WoW Classic DPS Tier List - Find The Most Powerful Damage Dealers!

WoW Classic DPS Tier List

Class choice is a crucial moment in playing any old school, slow progression MMORPG. You don’t want to put in the multiple hours of hard work to then decide that there’s another class that you’d prefer playing. Starting an entirely new character might be fun, but most players will probably want to reach the endgame content as soon as possible. There’s no reason to slow yourself down with a suboptimal pick. If you want to compete with the best, you don't want to waste any time in this Blizzard game. 

That being said, it’s important to understand that every class is viable in Vanilla World of Warcraft. Some of them might pump out bigger DPS or HPS numbers than the others, but there are no completely useless classes. Most raiding groups will actually strive to get as many different classes as possible, it might not be optimal in terms of sheer damage output, but it provides the most utility. Playing a less popular class can have its benefits.

However, some classes can do more damage than others, and after all, this is a DPS tier list. We’re going to take a look at some of the most efficient damage dealers in Classic, talk about their strengths and weaknesses as well describe their best build paths.

table of contents

Class Choice

Class Tier List

Warrior

Rogue

Mage

Hunter

Warlock

Summary

Vanilla WoW class choice

There are quite a few things to keep in mind when talking about the best classes in Vanilla WoW. Items back then were significantly weaker and offered fewer possibilities. Moreover, it’s definitely going to take a long time before you get your strong gear. That’s what makes less item-reliant classes more effective in WoW Classic. In general, the more raw power comes from your base stats and skills, the stronger you are – especially at the beginning.

That being said, Classic WoW will progress and get new updates, with a schedule similar to the original World of Warcraft in 2004. This means that new gear is going to be added to the game, in consequence changing the class balance. For instance, you can expect Warlocks to start pretty slow, but get stronger as more updates come to the game. On the other hand, Hunters will start off really powerful, but won’t scale as well as other classes into the later patches.

Raid DPS tier list

Vanilla WoW starts with patch 1.12. It’s extremely important, due to the talent tree changes that were implemented in that update. Keeping that in mind, this is how our WoW Classic DPS Tier List shapes up:

S Tier – Warrior, Rogue

A Tier – Mage, Hunter

B Tier – Warlock

C Tier – all the remaining classes, you probably shouldn’t play them as DPS, since you can provide much more to your raid with other builds. They are: Druid, Priest, Shaman and Paladin. 

Warrior

Warriors will most likely be flooding Azeroth when WoW Classic launches. First of all, they are the most efficient DPS class in raids. It might seem surprising to many players, but Warriors - with the right gear, specs and talents - could actually pump out the highest damage numbers out of all the classes. After all, the bosses won't kite you and this is the biggest problem in battle for Fury Warriors. Secondly, Prot Warrior is also the first tank choice for every raid, since Paladins are rather underwhelming. This ability to excel at multiple roles is the reason why you can expect Warriors to be extremely popular among the Classic WoW community. You're probably going to see a lot of people picking up this class after Vanilla release.   

Classic Warrior Races

The other factor that might be important for some players: you have unlimited race choices as a Warrior. It’s the only class that can be played by each one of the eight Vanilla races. You’ll still probably see mostly Orcs and Humans for DPS as well as Dwarves and Taurens for tanking as they’re believed to be the optimal Warrior races.

Humans have access to Sword Specialization and Mace Specializations. These racial passives increase their Weapon Skill with these types of weapons by 5. Higher weapon skill means a higher hit chance which results in more of your attacks reaching the target, instead of being dodged or parried. The increase is not massive, but it really comes into play during raids.

Orcs have a similar passive of their own in Axe Specialization. Furthermore, they get access to a racial skill called Blood Fury that temporarily increases their damage output with melee attacks, while also decreasing the amount of received healing. It’s a very powerful ability, but you have to learn when to use it in different situations. Furthermore, Orcs have an additional 25% of stun resistance due to another passive – Hardiness. This is much more useful in PvP than in raiding, but let’s face it – no matter how hard you try to avoid it, PvP action will find you in WoW Classic.

