Hello, Librarian Husky here! I’m done playing all of the range DPS on beta with the tier sets and the hero Talents, and I’m going to be ranking them today. Some of them are big winners and some of them are turbo losers. Which one is you? Before we go in, I do have to say that 90% of this tier list is recorded just before the hunter rework that has been announced. We’ll talk about the hunter specs at the end after I actually get to play them, considering that right now I would probably put them into F tier. We don’t have an F tier, so that says a little bit about Hunter in the war within.

Affliction Warlock Rework

Starting off with Affliction Warlock, which is now in its third version of the Rework. It’s been going through quite a few changes and some movement around in the talent. To be fair, it’s actually not feeling too bad. I do have to insert my personal bias here a little bit because, I mean, I have to; that’s the whole point. Overall, in the Spec design part, Affliction is not doing too bad.

Spec Design and Functionality

I think functionally it’s superior to the live one in the way that you want to build towards a specific Damage profile. You don’t want to feel like you’re wasting Talents or you’re forced to talent or that you’re losing Giga single target to get AOE, or you’re using Giga AOE to get single target. From that point of view, it’s a little bit better. Siphon Life being Reworked into a passive is also perfect and the hero Talents are actually super, super POG.

Areas of Improvement

I do feel like Affliction is still just slightly not quite there, at least not in the same way as Demonology and Destruction are. Dark Glare still feels incredibly lackluster. I would kind of really want Dark Glare to do some actual Damage now. I would say that this is just tuning in the end, and tuning can always change by the time the expansion launches. But Dark Glare has kind of been weak for two expansions now. I think it might have been a little bit better in Shadowlands.

Changes in Play Style

I do have to say that I’m not a fan of Malefic Rapture spam. I would have loved Seed of Corruption spam all day, every day in AOE in dungeons, and I’m sad to see it go. You’re going to be using Seed of Corruption just to apply AOE corruption, which still has a purpose for the spell, but Rapture is just not the same. Seed is just more explosive, way more engaging, and I feel like we’ve lost a depth of play style that was really cool for that.

Conclusion

With that out of the way, I do want to put Affliction at the top of the B tier. It could very well be A tier; it’s still a little bit from S tier, and it could be an amazing Spec.

Comparing War Within and Dragonflight Gameplay

I feel like it plays way better in the War Within than it does in Dragonflight. B tier is kind of like average; it’s like the bell curve of a graph if you would like to see it that way. I think it’s a good place to start.

Editing and Clipping with Outplay

If you go into your sessions, select what you want to edit, and then click the little button here, it will open the clip options. You can play with the length, name it, export it, and then just use it as bragging rights online because you did so much Damage in that one pull in that one dungeon.

Excitement About Evoker

I don’t like to wear glasses anymore, so we’re going to be moving into augmentation. Holy crap, dude, Evoker has been probably the second biggest surprise for me in terms of fun in the beta. With the tier sets, they actually don’t do that much for almost any of the specs in this list. They augment them a little bit, and that’s good, but the hero Talents are really cool, and Chrono Warden has been the bee’s knees.

Relief from Vocal Strain

If your throat is parched after screaming for two days and drinking really, really cold water, now you’re talking like this. Playing Chrono Warden augmentation is like drinking sweet wine that caresses your throat and makes it all smooth and soft, ready to talk in a really good voice. That was so satisfying.

Chrono Warden Hero Talents

I think Chrono Warden is probably the second-best Hero Talent that evokers have, period. It has been a blast for augmentation. Granted, augmentation still kind of plays similarly to live; it’s Blandish, but it’s a simple and fun Spec. The complexity comes from actually positioning yourself with your party and making sure that you’re buffing them properly.

Chosen Parts Ability

In live augmentation, I don’t think you have this particular spell called Chosen Parts. It’s this little blue eye that, once you activate it, you see your party members highlighted when they use a powerful cooldown. I’m not 100% sure what those cooldowns are in the database of WoW or how the game calculates which cooldowns those are. But I would imagine there would be like two-minute cooldowns and higher, maybe even one-minute cooldowns or higher.

