Introduction
We got another Tier List ready! This time it’s for Raids. The classes that are usually ones who perform well in raids are the ones who have heavy single target damage, however, they also have to have at least some source of AoE, as some bosses are either cleave bosses or there are multiple adds, so finding a balance between each thing is important. However, AoE is not a big requirement like in Mythic+, so the specs and classes that benefit from the combat with the single target will be ranked higher on the list and will always perform the best in the raid. Many more classes are relevant in the raids, as there are more than 5 people in a raid, and it’s far more flexible for you to pick something useful, as there is a bigger pool, as it requires more people in general.
Tier List
Ranking from the first to the last matters in each tier to determine the best-performing classes and specs in the given bracket.
S-Tier
This is the best tier; these specs and classes are Apex Tier, and they’re the strongest and best performing ones, from topping the charts to the useful utility and the way they maneuver through each boss encounter. They’re simply some of the classes you should look to play or have in your group for the best possible performance and have a smooth experience in the raid.
- Balance Druid (Keeper of the Grove)
- Unholy Death Knight (San’layn)
- Havoc Demon Hunter (Aldrachi Reaver)
- Beast Mastery Hunter (Pack Leader)
- Retribution Paladin (Templar)
- Arcane Mage (Sunfury)
- Survival Hunter (Pack Leader)
- Affliction Warlock (Hellcaller)
A-Tier
These are also very good classes and specs that tend to perform closely to the S-Tier ones. They’re not lacking utility and have a good DPS output, however unlike other classes, they might not perform evenly on all bosses and can fall behind sometimes, but it’s still not a huge difference, so it’s not like they’re useless on any boss, rather they perform slightly worse, but are still very much relevant.
- Windwalker Monk (Conduit of the Celestials)
- Marksmanship Hunter (Dark Ranger)
- Demonology Warlock (Diabolist)
- Devastation Evoker (Flameshaper)
- Fury Warrior (Slayer)
- Arms Warrior (Slayer)
- Shadow Priest (Voidweaver)
- Destruction Warlock (Hellcaller)
- Enhancement Shaman (Totemic)
- Affliction Warlock (Soul Harvester)
- Enhancement Shaman (Stormbringer)
- Assassination Rogue (Deathstalker)
- Frost Mage (Frostfire)
- Arcane Mage (Spellslinger)
- Feral Druid (Wildstalker)
- Arcane Mage (Sunfury)
- Survival Hunter (Pack Leader)
- Affliction Warlock (Hellcaller)
- Devastation Evoker (Scalecommander)
- Subtlety Rogue (Trickster)
- Frost Death Knight (Deathbringer)
B-Tier
These classes can still perform relatively good, but will still not be on top of the charts; they can pretty much get the job done and can be what is considered the middle of the pack with everything they bring to the table. Some of these classes can bring solid utility from CRs to some global buffs to the table. So they will get the job done, however, they will get overshadowed by other specs and will not be topping the charts that easily.
- Outlaw Rogue (Trickster)
- Fury Warrior (Mountain Thane)
- Frost Death Knight (Rider of the Apocalypse)
- Marksmanship Hunter (Sentinel)
- Unholy Death Knight (Rider of the Apocalypse)
- Fire Mage (Frostfire)
- Augmentation Evoker (Scalecommander)
- Outlaw Rogue (Fatebound)
- Survival Hunter (Sentinel)
- Elemental Shaman (Stormbringer)
- Havoc Demon Hunter (Fel-scarred)
- Balance Druid (Elune’s Chosen)
- Arms Warrior (Colossus)
- Assassination Rogue (Fatebound)
C-Tier
This is a tier where classes and specs that are still viable to some extend go, but they will not be something that will pop-off or bring anything on table, with high item level anyone can do some damage, but depending what boss it is or how the encounter is played, these specs fall short and will not be as significant as some classes of the above tiers. They can still clear the Heroic difficulty, but as soon as they enter the Mythic, you will realize they’re not as viable.
- Retribution Paladin (Herald of the Sun)
- Windwalker Monk (Shado-pan)
- Feral Druid (Druid of the Claw)
- Demonology Warlock (Soul Harvester)
- Frost Mage (Spellslinger)
- Augmentation Evoker (Chronowarden)
- Beast Mastery Hunter (Dark Ranger)
- Subtlety Rogue (Deathstalker)
Final Thoughts
So, as we come to the end of this tier list, we can conclude that there are lots of pretty useful and strong classes and specs, pretty much every class is useful to some extent in raid, and you can pretty much play any spec. It might differ with some Hero Talents, but mostly all specs are going to bring something useful to the table and tend to perform relatively well, so you don’t have to worry if your spec will be useful or not, mostly everything can be optimized with the build, changing a talent here and there and of course using the strongest Hero Talent tree can make any spec pretty much relevant.