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With Phase 5 dawning upon us, big changes are coming to the DPS landscape in WoW Classic Season of Discovery. The activation of Blackwing Lair and the introduction of new tier sets will shake up the existing meta. Here's an in-depth look at where each DPS spec is expected to land on the SoD Phase 5 DPS tier list.
WoW SoD Phase 5 DPS Tier List
S Tier
Rogue (Assassination): Assassination Rogues reign supreme with unparalleled single-target burst damage Output and a plethora of utility from stuns and interrupts. Their sustained onslaught through Deadly Poison and Rupture, combined with ruthless Coldblood openers, secure them a spot in every raid's ranks. The new tier bonuses only amplify their dominance further.
Warrior (Fury): No amount of dev nerfs can stop Fury Warriors from asserting their S-tier supremacy. Their dual-wield whirlwind of destruction excels at both sustained damage and ultra-powerful Execution phases. Packing some of the highest theoretical output, Fury's ability to scale with gear is simply unmatched, making them a force to be reckoned with in Blackwing Lair.
Mage (Fire): After playing second fiddle, Fire Mages rise to join the elite S-tier. Their DoT-centric playstyle scales absurdly well with Blackwing Lair gear, allowing them to massively ramp up Ignite's ticking damage. Combine that with strong nuking potential and good control utilities, Fire's all-around package makes it a must-have.
A Tier
Hunter (Survival): Often underrated, Survival Hunters display their worth as an excellent A-tier pick. Their focus-dump Raptor Strikes provide smooth sustained ranged damage. Defensive traps, Wyvern Sting, and Tranquilizing Shot make them utterly indispensable for certain encounters.
Hunter (Marksman): The quintessential Hunter spec holds firm in A-tier with its trademark consistent, mobile ranged DPS output. Marksmanship's strong DoT uptime allows comfortable multi-target cleaving. An unmatched utility like Kiting, Traps, and Tranq Shot maintains its spot in every raid.
Warlock (Affliction): Rejoice Affliction Warlocks, your time has come to join the A-tier elite. The ability to seed devastating DoTs on multiple targets, amplified by new tier set bonuses, gives them exceptional sustain. Curses like Curse of Shadows take their damage into the stratosphere, while utility like Drain Tanking secures their value.
Druid (Feral): Though no longer utterly dominant, Feral Druids still claw their way into A-tier as hybrid DPS powerhouses. Their innate Energy generation allows weaving bleeds with shreds, all while shrugging off hybrid tax issues. Shorter fights accentuate their burst potential perfectly.
Paladin (Retribution): The bursty maverick of the A-tier, Retribution Paladins punish with explosive cooldown chains but fall off on longer fights. Their strong anti-caster tools like Freedom and Blessing of Protection provide vital raid support, tempering their inconsistent DPS.
Rogue (Combat): While overshadowed by Assassination's excellence, Combat Rogues carve out a respectable A-tier niche with solid steady damage output. Lacking Blade Flurry hampers their scaling somewhat, but potent burst cooldowns like Adrenaline Rush remain threatening.
B Tier
Mage (Frost): Stuck in B-tier purgatory, Frost Mages simply cannot catch up to Fire's runaway scaling, despite receiving decent tier set bonuses. Their reliable burst nuking ensures a baseline of respectable damage, offset by periodic droughts as they recharge their resources.
Warlock (Destruction): Collateral damage from Affliction's meteoric rise, Destruction Warlocks settle in the lower B-tier. Their incredible spike damage with cooldowns like Chaos Crits remains a strength on shorter fights. However, the lack of sustainability prevents them from challenging the elite.
Shaman (Enhancement): Shamans wielding the enhancement way find their ceiling in B-tier. Their melee nature affords decent burst windows but middling consistent output due to knifing winds of talent limitations. New totems help smooth their play, but lacking group utility caps their appeal.
Druid (Balance): Languishing in B-tier, Balance Druids' hybrid tax woes restrict their potential despite new tier bonuses. Their primary selling point revolves around mitigating the druid tax better than most hybrids while offering decent multi-DoT damage, ensuring a spot as budget fillers.
C Tier
Priest (Shadow): The sorrowful tale of Shadow Priests sees no reprieve, as they remain stuck in C-tier. A crippling lack of talents, damage, utility, and scaling render them virtually unraidable. Unless nightfall meme procs start one-shotting bosses, avoid this spec entirely.
Hunter (Beast Mastery): A shell of its former self, Beast Mastery lags far behind fellow Hunter specs in C-tier. Focus issues, suboptimal talent synergies, and scaling restraints leave it outclassed for raid content despite its charming pet gimmick.
Shaman (Elemental): Alas, hopes for redemption remain dashed as Elemental Shamans see no escape from C-tier woes. Lacking a cohesive talent package for DPS, their neglected kit fails to ignite any meaningful damage output or utility to give them relevance.
D Tier
Rogue (Subtlety): An abandoned archetyped sapped into D-tier oblivion due to glaring talent gaps. Subtlety Rogues not only deal underwhelming damage but also lack any compensatory utility to justify bringing them along. Avoid a case of permanent Wound Poison.
Warrior (Arms): The memes of "Boomkin Pumpers" ring hollow when Arms Warriors are condemned to D-tier. Their DPS options fail to scale into the endgame, leaving them incapable of even parsing gray levels. Dual-wielding has never felt so unsatisfying.
Warlock (Demonology): Demonology's D-tier fate was sealed by its incomplete transformation. Lacking a proper Metamorphosis demon form and suffering through a grab-bag of random abilities, this spec deals piddly damage while offering zero worthwhile utilities. Avoid summoning this disaster.
Mage (Arcane): With Arcane's identity crisis leaving it lost in the umbral planes, it finds itself languishing in D-tier as the RP meme pick. Good luck parsing respectable numbers as you waste globals shooting sparkles while better specs annihilate bosses.
The winds of SoD Phase 5 significantly shuffle the DPS hierarchy. Those who invest time andefforts into the top specs will be greatly rewarded, while sticking to the bottom tiers means an uphill struggle. May your DPS reign supreme in Blackwing Lair!
