Coupled with the fact that Subtlety has no unique utility whatsoever, you get a highly undesirable spec for PvE. Throughout the expansion, the battle between Unholy and Frost is a back-and-forth for the top Death Knight DPS position. The main issue with this specialization and the reason why it remains stuck in B-Tier is its lack of Execution Damage and Cleave Damage that the other two Warlock Specializations provide. #22 Mawgrim: Not quite. While they barely cling onto their S-tier spot for this first phase, theres nobody who doubts just how powerful their damage is. Elemental Shaman is an excellent support caster in Wrath Classic, having good ranged DPS on their own which starts off strong due to their strong talent tree, but scales worse than other casters in the long run. Ferals can also boast of incredible AoE in the form of the newly-introduced Swipe (Cat). We have incredible damage scaling, but we cant use it yet, so both our single-target and AoE / cleave damage is hampered. Probably the biggest weakness of an Enhancement Shaman is their extremely low survivability, especially due to the high amounts of AoE damage that happen during a standard fight. Shadow Priests find themselves in a great spot for Phase 3, having great scaling. Their utility is also lackluster as they only provide a single raid tool, Tricks of the Trade. Sure, our single-target damage is bottom tier at this point, but we more than make up for it with our AoE potential. Phase 4 sees the gap between our Arcane and Fire specializations widen even more, as the incredible scaling of our Fire brothers propels them into the S-tier, while we sink into the B-tier, finding ourselves amongst the so-called hybrids. Single-target damage is what Arcane Mages always excelled at, and this is very much still the case. On top of the the brand-new Focus Magic buff available to all Mages, we get the Arcane-exclusive Arcane Empowerment. Since Demonology DPS is generally worse than Affliction, the spec is brought for Support over pure DPS. As their damage is completely subpar to the other Mage Specializations, you will only want to use this specialization if you want to enjoy an Ice Master fantasy. They stand in the middle of the pack on damage meters throughout the entire expansion. The most dominant fight for Fire Mage is Lord Jaraxxus, as you can Spellsteal the damage-increase buff, resulting in an insane damage output. This article is part of a directory: WoW Wrath Classic (WotLK): Complete Guide Directory, Frost & Unholy Death Knight Best in Slot Pre-Raid, Balance Druid Best in Slot Pre-Raid & Phase 1, Feral Druid (DPS) Best in Slot Pre-Raid & Phase 1, Feral Druid (Tank) Best in Slot Pre-Raid & Phase 1, Restoration Druid Best in Slot Pre-Raid & Phase 1, Assassination & Combat Rogue Best In Slot Pre-Raid & Phase 1, Holy Paladin Best in Slot Pre-Raid & Phase 1, Protection Paladin Best In Slot Pre-Raid & Phase 1, Retribution Paladin Best in Slot Pre-Raid & Phase 1, Affliction and Destruction Warlock Best In Slot Phase 2, Arms & Fury Warrior Best In Slot Pre-Raid, Six Ways to Make Gold in Classic WoW: Wrath of the Lich King, How To Get The Ironbound Proto-Drake Mount, Things You Need To Know About The New Fresh Start Realms, Asmongold Reveals What Changes He Wants to See in WoW Classic, A Complete Guide To The Tirion Fordring Questline "In Dreams", Pokemon GO: How to get Shiny Tyrunt and Shiny Amaura, Destiny 2 Season 22 Makes Major Change to Dead Man's Tale Exotic. We compare each specialization based on a number of key factors such as Single-Target, Cleave, and Area of Effect (AoE) damage as well as any Utility in the form of Buffs and Debuffs that add value to the group. PvE Enhancement Shaman Talents and Builds - Warcraft Tavern Destruction sees a temporary surge in power in Phase 2, surprisingly finding itself among the top specializations of the B-Tier as a spec thats commonly considered bad. Their Moonkin Form grants them a lot of survivability while also giving increased Critical Strike Chance and Haste to any raid member in their vicinity. Regardless, youre unlikely to lose your raid spot as an Elemental Shaman, at least at the beginning of Ulduar (until Enhancement Shamans manage to get their hands on some gear to boost their extremely low survivability). Healing during the fight. Near the beginning of the expansion they are average at best but in later phases, they are top-tier cleaving machines. However, the majority of Phase 1 boss fights are primarily single-target, so we dont get to take advantage of this strength as much as wed like just yet. Its certainly still possible to clear content with this spec, and they do provide some utility to the group. Enhancement has very solid single-target damage, dealing both physical and magical damage. One aspect that Feral Druids benefit from is extreme survivability, not only through shapeshifting into a bear for an overall higher health pool, but also due to powerful defensive spells such as Barkskin. Our brief stint in the A-tier is over, and in Phase 4 we return to our rightful place once more. They also bring a wide range of Utility tools for the raid in addition to their insane capacity for pumping out damage. These buffs arent unique to Enhancement though. Our Sngle-Target is serviceable for now, but our Cleave isnt