Let's make a tier list: BFA 8.0

Kismet

Grandfathered
I've seen these lists for other meta games and figured it would be good to have for new players to get an idea of what to play. Looks like we are all still trying to figure out what is good and why. I did a quick layout but I want the communities opinion on which specs fall where? I would also like to list top 3 Pro/Cons of each spec(typical play style/role, hardest hitting spells, etc). Please leave a comment below and I will try to compile everything :)



Tier 1
Fury Warrior
  • High Damage
  • High Self-heals
  • Can Dual-wield Sul'Thraze and Runeblade of Baron Rivendare
Discipline Priest
  • High Damage, solid heals, OP absorbs
  • AOE Fear, Purify, Pain Suppression, Mind Control, Mindbender
  • Benefits from Blade of eternal darkness & Book of the dead
Holy Priest
  • High raw healing, AOE heals, and Guardian Spirit
  • Deals decent damage through Smite, Holy Fire, and Holy Word: Chastise
  • AOE Fear, Purify, Renew, AOE heals
Restoration Shaman
  • Strong HoTs and AoE heals via Rippling Waters, twin Healing Stream totems.
  • Great mobility and utility: ghost wolf, hex, shear, cleanse, and a lot of useful totems.
  • Ultra-high off-damage via flame shock/lava burst/lava surge combos
  • No good escapes
  • Weaker single-target heals
Retribution Paladin
  • High damage
  • High Self-heals
  • Blessing of Freedom, Hammer of Justice, Blessing of Protection, Cleanse, Rebuke
Tier 2
Mistweaver Monk
Survival Hunter
  • Good single target & AOE
  • 5 Sec stun, AOE & single target snares, 30% self heal, 10% leech
  • "Squishy"
Marksmanship Hunter
Enhancement Shaman
Subtlety Rogue
Assassination Rogue

Outlaw Rogue
Shadow Priest
Arcane Mage
Feral Druid
Restoration Druid

Arms Warrior
Holy Paladin
Affliction Warlock

Tier 3
Beast Mastery Hunter
Balance Druid
Guardian Druid

Brewmaster Monk
Windwalker Mon
k
Elemental Shaman
Protection Paladin
Protection Warrior
Destruction Warlock
Demonology Warlock

Fire Mage
Frost Mage
  • Good damage​
  • Decent CC​
 
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I agree with most of these based on what I've see but..

holy priest as tier 3 really? Lucid isn't even geared as good as she could be and I'm fairly hard to kill and I'd say 95% of the time top healer in the games. I'll concede that discs are stronger right now because of their damage and survavability but in straight healing I'll take holy any day of the week and end of the day thats what healers are supposed to do. Holy should be at least tier two. If you're running the dual serenity like I do, you have essentially two full instant heals there. sanctify adds another instant thats really strong. If you're really in trouble you can pop desperate prayer. Guardian spirit to avoid death. Then IF you manage to drop lucid you're looking at 18 seconds of spirit healer pouring out unstoppable healing. Very few attack waves can survive long enough to kill me through my self healing and then survive through my spirit healer phase.

shadowpriest- i agree with tier 2. i run shadow sometimes and while I can generate really good damage I cannot for the life of me drop a healer.

I might say mistweaver as on the border of tier 2 and tier 1. Their damage and healing is comparable to disc and their single target healing is absurd.

affliction locks- top damage all the time in games, not sure how they ended up as tier 3. They aren't as strong when the teams are running pure burst like 3 or 4 warr/enhance shammies but they can generate tons of overall damage.

feral druids- misunderstood and under utilized we have a good one in guild and theres another really solid one in the alliance community. I've ran mine as feral a few games and its pretty good, can drop some healers and the stealth + burst is great in pretty much every game. The feral self healing is really op so ganking a few people guarding flags isn't hard, ganking flag carriers with that bust isnt hard, and you eat everyone in temple which is the most popped battleground for me. They deserve tier 2

resto druids- healing is pretty strong and their damage is very strong as well. I'd say tier 2.
 
