Welcome to Skill Capped’s Overview of the Easiest and Hardest Classes to Play in PvP in Dragonflight
All expansions and metas have classes that are a bit easier to pick up or make work, while others are more nuanced, especially in PvP. Dragonflight is no exception in that regard. In this article, we will go over the criteria and reasons why some classes are harder than the others, to give you a better understanding of what to expect from PvP in the new expansion. In order to understand both sides of the difficulty spectrum, we will go over the easiest and hardest classes to play in PvP in Dragonflight.
Regardless of the class you decide to play, there are a lot of changes coming, and you may need help along the way. We provide a number of playstyle and class courses to assist you on your PvP journey in Dragonflight. Sign up today with a special 10% discount and get ahead of the competition with our class courses and +400 rating guarantee.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Before we begin, a quick disclaimer is in order. No class is guaranteed Gladiator just for existing, so you shouldn’t feel bad for playing a certain spec. It is also important to understand the difference between “easy” and “hard” classes, which comes down to “skill floor” and “skill ceiling”.
Skill floor represents the difficulty of learning the foundation of a spec or class. This is the minimum requirement to do well and is based on a few things. For melee DPS, it can mean the complexity of your rotation. Can you do most of your damage with 1 or 2 buttons? How many CC abilities do you have? Does precise timing of using them matter? These are just some of the things that determine the skill floor of a spec.
On the other hand, skill ceiling represents how far a class can be pushed to the absolute limit. Having a high skill-cap means being able to min-max endlessly due to subtle nuances in the spec’s toolkit.
And this is where some of the confusion comes in at times. Being easy to pick up doesn’t always make a spec easy to master. For example, if we look at Resto Druid, you could pick up a spec right now and get by with basic understanding of your healing priority. As long as you keep Lifebloom up and refresh Cenarion Ward with Swiftmend, you are already doing 50% of the work required to win most games. On the flip side, you could have your healing rotation on full auto-pilot, while stunning multiple targets and having perfectly timed Cyclone. In arena, this is a bit more difficult to do. This playstyle can be punished easily and generally requires more game knowledge.
Melee
Easy
Havoc Demon Hunter
Ever since its inception, Havoc has been considered as one of the easiest classes in the game. The core of this spec revolves around being a highly mobile melee DPS with things like Felblade, Pursuit and Fel Rush. While other melees might need to carefully manage their mobility, Demon Hunters have passive movement speed and damaging ability that literally charges them towards their enemy.
They also have one of the most well-rounded offensive cooldowns. Metamorphosis adds to their mobility, provides a daze and, together with Soul Rending, gives a lot of self-healing that lasts a long time. In addition, they keep the Necrolord covenant ability Fodder to the Flame that grants periodic self-healing throughout the game just for doing the usual rotation.
If that wasn’t enough, Demon Hunters also have a lot of passive damage mitigation against spell damage with Demonic Wards and Illidari Knowledge. It helps remove some of the defensive burden that comes with playing a melee.
Fury Warrior
The next pick here also shouldn’t come as a surprise. Rotationally, Fury Warriors are incredibly simple. They have Raging Blow as the main builder and Rampage as the main spender, effectively turning the spec into a two-button rotation bot.
However, Fury lost some of its mobility with the removal of Crushing Blow. They can now play Storm Bolt and Double Time, which previously shared a row with the main talent choice of Impending Victory. This should give the spec a more fluid feel without dramatically affecting its complexity.
In any case, the streamlined rotation is what continues to make them an easy to learn melee in Season 1 of Dragonflight.
Arms Warrior
Although Arms shares a lot of its utility with Fury, its rotation is more complicated, especially in Dragonflight. This still falls in the easy to play category due to the low barrier to entry compared to other more complex melee. You could run a build that revolves around bleed damage utilizing Skullsplitter and Tide of Blood. It causes all bleeds to deal their total damage instantly, which is something that adds a possibility of min-maxing, therefore contributing to the overall complexity of the spec.
Retribution Paladin
Ret in Dragonflight has a relatively streamlined rotation. The difficulty of the spec is tied to it being a hybrid. This essentially increases the importance of their utility and teamwork.
The combination of the two factors lands it in easy category, where it is not exceptionally hard to pick up and it is has a clear and easy to execute win condition in every matchup.