Improved Targeting and Buffing

With this ability, you can actually time your Breath of Vons and see exactly where your party members are and aim them. That feels a lot better than on live and definitely helps a little bit. I mean, it definitely lights up when a Fire Mage uses Combust, so what else would you ever want? With that out of the way, I do have to say that augmentation has been A tier—very fun. I was never a fan of the gameplay.

Changing Perspectives on Krono Warden

I thought it was fine, but I never really enjoyed it ever since it was introduced into the game. But Krono Warden changed my mind, and Scale Commander is not bad either. Krono Warden is the [__]. I want to go home. I really don’t want to talk about this next because it’s near, dear, and close to my heart.

Disappointment with Balance Druid

My heart is very far from Marcelian’s heart, who hates Balance Druid. Now I feel like my heart is getting closer to his heart, and I hate Balance Druid. This is way more corny and cheesy than I intended it to be, but that’s kind of how Balance Druid feels to me. Oh my God, I have no idea what Balance Druid is supposed to do.

Ranking and Mechanics of Balance Druid

I have to put it into F tier. I’m sorry, it’s not bad. This is overly emotional; I’ll put it into C tier. It doesn’t play that bad. However, the direction and the changes for Balance Druids are systematically worse and worse with every change that they make. This is maybe from my personal experience.

Losing Arcanic Pulsar Mechanic

We’ve lost Arcanic Pulsar. Why? That was so good, and this Destro Warlock essentially proved this. I don’t know exactly why Arcanic Pulsar is gone. I don’t know if they’ve made a blue post about it, and if they have, I must have missed it. Arcanic Pulsar just gave you those in-between big cooldown windows of peak gameplay when you just procced out that Celestial Alignment or Incarnation, which was what made Balance Druid really fun.

Impact of Changes on Gameplay

It’s a very predictable Spec with close to no RNG whatsoever. The changes to the little Fury dragon just being there and doing Damage aren’t really impactful, considering that it’s a single target. On live, it doesn’t really do amazing Damage. It’s not like it’s a Warlock pet that just summons and destroys everything. It used to be the source of an overall Damage buff for you on live with the caps that are now replacing it, which we have lost. So I’m not sure how.

Changes in Balance Druid Mechanics

I feel about it. We’ve also lost our Arcanic Pulsar. You now get to play Orbital Strike, which is great because that’s something that I would have wanted to play for a long time, but together with Arcanic Pulsar. Then you have little in-between burst moments as you wait for your Incarnation to come off cooldown, and that was needed for a Spec as predictable as Balance Druid.

Impact of Reworks on Balance Druid

With every Rework, we seem to lose one more bit that makes Balance Druid fun. The Hero Talent Orth, though fine and better than when they were announced, doesn’t feel like it brings back the fun. I was so disappointed that out of pure emotional angst, I wanted to put it into F tier, but it’s not that bad.

Performance and Issues

It plays fine and could have some really cool moments, but overall it has some major issues that seem to be worked on in almost every other dot Spec except Balance Druid. The ramp is still turbo boring. You still have to tap target Moonfire so many times and then at least one or two Sunfires, then do your Orbital Strike, and then the pack is at half HP. You’re like, why am I even pressing cooldowns at this point?

Arcane Mage: A Tier

Arcane Mage, though—holy bananas, Batman—all the way into A tier you go. I think it’s probably a little bit in front of augmentation in the way that it plays. Spell Slinger has been really fun and ridiculous with all the little effects, shards, lances, and little shot things all over the place.

Talent Rework and Gameplay

Overall, Arcane just plays way better in the War Within with the talent Rework and how the tier set works as well. The talent directions and how you’re building your points, if you’re not building towards Arcane Harmony, which might still be the name for the talent, allow you to cast Arcane Missiles a lot and then buff your Arcane Barrage. Maybe you play that, and you can actually get all of the caps for Arcane. That’s pretty cool.

Spell Slinger and Sunfury

The gameplay implications of playing all of the hero Talents, Spell Slinger and Sunfury, really change and alter Arcane in a neat way. Particularly with Spell Slinger, you kind of have to use Arcane Blast in AOE to consume the precision and spawn those Spell Slinger shard things. I keep forgetting what they are, assuming that that’s the correct way to play because that’s the intuitive way to play by reading the tooltips of your Hero Talent. This means you kind of eliminate Arcane Explosion from your rotation in AOE.

