaman | Stormstrike costs 8% of base Mana (was a flat 125), and Water Shield triggers from any spell critical strike. | Enhancement keeps B tier and Restoration keeps A tier. |
| Warlock | Shadow Mastery gives 2–10% (was 1–5%), and Grim Reach replaced Malediction with +10/20% range. | Affliction gains a little but stays in B tier, the weakest Warlock spec on one target. |
| Warrior | Slam can no longer be pushed back. | Slam is usable while you take hits. Arms and Fury keep their tiers. |
| Druid | Furor keeps your Energy across forms, Shred is learned at 20 (was 22), and Faerie Fire generates threat in Bear Form. | Feral plays more smoothly and the Bear holds threat more easily. No tier change. |
Blizzard said it wants races to feel distinct, even if that makes some races slightly better at certain roles. The one exception is weapon specializations: Blizzard removed them so future raid and dungeon loot is not judged by which race can use which weapon. The changes below do not move any spec in our lists, but they change which race fits a spec best.
| Race | Change | Who it matters for |
|---|---|---|
| Human | Ruthless gives 1% critical strike chance (was 2%). The Human Spirit gives 10% Spirit (was 5%). | Critical strike builds lose a point; healers and Spirit users gain. |
| Dwarf | Earth Fury was removed and replaced with Artisan's Precision, 1% hit chance with spells and attacks. | Every spec that has to reach the hit cap. |
| Orc | Savage (1% critical strike) was removed. Command is back and raises Hunter and Warlock pet damage by 5%. On October 27 Blood Fury went back to a 2 min cooldown (was 3 min). | Beast Mastery Hunters and Warlocks who keep their demon out. |
| Troll | Berserking lasts 15 sec (was 10 sec), added on October 27. | Casters and Hunters who line it up with their cooldowns. |
| Undead | Touch of the Grave can trigger every 15 sec (was 25 sec), added on October 27. | PvP players who want more self-healing. |
| Tauren | Endurance now only adds 5% Health. Plainsrunning grows by 2% per stack up to 60% (was 1% up to 30%) and no longer works while mounted. | Tanks and PvP players; Tauren lose all offensive value. |
| Skyborne | Wind Blessed gives 2% haste (was 3%). Read Leyline raises Health and Mana regeneration by 50% for 15 sec (was 100%) and cannot be used during Innervate; used at a ley line, it grants Attuned, 100% for 1 hour. Skysight gives 15% speed for 15 sec, or 30% for 1 hour when Charged. Attuned and Charged are removed when you enter a raid. | Casters and healers who leveled on the old regeneration bonus. |
Every race and its new traits are ranked by role in our WoW Forever race tier list.
The hotfix lowers the Ranged Attack Power from Aspect of the Hawk and Trueshot Aura by about 48% at the top rank. It hits every Hunter spec, Marksmanship and Survival the most, and it makes Trueshot Aura a weaker raid buff. The same hotfix halves Elixir of Wisdom to 3 Intellect for 30 min (was 6 for 1 hour).
| Rank | Aspect of the Hawk Ranged Attack Power | Trueshot Aura Ranged Attack Power |
|---|---|---|
| Rank 1 | 22 to 15 | 30 to 15 |
| Rank 2 | 35 to 22 | 40 to 22 |
| Rank 3 | 50 to 30 | 50 to 30 |
| Rank 4 | 78 to 38 | 75 to 40 |
| Rank 5 | 90 to 47 | Trueshot Aura has only 4 ranks |
We have not moved any Hunter spec yet. The level 60 simulations that put Survival on top were run before the hotfix, and nobody has run them again. If Blizzard confirms the change, expect Marksmanship and Survival to drop a step in PvE, with Beast Mastery, which relies on its pet, hit the least.
Several open questions can move specs up or down before November 4:
These guides go deeper into the systems behind the rankings:
These are the questions players ask most often when they compare classes before launch.
There is no single best class: five of the nine classes have an S tier spec in at least one list. Hunter and Warlock are the only ones at the top of both PvE damage and PvP.
Survival Hunter tops current level 60 simulations with a mix of melee and ranged attacks, with Fury Warrior and Demonology Warlock right behind it. All three Hunter specs simulate near the top.
Protection Warrior for raid bosses and Protection Paladin for dungeons and large pulls. Feral Druid is close behind both. Every tank, including the Shaman, Warlock and Hunter builds, is ranked in our WoW Forever tank tier list.
Holy Priest, thanks to Prayer of Healing and Prayer of Mending. Restoration Shaman is close behind, mostly for its raid-wide totems.
Shadow Priest, Hunter and Soul Link Warlock are the strongest picks across battlegrounds, world PvP and duels.
Mage for area damage, Protection Paladin as the tank and a Discipline or Holy Priest as the healer. Hunters are close behind thanks to Multi-Shot, traps and almost no downtime.
Yes. Everything here is based on the beta, which was capped at level 30 and closed on October 23, and on hotfixes since then. We will update the lists when level 60 raids are cleared on live servers.
