DPS Rankings / Tier List for Cataclysm Classic

Nov 11 update: The rankings have been updated for Firelands!

You can find below a quick summary of the current PvE DPS rankings:

1. Fire Mage (S-Tier)
2. Unholy Death Knight (S-Tier)
3. Demonology Warlock (S-Tier)
4. Survival Hunter (S-Tier)
5. Elemental Shaman (S-Tier)
6. Arms Warrior (A-Tier)
7. Frost Death Knight (A-Tier)
8. Balance Druid (A-Tier)
9. Combat Rogue (A-Tier)
10. Affliction Warlock (A-Tier)
11. Assassination Rogue (B-Tier)
12. Retribution Paladin (B-Tier)
13. Shadow Priest (B-Tier)
14. Enhancement Shaman (B-Tier)
15. Destruction Warlock (B-Tier)
16. Feral Druid (B-Tier)
17. Beast Mastery Hunter (C-Tier)
18. Fury Warrior (C-Tier)
19. Subtlety Rogue (C-Tier)
20. Arcane Mage (C-Tier)
21. Marksmanship Hunter (D-Tier)
22. Frost Mage (D-Tier)

In order to further understand the reasoning behind these ranks, we would recommend you read the rest of the page, as that is explained in more detail in the next few sections.

If you are interested in other PvE role rankings for Cataclysm Classic, check the following links:

When sorting out the rankings for DPS in PvE, we are primarily concerned with two things:

1. Damage Throughput — first and foremost, DPS are there to deal damage. The value brought by each class and spec to the raid is primarily determined by how much damage they provide. This is calculated both by each spec's personal DPS combined with the value of the buffs and debuffs that they may bring.
2. Desirability — expanding on the last sentence above, there are stark differences in how "desirable" certain DPS classes are depending on the number that you bring to raid. A significant factor in tier list placement is determined by the number of each spec that you might want in a raid group. For instance, Balance Druids are incredibly important for raiding because they bring extremely important buffs that benefits the whole raid, but their personal damage is mediocre. The value of the first Balance Druid in the raid is huge, but the second Balance Druid has significantly less value. At the end of the day, the question we are trying to answer is how desirable your class and spec is to a raid.

One important change to emphasize is that in Cataclysm Classic, almost every single spec in the game brings some sort of important raid buff or debuff. However, all raid buffs come from multiple sources, so a single buff could be brought by 3 or 4 different specs. These buffs do not stack from different sources if it is the same buff. This means that for our purposes, outside of a couple of niche cases, we will be ignoring raid buffs for the most part. You should always ensure that your raid has all of the possible buffs, but there are numerous places to get each one, meaning with a moderately diverse raid comp you should be fine.

For 10 man raiding specifically, this also means that you are extremely unlikely to ever use more than one of a spec, because you'll inevitably be missing out on valuable buffs. Cataclysm is well-balanced enough that bringing a worse DPS spec along with a missing raid buff will almost always be better than bringing a second S-tier DPS spec that you already have one of.

These are the best DPS specializations for the first tier of Cataclysm classic. Specifically, these are the DPS specializations that you will commonly see stacked in 25-man heroic Raids for how strong they are. You should expect to see multiple of these in most raid groups.

With the addition of Combustion, Fire Mage in Cataclysm has possibly the highest DPS ceiling out of any class in the game, for the entire expansion. While the spec is a bit RNG-heavy and does require some luck for good setup, Fire has the potential to set up some absolutely monstrous burst damage through proper ignite stacking that can then be spread to all targets in range for AoE that no other spec could ever even hope to come close to. It's not a reach to say that Fire Mages have the single most powerful cooldown ever introduced in WoW this expansion, making them an exceptional DPS in the hands of a skilled player who knows how to abuse it.

Thanks to their powerful spec cooldowns, Unholy has some of the highest burst damage in the game, specifically due to the power of Summon Gargoyle. Death Knights in general are incredibly strong all expansion, and fully live up to the title of hero class. Perhaps one of the biggest weaknesses of Unholy is that while it may be one of the strongest DPS at the start, Blood DK is so absurdly strong as a tank that every raid is almost guaranteed to already have a DK in a tank spot already. Unholy DK offers incredibly defense, burst damage, and the powerful combination of sustained single target and large scale AoE that allows them to excel in any encounter. Death Grip is also unique utility that is impossible to replicate with other specs.

Demonology Warlock has been reworked significantly since Wrath, now playing with their new and improved Metamorphosis form. Warlocks are a staple of the S-tier meta, just like in most expansions, where at least one spec is always quite powerful. Demonology brings incredible raid buffs, unique utility, and stellar burst damage for both AoE and single target. The trademark of S-tier specializations in Cataclysm is the ability to deal incredible damage in all situations with a single talent/spec setup, and Demonology fits this perfectly.

