DPS Rankings for Vault of the Incarnates Raid - Dragonflight Season 1 Tier List

Live Publié 28/11/2022 à 15:08 par Dratnos

About the Author GG WOWDisclaimers About This Tier ListOn Raid BuffsToucher mystiqueAura de dévotionMot de pouvoir : RobustesseMarque du fauvedoesPatch 10.2.5 Dragonflight DPS Tier List for AmirdrassilHow We Ranked the Specs

S: Specs that we expect to dominate the compositions and the damage meters of raid compositions. The average number of copies of specs in this tier is usually two or higher, as they bring tremendous amounts of damage with useful damage profiles and often other helpful pieces of utility or defensive options.

A: Great specs that can work well in multiples. We’d be surprised to see raid compositions that are missing at least one copy of these (except in cases where a class has multiple specs in this tier, where generally you'll see one spec dominate on any given fight). High single target damage output is almost always a characteristic of these specs, though many also have several other areas where they excel. Sought-after utility effects are also very common among these specs.

B: Good specs that will be in many but not all of the top performing raid compositions, we expect these to be slightly behind in either damage or utility when compared to the A tier specs, but to still be very frequent choices.

C: Solid specs that would be unsurprising to see a copy of in some raid compositions, but we don’t expect them to be stacked and we wouldn’t be surprised to see them missing from many compositions either. Sometimes these are specs with situational damage profiles that will have value on specific types of fights, and may be incredibly valuable if the important fights of the tier have those damage profiles.

D: Specs with serious issues that are apparent when trying to use them in a raid setting, these may work well in very niche circumstances that rarely appear in raid, but single target damage is typically a big challenge for specs in this tier.

F: A spec with horrifying weaknesses that is in immediate need of developer attention and we’d be surprised to see played in many raid compositions at all. There are no DPS in this tier.

Patch 10.2.5 Dragonflight DPS Rankings and Explanations

Havoc Demon Hunter (A Tier)

Augmentation Evoker (A Tier)

Enhancement Shaman (A Tier)

Beast Mastery Hunter (A Tier)

Assassination Rogue (A Tier)

Subtlety Rogue (A Tier)

Feral Druid (A Tier)

Arcane Mage (B Tier)

Fire Mage (B Tier)

Balance Druid (B Tier)

Outlaw Rogue (B Tier)

Fury Warrior (B Tier)

Elemental Shaman (B Tier)

Survival Hunter (B Tier)

Demonology Warlock (B Tier)

Frost Death Knight (B Tier)

Frost Mage (B Tier)

Devastation Evoker (C Tier)

Arms Warrior (C Tier)

Shadow Priest (C Tier)

Retribution Paladin (C Tier)

Destruction Warlock (C Tier)

Unholy Death Knight (C Tier)

Marksmanship Hunter (D Tier)

Affliction Warlock (D Tier)

Windwalker Monk (D Tier)

A Tier Specs for Amirdrassil Raid

The first Demon Hunter in any raid group is effectively mandatory due to Marque du chaos. Though Vengeance looks strong on the tank side of things, Havoc has been incredibly powerful throughout the PTR cycle and could well be stacked. This spec was reworked this patch, which historically has been very correlated with being strong, and Demon Hunter also brings a powerful piece of raid utility with Ténèbres, which was nerfed from 20% to 15% this patch, but so were most other similar effects.

Havoc Demon Hunters are also quite tanky, with 10.2 bringing improvements to their talent tree that let them grab more of what they want. They also sit on the Dreadful tier token, which is fairly uncontested in many top Mythic raid guilds, which is another nice benefit for gearing (though this is less important than ever with how much Tier comes from sources like omni-tokens and the catalyst).

Augmentation launched with a bang in Patch 10.1.5, and though it's taken several nerfs since then, it remains poised to be one of the best DPS options in Amirdrassil. In raid the spec requires a bit more management than in M+, though some of the nerfs came with Quality of Life increases, such as Puissance d’ébène preferring not to target other Augmentation Evokers.