Discrepancies and Fun Factors

That’s interesting and different, and I’m all for that. It is a little bit weird considering that the tier set also buffs Arcane Explosions, so it feels like there’s a discrepancy between that and the design of the spell. Be that as it may, it is really fun and definitely changes your rotation. It’s not as complex and as insanely specific as it is on live, but it does have its layer of difficulty.

Complexity and Skill Expression

People have been pointing out that they don’t want Arcane to be simple; they love the engaging play. I think it’s still there. There is a different kind of skill expression. I cannot honestly say if it’s more difficult or not because if you play the live version of Arcane, it’s more punishing, but I don’t particularly feel like it’s necessarily difficult because you do the same rotation no matter what. Now with the War Within, you might have some slight changes here and there.

Demonology Warlock Tuning

Some tuning will probably have to happen to kind of tone this down because if you’re playing Demonology, you can spawn your Doomguards quite a bit if you snipe the low HP targets with your Doom. That is very fun and engaging gameplay to do, and you get a lot of Doomguards now. There are a couple of things that I want to say from a generic Demonology Warlock perspective that probably don’t apply to high-end Warlock players.

Design Philosophy

I think the game should stop being designed around high-end players and should be designed around the average player. Let the top players who play to the 1% push the highest of keys and do Mythic raiding actually break the game. That is more fun and creates a much more enjoyable environment to be in.

Mechanics of Doomguards

However, I was able to spawn quite a few Doomguards and stacking those Doomguards up, which you cannot really do too much. It’s not that degenerate because you can only do this as the pack is dying, and Doomguards are really good when the pack is not dying and is actually up. So, it’s slightly counterintuitive to how you want to use those Doomguards. That is the tradeoff you can think about by spamming this mechanic and getting a lot of Doomguards. But once you get into a new pack, having three or four Doomguards all launch.

Shadow Ball Volley Mechanics

Their Shadow Ball volley at the same time is incredibly fun, but they will likely just disappear after one or two casts because you’ve been spamming them in the previous pack. So, they don’t have a lot of life left for the new pack. That is fun, and it is the downside, or the trade-off rather, for having this mechanic. It is very satisfying; you feel like a lord or commander of Doom.

Alternative Gameplay Style

You could have this style of gameplay as an alternative to Implosion because it doesn’t feel like you have time to use Implosion very much. I really enjoyed this different version of Demonology. Once again, I’m not sure if this is intended or how it’s going to be, but it is how I had the most fun in World of Warcraft ever. So, I’m going to be putting Demonology into S tier.

Hero Talents and Builds

Whether you play Soul Harvester or Diabolist, either one is incredible. They are the most satisfying visual hero talents in the game currently, with some of the most interesting mechanics. You can play whatever build version or variation you want, and Demonology is just going to be loads of fun.

Destruction Warlock Improvements

Similarly, with Destruction as well. Destruction received some of the most negative reception to a rework, warranted by the way for good reasons, and that has been flipped almost 180 degrees. Now it is incredibly fun. It might still have some work to do with some of the capstones and some of the tuning there.

New Mechanics in Destruction

However, if you play the new Avatar of Destruction or whatever it’s called, the new Ritual of Ruin mechanic that used to summon the Blasphemy now summons the Overfiend, which is the tiny little small demon. You will have a lot of fun. The tiny little small demon spawning Chaos Bolts is a really good trade-off in AOE. Particularly, this footage right here… oh my God.

Satisfaction with Hell Collar

This was so satisfying, particularly with Hell Collar, because the Witherer actually has a chance to give you a stack of the ritual, and you get more and more. This is essentially the infinite scaling that made Destruction so fun. I thought that Destruction was unique and niche for this reason.

Infinite Gameplay Potential

This is something, once again, that you cannot really abuse all the time. It’s very niche and specific. I think when you have infinite gameplay potential in niche-specific situations, it elevates the overall feel of what World of Warcraft should be. This is why World of Warcraft is a much better RPG in terms of combat than probably every other RPG, definitely better than every other MMO on the market.

Destruction Warlock in S Tier

This goes into S tier as well. It was insanely fun. Please, devs, don’t change this. Maybe tune it so it’s not ridiculous, but not too much because this will bring a lot of players to the class. Incredible fun.

