WoW Classic PvP Class Guides

The battlegrounds present in Classic are Warsong Gulch, Alterac Valley, and Arathi Basin. Their release phases in the schedule are as follows.

You can read more about each Battleground in our dedicated overview below.

The Honor kills system was introduced in Phase 2, along with Honorable Kills, Dishonorable Kills, PvP titles, and PvP gear.

You can read more about it in our dedicated page.

The World PvP Objectives will be released in Phase 6. These can be found in Silithus and the Eastern Plaguelands and have different objectives depending on where you are.

In Silithus, players will have to gather more Silithyst, a type of crystal dust, than the opposing faction and turn it in to your own faction's NPCs. You will receive a very minor amount of Cenarion Circle reputation and Honor for each turn-in that you complete.

In the Eastern Plaguelands, the objectives revolve around capturing towers around the zone to provide buffs that affect all players of your faction that are currently in the zone.

PvP in Classic can be a big shock for players that are not used to the extremely different style of play that you might have experienced in other forms of the game. Gear can have a massive impact on your gameplay, as well as the consumables you choose to use, and whether or not you have your most powerful cooldowns available.

Below, we have put together a compilation of notes on the viability of each class in PvP, as well as a quick note from our PvP guide writers with their thoughts on the topic.

A core part of PvP is your ability to adjust and adapt to who you are fighting, so the versatility of a Druid can be extremely powerful. They have multiple builds that can be played in PvP, whether as a caster (Balance), a defensive hybrid of a caster and healer (Balance/Restoration), a focused healer (Restoration), or as a melee combatant (Feral).

All the specs can utilize the different animal forms, enabling them to adapt to any situation. The combination of strong utility and a versatile toolkit gives Druids a high skill ceiling, meaning there is always something new to learn. Druids are one of the unique classes where there is never just one right answer; you can truly adapt and create your own playstyle. The best Druids will do it all, meaning they will heal, tank, cast, and deal melee damage as necessary, depending on what the situation requires. Getting comfortable filling all roles is an important part of mastering Druid PvP.

If you have ever played against a Hunter with any kind of Melee class, you will be familiar with their exceptional ability to kite enemies. This is an exceptionally useful ability to have in PvP, as Hunters can win fights with enemies barely touching them for the duration of it.

While Hunters fall off in PvE, they are always going to be powerhouses in PvP. Hunters excel in both solo and group PvP, dealing huge bursts of damage from afar without ever letting their targets get close. Hunters have one of the best kiting toolkits in the game, with extremely powerful slows and control abilities like Concussive Shot, Freezing Trap, and Scatter Shot. Hunters combine their innate kiting ability with heavy, burst ranged damage from Aimed Shot and Multi-Shot to dish out huge amounts of physical damage from afar, especially against low armor casters. Perhaps most importantly though, Hunters have one of the best kiting spells in the game with Aspect of the Cheetah, which allows you to outrun your opponent and set the pace when kiting.

Even without their kiting, Hunters offer an extensive toolkit that makes them deadly against all enemies in battle. Hunter pets are a constant source of damage and, when facing a Hunter, you will have to choose to either let it attack you or to waste valuable resources killing it or controlling it. Against casters especially, Hunter pets provide a constant source of spell pushback, making casting much harder. If that was not enough, skilled Hunters can use Feign Death to drop combat, allowing them to place a trap while also disrupting any casts against them. Hunters have a high skill ceiling, meaning playing well will make you a menace on any battlefield.

Playing a Mage in PvP can be extremely difficult and, for those that are unprepared, players will often find themselves dying very quickly due to a Mage's innate squishiness. Without the proper use of the tools of a Mage's crowd-control kit, they can be very ineffective; however, with this being said, fully understanding a Mage and how to play it can lead to complete and utter devastation in which, against many classes, you will take barely any damage even against multiple enemies.

In PvP, a Mage is one of the squishiest classes, but their unique tools, when combined with a skilled player, allow them to be very difficult to pin down and actually hit. Their crowd controlling abilities really come into show here, and Mages are one of the very best classes to have in battlegrounds and group PvP, as they can easily nullify casting with Counterspell and pin down melee with their slows and Frost Nova.

Paladins are extremely versatile, as they have a huge number of cooldowns that can be used to survive a variety of situations. With spells such as Lay on Hands, Blessing of Protection, and Divine Shield, Paladins are extremely tough to kill once they commit to a fight and use their cooldowns. When played as Retribution, they may be slow, but they can deal huge amounts of damage with their auto attacks, which are buffed with a variety of Seal effects. As Holy, your heals and support spells are a great way to help out your teammates.

Paladins are slow moving, but extremely durable juggernauts that use the power of the light to bring down judgment on their foes in PvP. Paladins use their plate armor and impressive array of cooldowns to live longer than anyone else on the battlefield. With access to some of the most powerful spells in the game, like Divine Shield, stopping a Paladin can be a daunting task. However, while they may be durable, Paladins have a severe lack of mobility. Outside of Blessing of Freedom, Paladins can easily be rooted or slowed, rendering them unable to reach targets and potentially removing the threat, since most of their damage requires melee range.

