Choosing a class

Choosing what class you want to be in World of Warcraft is arguably the most important choice you will ever make. Unlike races --which can be changed for a fee--, classes are permanent. Well, what exactly is a class? A class is a specific specialization of combat you choose to take on your character. A mage is a class, a warrior is a class, a dwarf is not a class, it's a race. For more help on how to choose a race, see the Choosing a race page!

All classes in World of Warcraft are versatile, but each one has different roles in which it excels. It helps to choose a class based on the role you think you will enjoy playing. You should try to choose a class that's more like you. Ex.If you like helping and don't really like to fight then choose a healer. And if you want to be the one putting out the damage then you could be DPS. If protecting people is your thing, then maybe tanking it for you.

Within World of Warcraft, there are some very defined roles which each class finds itself. On a basic level, there are healers, tanks, and damage dealers (DPS); but many classes can fill a multitude of these roles, with varied effectiveness.

Classes can be roughly categorized by whether they are front-line or support, whether they are best at melee (close) or ranged combat, and how easily they can be played solo (without needing to be part of a group for enjoyable play). The lines are not always clear-cut; for example, support classes can still be defined as primarily melee or ranged for the damage output they do, even though damage is not necessarily their strong point. There is significant overlap in abilities between different classes. Still, each does have its strong points, as outlined below.

Although people make alts in other classes, you may find that there is one particular class which you are called to, and that fits more strongly than the others with your particular psychology and playstyle. In this sense, Blizzard's advertising slogan for WoW, "What's your game?" is actually extremely appropriate. It may initially be a little difficult to figure out what your particular game is, in terms of class, but when you find it, you'll know.

New players should also remember that a given class's potency may not be obvious until later levels (particularly 40+). Sometimes all you need is a single spell that changes your gameplay from maddeningly difficult to excessively fun. Playing, for example, a priest or a druid might seem particularly difficult during early levels, but the class will suddenly change after learning a new ability or talent, increasing the fun and excitement of playing it by several notches. Having a source of advice on playing your desired class, from the beginning until the level cap (several go through various play-style changes, particularly depending on the talents available), can also make a huge difference in the degree of enjoyment you find in playing one class versus another.

Finally, players should understand that World of Warcraft is a constantly-evolving game. Any given class or talent tree's potency relative to any other may vary dramatically from patch to patch. The class descriptions below noticeably omit references to class balance for this very reason.

Also see:


 * Classes for links to detailed info and specific race and faction requirements.
 * Class proficiencies for info on weapons and armor availability and limitations.

Can't decide which class to choose ?
If you are completely unsure about which class to choose, then pick one of the hybrid classes. The hybrid classes are classes which are able to fill different roles in the game. This way you can experiment with different play styles during your evolution and better decide which way you like to play most. The hybrid classes are Death Knight, Druid, Paladin, Priest, Shaman and Warrior. Paladins and Druids are good at dealing damage, tanking or healing, while Shamans are good at dealing damage (caster or melee) or healing. Death Knights and Warriors are able to deal melee damage or tank, while Priests are good at healing (with two healing specs) or casting damaging spells.

Pure or Hybrid Class
In choosing a class one has to determine if they want to be able to fulfill one or more roles for there character. Pure classes are only able to fulfill one role and that is always a DPS role. Those classes are hunters, mages, rogues, and warlocks. The advantage to a pure class is that they out DPS all hybrid classes. All other classes are hybrid classes and can perform either 2 roles or all 3 roles of DPS, tank, or heal. Because these classes are able to have multiple roles they are penalized with a hybrid tax on their DPS.

Class Roles in WoW
The first place to start when choosing a class is often choosing a role. There are three basic roles in WoW, the damage receiver (aka: the tank), healer, and damage dealer (a.k.a.: DPS). All of these are referring to the "job" of a character in a group setting.

Many places within WoW are instances, or dungeons. These will take a group (often 5, but can be up to 40) of players to defeat. These groups often live and die based upon the effectiveness of the player roles they are composed of, too many of any one role will often make for very slow, or very hard runs.

