Which class should you play in WoW Forever? With launch on November 4 and classes, talents and racials all changed from Classic, it's the question every returning player is asking. We ran every spec through our simulator - the same engines behind our Sim DPS page - and turned the results into a tier list: all 20 damage specs, plus healers and tanks.
How we ranked them
Every spec is simulated at level 60 in its own BiS List gear, with default talents and its best race (racials included), over 1,000 fights of 60 seconds against a boss three levels higher. Tiers are set by the Raid List result: S is within 15% of the top spec, A within 25%, B within 35%, C within 45%, D below that. It's a damage ranking - it doesn't measure utility, buffs or how hard a spec is to play.
WoW Forever tier list: damage specs
- S tier: Arcane Mage (686), Shadow Priest (610), Beast Mastery Hunter (585)
- A tier: Demonology Warlock (571), Fire Mage (558), Destruction Warlock (555)
- B tier: Fury Warrior (505), Affliction Warlock (485), Marksmanship Hunter (483), Frost Mage (477)
- C tier: Assassination Rogue (423), Retribution Paladin (415), Combat Rogue (413), Enhancement Shaman (404), Balance Druid (398), Arms Warrior (398), Survival Hunter (398)
- D tier: Elemental Shaman (366), Subtlety Rogue (365), Feral Combat Druid (295)
At launch you won't have raid gear yet, and the order shifts a little in Pre-Raid BiS gear: Arcane Mage (460), Beast Mastery Hunter (450), Shadow Priest (433), Fury Warrior (391) lead, and Fury Warrior moves up to #4.
Best class for each role
- Healers: Restoration Druid (1493 HPS), Restoration Shaman (1172 HPS), Holy Priest (1035 HPS), Holy Paladin (735 HPS), Discipline Priest (733 HPS) in raid gear.
- Tanks: Protection Paladin (35,978 effective health) and Protection Warrior (35,452 effective health) are close in raid gear; in Pre-Raid gear Protection Warrior is ahead.
- Levelling: at level 30 Beast Mastery Hunter is far ahead (147 DPS against 103 for the next spec), and still #2 at level 50.
Class by class
- WoW Forever Mage: Arcane Mage is our #1 at level 60 (686), helped by the new Arcane Wrath; Fire is A tier, Frost B. Skyborne is the best race for Arcane.
- WoW Forever Priest: Shadow Priest is #2 (610). Holy is the #3 healer.
- WoW Forever Hunter: Beast Mastery Hunter is S tier and the best levelling spec in the game; Marksmanship is B, Survival C.
- WoW Forever Warlock: all three specs are A or B tier - Demonology Warlock leads, then Destruction and Affliction.
- WoW Forever Warrior: Fury Warrior is B tier in raid gear and #4 in Pre-Raid gear; Protection is one of the two best tanks.
- WoW Forever Rogue: Assassination and Combat are C tier, Subtlety D.
- WoW Forever Paladin: Retribution is C tier; Protection Paladin is the top raid tank, and Holy the #4 healer.
- WoW Forever Shaman: Enhancement is C tier and Elemental D - but Restoration Shaman is the #2 healer, and Shaman is open to both factions.
- WoW Forever Druid: Restoration Druid is the strongest healer by a wide margin; Balance is C tier, Feral D.
Races, racials and Skyborne
Racials matter more in Forever: Blizzard reworked them (see our racials breakdown), and race and class limits are gone - Undead Paladins, Orc Mages, Dwarf Shamans and Gnome Priests are all possible, PC Games Hardware reports. The new Skyborne race is the best pick for Arcane Mage, Arms Warrior, Balance Druid, Enhancement Shaman, Fire Mage, Frost Mage, Subtlety Rogue in at least one of our level 60 runs, and Night Elf comes out on top for many physical specs.
Sources
- Damage, healing and tank numbers: Forever Upgrades spec rankings (WoW: Forever build 1.60.1.70532 data, October 23, 2026)
- Beta zu WoW Forever: Vanilla-WoW für immer, aber nicht mehr für jeden PC (PC Games Hardware, October 20, 2026)