Silosobi
Dalayan Pious Diety
I was remembering Cinn's old class rankings post, and things have changed a lot since then, so I thought I would make a new class ranking post to give newer players an idea of how classes match up, as well as just prompt some discussion/debate.
Disclosure: I will do my best to rank classes by their overall usefulness and viability through the entire game, but at the end of the day, I value raid/6man content more highly, and I play mostly with very high end toons, I remember lower tiers, and see some recent parses and players, but this will be most accurate for high tier classes. Rankings are also RELATIVE to their respective role in the game, so it doesn't matter if you think a warrior is stronger than a rogue. What matters is how a warrior stacks up to other tanks, and how a rogue stacks up to other dps, and the overall utility / other traits a class brings to the table, because a rogue generally won't take a warriors spot and vice versa.
Shit tier:
Beastlord: The shaman/monk hybrid that fights alongside their trusty Warder pet. Beastlords are a utility/dps class, but at the end of the day, they don't bring enough of either to the table to let them stack up against other potential suitors for a group/raid spot. They can't tank. Their heals are weak. Their dps is terrible. Their utility is nice, but no where near enough to balance out their weaknesses.
Low Tier:
Druid: The nature-loving heal class brings a ton of solo/questing utility to the table, and has some potent and efficient healing, but they are the lowest dps of the healers, and the 6 second tic system their HOTs rely on results in a lot of wasted heals, especially in the raid game.
Rogue: I feel a bit weird putting rogues here, since they are one of best dps classes in the game, but they are also probably the most one dimensional class in the game, and get shut down by fight mechanics more often than others. There is tons of content where rogues excel, but even then they don't bring anything to the table other than dps.
Magician*: Magicians are the pet masters. They do some solid spell dps as well, and most raids will be happy to have one magician along for their DS and mod rods. They end up with a lower rank for a similar reason to rogues, in that their dps is shut down by more mechanics than most other classes, and their pet(s) can die in AE situations. Rains are locked into a single location, take forever to cast, and damage the mage if they are forced on top of them. This renders the mage quite low dps on some fights.
Mid Tier:
Magician with all class tomes*: They suffer from the same shortfalls as above, but magician class tomes are such a significant dps boost, that a mage with all of them complete becomes far more desirable for their dps potential.
Warrior: The pure meele tank class, that received a very cool new ability system, is not to be underestimated, their mitigation is the best in the game and their abilities allow for some dynamic play, but when you compare them to the other two tank classes, they just don't bring as much to the table in most situations.
Wizard: The king of magical burst damage has a lot of growing pains, with lower sustained damage than others(until high tiers/mana pool), and suffers greatly on content with elemental resistances. Wizards used to be much stronger, but changes to the vah back, channeling, and AOD impacted wizards significantly more than any other class. Wizards tend to be benefit more from gear/exp more than most others, and a super maxed out high end wizard might slip into the High Tier, but more generally they are mid tier right now.
Monk: Recent monk changes really lifted this class up, or they would have been Low Tier, but right now they can produce some very solid dps numbers, while being a decent off tank, and retaining their utility through FD, mend, invulnerability, etc. Monks might even be borderline High Tier now, they are desirability on nearly all 6 man, and can do very nice single target dps, but they do suffer from being meele ranged, and losing dps when targets change.
Shaman: Shamans are a solid class throughout the game. They have absurd mana regen, and can put out solid single target healing, single target dps, or both. They are a premier 6 man member through most of the game for their ability to heal a tank for days on end. They also have some of the best debuffs in the game, although these are no where near as important as they were on live.
High Tier:
Necromancer: The evil/undead caster class. They lost festering curse a while ago, and gained significant damage and efficiency to some of their DOTs. This freed them from being cooldown and single target reliant, and allowed them to remain a top tier dps at all stages of the game. They have huge mana regen, can put out the most efficient caster dps in the game, using spells with massive resist adjusts leaving them viable on content other casters just fail. On top of all this, necromancers having amazing utility, with the second best mez in the game, as well as FD and rez for wipe recovery, and to top it all off they have lifetaps, granting more survivability than pretty much any other dps.
Ranger: Masters of the bow, rangers consistently parse among the top, and their dps is shut down probably less often than any other class. They do meele damage from longer range than any caster can nuke. On top of this they share the throne with monks for "best off tank". The best track in the game never hurts. Rangers dont bring nearly the same utility as the other top tier dps classes, but their ability to tank on top of being a top level ranged dps earns them a spot.
Bard: This song singing, flute playing, not-so-tanky plate class is the king of utility among dps classes. They get to pick any two from a large variety of highly useful and situational buffs, and apply them (in most cases) to the entire raid. They also get nice damage/debuff songs, duel wield weapons, the highest damage nuke in the game (and bonus damage to targets below 15%, when most "burn phases" are). Did I forget to mention they have a meele immune stance for when a tank falls over, and mez spells? When most people are talking about an "ideal raid setup" bard is the class most people would want two of over anyone else. Most of their abilities don't even stack, they just have so much powerful/useful stuff, that its always nice to have two of them around.
