Two months have passed since World of Warcraft Dragonflight was released, and we have a lot of solid data to help find the best DPS Tier builds available.
As a disclaimer, these kinds of lists shouldn’t be justification to discourage you from playing a build that interests you. The point of WoW is to have fun and enjoy the game; for some, that means slinging spells as a Frost Mage, while for others, that means running the most efficient death machine that statistics can build. Like all video games, there is no right or wrong way to play so long as the experience is enjoyable.
If you’re interested in diving deep into the Best Warrior PVP Builds in Dragonflight, check out our article on it!
World of Warcraft Dragonflight DPS Tiers
The differences between classes in WoW Dragonflight can be fractions of a percentage apart. Overall, the distance between the S Tier and B Tier is not significant. This is good news for players because there is less risk in playing the game and not feeling powerful in your chosen class. The Tiers below are built from Combat Analysis on the Warcraft Logs website.
| S Tier | A Tier | B Tier | C Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subtlety Rogue | Feral Druid | Enhancement Shaman | Elemental Shaman |
| Devastation Evoker | Havoc Demon Hunter | Frost Death Knight | Fire Mage |
| Shadow Priest | Arms Warrior | Unholy Death Knight | Assassination Rogue |
| Outlaw Rogue | Retribution Paladin | Affliction Warlock | Arcane Mage |
| Balance Druid | Windwalker Monk | Fury Warrior | Frost Mage |
| Marksmanship Hunter | Demonology Warlock | Survival Hunter | |
| Destruction Warlock | |||
| Beast Mastery Hunter |
Best DPS Tier List – WoW Dragonflight PvE
S Tier Ranking
S Tier builds will almost always be in a Raid Party. They have high single target damage, AOE, and also have great utility for the group. Moreover, they consistently rank toward the top of Tier lists.
Subtlety Rogue
Subtlety Rogues are masters of the backstab, dealing massive damage to their target when attacking from behind. They also have a variety of abilities that allow them to slip into the shadows, avoiding damage and control abilities. This specialization emphasizes stealth, mobility, and single-target damage, making them a formidable opponents in one-on-one combat. In group play, they excel at taking out key targets and providing utility through their ability to remove enemies from the fight temporarily. In Dragonflight, Subtlety Rogues don’t seem to have gotten more complicated to play, which is another plus. However, they lose a moderate amount of DPS on cooldowns when out of combat.
Devastation Evoker
Released with Dragonflight, Devastation Evokers is a brand new class currently available only to play with the Dracthyr race. They are mid-range casters with high DPS and a range of 25 yards. The talent tree has good depth, allowing you to focus on a Single Target, Cleave, and AoE combat. Devastation Evokers can also utilize the Rescue skill to pull allies out of danger. However, this class does come with low health and, coupled with the 25-yard casting range, can take some time to get comfortable playing.
Shadow Priest
Shadow Priests rely on their spells to quickly take down their targets and excel in Single Target damage. They also have a variety of utility spells, including crowd control and mobility abilities. Shadow Priests are known for their versatility and ability to take on various roles, whether as a damage dealer, healers, or crowd control specialists. Their talent tree has been reworked with the release of Dragonflight, creating even more options and depth. This class can be played in many different ways, and getting the most out of it can be daunting to a new player.
Outlaw Rogue
Outlaw Rogues have various crowd control and mobility abilities, making them a versatile class in both solo and group play. Of all the Rogue sub-classes, Outlaws can best handle Cleave-DPS situations. Their playstyle emphasizes speed and unpredictability, which can be seen by Outlaw’s high Actions-Per-Minute (APM). Additionally, outlaw Rogues can take more talents than previously possible due to the recent talent update, gaining additional flexibility.
Balance Druid
Balance Druids are made for ranged damage dealing. They also have a variety of utility spells, including crowd control and healing abilities. They can take on a variety of roles in both solo play and group play, whether as a damage dealer, healer, or crowd control specialist. The Balance Druid’s playstyle is centered around maintaining a delicate balance between their offensive and defensive abilities. However, there is significant ramp-up time for Balance Druids on multiple enemy encounters, making battle planning critical.
A Tier Ranking
A Tier builds are very also likely to be in a party. They typically have high single-target damage and very likely also have some AOE functionality. Additionally, these builds bring important utilities and buffs to a party.
