WoW Classic WotLK is heading fast toward the launch of Phase 2, and it will be in somewhat uncharted territory after some massive changes to the Ulduar raid and even some balance changes on top.
With that, it’s time to rank the best damage dealers in the game with an Ulduar DPS tier list accounting for the new higher item-level gear and historic Unholy Death Knight nerfs.
So who will do the most damage in WoW Classic WotLK Phase 2?
S Tier
The S tier of WoW Classic WotLK Phase 2 DPS specs are ones that can absolutely top the meters in the right situations and are primarily comprised of classes that will remain in this upper echelon throughout Wrath of the Lich King.
While some of the specs rely on massive burst windows and others on consistent output, there’s one thing they all share - being a cut above the rest.
Affliction Warlock
Affliction Warlock will pick up steam in phase 2 and will be treated by and large as a replacement for Unholy Death Knight in many speedrunning guilds after the latest nerfs. While Affliction may not scale the most on the new higher item-level gear offered in Ulduar, it will still retain one of if not the best burst windows of any DPS spec in Ulduar.
Add to this that Affliction is perhaps the best caster in movement-heavy fights, and you’ve got a serious contender for the best DPS spec in Ulduar.
Arcane Mage
While Mages by and large underperformed many expectations in Naxxramas in phase 1, phase 2 will be a massive redemption arc for them. Phase 2 will introduce some key pieces of loot to push Mages into the very upper rankings and that’s only getting better thanks to the higher item-level gear.
In fact, no other class in the game will benefit more from what Ulduar has to offer than the Mage, which shows in the massive growth of Arcane Mage and Fire Mage’s potentials alike. And while Arcane Mage may need the most individual support of any DPS this phase with spells like Innervate proving almost necessary, they’ll reward that support with some massive numbers on the meters.
For anyone that doubted Mages in phase 1, Ulduar will soon set the stage for a serious surprise.
Assassination Rogue
Clocking in as the first melee spec on the list is the Assassination Rogue. Rogues enjoyed a successful run in phase 1 as the most represented spec in the game with roughly 2.27 million parses logged, 200,000 more than the next most played spec. We can speculate that this is largely because of the spec’s simple rotation in relation to the field and its strong presence in PVP as well.
While Assassination’s strengths really lend themselves to a high floor and low ceiling compared to others, its heights will still be massive, and after Unholy Death Knight nerfs, these rogues claim the spot of best melee spec in Ulduar.
Demonology Warlock
While they may be the most important spec to have at least one of in the entirety of WoW Classic WotLK, the Demonology Warlock hangs just a bit behind its Affliction cousins, but is still firmly in the top rankings overall. In fact, Demonology Warlocks should be the caster receiving the most gear up front thanks to their unique Demonic Pact buff that scales on individual spell power, buffing the raid based on its value.
In the end, Demonology Warlocks and Affliction Warlocks should scale very similarly in Ulduar, but the slight lead that Affliction has held to this point will remain to separate these two in the top 5 specs in phase 2.
Unholy Death Knight
After Blizzard’s historic decision to nerf Unholy Death Knights in the Ulduar patch, removing the ability to snapshot haste onto their Summon Gargoyle pet, ranking this spec is certainly the most difficult from phase to phase.
By most testing accounts, the Unholy DK nerf should shave a minimum of 1000 DPS off of their overall numbers, but this is really just the floor of things for a class that will now scale entirely differently as a result. In fact, the changes may be severe enough to justify an entirely new approach to gearing for Unholy players, potentially moving away from some elements of the infamous Morb build (dual-wielding with a reliance on the Morbidity talent to increase Death and Decay damage).
While Unholy will still get the better of its Frost cousins, it is no longer the titular top dog of WoW Classic WotLK DPS specs.
A Tier
Fire Mage
There’s no spec with a glow up quite as significant as that of the Fire Mage in WoW Classic WotLK Phase 2.
Fire Mage will improve the most from phase to phase of any spec in the game thanks to some serious upgrade pieces that will now be individually stronger thanks to the Ulduar item level changes, and a fantastic set of tier armor bonuses from the Valorous Kirin Tor Garb set.
This growth will lead Fire to be one of the best specs to have multiple of in Ulduar, and with less reliance on the support of other classes and faster boss kill times like Arcane, Fire mage will play a significant role in raising the floor for the class as a whole.
Combat Rogue
Much like Fire Mage in many respects, Combat Rogue will be the second-best spec of one of the most successful classes in the phase, and will improve at a rate higher than most any other spec during this time. And similar to Demonology Warlock, most raids will value the first Combat Rogue slot as one of its most important to fill thanks to offering the Savage Combat physical damage taken debuff only shared by the underperforming Warrior.
With some serious armor pen and expertise sources out of Ulduar that are now only stronger after item level buffs, however, multiples of Combat Rogues will be a great place to be for many guilds in phase 2 and places them firmly in the top 3 melee specs in the game.
Balance Druid (Boomkin)
Boomkins have enjoyed the most individual success the class has had yet in WoW Classic in WotLK, and will still contend as a serious caster in Ulduar, scaling well on its new gearing options.
While Boomkins will still rely quite heavily on RNG with Eclipse procs, and offer quite a simple rotation overall, they’ll offer unmatched utility and trash damage all while hanging well in boss fights in Ulduar, making them an extremely valuable raid slot for any comp.
Shadow Priest
While previous expansions saw Shadow Priests scale among the worst in comparison to other casters, WotLK’s changes have helped change that, and phase 2 will be a very big deal for these dark damage dealers.
