Best DPS Class in WoW: Battle for Azeroth
Enhancement Shaman – 15th Best DPS Class in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth
Enhancement Shamans have seen few changes in Battle for Azeroth allowing them to remain as fairly effective, single target damage dealers. On top of this, they have a variety of AoE and cleave abilities that make their multi-target damage effective as well.
Elemental Shamans tend to exceed primarily in sustained single target damage, though they are also able to have extremely high burst damage when crits land effectively. Their AoE and cleave abilities are also able to be funneled into single targets making their rotation flexible enough to be used in a variety of encounters.
Elemental Shamans lack customization, however, as their talent tree does not have much diversity in potential options. They also do not have much in the way of defensive abilities and will not hold up well against a lot of damage.
Single Target Score: 4/5
Multi-Target Score: 3/5
Survivability Score: 3/5
Total Score: 10
Best DPS Class in WoW: Battle for Azeroth
Assassination Rogue – 14th Best DPS Class in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth
Assassination Rogues are well balanced, single target damage dealers. They are one of the classes in Battle for Azeroth that have had very little changes that affect their build in any meaningful way. Many of the abilities lost at the end of Legion have returned to some extent through the updated talent tree.
Assassination Rogues make use of damage-over-time attacks to do the majority of their damage. This makes them incredibly strong single target damage dealers. On top of that, Assassination Rogues have many defensive abilities that allow them to survive a wide range of potential encounters as well as mechanics within raids and dungeons. Their weakest point is the lack of multi-target damage abilities. Their rotation is also very cooldown heavy and is only really effective at dealing with single target encounters.
Single Target Score: 4.5/5
Multi-Target Score: 2/5
Survivability Score: 4/5
Total Score: 10.5
Best DPS Class in WoW: Battle for Azeroth
Destruction Warlock – 13th Best DPS Class in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth
Destructions Warlocks have also seen quite a few changes at the beginning of Battle for Azeroth. As they currently stand, they are a fairly safe pick for most types of encounters. While overall their damage output is average, their sustained damage abilities make them incredibly stable and adaptable in both single and multi-target encounters. They also have the lowest ramp up time of any Warlock spec, meaning they will be good to go from the start of a fight. They also feature highly customizable talent trees which produces a more flexible gameplay that can be shaped on a per-encounter basis.
As stated before, a Destruction Warlock damage output is extremely average. If you are the type of player who wants to be the top overall DPS, this may not be your first choice. If, however, you are looking for something that will produce consistent results but can also provide good burst damage when needed, Destruction Warlock may be your perfect class.
Single Target Score: 3.5/5
Multi-Target Score: 3.5/5
Survivability Score: 4/5
Total Score: 10.5
Best DPS Class in WoW: Battle for Azeroth
Outlaw Rogue – 12th Best DPS Class in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth
Outlaw Rogues are the most versatile of the Rogue specs. Their build has not changed significantly from Legion though one of their primary abilities, Blade Flurry, can no longer be active throughout an entire encounter. This has little effect in most encounters, though in fights that will require extended AoE times, it will be a bit trickier to maintain damage output.
Overall Outlaw Rogues output a fairly average amount of single target damage. And, while they have the potential to cause great multi-target damage, there is an extremely high variance based on a number of factors, mostly due to how spread out some enemies may be and how reliant on cooldowns their abilities are. As with other Rogue specs, they do feature a number of defensive abilities, making them a fairly survivable class to play as.
Single Target Score: 2.5/5
Multi-Target Score: 3.5/5
Survivability Score: 4.5/5
Total Score: 10.5
Best DPS Class in WoW: Battle for Azeroth
Beast Mastery/Marksmanship/Survival Hunter – 11th Best DPS Class in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth
In Battle for Azeroth every spec for Hunter is very comparable overall. While they do feature variations between each other, they all have very similar damage outputs in most situations. The differences between each spec mostly come down to a player’s preferred playstyle.
Beast Mastery Hunters are mostly unchanged from their build in Legion. They tend to be the most versatile of the three specs due to the fact they are the only ranged spec in the game with a rotation that can entirely be used while moving. This makes them incredibly useful for playing raid mechanics without having to sacrifice damage output.
With that in mind, they also tend to be on the lower to mid-range damage output of the three in all types of combat encounters. They feature short cooldowns and a wide range of utility effects from their pets. That said, they heavily rely on pet AI which is not always up to par.
Marksmanship Hunters on the other hand have been completely reworked from their previous incarnation. Their focus regenerates passively considerably slower. For single target damage, a Marksmanship Hunter will now want to have their pet active, while in multi-target encounters you will want to have Lone Wolf active to gain a 10% damage bonus. This means that despite the increased damage output, you will have to lose your pets and the utility bonus effects that come with them. They are burdened by long cast times, making them less mobile in combat than the other two specs.
In terms of damage output, Marksmanship comes in middle of the road when compared to the other specs, but also has the potential to do the most burst damage in both single target and multi-target encounters.
Survival Hunters are incredibly different than the other specs in that it is a primarily melee based DPS build. While ranged attack are featured, they are in no way competitive with the damage output that you will see from melee. Survival Hunter pets provide a tonne of utility effects in this spec. Though not as mobile as Beast Mastery Hunters, they are far more mobile than many other melee classes.
When looking at damage output potential, Survival Hunters take the top tier in all situations except for burst single target damage. While their sustained single target damage is strong, their true stopping power comes from their sustained AoE damage overall.
Single Target Score: 3/5
Multi-Target Score: 3/5
Survivability Score: 4.5/5
Total Score: 10.5
