WoW Classic Season of Mastery is rolling with some players already completing their grind to level 60 once again.
With tons of changes all around, Season of Mastery will shake everything up in WoW Classic - and that extends to class balance.
Here we'll break down the strongest WoW Classic Season of Mastery classes across the best DPS, Healers, and Tanks in light of these big changes.
UPDATED - Season of Mastery Raiding Has Begun
WoW Classic Season of Mastery arrived with an incredibly smooth launch to tens of thousands of players across its servers.
Now a week in, the fastest levelers have completed their first Season of Mastery grind by reaching level 60 (including the first level 60 Hardcore one life characters).
With that, raids will soon be ago for the fastest players, and that means we'll finally have official WoW Classic Season of Mastery parse data to go through!
What's Different About Season of Mastery?
Season of Mastery will introduce a ton of major changes to WoW Classic that will change how the game works out over its phases.
Season of Mastery will result in the following changes:
- Removal of World Buffs
- More difficult boss encounters (some bosses receiving old patched out mechanics, others picking up entirely new mechanics, and more health + damage all around)
- Removal of the Debuff Cap
- More gear scarcity with shorter phases
- Different gear availability windows like Tier 0.5 and PVP sets being available from Phase 1
WoW Classic Season of Mastery Best DPS Classes
WoW Classic had a very straightforward hierarchy for DPS classes the first time around - but with Season of Mastery, things are shaking up.
For starters, the outright dominance of Warriors will be handicapped thanks to the removal of world buffs and shorter phases leading to less gear to go around. As the best scaling class, these will be important changes that should hurt Warriors a bit more than others.
Beyond this, classes that dealt with mana issues in the past will also struggle to push through longer and more difficult boss fights.
As well, new boss mechanics will punish some classes more than others, like Shazzrah exploding more often to limit melee classes during this fight.
With all of these variables in mind, here's how we think the best DPS in WoW Classic Season of Mastery will shake up - do keep in mind this may change once log data is finally available.
#1 - Rogue
Rogues should deal with the Season of Mastery changes better than most any other WoW Classic DPS class/spec.
This is due to a number of different variables.
For starters, the Energy system allows Rogues to deal with much longer fights better than most other classes, and as an innate system (vs Warriors having to generate their rage with damage), World Buffs won't cost Rogues as much as the other top tier WoW Classic DPS.
Along with this, Rogues will get a great start in Phase 1 thanks to the availability of Tier 0.5 right from the beginning.
While extra melee mechanics will punish Rogues, this should be much less damaging than the Season of Mastery changes will be for other classes all considered.
#2 - Warlock
Warlocks are in a special spot with Season of Mastery.
For starters, Warlocks will be the chief beneficiaries of the removal of the WoW Classic Debuff Cap as the only practical class where using DOT effects is actually an increase to DPS. Along with this, they'll be the least affected by the lengthening of boss fights being able to create their own mana on the spot.
Add to this the flexibility Warlocks have in how to approach boss fights of all kinds, and you have the DPS class perhaps most impacted by Season of Mastery overall.
With this, Warlocks will rise from being the perennial 3rd or 4th best WoW Classic DPS to a solid 2nd place.
#3 - Warrior
Warriors were the uncrowned kings of WoW Classic, but with the Season of Mastery changes, things won't be as simple as they once were.
Warriors take the third spot on our list due to a number of effective nerfs with Season of Mastery. For starters, the removal of World Buffs will hit Warriors the hardest, the class that scales the best on stats and runs on the Rage system, entirely reliant on doing more damage to unlock the ability to do more damage.
With no World Buffs, shorter phases to limit gearing options, and more punishing melee mechanics - Warriors will see a major drop in their DPS potential in WoW Classic Season of Mastery.
Whether this drop will take them down to #3 or further remains to be seen, but the extra bonus of Deep Wounds no longer being pushed off with the Debuff Cap will not be enough to offset the removal of World Buffs for Warriors, and the damage (or lack thereof) will show on the DPS meters come launch.