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I agree with most of these based on what I've see but..

holy priest as tier 3 really? Lucid isn't even geared as good as she could be and I'm fairly hard to kill and I'd say 95% of the time top healer in the games. I'll concede that discs are stronger right now because of their damage and survavability but in straight healing I'll take holy any day of the week and end of the day thats what healers are supposed to do. Holy should be at least tier two. If you're running the dual serenity like I do, you have essentially two full instant heals there. sanctify adds another instant thats really strong. If you're really in trouble you can pop desperate prayer. Guardian spirit to avoid death. Then IF you mange to drop lucid you're looking at 18 seconds of spirit healer pouring out unstoppable healing. Very few attack waves can survive long enough to kill me through my self healing and then survive through my spirit healer phase.

shadowpriest- i agree with tier 2. i run shadow sometimes and while I can generate really good damage I cannot for the life of me drop a healer.

I might say mistweaver as on the border of tier 2 and tier 1. Their damage and healing is comparable to disc and their single target healing is absurd.

affliction locks- top damage all the time in games, not sure how they ended up as tier 3. They aren't as strong when the teams are running pure burst like 3 or 4 warr/enhance shammies but they can generate tons of overall damage.

feral druids- misunderstood and under utilized we have a good one in guild and theres another really solid one in the alliance community. I've ran mine as feral a few games and its pretty good, can drop some healers and the stealth + burst is great in pretty much every game. The feral self healing is really op so ganking a few people guarding flags isn't hard, ganking flag carriers with that bust isnt hard, and you eat everyone in temple which is the most popped battleground for me. They deserve tier 2

resto druids- healing is pretty strong and their damage is very strong as well. I'd say tier 2.

Thank you for your post! I updated the list! The specs in tier 3 are really just there as place holders. Anything in that tier atm is likely because I just..haven't heard anything about them so I'm not sure where they fall
 
Arms warrior tier 3!!!! Nooo!!!
I would say at least tier 2. My panda kicks ass I have 1v1 fury warriors np. You can kill healers fairly easy also with the execute spec. You do need a good amount of crit though I run 25% crit with 10 verst.
 
In the current game, I think all healing specs will end up Tier 1. Not only is healing strong, but healers put out an inordinate amount of damage. I'm a meh-level player, and I can consistently turn around battlegrounds on my own and top the charts in both healing and damage at the same time with my resto shaman.

Pros and cons for resto shamans at 49:

+ Strong HoTs and AoE heals via Rippling Waters, twin Healing Stream totems.
+ Great mobility and utility: ghost wolf, hex, shear, cleanse, and a lot of useful totems.
+ Ultra-high off-damage via flame shock/lava burst/lava surge combos
- No good escapes
- weaker single-target heals

@immaculate is spot-on about feral druids (and pretty much everything else in that post) -- it's rare to see a good feral druid, but when you do, hoo-boy, lookout.

Is this for bgs or arenas? Because I feel the list will shape very differently for both.

This is a great point, and I'm assuming the list is for BGs, specifically non-premades.
 
This is the tier list, run 2 or 3 fury warriors, minimum in a premade, and a healer or two, and then anyone else who feels like coming along(if not running 2 healers). Then just rush in and 3x ramsteins the whole horde squad. Just like every alliance premade does.
 
People need to stop making fury warriors, plain and simple. It's starting to get pretty ridiculous queuing into 4+ a game. It isn't even fun anymore. They're effectively ruining the bracket much like surv hunters did in legion.
 
I would personally put Restoration Shaman a tier up as well. Damage from resto shaman is higher than enhancement or elemental, so it should be above those two either way.

Just like Kirise, most of my matches i end up as top damage and top healing. With the overpowered ghost wolf form you can run around with one HoT on you and not die if you have high enougu versatility/armor. Shamans and hunters also clearly have the highest versaility at level 49 due to Green Dragonscale.
 
I would personally put Restoration Shaman a tier up as well. Damage from resto shaman is higher than enhancement or elemental, so it should be above those two either way..