Tank
The tank's job is to take all the damage for the group. They are often the first ones in and the last ones out in a fight. They must stand proud, keeping all the monsters attention (threat) while their party members deal the damage and kill the monsters. They usually make up the least percentage of players. Classes that can become tanks are Druids, Paladins, Warriors and Death Knights. Tanks are vital members of any group or raid as they have to pull the boss' attention to themselves so as to not let the DPS or Healers to get harmed. Tanks have humongous health pools and high damage mitigation which they need to be able to withstand the boss' attacks. Each type of tank have their own specific 'Emergency Button' spell to help them when the boss goes into enrage mode. Anyone looking to be a tank must be generally patient, have good leadership and also able to learn from their mistakes fast. If a tank dies or makes a mistake, the whole group will die. New tanks will experience a lot of criticism and need to learn from what they are doing wrong. Once they become proficient with how to tank, tanking will become the easiest role to play

Tanks have two types of encounters they need to worry about, AoE fights and Single-Target Fights. In AoE fights, tanks have to utilize different set of spells and abilities in order to pull threat. A warrior has to use Thunder Clap to pull all the spawns to him and keep them on him. These spells do less threat than single target spells to each monster but overall due to their AoE, they will be able to keep the AoE monsters on them.

Single-Target encounters usually require the tank to move around or to just keep on building threat on the boss. Tanks usually start off learning how to tank with these types of fights as they are simpler to grasp and execute. Skills like Shield of Righteousness, Devastate, Rune Strike and Ravage are used to keep the boss' agro on the tank.

Tanks are usually expected to lead the group through the dungeon or raid. This is because tanks HAVE TO RESEARCH ON THE BOSSES beforehand to learn all the bosses special attacks and strategies to take them down. Tanks need to know the Boss through and through as they are the ones who will be fighting the boss face to face, literally, and who will be taking most of the bosses'damage. A dps or healer will not tell the tank how to fight a boss unless asked as tanks are expected to know the boss through and through. Instead the tank is expected to teach other members things to note about the boss. Any special attacks, any situations and what type of fight is it.

All in all, a Tank is a big responsibility and carry the biggest pressure amongst all roles as their death would mean the end of the fight and a wipe. A healer can tell if a tanks damage mitigation is good or bad while a Dps can tell if tanks pull threat well or not. Note that with the responsibility tanks get the most reward amongst all the other roles. In any raid there is only a maximum of 3 tanks. This small number as compared to 17 dps allows the tank to get their loot easily having only 2 other competitors. This is a big satisfaction for anybody.

Healer
The healer's job is to keep everyone alive, primarily the tank through the use of healing spells. Healers make up the 2nd least and most class role amongst players. Healers keep the group alive by doing more than just direct healing. There are shields, eg. Power Word: Shield, HoT, healing over time spells like Rejuvenation, Area of Effect Healing spells like Chain Heal and of course the direct ones like Holy Light. The classes that can become healers are Druids, Paladins, Priests and Shamans.

A healer HAS TO KNOW HOW TO HEAL EFFECTIVELY. Each healer class is equipped with a Strong Heal, a Fast Heal, an Area Of Effect Heal and a Standard day-to-day heal. One of the healer's responsibility is to be able to know which heal to be used for which situation. The decision on choosing which heal is close to instantenous and should be void of any hesitation. For eg. a Holy Paladin has Flash of Light as his fast heal, Divine Light as his Big Heal, Light Of Dawn as his AoE heal and Holy Light as his standard heal. If the healer was healing a tank he could use one of these heals. If the tank has only a little life lost, he could heal with Holy Light however if a huge chunk of life is lost he would heal with Divine Light. If the tank was at 25% health and its an emergency he would heal with Flash Of Light. Now if the boss just dealt an AoE Damage spell to the raid and everyone received damage, he would use Light Of Dawn. This is to show how the healer utilize his spells effectively.

A healer also has a second challenge. As the healer learns how to heal effectively, she also needs to learn how to balance her mana pool. In Cataclysm, Healers will be using Spirit as their main mana regenerating stat. However spirit alone is not enough to keep her mana up for the entire fight. A typical raid fight could last anywhere from 5-10 mins. A healer has to be able to heal effectively by not wasting mana through overhealing and also by using the appropriate mana regen spells at the correct time.

