WotLK Classic Phase 3 DPS Tier List: Best DPS Specs Ranking for ToC & ICC

4/1/2023 7:16:58 AM

Phase 3 is coming to WoTLK Classic with Trial of the Crusader and Onyxia's Lair raids, it's time to update the WoTLK Classic ToC DPS Tier List to see which DPS specs will allow you to enjoy efficient and unstoppable gameplay in this new content! 


WotLK Phase 3 DPS Tier List & Rankings For ToC & ICC

In this WotLK Classic guide, we're going to be talking about the best DPS in Phase 3 of Wrath of the Lich King, not only factoring in the best DPS but also which classes actually bring the most of the raid. After all, ToC is the ultimate Challenge running raid and you're going to want to get through the raid with as few wipes as possible, so let's get into DPS Tier List for WoTLK Classic Phase 3!


1 - Fire Mage (S Tier)

Fire Mage is going to be topping the meta on most fights in ToC, their gear is just scaling them so incredibly well, they're built for these medium-length fights and they're just going to dominate in raids. If they fixed the Mage bugs, mages would just become way too powerful. 


2 - Affliction Warlocks (S Tier)

Affliction warlocks are just absolutely dominating the meta right now and you're going to be miffed that we move them down or they just don't quite scale as amazingly as everybody else.


3 - Unholy Death Knights (S Tier)

Some experts and some of the private server people just kept bringing up that tier 9.5 stat bonus to Unholy Death Knights,  the tier 9.5 set bonus is considered to be so good that you might even use it over the tier 10.5 set.


4 - Assassination Rogue (S Tier)

One of the theories for why Assassination Rogues are out of DPS and combat Rogues, there's a lot of the best combat rope gravitated towards assassination. We can tell you from personal experience, Assassination Rogue absolutely dominates in every fight.


5 - Combat Rogues (S Tier)

Combat Rogues are out dpsing Assassination Rogues, they scale amazingly with gear and we would have thought they would have overtaken assassination by now, but for whatever reason, the assassination is just slightly ahead of them right now and it looks like that'll continue in ToC.


6 - Frost Death Knights (S Tier) 

Frost Death Knights are going to love their gear in Toc, we know things are different now. But back in the original ToC, Frost Death Knights were always near the top of the meta. That being said, you're not going to reach your maxed-out armor-penetrating form until ICC.


7 - Demo Warlocks (S Tier)

Demo Warlocks are going to be like death and taxes, they're always near the top of the DPS meta and they're always consistent so that analogy didn't really make any sense but demo locks are going to be pumping. Although they're almost always going to be near the top 5 of the DPS specs, their scaling isn't that amazing but one class that does have amazing scaling is Frost Death Knights


8 - Survival Hunters (A Tier)

It was ready to come into this list and not raid, Survival Hunters at the highlight. By looking back at the previous raids, we've noticed that Survival Hunters are always near the top of the DPS meta, they just absolutely pump and things are just going to only look better in ToC.


9 - Ret Paladins (A Tier)

Ret Paladins are really awesome and raised right now, they bring so much utility to the raid with their sacks and their buffs. Plus they're doing actually really high DPS now at least compared to before. The only thing we can see slowing down Ret Paladins in Phase 3 is that their tier 9.5 set bonus isn't that great.


10 - Fury Warriors (A Tier)

If you're fully pissed out on a warrior, you're more than viable with the new armor penetration gear coming in phase 3, things are only going to get better for you. That being said the set bonuses in Phase 3 aren't really that mind-blowing for Fury Warriors, you may have to wait until ICC to unlock your true potential.


11 - Enhance Shaman (A Tier)

Enhance Shamans are definitely going to be pumping at ToC and they're way better with the fire Elemental change. Plus it's extremely easy to get into a Raiders with Enhance Shaman, especially in those 10 mans.


12 - Marksmanship Hunters (A Tier)

Base Ulduar gear, and Marksmanship Hunters do really the same well right now, plus they're going to scale extremely well in ToC. 


13 - Arcane Mages (A Tier)

Arcane Mages are going to be way less popular in ToC, that being said, we really do think they're still viable. There's definitely going to be a better and more popular Mage spec coming up later in the tier list.


14 - Shadow Priest (A Tier)

Shadow Priests is an incredibly valuable asset to your raid, you could also dual spec the disc or holy anytime you need since ToC is going to be all about minimizing wipes and maximizing safety. We do think Shadow Priests will shine, but there's no denying that Shadow Priests is on the lower end of the DPS scale.


15 - Balance Druid (B Tier)

Some people do enjoy the gameplay of Boomkins, from experience they do dominate on fights like Oh, Deer!, and they do Sim really well but a lot of the strengths of Boomkins aren't going to be really taken advantage of in the team. For example, there's no trash in ToC, so you're not going to be able to Starfall any big packs. Even on fights like a new Barak, we just don't see Balance Druid really topping the meters.


16 - Feral Druids (B Tier)

At number 16 we've got Feral Druids. We know Feral Druids scale really well in ToC and ICC, and they're going to get a lot of benefits from the armor fan but Feral Druids have a really low-skill floor and a really high-skill ceiling. Coupling that with the fact that many of the top-tier Feral Druids have moved to other specs like Affliction Warlock leads us to rank Feral Druid low.


17 - Ele Shaman (B Tier)

Ele Shamans are great in ToC, obviously, they can duel back to Resto Locks, so they can heal for any fight, they need to plus the new Fire alley change is really nice. Ele Shamans are going to be incredibly desirable as well for 10 mans and even though we don't personally respect Ele Shaman damage as much as everybody else WoWSims in full first are basically within 10 of the top specs.


18 - Destro Lock (B Tier)

Moving into the B tier, we've got Destro Lock. Destro Lock has a lot working against it in phase 3, the average fights in TOC are very long, about 4:45 minutes each. You don't really offer much to the raid in terms of unique buffs or debuffs. Ultimately TOC is a challenge running and speed running rates, you're not going to see a lot of real respects that don't add a lot to the raid. That being said Destro Locks actually does scale really well especially with haste so you might see a couple.


19 - Arms Warrior (C Tier)

Starting with the C Tier, we've got the Arms Warrior because Arms Warriors have a reputation of bottoming out the meters, it doesn't really make sense for the best players to play them. The best warriors have re-rolled into either Fury or Prop Warrior and they've driven the averages down even more.


20 - Beast Master Hunter (C Tier)

Also in the C tier here, we've got the BM Hunter, the DPS data shows less than 3000 BM hunter parses in the last week. There are two better 100 specs, so unless you're just playing to have fun, we don't really see a point in bringing a Beast Master. 


21 - Sub Rogue & Frost Mage (C Tier)

And rounding out the C tier, at the bottom of the WoTLK Phase DPS tier list, we have both Sub Rogue and Frost Mage. Although you could theoretically pump with either of these specs, it's just better option for PVE.


So now you know the best DPS classes in phase 3 of Wrath of the Lich King but there's some really key information every DPS player needs to know before they go into the phase. We will update more news and guides about WoTLK Classic Phase 3, stay tuned!