World of Warcraft: War Within DPS Tier List for Patch 11.0.2 Featuring Hero Talents

Damage dealers are the most sought-after role in World of Warcraft, offering a wide variety of competitive specs to choose from. We’ve compiled a detailed overview of how each one stands after the full release of the The War Within expansion in our comprehensive DPS tier list.

The new expansion has kicked off its first season following extensive beta iterations, which saw each spec undergo significant changes. While the landscape was quite volatile, things have now stabilized as players engage in key pushes and tackle the initial raid tier.

In this context, we felt it essential to analyze the current standing of every spec, highlighting which Hero Talent options excel in Mythic+ and raids. The tier list below categorizes this information clearly, defining each tier to explain the positioning of each spec.

WoW: The War Within DPS Spec Tier List

Our tier list is categorized into five distinct tiers, each indicating a different proficiency level in the game’s PvE activities.

Our Tiers Explained

• S: The best DPS specs in the game
• A: Excellent DPS specs, offering ample power to progress through Mythic+ and the current raid tier
• B: Good specs that are generally viable, though may struggle to enter top-tier groups
• C: Underperforming in the DPS role
• D: Require significant changes and buffs to be competitive in the future

S-Tier

Arcane Mage

The caster meta might not be as dominant as anticipated in the initial phase of The War Within, yet no spec is better positioned to capitalize on this than the Arcane Mage. As part of the ‘god comp’ alongside Augmentation Evoker, Arcane Mage has been solidified as one of the top damage specs post-expansion.

Previously overshadowed by its Mage counterparts, Arcane’s talent tree revamp has significantly improved its playability. The removal of abilities like Radiant Spark may appear detrimental, but has streamlined the overall rotation, enabling higher damage output. Although issues with Burden of Power slightly hinder its performance, Arcane Mage remains one of the finest damage specs available.

Moreover, players can utilize two Hero Talent trees currently excelling. Overall, Sunfury serves as a slightly more effective DPS choice, while Spellslinger offers greater defensive utility and a higher potential ceiling if Blizzard addresses their damage scaling.

Augmentation Evoker

Augmentation Evoker stands out as one of the most intriguing specs in terms of design, bringing a toolkit that proves highly valuable in group settings. Much of its damage relies on its allies, making it remarkably un-nerfed despite its powerful capabilities.

With unique crowd control options like Tail Swipe and Terror of the Skies, the spec provides impressive damage output, allowing Augmentation Evokers to uplift struggling allies. Recent bug fixes have shifted the most effective Hero Talent from Scalecommander to Chronowarden, which offers substantial cooldown reductions and stat buffs.

Elemental Shaman

Emerging as a surprise contender, Elemental Shaman has maintained its strong performance from the The War Within beta into the full expansion release. Its Skyfury talent offers a Mastery buff and a 20% chance for double auto attacks, making it remarkably effective.

While it shines in AoE encounters, its single-target damage may slip slightly, but the continuous rotation (if managed correctly) minimizes the impact. With added enhancements to its previously underwhelming defensive capabilities, the spec is in great position compared to previous expansions.

Stormbringer stands out as the most effective Hero Talent tree for Elemental Shaman at this time, although it lacks excitement. Its benefits are scattered across various Elemental Shaman abilities, making it noticeably more effective than Farseer, which fails to provide enough impact.

Assassination Rogue

As the highest-performing Rogue spec in the current DPS landscape, Assassination offers thrilling gameplay. The transition from Shadow Dance and Venom Rush to passive abilities has refined its rotation without sacrificing damage.

With Echoing Reprimand now a central ability for combo point generation, the renovated Assassination Rogue feels dynamic and exciting. Despite a nerf to Kingsbane prompting a shift in talent builds, this alteration enhances the spec rather than complicating it.

However, the Hero Talent trees available for Assassination are in dire need of tuning. Deathstalker remains the preferred choice for PvE settings, emphasizing the must-have Deathstalker’s Mark. Fatebound can provide solid results, but relies heavily on RNG, leading to variability in its effectiveness.

Frost Death Knight

Frost Death Knight has made a strong case for being the most improved spec since Dragonflight. The addition of talents like Subduing Grasp and Osmosis provides impressive passive buffs and healing, enhancing its durability.

Although resource generation is now trickier to manage, this encourages players to utilize all their abilities, promoting a healthy rotation. The focus has shifted slightly from Breath of Sindragosa, improving the overall feel of the spec.