Feral Druid
Feral Druids are feral in combat, dealing melee damage and relying on their claws and teeth to strike their enemies. This specialization emphasizes melee combat, utilizing Bleed Damage over Time (DoT) effects. Feral Druids are known for their versatility and ability to take on various roles, whether as damage dealers, healers, or crowd control specialists. Their playstyle is centered around shapeshifting and using their primal instincts to control the battlefield. However, mismanaging resources is especially punishing.
Havoc Demon Hunter
Havoc Demon Hunters use their mobility and speed to take down their targets quickly. Their playstyle emphasizes speed and unpredictability and centers on building and spending resources. Havoc Demon Hunters are known for their high damage output and ability to quickly close the gap between themselves and their enemies; however, ability cooldowns and timers might cause starvation at the wrong time.
Arms Warrior
Arms Warriors excel in damage dealing, relying on their powerful strikes and abilities to take down their targets quickly. Their playstyle emphasizes brute strength, and they can specialize in various damage-dealing methods. Arms Warriors are known for their excellent damage output. However, these attacks are slow and significantly lower their damage potential.
Retribution Paladin
Retribution Paladins are known for their mastery of holy magic, relying on their divine powers to defeat their enemies. They have great damage-dealing versatility but are a very cool-down-reliant build. Retribution Paladins also have a variety of crowd control and healing abilities, making them a versatile class in solo and group play.
Windwalker Monk
Windwalker Monks are martial arts masters who rely on speed and agility to defeat enemies. Their playstyle emphasizes speed and fluid movement, and their mobility is unparalleled. Windwalker Monks are known for their intense burst, sustained stacked AoE, and Cleave. They are Jacks of All Trades. However, they are also Masters of None. So if you’re interested in focusing on any one thing, a different class can do it better.
Marksmanship Hunter
Marksmanship Hunters are masters of ranged weapons, relying on their marksmanship and expertise to defeat their enemies from a distance. They excel in dealing high burst damage and mobility, though not as high as Beast Mastery. Their playstyle emphasizes precision and long-range damage and is very simple to pick up and use. However, marksmanship Hunters are the least mobile of the Hunter class due to the long casting times that keep them rooted in place.
B Tier Ranking
B Tier builds are solid choices but typically only have specialization in one metric. They can hold their own but aren’t on top of the field.
Enhancement Shaman
Enhancement Shamans are melee spec that use their powers to enhance their physical abilities and cast spells. They excel in single-target and multi-target damage dealing, relying on their powerful strikes and abilities to take down their targets quickly. They have good mobility, strong cleave and AoE, durability, and personal healing. That being said, this playstyle requires you to be focused at all times, cycling through abilities during cooldowns. Enhancement Shamans are heavily reliant on uptimes, so encounters with high movement or intermissions are punishing.
Frost Death Knight
Frost Death Knights are a melee spec capable of wielding frost magic to slow and debuff their enemies. They have high burst damage and cleave capability and can use both one or two-handed weapons. Frost Death Knights are incredibly tanky, especially with the addition of Anti-Magic Cone as a Raid de-buff. However, they have limited mobility and don’t have a powerful Raid buff.
Unholy Death Knight
Unholy Death Knights are also a melee specialization that is very tanky, using their diseases and death spells to quickly take down their targets. They have high AoE burst potential and Single Target damage. Unholy Death Knights are known for their ability to spread their diseases to multiple enemies, quickly reducing their health and making them easier to take down. Like the Frost Death Knight, Unholy Death Knights have limited mobility and limited Raid-specific abilities.
Affliction Warlock
The Affliction Warlock excels in sustained single-target and multi-target damage dealing, relying on their powerful curses and abilities to slowly take down their targets. By utilizing their DoT abilities, Affliction Warlocks can Cleave through enemies around the battlefield. As a Warlock, Affliction also brings the Demonic Gateway, a valuable mobility cooldown for Raids. Unfortunately, they are weak in Single Target Damage dealing as Affliction Warlock’s primary method of damage dealing is centered around lower sustained damage with weaker cooldowns.