Survival Hunters require very little gear to be effective in Raids, but still scale extremely well with Agility as you get more gear. Hunters in general have some amazing utility tools like Misdirection that make having at least 1-2 critically important in most raids, but even without the utility, Survival is quite strong. Survival Hunters have the best on-demand AoE in the game, both for burst and sustained AoE damage with the power of Explosive Trap and Serpent Spread. Survival is one of the most versatile, powerful ranged damage dealers in the first tier.

Elemental Shamans previously had some severe scaling issues in Wrath, but in Cataclysm Classic, this is gone completely. Shamans bring a high number of important raid buffs, making them a great choice to round out your caster groups in any raid. While Elemental lacks the single target burst damage of the other S-tier classes, their AoE with Chain Lightning and Fire Nova is exceptional. The combination of sustained single-target damage through their new and improved rotation along with on-demand AoE that also cleaves for single target damage is quite powerful, and worthy of an S-tier spot.

These are the strong DPS specializations that you will always see at least one of, maybe two. They are still relatively powerful, have their own unique niche, but outside of raid buffs are still going to be worse than S-tier options.

While Arms Warrior was relatively weak towards the end of Wrath, Cataclysm is one of the greatest expansions ever for Arms Warriors in raiding. Thanks to the introduction of Colossus Smash, Arms Warriors have incredible sustained single-target damage along with low cooldown burst windows inside their smash. Arms still has some of the best 2-target cleave in the game thanks to Sweeping Strikes, providing them a niche where they're ahead of even the S-tier classes. Arms will remain strong throughout the expansion, even possibly hitting the overall top spot in the final tier.

Frost Death Knights have many of the same strengths as Unholy, but are different in a couple of key ways. While Unholy is based around pets and DoTs, Frost focuses instead on hard hitting strikes along with powerful short burst cooldowns and procs. They have similar relative strengths as both do exceptional damage, top-tier single target, and amazing on-demand AoE. Unholy does more damage overall however, and has a more powerful burst window. Additionally, Frost loses out on more single-target damage during its AoE. This is all to say, that while Frost is still exceptionally strong, Unholy is the more played specialization due to just being stronger. Frost is still required on some fights however, specifically due to the kiting potential they offer with their massive built-in slows.

Balance Druids have some incredible utility, specifically with Typhoon and Innervate. These are both highly sought after, and invaluable to certain other classes. Boomkins do decent single-target damage, but have some of the better AoE in the game thanks to Starfall and Hurricane. That being said, their damage overall is still a bit weaker than the classes in the tiers above. Most raids will have a single Boomkin, usually because they bring so many important buffs as just a single spec.

Combat Rogues require a bit of gear and scaling unlike Assassination, but once they have some solid raid gear, they can output some incredible numbers. Combat's strength is still its cleave, but overall it just does less damage on single target than Assassination, and then less damage in AoE/cleave than other classes above in the list. It still is a strong spec, but their primary benefit in Wrath was being the best source for their raid buff, which is no longer the case.

Affliction Warlock offers the strongest multi-target spread damage in the game thanks to their powerful DoTs, which allows them to both funnel more damage into a main target and do strong add damage at the same time. However, even with exceptional multi-dotting and spread cleave potential, their single target is still a bit lacking compared to that of Demonology. Also, spread cleave is just not as important for the difficult encounters in tier 11. Finally, Affliction does not have the same burst AoE potential that Demonology brings, which is what keeps it in A-tier.

These are the middle of the pack DPS specializations. You would expect to see exactly one of these in a raid, usually for the explicit purpose of a raid buff, or possibly for some required utility on a specific fight.

Assassination Rogues are one of the higher sustained single-target damage dealers in the game, and are extremely consistent. Rogues are rather weak early on compared to some other classes above in the list, but eventually will be S-tier once they get legendary daggers in the final tier of Cataclysm, but until then, there are simply better options. Rogues also lack the same burst AoE capabilities that other classes above offer. Overall, Assassination is still quite strong and consistent, and definitely worth having the raid spot.

Retribution Paladins have every benefit of being a Paladin, but unfortunately do not bring quite the same power level that Holy and Protection bring. Retribution offers some strong damage cooldowns giving them decent burst damage for single target, but lacks the AOE and cleave that Arms Warriors and Unholy DKs bring. Retribution has lost some of its power from Wrath, and doesn't have quite the same ceiling that other melee specs offer.

