Welcome to Skill Capped’s Tier List on the Best Classes to Main for Each Role in Wrath of the Lich King Classic
Whether you are starting fresh in Wrath of the Lich King or simply looking for a new main in Season 5, there are a lot of options to choose from. The great thing about Wrath is that no matter your playstyle, role or experience, you are guaranteed to find something that suits your preference. To help you make that decision, here is the list of best 3 classes to main for PvP in WotLK Classic for each role: Melee, Ranged and Healer. If you choose your new main and feel like you need some help getting started, make sure to check out the dedicated class guides to assist on your journey.
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Table of Contents
Melee
Arms Warrior
The first choice for Melee has to be Arms Warrior. This spec is the staple of Wrath of the Lich King PvP. This iteration of Warrior is as close as you can get to the standard MMO Warrior archetype. It has incredible consistent damage, good mobility and a lot of defensive options. If you can get uptime on any target, you will force them to kite, use defensive cooldowns or maybe outright kill them.
One of the main advantages of an Arms Warrior is Mortal Strike, which reduces the target’s healing taken by 50%. You can maintain this debuff indefinitely provided that you can get in melee range. It is extremely powerful when combined with Unrelenting Assault, which reduces the target’s magic damage and healing if it lands during a cast. In total, you can achieve a 75% healing reduction on your target if they make a mistake while casting.
Compared to TBC, all of your abilities actually feel like they deal impactful damage. A lot of Warrior’s issues also get fixed through talents, such as Juggernaut, which allows you to Charge in combat, making a nice addition to the old reliable Intercept. These solutions to potential uptime problems are complemented by Bladestorm, which not only removes roots and snares, but also provides immunity to crowd control effects for the entirety of its duration, with the exception of disarms. And most importantly, it deals absurd amount of damage, especially when combined with Recklessness.
Such incredible offensive capabilities wouldn’t mean much if you couldn’t survive long enough to take advantage of them. And Warriors are great in this aspect as well. Armor values in Wrath actually mean something, so Warriors are naturally harder to kill due to them wearing Plate and being able to swap to Defensive Stance or wearing a shield when needed. Combined with Enraged Regeneration, Shield Wall and Shield Block, Warriors are one of the most durable Melee classes in the game.
Arms Warriors get progressively stronger throughout the entire expansion. Arms Warrior + Holy Paladin is arguably the most dominant 2v2 comp in Wrath, even though Warriors can play with any healer. When it comes to 3v3, you have a lot of options to choose from as well. You can play in Melee cleaves, such as TSG or Turbo, or Melee + Caster comps, such as Thunder Cleave. The possibilities are endless, and you definitely can’t go wrong with an Arms Warrior in Wrath.
Subtlety Rogue
Sub Rogues have a very drastic shift in playstyle from TBC, mainly because you no longer play like a Warrior and go toe to toe with other Melees. In Wrath, your main focus will be setup and burst damage, which means a hit and run playstyle, where you lock down a target with stuns, burst them and go for a reset until your cooldowns are back up.
The most notable addition to your toolkit is Shadow Dance, which is a very versatile ability that can be used in a lot of ways depending on the situation. This further strengthens your CC kit, and same as in TBC, Cheap Shot and Kidney Shot continue to have different DRs, which allows you to keep targets locked down for a very long period of time.
Damage wise, the unrivalled burst of Subtlety comes mainly from Ambush, making Shadow Dance, Vanish or ability to restealth vital to its win condition. The damage, however, heavily depends on the armor class of your target. You can almost one shot Cloth-wearers, but do substantially less damage to Plate. This makes Sub extremely cooldown-dependent, and requires more skill and coordination than some other classes in order to pilot it effectively in terms of both damage and survivability. Preparation helps you with cooldown management to an extent, but you still need to think ahead before using it.
Despite the relatively high skill cap, Sub Rogues are at their best in Season 5, so if you enjoy this type of playstyle, you should definitely give this spec a chance. Even as the seasons progress, Rogues will continue to occupy their niche and will be able to counteract damage reductions with increased levels of Armor Penetration. They will slightly taper off with the release of Icecrown Citadel, but that’s quite a while away from now.
The main drawback of Subtlety is their lack of comp diversity, but the comps that you do fit in are extremely strong. For 2v2, you can play with a Mage, another Rogue, Retribution Paladin, or with a Discipline Priest if you prefer playing with Healers. As for 3v3, it should come as no surprise that RMP is the top choice, but comps like RLP or RLS, or even double Rogue + Healer could potentially be quite strong.
