Published November 4, 2018
Not all specializations are viable in WoW Classic. Here’s a quick breakdown of how each spec stacks up when it comes to raiding.
Author’s Note: These rankings are given in the context of raiding only. Any PvP specs or specs with drastically limited ability (such as Ret Paladins) were considered not viable.
| Class | Spec | Role | Viability | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Druid | Balance | DPS | ✖ | Poor DPS, some utility from buffs. |
| Druid | Feral | DPS | ✖ | Poor DPS and buff is not good. |
| Druid | Feral | Tank | ✖ | Cannot reach defense cap. |
| Druid | Restoration | Healer | ✔ | Good tank healer and viable raid healer. |
| Hunter | Beast Mastery | DPS | ✖ | Pets can’t stay alive, kills DPS. |
| Hunter | Marksmanship | DPS | ✔ | Good DPS and good buff. |
| Hunter | Survival | DPS | ✖ | Possibly viable with BIS gear. |
| Mage | Arcane | DPS | ✔ | Good for fire-based raids (MC & BWL) |
| Mage | Fire | DPS | ✔ | Good for non-fire raids (ZG, AQ, Naxx) |
| Mage | Frost | DPS/Support | ✔ | Support spec for other mages. |
| Paladin | Holy | Healer | ✔ | Good healer with useful utility skills. |
| Paladin | Protection | Tank | ✖ | Able to tank some content, but lack of taunt skill and gear make it difficult. |
| Paladin | Retribution | DPS | ✖ | Possibly viable in Naxx due to undead damage. |
| Priest | Discipline | Healer/Support | ✔ | Typically combined with Holy, but can be deep Discipline can be viable with enough Holy priests. |
| Priest | Holy | Healer | ✔ | Main healing spec. |
| Priest | Shadow | DPS/Support | ✔ | Good support spec. Usually 1 per raid. |
| Rogue | Assassination | DPS | ✖ | Not viable. |
| Rogue | Combat | DPS | ✔ | Bread-and-butter rogue raid DPS. |
| Rogue | Subtlety | DPS | ✖ | PvP spec. |
| Shaman | Elemental | DPS | ✖ | Poor DPS, same buffs as restoration Shaman. |
| Shaman | Enhancement | DPS | ✖ | Poor DPS and buffs are not good. |
| Shaman | Restoration | Healer | ✔ | Very good raid healer. |
| Warlock | Affliction | DPS | ✔ | Combined with Destruction. |
| Warlock | Demonology | DPS | ✔ | Combined with Destruction. |
| Warlock | Destruction | DPS | ✔ | Combined with Affliction or Demonology. |
| Warrior | Arms | DPS | ✖ | Fury is always higher raid DPS. |
| Warrior | Fury | DPS | ✔ | Bread-and-butter warrior raid DPS. |
| Warrior | Protection | Tank | ✔ | Typical tank choice and only tank for Horde. |
Feral does well on private servers. Usually as a tank who will DPS when not tanking. The only downside listed is that they can not reach the defense cap, but Warrior tanks can’t either in the entry raids. And by the time Warriors can reach the cap, threat becomes more important than mitigation – which happens to be a Feral’s specialty.
Their biggest downside is that they require more healing than a Warrior. You also don’t NEED a Feral. You absolutely need a Warrior to be your main tank. But one or two good Ferals are definitely worth having.
“Viability” posts on a game where the raid content is literally childlike in complexity?
Hint: With modern gameplay and theorycrafting, every spec is viable. The only people who don’t think these specs are viable are those wonderful pserver cucklords who couldn’t handle three boss mechanics in an encounter and went from being big dick one-button Gods in Vanilla to benched in BC/Wrath.
Defense cap is NOT necessary for raiding. If your tanks are going for full on defense cap, they’re doing it wrong.
Feral is viable, it can tank all of MC, can’t tank Chromaggus or Nefarian and can tank most of the rest of the game. Having a Druid offtank will be a huge boon.
Dont listen to these bfs melinnial raiders who only know wearing the highest ilvl. Go ahead answer a ” need tank” call with a druid/pally. You will be reevaluating your life choices after all that hard work to get to the end
The very first sentance is wrong. There is a difference between viable and optimal. Not all class specs are optimal, yet they are all viable.