really impressive enough for this to have an impact. Thats true Phase 4 is absolutely not kind to us, as our lack of scaling comes to haunt us. They are still considered viable, as they do a decent amount of damage, but they typically cannot compete with the A-tier specs on the damage meters. Frost being a dual-wield-centric specialization means that we, unfortunately, dont get to use this weapon at all. Phase 4 sees Unholy Death Knights drop from our status as overpowered DPS gods in Phase 3, to a more modest spot at the top of the A-tier. Keep in mind that due to their huge utility granted through multiple auras, various Hands spells, Divine Sacrifice, Lay on Hands, and Aura Mastery, they are an invaluable asset to any raid. Were arguably the best at offering the Replenishment mana restoration buff, since we proc it all the time. We have no unique buff like Demonology, so theres no reason to bring even a single Destruction Warlock to a raid theyd all be better off switching to Affliction. Ret single-target damage is slightly underwhelming, if were being honest, typically being middle of the flock. Survival Hunters can constantly dish out great Cleave Damage, and as the majority of the fights will feature adds and movement, you can expect them to perform way better than most Single-Target Specializations. The only downside of Survival Hunters is that it doesnt bring any unique effects for the raid group. Luckily, our Single-Target Damage outweighs that to an extent. While they do not have to worry about their mana, their extremely low survivability coupled up with the increased difficulty of Ulduar will force them to be a bit warier of their environment instead of the DPS Meter. Every single phase sees us jump up a tier, until were finally the strongest DPS spec in the game during Phase 4 truly a zero to hero line of evolution. This allows the spec to spamSwipe (Cat)like theres no tomorrow, topping the DPS meters comfortably on the many AoE-heavy fights. We will be ranking each DPS class available for the expansion, as well as explaining each classs position on the tier list. So, if you enjoy your Hunter, Marksmanship is not a bad choice at all! Since Arcane Mages are very potent yet face huge mana issues, the fights where they will excel the most will be Ignis the Furnace Master, Razorscale, Kolorgarn, General Vezax, and Algalon. This guide to leveling the Shaman class 1-80 will teach you how to level quickly in Wrath of the Lich King Classic, including reviews and ratings of the dominant specs, tips for best and fastest leveling, dungeon leveling, gear, and links to all guides to make the most of your Shaman leveling experience. Balance Druid finds itself in quite a favorable spot in the A-Tier list, due to their strong damage potential for both single-target and AoE fights. Fortunately, they grant a plethora of effects ranging from different Auras such as Fire Resistance Aura, Frost Resistance Aura, and Shadow Resistance Aura to Hands (Hand of Salvation, Hand of Freedom), and even passive effects. With the upcoming changes to Ulduar, Survival Hunter seems to gain the complete upper hand compared to the other two Hunter Specializations, given the new Trapweave meta and 4-3-4 rotation. While Balance Druids lack in Single-Target Damage, they make up for it with solid survivability and a plethora of raid-wide effects. In this phase, Arms finally joins the other PvP specs in the D-tier. It will help out your raid greatly when it comes to mana management since there will simply be more people benefiting from the effect. Arcane Mages will find it harder to manage their overall mana since ToGC requires a lot of movement. Wrath Classic (WOTLK) Elemental Shaman Guide wowtbc.gg They are found in almost every raid group and it is common to see more than one of each. The reason for this is simple: while our single-target damage remains about equal to Frost, an abundance of AoE- or cleave-heavy fights where the targets dont die before our DoTs can tick finally give us the edge, as Pestilence propels us to heights that Frost simply cannot reach. The Assassination Rogue is currently S-Tier as expected, though it is A-Tier on this list originally as we expected it to fall off in favor of Combat spec in later expansions when armor penetration is more widely available. Early on, with worse gear, this buff is slightly less desirable than the Elemental Shamans version. Fury Warriors find themselves in quite a better spot compared to the last phase of the expansion, as they ascend to the B-Tier. Still, as they are completely dependent on Armor Penetration procs from items such as Mjolnir Runestone, they can only be situated in the B-Tier, since their damage can be inconsistent. This factor paired with how easy it is to run out of mana as an Arcane Mage, especially as a beginner, will place Arcane Mage at the lower end of B-Tier. They provide some specific group utility and like all rogues bring Tricks of the Trade. SHAMAN in WOTLK Classic: YOU GOTTA TRY IT - WHAT CHANGED? While Survival Hunters are the most efficient throughout the majority of Ulduar both from a DPS perspective and in regards to mana efficiency they will tend to fall short towards the later stages of Ulduar once other classes start to scale up. These specializations are usually recruited in larger numbers due to their outstanding performance. Finally, they also provide Shattering Throw, adding a little bit extra to your raids burst phases. 