World of Warcraft: Forever has been out for a while, giving players plenty of time to test builds, class and race combos, and explore Azeroth. Some are getting into the endgame, while others just want to experience the game at their own pace. But knowing which specs can deal tons of damage matters for the best times and gameplay experience. Here is the WoW: Forever DPS tier list, ranking all 20 DPS specs.
WoW: Forever DPS Spec Tier List
Survival Hunter, Demonology Warlock, Destruction Warlock, Retribution Paladin, Fury Warrior
Marksmanship Hunter, Enhancement Shaman, Arcane Mage, Fire Mage, Feral Druid, Combat Rogue
Beast Mastery Hunter, Affliction Warlock, Subtlety Rogue, Assassination Rogue, Arms Warrior, Shadow Priest, Balance Druid
Elemental Shaman, Frost Mage
Tier List Ranking Explained
While offensive power is the main component of this tier list, it also considers other factors. This tier list is ranked on the following criteria:
DPS
Raw damage and offensive power.
Utility
Other beneficial aspects brought by the chosen spec, like team buffs or other off-hand roles the spec can cover.
Survivability
While not the most important stat, a DPS needs to stay alive to deal damage, so this stat is also considered in the ranking.
S-Tier Picks Explained
Survival Hunter
The Hunter class overhaul seems to have benefited every spec, and Survival Hunter is an easy S-tier pick. The spec can easily weave melee attacks, ranged hits, and traps into its rotations, all while stacking tons of flat damage multipliers. It has the best single-target damage, no contest, in PvE, and the same is true in PvP. This is mostly thanks to Mongoose Bite and Lacerating Strikes, plus a few supporting talents. Players essentially apply a stacking bleed that can crit.
Demonology Warlock
Separating Banes and Curses lets Warlocks deal tons of damage without losing any utility. For Demonology Warlocks, another massive change that propels this class into S-tier is proper demon scaling. Your summons inherit a portion of your Spell Power, Spell Hit, and Crit Strike Chance, turning formerly expendable buffs into real combat summons. Beyond turning your summons into usable combat pets, Demonology Warlocks also have spells and talents that boost their damage and sustain them in combat.
Destruction Warlock
Destruction Warlocks also benefit a lot from separating Banes and Curses. Bane of Havoc allows Warlocks to deal exceptional damage thanks to the 15% damage share mechanic. This talent makes the spec amazing at single targets and even packs. Furthermore, Ruin turns this spec into a terrifying crit machine by stacking with other talents like Agonizing Flames and Fire and Brimstone. All in all, it's no surprise Destruction Warlocks are an easy S-tier pick. They can deal great single-target damage, handle other mobs effectively, and even provide significant team buffs.
Retribution Paladin
The Paladin class got a massive glow-up with the updates implemented in WoW Forever. Retribution Paladins went from a reliable semi-tank DPS auto-attacker into a Physical and Holy damage powerhouse that fulfills the righteous paladin power fantasy, mostly thanks to Unsealed Wrath. Storing Seals only to unleash them later makes the Retribution Paladin extremely fun and rewarding to play with an engaging skill rotation. Finally, Champion of the Light at 5/5 lets you execute enemies below 20% HP, which is an insane single-target DPS boost that propels this spec into S-tier.
Fury Warrior
This spec reaches S-tier by solving the main issues that plagued it, like the dual-wield weapon accuracy penalty and the Rage economy, plus it has a more efficient talent tree. Whirlwind now strikes with both weapons instead of being limited to the primary weapon, and with Improved Whirlwind, it can be cast much more frequently. Finally, generating Rage is no longer tied to raw damage; instead, it's tied to weapon speed. This solves the careful balance of managing your Rage and your rotations that previous iterations of Fury Warrior had.
A-Tier Picks Explained
Specs in this tier are still extremely viable and can clear endgame content with relative speed but are held back by spec and tree limitations. However, these specs provide significant team utility through buffs or by filling another role as a backup.
Marksmanship Hunter
Marksmanship Hunter is hindered by its capstone talent, Sniper Shot, which requires you to stand still for 4 seconds. Plus, this Hunter spec is completely overshadowed by the Survival Hunter, which can output 15-25% more damage.
Enhancement Shaman
Enhancement Shamans rely too much on outside factors to reach peak DPS. Improved Stormstrike can significantly increase this spec's DPS, but it relies on parrying or dodging a boss's attack.
Arcane Mage
Arcane Mages can deal amazing damage while Arcane Blast is fully stacked. But that's where the problem lies: Arcane Blast is extremely mana-taxing. This creates limited windows of massive damage, with long downtimes between each DPS window.
Fire Mage
Fire Mage, while capable of dealing damage, is slower to cast than other DPS specs. It requires several talents to be stacked before dealing tons of damage. While fine for longer encounters, it's still extremely inefficient compared to other specs.
Feral Druid
Feral Druids are stuck in A-tier because they lack AoE and have a difficult rotation that relies on weapon swapping for peak damage output. However, this spec can deal tons of damage and even be a backup tank in a pinch.
Combat Rogue
Combat Rogues share the same problem as all rogue specs: a lack of effective AoE damage and simple boss immunity to poison. While not all bosses are immune to poison, it still limits Combat Rogues' effectiveness.
B-Tier Picks Explained
Specs in this tier can be used for endgame content but are held back by mechanics, optimization, and being severely overshadowed by other specs of the same class. These specs are also too specialized in certain ways.
Beast Mastery Hunter
Beast Mastery Hunter is the prime example of mechanical constraint. While it makes leveling and overall exploration a breeze, the inability to weave melee effectively severely hampers the spec's DPS potential. Furthermore, it's overshadowed by two other Hunter specs.
Affliction Warlock
Affliction Warlocks suffer from being overshadowed, but the spec has its own problems that severely limit its DPS potential. Most of its damage takes too long to stack, and most trash mobs in raids just get wiped too quickly. It's also the only spec that suffers from the success of other specs.
Subtlety Rogue
Like Assassination Rogue, Subtlety Rogue is too specialized for PvP. While it's amazing for players who enjoy PvP, it's a suboptimal choice for endgame PvE content.
Assassination Rogue
Like Subtlety Rogue, Assassination Rogue is too specialized for PvP. While it's amazing for players who enjoy PvP, it's a suboptimal choice for endgame PvE content.
Arms Warrior
Arms Warrior is the definition of mid. It's not bad in terms of damage, and there is nothing inherently wrong with the spec. But it also doesn't excel at anything and is overshadowed by Fury Warrior.
Shadow Priest
Shadow Priests can deal damage but suffer from severe mana starvation and require external support for optimal damage uptime. This is fine for most casual runs, but for those chasing the fastest, most efficient clears, Shadow Priests just don't have a spot in the raid group.
Balance Druid
Balance Druids are barely B-tier because of their extremely sluggish APM (Actions Per Minute). Their long cast times severely hinder their damage output, and they lack meaningful utility to help the team.
C-Tier Picks Explained
While Frost Mage and Elemental Shaman are extremely fun and viable while leveling, these two specs fall short in endgame areas for different reasons.
Elemental Shaman
Elemental Shamans suffer from severe mana starvation and are completely overshadowed by Enhancement Shamans. Although this spec is fun and viable while leveling, its limitations become much more noticeable in endgame content.
Frost Mage
Frost Mages lack identity and are heavily incentivized to run Fire Hybrid setups. While this spec can be fun and viable for leveling, it struggles to compete with stronger DPS options in the endgame.
