3v3 Arena Composition Tier List / Guide for Cataclysm Classic

Last updated on Jul 30, 2024 at 19:00 by Seksixeny

This guide will focus on rankings for the Arena, where 2v2, 3v3 and 5v5 matches occur. Doing well increases your team's rating, and the higher you go, the more points will be gained upon the weekly reset. These points can then be used to buy arena gear, which mirrors PvE gear in item level, but with some item budget allocated to Resilience and PvP-oriented set bonuses.

We will be listing and ranking some of the best arena compositions for the 3v3 arena bracket in this guide. These compositions rely on having a synergistic combination of abilities that can put pressure on opponents and deflect incoming aggression successfully, and we will be offering a brief explanation on each.

Feel free to also consult the 2v2 bracket and 5v5 bracket tier lists, as well as our PvP DPS and PvP Healer rankings in order to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of each class and specialization when individually assessed.

TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THIS PAGE

Introduction

In this guide, we will be presenting the compositions that form "the meta" of Cataclysm Arena in the 3v3 bracket.

The meta changes over time, but it will naturally change less and more slowly in a game as well understood as Cataclysm Classic. We will also be getting the final talent balance of Cataclysm right away, and thus most of the changes will come from having better gear for classes that scale well as we progress in tiers. To give a practical example, Casters will not have immediate access to their Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest legendary right away, making them much weaker in the first phase than they will be by the end of Firelands.

While most compositions have a favored healer, alternative healers can often be employed to some degree of success, especially as healers are significantly more versatile and capable with Cataclysm talents and spells. Also, note that within each tier the compositions are not listed in order of power.

Cataclysm 3v3 Arena Tier List

3v3 is the most balanced Arena bracket, with more viable compositions and classes than the 2v2 bracket, while avoiding the craziness of the 5v5 bracket.

2.1.

Best Cataclysm Arena Compositions for 3v3

The best 3v3 team compositions bring a lot of offensive and defensive abilities, as well as diverse crowd control (CC) on separate diminishing return (DR) categories or overwhelming damage. This allows them to set up prolonged crowd control chains or pressure the enemy team into making mistakes, often leading to a kill.

Restoration Shaman is particularly notable for bringing great instant cast healing, crowd control and disruption in a single package, making them very strong in any composition, even when not explicitly listed below.

This list will be adjusted over time as teams match against each other in Cataclysm Classic.