Classic Warrior BiS gear

It’s important to note that Warriors top the WoW Classic damage rankings with Best in Slot gear. The gear dependency also makes leveling a little bit painful. Without proper equipment, their power level significantly falls off. The likely high popularity of this class combined with gear dependency might create some drawbacks in unlocking its full potential. That being said, you wouldn’t be checking a DPS tier list if you weren’t planning to get the optimal items at some point, would you?

The most important stats for a DPS Warrior are hit chance, critical strike chance, and attack power these stats make Warriors epic, terrifying killing machines in PvP and PvE. If you can’t get to BiS as soon as you’d want, make sure to use some replacements with bonuses to these values. The optimal pre-raid items for Phase One of Classic Warrior that you should be striving to get are as follows:

Head

Lionhearth Helm (extremely contested and expensive – tons of players are going to want this item), Mask of the Unforgiven is a good substitute until you get it.

Neck

Anything that gives you attack power – Mark of Fordring, Will of the Martyr and Imperial Jewel all are good options.

Shoulders

Truestrike Shoulders are the best choice, with Wyrmihde Spaulders being the easier to get alternative.

Cloak

Cape of the Black Baron is the only option that provides any useful offensive stats, Stoneskin Gargoyle Cape and Blackveil Cape are good placeholders until you get it.

Chest

Savage Gladiator Chain is the absolute Best in Slot, but there are a few other options that also are really good. You can consider: Cadaverous Armor, Tombstone Breastplate, and Deathdealer Breastplate.

Wrists

Battleborn Armbraces are the BiS here, the other options being Vambraces of the Sadist, Blackmist Armguards and Slashclaw Bracers. 

Gloves

Devilsaur Gauntlets are the best choice, but they’re going to be heavily contested. Reiver Claws and Gargoyle Slashers are good alternatives.

Belt

Brigham Girdle is the optimal one here, Omokk’s Girth Restrainer is a great second choice.

Legs

Both Cloudkeeper Legplates and Devilsaur Leggings are great alternatives.

Boots

Bloodmail Boots provide the best bonuses, but Windreaver Greaves are a really close second. Battlechaser’s Greaves are a good placeholder.

Rings

Blackstone Ring and Painweaver Band are the two to go for, Band of the Pentinent and Myrmidon’s Signet can be used as temporary replacements.

Trinkets

Hand of Justice and Blackhand Breadth are the BiS. Rune of the Guard Captain is a decent alternative.

Weapons

As a Human, you should prioritize swords or maces, while playing Orc you should go for an axe. Other races don’t care that much about weapon type. In general, while a two-handed weapon is better for leveling, dual wield allows bigger DPS, after you get close to the BiS gear.

Ironfoe and Mirah’s Song are best for Humans, with the Dal’Rend’s Sacred Charge and Dal’Rend’s Tribal Guadian being a strong alternative. Axe of the Deep Wood and Serathil are great for Orcs. If you really want to use a two-hander (or can get the BiS one, before the dual weapons) you can go with Blackblade of Shahram (sword) or Arcanite Reaper (axe).

Fury Warrior guide for raids

The bright side of being dependent on equipment is the great scaling into later patches that comes with it. Not only will Warrior be the best DPS class in 1.12, but it will also grow even stronger with some of the later patches. It only cements their number 1 spot as the best damage dealer in the game.

Furthermore, while they’re pretty squishy against non-physical damage, Warriors still have a lot more survivability than glass cannon classes like Mage. To be fair, as a Warrior you’re going to have to use melee attacks for DPS what can put them in more danger than some of the ranged characters. Combine it with some of the abilities that increase the damage taken and reduce the healing received as well as no ability to easily drop threat and you put yourself in a higher risk than basically any other DPS.

However, learning the bosses’ behavior and limits of what your character can and cannot do, should be enough to be the efficient damage dealer during raids. If you get good at raiding with Warrior, you’ll learn how to optimize the DPS output while staying safe and the raw numbers will compensate for some limitations and lack of utility.

Talent Build

There are some small differences between optimal talent build for using a two-hander and dual-wielding. That being said, both setups use Fury tree for some of the core DPS talents like Cruelty, Flurry, Death Wish, and Bloodthirst. Arms tree is taken for talents like Tactical Mastery and Anger Management help with generating Rage as well as the damage from Impale.  

