Simulations
Numbers from the WoWSims Forever fork (ElliotWood/Forever, MIT): each spec's preset character on a 300 s single target (±5 s), level 63 boss, full raid buffs and consumes, generated launch (pre-raid) gear, Forever ruleset. Generated 2026-09-15 from fork commit 6d8fac0. These are estimates from pre-beta data. Read the caveats before quoting them, and run your own character in the hosted sim.
Class tier list
Editorial, based on the simulated DPS and threat below plus how complete each class's data is. Healing specs are not simulated and are not ranked.
Fury warrior tops the single-target chart by a wide margin and Protection has the second-best threat and mitigation. Warlock's Demonic Pact build is the best caster and the most trustworthy number here: its tree was transcribed by hand and has one open question left.
Shadow priest is the second-best caster now that periodic damage can crit, and priest keeps its healing role. Mage is solid with fire and has the least-changed tree, so its numbers are the least likely to move in beta. Combat daggers rogue sits mid-pack with a known unmodelled penalty from Forever's weapon-skill cap.
Retribution finally sims as a real DPS spec, and paladin got the deepest rework of any class, which is upside and risk in equal measure. Feral bear posts the highest threat of any tank, but cat is on a half-built gear set and balance is last among DPS. Hunter is middling in pre-raid gear and historically scales with gear later.
Elemental and enhancement are both bottom-third, and Maelstrom Weapon's rank scaling is guesswork until the beta client is datamined.
Single-target DPS by build
Every simulated build, best first. Hover a bar for threat, the number when standing in front of the boss, and the best item set.
Warrior Fury939
Warlock Demonic Pact763
Priest Shadow716- Warlock Affliction695
Mage Fire, Classic-style build659- Warlock Demonic Sacrifice / Ruin633
Rogue Combat, daggers625
Paladin Retribution624- Warlock Shadow and Flame605
Hunter Hunter583- Rogue Combat, Sinister Strike582
- Mage Frost, Classic-style build565
- Mage Frost, Forever build551
- Rogue Assassination, Mutilate531
Shaman Elemental, Forever build509- Mage Arcane, Forever build498
- Shaman Elemental, Classic-style build496
- Mage Fire, Forever build493
- Mage Arcane, Classic-style build481
- Shaman Elemental, Stormcaller build471
- Shaman Enhancement457
Druid Feral cat448- Druid Balance, Classic-style build398
- Druid Balance, Forever Moonkin build391
- Priest Smite372
Tanks
| Spec | Threat / s | Damage taken / s | DPS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Druid · Feral bear | 1562 | 717 | 598 |
| Warrior · Protection | 1192 | 663 | 566 |
| Paladin · Protection | 557 | 737 | 419 |
How much each tree changed
From AutoWoW's talent data: talents with no Classic equivalent, ones whose numbers or text changed, and ones carried over unchanged. Bigger reworks mean more room for the beta to move the numbers above.
Read before quoting
- Healers are not simulated at all: holy, discipline, restoration and holy paladin play no part in the ranking.
- Item stats are still Classic numbers and the gear sets are generated pre-raid launch kits, not best-in-slot.
- 58 of 469 talents have rank scaling extrapolated from a single rank-one BlizzCon tooltip. The beta client can move any of this.
- The fork's tank warrior runs the Fury rotation and protection paladin runs a basic rotation, so both tank rows undersell those specs.
- Feral cat wears 8 of 17 slots in its preset, so its number is a floor.
- Weapon skill is priced at full Classic value; Forever caps it lower per item, which costs Combat sword rogues roughly 9%.
- Raid buffs assume a full 40-player buff set; Forever's first tier mixes 10, 20 and 40-player raids.
Engine and presets: wowsims/classic (MIT) via the ElliotWood/Forever fork. Regenerate with scripts/extract_sim_results.py after rebuilding the fork.