Resto sham does not do more damage than enhance. But I do agree with the fact that Resto shaman is a tier 1 healer. Also they make decent flag carriers with their ghost wolf buffs from talents.
 
People need to stop making fury warriors, plain and simple. It's starting to get pretty ridiculous queuing into 4+ a game. It isn't even fun anymore. They're effectively ruining the bracket much like surv hunters did in legion.


Inc. I’m going to make another one by 9 pm to night.
 
I'm going to plug in my thoughts from the other, somewhat-related thread. Many updates and edits:

Tier 1: Ret Paladin, Fury Warrior, Arcane Mage, Disc Priest, Resto Shaman, MW Monk, Arms Warrior.

Tier 2: Combat Rogue, Ass Rogue, Enh Shaman, Ele Shaman, Boomkin, Feral, RDruid, SPriest, Fire Mage, Surv Hunter, Hpal, Hpriest, MM Hunter, BM Hunter.

Tier 3: WW Monk, Frost Mage, Sub Rogue, Warlocks, All Tank Specs.

Clothies:
Lock: In the previous thread, I hadn't seen enough lock play to be able to give them a rating. Now that some people have finished gearing and I've seen some in game, I think having lock at T1 is... a little ridiculous. Affliction does decent damage, sure, as do all tab-dot classes in BGs, but they also die in two globals. I haven't seen any serious players roll demo or destro, but it seems like locks may just be lacking the necessary defensives in their kit at this level to succeed. No way is Lock a T1 class.

Mage: Arcane has nasty damage, both single target and AE. Also has great survivability and utility, and the postmaster's set is a perfect fit for the class at 49. The only real weakness is getting arcane locked.

Fire is among the most fun specs to play, IMO, and has great on-demand burst with combustion to burn down high-priority targets. Solid damage and CC, but not as strong as arcane. Blast wave->Breath of Fire->Ramstein's=5 dead enemy players. Definitely NOT a bottom tier class, though I think my fire mage is better geared than any other I've seen, so that may make a difference.

Frost has great CC, but the damage to back it up just isn't there. Inferior, IMO, to the other mage specs.

Priest: Disc priest is among the strongest classes in the bracket, but can struggle against warriors and rogues. T1 for sure.

Holy: Excellent healing and utility, just a hair behind disc in terms of overall strength. Either T1 or high T2.

Spriest: Solid rot damage and single-target burst and great survivability.

Leather:
Rogue: Terrifying burst-from-stealth potential with ramstein's trinket. Combat seems to have the best damage, but ass is also nothing to sneeze at.

Druid: A Boomkin who knows what he's doing can be awfully frightening for melee and hunters. 8-second faerie fire OP. Strong damage and great self-healing.

Feral and resto are both really strong, as well. Resto's Hots don't roll for what they used to, but with all the utility and mobility they bring to the table, they're still... a bear... to... take down (puts on sunglasses).

Monk: Not much reason to play a WW when nearly every other melee outperforms them damage-wise and has superior CC to help finish the job. WTB FoF Stun... Fantastic mobility, but that's about it.

MW is very strong for single-target healing. T1, but behind rsham and disc.

Mail:
Hunter: MM one-shot memes. Doesn't perform super well when focused, but the burst potential of aimed shot is no laughing matter. You can either global your target or put them into execute range in your opener quite often. MM was obscene during prepatch. The nerfs have brought it back down to where it's no longer a T1 class, but it still hits like an absolute train in the opener.

Surv: solid damage, utility, and mobility, but not quite on par with plate-wearers.

BM: What you play when you feel bad about MM being really strong. JK. That used to be true, but BM now surpasses MM in terms of overall damage, plus it isn't nearly as much of a one-trick pony.

Shaman:
Resto is probably the strongest healer in bracket. Solid instant heals, great team sustain, and LB and LvB both hit about 65% harder than ele. Also not as FotM as disc, for whatever that's worth.

Enh and Ele both have great damage and burst potential, plus reasonable sustain and great utility. Both strong T2 classes.

