I have always loved warlock and DK from a class fantasy perspective because everyones reaction to them is basically “yeah we dont really trust you or want anything to do with you but youre just too damn useful not to have around”.
That kinda got me thinking about what the most powerful classes would be in cannon. Just on top of my head I would imagine warlocks, DK, mages, paladins/priests and DH all rank quite high on this list while rogue, warrior and hunter are probably closer to the bottom.
In a white room situation or on the field in a realistic battle?
That is a fair question. Originally I was thinking more of a white room situation but a realistic battle would change things quite a bit.
Tough question 
Considering, the Horde had Warlocks… and lost
The Lich King had Death Kinghts… and lost
Dalaran and the Elves had Mages… and lost
Humanity had Paladins/Priests… and lost
The Ilidari had the Demon Hunters… and basically lost (tho’ they just arrived from a very hard mission to retrieve the Sargerite Keystone)
The Evokers and the Demon Hunters were both literally were designed and made to be “supersoldiers” (the Death Knights… not that much, just corpses boosted by saronite armour and rune magic, powerhouses, but on a different level I think)
So I would say these two classes are the strongest, closely followed by Mages/Warlocks
Azshara, an Arcane mage was always regarded in Ancient times as being the most powerful. this is before Deathknights tho.
She ruled the biggest empire until a demon tricked her to work side by side, and she got almost destroyed by a combo of Priest, Druid, and Demon hunter
watch this video at exactly 4:28 minutes. trust me, you wont regret it
It wasn’t much of a trick, She only considered Sargeras worthy to be her mate and rule together, but some decpetion was involved, thats true… at first
On personal level?
Azshara was and still the strongest on Azeroth, thats without a question I think
On with his best Bane voice impression:
Oh, you think darkness is your ally?
You marely adopted the dark
I was born in it
Molded by it
The dark tought me how to ride a bike
…and when I’m crahsed the dark made me cookies so I’d feel better
The dark worked two thankless jobs to pay for my college tuition
And even after I squandered the opportunity with partying and booze… the dark forgave me
The dark has done so much for me
I jus twant to make it proud ya know
It depends on the opponent, I guess.
A paladin would certainly be the strongest choice against the undead, demons, or the void, as the light is quite effective against these forces.
Against the living, on the other hand, Warlocks, Shadow Priests, and Death Knights are the best choices, with Death Knights being a bit ahead as they have fewer weaknesses than the other two.
Personal opinion, ofc.
I would say shadow priest.
shaman. or paladins
In a mass-destruction kinda sense I would give the edge to Mages. The things Khadgar and Jaina can do in cutscenes are on a different powerlevel than anything else.
While not the strongest, Druids are definitely in the top 3 strongest.
I’d say it’s probably more like Mage > Shaman = Druid. Lore-wise, there’s simply so much you can do with Mages.
Druids are also really really flexible. They’ll have the entire nature fight against you. Meanwhile Shamans simply has the land swallow you and whatnot.
It’s not really close for any of the other classes.
mages are always seen to be able to level cities to the ground.
Yes death knight is the strongest. We can literally strangulate people and then force pull them towards us and cut them in half with a single strike like a sith lord.
I don’t think theres any other class that can do something as cool like that lore wise.
Also my most played alts are paladin and warrior, so i can confirm those classes definitely doesn’t feel like they’d be very strong lore wise. Can’t see how light would be stronger than frost/blood/unholy magic. Because it’s not. What possibly could a paladin do to a DK? Blind him with light? Right. That’s the only thing “light” and holy magic would be able to do.
Paladin is for wannabe prince/king rp’ers and warrior is just random unknown soldiers fighting for either the horde or alliance. That’s my take on plate classes. Idc if some nerd wrote something down in the lore about who’s the strongest, i make my own lore, this is how i view the lore in the game and to me this seems most accurate.
(not hate against pala/warrior, again they’re my alts i love them and still play them)
Warrior = Peon/average guy
Paladin = Prince
DK = God
Still think mages probably come out on top simply because they are blizzards “get out of jail free card” There is very little in terms of defined limits for them and they are basically as powerful as the scenario requires Khadgar, Jaina, Medivh, Azshara to name a few.
Meanwhile Arthas is without a doubt the strongest death knight without an exception and while he was strong I dont think he competes with the previously mentioned ones.
Gul’Dan is likewise probably the strongest warlock around and while strong I think he falls below arthas even although that is debatable.
Paladins and warriors are not even in the competition, their strongest ones most likely being tirion and I dont even know who the strongest warrior would be, Varian? Garosh? either way they dont come close.
I would probably say mages. Just look at the guardians throughout the lore. Also arcane magic seems to be a big thing too.
Mages. They can bend reality to their will. No other class can come close to what they do.
Mages and Druids.
Malfurion Stormrage is said to be one of the strongest mortals on Azeroth, if not the strongest, people usually tend to underestimate druidism and it’s powers, but they are one of the strongest classes lore-wise.
I like to think warrior.