Rejuvenizer
Veteran
Posting this in order to shed some more light on the 80-89 bracket with the community BGs coming up. For those interested, but unsure of what they would like to play, maybe this can give you some input on where your class might stand.
Attached are what I believe to be the tier lists for the 80-89 bracket. The tiers (besides FOTM) were not based on what was most commonly played, instead based on experience of high level players playing each of the specs. I will give my summed up reasoning of why I picked both the S tier and F tier candidates. As well as some short notes on the rest in between, mostly those in the A bracket to give my reasoning as to why they are not in S.
Note: The vast majority of the specs below are playable and competitive if played correctly, hence why I enjoy this bracket so much, the difference between the individual tiers are small except for the F tier which I consider unenjoyable due to the obvious disadvantage you would have in your respective experience.
TANKS
First of all, don't play a tank in an arena setting unless you're either a scumbag or messing around with friends.
TANKS-Arenas
No tanks fair well in the 80-89 bracket. With the 50% damage increase and lack of damage output, they are rarely seen and not very competitive. An argument can be made for Protection Paladins when paired with spell casters due to their utility, but with the healing nerf in 8.2, they haven't been seen very much since.
TANKS-Battlegrounds
Protection Warriors have the most physical damage reduction due to ignore pain as well as a high overall self healing output due to the 85 Dragon Soul weapon, Souldrinker. https://www.wowhead.com/item=78488/souldrinker.
Guardian Druids, while don't have too much damage reduction outside of cooldowns, do have an extraordinarily large health pool. Pooled together with frenzied regen, they are tough to kill before help arrives.
The other specs are all relatively the same, each with there respective strengths, but none as good as the A tier tanks.
The reason that I chose to put none as S tier is because they do not make or break the game if you have/don't have one on your team. A dps can be a valuable asset to your team, and sometimes a WW monk can do just as well as a prot warrior if you choose to play quickly. Basically, they're not mandatory for flag capture battlegrounds, but could be useful if used correctly.
DPS
I Would like to note that these tier lists were made with the assumption that the two versatility stacking trinkets (https://www.wowhead.com/item=28727/pendant-of-the-violet-eye and https://www.wowhead.com/item=46051/meteorite-crystal) would not be in use. Instant stacking 90% versatility on a frost mage would be S+++ tier but, no need for that.
DPS-Arenas
S tier: The Warlock specs demo, has the capability to 100-0 someone in 1-2 seconds, making them nearly impossible to counterplay if they correctly set up kills. These specs can be played by your average 1550 player and can be competitive with 2200+ players. WW monks require a little more skill, but are equally as powerful in a 2v2 setting with a healer to back them up. RSK with the new buffs can crit for 1/2 of a players HP. Fury has the most consistent single target dmg in the bracket with the help of the completely in need of a nerf weapon, https://www.wowhead.com/item=77191/gurthalak-voice-of-the-deeps. So pairing them with a healer is always a positive.
Honorable mentions of the almost S tier are sub rogues, ret pallies, and Surv hunters. Only because when combined, (sub/ret 2s comp) they are arguably the strongest 2s comp in the bracket. Similarly to ret/rogue is Disc priest/Surv hunter. This comp has nearly unhealable openers while being able to CC chain for 20+ seconds. The added pressure of the disc gives the survival hunter plenty of kill potential. Able to face roll most comps. The mages and boomies are more faceroll, kill in your opening burst, but the burst is so powerful, hard not to put them in "A." The other classes, until about the D tier are all still very competitive with the higher tiers, just require a little bit more thought.
