Best 3 classes for a DPS player looking to push CEs

[Shadowman 747]

Hey, I'm returning to the hardcore scene after taking a year and a half break, been playing retail very casually and playing Classic, and I'm looking to jump in and get ready for Nylotha before it hits. What's looking strong going into the tier, and what composition covers all of the bases? At this point I'm thinking if my free time holds, I can get 3 characters ready to push into mythic with. I'm wondering about some pros and cons, as well as potential input based on PTR.

I'll probably play DK as a primary, but what can supplement that and cover the weaknesses? I'm enjoying all specs in DK, Druid, Demon Hunter, Warrior, and Paladin, as well as Disc/Shadow in priest, and Destro/Aff in Warlock. Don't really like Holy Priest or Demonology at all. I've been out of the game a bit, and I'm not sure what's postured to take dominance over Nylotha. Just looking for advice and discussion on what I can do to be the best contributing raider I can be in the new tier.

[Wilfire]

First of all, never play melee if you can help it. Ranged bias is real and has been real for many xpacks now.

In terms of ranged, all classes but hunters perform consistently well. Hunters excel only at high-movement fights which are rare and usually cheesed with clever positioning. Other than that, hunters are plagued by mechanical issues, scale badly and don't have the tools to handle multidot fights.

[Shadowman 747]

I've been a very high parsing melee in the past, I'm willing to fight for raid spots to get it. Most of my high parses were on DK, so I'm used to being a wheelchair class on high mobility fights, and I think I can adapt to them better than most melee players, to be blunt. I was looking through WCL and it seems like Lock, Boom, and Shadow are all fantastic, and all three are eating fat 10%+ nerfs in 8.3. Hunter isn't a class that appeals to me in the first place, so that's not a concern. Don't like the fantasy, playstle, or role in raids. Doesn't appeal to me at all.

Fury Warrior and Havoc have me interested. I'm thinking Warrior, Warlock, and Druid might be the call, but I'm not 100% sure. DK has been my pocket class for years, but I don't see much demand for them and they generally look middle of the pack. UH's quadratic multitarget is appealing, but I'm not sure how relevant it is. Good for hectic cleave, but not so much for general raiding.

[Morgaith]

Rogue, Warlock and Mage. They are always FoTM in at least one spec.

[Samuraijake]

I've been a very high parsing melee in the past, I'm willing to fight for raid spots to get it. Most of my high parses were on DK, so I'm used to being a wheelchair class on high mobility fights, and I think I can adapt to them better than most melee players, to be blunt. I was looking through WCL and it seems like Lock, Boom, and Shadow are all fantastic, and all three are eating fat 10%+ nerfs in 8.3. Hunter isn't a class that appeals to me in the first place, so that's not a concern. Don't like the fantasy, playstle, or role in raids. Doesn't appeal to me at all.

Fury Warrior and Havoc have me interested. I'm thinking Warrior, Warlock, and Druid might be the call, but I'm not 100% sure. DK has been my pocket class for years, but I don't see much demand for them and they generally look middle of the pack. UH's quadratic multitarget is appealing, but I'm not sure how relevant it is. Good for hectic cleave, but not so much for general raiding.

hes saying that if you are ranged, you wont have to fight for a spot.

[inthemist]

Even if you are good at playing melee, you are at a disadvantage if you play one. I would list locks and mages on top, both have at least 1 pretty dominant specs and really versatile with both having a second viable spec. SP and Moonkins I believe that will be a little bit more niche.

[Shadowman 747]

Thoughts on Havoc and Fury atm? IK fury is doing insane DPS and I don't see PTR nerfs, and Havoc has never once been bad since DH came out in 2016. Warlock sounds great as a one of, it always has a good spec and I like the playstyle, but neither Rogue or Mage is appealing to how I like playing the game. Not having access to offroles is pretty crippling to me. I'm the type of player who wants to get good at every spec in the class, and while sure, Rogues have a 2 spec thing going between Ass and Outlaw, on Mage has 2 dead specs and you can basically just get away with playing fire and only fire. Melee with offrole options appeal to me more than Rogue does.

I want to be able to viably tank or heal as needed for guild runs, in raid or dungeons, without making too large a leap. Guess I'm more of a flex player than pure DPS.

- - - Updated - - -

hes saying that if you are ranged, you wont have to fight for a spot.

For sure, I understand that, and I'm saying in response that I don't really care if I have a bit of competition. I'm setting up characters on Stormrage, so there's going to be a guild that wants something I play, about 80% of the remaining alliance PvE community is here.

[zortport]

I've been a very high parsing melee in the past, I'm willing to fight for raid spots to get it. Most of my high parses were on DK, so I'm used to being a wheelchair class on high mobility fights, and I think I can adapt to them better than most melee players, to be blunt. I was looking through WCL and it seems like Lock, Boom, and Shadow are all fantastic, and all three are eating fat 10%+ nerfs in 8.3. Hunter isn't a class that appeals to me in the first place, so that's not a concern. Don't like the fantasy, playstle, or role in raids. Doesn't appeal to me at all.