Shadow Priests offer some strong utility options when brought to the raid, and Priests specifically are even required on a couple of encounters for their utility. Shadow as a damage specialization is strong, offering decent damage in most situations, but getting far outmatched by specs like Fire Mage and Demonology in AoE and burst damage. Multi-dotting is still certainly a strong niche, and is actually quite useful in several tier 11 encounters. Overall, their single-target damage and utility is strong enough to make them a A-tier specialization though, mostly due to their exceptional utility and buffs.

Enhancement Shamans are possibly one of the most difficult specs to play well, but have a high ceiling when played properly. Enhancement has a huge arsenal of competing cooldowns which can make their rotation hard to perform well, especially in a tier where swapping between AoE and single target is critical. Enhancement has great damage potential, but is still a bit lacking compared to the S-tier melee, and there are generally better options for the raid buffs that they bring.

Like all Warlock specs, Destruction Warlocks scale quite well and do exceptional damage, both single target and AoE. Overall Warlock just scales quite well as a class, and Destruction is no exception. The burst single-target + AoE possible with Destruction can be quite strong, but is still unfortunately overshadowed by Demonology in most situations. Destruction's biggest weakness is that Demonology is just so much more powerful in almost every situation while Affliction is also better for spread cleave. While strong on its own, there is no niche where Destruction is not overshadowed by another spec.

Feral Druids have one of the most complex rotations in the game, but when played properly offer solid single-target damage. Ferals lack single-target burst and sustained AoE, but their burst AoE when combining Berserk and Swipe is strong, just a poor use of their main damage cooldown. Outside of sustained single-target and burst AoE, Ferals do suffer since they require a significant time investment to get their damage and DoTs rolling on new targets. Ferals also have the option to either tank or DPS, and their strength in the current meta as an OT severely diminishes the value of Feral as a DPS spec.

These are the below average specs specs in Cataclysm Classic. These are strictly worse than the tiers above and, while viable, are going to be extremely uncommon and generally will not see play in competitive groups. The notable exception would be in a situation where the spec was your group's only way to get an otherwise missing raid buff.

Beast Mastery Hunters are a very weak option just like in Wrath. Survival and Marksmanship heavily outclass Beast Mastery, as your pet is significantly less important to your overall damage. This is mainly true because the other two Hunter specs offer meaningful DPS talents to increase their damage done, specifically giving powerful build-defining shots that their rotations are based around. Ultimately there isn't much to say besides just that Beast Mastery does not do adequate damage. The only saving grace is that Beast Mastery's raid buff is one of the hardest to fit into a raid composition as it has to be brought by either Retribution Paladins, Arcane Mages, or Beast Mastery Hunters. It is possible that a hunter playing Beast Mastery is the best option, but this would be the primary reason to play BM in a raid setting.

Fury Warriors haven fallen off a cliff after their dominance at the end of Wrath. Just like in Wrath, Fury is set up to fail early on as it requires a significant amount of haste and crit to really scale well. However, the big difference now is that Arms is significantly stronger. Arms Warriors will be one of the best DPS specs in the game all throughout the expansion, while Fury will remain mediocre throughout. Fury lacks the single target, cleave, and AOE potential that Arms brings making it just a strictly worse choice. Again, unless there is a missing raid buff, Arms is the better choice in all PvE content.

Subtlety Rogues are quite similar to Frost Mages, in that the spec is mostly designed with PvP in mind. Especially with how strong the other two Rogue specializations are, Subtlety offers no meaningful strengths in PvE, and is just the worst choice.

Arcane Mage have decent burst and OK single target, but ultimately get out-scaled by Fire Mages thanks to the power of Combustion. Arcane has some strong power early on, especially when combined with other external buffs such as Power Infusion. Arcane also lacks the same AoE power that Fire brings, which is really what keeps it below. Ultimately, there is little reason to play Arcane in the current meta, even when being funneled several external buffs.

These are the weakest DPS specializations for Cataclysm classic. These specs are almost entirely designed around PvP and should not be played in raids. While I won't outright say they are not viable, you will be facing a significant disadvantage playing these specs.

Marksmanship Hunter suffers from the same issues as several other specializations above, in that they require some gear to really scale. However, even with proper scaling, they will only ever barely approach the potential of Survival. Marksmanship has proven to be noticeably weaker than most other specs in terms of raw output. It may be popular in PvP, but that success just does not translate into PvE at the moment.

Frost Mage is a specialization that is designed around PvP. It is easily one of the strongest specializations in Arena, but unfortunately is not well-designed for PvE. Arcane and Fire both do more damage while Frost brings nothing unique to the table. Without any sort of niche to excel in, it is hard to justify a raid spot as a Frost Mage.