F tier: Afflic is by far the worst spec at 85, nearly unplayable. Feral burst does about 1/2 of what balance does and once incarn is over, you hit like a wet noodle for 3 minutes.
https://tiermaker.com/create/world-of-warcraft-specializations-47175?presentationMode=true
DPS-Duels/1v1 Scenarios
S tier: Boomies, I have one word: Thorns. Makes them counter every melee class besides rogues. As well as their initial on demand burst being more than every other caster makes them very strong in a 1v1 setting. Demo locks, can afk and let their pet kill their target. Error 404-casts not found. Ret paladins have incredible burst damage and survivability with bubbles, in a duel setting with LoS, arguably the strongest dueling class. The only class which can consistently beat all the other classes are still... rogues. While they may not be as faceroll as 1-2 buttoning people, high skilled rogues still take the cake as far as dueling goes. Ill do a quick rundown of what most duels as a rogue look like. Cheap-->Kidney (enemy at 60%)-->Enemy trinket-->Blind-->Resap-->reopen-->dead. If not dead, vanish and wait for CDs and repeat.
WW monks, mages, BM hunters with spirit mend, all very strong classes in a duel setting. WW monk was tough not to put into the S tier but I figured the skill cap was so high that your average WW player would not be able to compete at a faceroll level with the other specs.
F tier: Again, afflic locks, just bad... Have to cast, even with getting 2-3 casts off. Takes way too long for someone to rot down in a duel. The duel is over within a few seconds.
DPS-Battlegrounds
I'm sure this is what most of you are here for.
S tier: Destro locks have even gone through consideration to be banned from BG's due to the fact that 1 free casted, berserked chaos bolt can take someone from 100%-0%. On the other hand, shadow priests are still the king of rot, most damage output by any 85 class in a BG.
Fury warriors, spam whirlwind and get Gurth procs which can solo a team, boomies, great cleave with heavy single target burst potential. Frost mages, permanent team slow with great on demand burst. Everything else is up to the player, all competitive, not all the highest dmg dealing but, it's a battleground, play what you enjoy.
F tier: Ferals, again. No use in a team fight as a melee, better used as an FC or a ganker. But in either case you're a worse Guardian druid or rogue.
Healers: There is no such thing as a bad healing class at 85. All healing specs are viable, just some slightly more so than others
Healer-Battlegrounds
S tier: This shouldn't come as a shock to anyone. Resto druids have great utility as an offensive or defensive healer. Massive multi hotting with the ability to single target heal as well.
Most teams will have a disc priest on their team. While the healing output may not be that of other healers, the preemptive healing effect of their various bubbles help the team survive what would otherwise be unsurvivable damage. Resto shaman's chain heal is basically a 1.3 second cast lay on hands for 3 members of the party... As well as various totems being a large asset to either team survivability or damage output.
F tier: no healer is terrible, play what you like.
Healer-Arenas
S tier: Again, probably even a lesser shock than battlegrounds. Resto druids take the cake in arenas. Great damage output with feral affinity, as well as thorns being essentially a 12 second immunity to melee attackers. Also the ability of heal over time effects to keep you alive through stuns/cc makes resto druids the hardest class to kill. Great all-around healer.
All the other healers have seen significant play in all of our arena tournaments. All have incredible offensive capability except for Hpriest. The only issue is the lack of buttons to press while stunned and getting trained. Paladins are great at this "issue" for about a minute and a half until they rotate out of cooldowns and become easy kill targets. Rsham's can purge, but die when kicked. And Hpriests just don't have enough big heals to keep people, who aren't themselves, alive.
F tier: No healers are bad, you can make it work.
FOTM
This is the flavor of the month chart, essentially these are the classes that I see the most of in the bracket. With S tier being seen all the time to F tier, not knowing more than 1 single person who legitimately mains these specs. If you're someone who likes to play some of the more odd specs, then this is the chart for you.
The End
_______________________________________________________________________________
I am open to any sort of criticism or comments you all may have to these charts if you're familiar with the bracket. It was 1-3 AM in the morning when I figured I could throw something like this together so i'll happily make some changes if need be. Even as I go through this now I could make the argument that survival hunters are better than that in arenas and ferals should move up a tier for the dueling tier list but... ferals still suck so idk. For reasons, I did not include healers and tanks in the dueling category as those duels are cancerous, but if you'd like me to input a chart with those included, I will. Anyways, if you'd like to know my tier list for some other aspect of the bracket (Like best 2s comps, etc) I'd be happy to throw something like that together.