Fire Mage: Perfect Design

Fire Mage as well. I’ve been a Fire Mage fan for the longest time, and this is still, to this day, as much fun as I’ve had with the Warlock specs. I do feel like Fire Mage is the perfect spec in the game in terms of how it’s designed and how it functions with the hero talents. Because of the tier set, it actually ranks in front of the Warlocks.

Comparison with Warlock Tier Sets

Warlocks have kind of boring tier sets; they’re just fun without them. Mage is fun without and has an amazing tier set. If the dev that’s working on Fire Mage is watching this, I have to say, friend, you really enjoy playing World of Warcraft and you really enjoy playing Fire Mage. It’s so obvious when you look at anything that’s happening with Fire Mage that whoever is making Fire Mage really, really digs and gets World of Warcraft. It is so fun.

Build Variety

The types of builds you can make with Fire Mage are diverse and engaging, allowing for a wide range of play styles. This flexibility, combined with the exciting gameplay, makes Fire Mage stand out as one of the most enjoyable specs in the game.

Versatility of Fire Mage Builds

You have access to different play styles, variations, and fixes to certain types of damage profiles. You now have proper execute damage, and you can play a simpler build or a more complex build to do more damage. You can play a proc-based build with Living Bomb, Phoenix Flames, Flame Strikes, and Ignite. It is incredible and a joy to play. I 100% recommend it. Best spec design-wise, slightly less fun than the Warlocks, but in terms of overall performance, it is excellent.

Frost Mage Evaluation

Frost Mage is also very high. I want to put it a little bit behind Augmentation because it’s still slightly less interesting with the spec talents. It’s not at the level of Fire Mage. I don’t think it received any rework to its actual spec. I would have hoped that it got some style of rework because it is still going in the right direction, where you have some more identity to Frost Mage.

Frost Mage Identity

Whether you want to play more Ice Lance focused, more Frostbolt focused, more Glacial Spike focused, or maybe even Frozen Orb, it could be that the tier set might make it way more interesting than it is. The tier set and the hero talents are just incredible. Frostfire is underestimated to a big degree because everyone is looking at Sunfury because of Kael’thas and Phoenixes, but Frostfire is amazing.

Enjoyment of Frost Mage

Playing that Hero Talent feels way better than any other Hero Talent that Mage has. Even if it’s not as flashy, it feels smooth and satisfying. I love Frost Mage; it is really good.

Surprise with Devastation

Devastation has actually been another big surprise in terms of gameplay in the War Within beta. Both hero talents were very good, but the Flame Shaper was incredible. I do have to preface this by saying that the actual spec tree seemed to be a little bit buggy. Some of the talents might not have been either implemented or working properly.

Buggy Talent Trees

It seems that at least from the tooltip and the icon, some of the talents were, for some reason, taken from Augmentation. There was some weird overlap between these two specs in the Hero Talent tree, so it was a little bit buggy. However, the potential and fun factor were still there.

Talent Confusion in Devastation

I’m not sure if the talents that I got were the Devastation ones or the Augmentation ones or if it was just a visual bug, but I digress. With Skill Commander, it feels like you’re probably playing the same way as live, which is fine. Skill Commander is pretty cool, and having to actually focus around Deep Breath was very satisfying as a dragon, even though I’m not a big fan of how it looks.

Deep Breath Mechanics

I’m never going to get tired of saying this, but Deep Breath is such a cool spell in terms of how it looks, how it feels, and how it makes you interact with the combat. Having talents that work to buff it and to allow you to use it a little bit more often is incredible and much, much fun.

Flame Shaper Talent

Flame Shaper, however, feels like it’s the one Hero Talent where you can actually play Firestorm. I have missed playing Firestorm since the Dragonflight beta, and I’m glad I was able to play it because it made a little bit more sense to play it with Flame Shaper. Engulf was very, very fun. The gameplay loop has been the most fun I’ve had on Devastation and more fun than I’ve had with 90% of the other ranged specs.

Devastation Rating

So, I’m going to be putting Devastation into S tier, behind Warlock, but it’s better than the A tier specs. Devastation is looking good, guys—play it.