Two-hander build

This setup, while still mostly reliant on the Fury talent tree, puts a bit more points into Arms. This setup relies more on the Slam ability, so you’ll also invest some points into Improved Slam.

Dual Wield Build

Five points in Dual Wield Mastery are, of course, the main difference here. This setup allows you to deal more damage, but is much more gear reliant. If you don’t have extra hit chance from your equipment, you probably shouldn’t go with this build. That being said, with the right gear, you will have all the tools necessary to top the damage charts during raids. Furthermore, this build scales even better with stronger gear, which will make you even stronger in the later phases of Vanilla.

Rogue

Rogues are also expected to be really popular among the Classic WoW players. While their DPS numbers average as being the second-best in Vanilla (which is still insanely good), they have a much smoother leveling process.

Furthermore, Rogue is the iconic PvP class in Vanilla. It will definitely be useful in certain scenarios. They also bring much more utility to the table, with various crowd control abilities and poisons. They also can drop threat much easier than Warriors, thanks to Vanish, making them safer during raids. Moreover, Rogues can perform pretty well even without the BiS gear.

Rogue Races in Classic

Rogue is the class with the second biggest race choice. Only Tauren are unable to pick up this class. Most players think more about PvP when they create a Rogue, what makes Gnomes the most popular Alliance race, thanks to the Escape Artist racial skill. Dwarves with Stoneform also are relatively popular. For PvE, Humans are most likely the best choice, because of the aforementioned Sword Specialization – it will improve your DPS if you’re going to use a sword. Horde players should choose Orcs for the PvE power of Blood Fury, or Undead due to Will of the Forsaken, a great CC cleanse for PvP and for some dungeons and raids (you can break out of fear with it).

BiS Rogue Gear in Vanilla

While gearing up as a Rogue (even with temporary placeholders), your priority should be getting to the 9% hit chance cap. The other important stats are agility, damage, and critical chance. The optimal pre-raid equipment for Phase 1 of WoW Classic looks like this.

Head

Mask of the Unforgiven is the BiS for Rogues, but Eye of Rend is a great alternative.

Neck

Similarly to Warriors, you’ll want any attack power that you can get – Mark of Fordring, Will of the Martyr and Imperial Jewel all are great choices.

Shoulders

Truestrike Shoulders are by far the best choice anything else in Phase 1 is just a placeholder until you get them.

Cloak

Cape of the Black Baron is the only option that provides any significant DPS improvement, Shadow Prowler’s Cloak is a good alternative, due to extra Agility.

Chest

Cadaverous Armor is the best in slot, Nightbrace Tunic is basically a slightly weaker version of it, so it’s a great second option.

Wrists

Deepfury Bracers provide the most Agility, which makes them the most suitable in this item slot. They are a bind on equip world drop though, so it might not be that easy to get them. Bracers of the Eclipse provide similar power level, while Blackmist Armguards are a decent alternative.

Gloves

Devilsaur Gauntlets are by far the best choice. Other gloves are just placeholders until you get these.

Belt

Just like with gloves, Cloudrunner Girdle is the clear optimal item here. Other items should be viewed just as temporary replacements.

Legs

Devilsaur Leggings should be your end goal here, at least in phase 1.

Boots

You should choose between Swiftwalker Boots and Mongoose Boots, either one of them will provide you with over 20 Agility, with some minor differences in other stats. Pads of the Dread Wolf can be an alternative thanks to the attack damage increase.

Rings

In these slots, you’re looking for exactly the same bonuses as Fury Warrior, so the best options are the same. Blackstone Ring and Painweaver Band are the go-to, while Band of the Pentinent and Myrmidon’s Signet are decent placeholders.

Trinkets

Item diversity in Classic is not that great. Once again we’re going for the same stuff as Warriors. Hand of Justice and Blackhand Breadth definitely are best in slot options here.

Weapons

As Rogue, you’re going to be dual-wielding. As Human, you probably should prioritize swords over daggers, due to your racial. Other races can pretty much choose the weapons that they prefer or that they can get the most easily.