Cleric: No surprise here, clerics are the king of healing classes. Their quick heal is nearly as powerful as the "big heal" of others. Most of their heals hit instantly and for huge amounts, and they don't lose much efficiency at all for these clearly superior healing mechanics. They can do free dps with their ancient hammer, and have some of the best AA Abilities in the game, including Call of the Blessed, which is basically just "hit this one button to completely heal your entire raid for the next 24 seconds" for a total cost of 0 mana. Cleric is the class every raid wants 3 of, and every 6 man wants as their main healer (and sometimes only healer).
Paladin: The cleric and tank hybrid struggled for a long time with terrible agro, and they remain the lowest dps tank, however their agro mechanics vastly improved through Diving Stun and other changes. Without having to devote all of their time to holding agro, a good paladin can provide significant self healing, and more importantly group healing and sustain through Tools, POTLady, and Runic Group HOT, which are the mechanics that really set them a step above others on a lot of content. Paladins remain the anti-undead class, possessing several abilities that let them really excel when fighting undead monsters.
Shadow Knight: For a long time Shadow Knights were the king of tanks, but Pally agro changes allowed them to contest that title, and at this point it really just depends on what content you are doing as to which tank is best. SKs retain the fastest and strongest single target agro in the game, and their Runic: Veil can allow them to gain easy and immediate agro on any number of mobs that the rest of the group/raid is fighting. Surprisingly, SKs can actually rival pally self healing through their life taps, and stances. Shadow knights are the best dps among tanks, which is largely spell/range based, and fast casting, so it can be used while kiting. On top of all this, SKs have some nice utility, with FD, sublimate soul, pet sacrifices, and other mechanics.
God Tier:
Enchanter: Enchanters are in a bit of a weird spot. They are generally mediocre or bad at soloing, duoing, exping, and even doing 6 man content(unless you tailor the group around them), but holy shit, does this class excel at raids. Their stacking is worse than almost any other class, yet its still usually worth bringing two on a raid. A single enchanter though, provides far more utility than anyone else, and they can add huge dps as well. This effect is most obvious at higher tiers, when mana pools are large, and casters all have archaics/runics. They have the best mana regen buff in the game, the best haste buff in the game, the best mez in the game, awesome slow/debuffs, dampening to reduce raid wide spell damage taken, curses to massively boost dps during burn phases, and boon/somatic/AOD which can be cast on other players to copy some of their dps. They also get charm, which has limited uses, but in certain situations, if an enchanter is diligent, a charmed pet can provide huge dps (and occasionally tanking too). Enchanters aren't *always* super powerful, but in the right situations, a good enchanter is bringing as much value to the raid as 2-3+ other characters combined.
Disclosure: I will do my best to rank classes by their overall usefulness and viability through the entire game, but at the end of the day, I value raid/6man content more highly, and I play mostly with very high end toons, I remember lower tiers, and see some recent parses and players, but this will be most accurate for high tier classes. Rankings are also RELATIVE to their respective role in the game, so it doesn't matter if you think a warrior is stronger than a rogue. What matters is how a warrior stacks up to other tanks, and how a rogue stacks up to other dps, and the overall utility / other traits a class brings to the table, because a rogue generally won't take a warriors spot and vice versa.
Shit tier:
Beastlord: The shaman/monk hybrid that fights alongside their trusty Warder pet. Beastlords are a utility/dps class, but at the end of the day, they don't bring enough of either to the table to let them stack up against other potential suitors for a group/raid spot. They can't tank. Their heals are weak. Their dps is terrible. Their utility is nice, but no where near enough to balance out their weaknesses.
Low Tier:
Druid: The nature-loving heal class brings a ton of solo/questing utility to the table, and has some potent and efficient healing, but they are the lowest dps of the healers, and the 6 second tic system their HOTs rely on results in a lot of wasted heals, especially in the raid game.
Rogue: I feel a bit weird putting rogues here, since they are one of best dps classes in the game, but they are also probably the most one dimensional class in the game, and get shut down by fight mechanics more often than others. There is tons of content where rogues excel, but even then they don't bring anything to the table other than dps.
Magician*: Magicians are the pet masters. They do some solid spell dps as well, and most raids will be happy to have one magician along for their DS and mod rods. They end up with a lower rank for a similar reason to rogues, in that their dps is shut down by more mechanics than most other classes, and their pet(s) can die in AE situations. Rains are locked into a single location, take forever to cast, and damage the mage if they are forced on top of them. This renders the mage quite low dps on some fights.
Mid Tier:
Magician with all class tomes*: They suffer from the same shortfalls as above, but magician class tomes are such a significant dps boost, that a mage with all of them complete becomes far more desirable for their dps potential.
Warrior: The pure meele tank class, that received a very cool new ability system, is not to be underestimated, their mitigation is the best in the game and their abilities allow for some dynamic play, but when you compare them to the other two tank classes, they just don't bring as much to the table in most situations.