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WoW Classic Season of Mastery Best Healing Classes
The huge changes in WoW Classic Season of Mastery don't just extend to DPS, and will also have a massive impact on Healers.
While most of these changes will hurt equally across the board - some WoW Classic healing classes will come out better than others come raid time.
Here's where we think the best WoW Classic healing classes will rank in Season of Mastery.
#1 - Priest
The Priest was an unsung hero in WoW Classic, the bread and butter of any healing squad on Horde and Alliance alike. We expect that won't change in Season of Mastery.
With huge potential to heal damage quickly, shield damage before it happens, and spread healing over time with Renew, Priests are the multitool of WoW Classic healing - and this will make them invaluable to raid teams in Season of Mastery.
With longer and more difficult fights, mana costs will be the most taxing aspect of Healing in WoW Classic Season of Mastery. This means that all healers will need to rotate consumables effectively to stand a chance - but for Priest, this is as far as the damage is done as a class that's less reliant on Crit from World Buffs and can by and large play a variety of styles and spec trees to maximize mana usage across your healing team.
#2a - Shaman
Shaman have become incredibly important in WoW Classic TBC thanks to Bloodlust - but don't let that cloud how important this healing class has been for the Horde in WoW Classic.
Shaman are pound for pound the best AOE healer in all of WoW Classic, and while only Horde players will get to enjoy these benefits, Shaman will continue to make a massive difference in Season of Mastery. As a class that's less dependent on crits and able to "cheese" mana systems by fishing for procs, Shaman will enjoy largely the same efficacy in Season of Mastery as WoW Classic.
One challenge Shaman players will come to find is figuring out which Totems are absolutely critical to any raid encounter, as limiting excess Totem usage will be a very important way for the class to save mana to handle longer boss fights.
#2b - Paladin
Due to the fact Shaman and Paladin rank as the second-best Healer for both of their exclusive factions, we're ranking them equally at #2 on our list.
Paladins earn their place as the second-best WoW Classic Season of Mastery healer for the Alliance despite being one of the most affected classes with the new changes. This comes from the fact that Holy Paladins rely quite heavily on Crit to alleviate mana costs with their Illumination talent as well as Int scaling with Divine Intellect - making them the most hurt by the removal of World Buffs.
Still, Paladins remain untouchable as one of the best Healers for WoW Classic Season of Mastery due to the sheer strength of their buffs as well as their strong burst healing output. With the extra utility of Lay on Hands, Binding of Protection, and many other spells as well - Alliance raids will rely more on Paladins than ever before with more difficult and lengthy boss fights (though Salvation will mean much less with DPS limitations).
If you're going the Paladin path in Season of Mastery, expect to be a savior for many players failing to adapt to the more difficult boss mechanics, and you'll likely need to focus much more on timing your BoP, Holy Shock, and Lay On Hand spells to get maximum effectiveness on raid night.
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WoW Classic Season of Mastery Best Tank Classes
In WoW Classic, the Tank landscape was pretty narrow due to some classes simply not meeting the standards of others on any consistent basis in Raid environments.
This will be even more rigid in Season of Mastery where mana pools will be further tested by long fights and more difficult mechanics will challenge tanks to rise to a new standard. With that said, the hierarchy of the very limited WoW Classic tanking classes will be exactly the same order.
With this in mind, we'll keep our Tank list simple.
Warriors will be an absolute necessity for all Raid groups in WoW Classic Season of Mastery, as the longer fights will punish Paladins who already weren't up to snuff, and will hurt Druids who rely on mana to offer more utility in instances of using Rebirth, Innervate, and other support spells. These mana constraints will also hurt bear druids swapping into cat form to generate more threat as off tanks, further putting the weight on Warrior tanks.
If you want to run a successful raid in WoW Classic Season of Mastery, you'll need a good number of Warriors to progress - and with more damage, Fury Warriors relying on Dual Wielding will be under much more pressure, meaning deep Protection will likely be the better move for your talent trees.
READ MORE: WoW Classic Season of Mastery Name Reservation Opening Soon
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