Best melee to learn on?

[nFeF]

Recently returned to the game, haven't played since before Legion.

Wanting to RBG/Arena, I wanted to heal at first because that's what I've always done.. and I don't have a *lot* of time to play so I was thinking easy teammates as healer.. but I think it's a bad idea to jump back in as healer. Melee is supposed to be the easiest role to learn on. Plan is to learn all the covenant stuff, conduits, all that jazz, max renown, and be competitive in season 2.

That being said, if any of my logic is off or there's a better option please let me know.
These are the 4 classes decided to pick from.

Havoc DH
ENH Shaman
WW Monk
Frost DK

Factors in decision:

- Ease of play, low skill floor preferably high skill ceiling. I've played rogue way in the past and I enjoy it, but it's way harder to play than I'm looking for right now.
- Number of comps available, if I can only play one comp I will probably quit the game from AFKing in Oribos in LFG. I don't have a group of friends that play WoW.
- Desirability in RBGs, same reason as above


I know Ret or Arms is going to be the de facto answer but honestly I want something I can learn on and grow with. Not a class that's going to get nerfed to the ground in a few months because I'm playing the 'op'. I also just dislike paladins in general. I don't see any way Arms doesn't get nerfed soon.

Any advice is appreciated!

[Raugnaut]

Frost DK in your case. Fairly simple, decent kit for PvP, solid in the meta right now, and has a variety of comps it can fit in.

[Noct]

Gonna second frost DK. It’s both relatively straightforward and viable.


WW requires a lot of positional and CD awareness. It’s strong but can take some setup before you’re ready to throw down your burst.


Havoc is kinda in a weird transitionary phase this expansion: with the dodge removal from blade dance they kinda suck at staying alive. But maybe that new Vengeful Retreat PvP talent will help? They only have one viable covenant in PvP, but it is a fun button to push.


Enhance is enhance. Blizzard always seems to throw their hands in the air as to what to do with shaman. It’s fine but you can get trained pretty easily as a newbie.

[nFeF]

Gonna second frost DK. It’s both relatively straightforward and viable.


WW requires a lot of positional and CD awareness. It’s strong but can take some setup before you’re ready to throw down your burst.


Havoc is kinda in a weird transitionary phase this expansion: with the dodge removal from blade dance they kinda suck at staying alive. But maybe that new Vengeful Retreat PvP talent will help? They only have one viable covenant in PvP, but it is a fun button to push.


Enhance is enhance. Blizzard always seems to throw their hands in the air as to what to do with shaman. It’s fine but you can get trained pretty easily as a newbie.

Yea..back when I played Rsham for years every single arena match was "can we kill them before they train me down, cause they will cause I'm squish and very trainable."

Frost DK sounds good, and I already have one. Is it wanted in RBGs?

[Zantos]

My tip for being decent: Level them from scratch. Be sure to look up a rotation guide before you start, and fill in the blanks as you can. This allows you to get to know your toolkit inside and out. You're forced to spend a very extended time with it when leveling.

Second tip: PvP. PvP in between quests. This is honestly best way, imo, to learn any role. It was my crash course in how to heal effectively. The keys to this part though is to keep a few pointers in mind. Try to be the top while dieing the least. Do those two things, and you're golden. Dungeons and raids just wont help you learn to survive, how to use your cds effectively, how to manage your resources and how to be aware of your surroundings while lots is going on. Sure, you'll die a lot early on, but as you progress in skill, that will happen less often.

My top two tips. Preference for melee, warrior. Only major resource is rage. Plenty of down time early on to really hone in on being more aware of your surroundings. Then it progressively gets more advanced.

[nFeF]

My tip for being decent: Level them from scratch. Be sure to look up a rotation guide before you start, and fill in the blanks as you can. This allows you to get to know your toolkit inside and out. You're forced to spend a very extended time with it when leveling.

Second tip: PvP. PvP in between quests. This is honestly best way, imo, to learn any role. It was my crash course in how to heal effectively. The keys to this part though is to keep a few pointers in mind. Try to be the top while dieing the least. Do those two things, and you're golden. Dungeons and raids just wont help you learn to survive, how to use your cds effectively, how to manage your resources and how to be aware of your surroundings while lots is going on. Sure, you'll die a lot early on, but as you progress in skill, that will happen less often.

My top two tips. Preference for melee, warrior. Only major resource is rage. Plenty of down time early on to really hone in on being more aware of your surroundings. Then it progressively gets more advanced.

I appreciate the tips but I have a legup, I'm not new to the game. Last I checked between my chars I had 175k honor kills, and I have 2000 rating achieve from many years ago in 3s and 2s. Obviously those achieves arent relevant anymore, but I'm not exactly starting from scratch. Just all the new stuff in SL, in BFA, in Legion is what I need to learn. Legendaries that give classes whole knew abilities.. abilities they were given in these expansions that I don't know about. This stuff all changes how classes interact together. I actually have played half of these classes before for extended periods. DH I haven't because it wasn't in the game, and I don't have a monk either.

But I'm not coming from the "only ever did pve how I kill now?" background.

Do you not think big arms nerfs are coming soon? Possibly in 9.1. I would absolutely hate to get rolling on a class get renown farm on all covenants, etc and then when the patch drops my class is no longer relevant. That's what makes me shy away from warrior.

Thanks for all the advice

[Zantos]

I appreciate the tips but I have a legup, I'm not new to the game. Last I checked between my chars I had 175k honor kills, and I have 2000 rating achieve from many years ago in 3s and 2s. Obviously those achieves arent relevant anymore, but I'm not exactly starting from scratch. Just all the new stuff in SL, in BFA, in Legion is what I need to learn. Legendaries that give classes whole knew abilities.. abilities they were given in these expansions that I don't know about. This stuff all changes how classes interact together. I actually have played half of these classes before for extended periods. DH I haven't because it wasn't in the game, and I don't have a monk either.

But I'm not coming from the "only ever did pve how I kill now?" background.

Do you not think big arms nerfs are coming soon? Possibly in 9.1. I would absolutely hate to get rolling on a class get renown farm on all covenants, etc and then when the patch drops my class is no longer relevant. That's what makes me shy away from warrior.

Thanks for all the advice

No idea. I don't pay attention to that unless I intend to actually try to push ratings of some type. Ive played for years, but each expansion changes things so much that its like a whole new class at times. Hunter melee is fun too play too and, unless they removed a lot, has a decent amount of utility and mobility.

[Ohvul]

Id go with survival tbh. You can always swap to a ranged spec so ease of getting into other content goes up, and being a first season dk will probably put too much pressure on you if you decide to do rbgs. Survival to me is an enjoyable middle ground where you can learn how to kite and poke other classes during bgs, outpace enemies cooldowns and still apply utility to larger base fights. Arenas im not sure where the current / future meta will be, but if you're looking for something guaranteed to be op you're deciding much too early, having a multiple class roster is then your best bet, with the typical warrior or rogue as being a staple choice.

Havoc/vengeance would be my second option. Fairly easy to get into and the demand is there for both arenas and rbgs.