In groups, Paladins are mainly a support class. Paladins bring some of the most powerful buffs in the game, along with useful auras that let them support their allies. While your buffs are important, your main strength as a support comes from your cooldowns. Blessing of Freedom, Blessing of Protection, and Lay on Hands can all be used on friendly players, meaning Warriors and other allies can charge into battle without fear, knowing you are watching over them. While you will not be doing as much damage as a Warrior by yourself, your support is what makes a Warrior a nightmare for your enemies. The combination of powerful cooldowns, strong single-target healing, and potent buffs makes Paladins one of the best support classes in the game, and a welcome sight on any battlefield for the Alliance in PvP.

Priests are excellently prepared for all forms of PvP, with a variety of builds that are tailored to different situations, allowing them to heal in group PvP or dominate in all areas as a DPS. Seksixeny, our Priest PvP guide writer, has highlighted some of the reasons why below, including their incredibly powerful utility spell, Dispel Magic.

Because of Dispel Magic, which can be used on friendly and enemy targets, Priests are the main support class in any group, as they can remove most of the crowd control effects in WoW Classic, as well as many of the defenses placed on enemies.

As healers, they thrive in any form of group PvP, having a versatile healing kit which includes shields, a heal over time, and group heals, as well as fast single-target healing with Flash Heal. As a DPS, they wreak absolute havoc in PvP, being especially strong at solo PvP and duels while Shadow specced, due to their strong defenses and offensive power, limited only by their low Mana sustainability.

As expected of the stealth-based class, Rogues are real powerhouses in PvP and can cause serious trouble for almost every other class in the game.

Their ability to almost permanently crowd-control enemies through the use of their stuns, Sap, Blind, and Gouge, as well as the slows from their poisons, allows them to completely control the flow of each fight. Not only can they control the direction of the fight, but they can also decide where the fight itself happens, due to them engaging from Stealth.

Stealth allows Rogues to wait for the perfect moment to engage, whether it is waiting for an enemy to pull mobs in world PvP, have low HP from another fight, or simply engaging at a location that is beneficial to them. If a Rogue is caught off-guard, Vanish is also there to save them, allowing them to turn the tide and land back in control of the fight.

Rogues are master assassins, using subterfuge and stealth to always get the opener on enemies. Rogues excel in world PvP, where getting the opener on an unsuspecting foe can easily mean victory if they are not prepared. Rogues can make use of their large toolkit, using Cheap Shot and Kidney Shot to ensure that their target never has a chance to react. If caught out of stealth, Rogues can use Vanish to escape back into stealth. Even against multiple enemies, Rogues have access to powerful control spells like Blind, Sap, and Gouge to ensure that they are never fighting more than a single target at a time. If you need to go toe to toe with someone, you can make use of Sprint and Evasion to either fight or to help you escape.

Good Rogues are always in control; they take fights when they want, where they want. Rogues are easy to get started on and fun to play due to their incredible array of cooldowns, and Stealth gives you the natural advantage to always get the opener. Do not be fooled though, Rogues have an incredible amount of depth, and the best Rogues can win fights against multiple enemies even without cooldowns. Because of this, Rogues are perhaps one of the most hated classes in WoW Classic, but that should not stop you from never taking a fair fight.

Shamans have a certain level of freedom when it comes to PvP, as their overall utility extends into all 3 talent trees, meaning there are a myriad of builds available to players that are all viable. Seksixeny, our Shaman guide writer, expands on this below.

PvP is where Shamans can really let loose with their full kit. Every spec is viable, although Elemental (combined with Restoration) is the ultimate Shaman build, able to burst down their targets and burst up their allies with ease.

Warlocks are a perfect combination of outstanding damage and incredible survivability for a cloth-wearing caster class. Impakt, our guide writer for PvP Warlocks, elaborates on this below.

While PvE limits what Warlocks can cast, PvP allows them to truly unleash their array of spells. Corruption, Siphon Life, Curse of Agony, and Immolate are the main Warlock DoT spells, all of which are exceptionally strong in PvP. If you get a full round of DoTs on someone, their health is going to drop rapidly. Even without DoTs, Warlocks still have exceptional burst damage through Shadow Bolt and Soul Fire, which they can safely set up through their many powerful control spells, such as Fear.

Warlocks have top tier damage, but even better durability. Soul Link and Sacrifice make Warlocks the kings of dueling and make them casting menaces on the battlefield. The best Warlocks can juggle DoTs, managing their demons, and controlling enemies to bring destruction wherever they fight.

Despite their strength in PvE, Warriors do have some pretty major weaknesses in PvP; most notably, they can have real issues sticking to ranged classes that have a lot of slows and mobility, such as Hunters and Mages.

For the classes that cannot kite or slow them, Warriors can be a serious issue, especially those that rely on healing themselves, as Seksixeny, our guide writer, elaborates on below.

In PvP, you can count on Warriors to make enemy healers life hell through Mortal Strike and their powerful burst damage, fueled by Rage. While their other utility is not the best, they make fearsome foes when supported by healers and other allies.