Composition	Strengths	Weaknesses
RLS: Rogue Affliction Warlock Restoration Shaman	Well-rounded damage, with plenty of interrupts, CC and dispel protection from Unstable Affliction; Great target swap potential, with Warlock DoTs and Rogue stuns being able to be deployed quickly.	Can suffer against heavy melee cleaves and Marksmanship Hunter comps as most members are squishy against Physical damage.
RHS: Marksmanship Hunter Rogue Restoration Shaman Alternative healer: Discipline Priest	Excellent mobility from Disengage, Rogue cooldowns, defensive dispel, and Master's Call; Plentiful of CC with Scatter Shot into Freezing Trap, Blind and Hex or Psychic Scream; High burst damage potential from Shadow Dance combined with Marksmanship Hunter cooldown shots, as well as double healing reduction sources and offensive dispels.	All members are vulnerable to unexpected swaps due to having limited personal defensive capabilities requiring atention to peeling off focused teammates.
TSG: Marksmanship Hunter Unholy Death Knight Holy Paladin	Huge burst damage potential with DK diseases and Hunter burst damage, which is hard to recover from due to Necrotic Strike, Death Grip, Chains of Ice, and Widow Venom; Excellent survivability with high Armor classes and Holy Paladin utility such as Divine Shield and Hand of Protection; Good mobility through Disengage, Master's Call, Cleanse, and Hand of Freedom.	Low CC potential when compared to most compositions.
Junglecleave Marksmanship Hunter Feral Druid Restoration Shaman Alternative healer: Discipline Priest	Excellent mobility from Disengage, Feral Charge and shapeshifting, defensive dispel, and Master's Call; Extreme damage and consistent pressure through high Marksmanship Hunter and Feral damage, Maim with Cyclone, offensive dispel, and Widow Venom.	Hard to keep pressure high against strong offensive pressure as it forces the Feral Druid into Bear Form where outgoing damage is limited; Marksmanship Hunter and the healer are vulnerable to swaps due to having low defensive capabilities.
RMP: Rogue Frost Mage Discipline Priest	Strong burst damage, especially with offensive cooldowns; Wide array of CC, including stuns and interrupts; Great swap potential, hard to predict burst target until the final moment.	Mana runs out quickly in a prolonged fight; Mistakes are easily fatal due to the long cooldowns on critical abilities; Requires the most coordination out of any team due to damage being setup-dependent.
Triple DPS: Marksmanship Hunter Retribution Paladin Rogue	Excellent mobility from Disengage, Hand of Freedom, Rogue cooldowns, and Master's Call; Triple DPS with redundant healing reduction sources Widow Venom and Wound Poison plus Retribution Paladin burst and off-healing for extremely high pressure; Excellent CC chains with Rogue stuns and Blind, as well as Scatter Shot into Freezing Trap or Hammer of Justice into Repentance;	Due to low healing, damage has to be decisive or the composition will inevitably be grinded down; Can be difficult to fend off high incoming damage, especially if Marksmanship Hunter can be disarmed, which prevents the use of Deterrence.
WMS: Warlock Mage Restoration Shaman Alternative healer: Restoration Druid	Allows for multiple specs (Affliction / Destruction and Frost / Fire) to be viable with the playstyle mostly depending on the Warlock's spec, Affliction will put out pressure on multiple targets for swaps, Destruction will focus on CC into one shot Chaos Bolt combos; Huge amount of high-duration CC, allowing for infinite CC chains with Polymorph, Fear, Seduction, Frost Nova, and so on.	Long casts are required for burst damage; All members are weak when pressured.
Shatterplay: Frost Mage Shadow Priest Restoration Shaman	Excellent burst damage, especially during Deep Freeze; Multiple ranged interrupts and silences, as well as great CC from Hex, Psychic Horror, and Polymorph; Double offensive dispel plus Spellsteal allows for very high pressure against compositions that rely on defensive buffs.	Hex and Polymorph share diminishing return categories, limiting maximum CC chain length; Line-of-sight usage by enemy team can severely impact damage done.

Other Cataclysm Arena Compositions for 3v3

While the teams listed above are, arguably, the best ones in the current meta, there are plenty of other strong options as well which we will list below. If your desired composition is not on this list, it is likely because it lags further behind the current state of the meta.

This list will be adjusted over time as teams match against each other in Cataclysm Classic.