Swords: Dal’Rend Sacred Charge and Dal’Rend Tribal Guardian are the best if you can get them both for the set bonus.

Daggers: Felstriker, Heartseeker, Lobotomizer, and Alcor’s Sunrazor all are great options. Just pick two of them if you can.

Rogue raid guide

Rogues can get to the hit chance cap relatively easily. They also get tons of attack speed and critical strike rate with additional damage from poisons. These factors allow them to pump out impressive DPS numbers. The main advantage that they have over Fury Warriors is the “get out of jail free” card in the form of Vanish. This ability to instantly drop threat lets a Rogue player focus solely on optimizing their damage output, without having to worry about getting killed when the boss decides to switch aggro.

Talent Build

Once again, you might want to use a slightly different build, depending on the weapons that you’re using. That being said, both of them will rely on Dual Wield Specialization, Blade Flurry and Malice for extra damage and Adrenaline Rush to create short windows of ability-spamming.

Combat Dual Swords

This is the most efficient raiding build that packs the highest DPS numbers. It uses the Dual Wield Specialization and Sword Specialization to deal amazing amounts of damage to bosses. Slice and Dice is a great DPS increase, you won’t even have to spend your combo points on it to get permanent attack speed buffs. Blade Flurry will also help with that. This build lets Rogue rank right behind or even equal to Fury Warriors in terms of raiding DPS. That's why we put them in the S-tier in our ranking.

Combat Dual Daggers

If you happen to get strong daggers faster than swords, you can choose to go with this setup instead. While it provides slightly lower DPS, it uses the same weapons that you’ll want for PvP (swords are better for killing raid bosses, but daggers excel at executing other players). The most important difference is obviously picking Dagger Specialization instead of Sword Specialization. You should also go with Opportunity and Improved Backstab in order to increase your damage output with daggers.

Mage

While melee DPS characters can definitely deal more damage in early Vanilla, there are some other benefits of playing a class like Mage, and we will talk about them here. You not only have the safety and tactical advantage of being able to DPS from range, but this caster class also has access to a great amount of useful crowd control and other utility.

Before we talk about their contribution to raiding groups, there are a few important things to talk about. First of all, the ability to produce some resource in form of their own consumables is extremely valuable in Vanilla. It’s a really important edge over other classes. The other thing is, Mages are basically the only class in the early Classic that can AoE farm effectively. They are also great in dungeon runs. The main drawback is the smallest health pool in the game. It makes them easy targets in PvP, especially for Rogues.  

Remember, the game isn’t only about stat-checking different characters with BiS gear. Especially early on, racing to level 60 will be extremely important. The same goes for finding the strongest items. On the other hand, WoW Classic servers are definitely going to be crowded. It makes AoE farming more difficult, because of the limited number of available monsters as well as the general danger of getting killed while training mobs. That being said, if you manage to AoE farm effectively, your progression should be really fast (at least for Vanilla standards). Furthermore, Mages scale really well into the later Classic updates, when they become even stronger as a DPS class.

Mage Races in Vanilla

Four races are able to play Mage in Vanilla. On Alliance side, it’s Human and Gnome, while for Horde it’s Troll and Undead. Gnomes are a better choice than Humans for both PvE and PvP. Their racial passive Expansive Mind provides +5% additional Intellect that helps with DPS and the active Espace Artist can sometimes be a lifesaver. At the same time, Humans don’t really get any valuable bonuses for a Mage.

The situation is a tiny bit more complicated for Horde players. While Trolls are a bit stronger in PvE thanks to their DPS boosts, Undead are the superior choice for PvP. Any crowd control breaking ability will have great value there, and Will of the Forsaken is a really great one. That being said, since we’re talking about optimizing damage output for PvE, Troll is the recommended choice.

BiS Mage equipment

While gearing up as a Mage, you should always prioritize certain stats over the others. It’s important not only for the Best in Slot items but also earlier in the game. Of course, you won’t be able to always get the perfect gear, but you should keep that in mind regardless.