Unholy Death Knight
Unholy DKs have the highest sustained damage output of any class or spec. They are essentially a melee version of an Affliction Warlock since most of their damage comes from Blood Plague and Frost Fever, which are applied through standard rotation and then spread to everybody in range with Pestilence. The DoT damage is further supplemented with pet damage, Scourge Strike and Death Coil, which in combination take a toll on Mana bar of any Healer. The main damage cooldown is Summon Gargoyle, which can straight up kill targets within seconds if they are in line of sight, especially if you have Bloodlust on your team.
Aside from damage, Death Knights have a lot of utility. Chains of Ice is a 95% slow that tapers off over time, while Desecration makes it so your standard rotation drops a 50% AoE snare effect on the ground for 20 seconds. On top of that, they are extremely good at preventing casts. The combination of Mind Freeze, Death Grip, Gnaw and Strangulate makes it very difficult to get important casts off against DKs.
Defensively, Death Knights are very adept at dealing with magic damage due to a relatively low cooldown of Anti-Magic Shell. In situations where a personal is not enough, Anti-Magic Zone is the AoE version that can assist your team as well. Against Melee, though, you rely on Icebound Fortitude, Death Strike healing and swapping to Frost Presence alongside the above-mentioned slows to kite and reduce damage taken.
Season 5 is where Unholy Death Knights will be at their peak, but will eventually get slightly weaker when certain items like Bauble of True Blood or Solace of the Defeated will help the enemy teams counter some of the main win conditions for DKs. But even then, Death Knights still thrive in Wrath as a whole and have a lot of comp options to choose from.
In 2v2, your strongest Melee + Healer options will be with a Paladin, Priest or Druid. But 3v3 is where DKs truly shine, specifically in cleaves, such as TSG, Unholy DK + Enhancement Shaman or Unholy DK + Hunter, where your Gargoyle and Strangulate are combined with your partner’s damage output to make short work of most Healers. And on top of that, you can also play with a variety of Casters, such as Elemental Shaman or Affliction Warlock.
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Ranged
Elemental Shaman
One of the main reasons for the rise of Elemental Shamans in Wrath is their burst damage, which has been improved with the addition of Lava Burst. In general, all abilities deal impactful damage, even shocks. And for even larger surges in burst damage, there are passives, such as Lightning Overload, which gives your Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning a chance to cast an additional time for half the damage.
This is further amplified by Elemental Mastery, which allows you to instantly cast an offensive spell alongside 15% Haste for 15 seconds, giving you strong combos, such as Lava Burst > instant Lightning Bolt > Chain Lightning. And on top of that, you have Bloodlust.
Elemental Shamans are also strong defensively. Ghost Wolf allows them to kite and avoid a lot of incoming damage, while Astral Shift makes it so they take 30% less damage during stuns, fears and silences.
Utility is another aspect that makes Ele Shamans very strong. Wind Shear is off global and has only 6-second cooldown, which can even be talented to 5. Grounding Totem has a 15-second CD. Another new addition is Thunderstorm, which gives you a knockback that can be used in so many different ways, especially on maps like Blade’s Edge or Dalaran Sewers. Your toolkit also has a 5-second root when you place Earthbind Totem thanks to Storm, Earth and Fire. And this doesn’t even cover Tremor Totem, resist totems, combat enhancing totems and so on.
Ele Shamans are a true hybrid since you are going to be purging, off-healing, using your utility and looking to disrupt enemies, while trying to constantly build distance and create opportunities to cast and set up kills. In Season 5, Elemental is incredibly strong and will gradually improve throughout the expansion with the addition of more Spell Power, Haste and MP5 to deal with Mana issues.
As the predominant Caster in Wrath, there are a lot of comp options for Ele to choose from. In 2v2, you can play with both Healers and DPS in comps, such as Elemental Shaman + Holy Paladin, Elemental Shaman + Destruction Warlock, Elemental Shaman + Mage or even Elemental Shaman + Discipline Priest. In 3v3, you can slot into almost any composition with the strongest being Thunder Cleave, but LSD, Elemental Shaman + Mage and even Elemental Shaman + Unholy DK are also very good options to consider.