Currently, the Rider of the Apocalypse Hero Talents offer robust mechanical support that back the fantasy theme. Yet, Deathbringer is seen as the best choice, granting meaningful enhancements without unnecessary buffs. The reliance on RNG with the Rider of the Apocalypse tree can detract from consistent damage output.

A-Tier

Frost Mage

For Frost Mage players, excitement awaits in The War Within as Мages solidify their position within dungeon groups, enhanced by the Arcane Intellect buff, particularly in a spellcaster-heavy meta.

Moreover, they retain utility through talents like Mass Barrier/Mass Invisibility and essential defensive spells, enhancing their outgoing damage through buffs on abilities such as Ice Lance.

The spec includes two strong Hero Talent trees that broaden capabilities. Spellslinger offers various procs for abilities like Winter’s Chill, while Frostfire serves as an elemental power display. Both trees prove viable, with Spellslinger leading currently.

Havoc Demon Hunter

Havoc Demon Hunter, the sole DPS specialization for its class, finds itself in a favorable state after a shaky beta phase. Following two seasons of Dragonflight dominance, it experienced a downturn, but recent buffs have ushered it back to the forefront.

With Chaos Brand emerging as a potent tool for groups and an emphasis on glaives enhancing the gameplay experience, movement options have never been better. However, there is still a surplus of fun abilities that are not worth building into due to their limited effectiveness.

Havoc players have access to two relatively strong Hero Talent trees: Aldrachi Reaver and Fel-Scarred. The former emphasizes glaives, serving as the most effective raiding strategy, while the latter performs slightly better in Mythic+ settings.

Fury Warrior

The burst champion has returned, dealing incredible damage. The beta testing has helped stabilize consistency and durability within encounters, enhancing the spec’s sustained damage capabilities.

Recent talent adjustments have streamlined Fury Warrior rotations, diminishing downtime and improving overall gameplay fluidity. With enhanced flexibility for single-target or AoE damage focus, it strikes a competitive chord in the current meta.

Currently, the Slayer tree presents the best Hero Talent selection, while Mountain Thane struggles to synergize effectively within the spec’s toolkit, removing a significant portion of its potential.

Shadow Priest

As the only dedicated damage option for Priests, Shadow effectively plays to its strengths. While down from its peak in Dragonflight, it remains a solid ranged DPS option with a robust array of abilities.

Despite experiencing nerfs to output, it stands out with limited competition thanks to strong survivability from talents like Vampiric Embrace. However, potential mobility issues remain evident, irrespective of efforts made to address them.

Preceding a resurgence throughout the beta, Archon offers additional burst to parties and emerges as the best Hero Talent tree for Shadow Priests in The War Within. While Voidweaver has yet to make a significant impact, it provides additional utility and enhances overall efficacy.

Enhancement Shaman

The changes introduced with The War Within have greatly benefited Enhancement Shaman, allowing it to establish itself confidently. It now possesses substantial damage mitigation via talents like Stone Bulwark Totem, increasing resilience in challenging encounters.

The new buffs brought by Skyfury are becoming popular, although they could use additional tuning to solidify their necessity. This replaces Windfury Totem and adds a Mastery buff, while tier-set bonuses enhance the standard DPS abilities of Enhancement Shaman.

However, the Hero Talent tree Totemic feels overly hybridized, moving away from the spec’s core strengths. In contrast, Stormbringer aligns better with the class, focusing on Chain Lightning and Lightning Bolt enhancements while boosting Nature damage.

Retribution Paladin

The Paladin class covers a wide range of abilities, often causing issues for Retribution. Despite being less dominant than in the previous expansion, Ret Paladins possess powerful utility outside of raids, showcasing impressive defense and AoE damage capabilities with builds around Divine Storm and Wake of Ashes.

Though the removal of Retribution Aura negatively impacted their necessity in raids, strong grouping utility remains buoyant. The current limitations on sustained single-target damage persist, even with talents like Crusading Strikes attempting to counteract this.

Retribution Paladin has compelling Hero Talent options. Herald of the Sun enhances rotation significantly, offering effective cooldown mitigation, while Templar currently tops the choices, offering superior damage on aerial strikes.

Affliction Warlock

As the best Warlock spec currently available, Affliction has undergone improvements leading up to The War Within launch. Although it isn’t dominant in the wider DPS sphere, the spec is well-poised for gradual ascent.