Spell Hit Rating is extremely important because it increases the chance of properly hitting your spells. Spell Critical Strike provides great damage spikes when some of your most important spells crit. Of course, Spell Damage is also important for DPS, although you should be aware of different scaling on different spells. Other important stats are Intellect (it provides Mana and Spell Critical Strike – that’s what makes Gnomes the best Alliance Mages), Stamina and Mana regen. In Phase 1, Frost Mage is pretty much the only correct build, so you’re going to want to get the Frozen Wrath enchantment when it’s possible.

That’s the pre-raid equipment that you should be striving to get:

Head

Green Lense of Frozen Wrath and Dreamweave Circlet both are really great choices here. Anything that provides Intellect or Frozen Wrath is a good temporary option.

Neck

Jewelry choices are rather limited in the early Classic, Star of Mystaria is the best one for now.

Shoulders

Boreal Mantle is Best in Slot for Frost Mage, Kentic Amice is also really good.

Cloak

Archivist Cape of Frozen Wrath is the optimal choice, Spritecaster Cape is a good secondary option.

Chest

Robe of the Archmage is the Best in Slot here. Freezing Lich Robes is also decent.

Wrists

Flameweave Cuffs and Tearfall Bracers both are great, as long as they have the Frozen Wrath suffix.

Gloves

Hands of Power are the best option here. Atal’ai Gloves of Frozen Wrath are decent, but they’re more of a placeholder.

Belt

Ban’thok Sash and Clutch of Andros both are really good options, due to extra Spell Hit Chance and Intellect. Make sure to get one of them.

Legs

Similarly, Skyshroud Leggings and Spellshock Leggings both are great choices.

Boots

Omnicast Boots are the Best in Slot here, if you can’t get them, try to get anything with Frozen Wrath suffix.

Rings

Freezing Band is definitely the best one here, but it will definitely be hard to get two of them. The faction quest reward rings (Songstone of Ironforge and Eye or Orgrimmar) also are really good.

Trinkets

Briarwood Reed, Burst of Knowledge and Eye of the Beast are all great, pick two of these three if you can.

Weapons

Witchblade and Drakestone of Frozen Wrath is the go-to main and off-hand combination. Bonecreeper Stylus and Lunar Wand of Frozen Wrath are great ranged options.

Mage raid guide

As a Mage, you will have access to multiple useful cooldowns. The key part is playing around your mana pool, the five-second rule, and your abilities that allow for resetting some of the cooldowns. Evocation helps you quickly regenerate mana. Blink can be used to break crowd control and reposition, Counterspell is an interrupt while spells like Frost Nova and Polymorph can let you temporarily disengage some of the enemies.

Your damage numbers will probably be smaller than the ones provided by Fury Warriors and Rogues, but at the same time, you will be able to bring much more utility to the table. As we said, you will also scale much better into the later updates. As a ranged DPS you can also position more safely. 

Talent build

In the first phase of Classic, every strong Mage builds is, to some extent, focused on the Frost spec To increase your own DPS, you should go more into Arcane and get the Arcane Power talent. To share some power with your friends and focus more on increasing your team’s damage output, you should choose to invest more points into the Frost talent tree in order to get Winter’s Chill. Ideally you would want to have both of them, but it's not possible due to how far they are in the respective spec trees.

Arcane Power Build

Winter's Chill Build

Hunter

Similarly to Mages, Hunters are another great and really fast leveling class. While they can’t train monsters and AoE them down, they’re very self-sufficient and can farm really quickly without being reliant on gear. Unfortunately, that also means that when new, more powerful items are introduced in later phases of Classsic WoW, Hunters will be the class that’s getting outscaled the most.

That being said, in phase one, they can output impressive amounts of DPS, easily competing with Mages and often even surpassing them. Combine it with the fact that you have all the tools necessary to do really well in the race to level 60 and you got yourself a great class for phase 1.

Hunter races in classic wow

The Alliance races that can be played as Hunters are Night Elf and Dwarf. Horde players get to choose between Tauren, Troll, and Orc. Night Elves have more base Agility on the Alliance side, what makes them the slightly better choice over Dwarves. If you’re mostly interested in PvE, Trolls are the clear frontrunners for Horde, thanks to Berserking and Bow Specialization.  