Plate:
Warrior: Fury and Arms damage is comparable, but Fury takes the cake because of the self-healing. Their sustain is bonkers. 3% damage buff to arms takes it to the bottom of T1, where it had been the top of T2 before. As long as you queue with a healer, Arms is extremely powerful, but doesn't have the 1v1 potential or crusader-stacking potential of Fury.

Paladin:
Ret: solid damage, outstanding sustain and defensives. Just behind fury and just ahead of arms in overall melee power.

Melee Power Rankings, IMHO:
1. Fury Warr
2. Ret Pally
3. Arms Warr
4. Enh Shaman
5. Combat Rogue
6. Surv Hunter
7. Feral Druid
8. Ass Rogue
9. WW Monk
10. Sub Rogue (?? Insufficient Data)

A Few of these are very close, with 4-8 being just about equal in power. That said, you can do really well with anything 1-8 on this list.

Ranged Power Rankings, IMHO:
1. Arcane Mage
2. Boomkin
3. BM Hunter
4. Ele Shaman (Damage is just ok, till you get a stacked ES. Only the healing and utility take it above other classes)
5. Spriest
6. Fire Mage
7. MM Hunter
8. Affy Lock
9. Frost Mage
10. Demo Lock/Destro Lock (?? Insufficient Data)

Arcane Mage is considerably stronger than Boomkin, IMO, but 2-5 are all very close. This is another one where you can do well with nearly any class. What a great bracket! :D

Healer Power Rankings, IMHO:
1. Resto Shaman
2. Disc Priest
3. MW Monk
4. Holy Priest
5. Holy Paladin
6. Resto Druid

Resto Shaman and Disc are the top choices, but I think Cirise might have a solid point in arguing that all healers are T1 at this point...

Top Three Most Imbalanced Items:
Ramstein's Lightning Bolts
Sul'Thraze the Lasher
Crusader Enchant
 
What makes Resto Shaman as good as Disc Priest? I am just thinking Healing Surge is 135% spell power vs Shadow Mend is 180%. Plus Disc has second healing school. All the top tier DPS are single target.
 
What makes Resto Shaman as good as Disc Priest? I am just thinking Healing Surge is 135% spell power vs Shadow Mend is 180%. Plus Disc has second healing school.

Better CC, superior utility, and slightly better damage. Disc has a fear and MC, while RSham has an AE Stun, AE Root, AE Slow, and Hex. With Torrent, Echo of the Elements, and Rippling Waters, RSham has three charges of an instant heal in riptide that's also a strong HoT and heals again when dispelled or when the HoT ends. No question--Disc is better for keeping up an FC or single target healing in general. But overall, I think Resto's team healing and utility, as well as strong damage, gives it a slight edge over Disc. Also: Ghost Wolf.

All the top tier DPS are single target.

True. I think the reason why I feel like they are better is that damage is pretty high in the bracket and two single-target characters can quickly take down a priority target. We haven't really entered a rot-comp meta where Affy Locks and Boomkin rain terror on their foes. I'd be interested to see how a rot comp team performed against a team with two warriors, an Outlaw Rogue, a ret paladin, two mages, and a hunter in a 49s 10v10 wargame. TBH, I think the rot comp would get housed. I think the current meta just favors single-target classes.
 
Aff locks may not be tier 1 thanks to lack of survivability, but when they get the coverage they need on the battlefield, aff locks neutralize HoT heals and goad healers into silencing themselves to relieve (and restart) the pressure. I fear the aff lock/disc priest/fury warr combo more than any grouping in 49s right now. But peels are key -- without that support, a warlock melts.

Disc is better for keeping up an FC or single target healing in general. But overall, I think Resto's team healing and utility, as well as strong damage, gives it a slight edge over Disc. Also: Ghost Wolf.

The utility toolkit definitely helps; I think the damage is what makes such a difference. Flame shocks are a dare to opposing healers: either cleanse the shaman's version of hunter's mark, or one of those flame shock targets will start to see lava bursts rolling in. When the procs really get rolling, a resto shaman can put a target in execute range in two globals.
 

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