Hello! It’s Librarian Husky. My friends, we have some urgent business to discuss regarding the final DPS tier list before Phase 4. We’ve got one last chance to pick the perfect class to dominate Molen Core in the new Black Rock Eruption event. Let’s not waste any time and get right to it.

Methodology for Determining Best DPS Classes

So, quickly, some methodology: to figure out the best DPS classes in Phase 4, I went through over 300 individual parses. I also went to all the class discords to figure out how everybody’s feeling about their class. Then, I went from the B tier all the way to the S tier to figure out the very best class.

B Tier: Priest

Starting off the B tier, we have Priest. The good news on Shadow Priests is that the rotation is actually the easiest in the game now. Since their dots auto-refresh after your initial opener, you just have your Mind Blast and your Shadow Word: Death to spam, and you fill with Mind Spike.

Shadow Priest Rotation and Scaling

Unfortunately, though this really simple rotation simply doesn’t do any damage. To make matters worse, Shadow Priests are known to scale really terribly as well. With everybody wearing starter Phase 4 gear, you would think that priests would be expected to be near the top of the meters. Instead, on the PTR, they were in the bottom third, which means when they get to Molen Core.

Shadow Priest Utility and Mana Regeneration

They’re going to be in the back of the pack. As for utility, we all know that Shadow Priest healing has carried more than a few Sucking Temple runs, but now priests are also bringing Vampiric Touch to the table. The back-of-the-napkin math is something like 200 MP5 for Shadow Priest for everybody in their group. That’s basically TBC-level mana regen.

Holy Priest Experience and Mana Jealousy

I played Holy Priest back in TBC and I would have loved to have this much mana regen. You can bet the Shaman and the Red Paladin are going to be really jealous. The verdict: low-tier damage in Molen Core is going to make all the Shadow Priests really depressed, but they’re still going to end up being one of the most desirable classes to bring.

Desirability Despite Low Damage

That insane mana regen is unbeatable for classes like Mages, even if they don’t do any damage. I wouldn’t be surprised to see three or four Shadow Priests in every single raid.

Utility and Mana Regeneration

I think it’d be pretty cool to see some seal twisting Reds with their Hand of Rag just going crazy. As for utility, you’re a Paladin, so you bring enough utility to carry the alliance by yourself. The only downside is that Paladins did get their raid-wide mana regen cut in half.

Verdict on Paladin Performance

The verdict heading into Phase Four: Paladin performance is definitely still up in the air. Some Paladins are going to be crushing it with their Hand of Rag, doing chart-topping damage. But whether they pump or not, you’re still going to be bringing them because of their insane utility. Paladins go in the B tier.

Boomkin Performance and Utility

As for Boomkins, unfortunately, the best Sims I have available are just using Priest gear. It’s hard to know exactly how they’ll perform at the end of Phase Four, but for now, it looks like they’ll be slotted in somewhere near the Shadow Priests. Talking utility, you have Wild Strikes, Innate, and Battle Res.

The Importance of Druids in Raids

The last two might be extremely popular if Molen Core ends up being difficult. The verdict: you need to have Druids in your group, and if the raids are actually hard, you’re going to want even more of them. Druids go in the A tier.

Evaluating Warlocks

Talking Warlocks, Warlock Sims are pushing around 2800 DPS right now, which does lag behind physical damage dealers and Fire Mages. But I was really surprised on the PTR by how many Destro Locks I saw near the top of the meters, especially with their new Decimation Rune. I really can’t wait to see some 10K damage Soul Fires.

Affliction and Hybrid Builds

As for Affliction and I saw Corno running it in one of my PTR sessions. He was dominating me on the meters. As for utility, Mark of Chaos is really the big one for Locks. Now, one Warlock bringing Curse of Reckoning is essentially bringing the debuff curses as well.

Utility and Verdict on Warlocks

We also have Demonic Pact for raid-wide spell power. The only problem is convincing one of the Warlocks to run it. The verdict: Warlocks are currently slated to be the second-highest Caster DPS in Phase 4, but they have those really good curses and insane utility. So, you’re going to see more than a few in your raids. Warlocks go in the A tier.

Shaman Performance in Phase 4

Let’s talk Shamans next. From my research, Enhance really doesn’t play that much different than it did in Phase 3. The only problem is that pretty much every other class got way better still.

Enhanced Shaman Viability in Phase Four

We’ll be seeing more than a few Enhance creeping into the top five on different fights. One cool thing about Enhance in Phase Four is that two-handing is going to be very viable with options like Hand of Ragnaros. Even if you do slightly less damage, getting a Spinal Reaper, for example, is going to be quite a bit easier than getting two Deathbringers.

Elemental Shaman Performance

Meanwhile, Elemental Shamans are really the hardest to find logs for in the entire PTR. Unfortunately, the logs that I did find put Elemental really in the middle of the pack in terms of DPS. That was kind of weird to me because I was really hyped up by the new tier set and all the different Elemental changes.