Hunter BiS gear

As we already mentioned, gear is not that important for Hunters, but if you want to raid efficiently, you’re going to need some strong equipment. The most important stats are Hit Chance, Critical Strike Chance, Agility and Attack Power, but Stamina, Strength, and Spirit are also always welcome. For some pieces of equipment, Hunters will have to fight with Warriors and Rogues. It might get tough since all three of those classes are really strong in Vanilla, and a many players are likely to pick them up. That being said, let’s take a look at the Best in Slot Hunter pre-raid gear for phase 1.

Head

Mask of the Unforgiven is the best thing to get, but the Eye of Rend and Crown of Tyranny are also really good.

Neck

Mark of Fordring and Pendant of Celerity are the go-to choices here, with Imperial Jewel also being worth considering.

Shoulders

Truestrike Shoulders are absolutely BiS in phase 1.

Cloak

Cape of the Black Baron is by far the best option, but Shadow Prowler’s Cloak is also great.

Chest

Savage Gladiator Chain is considered Best in Slot here, but you can also go with Cadaverous Armor, Tombstone Breastplate, Nightbrace Tunic or Breastplate of Bloodthirst.

Wrists

Slashclaw Bracers are the number one item choice here.

Gloves

Devlisaur Gauntlets are unmatched for Hunter gloves.

Belt

Beaststalker’s Belt and Frostbite Girdle are both great options.

Legs

Leggings of the Plague Hunter and Devilsaur Leggings are the two most powerful possibilities.

Boots

Windreaver Greaves and Beaststalker Boots are the best ones to consider.

Rings

Once again, Blackstone Ring and Painweaver Band are the most valuable here.

Trinkets

Blackhand’s Breadth and Devilsaur Eye are the go-to trinkets for Hunter.

Weapons

For melee combat, the two Dal’ Rend’s swords are Best in Slot. Blackcrow, Carapine Spine Crossbow, and Dwarven Hand Cannon are great ranged options. Additionally, make sure to get Ribbly’s Quiver for the extra attack speed and some strong arrows or bullets, like Doomshot or either type of Thorium ammo.

Hunter raid guide

Hunter’s rotations are really simple since, besides Auto Shots, you’re only using two abilities – Aimed Shot and Multi-Shot. It gets a bit more difficult if you want to weave in melee attacks in between the ranged ones, because then you will have to run in and out of melee range. Your cooldowns are mostly attack speed boosts, so whenever it’s possible, try to use them together, since they scale off of each other.

Always keep Hunter’s Mark (if you have multiple Hunters in a raid, designate one that will take Improved Hunter’s Mark and permanently keep it on the boss) to increase the damage that it takes from ranged auto attacks. If you’re in danger of dying, you can always use Feign Death to drop all threat instantly.  

Hunter DPS build

As soon as you get decent gear, your optimal DPS build will focus on Marksmanship and Beast Mastery talent trees. Trueshot Aura is extremely valuable because it will boost the damage output of all the Hunters, Rogues, and Warriors in your raid.

Warlock

In terms of sheer DPS numbers, Warlocks start WoW Classic early phases rather slowly. Their damage output is far from best in the game, but they’re still definitely worth playing. Even in phase 1, Warlocks are worth to be taken to raids, because of the amount of utility that they bring. Furthermore, caster gear becomes much stronger in the later phases. It's the reason why many players view Warlock as one of the best scaling classes as the subsequent updates hit Azeroth.

Warlock race choice

Four races can be played as Warlocks: Human, Gnome, Orc, and Undead. Gnome and Undead are the recommended ones for their respective factions, because both of them have higher Intelligence than the counterparts as well as a strong defensive utility from racial skills (Escape Artist and Will of the Forsaken).

Warlock Best in Slot Gear

The stat priority is similar to Mage, the other caster class that we talked about. That means that you should prioritize Spell Power, Spell Critical Strike Chance, Spell Hit Chance, and Intelligence. The main difference is prioritizing crit over hit, because of the unique qualities of Warlock’s kit. Just like Mages will always look for the Frozen Wrath in their items, Warlocks will seek Shadow Wrath, as it is a class-specific bonus that improves their damage outout. These are the best pre-raid items to go for in phase 1 of WoW Classic.