Wizard: The king of magical burst damage has a lot of growing pains, with lower sustained damage than others(until high tiers/mana pool), and suffers greatly on content with elemental resistances. Wizards used to be much stronger, but changes to the vah back, channeling, and AOD impacted wizards significantly more than any other class. Wizards tend to be benefit more from gear/exp more than most others, and a super maxed out high end wizard might slip into the High Tier, but more generally they are mid tier right now.
Monk: Recent monk changes really lifted this class up, or they would have been Low Tier, but right now they can produce some very solid dps numbers, while being a decent off tank, and retaining their utility through FD, mend, invulnerability, etc. Monks might even be borderline High Tier now, they are desirability on nearly all 6 man, and can do very nice single target dps, but they do suffer from being meele ranged, and losing dps when targets change.
Shaman: Shamans are a solid class throughout the game. They have absurd mana regen, and can put out solid single target healing, single target dps, or both. They are a premier 6 man member through most of the game for their ability to heal a tank for days on end. They also have some of the best debuffs in the game, although these are no where near as important as they were on live.
High Tier:
Necromancer: The evil/undead caster class. They lost festering curse a while ago, and gained significant damage and efficiency to some of their DOTs. This freed them from being cooldown and single target reliant, and allowed them to remain a top tier dps at all stages of the game. They have huge mana regen, can put out the most efficient caster dps in the game, using spells with massive resist adjusts leaving them viable on content other casters just fail. On top of all this, necromancers having amazing utility, with the second best mez in the game, as well as FD and rez for wipe recovery, and to top it all off they have lifetaps, granting more survivability than pretty much any other dps.
Ranger: Masters of the bow, rangers consistently parse among the top, and their dps is shut down probably less often than any other class. They do meele damage from longer range than any caster can nuke. On top of this they share the throne with monks for "best off tank". The best track in the game never hurts. Rangers dont bring nearly the same utility as the other top tier dps classes, but their ability to tank on top of being a top level ranged dps earns them a spot.
Bard: This song singing, flute playing, not-so-tanky plate class is the king of utility among dps classes. They get to pick any two from a large variety of highly useful and situational buffs, and apply them (in most cases) to the entire raid. They also get nice damage/debuff songs, duel wield weapons, the highest damage nuke in the game (and bonus damage to targets below 15%, when most "burn phases" are). Did I forget to mention they have a meele immune stance for when a tank falls over, and mez spells? When most people are talking about an "ideal raid setup" bard is the class most people would want two of over anyone else. Most of their abilities don't even stack, they just have so much powerful/useful stuff, that its always nice to have two of them around.
Cleric: No surprise here, clerics are the king of healing classes. Their quick heal is nearly as powerful as the "big heal" of others. Most of their heals hit instantly and for huge amounts, and they don't lose much efficiency at all for these clearly superior healing mechanics. They can do free dps with their ancient hammer, and have some of the best AA Abilities in the game, including Call of the Blessed, which is basically just "hit this one button to completely heal your entire raid for the next 24 seconds" for a total cost of 0 mana. Cleric is the class every raid wants 3 of, and every 6 man wants as their main healer (and sometimes only healer).
Paladin: The cleric and tank hybrid struggled for a long time with terrible agro, and they remain the lowest dps tank, however their agro mechanics vastly improved through Diving Stun and other changes. Without having to devote all of their time to holding agro, a good paladin can provide significant self healing, and more importantly group healing and sustain through Tools, POTLady, and Runic Group HOT, which are the mechanics that really set them a step above others on a lot of content. Paladins remain the anti-undead class, possessing several abilities that let them really excel when fighting undead monsters.
Shadow Knight: For a long time Shadow Knights were the king of tanks, but Pally agro changes allowed them to contest that title, and at this point it really just depends on what content you are doing as to which tank is best. SKs retain the fastest and strongest single target agro in the game, and their Runic: Veil can allow them to gain easy and immediate agro on any number of mobs that the rest of the group/raid is fighting. Surprisingly, SKs can actually rival pally self healing through their life taps, and stances. Shadow knights are the best dps among tanks, which is largely spell/range based, and fast casting, so it can be used while kiting. On top of all this, SKs have some nice utility, with FD, sublimate soul, pet sacrifices, and other mechanics.
God Tier:
Enchanter: Enchanters are in a bit of a weird spot. They are generally mediocre or bad at soloing, duoing, exping, and even doing 6 man content(unless you tailor the group around them), but holy shit, does this class excel at raids. Their stacking is worse than almost any other class, yet its still usually worth bringing two on a raid. A single enchanter though, provides far more utility than anyone else, and they can add huge dps as well. This effect is most obvious at higher tiers, when mana pools are large, and casters all have archaics/runics. They have the best mana regen buff in the game, the best haste buff in the game, the best mez in the game, awesome slow/debuffs, dampening to reduce raid wide spell damage taken, curses to massively boost dps during burn phases, and boon/somatic/AOD which can be cast on other players to copy some of their dps. They also get charm, which has limited uses, but in certain situations, if an enchanter is diligent, a charmed pet can provide huge dps (and occasionally tanking too). Enchanters aren't *always* super powerful, but in the right situations, a good enchanter is bringing as much value to the raid as 2-3+ other characters combined.
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