Shadow Priests will pick up some serious tier bonuses in the Valorus Sanctification Garb set and plenty of well-itemized Haste that will lead to a nice improvement overall, scaling among the very best specs in Ulduar. So while Spriests are coming off of a relatively unimpressive phase 1 on the meters (while still boasting top-tier utility), they’ll enjoy much more success in WoW Classic WotLK phase 2.
B Tier
Marksmanship Hunter
Hunter players have had the luxury of Survival and Marksmanship specs performing quite similarly so far, with this gap set to close a little more in phase 2. And thanks to gear changes in Ulduar accelerating the rate of scaling, testing suggests that Marksmanship could very well edge out Survival this time around.
In the end, the hunter debate will mostly come down to the differences introduced by this newly improved Ulduar gear and how much your guild needs the Trueshot Aura buff MM provides vs the extra Replenishment buff provided by Survival. But Marksmanship’s accelerated scaling will make it the premier Hunter spec in the latter stages of WotLK, and we could see that come early with this new state of Ulduar.
Frost Death Knight
While Unholy Death Knights are feeling the pain of an unprecedented individual system nerf, Frost Death Knights, unfortunately, don’t have much to boast about heading into phase 2 either.
This spec scales very poorly in WoW Classic WotLK phase 2, at among the worst rates in the game in a phase not particularly friendly to melee specs. Thanks to its strong start, though, Frost Death Knights will be far from the bottom of the pack and will still be a valuable multiple to many raid comps.
As the fifth most played spec in the game and the most likely destination for many migrating Unholy players, expect to see many more Frost Death Knights in Ulduar, making gearing an extra challenge for an already downtrodden bunch in phase 2. But the consistent damage output of this spec will mean that it can still stand out in guilds with slower kill times, and it will boast a high floor as a result.
Survival Hunter
Hunter players enjoyed two very competitive spec options in WoW Classic WotLK phase 1, and that will continue in phase 2, despite Survival Hunter being the second most played spec in the game.
Those that choose to go Survival will be able to enjoy the high skill ceiling that trap weaving and a complex rhythmic rotation allow, as well as the additional source of the important Replenishment buff for mana-hungry allies.
As a spec that will scale worse than Marksmanship over time, however, this may be the last true hurrah of Survival hanging so closely in the pack, so those on the fence may want to choose accordingly.
Elemental Shaman
An important phase for caster gear will help along the Elemental Shaman in phase 2, a historically poor scaling spec overall. So much so, in fact, that the overall weaker caster will manage to stave off better scaling classes like Warriors below them from among the lower middle of the pack.
Since the future of the Elemental Shaman is quite bleak in relation to other damage dealers, phase 2 will be something of a last stand for those looking to take the spec to its heights on the meters, and those wielding the elements may want to take advantage before Enhancement eventually moves past it.
Enhancement Shaman
Enhancement Shaman was by and large the biggest surprise for damage dealers in WoW Classic WotLK phase 1, taking Naxx by storm and contending with the very best melee specs in the game. This was, in part, thanks to innovations around the class’s use of spell power in itemization.
While this affinity for some caster gear helped push Enhancement to new heights in Naxx, however, the relatively strong caster phase of Ulduar won’t offer much support to this melee hybrid due to its secondary stat displacement.
Overall, this poor itemization and the general trend of Shaman leads Enhancement to be the worst scaling spec heading into phase 2. But thanks to its strong start, Enhancement players still find themselves above the very bottom of the pack and should begin to outscale their Elemental cousins in future phases.
C Tier
Feral Druid
The Feral Druid dream was largely oversold to players heading into WoW Classic WotLK phase 1, and it’s shown in the spec’s parse data since. As one of, if not the, most difficult DPS classes to play, Feral has little to show for it by and large in terms of damage output. This is of course a variable thanks to the specs’ absurd skill ceiling in relation to its floor.
Heading into Ulduar, Feral will enjoy some decent itemization in what is largely a caster phase for gearing, no thanks to its poor tier set bonuses in the Valorous Nightsong Battlegear set, but this won’t make much of a dent in its current state overall, and the spec will only see glimmers of hope in its very top performers.
Fury Warrior
It’s no breaking news that Warrior players are having a slow start in Wrath of the Lich King Classic, and unfortunately, that won’t be changing in phase 2.
While Fury Warriors especially have plenty of good news in their corner thanks to the changes to Ulduar’s loot meaning accelerated scaling for the best scaling class in the game’s history, this spec won’t hit anywhere near its ICC heights this early in the game, and will still struggle to compete with tanks at the relative bottom of the meters.
Blizzard’s new approach to Ulduar gear may be an improvement for this forsaken bunch, but those who are looking forward to the future of Shadowmourne and phase 5 will still have to suffer through some more underperforming first while bringing the Rampage crit buff as its main utility.
Arms Warrior
Sharing all of the problems that Fury Warriors face while being the slightly less scaling alternate option leads Arms Warriors to just narrowly avoid the very bottom spot of our WoW Classic WotLK phase 2 DPS tier list.
While guilds may still bring an Arms warrior for its valuable physical damage debuff, Trauma bleed amplification, and Sunder support, its main debuff being shared with the much stronger Combat Rogue means that the Arms Warrior’s already narrow niche is even more restrictive, and phase 2’s gearing changes will do nothing to salvage its current state.
Retribution Paladin
Perhaps in the most unique position on this list, Retribution Paladins will without a doubt be the worst individual damage dealers in Ulduar, but will be a much more recruitable spec than many others above it. This is due to the absolute necessity of the Paladin’s Divine Sacrifice ability, which will trivialize some massive raid mechanics in Ulduar, on top of the bonus utility of extra Paladin blessings and Replenishment buff.
So while Retribution Paladins will suffer at the very bottom of the meters with little prospects of resuscitation until ICC at best, they’ll still be decently recruited for their overall class utility in the end.