Elemental Shaman Review

Elemental Shaman has been slightly meh and a little bit disappointing. I’m not going to look at the numbers too much because it’s just a little bit different, and I can feel the feedback that people have been giving about Shaman. They wanted a little bit of a rework.

Need for a Rework

I’m not yet convinced that Elemental just needs a rework on the talent tree in the way that it has access to options. The current state feels lacking, and while the feedback is important, more changes might be necessary to make Elemental Shaman truly shine.

Elemental Shaman Rework Needs

I do actually agree with people that it needs a rework in the sense that it’s not very intuitive on how you build it. It feels like there’s talents spread all over the place, and it’s not very clear which ones you want to get because they’re a little bit obscure. Maybe that just is what Elemental is. It’s a more difficult spec to understand and actually play.

Challenges with Current Build

You might laugh because you’re probably only playing Elemental with the current tier set of Lava Burst, and that is not Elemental Shaman. Once you lose that tier set, you will see that Elemental goes back to being one of the harder specs to play in the game. The hero talents don’t really do much. I guess Stormbringer is kind of fun because you get Tempest. Tempest is really cool.

Using Lightning Bolt in AOE

Having to use Lightning Bolt in AOE instead of Chain Lightning does switch your brain a little bit, and you’re like, “Oh, I need to use Lightning Bolt now even though I’m in AOE.” That’s not something that’s very obvious once you pick up the Hero Talent, but you will have to rethink a little bit, and that’s part of the fun. Having free Chain Lightnings is also really fun, and having to play with Lightning Rod is some of the most fun that I’ve had with Elemental, period.

Issues with Far Sight Talent

However, Farseer, oh man, I don’t know. I’ve tried to like it; it’s kind of boring. I’m not against having ancestral spirits assist me, but it feels like their impact is just super passive. Not being super focused on Elementals is a big loss for me. I will put it just behind Affliction. It feels a little bit lackluster considering what Affliction has had going for it. Elemental is just way behind.

Concerns with the Current Talent Tree

I’m not a fan of how the current version of the talent tree works for Shadow Priest. I was never a fan of losing Mind Sear, even though this is what some people wanted for some reason. Psychic Link is a boring way to play AOE when you build a resource and spend it on one target. There are situations where having Mind Sear would be so much better.

Issues with AOE Mechanics

I think it was called Mental Decay that extended dots, and granted, Shadow Crash and Void Crash are a good change to how you apply AOE dots. However, it feels terrible to have to pick two talents to choose either Shadow Crash or Void Crash and then pick the talent that makes them apply the dots. This is redundant. You’re never going to play just Shadow Crash or just Void Crash; you’re always going to pick the other talent. So, it’s not an actual choice, but a price you pay to get the mechanic.

Design Style and AOE Resource Consumers

I’m not a fan of this style of design, and I’m not a fan of not having an AOE resource consumer. I don’t think Psychic Link is enough. I felt like the discrepancy between Psychic Link and Mind Sear was a much better way of giving you your damage profile and your identity within an AOE scenario.

Cool Features of Void Weaver

That aside, Void Weaver is the coolest thing since sliced bread. Oh my God, casting Void Torrent while moving is the way Shadow Priest should be in the future and should never change. The Void Rift, Entropic Rift, or whatever it’s called—yo, it’s a black hole, dude! It’s a black hole. Yes, you will summon black holes. Enjoy.

Interesting Support with Archon

Archon has been a really interesting take on providing a little bit more support to your party while still doing significant damage. Having it revolve around Halo is an interesting choice, whereas other hero talents revolve around a particular spell that’s not that strong in terms of providing identity for its class.

Shadow Priest Enjoyment

I’m talking about Farseer, for instance, in the context of Elemental Shaman. Archon, however, is just different. I love it. I love playing Halo, and I think the majority of my enjoyment from Shadow Priest just came from the hero talents, which is a good sign. If you like the current Shadow Priest, you will love it in the War Within with the hero talents. If you don’t love Shadow Priest right now, you’ll really like it with the hero talents in the War Within. So, you should probably still play Shadow Priest; it is a lot of fun.

Ranking Shadow Priest

I will put Shadow Priest all the way into A tier. I want to put it in front of Frost Mage, but not in front of Augmentation. Not yet, not until we get Mind Sear back, but that’s just a personal choice.