DPS Rankings / Tier List – Phase 1 / Blackfathom Deeps – Season of Discovery (SoD)

DPS rankings and tier list for Blackfathom Deeps, phase 1 in WoW Classic Season of Discovery, with Hunters and Feral Druidss at the top of the list. BFD is a level up raid for level 25.

	Hunter	Feral Druid
	Rogue	Ret Paladin
	Warrior	Warlock
	Mage	Enh Shaman
	Ele Shaman	Balance Druid	Shadow Priest

1. Hunter (S Tier)
2. Cat Druid (S Tier)
3. Rogue (A Tier)
4. Paladin (A Tier)
5. Warrior (B Tier)
6. Warlock (B Tier)
7. Mage (C Tier)
8. Melee Shaman (C Tier)
9. Caster Shaman (D Tier)
10. Caster Druid (D Tier)
11. DPS Priest (D Tier)

The early stages of Phase 1 are going to vary heavily both from players expectation, and likely from later in the same Phase. Without a PTR for testing, a lot of things are performing a lot better and a lot worse than they should be.

Additionally, Blackfathom Deeps has proven to be surprisingly unfriendly to Caster DPS. This combined with mana issues, and spell ranks being a bit awkward by level 25 leads to Casters falling behind.

S-Tier

The S-Tier represents the most powerful classes in the current meta – those with the highest damage and utility. These specializations are usually recruited in larger numbers due to their outstanding performance.

Hunter

Starting Season of Discovery incredibly strong, Explosive Shot was way too powerful. That was nerfed fairly quickly, along with Chimera Shot.

Of course, this didn’t stop Hunters for long, and the new kid on the block is Scorpid pets, dealing way too much damage with Scorpid Poison. Along with this, Hunters by themselves have always been solid even at lower levels, and their inability to do glancing damage with ranged attacks makes them a great contender in a low Hit chance Phase.

Despite being the best damage dealer in the Phase, Hunters also bring vital group utility in the form of Aspect of the Lion, a (currently) everyone-wide Blessing of Kings, even buffing enemy players, because why not.

Cat Druid

Most of the gaps in the Cat DPS toolkit have been plugged, allowing them to deal massive damage both up close and even at range with Sunfire. Not only that, Cats and Bears bring one of the best tools available in Phase 1, Wild Strikes. In a Phase without Windfury Totem, this is an invaluable buff that has no opportunity cost as a Cat DPS.

A-Tier

The A-Tier represents strong DPS specializations that offer a great amount of damage and utility, but not offering the best possible damage output. They will be found in almost every raid group and it will be common to see more than one of each.

Rogues

Rogues find themselves in an interesting position. They deal massive DPS with Saber Slash and Deadly Brew, but these abilities currently do not stack. This means that any more than one will drastically reduce their damage output.

Additionally, outside of the usual stuns and interrupts, Rogues bring no group utility. They are a selfish DPS class, but a very strong one.

Paladin

Pink class rejoice, you are finally viable! While Paladins aren’t quite keeping up in DPS with the big 3, they bring a lot of utility in the form of Auras, Blessings, A Fear break, and more.

B-Tier

The B-Tier represents mediocre damage specializations. They are still considered viable, as they do a decent amount of damage, but they typically cannot compete with the A-tier specs on the damage meters. However, in many cases they provide valuable raid buffs that make them worth bringing anyway, as their utility makes up for their deficiency in raw damage.

Warrior

The original kings of Classic, Warriors may have felt like they got shafted by the Phase 1 changes and additions, but this doesn’t stop them from being one of the top DPS currently.

Unfortunately, similarly to Rogues, Warriors are a selfish DPS class, bringing very little to the raid outside of Battle Shout.

Warlock

DPS Warlocks are another mostly selfish class. In order to deal the high damage you’re looking for, you will be sacrificing a lot of the potential utility you could provide. You will need to make the choice between Incinerate and Demonic Pact, and at this point, the choice is likely going to be Incinerate.

While DPS Warlocks are definitely outmatched by the Physical DPS classes, they tend to be stronger than other casters because Life Tap allows them to last longer in a very mana restrictive Phase.

C-Tier

The specializations that make up the C-Tier are on the weaker side of the DPS spectrum. They can still be considered viable, occasionally offering useful buffs and debuffs, and can very often be very fun to play. However, you aren’t likely to be on the top places of DPS meters with these specs, and you won’t have the easiest time finding a raid group, as they aren’t in high demand.

Mage

DPS Mages are in a very strange position right now. As a DPS spec they don’t actually do very high damage, and are easily outclassed by a lot of other classes. The main benefit of bringing a Mage DPS is their ability to provide decently high DPS as a Healer. That’s right, high DPS Mages are still able to be very functional healers.

While Fire does offer some potentially high damage, the relatively low Critical chance available in Phase 1 is a heavy restriction on their damage. Instead, playing as a Frost/Arcane Mage seems to be the way to go, keeping Chronomantic Healing up while blasting the enemy with Arcane Blast and Arcane Missiles.

Melee Shaman

Enhancement is in an odd position right now, with alright damage but a few hurdles to overcome. Mana can be an issue if you are trying to spam max rank spells consistently, and your best AoE option has an increased threat modifier, making it difficult to use as a DPS.

Shamans bring the usual powerful toolkit, including Tremor Totem, Strength of Earth Totem, and Healing Stream Totem.

D-Tier

Simply put, specs in the D-tier are considered to be not viable. They can be fun to play, but you will struggle to get invited to raids when playing one of these, and you may even find yourself getting kicked from groups, as your damage will be really bad.

Caster Shaman

Unfortunately, Caster Shaman just doesn’t bring anything that Melee couldn’t do better. Lava Burst is great, but that is mostly the extent of their strength.

Shamans bring the usual powerful toolkit, including Tremor Totem, Strength of Earth Totem, and Healing Stream Totem.

Caster Druid

Despite Wrath not having a Mana cost with Fury of Stormrage, Caster Druids really don’t have the damage to stand up to other classes. Starsurge ended up being very disappointing, and Sunfire can deal more DPS in the paws of a Cat instead.

Caster Druids do bring a very solid ability to off-heal, able to throw out emergency Healing Touches at a moments notice, but this doesn’t help them as a DPS.

DPS Priest

Ranking DPS Priests at D is being generous. DPS Priests are barely playing Season of Discovery, with most of their changes being so low impact that they are effectively still on their original Classic toolkit of Shadow Word: Pain and Wanding. While you still bring all the usual tools of a Priest, so do Priest Healers.