Best 3 classes for a DPS player looking to push CEs

[Kaver]

Fire mage is the best spec in EP, they can do everything burst specific targets with cds, do high overall ST, burst AoE, sustained AoE, have immunity, blink, cheat death.

Warlock is quite good too, a lot of defensive power and good dps. Gateways and pet utility are really great too.

Also what's good for a tier is defined by last 2-3 bosses that are hard not wcl statistics or something, warlocks were great for last 3 and fire mages were amazing for last 2 in EP. While warlocks weren't the best dps on Azshara, gateways and imp dispells were really good on the fight. Warlocks were also huge on delirium add as demo on Zaqul.

I agree, but we are also talking about next tier.

Mage and Warlock are not “way” better than Elemental, but they are in front. I would still say that the “having 3 ranged dps specs” is still the best argument for choosing a mage or warlock.

[Izenhart]

Don't listen to people saying warlock and mage, they are oversaturated classes and guilds are filled with them, and you have 0 experience in in BFA raids so the competition with those classes in getting accepted in a guild will be even harder.

You're better off going for less played classes that are still very good/needed in a raid, like Balance or Elemental

[KOUNTERPARTS]

Mage, Rogue, Shadow Priest?


Balance Druid too.

[Amaterasu65]

Mage, Rogue, Warlock. Shadow Priests have been in higher demand than these 3 the last 2 expansions, since they excel in multiple target scenarios, so you can consider SPs too. However the first 3 are the safest choices and almost always relevant. Rogue especially.

[Marrilaife]

Don't listen to people saying warlock and mage, they are oversaturated classes and guilds are filled with them, and you have 0 experience in in BFA raids so the competition with those classes in getting accepted in a guild will be even harder.

You're better off going for less played classes that are still very good/needed in a raid, like Balance or Elemental

Doesn't matter if guilds are "oversaturated" with them because I've seen plenty of logs where guilds have 3-4 warlocks even without the need of having that many. They're just a good class to have, versatile, able to survive more than your average squishy, provide plenty of utility.

Most guilds will take 3rd warlock over second ele shaman, not even mentioning melee. Unless Shaman is suddenly required for X boss in Nyalotha.

And yeah, no shit if you suck at a class and can't compete, don't play it. Guilds are full of blue parse mages and locks (if you look at a guilds that are CE or close but not hall of fame material), your goal is to be better than them. Unless for some weird reason you think warlock / mage is too hard to play and let's say boomkin is easy. Then yeah, play boomkin.

But if we look at class popularity, mage and warlock are actually not that popular. According to realm pop, the most popular classes are: Druid, Paladin, Warrior, Hunter and Demon Hunter (both EU and NA with very small deviation, counting only lvl 120s). Mage is 6th and Warlock is 9th in US and 10th in EU. Obviously the question still stands how big % of these are raiders, even more so mythic raiders.

Hard to judge from for example amount of logs per class / spec, but if we tried, the top 3 ranged specs by the number of parses in mythic are beast mastery hunter, balance druid and shadow priest. Spriest is just very strong atm, and the other 2 correlate with the above class popularity. Warlocks if we add destro and affli will be only similar numbers to boomkin, and if we add demo as well only then will reach the number of BM hunter parses. Mages if we add all specs will get slightly ahead of hunters, if we add add hunter specs together as well.

Now if we look at Ashvane, which is the first "not easy to pug" mythic boss, mages again only get the numbers if we add all the specs together, and are still close with hunters and boomkins, warlocks are less represented, even adding all specs of theirs. 2 most popular specs total (not just range) are havoc DH (super popular class and also every raid needs at least 1 for buff) and... boomkin. How can anyone say boomkin is "less played" than warlock I have no idea.

Last bosses in a raid are getting more skewed, because guilds will deliberately stack whichever specs are best for that specific boss. Fire mage especially is gaining a lot of popularity there.

[ThrashMetalFtw]

Simply because they each have 3 dps specs. Elemental is great right now, but when it’s not they don’t have any other options. Mage and Warlock are simply the safe choices for ranged dps.

- - - Updated - - -



In general, yes.

This tier and last tier, no.

Mages are better than Elemental Shamans this tier yes.

Ele was better than Mage last tier. And to put things in perspective, that's the ONLY time during 15 years of raiding that Elemental Shamans have been better than Mages. BoD was the one and only time Ele have been a 1# tier spec. Sure, they are still a good spec, and any good Ele will pull very respectable numbers and be a welcome addition to any guild (assuming they have ranged spots), but compared to their numbers in BoD, they got outscaled hard by every other range spec in the game.

[The Butt Witch]

Boomkin all the way. The aoe and burst of a turret spec, coupled with the mobility of BM hunters, AND combat ress to boot.

But hunters are fine and don't need buffs.

[Tradu]

Boomkin all the way. The aoe and burst of a turret spec, coupled with the mobility of BM hunters, AND combat ress to boot.

But hunters are fine and don't need buffs.

Boomkin AoE? Are you playing Legion?

