Best overall classes and specs for 8.1.5

Community General Discussion
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Hello,

I am a returning player who finally bought BFA and haven’t played since early legion really and am just seeking some perspective and opinions to get myself up to speed with how certain classes are looking before jumping into BFA (as I havent the time to level all classes again sadly as I have done in prior expansions)

Personal feelings and subjective enjoyment aside; what classes and specs do you believe are in the best place right now in terms of overall considered performance.

This isnt just considering pure DPS or HPS, but holistically including damage, usability, ability to perform well in solo content as well as dungeons and lfr with the specs each class possesses.

Similarly, are there any classes at the moment that (independent playstyle and enjoyment aside), objectively are performing badly in your opinion?

Thanks for any heads up. Its so useful to get some proper players perspective outside of youtube vloggers and commentators and sims etc.

Thanks

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My take on this for M+:

Melee dps: Rogue, followed by DH, and Monk (by a wider margin)
Ranged dps: Elemental Shaman or Balance Druid
Healer: Resto Druid
Tank: Protection Warrior

Worst choices for tank and healer in M+ are currently Guardian Druid and Resto Shaman (Resto Shamans are great in raids, though).

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Thats helpful actually because I was looking at boosting a rogue and then levelling a zandalari shaman. Thats helpful!

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Go rogue or DH they will be FOTM for the whole expansion

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Thanks for the heads up. I do seem to be liking the playstyle of my rogue, and to hear theyre in a rather good place that sounds like a good start!

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Rogues have been a safe pick since forever. Easy pick there.

Tanks do ebb and flow a bit more. Safest pick right now IMO is DK or even Paladin. Yes, Paladins are not top tier in M+ but they are seldom sidelined and have always been competitive (Think Method used paladin tanks quite profusely in their run?)

Healers, you can’t go wrong with Priest or Droods.

GL and WB to the game.

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2k IO player here, for mythic plus:

Rogue, DH and to some extent monk are gonna be your top melee picks, rest are niche.
For ranged dps there is a bit more to chose from, but your main picks are gonna be Frost mage, Bdruid and the “underdog” pick would be ele shaman.
For healer, Rdruid is just the best, but with monk not far behind. Holy pala is very hit or miss and rest is just miss most of the time.
For tank you want prot warrior pretty much, and 2nd place is gonna vary heavily depending on keystone level, but for lower and medium keys (so anything below 18) i think BDK is better than monk and pala, but when you move into high keys where survivability is a thing, i would say monk and prot pala start to pull ahead, but still behind prot warrior.

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Thanks for the replies!

I spent a while playing on my toons last night getting a feel and I’m loving rogue atm and considering the positive responses here I might rolll with my rogue first! Then perhaps level up a shaman or priest in 8.2.

Thanks for the responses all :slight_smile:

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Rogues will always remain a viable mythic pick even if their dps slides a bit (at current though outlaw and assy are doing well) because of shroud. This makes rogues a safe pick for mythic goals.

That is unless blizzard change shroud but seems unlikely as they surely would have done so already.

That said I wouldn’t discourage playing other classes. What people are saying here largely pertains to quite high keys in mythic. A resto shaman can comfortably make 10 keys in time. These differences become more pronounced when you get to 15 plus and mechanics forgive mistakes less, so having classes with kit that works with this is far better.

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They could alternatively also change how invisibility potions work so that they don’t trigger a CD for combat/battle potions. While they are at it, they could make attack power and INT scrolls give 10% instead of 7%, bring stamina scrolls on the same level as the stamina buff, add a cooking recipe for an equivalent of mage water, and generally give more classes/specs a group buff.

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Whilst I agree that major class functions should be replicable somehow due to their essential nature (BL for example) not all should as it opens a can of worms. I’m happy with poor man versions in this case.

My contention is that at high end play in mythic shroud has become so common so as to be considered almost essential in the same way BL is. The difference is BL is generated from many sources and shroud is not. A “poor man’s shroud” that does not gimp other areas (like pot use) therefore would be nice, as using drums does not gimp anything other than itself. So long as shroud is better (lower CD, longer duration, wider ranged…) than its substitute.

Going back to the equal buff scrolls etc. The issue here is that means some classes have their “party niche” pinched in equal measure (goodbye shadow priest mythic invites) whereas others do not. For example DH magic dmg debuff, or monk physical damage debuff. This would intensify the focus on these classes more so than already because the DH would now be able to bring shout, fortitude and int and magic debuff whereas the other classes cannot imitate his magic debuff. I think imitations should remain as they are, though I would add a way to imitate a poor shroud, a poor combat ress and also the monk and DH debuff (like 3% instead of 5)

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I have mained 3 classes since the start of BFA: Fury Warrior ——>Frost dk——> Rogue.

I can only speak about damage dealing and the rogue is a very very good class to play and in many ways superior to a lot of classes.
I will talk about assassination in single target raid spec only.
Pros:
1- Fantastic single target dps, great cleave (2-3), mediocre mass aoe.
2- Great at raids and nearly always needed at m+ ( which is a great source of gear)
3- Great at pvp
4- Pve survivability might be the best in the game
5- Great mobility
6- Vanish adds a new layer of gameplay: if you like the Riddick or Predator franchise you will love rogues.
7- Due to vanish, it’s easier to get some world pvp achievements as you can reset fights.
8- Tricks of the trade and vanish negates any aggro problems.
9- Cloak of shadows allows you to bypass lethal and\or dps losing mechanics e.g. Jainas ring of ice or whatever it is called.
10- Has the ability to cc two mobs at once and even cc ghost\undead mobs using blind
11- Multiple dots while not bursy keeps damaging the enemy even when you are not close.

Cons:
1- Rotation and general gameplay requires a lot of attention. While some people have fun with this I’d rather enjoy a simpler rotation like dh’s or Frost dk’s.
2- Lacks a big one button burst aoe spell.
3- Aoe and st can be very punishing if you don’t get your opener correctly.
4- You can excel at st or aoe but not at both.
5- Personal con; no weapon transmog except daggers.

Class lore wise: I think of it like an assassin that has the tools and skills ready to be used in every situation.

TLDR, stick with rogue you will be very happy with it and will have no problems finding groups for raids, m+ or pvp.

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Thanks for this reply this was really helpful!

Funnily enough I was debating between Rogue and warrior in the end, but preferred the greater utility and stealth you get with rogues. I loved my fury warrior and it smashed its way through mobs but it got a bit repetative just mashing buttoms over and over.

Thanks for this :smiley:

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Assasination in hectic AoE is one of the hardest classes right now :stuck_out_tongue: consider this if you think about M+

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