Composition	Strengths	Weaknesses
Vanguards: Retribution Paladin Unholy Death Knight Discipline Priest	Massive burst damage from Retribution and Death Knight cooldowns; Double defensive dispel and great survivability with Pain Suppression, Divine Shield, and Hand of Protection;	Low amount of CC; No Mortal Strike effect allows enemy healing to quickly top people off if your burst does not overwhelm.
Cupid Cleave Marksmanship Hunter Retribution Paladin Discipline Priest Alternative healer: Holy Paladin Restoration Shaman	Excellent mobility from Disengage, Hand of Freedom, double defensive dispel, and Master's Call; Widow Venom plus Retribution Paladin burst for high pressure. Excellent CC chains with Psychic Scream and Scatter Shot into Freezing Trap or Hammer of Justice into Repentance;	Can be difficult to fend off high incoming damage, especially if Marksmanship Hunter can be disarmed, which prevents the use of Deterrence.
Turbo: Arms Warrior Enhancement Shaman Holy Paladin Alternative healers: Discipline Priest Restoration Druid	Very high burst damage potential, with Bladestorm and totems; Good mobility through Intercept, Cleanse, and Hand of Freedom; Mortal Strike makes it hard for the enemy healer to keep up.	Gear-dependent composition; Lack of ranged DPS allows enemies to kite.
Beastcleave Hunter Enhancement Shaman Holy Paladin	Excellent mobility from Disengage, Hand of Freedom, defensive dispel, and Master's Call; Extreme damage and pressure on the opener through Bestial Wrath, Feral Spirit, and Widow Venom.	Loses pressure on the opener if Marksmanship Hunter is disarmed during Bestial Wrath; Can quickly run out of steam once cooldowns are all used, as Hunter and Enhancement Shaman both rely on their cooldowns for most of their damage.
LDS: Affliction Warlock Balance Druid Restoration Shaman	Huge AoE damage with Starfall and Balance plus Warlock DoTs and dispel protection with Unstable Affliction; Multiple ranged interrupts and silences, as well as a great CC chain with Hex, Fear, Cyclone, and Entangling Roots. Less impact on damage from line-of-sight usage relative to most caster cleaves due to most damage coming from DoTs;	Low survivability of both Warlock and Balance Druid requires great peeling abilities in order to stay alive for a kill to happen; Casting requirements on some of the harder hitting abilities allow for interrupt / silence disruption from enemy team.
Thundercleave: Arms Warrior Elemental Shaman Holy Paladin Alternative healer: Discipline Priest	High damage potential with Elemental burst and Warrior Bladestorm, which is hard to recover from due to Wind Shear and Mortal Strike; Good survivability with high Armor, off-healing, Sacred Shield, Divine Shield, and Hand of Protection; Good mobility through Intercept, Cleanse, and Hand of Freedom.	Low CC when compared to most compositions; Most of the involved classes were nerfed in the Cataclysm transition, making them much less survivability and capable of dealing burst damage than they were used to.
LSD: Warlock Elemental Shaman Restoration Druid Alternative healer: Holy Paladin Discipline Priest	Huge one-shot potential between Lava Burst, Chain Lightning and Chaos Bolt; Strong crowd control with Hex, Fear, Seduction, Cyclone, and Entangling Roots.	High skill requirement composition due to the low survivability of most members, especially the Warlock who needs constant peeling in order to cast; Line-of-sight usage by enemy team can severely impact damage done.
WLD: Arms Warrior Affliction Warlock Restoration Shaman Alternative healer: Restoration Druid	High spread pressure between Warlock DoTs, Bladestorm and Sweeping Strikes; Able to do strong swaps quickly and effectively.	Warlock's low survivability makes it hard to survive against enemy damage, especially of the Physical kind; Limited friendly dispel from Devour Magic, which makes Warrior mobility very weak against roots.
Shadowplay: Affliction Warlock Shadow Priest Restoration Shaman	Great spread and overall damage with dispel protection from Unstable Affliction; Multiple ranged interrupts and silences, as well as CC tools: Hex, Psychic Horror, and Fear; All members have offensive and defensive dispels, allowing for easy magic CC breaking.	Low mobility and damage often requires casting, allowing for enemy disruption; Line-of-sight usage by enemy team can severely impact damage done; Limited CC, mostly composed of fear effects which DR with each other.

Conclusion

No matter what class or specialization you play, there is always a strong team composition you can utilize. Every team has a weakness and it is important to know them. Teams and their weaknesses can change frequently throughout a season. If there is a team comp that is missing, please let us know in the comments so we can add it to the list.

Feel free to check out our 2v2 and 5v5 arena tier list / comp guides as well if you are interested in those brackets:

2v2 Arena Tier List 5v5 Arena Tier List

Changelog

30 Jun. 2024: Reviewed for Phase 2.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

This guide has been written by Seksi, original vanilla player and multi-class player, currently playing on Gehennas Horde. You can find him on the Classic Warrior, Mage and Shaman Discords, as well as the Icy Veins Discord.

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