Attached are what I believe to be the tier lists for the 80-89 bracket. The tiers (besides FOTM) were not based on what was most commonly played, instead based on experience of high level players playing each of the specs. I will give my summed up reasoning of why I picked both the S tier and F tier candidates. As well as some short notes on the rest in between, mostly those in the A bracket to give my reasoning as to why they are not in S.
Note: The vast majority of the specs below are playable and competitive if played correctly, hence why I enjoy this bracket so much, the difference between the individual tiers are small except for the F tier which I consider unenjoyable due to the obvious disadvantage you would have in your respective experience.
TANKS
First of all, don't play a tank in an arena setting unless you're either a scumbag or messing around with friends.
TANKS-Arenas
No tanks fair well in the 80-89 bracket. With the 50% damage increase and lack of damage output, they are rarely seen and not very competitive. An argument can be made for Protection Paladins when paired with spell casters due to their utility, but with the healing nerf in 8.2, they haven't been seen very much since.
TANKS-Battlegrounds
Protection Warriors have the most physical damage reduction due to ignore pain as well as a high overall self healing output due to the 85 Dragon Soul weapon, Souldrinker. https://www.wowhead.com/item=78488/souldrinker.
Guardian Druids, while don't have too much damage reduction outside of cooldowns, do have an extraordinarily large health pool. Pooled together with frenzied regen, they are tough to kill before help arrives.
The other specs are all relatively the same, each with there respective strengths, but none as good as the A tier tanks.
The reason that I chose to put none as S tier is because they do not make or break the game if you have/don't have one on your team. A dps can be a valuable asset to your team, and sometimes a WW monk can do just as well as a prot warrior if you choose to play quickly. Basically, they're not mandatory for flag capture battlegrounds, but could be useful if used correctly.
DPS
I Would like to note that these tier lists were made with the assumption that the two versatility stacking trinkets (https://www.wowhead.com/item=28727/pendant-of-the-violet-eye and https://www.wowhead.com/item=46051/meteorite-crystal) would not be in use. Instant stacking 90% versatility on a frost mage would be S+++ tier but, no need for that.
DPS-Arenas
S tier: The Warlock specs demo, has the capability to 100-0 someone in 1-2 seconds, making them nearly impossible to counterplay if they correctly set up kills. These specs can be played by your average 1550 player and can be competitive with 2200+ players. WW monks require a little more skill, but are equally as powerful in a 2v2 setting with a healer to back them up. RSK with the new buffs can crit for 1/2 of a players HP. Fury has the most consistent single target dmg in the bracket with the help of the completely in need of a nerf weapon, https://www.wowhead.com/item=77191/gurthalak-voice-of-the-deeps. So pairing them with a healer is always a positive.
Honorable mentions of the almost S tier are sub rogues, ret pallies, and Surv hunters. Only because when combined, (sub/ret 2s comp) they are arguably the strongest 2s comp in the bracket. Similarly to ret/rogue is Disc priest/Surv hunter. This comp has nearly unhealable openers while being able to CC chain for 20+ seconds. The added pressure of the disc gives the survival hunter plenty of kill potential. Able to face roll most comps. The mages and boomies are more faceroll, kill in your opening burst, but the burst is so powerful, hard not to put them in "A." The other classes, until about the D tier are all still very competitive with the higher tiers, just require a little bit more thought.
F tier: Afflic is by far the worst spec at 85, nearly unplayable. Feral burst does about 1/2 of what balance does and once incarn is over, you hit like a wet noodle for 3 minutes.
https://tiermaker.com/create/world-of-warcraft-specializations-47175?presentationMode=true
DPS-Duels/1v1 Scenarios
S tier: Boomies, I have one word: Thorns. Makes them counter every melee class besides rogues. As well as their initial on demand burst being more than every other caster makes them very strong in a 1v1 setting. Demo locks, can afk and let their pet kill their target. Error 404-casts not found. Ret paladins have incredible burst damage and survivability with bubbles, in a duel setting with LoS, arguably the strongest dueling class. The only class which can consistently beat all the other classes are still... rogues. While they may not be as faceroll as 1-2 buttoning people, high skilled rogues still take the cake as far as dueling goes. Ill do a quick rundown of what most duels as a rogue look like. Cheap-->Kidney (enemy at 60%)-->Enemy trinket-->Blind-->Resap-->reopen-->dead. If not dead, vanish and wait for CDs and repeat.