Moderate
Death Knight
While Frost is probably easier than Unholy, both DK specs have a lot in common in Dragonflight. They both have a ton of passive defensives that make them a bit more forgiving. Will of the Necropolis gives them passive damage reduction while low on HP. In combination with things like Rune of Spellwarding, Death Knights can get away with some mistakes, especially against casters.
Of course, there is a bit more complexity to their resource system. But the convenient part about dealing damage is that it can literally be practiced while leveling or doing dungeons. This, in turn, makes it easier to focus on more complicated things like utility.
Enhancement Shaman
This is another hybrid that is basically in the same boat as Retribution. Enhancement’s rotation is also fairly linear with bigger emphasis on using utility in team environment.
However, they do have a bit more complexity in Dragonflight due to the addition of Thunderstorm and Lightning Lasso to their toolkit.
Windwalker Monk
While Windwalker is technically a hybrid, it doesn’t really perform that role in arena. Its damage output can be inredibly high, but the main difficulty is learning how to correctly adopt the hit-and-run playstyle.
Inexperienced Monks are easy to identify since they usually try to stay in the fight all the time. They don’t make the full use of the spec’s ability to kite and reset the fight.
Survival Hunter
While Survival is converting more to a true melee, its rotation did get more difficult. The added complexity is offset by Intimidation being available to all 3 specs. With fast-arming Freezing Trap, landing CC will be a relatively easy task.
Assassination Rogue
Assassination always tends to feel a bit linear, Rogue as a whole is heavily reliant on partners. This alone increases the difficulty of picking up the class.
Even if you consider Assassination to be the easiest Rogue spec, it still has a bit of maintenance in its rotation in order to make the most of Venomous Wounds. Not understanding how it works can dramatically reduce damage output.
Hard
Feral Druid
While being relatively strong, Feral Druid continues to have a lot of complexity in Dragonflight. For a while now Feral has been a spec with a lot of maintenance in its rotation. It has a wide array of DoTs, combo point generators and finishers. It is also one of the few remaining specs that have snapshotting mechanics with Tiger’s Fury and Bloodtalons. And on top of that, in order to even activate Bloodtalons, you must use 3 different combo point generators in a 4-second window, which is a massive departure from the 2-button Fury rotation we discussed earlier.
This doesn’t even take into consideration the need to utilize Predatory Swiftness procs. It requires a lot of interaction with party members in arena and proper use of Cyclone, which itself is a rather complicated ability. Feral overall has a lot of depth, making it quite daunting for beginners.
Subtlety/Outlaw Rogue
This pick might be a bit controversial, so let’s figure it out. While Outlaw was relatively easy towards the end of Shadowlands the increase in utility and complexity of its rotation has changed this.
Overall, Rogue is the quintessential setup-based class, especially for Subtlety. Even though there have been moments where a single Sub Rogue could 100 to 0 someone on your team, damage values in Dragonflight don’t align well with that playstyle. This means that Rogues will have to strictly play around their teammates and know exactly how to support them during setups.
Ranged
Easy
Beast Master/Marksmanship Hunter
In the past, both of these specs had to be separated, but right now MM and BM share enough utility that the differences between the specs mostly come down to rotation.
Hunters are a setup-based class. As we covered with Survival, Intimidation as well as Scatter Shot simplify the process of landing CC. The class as a whole greatly benefits from that, especially since Freezing Trap arms instantly.
What makes Hunters feel easier compared to other ranged DPS is that a lot of their damage can be done on the run. Of course, Aimed Shot has a cast time, but unlike other critical damaging abilities, it cannot be interrupted. This eliminates another major game mechanic other classes have to play around.
Demonology Warlock
Since Demo is a pet-based class, some of the burden of dealing damage is transferred to NPCs. While their damage can be min-maxed, a lot of it is tied to Call Dreadstalkers. Not only is this ability instant thanks to Master Summoner, it also enables Warlock to cast instant Demonbolt through Demonic Core. Therefore, with a single button press, Demo can generate sustained pet damage instantly, while having burst later on.
Demo also has the luxury of having a major damaging ability on two spell schools. This allows them to bait out interrupts with Fear, which is on the Shadow school, in order to cast Hand of Gul’Dan, which is both Shadow and Fire.
Overall, despite having a lot of room for min-maxing, Demonology is a convenient spec for learning how to play ranged DPS.