Shaman Utility and Verdict

As for utility, we know Shamans bring the totems; everything you’ve seen since 2004 still applies. One small setback, though, is that Shamanistic Rage is only a 10% mana gain for the raid. Nobody’s panicking yet, but it’s definitely going to be noticeable in longer fights. The verdict: Enhanced Shamans still own, and Elemental Shamans are still going to be around the middle of the pack in terms of PVE.

Shaman and Warrior Performance

It’s not going to really matter that much. Shaman go in the A tier. Also in the A tier, we have Warriors. Now, this is actually the worst performing class in the PTR by a pretty big margin, and I don’t really think they’re going to be the number one DPS in Phase 4. But if you talk to any of the Fight Club Warrior Mains, they’re not nearly as freaked out as I am.

Warrior DPS and PTR Performance

The main theory for why Warriors are underperforming so much on the PTR is that we’re forced to use these pretty bad Sunken Temple weapons. In Phase 4, though, we get these insane new weapons like Eskander’s Claws or even the Imperium Demolisher if you get lucky.

Warrior Utility and Potential

Talking utility, Warriors are always going to be the perfect off tanks. They have their taunt and can always save the day. But they also bring really good utility with their Sunder, their rallying cry to save the raid, and while this isn’t 100% confirmed for Phase 4…

Potential New Skill for Warriors

It is very likely Warriors are getting a new skill book. That skill book would essentially give everybody in the raid World Buffs after they die. I think that’s a pretty sweet idea and it could make raiding a whole lot more fun.

Verdict on Warrior Performance

The verdict: Fury looked downright awful on the PTR, and the excuses for why they underperformed do apply to other physical damage dealers who are doing significantly more damage right now. But I’m no dummy; I’m not going to underestimate Warriors when they always seem to outperform at the end of Classic. Give them their full Phase One gear, give them a nice new Classic weapon, and they’ll easily push into the A tier.

Top Performers: Hunters

Starting off the S tier, we have Hunters. The MM rotation really feels amazing now. Your traps are scaling with the TNT Rune, and the cooldown on them has also been reduced to 9 seconds, which is way better. Back in Phase 3, I always felt like I was messing up my rotation, but it’s much harder in Phase 4 to make any really catastrophic mistakes.

Exceptional Marksmanship Hunters

You can still stand out, though, and the exceptional Marksmanship Hunters can easily push to top three or top five on every single fight. Switching to the other side of Hunter, we have melee Hunter, and there really weren’t that many melee Hunter logs in the PTR. The logs that did exist significantly lagged behind Range Hunter.

Optimism for Melee Hunter Changes

I still think we have to be optimistic for changes, though. Blizzard just recently made it so you don’t have to run True Shot Aura on your melee Hunter, so there might even be more changes coming up for melee Hunters. One last thing on melee Hunters: there were several logs featuring that old-school melee weaving build. It’s definitely something Blizzard would like to see be the number one Hunter option, so I hope you have your track shoes on.

Hunter Utility

Talking utility, Hunter traps really carried the Irenicus fight back in Phase Three. We can definitely expect similar Hunter utility to carry in Molen Core as well. Hunters still bring insane AOE damage that scales really well for trash packs. Most importantly, though, they have their Heart of the Lion, which is still a must-have for the 10% stats.

Verdict on Hunters

The verdict: Hunters are going to be the number one damage class in Phase 4. They’re going to be right up there, and their combined utility and damage put them right up there in the S tier.

Top Performers: Mages

Talking Mage, over half the top 20 parses I analyzed on the PTR were all Fire Mages. The biggest reason for that is definitely their amazing new rotation. They get to add in Bale Firebolt now, and their Fire Blasts are off the global cooldown entirely.

Fire Mage Performance in Phase 4

They may not end up scaling as well as Rogues or Warriors, but for early Phase 4, Fire Mages are going to be extremely tough to beat on the meters. As for utility, Fire Mages bring insanely big AOE damage, which is huge for those trash packs in MC. We also can’t forget Arcane Intellect, infinite free food, and, of course, the best travel method in the game for getting to all the different raids.

Verdict on Fire Mages

The verdict: Fire Mages will be a dominant force, especially in early Phase 4. They’re going to be stacked in raids, and they definitely deserve a spot in the S tier.

Top Performers: Rogues

So, the number one spot goes to Rogues. From all the parses I analyzed, four of the top five are Rogues. You might say, okay, it’s the PTR, who cares? So, I went to the Sims, and the Rogues are simming almost 4K DPS, that’s single target too. They still have Fan of Knives for insane AOE damage as well.

Rogue Utility and Drawbacks

Yes, their damage is insane, but the drawback is their utility. Really, all they’re bringing to the table is the fact that they can tank, but that is pretty relevant because you can tank all sorts of dungeons, even the world boss raids.

Verdict on Rogues

The verdict: Unless they get nerfed, this is going to be the single most fun phase for Rogues. Rogues easily go in the S tier.

Conclusion and Thoughts

We’ve been on a journey to talk about the very best classes in Phase 4. I would love to hear your thoughts on which class you think is going to be the strongest in this phase. Thank you guys so much for reading, and make sure to keep it here and check out my ultimate Phase 4 prep guide next. There’s still time to get prepped!

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