Fury Warrior and Havoc have me interested. I'm thinking Warrior, Warlock, and Druid might be the call, but I'm not 100% sure. DK has been my pocket class for years, but I don't see much demand for them and they generally look middle of the pack. UH's quadratic multitarget is appealing, but I'm not sure how relevant it is. Good for hectic cleave, but not so much for general raiding.

high parsing with DK doesnt mean anything, because no one plays it. it doesnt bring anything to table other than grip you maybe need in one fight, and mostly bdk tank would do it. I'm in the similar boat, I love playing my WW, but they suck this tier, and not getting enough buff next tier so I'm preparing a lock.

if you are fine with playing gcd perfect and still being in the middle of dps meters cuz warriors do shit ton of damage, play what you want, but my ego cant handle it (even though i have 99 parses, couple top 3s etc, it still sucks, no matter how good I play, you cant beat an average warrior on ST).

if you wanna be safe and do decent damage, you are gonna have to pick a pure dps class. one of the 3 specs will always be above average. otherwise if you play hybrids, you are always at the mercy of that patches balance. and range is always more favorable, it doesnt matter how good you are at melee, I'm a melee god, but I'm still planning to switch to a lock, range is just better to do mechanics in 99% of the fights.
so lock, mage, hunter; have at least one of them for sure. for melee, only consistently good melee is rogue.

[Trend]

For sure, I understand that, and I'm saying in response that I don't really care if I have a bit of competition. I'm setting up characters on Stormrage, so there's going to be a guild that wants something I play, about 80% of the remaining alliance PvE community is here.

I don't understand what this thread is about. You seemed to be asking what you should play to be competitive and likely to contribute as much as you can. But then you are dogmatic about playing a class that does not fit the bill and you don't want to hear advice that contradicts what you want to do. Fine then, nobody cares if you play your DK or any other class. Play whatever the hell you want to play.

This is why these threads get locked when mods see them.

[Shadowman 747]

Good input. Warlock is absolutely in my cards, and is going to be one of the three I bring to the table, but I'm just not sure about the other two. Either Fury or Havoc with a prot/venge offspec is something I want to bring to the table, and then some class with a healing offspec, Druid, Priest, or Paladin.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't understand what this thread is about. You seemed to be asking what you should play to be competitive and likely to contribute as much as you can. But then you are dogmatic about playing a class that does not fit the bill and you don't want to hear advice that contradicts what you want to do. Fine then, nobody cares if you play your DK or any other class. Play whatever the hell you want to play.

This is why these threads get locked when mods see them.

I don't see how having options is a bad thing. I'm looking to push CE, not world firsts, and there are many options available in that bracket. There are very competitive melee specs in the game that are topping specific fights, I'm saying I can compete for those positions, how is that dogmatic? I'm attempting to find the best 3 classes to suit my situation and skillset, and I'm generally of the belief that either Fury War or Havoc DH is a good option for me, both in terms of playstyle and throughput.

If saying 'no' to an offered idea and offering my rational behind it is dogmatic, I don't know what you'd do in the face of actual dogmatism.

[Elkfingers]

Realistically if you pick a main that has good utility initially and get/have a raid spot, the choice of alts is largely determined by what your guild has in the wings if you want your alt choice to be impactful. If it fills a spot that needs filling, that's a useful alt.

I always main what feels best for pushing CE, as long as it's actually viable. If you're going to wipe on content you may as well do most of it playing something you actually enjoy. If that's Fury Warr or Havoc DH, then I'd say go for that.

[Tr0up141]

Rogue or DH for melee. Good damage spread and defensive toolkit. Rogues have a lot of immunes, DHs have the spell damage debuff.

Warlock for ranged. Every endboss this expansion has been made easier proportionally by the number of warlocks you have in a raid. I see green-parsing locks in top 100 guilds because that's how important they are.

[Shadowman 747]

Realistically if you pick a main that has good utility initially and get/have a raid spot, the choice of alts is largely determined by what your guild has in the wings if you want your alt choice to be impactful. If it fills a spot that needs filling, that's a useful alt.

I always main what feels best for pushing CE, as long as it's actually viable. If you're going to wipe on content you may as well do most of it playing something you actually enjoy. If that's Fury Warr or Havoc DH, then I'd say go for that.

That's a good point. I guess I'm just kind of trawling for info on classes I can't find on WCL or the wowhead PTR notes, but I think you're spot on. I'm likely dramatically over-valuing alts at this point and need to focus on bringing my main up to par. Guess I was thinking that alt count is a bigger barrier to entry, but when I don't have a guild or a dedicated main yet, I can't count my chickens before they hatch.

- - - Updated - - -

Rogue or DH for melee. Good damage spread and defensive toolkit. Rogues have a lot of immunes, DHs have the spell damage debuff.

Warlock for ranged. Every endboss this expansion has been made easier proportionally by the number of warlocks you have in a raid. I see green-parsing locks in top 100 guilds because that's how important they are.

