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Best DPS class in WoW Forever: every DPS spec ranked at level 60, raid and dungeon gear

Mon, Oct 26, 20269:00 AM5 min readBy Forever Upgrades
GuidePodium: Arcane Mage, Shadow Priest and Beast Mastery Hunter, the best DPS in WoW Forever

What is the best DPS class in WoW Forever? With launch on November 4 and every class reworked from Classic, it's the first question most players ask. We simulated all 20 damage specs at level 60, in raid gear and in dungeon gear, with the same engines that power our rotation simulator. The short answer: Arcane Mage is the best DPS spec in WoW Forever in our sims, ahead of Shadow Priest and Beast Mastery Hunter.

Podium of the best DPS specs in WoW Forever at level 60: 1 Arcane Mage 686.4 DPS, 2 Shadow Priest 610.1 DPS, 3 Beast Mastery Hunter 584.9 DPS
The best DPS specs in WoW Forever at level 60, in Raid List gear.

Best DPS in WoW Forever: the short answer

  • Best DPS spec overall: Arcane Mage with 686.4 DPS in raid gear - about 13% ahead of second place.
  • Top three: Arcane Mage, Shadow Priest (610.1) and Beast Mastery Hunter (584.9).
  • Best melee DPS: Fury Warrior (504.7 in raid gear, 391 in dungeon gear).
  • Best DPS in dungeon gear (what you'll wear first at 60): Arcane Mage (460), Beast Mastery Hunter (449.8) and Shadow Priest (433).
  • Ranged leads: the six best DPS specs in raid gear are all ranged - Mages, Warlocks, a Shadow Priest and a Hunter.

How we ranked every DPS spec

Each spec wears its own BiS List: the Raid List (the best epic item in every slot) and the Dungeon List (the best rare items, the gear most players will have first). Every spec uses our default talent build and its best race, with racials included, and fights a single boss three levels higher for 60 seconds, 1,000 times. The data comes from the WoW: Forever beta client, build 1.60.1.70532.

There are no consumables, enchants, world buffs or raid buffs from other players, and no movement. That makes this a fair comparison of the classes themselves - not a forecast of what a real raid meter will show.

WoW Forever DPS ranking at level 60

Bar chart of all 20 WoW Forever damage specs at level 60 in Raid List and Dungeon List gear, from Arcane Mage 686.4 to Feral Druid 287.6
Every WoW Forever DPS spec at level 60: Raid List gear (gold) and Dungeon List gear (blue).

Below the top ten are the melee specs and the hybrid casters: Assassination Rogue (422.6), Retribution Paladin (414.7), Combat Rogue (412.9), Enhancement Shaman (404.2), Balance Druid (398.4), Arms Warrior and Survival Hunter (398.3 each), Elemental Shaman (366.5), Subtlety Rogue (365.3) and Feral Druid (287.6).

Why Arcane Mage is the best DPS spec

Arcane is built around Arcane Blast, which stacks up to four times, and Forever's new talent spell Arcane Wrath. In our raid sim, Arcane Missiles does 66.4% of the damage, Arcane Blast 20.4% and Arcane Wrath 13.2%. Missile Barrage procs make Missiles free and twice as fast, so most of Arcane's damage comes from a spell it often casts for nothing. Our Arcane Wrath guide explains the new spell.

Arcane also holds its mana: it runs out for only a moment in a 60-second fight. That matters, because mana is what pulls most casters down in longer fights.

In our October 16 sims (build 1.60.1.70291), Shadow Priest was first. Since then, the class changes in build 70425 reworked Arcane Blast and added Arcane Wrath, and Arcane moved to the top.

Best ranged DPS: Mage, Shadow Priest, Hunter and Warlock

Shadow Priest (610.1) spreads its damage: Mind Flay 36.3%, Mind Blast 21.4%, Shadow Word: Pain 19.9% and Devouring Plague 12.8%. Beast Mastery Hunter (584.9) is the best physical ranged DPS: Auto Shot does 30.4%, Forever's new Summon Hawk 25.4% and the pet's melee 22.9%.

Warlocks are close behind: Demonology is fourth (570.7), Destruction sixth (554.7) and Affliction eighth (484.7). Fire Mage (557.5) and Frost Mage (476.6) mean Mage and Warlock are the only classes with all three specs in the top ten.

Best melee DPS in WoW Forever

Fury Warrior is the best melee DPS in our sims, seventh overall with 504.7 in raid gear. In dungeon gear it climbs to fourth (391), ahead of every Warlock. Execute is its biggest hit (26.6% of the damage), with its two weapons' white hits and Bloodthirst behind it.

The next melee specs are much closer together: Assassination Rogue (422.6), Retribution Paladin (414.7), Combat Rogue (412.9) and Enhancement Shaman (404.2). Feral Druid is last (287.6) - our Feral sim now counts weapon DPS, as Forever's Cat Form attacks scale with the weapon.

Best DPS spec for every class

  • Mage: Arcane (686.4), then Fire (557.5) and Frost (476.6).
  • Priest: Shadow (610.1) - the only Priest DPS spec.
  • Hunter: Beast Mastery (584.9), well ahead of Marksmanship (482.7) and Survival (398.3).
  • Warlock: Demonology (570.7); in dungeon gear Demonology and Destruction are almost tied (328.5 and 327).
  • Warrior: Fury (504.7), ahead of Arms (398.3).
  • Rogue: Assassination (422.6), just ahead of Combat (412.9).
  • Paladin: Retribution (414.7).
  • Shaman: Enhancement (404.2) over Elemental (366.5).
  • Druid: Balance (398.4) over Feral (287.6).

Raid gear vs dungeon gear

Gear changes the order more than you might expect. Warlocks gain the most from epics: Demonology goes from 328.5 to 570.7 DPS (+74%), while Fury Warrior gains 29% and Beast Mastery Hunter 30%. So in your first weeks at 60, before raids open on December 9, Hunters and Fury Warriors sit higher than the raid ranking suggests.

How much should you trust a DPS ranking?

Our sims use the game's own spell, talent and item data, but they can't see Blizzard's tuning before launch, and nobody has played a level 60 character in Forever yet. Blizzard has said hybrid damage specs should do about 5% less damage than pure classes - see our hybrid tax article - and a real raid adds movement, adds, consumables and buffs that a single-target sim leaves out.

Our take: if you want the safest pick for top DPS at level 60, Arcane Mage is it: first in raid gear, first in dungeon gear, and good with its mana. If you'd rather play melee, Fury Warrior is the clear choice. But the gap between a well-played spec and a badly-played one is bigger than most gaps in this chart, so play the class you enjoy.
Test your own DPS: paste your armory link or addon export into the rotation simulator, or open the full sim behind a number - Arcane Mage, Shadow Priest, Beast Mastery Hunter - to see its gear, talents and rotation. Our tier list groups every spec from S to D.

Sources

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