It boasts significant single-target burst potential, capitalizing on Mythic+ enemy damage, with ongoing improvements in sustainability observable in lengthy encounters. The rundown on tuning positions it as a strong contender for this season and onward.

Both Hero Talent trees for Affliction compliment spec viability, differentiated by their unique focuses. Hellcaller excels in DoT management, while Soul Harvester presents a burst option with Rapture synergy.

B-Tier

Outlaw Rogue

Following a challenging beta period, Outlaw has prospered now that the expansion has stabilized. Renowned for its utility and crowd control, Outlaw features significant advancements that bolster its functionality.

Yet, this robustness is diminished by the inconsistency of damage output across various activities. In Mythic+, high mob density proves challenging, primarily due to Outlaw’s mediocre cleave and constricted rotation.

Outlaw Rogue may opt between Trickster or Fatebound Hero Talents, with Fatebound emerging as the superior choice currently. Trickster appears disjointed and lacks cohesiveness, compounding its challenges in vital gameplay aspects.

Demonology Warlock

Demonology and Destruction Warlocks faced bugs in beta testing, leaving the former as a solid option. Although damage output suffered, the spec redesign favored streamlined efficiency.

Demonology remains a robust choice for solo endeavors, offering solid AoE options and sustained single-target damage throughout raid encounters, though it may fall behind top-tier casters like Arcane and Frost Mages.

For Demonology, both Diabolist and Soul Harvester are strong Hero Talent options, with Diabolist enhancing spec performance across PvE scenarios.

Marksmanship Hunter

Marksmanship appears well-designed yet requires developer attention to reach specs above it in the tier list. The War Within beta showcased several improvements, enhancing gameplay through class tree overhauls.

Marksmanship features practical utilities such as Tar Trap, Tranquilizing Shot, Intimidation, and Wailing Arrow. Exceptional AoE capabilities shine; however, sustained single-target performance lags behind, necessitating potential cooldown tweaks for accessible rotations.

Available Hero Talent trees require further enhancement; both Dark Ranger and Sentinel suffer from expanding weaknesses. Dark Ranger is thematically intriguing but offers minimal tangible benefits, while Sentinel struggles with direction, sharing features with a dissimilar Survival Hunter tree. Dark Ranger is the marginally better choice currently.

Survival Hunter

For the first time in WoW history, Survival Hunter has remained competitive and is now joining the top ranks overall in PvE content. Buffs to both survivability and damage output have elevated the spec significantly.

Past concerns regarding encounter length impacts have begun to fade, while exciting talent tree reworks have bolstered overall playability.

While Pack Leader remains the more effective choice, Sentinel has certain merits, improving cooldown management while maximizing damage and coordination of burst phases. This results in more consistent DPS across different activities.

Arms Warrior

Arms Warrior has evolved significantly during the beta phase and is now one of the most reliable specs across various game areas. Its non-burst damage capabilities shine in prolonged engagements or AoE battles.

Changes to Rage generation have positively impacted the spec, creating a seamless rotation with diminished downtime. While a lack of utility persists, it may lead to disfavor in Mythic+ settings.

Two solid Hero Talent trees await Arms players. Slayer amplifies everything about the Arms Warrior, introducing crowd control, procs, and additional mobility. Alternatively, Colossus reshapes playstyle significantly, offering unique bonuses. At present, Slayer remains the more favorable choice for Mythic+ play.

Windwalker Monk

Windwalker gained drastic improvements with recent talent adjustments, making it a formidable contender with strong AoE options and single-target efficiency alongside notable survivability.

Even with minor nerfs affecting progress, Windwalker remains a competitive option, balancing utility with effective playstyle.

The Shado-Pan Hero Talent tree emphasizes martial arts fantasy, granting stat boosts around Flurry Strikes. Although exciting, it is currently outperformed by the Conduit of the Celestials, which offers even more in raiding and Mythic+ contexts.

Unholy Death Knight

There was a moment during The War Within’s beta when Unholy DK outperformed peers exceptionally. Though those days have passed, it still serves as a competent choice overall. A greater focus on DoT mechanics would be appreciated, but the recent shifts provide necessary cohesion.

Yet, unholy’s complexity in maximizing damage potential remains steep. Interruptions can negatively impact damage output during critical encounters. Nonetheless, it maintains impressive AoE burst and improved single-target damage.

