This Mists of Pandaria Classic Phase 1 PvE DPS Tier List will go over each DPS specialization in MoP Classic and give you a general understanding of the power level of each one in PvE content.
Table of content:
If you want to know what should be the strongest DPS Class and spec in Mists of Pandaria Classic Phase 1, this tier list should help you understand where your specialization lands in terms of power.
Tier List Disclaimers
As this tier list tries its best to evaluate the power level of each class in Mists of Pandaria Classic, there are a few things you should keep in mind before reading it
- First, it’s based on the overall performance we witnessed in the original release and during PTR, but Mists of Pandaria Classic will release on the latest patch of MoP and with extra changes from PTR. This can and most likely will change.
- This tier list doesn’t take into account leveling speed, and only considers phase 1. Some specs, such as Fire Mage, can be a bit rough early on but scale very well, and you might miss this information if you only look at the actual tier list, but we will do our best to mention the scaling elements in the deep dive part of the guide.
- Mists of Pandaria Classic is a solved expansion, which means everything can be done with every spec. Player skill difference is always more important than balance: if someone plays well, they will perform, no matter the specialization.
DPS PvE Tier List for MoP Classic (Phase 1)
Note: Order matters within each row.
MoP Classic DPS Tier List Explanations & Ranking Details
Tier List Explanation
S Tier: This Tier is reserved for the best specialization in the first phase of MoP Classic. They are the ones with the highest potential or/and best utility. They might not be always first at everything, but you should see one or multiple of them in every raid group.
A Tier: A Tier specs are very good, and you should always see one of these in raid groups. They aren’t as dominant as S Tier specializations, but are in a very comfortable spot: strong, but not broken. The best state a class can be.
B Tier: These specializations could have great performance… but only in the right hands. With fewer tools to dominate the damage or healing meters, they are still reliable and good enough to be considered viable, but to actually perform they need a bit more than A or S Tier specializations.
C Tier: C Tier specializations aren’t bad per se, they just often compete with way stronger alternatives in their own classes. Combining this fact with a tendency to ask a lot of effort to match B and A tier classes, and you have weaker specs that tend to see less representation.
D Tier: This tier should include only a few Specs. These specializations are accumulating a few core issues that Blizzard would need to address for them to be viable this phase, or specs that need to wait for a later phase to shine.
Ranking Discussion
S Tier: Unholy Death Knight, Survival Hunter, Arcane Mage
With the few balance changes Blizzard brought to the PTR, the gap between tiers is closer than it was back in the day. Even though these 3 specs are very strong, they aren’t strong enough to outclass every A tier spec if they aren’t played correctly.
- Unholy Death Knights have a very strong damage profile, with good melee and range options, and insane utility. They only lack mobility, but this flaw isn’t enough to make this specialization lose a tier.
- Hunters are a great pick in Mists of Pandaria, with every spec having their time to shine. Survival will be slightly better than Marksmanship in the first patch, but both specs are very good. Hunters bring incredible raid buffs and deal huge damage without ever having to worry about positioning, as all their abilities can be cast while running. It’s safe, strong, mobile, and not that hard to play.
- Lastly, the best caster in phase 1 should be Arcane Mage. With the rework to the spec, it’s now an incredible burst spec. It works very well when you can be immobile and blast, but it might suffer a bit when you need to move. While being immobile, it’s absolutely incredible, while still having the full mage toolkit, needed in a lot of situations.
A Tier: Marksmanship Hunter, Arms Warrior, Frost Death Knight, Subtlety Rogue, Windwalker Monk, Destruction Warlock, Feral Druid, Frost Mage, Enhancement Shaman
In this tier, we find a lot of very good specializations, but all of them might be a little bit behind the S Tier specs.
- Frost Death Knight, Frost Mage and Marksmanship Hunter all have the same issue: they have a slightly better alternative in their respective classes.
- Arm Warriors are incredible in the first phase of MoP Classic. With better utility, new ways to peel for your team while improving your whole raid's damage, Warriors are in a great space.
- Rogues also have a lot of good options, and every specialization is viable, but Subtlety might pull ahead by a little bit in the first phase.
- Windwalker Monk is the new DPS specialization from Mists of Pandaria, and is also a very strong option, with a dynamic gameplay, good base damage, and a lot of mobility. Combine all that with unique utility, and Monk becomes a prime choice for every raid group.
- Destruction Warlock is the best Warlock specialization in the first phase of Mists of Pandaria Classic. Affliction is close and will out-scale it, but with low amount of haste early on, it can’t outperform Destruction.
- Enhancement Shaman and Feral Druid are both in a similar situation: they are both a melee spec from a hybrid class with unique game styles and niche player bases. And they are both relatively equivalent in strength! They both bring a lot to the tables, but might get outclassed by other melee specs like Arms and Unholy.
B Tier: Retribution Paladin, Affliction Warlock, Balance Druid, Shadow Priest, Assassination & Combat Rogue, Elemental Shaman.
B tier is a bit strange with the current state of the game's balancing. This tier list might have been better as a spectrum than list with distinct tiers, as a lot of classes in B tier are very close to a low A tier (and for some of them will scale very well). With the few last patches that hit PTR, MoP Classic balance seems to be very good, so if you are playing any of the B tier specialization, don’t worry: they are doing enough to clear the content.
- Retribution Paladin is the most popular specialization in World of Warcraft, being one of the easiest spec to play in the game while still being pretty flashy. As it’s pretty easy to play, the downside is that it tends to lack a bit of damage. But they still offer a lot of utility, and with better mobility than ever before, they are pretty fun to play. Even though they don’t deal as much as other specializations, if you enjoy Ret you should always play it.
- Affliction is in a weird space, as its scaling is unmatched, but right now it’s not as strong as Destruction, while staying pretty close to it.
- Balance Druid is better than expected, but tends to struggle a bit behind other casters and with its unique playstyle, most players can’t make it work.
- Shadow Priest is in a similar situation, it’s not bad, but lacks mobility, tends to be outshined by Discipline (so if you want a priest in a 10 man, you most likely will play with a Disc) but deals all the damage needed to kill bosses. It's a fine specialization.
- Assassination and Combat are extremely close to each other and have the same issue: they are both specializations of a 3 DPS spec class, so as soon as one of them is just a bit better damage wise, it’s now a full tier ahead. They are viable, so if you dislike Subtlety, you can play one of them.
- Finally, Elemental Shaman, their damage output isn’t great, but they bring too many buffs and utility to the table to be ignored, if you don’t have a Restoration Shaman or an Enhancement, Elemental is mandatory.
C Tier: Beast Mastery Hunter, Fury Warrior, Demonology Warlock
The explanation is pretty easy: Fury and BM are both the scaling option of their respective classes, so they are pretty weak early on, but get much better in later phases. Demonology is hard to play, but even if you play it very well, you won’t be able to catch up with better Warlock specialization.
D Tier: Fire Mage
Sadly Fire Mage is very weak in the first phase of Mists of Pandaria Classic. It has great scaling, but its damage output is just too low to consider playing right now, unless you really enjoy the Fire Mage playstyle and don't mind being at a major disadvantage.