The healer is the support class of the group having with them not only healing spells but spells to help the group in dire situations. All healers have with them an array of support spells. Sometimes they're trainable spells at times they're talent effects.

A normal question to ask is whether a healer can level effectively? Yes. Healers have been proven to be able to level effectively and quickly through the use of their classes other specs in leveling. A Restoration Shaman can level by using spells from the elemental tree like Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning. Not only can they level properly but they have an advantage to finding groups as healers are rarer than DPS and tanks when leveling thus most groups will readily welcome a healer.

Damage Dealer
The most popular role. DPS (Short for Damage Per Second) make up the majority of the raid or group having always the biggest number. DPS are the damage dealers who shoot out missiles or stab at the boss repeatedly to make the boss die. All classes can become a good DPS as all classes have the appropriate talent tree for a dps. My suggestion to choosing a DPS is not to care which one currently does the most damage but instead, a new player looking to be a dps should look for which style suits him/her best. If the player loves cosmic energies that deal with the moon and the sun and throwing them at the enemy, then the player should play a Balance Druid however if a player loves to be like a bloodthirsty gladiator forever stuck in an enraged stupor he should be a Fury Warrior. Each DPS spec has a unique flavor and style that makes certain people attracted to them. As a new player find out what these flavors are and decide which best suits your personality.

DPS as the name suggest deals damage. Part of the fun with a DPS is the endless matrices of spells that can be arranged in a rotation to deal damage. A mage can fireball-fire blast-pyroblast or he can start with pyroblast and end with fire blast and so forth. Even though there are endless combinations, the Warcraft community has narrowed the number of rotations to a few dozen that deals the most damage. Each class spec has about 2-5 of these rotations. This is not so important till you reach the end-game content when you will be judged according to how much damage you dish out. At the start you should care more about experimenting and having fun. Read the descriptions given by Blizzard for each class at the character creation page. They help a lot.

The most important thing to remember as a DPS is to do as much damage as possible while not pulling aggro off the Tank. DPS classes do not have the defense or resilience of a Tank class and will quickly die if the focus of a tough mob's attention. All DPS specs have a way to reduce their current threat or threat generation. Use these skills to your advantage to achieve a higher DPS overall.

Thats all a DPS needs to know. Most lessons on dealing damage are self-taught at the start so it will be better to learn those yourself. Following choosing a role, a player must choose a specialization. A combination of their class and their role. Choosing a class specialization. Determining which role you enjoy the most will help a great deal in choosing the best class for yourself. For More Information go to Class role.

Brief overview of classes
Each class in World of Warcraft is played in a distinct manner in many ways from the other classes available (and there are often considerable variations even within the same class), but certain broad generalizations about play styles can be made.


 * Druids are an extremely versatile class, able to fulfill every role in the game – including tank, healer, and ranged and melee DPS – and this versatility makes them a popular choice for brand new players (particularly those who are unsure yet of how they want to play as they level). They are able to shapeshift into different animal forms (including bear, cat, raven, and many others). Depending on their current form, talent spec, and equipped gear, a druid is able to fill any role.  Their versatility comes at a price, as druids often have mild to severe drawbacks in each of these roles when compared to less-versatile classes, although not such that they are prevented from doing a perfectly acceptable job.


 * Hunters are ranged DPS dealers that depend on a pet they have tamed to protect them as they rain death on their enemies with a gun, bow, or crossbow. They have access to a wide variety of abilities – making them valuable members of any PvE or PvP group – including traps, stings, Feign Death, and many others.  Because their pets are so powerful, hunters are very popular with new players. They are in fact one of the more difficult classes to master; players who have reached endgame may find themselves overwhelmed by the many abilities available to them and the considerable tactical shifts necessary to function effectively in groups.  Depending on their spec, they can be more reliant on their pets (Beast Mastery), become ranged DPS machines (Marksmanship), and PvP and PvE "mixed bag" gameplay in the hard to master tree of "Survival".