Fury Warrior
Known for their mastery of two-handed weapons and their ability to deal massive amounts of damage, Fury Warriors rely on their powerful strikes and abilities to quickly take down their targets. Their playstyle is fast and straightforward, perfect for beginners. Fury Warriors create Rage in combat and spend it on Rampage to maintain their Enrage. This subclass has high mobility, decent healing, and a powerful defensive cool-down. However, downtime penalizes damage efficiency, and the speed of ability cycling might need to be faster for new players.
Demonology Warlock
Demonology Warlocks are versatile, capable of spawning demons and casting destructive spells to damage their enemies. They also have a variety of utility spells, including crowd control and mobility abilities. Demonology Warlocks are known for their versatility and ability to take on various roles, whether as a damage dealer, healer, or crowd control specialist. However, Demonology Warlocks have no spread cleave and rely heavily on the AI of the minions they spawn.
C Tier Ranking
C Tier builds typically have utilities or buffs that are more specialized and don’t see as much action. When those situations arise, these builds are clutch- otherwise, they tend to be underutilized.
Elemental Shaman
Like the Beast Mastery build, the Elemental Shaman is a Jack of All Trades, Master of None. Elemental Shamans’ playstyle allows for a wide range of builds based on your chosen skill tree. However, much of their utility is too specific to be valuable all the time, and their DPS builds don’t stand up to the other classes which specialize in it.
Fire Mage
The Fire Mage is a specialist in dealing with burst and sustained damage. High mobility and cleaving stacked targets are hallmarks of Fire Mages, who have good movement DPS. Interestingly, all of the Fire Mage’s abilities have received a 5% increase with the release of Dragonflight. Unfortunately, they need a better way of doing consistent cleave damage and little utility outside of DPS.
Assassination Rogue
Assassination Rogues use poison and melee damage to Bleed single targets over time. Like all Rogues, Assassination has a variety of mobility and survival abilities, such as Feint and Evasion, that increases their versatility. Assassination can also focus on Single Target or AoE by changing their skill tree. Unfortunately, this means that there isn’t one build that is good at both, requiring a choice between the two builds.
Arcane Mage
Arcane Mages use Mana to cast spells to deal damage and control the battlefield. They are also known for their speed and ability to avoid damage. Their playstyle involves a Conserve phase and a Burn phase for Mana, making the most use of cooldowns. Arcane Mages are known for their ability to deal large amounts of burst damage; however, effectively using this spec might be hard for beginner players, and the best build needs an intimate understanding of the encounter.
Frost Mage
The Frost Mage has seen many changes with Dragonflight’s release, and I’m excited to see where this spec goes. Frost Mages are masters of controlling the battlefield, dealing reliable damage consistently. Their playstyle emphasizes using frost and ice magic to slow and control their enemies while dealing damage to their targets (also known as “kiting”). However, this spec has a relatively weak burst against Single Targets, which explains its low ranking on DPS guides.
Survival Hunter
The Survival Hunter is the melee build for the Hunter class. Survival has an incredibly interesting skill set that makes playing this spec fun. They have very survivability due to their strong self-healing ability and are easy to pick up and play. Unfortunately, they don’t have robust group utility compared to other specs and have the weakest AoE of any spec in the game.
Destruction Warlock
Destruction Warlocks can deal massive amounts of damage to single or double targets and have a low ramp-up time. Like all Warlocks, they also have the ability Demonic Gate that can teleport a party 40 yards away which can be very useful in Raids. Unfortunately, they have low AoE bursts and mobility. Because of this, high movement encounters cause this build to suffer greatly.
Beast Mastery Hunter
The Beast Mastery Hunter has the greatest utility of the Hunter class and is very well-rounded. Beast Mastery is easy to play and has high mobility. This spec also has high DPS and is easy to play. Unfortunately, there are several reasons it ended up at the bottom of this list. First, it relies on pet AI, which can be less than intelligent at times and has poor burst damage. This spec is good at everything without being good at any one thing, which further lowers its utility. Unfortunately, certain items are almost required to excel as a Beast Mastery Hunter.
Conclusion
World of Warcraft Dragonflight classes are very flexible, so play will be satisfying no matter which builds you choose. However, I can’t stress enough not to get hung up on which build has the highest DPS. These rankings change weekly based on player engagement and who writes the guide. So try out different builds and see which one fits your play style best.
World of Warcraft Dragonflight is available now on PC.
Source: Wowhead
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