Even with it being a bit finnicky to play, the damage is certainly there to warrant a spot in A-Tier. The third Augmentation Evoker is quite a bit worse than the first two, as each target can only have buffs from two at a time, but those first two targetting their best targets is likely to be a common strategy among high end raid teams. Defensively the spec is very sturdy with a cheat death, strong defensives, and group wide versatility that they bring. On the utility side of things, they have no overwhelmingly powerful raid utility, but their utility with things like Zéphyr or Spirale temporelle is still very strong.

Since the addition of Totem Furie-des-vents, Enhancement Shaman has seen a resurgence of play in high end Mythic Progression because it generally means the spec represents a ton of damage as long as it has a group that can make good use of the totem. On its own merits, Enhancement has also done fantastic damage in both Single Target and Cleave situations. The challenge for many guilds is finding a solid player of this spec, as it’s only recently become a commonly played spec, can have a fairly challenging rotation, especially when mechanics start getting involved, and though it lacks an immunity (unless you want to count Réincarnation), it has fairly strong defensive tools like Rempart astral, Esprit du loup, Élémentaire de terre, and Débordant de vie.

Beast Mastery Hunter looks to be the premier ranged Hunter spec this tier, offering high damage and access to an absurdly large health pool through the talent tree and pet family abilities. This tier, Hunters gain Marque du chasseur as a raid buff, which is weaker than most other raid buffs (and, indeed, offers very low value on fights where damage is not important while the boss is at high health), but it's enough to make the first Hunter very likely to be included by most raid teams.

Beast Mastery has the unique advantage, among ranged DPS specs, of being highly mobile, which may mean they lose less damage to mechanically intensive fights than other specs, and end up being able to top the meters under the right circumstances. There are several fights in Amirdrassil where this could work to Beast Mastery’s advantage, which further increases its edge over Marksmanship.

Rogue has a potent raid buff in Poison atrophiant, and Assassination is not a bad carrier of this effect on many single target encounters, especially those where there’s valuable execute damage. This is due to Recette des Zoldyck, an incredibly powerful talent that activates when the target is below 35% health, often the most valuable place for damage on the hardest encounters. This tier, Assassination is also looking well suited to the damage amp phases of several bosses, and being a great target for Infusion de puissance. However, if these strengths aren't relevant on any given fight it's likely that Rogues will opt for one of their other specs instead. Like all Rogue specs, Assassination has fantastic defensive value through class talents like Feinte, Cape d'ombre, and Trompe-la-mort.

Subtlety has traditionally occupied the Priority Damage niche, and it remains able to fill this role, although it’s by no means the only, or even necessarily the best, ever since receiving massive nerfs back in Patch 8.1. Its single target damage is also looking quite strong, as it is a spec that's just been reworked which often means it'll be good! In fights where Outlaw and Assassination's strengths aren't catered to, Subtlety will be a great option for Rogues. Additionally, burst damage to bosses with vulnerability phases is quite potent with things like Lames de l’ombre and Flagellation being a core part of Subs burst. Subtlety, as with all Rogue specs, boasts the strong class-wide effects of Cape d'ombre, Trompe-la-mort, Feinte, and Poison atrophiant.

Feral has historically had a very tough time breaking into the high-end Mythic Progression setting, generally only piloted in a few top 100 guilds by players that are extremely skilled at the spec and being among the strongest overall players on their rosters. This expansion has shown some signs of shifting this paradigm, with Feral’s damage numbers looking solid every patch. Amirdrassil has certainly been the raid where Feral has finally broken out in the very best guilds, with high representation in the Race to World First and among the top 10 guilds, but guilds lower down the world rankings are often lacking a player that can pilot the spec well. As this changes over the coming months, look for even more Feral Druids showing up in Mythic boss kills!

B Tier Specs for Amirdrassil Raid

Arcane has had a great expansion so far, and continues to be a strong Mage option going into Amirdrassil. Arcane's damage on paper looks quite good, though it's vulnerable to fights that disrupt it during its cooldowns. Arcane also does well on fights with short damage amp windows, which Amirdrassil does feature, though it's only slightly better than Fire in that context. Mages in general have a strong defensive toolkit that was further enhanced in Patch 10.1.5, though Arcane lacks the Cautérisation and Frimaire benefits of Fire and Frost respectively. Mages in general suffer from being relatively weak this tier, meaning many raid groups are only bringing one, but Arcane is often the spec they choose for that one mage.