Head

Cap of the Scarlet Savant is by far the Best in Slot choice here.

Neck

Star of Mystaria and Tooth of Gnarr are both great options.

Shoulders

Felcloth Shoulders of Shadow Wrath are probably the best, but the suffix is more important than the item itself.

Cloak

Any Shadow Wrath one that you can get.

Chest

Robe of the Void is Best in Slot here, but Robe of Winter Night is a close second.

Wrists

Anything with Shadow Wrath.

Gloves

Gloves of Spell Mastery and Hands of Power both are great options here.

Belt

Ban’thok Sash is the best one here, but Clutch of Andros is also worth considering.

Legs

Skyshroud Leggings are the most powerful option and Felcloth Pants are a decent alternative.

Boots

You can choose either Omnicast Boots or anything with the Shadow Wrath suffix.

Rings

The best ring choices are Maiden’s Circle as well as the ones from the princess faction quests (Songstone of Ironforge and Eye of Orgrimmar). Underworld Band is also a decent substitute.

Trinkets

Similarly to Mages, try to get two of these three: Eye of the Beast, Briarwood Reed and Burst of Knowledge.

Weapons

Inventor’s Focal Sword and Witchblade are great main-hand options, and Drakestone is the Best in Slot off-hand. Skul’s Ghastly Touch is the best-ranged weapon.

Warlock raid guide

As a Warlock, you will be able to deal some single target damage (including damage over time) and AoE burst damage, but in early Vanilla, most of your damage value comes from the curses. The three important ones are: Curse of the Elements, Curse of Shadow, and Curse of Recklessness. They respectively reduce their target’s elemental resistances, shadow as well as arcane resists and armor.

Depending on your raid group’s damage profile, you will have to use a different one (only one curse per Warlock can be active on a single target). Most likely, the optimal play will be reducing the boss’s armor, but if your raid is heavy on Mages, you might go with elemental resists instead.

Furthermore, Warlocks have access to plenty of other utility spells. They get plenty of crowd control with Fear, Howl of Terror, and Banish. Conjuring Soulstones and Healthstones also often come in handy during raids. Warlocks can also provide some useful buffs for tanks and of course, teleport their team members using Ritual of Summoning.

Warlock raiding build

The main raiding build for Warlocks is focused around the ability called Demonic Sacrifice and the Destruction tree talent called Ruin that provides a significant critical damage boost. The main idea is: summon Succubus, sacrifice it for extra damage and spam your Shadow Bolt for single target DPS and powerful crits. The massive multipliers on those skills and talents are the reason why Warlock scales so well with stronger gear.

Best DPS classes in Classic WoW

These are the best damage dealers for raids in WoW Classic. You can, of course, play a Retribution Paladin, Shadow Priest, Elemental Shaman or Feral Druid and maybe some raid leaders will invite, because of the utility, but it’s not a certainty. That being said, in terms of raw damage numbers, these classes are subpar, to say the least. You should also remember, that DPS is usually the most contested role in raids. If you want to make sure that there will always be room for you, better play a healer, like Holy Priest, Resto Shaman or Holy Paladin. You can also choose to play a tank - Protection Warrior is the best choice here. Trying to play Priests in raids as anything else than healers is borderline trolling. Similar principle applies to Shamans and Druids, the Restoration spec is just much more effective in raiding scenarios. Some of the crazier builds can work well in open world PvP or in Battlegrounds. For raiding however, we recommend sticking with the meta.

If you want to bring a lot of value to your raid, while playing a DPS role, we would definitely recommend playing one of the five classes that we included in this tier list. Just remember that there are many factors different than just damage numbers. Some of the other important factors include the ability to drop threat, amount of added utility, and even the progression speed and being able to find strong gear sooner than other players. Keep it all in mind when choosing the class that you’re going to play. Most importantly though, pick the one that will fit your playstyle, and that will let you enjoy the game the most!

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