Balance Druid
Moonkins are one of the more damage-focused hybrids. They still have to deal with multiple forms of disruption and micro CC while getting trained and being able to support the team with appropriate utility, but with the emphasis on dealing a lot of damage. Luckily, their toolkit revolves around instant casts, avoiding the burden of being a true wizard.
Moderate
Destruction/Affliction Warlock
While both of these specs received some quality of life improvements with things like Soul Swap and Soulburn making their return, Warlock as a whole still requires a lot of hard casting.
One possible way to play around this challenge is the new Precognition. This new PvP talent rewards players for juking interrupts. Its benefit will scale with the skill level of the player, making it less useful for inexperienced casters.
Elemental Shaman
Ele falls into the same category as Balance, being a damage-focused hybrid. It also relies on instant damage, eliminating a big challenge other casters have to deal with in arena. However, Ele Shaman’s toolkit in Dragonflight will have an expanded toolkit, having to manage multiple shields on themselves and their partners due to Elemental Orbit.
Fire/Frost Mage
To round out this section, we have Fire and Frost Mage. In Shadowlands, there was a clear division in playstyle between Fire and the other two specs. The main reason for it was Dragon’s Breath, which now has a 45-second cooldown, more than double of what it used to be. It is also now available to all three specs.
As a result, Mage could be shifting back in the direction of a true wizard. This means relying less on precise 3-2-1 CC setups and focusing more in blasting damage all game, which in many ways reduces its complexity.
Of course, there will still be a lot of skill expression for Mages as a whole, but if the class does become a true wizard, this playstyle will be more approachable for newer players.
Hard
Devastation Evoker
There is definitely a learning curve that comes with a new class. A challenging aspect of Evoker is its resouce system, which is a mix of Mana and something that loosely resembles DK runes. Evokers also have a lot of skill-shot abilities. For example, instead of just pressing a root like Mage’s Frost Nova, they have to actually aim their Landslide.
Another component contributing to their difficulty is limited range. Many of Evoker’s abilities have a baseline range of 25 yards. In arena, you often need to quickly line-of-sight enemy damage, so the requirement to always be pushed in can be difficult for ranged DPS to play around. This gives Devastation Evoker a distinct difficulty in PvP compared to other casters.
Arcane Mage
Arcane is a step above the other Mage specs in terms of difficulty. One of the main difference between Arcane and the other specs is that it relies on a single spell school for a vast majority of its abilities.
This requires Arcane Mages to have a stronger grasp on fundamental mechanics such as juking kicks and knowing how to properly distance yourself from enemies to avoid CC and damage at important moments.
Shadow Priest
While Dragonflight has made it a bit easier for Shadow Priest to deal damage, the spec as a whole still requires a lot of hardcasting. Dragonflight also reintroduced Mind Spike, which is on the Shadowfrost school and therefore gives SP a way to manage interrupts.
Since Shadow Priest is a hybrid, dealing damage is only a part of its toolkit. The utility aspect is a bit more complex for Shadow compared to other casters. For example, Mass Dispel alone has a massive learning curve since there is often a very small window to use it effectively against better teams. Leap of Faith is another relatively difficult spell to use properly in arena. Using it well requires tracking multiple different pieces of information.
Out of all the hybrids, Shadow Priest often feels like it is required to play the support role more than anyone else. This need to balance the two aspects of the game make it more difficult to pick up for newer players.
Healers
Easy
Holy Paladin
In the past, the difficulty of a healer was determined by how much they had to hardcast. These days, nearly every healer has an abundance of instant cast options that circumvent the need to cast. Holy Paladin is the perfect example of that.
Rotationally, Holy Paladin hasn’t changed much from Shadowlands. It still relies heavily on staggering instant cast builders like Holy Shock with their instant cast spender in Word of Glory. Of course, there is some hardcasting involved, but most of the rotation is still instant.
Holy Paladin also received Aura of Reckoning, which gives them a new tool to play around. Along with Awakening, this means that Holy now has two ways to proc their biggest healing cooldown, which means minimizing errors with one of their key abilities. If that wasn’t enough, Lay on Hands is now usable in arena, giving Holy Paladin another defensive CD as an insurance policy.
Discipline Priest
Disc is very similar in this regard to Holy, while being arguably the stronger option overall. Its version of Serenity is Power Word: Radiance with Ultimate Radiance. This ability helped redefine Disc in recent years, and as with Holy, such buttons help you recover once things go south. As a beginner, you don’t need to carefully min-max Atonement nearly as much with a spell like that in your arsenal.