Fire does comparable damage on paper to Arcane, but in many real world situations it will benefit tremendously. One example is execute damage, where Fire gains a lot and Arcane only gains a little. Mobility is also an advantage of Fire, especially during those execute phases, and Fire's cooldown-based damage means they can also take advantage of Damage amps on fights like Smolderon and Tindral. Their utility is very good as Intelligence des Arcanes is mandatory, they have a solid immunity, good mobility, and strong burst damage to push phases quickly.

Balance Druid's progression oriented kit has historically put it in a position to be utilized quite well in progression raiding, but in Amirdrassil it's now competing with a powerful Feral option. Ruée rugissante, Veille de la nature, and Innervation are 3 notable raid utility abilities that the Balance Druid kit will leverage to great success, and they work great in multiples. Balance Druid's damage is still quite good, especially on fights with spread AoE, which a few Amirdrassil fights feature. With Dragonflight's addition of Marque du fauve, you do need at least one Druid in every raid group, and Balance is still the default option for many guilds, though those who can play Feral are often choosing to do that instead. Balance is also great at doing jobs that other specs may die while doing or may outrange the boss and lose damage to do, so adding one or two to a roster can add a lot of value on some encounters.

Outlaw has solid cleave and is often a good choice on encounters where that can be leveraged, especially those without much damage downtime. Unlike many previous patches, however, Outlaw is also pretty good at sustained single target DPS now too! This damage is less bursty than both Assassination and Subtlety, which makes it less effective on the damage amp phases that several Amirdrassil bosses feature, but on most other encounters Outlaw looks like a solid choice for Rogue spec.

Defensives and Utility are both strong suits of the Rogue class in general (Cape d'ombre, Trompe-la-mort, Feinte, Poison atrophiant) and Outlaw specifically, with the Grande mêlée Relèvement vrai buffs both offering extra durability to the spec.

For fights that feature both single target and AoE, Fury can step in and deal effective damage in a way that Arms cannot. Though Fury lacks a damage immunity, they have incredible self healing and several good defensive buttons like Régénération enragée, Immunité amère, and Renvoi de sort, with the latter two both being extremely good against certain mechanics in Amirdrassil. Fury also has unique burst timings, featuring big damage every 90 seconds with Témérité, Ravageur, Lance du champion, and Avatar, plus smaller windows every 45 seconds with Fureur d’Odyn and Supplice de Titan. These cooldown timings should allow them to take advantage of the burn windows of Amirdrassil's encounters.

Elemental seemed great for the early part of the 10.2 PTR cycle, but the spec took a series of nerfs in the final weeks we think will make its damage merely good, rather than great. Its DPS on bosses like Council of Dreams remains fantastic, but that boss is early enough in the raid that it's not important for our purposes. Ele’s Survivability is decent, but it lacks any serious form of raid utility, and each class that gains a raid buff is one less spot that Ele can compete for. As it currently, it is still a solid Ranged DPS and a strong Elemental player could see themselves in for most, if not all of progression in Amirdrassil.

Survival damage hasn't been phenomenal in the earlier patches of Dragonflight. This patch, however, things are looking up for the spec, as it's gaining a tier set that adds a lot of damage (in addition to a lot of fun!). Survival may even be able to do more damage than Beast Mastery, though the melee nature of the spec is a drawback. Among the melee they are quite versatile, with longer range and some tools to operate at range if necessary, and strong mobility options. Survival has some defensive tools, including an immunity, and it can be a bit better than Marksmanship or Beast Mastery against certain incoming damage patterns, featuring some self sustain, but defenses remain a slight weakness when compared to other classes.