In terms of Hero Talents, players may select between Rider of the Apocalypse and San’layn. While the former offers impressive mounted combat thematic integration, its performance in comparison to San’layn is currently lacking, particularly in Mythic+.

Fire Mage

Fire Mage encountered significant setbacks at the beginning of The War Within, but new buffs to abilities like Flamestrike and Living Bomb signal a turn for the better.

While Frost and Arcane specs continue to outshine it, Fire Mage proves viable for solo efforts and performs well in Delves. Yet, players seeking to tackle the game’s hardest content require developer attention for further buffs.

Hero Talent decisions now hinge on thematic preference versus effectiveness. The Frostfire tree brings an engaging visual and thematic flair, though it lacks tangible impact. Conversely, the Sunfury talent enhances the compromised spec and is the go-to choice for maximizing Fire Mage’s capabilities.

C-Tier

Balance Druid

Balance Druid continues to struggle in distinguishing itself as a top choice, often underperforming in less complex activities. Nevertheless, numerous essential damage-dealing abilities deliver competitive output in Mythic+.

Despite this, the need for buffs prevails, as compelling alternatives exist in both the Druid realm and elsewhere, leading players to prioritize other similar classes. Well-developed survivability and utility options exist, yet improved overall performance remains necessary.

The game’s favor seems to favor Elune’s Chosen over Keeper of the Grove for Hero Talents, as they generate Astral Power more efficiently and center around key rotation abilities, like Fury of Elune, resulting in a more cohesive experience.

Feral Druid

Long past the peak of the beta, the Feral Druid’s capabilities have diminished within The War Within. It still retains its potency through single-target bleeds and DoTs while maintaining consistent pressure with advantageous burst moments.

Recent cooldown reductions have streamlined its rotation, making it more natural, with Ferocious Bite receiving a substantial 15% boost from reworked talent trees.

Hero Talent options appear cohesive and integral to the spec. While Wildstalker enhances the Feral Druid fantasy, it is slightly outdone by Druid of the Claw, providing greater burst potential and overall versatility.

Subtlety Rogue

The cunning Subtlety Rogue falls short of expectations, consistently trailing weaker specs. Its stagnation across incredible changes remains frustrating for players eyeing improvement.

The focus on Secret Technique benefits from the tier set bonus, enabling remarkable single-target damage alongside recent buffs helping push it forward.

Unfortunately, both Hero Talent trees lack solidity right now. Trickster necessitates more adjustments to improve functionality, while Deathstalker performs better but still remains below expectations regarding efficiency.

D-Tier

Destruction Warlock

Destruction Warlocks experienced turbulent times throughout the beta phase. Though the spec faced extensive balancing challenges, it has now slipped into the depths of D-tier.

Ultimately, Destruction’s current standing lacks the competitiveness exhibited by fellow class options. Its durability for solo play remains discernible, but identifying areas of merit in Mythic+ and raiding proves difficult.

Both Hero Talents have improvements to offer, with Diabolist offering connectivity with core abilities and potential synergies, while Hellcaller allows for single-target boosts, especially in raid environments.

Beast Mastery Hunter

Beast Mastery Hunter appears to be a case where thematic elements overshadow practical gameplay. Pets contribute significantly to damage output, which can leave players feeling disconnected from their character’s impact.

Despite improvements to overall defense and maximum single-target burst, concerns relating to maintaining DPS over longer fights remain apparent.

Devastation Evoker

While it may seem harsh to rank Devastation at the bottom tier, the spec desperately yearns for tuning adjustments to elevate competitiveness. The rapid fluctuations during its initial launch left the spec feeling purposeless and disconnected.

Capable of delivering solid burst damage, its potential fades in long encounters as its peers outshine it. Additionally, competition arises with Augmentation, as the latter currently outperforms Devastation across pivots.

For Hero Talents, choice depends on individual objectives in gameplay. Scalecommander enhances cleave effectiveness, while Flameshaper complements burst damage techniques. Overall, Scalecommander is the preferred option at present, despite recent nerfs evening the playing field.

That wraps up our tier list! For a detailed analysis of The War Within and insights of what’s to come at launch, as well as an overarching class tier list performance review, check out our resources. Engaging in the pre-patch? Be sure to leverage our comprehensive guide to the Radiant Echoes event.

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