This spec also benefits from Void Shift a lot, giving you yet another cooldown to rotate. Overall, as a Priest, you have two specs to choose from with certain differences in playstyle, but a bunch of similarities in terms of difficulty.
Fistweaver Monk
Yes, Mistweaver Monks had a hard time for most of Shadowlands. This led them to eventually getting Eminence that allowed them to port while stunned, and Dragonflight added to it with a recycled legendary in Escape from Reality, meaning that all Monks will now be able to prot two times in a row. This covers a big weakness the spec previously had.
On top of this, Monks gained some new defensive options for stun setups. If they go for Restoral instead of Revival, they will now be able to use one of their biggest defensive CDs while stunned. This means that Mistweavers have two distinct tools for dealing with one of the most frustrating mechanics as a healer.
With the addition of these tools and Ancient Teachings, it has allowed for the ‘Fistweaver’ playstyle. This involves staying in melee range, doing damage, and healing your team at the same time.
Moderate
Restoration Druid
We only have one representative in this section – Restoration Druid. On the surface, Resto Druid has a relatively complex rotation. Not only do you have to keep HoTs rolling, but you also need to extend them in precise windows using Swiftmend because of Verdant Infusion. However, you should keep in mind that all of that is instant cast, even though at first it might still be quite daunting.
The real learning curve for Druids in Dragonflight will be adapting to a more aggressive playstyle. If the meta becomes slower, all healers including Druids have more opportunities to be offensive. This means making the most out of your Rake and Cyclone. For experienced players who are able to recognize shifting gamestates this should be easy. For newer players, on the other hand, this could be a massive challenge.
Holy Priest
Even though Holy may not be as dominant in the meta as Disc, it has an instant recovery tool to help them deal with very difficult situations in Serenity. Such abilities are very nice to have for new players in order to navigate challenging points in arena. Both Priest specs now also have access to Void Shift, which is also incredibly useful.
There is a learning curve to Holy due to the need to hardcast spells with a single school whereas Disc can be kicked and still cast from either the Shadow or Holy school.
Preservation Evoker
The most recent addition to the healer roster, Preservation Evoker, also finds itself in the moderate section. As we’ve already mentioned with Devastation, limited range is one of the inherent difficulties of the class with most of its healing toolkit having a maximum of 30 yards. Combined with skillshot abilities, Evoker’s healing mechanics are unlike any other spec in WoW.
Another particular challenge of playing Preservation Evoker is how they use their cooldowns. Most healer defensives like Spirit Link Totem for example are used reactively to counter lethal damage immediately. Some Evoker cooldowns like Rewind or Stasis can’t really be used this way. Instead, they require pre-emptive use in order to be effective. In general, Evoker’s kit is loaded with cooldowns that don’t have 1 to 1 comparisons with other classes, making it more difficult to swap to.
Mistweaver Monk
Caster Mistweaver Monks are a step up in difficulty from their Fistweaver counterpart. The problem that remains is that Monks generally need to hardcast quite a bit and with a single school it can make it difficult to recover from resulting in kicks forcing important cooldowns such as Life Cocoon.
Hard
Restoration Shaman
One of the main things that makes Shamans stand out from other healers is that their cooldowns are just much weaker. Earthen Wall Totem, Healing Tide Totem, Ascendance and Spirit Link Totem might seem collectively strong, but individually they don’t really compare to something like Power Word: Barrier. Together with relatively weak healing output, this forces Resto Shamans to play more around their offensive toolkit and disruption rather than relying on healing alone.
In Dragonflight, they gain access to Thunderstorm and Lightning Lasso, which are useful abilities, but require Resto Shamans to utilize more binds and pay attention to more things in the game. Overall, this reliance on offensive play and relative weakness of their cooldowns is harder to pick up for newer players.
Final Thoughts
And there we have a complete picture of difficulty levels in each role. We put emphasis on skill floor instead of skill ceiling, focusing on how difficult classes are to pick up for newer players. There are quite a few options in all sections and roles depending on your preference. The overarching theme is how complex the rotation is and how many things you may need to focus on in arena. If the spec has a fairly linear rotation without requiring precise control, it is generally very forgiving for newer players. Having to balance offensive and defensive plays can be quite punishing, so you may need to avoid classes that require you to do so. Difficulty isn’t the only thing you should keep in mind when picking a main, but is still worth considering depending on your PvP goals in Dragonflight.