Demonology Warlock looks to be the go-to choice on most single target encounters in Amirdrassil, though all three Warlock specs looked pretty anemic throughout the PTR cycle. A recent last-minute buff may help bring Demo into the middle of the pack, and of course there is one guaranteed Warlock spot in every serious raid team. Demo has exceptional survivability that has only grown more incredible with the addition of the Warlock Class tree in Dragonflight. The Class tree is jam-packed with powerful defensive tools: to give you some context, these are just the ones selected in one build: Lien spirituel, Synergie gangrenée, Étreinte démoniaque, Robustesse démoniaque, Peau de démon, Gangrarmure, Sombre pacte, Donation régulière, Âmes aimables, Voile de mort, and Sombre traité. All of this defense lets Warlocks play extremely unethically and stand in lots of fire without dying, though many of these talents have taken some nerfs over the course of the expansion.

Demonology is no longer a great choice to receive Infusion de puissance due to reworks to the spec's damage profile. We think Demo Warlocks will be good, but we expect one to be the most commonly played number rather than multiple.

Frost DK's Souffle de Sindragosa windows pump quite a bit of damage, and if these line up well on fights (cleave fights in particular, which hasn’t seemed like many fights from testing), they may well be the best DPS Death Knight option. Like Unholy, they aren’t especially mobile and lack an immunity, though some Magic mechanics can be immuned with Carapace anti-magie. There are also some encounters where Zone anti-magie can find a fair bit of value, though it requires the damage to be magical and the group to be stacked in order to be fully effective.

Frost was reworked back in 10.1.5 and is quite different than it used to be, but unfortunately it looks like its damage numbers on generic encounters and encounters with burst windows will be a little less than both Arcane and Fire. There are a few fights where Frost looks exciting, like the Council of Dreams, but that fight is early enough in the raid that it's not really relevant for this tier list. A nice benefit of Frost is that its gearing is very similar to Arcane, so it can be quite easy to swap into in a pinch if the Mage has an Arcane gear set prepared. Of course, as a Mage, Frost does bring a strong set of defensives that are amplified by the spec specific Frimaire, and it buffs the raid with Intelligence des Arcanes.

C Tier Specs for Amirdrassil Raid

Evoker lacks a powerful raid buff, with Bénédiction du bronze being largely forgettable, meaning the class does not have a guaranteed raid spot. It competes with Augmentation, which brings far more raid utility for comparable or better damage in coordinated groups, though in less coordanted groups it can be nice to not rely on others for your damage.

Maîtrise : Fléau des géants is interesting, though damage to high health targets is often much less valuable than damage to low health targets, unless Fyrakk dies at 45% like Sylvanas did! This may make DPS sims and statistics a bit misleading, as if an Evoker’s total DPS is 110% of another spec’s, but the Evoker is doing most of their damage in phase 1and is doing tank damage in P3, that would make it far less valuable for most end bosses where damage ends up being irrelevant in P1 and hyper-relevant in P3. The good news for Devastation Evokers is that the value of Mastery has been reduced and power has been moved into the rest of the kit this patch, which reduces the size of this effect.

Devestation is also good but not great defensively, with a few strong buttons like Brasier de rénovation and Écailles d’obsidienne but without an immunity or substantial ability to keep themselves healthy through sustained rot damage.

Arms's damage is not bad, but it does have some drawbacks when compared to Fury. They need to choose between Single Target and AoE builds, meaning fights that reward both damage types are punishing for the spec, but luckily Amirdrassil doesn’t seem like it has too many such encounters. The spec is also in some danger of having an annoying playstyle of sitting at 100 Rage, but this quality of life drawback doesn't count against it for our purposes. Defensively, Arms has some tools but it lacks an immunity and isn’t especially durable when compared to other classes. As a Warrior, it brings Cri de guerre and Cri de ralliement, but Rally was nerfed massively going into this patch, which hugely reduces the value of Warriors in raid.