 * Mages are ranged DPS dealers par excellence. No other class has such a huge variety of massively powerful abilities.  (Mages are sometimes referred to as nukers for this reason. They are also referred to as glass cannons due to their cloth armor).  However, mages are probably the most fragile class in World of Warcraft; a mage that allows an enemy to get close to them will likely not live long.  For this reason, only a rogue has more tricks up his or her sleeve than a wily mage does.  Mages are also very valued for their AoE (damaging many enemies at once) and crowd control (removing enemies from combat) abilities, and are able to open magical portals to major cities that their group can use.


 * Paladins, like druids and shamans, are extremely versatile and are able to find a spot in almost every group. Depending on spec, gear, and need they are able to melee DPS, tank, or heal; they have almost no ranged DPS abilities.  Paladins are very valued for their diverse collection of blessings and auras.  In endgame, paladins are very useful as either DPS, Tank, or Heal and bring much raid utility. Paladins were originally restricted to Alliance players, but with the release of the World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade expansion they became available to the Horde.


 * Priests are powerful healers, and can be deadly as ranged DPS. Priests were long the premier healers in World of Warcraft, and although other classes have been improved to match their prowess, priests will still generally be assumed to fill the healer role in groups. Players who do not enjoy healing are thus advised to consider a different class, as playing a priest guarantees that you will be healing at some point. Priests can specialize in the shadow tree to become extremely effective single-target ranged DPS casters, and at higher levels (50+) the damage they cause can return mana to their group.  Priests are also able to cast a number of very useful buffs that any party will find useful.


 * Rogues are users of dirty tricks, preferring to hide in the shadows and attack from an advantageous position rather than go toe-to-toe in a fair fight (Like a warrior would). The signature ability of a rogue is stealth, an invisibility-like ability that allows them to pick and choose their fights.  They possess immensely powerful melee DPS abilities, and have a wide variety of debuffs designed to turn the fight to their advantage, from stuns to poisons.  Against a single target, it is difficult to out-damage a well-played and well-equipped rogue, but they are rather fragile, being only able to wear leather armor.  Unlike other classes (except cat-form druids), rogues use energy to perform special attacks and have a shortened global cooldown.


 * Shamans, manipulators of the elements, are able to be healers, ranged spell DPS or melee DPS depending on their spec and gear. Until endgame instances, they are sometimes able to tank passably well, although they are considerably more limited in this than a Druid, Death Knight, Paladin or Warrior.  Shamans are able to place totems that provide a huge variety of useful buffs to their group. These buffs are restricted to a relatively small area of effect surrounding the totem, and a Shaman may have no more than four totems active at one time. Shamans were originally restricted to Horde players, but with the release of the World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade expansion they became available to the Alliance.


 * Warlocks are masters of the demonic arts. In World of Warcraft, they are mages who have been tempted away from the use of arcane magic, but they retain a number of similarities with their former profession, and fulfill a similar ranged DPS role in groups.  The largest difference is their ability to summon a variety of demon minions, each of which has different abilities and is useful in different situations.  Warlocks are feared for their DoT abilities, which are able to cause huge amounts of damage to their targets even after the warlock has died, and their curses, which cause a variety of debuffs, and they have a few buffs and other abilities that, although somewhat situational, can be very effective.


 * Warriors are in groups as either in a role of tanking or melee DPS. Warriors have a huge variety of damage-mitigating and threat-producing abilities which allow them to be extremely effective as tanks, and thus were long expected to tank any PvE group they were in. (See tank for more information about this role, which is crucial for PvE.)  They have since gained respect as single-target melee DPS in PvE and especially PvP.  Warriors are, more than any other class, dependent upon the gear they have equipped – a level 80 warrior will often carry around two entire sets of armor and a number of weapons.  Unlike other classes (except Bear Form druids), warriors use Rage to perform special abilities, which is generated by dealing and taking damage, and must be built up during a fight to perform special abilities.


 * Death knights are World of Warcraft's first hero class. The death knight was introduced in Wrath of the Lich King; you must have WotLK registered to your computer and downloaded to access them. Also, because the death knight is a hero class, they start off at level 55. Before you can create a death knight, you must have at least one character of level 55 or higher on any realm on your account. Only one death knight can be made per realm, but you can make as many as you want across all realms. Death knights are a melee class that can be either a tank or a DPS. The death knight cannot wield a shield making their tanking abilities quite unique, yet not ones to be underestimated. The death knight can often be asked to focus on interruption, as they have a spell that does this quite well.