Destruction Warlock
Destruction Warlocks are similar to Ele Shamans in a way, but instead of additional utility, they provide much more in terms of offense. In Wrath, Destro Locks always have kill pressure since Chaos Bolt and other abilities hit hard all the time. This means that you can score kills while freecasting with no issues, but when shut down and trained, there is a challenge to create opportunities to cast. Death Coil and Shadowfury will help you with that by providing enough time to cast a Chaos Bolt, but you can also achieve this result by creating distance or successfully dealing with interrupts. Chaos Bolt in Wrath also has the benefit of going through absorbs and can’t be resisted.
Immolate is the core of the spec, not only bolstering your damage, but also enabling Conflagrate, which, in turn, grants you Backdraft procs. A lot of the time, your opponents won’t allow you to easily get Immolates active and cast damage, so despite doing a ton of damage and having the ability to oneshot, there is still a fairly high level of setup and complexity involved.
In terms of survivability, you rely on a 70% slow from Glyph of Shadowflame and Demonic Circle, which allow you to kite more effectively, especially on maps, such as Blade’s Edge and Dalaran Sewers. Soul Link and Demon Armor make you more durable against Melees than the average Caster, but you still can’t stand and tank them.
You also bring a certain level of utility with Devour Magic, Curse of the Elements, Curse of Tongues and the iconic Fear, among other things, which have a lot of uses and provide a lot of value when used well.
In terms of strength, Destro Lock is the only real contender for Ele Shaman, starting off strong in Season 5 and only rising in strength throughout the expansion with more Resilience and Haste. In 2v2, Destro can adapt its playstyle and use Succubus in order to play with Holy Paladin, Restoration Druid or even Restoration Shaman, while also having the opportunity to play double DPS comps with Ele Shaman or Mage. In 3v3, there are a lot of strong options, such as LSP, LSD, Lock + Mage or even Rogue + Lock.
Beast Mastery Hunter
Season 5 is characterized by low HP pools and Resilience, which makes for both explosive and short games, and this is exactly where BM Hunter thrives. In general, Hunters destroy low-armored and low Resilience targets better than any other spec in the game. They are also incredibly hard to shut down due to Bestial Wrath and Beast Within, making both you and your pet immune to CC. This can be combined with Rapid Fire, and since over 75% of your damage comes from the pet, it’s impossible for a lot of compositions to deal with it. Together with the 50% healing reduction provided by Aimed Shot, huge damage makes BM Hunters incredibly strong in the earlier seasons.
Defensively, however, you are not the strongest, and have to rely on Deterrence, Roar of Sacrifice and Master’s Call to survive. That combined with the overall playstyle means you aren’t really looking for long games. This contributes to the fact that, in terms of skill floor, there is no better spec to pick up and jump into arena.
Beast Mastery Hunter is definitely at its peak in Season 5 and gradually falls off, but still remains viable. In later seasons, however, you can respec to Marksmanship and be as competitive. When it comes to compositions, you are quite limited, but your main comp, Beast Cleave, is very strong and explosive. By pairing up with an Enhancement Shaman, both you and your pet get Bloodlust, which is very strong for your burst window. You can alternatively play with an Unholy Death Knight to equal levels of success. In 2v2, it’s all about double DPS comps with BM Hunter + Enhancement Shaman and BM Hunter + DK being your best options.
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Healer
Holy Paladin
Holy Paladins are considered the best Healer in Wrath and for a good reason. Throughput wise, they are very strong with the majority of it being instant. Holy Shock has a 6-second cooldown, its crits grant you Infusion of Light, making your Flash of Light instant, and when healing a target with Sacred Shield on, you will also get a HoT. When Holy Paladins actually need to cast, both Flash of Light and Holy Light are also very efficient. And on top of that, all of your heals will get duplicated with Beacon of Light.
Paladins are also one of the two healers that have magic dispel with Cleanse, which also removes one poison and one disease with every cast, and has a chance to give the target additional resistance with Sacred Cleansing.
In addition to that, Paladins have very strong cooldowns, such as Hand of Sacrifice, Hand of Freedom, Hand of Protection and Divine Sacrifice, which can be used to assist your team in a number of ways. And even that is not all, because you also have Avenging Wrath to increase your healing and Divine Shield if all else fails. Even something as simple as wearing Plate armor and a shield makes Paladins more durable than all other healers guaranteeing them a spot in most cleave comps.