Shadow's damage was nerfed several times during the 10.2 PTR, but it's still solid when you factor in the Infusion de puissance (even though that was ALSO nerfed!) that they offer someone else in the raid through Prêtresse des Jumeaux du soleil. Mobility is a weakness of the spec, both in terms of quickly getting from point A to point B and in terms of dealing effective damage while doing it. Shadow has surprisingly good defensives in raid, through self healing, several small defensives, and the massive damage reduction of Dispersion, though it does lack an immunity. Shadow does bring a raid buff in Mot de pouvoir : Robustesse, though it’s likely most top Mythic progression teams will already have access to this through a healing priest.

Ret Paladin has received a huge rework with patch 10.0.7, and now boasts a powerful toolkit that makes it quite valuable to many raiding teams. Paladins now bring two powerful auras, creating much more demand for the class in general, and Ret in particular, though the Tank and Healing Paladins appear to be quite good this tier as well. The spec also has gained more survivability through some power added to their talent tree with powerful nodes like Plaques sanctifiées. Unfortunately, the spec's damage has looked mediocre, even with a recent 3% buff, and the other Paladin specs seem like good enough options that we're placing Ret in C Tier for now.

Destruction is a spec that, on paper, is quite a bit worse than Demonology. We're placing it in C Tier, however, because we think it will be played on a few specific fights, like Council of Dreams and possibly Mythic Nymue. We'd be quite surprised to see this spec used over Demonology on many other fights, and we don't expect it will perform well enough to be stacked on any fights, but we do think that the Warlock(s) in the raid will activate the spec at least once or twice during progression this tier. Like the other Warlock specs, Destruction is quite hard to kill.

Unholy is the best Power Infusion target in terms of damage gained, but unfortunately even with a Power Infusion it's still a mediocre overall damage dealer, which makes us think it'll be largely left on the sidelines by most Mythic progression teams. Unholy is quite sturdy, though depending on the fight it can be less strong if it’s forced out of melee range so that it can't Frappe de mort or if the incoming damage is predominantly physical so it can't be Carapace anti-magieed. Though they lack an immunity, Death Knights bring potent utility in Zone anti-magie and Poigne de la mort, which can range from useless to key depending on the encounter. It remains to be seen how Amirdrassil will favor these cooldowns - from testing, it seems like Anti Magic Zone will likely have several fights where it finds solid value. Getting from point A to point B can also be a struggle for Unholy, so movement intensive encounters may lead to more DPS lost for them than other specs, though Avancée de la mort is great against forced movement and knockbacks.

D Tier Specs for Amirdrassil Raid

Marksmanship's damage numbers are not that bad, but it's very hard to imagine a situation where it's worth playing over Beast Mastery or even Survival. Its damage is lower and its mobility is much lower than Beast Mastery, and Marksmanship Hunters also lose out on pet family passives. The much-maligned Hunter defensive suite has seen several buffs over the past few patches, to the point where they’re no longer a huge outlier on the lower end of raid DPS survivability, but they are still a little on the weaker end, especially when it comes to sustaining rot damage. Utility remains a weakness of the Hunter, though they do now have a raid buff, which makes one Hunter very likely to be seen in most comps, we just expect that Hunter will not be Marksmanship!

Affliction Lock looks worse than Demonology in most cases, and in the cases where Demonology is bad, Destruction seems much better positioned to be the Warlock spec of choice, though it's possible that fights like Council of Dreams would favor Affliction over Destruction. Unfortunately for Affliction locks, the final round of pre-raid tuning buffed the other two specs but left Affliction untouched, which likely solidifies its spot on the bench for this tier. It does still have the entire Warlock utility and defensive suite that is extremely powerful in a raid setting.

Windwalker had a scary PTR cycle and looks positioned to be one of the weakest single target damage dealers in Amirdrassil. It has recently been buffed in this department, but we think it’s still likely several percent below the middle of the pack on single target. Defensively, Windwalker has many active abilities that it can use to survive tough fights, though it lacks an immunity or the incredible passive defenses that some classes have instead (*cough* Warlocks *cough*). Windwalker is also, of course, an option for carrying the Toucher mystique buff into the raid - if Brewmaster and Mistweaver turn out to not be exciting options then the first copy of a Windwalker will skyrocket in value. If, on the other hand, Melee spots are in short supply, Windwalker may be on the chopping block.