If you don't mind me asking, which utility specifically is putting Locks in such a good spot, or is it just the whole kit? There's a lot of good spells, but what's making them THAT important? I've been out of the hardcore meta for most of BfA, still trying to figure out my ups from my downs.

[Tr0up141]

If you don't mind me asking, which utility specifically is putting Locks in such a good spot, or is it just the whole kit? There's a lot of good spells, but what's making them THAT important? I've been out of the hardcore meta for most of BfA, still trying to figure out my ups from my downs.

In G'huun you wanted locks for gates for orb running.
In Jaina you wanted locks for gates going from one side to the other depending on icefall paths. Also, you could interrupt Jaina from really far away with your felhunter all the way behind the icewall path.
I didn't do MCoS but locks were popular because of their damage kit (DoTs in general will always be strong in raid settings, being able to keep DPSing while doing other stuff is just invaluable).
In Azshara gates to escape beckons and imp dispels for the arcane bursts (which takes away a SHITLOAD of the plates healers have to balance in this fight, specially P3).

Warlocks just have too many niche abilities that happen to wildly affect the success your group has in many of these fights. I actually believe if you're a DPS main you should make the effort to have a warlock alt ready to go at any given time. They're boring to play, don't get me wrong, but damn does having multiple of them feels good.

[Espo]

That's a good point. I guess I'm just kind of trawling for info on classes I can't find on WCL or the wowhead PTR notes, but I think you're spot on. I'm likely dramatically over-valuing alts at this point and need to focus on bringing my main up to par. Guess I was thinking that alt count is a bigger barrier to entry, but when I don't have a guild or a dedicated main yet, I can't count my chickens before they hatch.

- - - Updated - - -



If you don't mind me asking, which utility specifically is putting Locks in such a good spot, or is it just the whole kit? There's a lot of good spells, but what's making them THAT important? I've been out of the hardcore meta for most of BfA, still trying to figure out my ups from my downs.

Healthstones, Gateways, the advantages a pet interrupt can provide (noted above) and two specs in Aff/Destro which cover a lot of ground in terms of the type of fights they can excel in due to the specs themselves and taking advantage of certain traits. They also have high effective HP. Keep in mind that, if locks excel on a fight, a green parsing lock could be a respectable dps vs other classes that do not. They've been a safe choice for literally years now.

And your comment about them getting a 10% nerf is not correct. Deathbolt received a healthy nerf (which only averaged out to a 1-2% dps loss overall), but other talents in row received buffs. The end result is that locks have not been nerfed at all for 8.3.

[Th3Scourge]

Spriest, Warlock, DH

Spriest and Lock are fantastic for spread cleaves, and Spriests have been busted in the last few raids

[Shadowman 747]

In G'huun you wanted locks for gates for orb running.
In Jaina you wanted locks for gates going from one side to the other depending on icefall paths. Also, you could interrupt Jaina from really far away with your felhunter all the way behind the icewall path.
I didn't do MCoS but locks were popular because of their damage kit (DoTs in general will always be strong in raid settings, being able to keep DPSing while doing other stuff is just invaluable).
In Azshara gates to escape beckons and imp dispels for the arcane bursts (which takes away a SHITLOAD of the plates healers have to balance in this fight, specially P3).

Warlocks just have too many niche abilities that happen to wildly affect the success your group has in many of these fights. I actually believe if you're a DPS main you should make the effort to have a warlock alt ready to go at any given time. They're boring to play, don't get me wrong, but damn does having multiple of them feels good.

Yeah makes sense, after looking at the spellbooks Lock seems to be the only class that genuinely has a robust toolkit now days. It's a bit of a shock coming back from Classic, where every class has their own utility and niches. Seems like classes are very light on utility these days.

Healthstones, Gateways, the advantages a pet interrupt can provide (noted above) and two specs in Aff/Destro which cover a lot of ground in terms of the type of fights they can excel in due to the specs themselves and taking advantage of certain traits. They also have high effective HP. Keep in mind that, if locks excel on a fight, a green parsing lock could be a respectable dps vs other classes that do not. They've been a safe choice for literally years now.

And your comment about them getting a 10% nerf is not correct. Deathbolt received a healthy nerf (which only averaged out to a 1-2% dps loss overall), but other talents in row received buffs. The end result is that locks have not been nerfed at all for 8.3.

100% agree on it being a safe pick, and I'm on board with what you're saying. As for nerf percentages, I was mostly giving a blanket statement on the incoming nerfs, you're right, aff isn't 10%, but spriest and boomy are getting 10% nerfs on core spells. I should have been clearer in communicating my understanding.

[The Butt Witch]

You can never go wrong with mage or warlock, even hunter.
I wouldn't advise you to play melee. There are too many melee already, and raids aren't exactly melee friendly.

[Cmx]

Warlock or mage, dont play melee. You will suffer no matter how good player you are.

[Xirrohon]

Mage/Lock seem always have a spec thats really good and like others have said, Ranged is usually preferred.

If you want to play melee, go Rogue.