They can play in any type of composition only getting outclassed by other Healers in select few comps. Even when playing with Casters, you can’t underestimate the power of Concentration Aura with Aura Mastery. All of that makes Holy Paladin the strongest Healer in Season 5, and it will remain the best for the entirety of Wrath.
You have endless options when it comes to comps. In 2v2, your best options are Warrior and Death Knight. In 3v3, you can fit into any archetype. For cleaves, you have TSG, Turbo or Beast Cleave, for caster comps you can go for LSP, and even though you may get some hate for it – you can play double Healer + Warrior. Honestly, any composition works, and it’s only select comps like RMP or Shatter where Paladin isn’t the best option.
Discipline Priest
Out of all the Healers, Discipline Priest is the most offensive one and is capable of outputting a lot of damage during setups. Most damage abilities for Disc have shorter cast time and deal more damage compared to TBC, which allows them to contribute unrivalled amount of damage for a Healer. To double-down on the aggressive playstyle, Disc has instant CC in Psychic Scream and Power Infusion.
This is further complemented by the ability to offensively dispel enemies and also being able to remove 2 magic debuffs at the same time, which no other Healer can do. Mass Dispel also gives Priests the ability to remove Divine Shield and Ice Block. The addition of Penance is also a welcome one. It is a short CD heal that can be used for damage. Penance together with Power Word: Shield, Prayer of Mending and Renew makes up most of your healing.
Survivability, however, is where Discipline Priest is limited. Outside of Pain Suppression and Desperate Prayer, there are no other ways to survive against classes like Warriors and Death Knights if they manage to connect, and it’s only a matter of time before you die. This means that Disc relies heavily on their teammates to help with survivability.
In 2v2, your best partners are going to be Rogues and Mages, where you can coordinate burst and rely on them for peels. The same idea translates into 3v3, where RMP is by the strongest composition available. You aren’t limited to this, however, as you can also play RLP, LSP, Retribution Paladin + Marksmanship Hunter or even double Healer + Warrior. In Season 5, Disc it at its weakest due to low Resilience and health pool, but they gradually improves throughout the seasons even though cleaves remain a very clear weakness.
Restoration Druid
Restoration Druids are heavily focused on raw healing throughput with the addition of abilities, such as Nourish and Wild Growth. They have a very strong kit that revolves around HoTs, which allows them to effortlessly heal through damage without the need to cast in most matchups. Since most of the healing is done passively and over time through Lifebloom, Rejuvenation and Wild Growth, you have a lot of time to play aggressively, focusing on CC, such as Entangling Roots or Cyclone, which doesn’t share DR with anything and can’t be dispelled. The ability to utilize these two CC abilities will separate good Druids from the bad ones, as they are the key to both offensive and defensive play.
Druids are fairly decent in terms of durability, in part due to Improved Barkskin, which somewhat eliminates the need to sit in Bear form. This in combination with the mobility of Travel form and natural ability to shift out of slows makes them difficult to stick to. If you are unable to kite or escape, however, your only fallback cooldowns are Nature’s Swiftness and Barkskin, which also provides dispel protection.
Since Mana is an important factor in the early stages of Wrath, Innervate allows Druids to outlast in a number of matchups. Overall, Restoration Druid is a healer that requires a certain level of skill to pilot and is more viable at the highest level, but is the perfect healer for someone who enjoys playing proactively and controlling the pace of the match.
Season 5 is where Resto Druid is at its strongest due to high base healing and Mana efficiency, making them competitive with both Holy Paladin and Discipline Priest, but they get progressively weaker towards Season 8. Due to not having magic dispel, Druids are quite limited when it comes to comp options. In 2v2, the strongest composition will be with Destruction or Affliction Warlock due to the abundance of synergy and magic dispel they provide. But you can also do well with Warriors, Death Knights and sometimes Hunters. In 3v3, the standout comp is LSD, where Warlock and Ele Shaman will cover some of the weaknesses that Druids have. TSG, Mage + Warlock and even Shadow Priest + Mage are also some of the comps expected at the highest level.
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Final Thoughts
Obviously, there are not all classes and specs that are strong in Season 5. Variety might be the best thing about PvP in Wrath of the Lich King, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t see your spec here. If you are considering a new main, however, the options we covered here are a good place to start, and you can’t go wrong with any of them. It doesn’t matter if you are just starting your arena journey or if you are already a seasoned veteran, Season 5 will be an exciting one for everybody, whatever class or spec you decide to play.