22 Jun. Despite two very strong set bonuses on our new Tier 8 set (Sanctification Garb), the spec simply lacks the single-target damage needed to compete with the DPS superstars, so it drops to the C-Tier. The most notable example of this is the lack of Armor Penetration in early stages of the expansion that hampers physical damage dealers. Besides their spectacular damage, Unholy Death Knights also grant a high amount of utility through different spells such as Death Grip and talents such as Ebon Plaguebringer, helping their raid by providing displacement, a magical damage-increasing debuff, and many more effects. Gone are the days of being a budget version of Marksmanship we now have many unique talents and abilities, such as Explosive Shot and Black Arrow, that give us a playstyle distinct from other specs. They wont be in the number one spot at the top of the charts but consistently perform well in all fights. Elemental Shamans will struggle until they can gain the majority of their BiS equipment, with the first early weeks being rough. While the spec has access to Fan of Knives (as the other Rogue specializations), it has no talents to make it stronger. WotLK Classic Shaman Guides - Warcraft Tavern There is a vast difference between a Fury Warrior that has just breached the gates of Ulduar and a Fury Warrior that has pillaged Ulduar a significant number of times. Even with all the mechanical difficulties, their AoE Damage can still hold its own against other classes such as Enhancement Shaman, Shadow Priests, and Fire Mages. The A-Tier represents strong DPS specializations that offer a great amount of damage and utility, but not offering the best possible damage output. Moreover, every raid will want at least 1 Shadow Priest or Balance Druid for the spell hit debuff, which we offer with Misery. This spec shines as a tank instead, due to a plethora of self-healing and mitigation abilities which give it a distinct edge over other specs when it comes to tanking. Nothing changes for Frost it still suffers from poor damage due to a large PvP focus on a lot of its talents. While the health pool of some of the Bosses has been diminished, Drain Souls damage still proves to be one deadly execution ability. With how big our gap with MM has become, all but the most die-hard Survivalists out there have switched to MM by now. The B-Tier represents mediocre damage specializations. Our utility is nothing to write home about either. The specializations that make up the C-Tier are on the weaker side of the DPS spectrum. Depending on azerite traits, of course. Where Unholy shines is in longer duration AoE encounters where their diseases can provide incredible damage. However, compared to Survival Hunters, they struggle with their mana management. Due to this brand-new mechanic, we can claim a much higher spot on the DPS charters in Single-Target fights. As soon as players approach their BiS, their damage outputs will shift considerably according to the performance of the player and the overall performance of the raid group. Regardless, Shadow Priests will always be highly desirable in raids thanks to the amazing utility and great multi-dot damage. What makes them truly shine in terms of pure utility and a tad of DPS burst is their Readiness spell. B Tier: Balance Druids (Boomkin) provide some of the best AoE damage in the game but their single-target damage is lackluster in comparison. Mages get two seriously powerful set bonuses out of the new Tier 8 set (Kirin Tor Garb) obtainable in Ulduar, and Arcane gets great use out of both of them. However, they will provide invaluable AoE damage with their cleave potential, and they also pack quite a high amount of utility through Heroic Throw and Sunder Armor. They have good single-target, AoE, and cleave damage potential but they wont be topping the DPS meters in the majority of scenarios. The Elemental Shaman benefits from mandatory talents such as Eye of the Storm to reduce pushback suffered while casting and Unrelenting Storm which allows mana regeneration in combat and even . The issue with Unholy Frenzy is that you will sacrifice a DPS spot for a simple potential damage increase for your main Physical DPS. Still, Ferals have the potential to deal tremendous amounts of damage while also bringing in heavy utility through Mangle and Rebirth. Yet since Ulduar has been buffed, Shadow Priests will have a hard time competing throughout the progression of Ulduar with classes such as Balance Druids, Affliction Warlocks, Arcane, and Fire Mages in terms of pure DPS. We gain a whole lot of DPS tools focused around bleed effects, meaning we are no longer a tank spec that can occasionally DPS if tanking is not needed flipping the roles, many Ferals will now be cat mains that occasionally off-tank when needed. Besides the overpowered damage, they also have a variety of debuffs (their curses), and a variety of utility spells that can aid the raid group in achieving victory. Many raids will elect not to bring an Elemental Shaman, however, so caster-heavy groups will definitely bring a Demonology Warlock instead.
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