70-79 Power rankings

Gamer1941

Veteran
Looking to get started in this bracket but couldn't find a resource that ranked roles against each other. I saw in a different thread that enhancement shaman was considered to be more viable than a holy paladin, for instance.

Is there somewhere that I can find an amalgamation of these opinions/observations on class/role comparisons?

If not, are there some more experienced people in the bracket willing to comment on DPS/Tanks/Healers?
 
Hey @Gamer1941
As far as I'm aware nobody has written a pvp tierlist for the current expansion.

The toptier dps options right now are rogues (all specs), mages (all specs), destro and shadow. Those are not written in any particular order, but mages are probably the top of the top right now.

Discipline priest is (as always) easily on the top of the healing tier list. But you're not gimping yourself too much by not playing priest these days, as some of the other healers are very decent too. In fact, I would struggle to call any healing spec bad right now.
 
Thanks @Dreams

Is there a preponderance of damage versus survival in this bracket? Any tanky classes that make good damage sponges/flag carriers?

Last time I played, Blood DK was still a self-healing champ which was a great deal of fun in its own right in BGs.
 
Gamer1941 said:
Is there a preponderance of damage versus survival in this bracket?
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Depends on the specific type of content you're doing or what role you want to play. If you want to play flag carrier in battlegrounds you could play a tank spec, I suppose. I'm not sure which of the tank specs are best in pvp though.
As for tanky dps specs, shadow priest earns its spot at the top of the tierlist almost solely because of its insane survivability. There aren't really any other dps specs that compare to them in that regard.
 
My answer is based on experience as a 79 who mostly solo-queues and plays BGs only.

It very much depends on your playstyle. If you play with friends who will heal, or peel/stun for you, lock and spriest are super strong. If you play solo, those 2 classes are very easily shut down. The bracket is very bursty, so one interrupt or a stun will see your HP drop to almost 0 against good twinks. Though to be honest, any class with heal backup will do well.

For solo play, I consider mages to be the top tier ranged, due to very good dmg combined with kiting, blinks and defensives. The next closest ranged is a BM hunter, for much the same reasons, plus a very strong selfheal.

The strongest melee for solo play, assuming you don't want the rogue stealth and gameplay that goes with it, is enhancement shaman. You have one of the best bursts in the bracket, combined with very strong instant self heals. The drawback is you're quite kitable, so you'll have to learn to deal with that (Tailoring, FAPs, etc). No other melee can kill you, and only mages can give you trouble.

It's also somewhat important whether you will twink at 70 or 79. A mage doesn't get as much out of going to 79 vs staying at 70, for example. A shadow priest gets an execute, and I don't need to tell you what a gamechanger having an execute ability is vs not having it.

Best of luck twinking, and remember that playing a very strong class you don't actually enjoy that much is not ideal. Yeah, I like the 11k+ chaos bolts I can hit with berserk, but lock is kind of boring for me so I play the class rarely.
 
villiansv said:
My answer is based on experience as a 79 who mostly solo-queues and plays BGs only.

It very much depends on your playstyle. If you play with friends who will heal, or peel/stun for you, lock and spriest are super strong. If you play solo, those 2 classes are very easily shut down. The bracket is very bursty, so one interrupt or a stun will see your HP drop to almost 0 against good twinks. Though to be honest, any class with heal backup will do well.

For solo play, I consider mages to be the top tier ranged, due to very good dmg combined with kiting, blinks and defensives. The next closest ranged is a BM hunter, for much the same reasons, plus a very strong selfheal.

The strongest melee for solo play, assuming you don't want the rogue stealth and gameplay that goes with it, is enhancement shaman. You have one of the best bursts in the bracket, combined with very strong instant self heals. The drawback is you're quite kitable, so you'll have to learn to deal with that (Tailoring, FAPs, etc). No other melee can kill you, and only mages can give you trouble.

It's also somewhat important whether you will twink at 70 or 79. A mage doesn't get as much out of going to 79 vs staying at 70, for example. A shadow priest gets an execute, and I don't need to tell you what a gamechanger having an execute ability is vs not having it.

Best of luck twinking, and remember that playing a very strong class you don't actually enjoy that much is not ideal. Yeah, I like the 11k+ chaos bolts I can hit with berserk, but lock is kind of boring for me so I play the class rarely.
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Quoting this whole thing, as it duplicates my experience as a (usually) solo-queuer 79. Props to @villiansv for saving me a lot of writing. :)
 
Arlaren said:
So who do you think gets the biggest benefit from 70>79, other than shadow?
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Assuming your shorthand meant "going from 70 to 79", that question may need more context. For example, resto shamans gain immense benefit from mastery, plus some great 5th tier talents. I believe resto shamans are the best utility healers in the bracket. But that still doesn't make them the best main healers. So, it depends what you mean by "the biggest benefit".
 
Arlaren said:
So who do you think gets the biggest benefit from 70>79, other than shadow?
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Almost every class/spec gets a dmg boost of about 8% through mastery alone (some more, some less). You can then add the lvl 75 talent on top, for some like spriests it's really nice. Hard to say "who gets the most" here, read through the talents and decide.

Gun to my head, I'd say shadow priests for Shadow Word: Death. There's also Unholy DKs, who unlike just about every other spec still get spells at lvl 74 and 75 (Dark Transformation and Apocalypse), on top of the lvl 75 talent and the mastery. Those 2 are imo who benefit the most from being 79 vs 70.
 
villiansv said:
Almost every class/spec gets a dmg boost of about 8% through mastery alone (some more, some less). You can then add the lvl 75 talent on top, for some like spriests it's really nice. Hard to say "who gets the most" here, read through the talents and decide.

Gun to my head, I'd say shadow priests for Shadow Word: Death. There's also Unholy DKs, who unlike just about every other spec still get spells at lvl 74 and 75 (Dark Transformation and Apocalypse), on top of the lvl 75 talent and the mastery. Those 2 are imo who benefit the most from being 79 vs 70.
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This is what I was getting at, yeah. I wasn't sure if anyone got any important spells from 70-->79, all I can think of off the top of my head is ret wings, but I dont know where to check this info other than making a level 1 of every class and looking through the spellbook.
 
Arlaren said:
This is what I was getting at, yeah. I wasn't sure if anyone got any important spells from 70-->79, all I can think of off the top of my head is ret wings, but I dont know where to check this info other than making a level 1 of every class and looking through the spellbook.
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Ret wings are lvl 80.

You go to wowhead.com --> Tools --> Talent Calculator --> Class --> Spec. Then once you get the talent tree, there's a "Class Abilitiees" link in the top right corner - click it and you'll see at what level you get what ability.
 
villiansv said:
Ret wings are lvl 80.

You go to wowhead.com --> Tools --> Talent Calculator --> Class --> Spec. Then once you get the talent tree, there's a "Class Abilitiees" link in the top right corner - click it and you'll see at what level you get what ability.
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Shows how long its been since I quit, i could have sworn it used to be 74, must have been changed.

Looks like unholy is legit the only class that gets new abilities.
 
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