[Marrilaife]

Subtley Rogue, WW Monk, &Frost Mage
https://www.warcraftlogs.com/zone/st...metric=bossdps

You forgot Demonology Warlock.

P.S. Never forget Zul, the destroyer of Subtlety as a spec.

[The Butt Witch]

You forgot Demonology Warlock.

P.S. Never forget Zul, the destroyer of Subtlety as a spec.

Of all these, only frost mage is not a pain in the ass to play optimally.
You could play a class/spec that isn't the best but you play it perfectly because it doesn't have a million gimmicks OR you could try to play a "skilled" spec and completely fuck it up because WoW isn't a turn-based game where you have plenty of time to track shit and react appropriately.

[psyquest]

If you want a class that does well. Is rarely at the bottom. Is in no danger of becoming useless in raid. Is always useful in raids:

warlocks

For melee, this get harder. At the cutting edge, you need survivability, mobility and/or utility.

warriors, rogues are good choices. warriors start slow at begining of xpacs but finish hard. Rogues are good in all mythic and mythic+ content.
demon hunters: way too many around, finding a guild is hard.


If you are a top tier player, you should know already what guilds you can apply to and what class that they ll need.

[Tradu]

If you want a class that does well. Is rarely at the bottom. Is in no danger of becoming useless in raid. Is always useful in raids:

warlocks

For melee, this get harder. At the cutting edge, you need survivability, mobility and/or utility.

warriors, rogues are good choices. warriors start slow at begining of xpacs but finish hard. Rogues are good in all mythic and mythic+ content.
demon hunters: way too many around, finding a guild is hard.


If you are a top tier player, you should know already what guilds you can apply to and what class that they ll need.

Not sure why people still think this is the case. Arms was one of the strongest specs in Highmaul, EN and Uldir. It hasn't been true since like.. Cata?

[Marrilaife]

Of all these, only frost mage is not a pain in the ass to play optimally.
You could play a class/spec that isn't the best but you play it perfectly because it doesn't have a million gimmicks OR you could try to play a "skilled" spec and completely fuck it up because WoW isn't a turn-based game where you have plenty of time to track shit and react appropriately.

I don't think that's the only reason why these specs are so fucked up on the dps meters.

Windwalker didn't change THAT much and it was near top in Antorus, yes, it was thanks to legendaries and set bonuses, but not because it was easier to play back then.

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

play a mage theyre easier than a hunter to play and master

[Demolition999]

There is a lot of nonsense in this thread. Some good suggestions, sure, but a lot of BS too.

First off, the OP wants to pursue CE. At that level the damage output factors in the most because you're not going to get a raid spot even if you're parsing consistently high with a bottom feeder spec. So all this utility stuff matters, sure, but only when considering things being relatively equal.

Not being in a CE guild will affect things. If you're established in said guild your path to a raid spot is stacked a bit more in your favor, where you will gear that highly desired class quickly and be able to maintain a spot. If not and you want to play a melee class it's a bit of an uphill battle. Why? Because most players play melee. Why do they play melee? Because you can run around and dps without movement hurting your parse as badly as most ranged (exempting BM of course) and also switch it up and gear through mythic+ quickly as well since many of the melee classes also cleave/interrupt etc.

If the OP is truly exceptional in the DK dps specs he'll be able to break into a CE guild. But it's just going to be harder going due to that melee competition. There are going to be tons of DK early on and it will sustain if their spec/s are parsing well as the raid numbers start to roll in.

If the OP can parse highly in ranged specs that is a quicker path to a solid CE raid spot. Supply and demand. Note that BM hunter doesn't apply here, as it's basically a ranged melee class that can move and do its full rotation with zero drawbacks and there is a ton of competition for those spots.

My suggestion to the OP: play your DK, sure. But also gear up at least one ranged class you can play well. And the recommendations to pick pure DPS classes is a good one. Just keep in mind that the question of which 3 you will gear and play might be influenced or dictated by what your guild requires. Also if you plan on supplementing gear with heavy mythic+ content that should be considered in which class you pick. If it's me, I'd go with Mage (fire), and Shaman (ele) in addition to your DK. Both of them look strong for raid level and mythic+ content.

[Danvash]

1. Whatever you enjoy playing the most.
2. Whatever you're best at
3. Whatever looks best in tmog.

[lockybalboa]

Affliction is always solid. And locks never have a problem getting into groups.

[Celestraza]

Melee is a major disadvantage. If you must, go rogue. Broken utility and always one amazing dps spec.

Ranged, doesn't even matter what you play really.
Shadow priests and Boomkins are always wanted for multi target fights (council fights).
Mages/Locks are always wanted for the utility and always top dps.
Hunters imho are underrated but are solid for adds control, swaps, utility and odd assignments.
Ele shaman is a bit situational though I guess, don't see them much.

[mercutiouk]

I've been out a while but... if scaling/etc work as usual Rogue should be "winning" as melee at the minute. They always start expansions as a mid tier class and get extremely good later in an expansion with gear scaling.

Genuinely different atm anyone?