WW monks, mages, BM hunters with spirit mend, all very strong classes in a duel setting. WW monk was tough not to put into the S tier but I figured the skill cap was so high that your average WW player would not be able to compete at a faceroll level with the other specs.
F tier: Again, afflic locks, just bad... Have to cast, even with getting 2-3 casts off. Takes way too long for someone to rot down in a duel. The duel is over within a few seconds.
DPS-Battlegrounds
I'm sure this is what most of you are here for.
S tier: Destro locks have even gone through consideration to be banned from BG's due to the fact that 1 free casted, berserked chaos bolt can take someone from 100%-0%. On the other hand, shadow priests are still the king of rot, most damage output by any 85 class in a BG.
Fury warriors, spam whirlwind and get Gurth procs which can solo a team, boomies, great cleave with heavy single target burst potential. Frost mages, permanent team slow with great on demand burst. Everything else is up to the player, all competitive, not all the highest dmg dealing but, it's a battleground, play what you enjoy.
F tier: Ferals, again. No use in a team fight as a melee, better used as an FC or a ganker. But in either case you're a worse Guardian druid or rogue.
Healers: There is no such thing as a bad healing class at 85. All healing specs are viable, just some slightly more so than others
Healer-Battlegrounds
S tier: This shouldn't come as a shock to anyone. Resto druids have great utility as an offensive or defensive healer. Massive multi hotting with the ability to single target heal as well.
Most teams will have a disc priest on their team. While the healing output may not be that of other healers, the preemptive healing effect of their various bubbles help the team survive what would otherwise be unsurvivable damage. Resto shaman's chain heal is basically a 1.3 second cast lay on hands for 3 members of the party... As well as various totems being a large asset to either team survivability or damage output.
F tier: no healer is terrible, play what you like.
Healer-Arenas
S tier: Again, probably even a lesser shock than battlegrounds. Resto druids take the cake in arenas. Great damage output with feral affinity, as well as thorns being essentially a 12 second immunity to melee attackers. Also the ability of heal over time effects to keep you alive through stuns/cc makes resto druids the hardest class to kill. Great all-around healer.
All the other healers have seen significant play in all of our arena tournaments. All have incredible offensive capability except for Hpriest. The only issue is the lack of buttons to press while stunned and getting trained. Paladins are great at this "issue" for about a minute and a half until they rotate out of cooldowns and become easy kill targets. Rsham's can purge, but die when kicked. And Hpriests just don't have enough big heals to keep people, who aren't themselves, alive.
F tier: No healers are bad, you can make it work.
FOTM
This is the flavor of the month chart, essentially these are the classes that I see the most of in the bracket. With S tier being seen all the time to F tier, not knowing more than 1 single person who legitimately mains these specs. If you're someone who likes to play some of the more odd specs, then this is the chart for you.
The End
_______________________________________________________________________________
I am open to any sort of criticism or comments you all may have to these charts if you're familiar with the bracket. It was 1-3 AM in the morning when I figured I could throw something like this together so i'll happily make some changes if need be. Even as I go through this now I could make the argument that survival hunters are better than that in arenas and ferals should move up a tier for the dueling tier list but... ferals still suck so idk. For reasons, I did not include healers and tanks in the dueling category as those duels are cancerous, but if you'd like me to input a chart with those included, I will. Anyways, if you'd like to know my tier list for some other aspect of the bracket (Like best 2s comps, etc) I'd be happy to throw something like that together.
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