See below for a more complete descriptions of each class.

Melee class (Pure)
A melee class excels at close-range combat, dealing heavy amounts of damage to the enemy (and likely taking quite a bit as well). Melee fighters don't rely on spells and ranged attacks to the extent that ranged classes do, and therefore must maintain a close proximity to the enemy in order to be effective. A melee class will be most enjoyable if you enjoy in-your-face action and fast tactical thinking. Since these classes tend to take a fair amount of damage from their targets, players often prefer to have a decent supply of food and bandages, and carry potions for quick recovery both inside and outside of combat.

Rogue
The rogue class has two primary strengths that are ironically in opposition to each other: they are tremendous damage dealers, yet they are also the best at avoiding combat in the first place.

The Stealth skill is the rogue's best friend. Rogues have stealth-enhancing talents that can allow them to travel nearly anywhere in the game by themselves, even to the extent of exploring high level instances solo without ever engaging in combat. They can even grab a few extra coins on their way by picking pockets, though this is not a significant source of income. If you enjoy exploration, control, and prefer to pick your fights, the rogue is a very enjoyable class.

Once in combat, rogues are very potent damage dealers. The rogue is a class that "fights dirty" (which is shown through their large arsenal of Stealth abilities, as well as their multiple Stuns and other CC abilities), and they are frequently found at the top of damage-monitoring statistics during endgame raids, although it is common to find rogues sacrificing some of their damage (still leaving it very high) to incapacitate the target through the use of other abilities. Through the use of the combo point system and special talents earned in mid- to end-game play, rogues have many abilities that can either stop an enemy in its tracks or slay it quickly. Like warriors, they need close proximity combat to be effective. They are limited to leather armor and can withstand much less damage than warriors; a rogue will be outmatched if suddenly made the attention of multiple enemies. However, stealth often allows them to escape this situation, either to get away completely or to restart the fight under better circumstances.

In end-game PvE, rogues will need to play at the top of their ability to stay on top of the damage meters because of the sustained damage capabilities ranged DPS classes have in end boss fights. In low-level PvP, though, rogues are probably the most feared class because of their stealth capabilities, high burst damage and stunlocks, letting a rogue kill an enemy player without them being able to fight back. Plate-wearing classes and Survival or Beast Mastery hunters (with the 41 point talent, The Beast Within) have an increased chance of recovery when taken by surprise by a rogue.

Several of the rogue's most useful combat abilities (e.g. Cheap Shot, Ambush) require the rogue to be in Stealth, which means that in solo play they can only be used at the start of a fight. In groups, Vanish and Preparation can allow more chances, while in PvP, combat fades after 5 seconds without fighting, allowing you to re-stealth.

If you enjoy a class that provides a high-octane, quick-reflex environment, the rogue is for you. Win or lose, fights as a rogue are often over quick. Take care: if you are prone to committing mistakes, your rogue will become an easy and vulnerable target. But with a cool head and knowledge of the weapons of your disposal - cheap tricks, lethal poisons, an iron grasp of martial arts, and a dozen ways to control your opponent - a well-played rogue will take you far.

Ranged classes (Pure)
Ranged classes rely on keeping the enemy at a distance. For casters like the mage and warlock, this is because the requisite cloth armor provides almost no protection, and the player is quickly killed if the enemy gets too close; for the hunter, it is because the player's best combat abilities simply will not work inside a minimum range. Like melee classes, ranged classes do not have the ability to heal themselves (aside from the warlock's healthstone and a pair of life-stealing spells), and generally train themselves in First Aid.

Hunter
The hunter is the only class in the game that can deal effective damage with bows, crossbows, and guns. These are available to other classes, but only do token damage and are chiefly used for ranged pulling, while they are the Hunter's main weapons. A Hunter's DPS and ranged attack rating scale as they increase in level, much like a Warrior's attack power scales with melee weapons. In addition, Hunters gain many special abilities with ranged weapons that either cause extra damage or help control the enemy in some way (slowing, stunning, increased miss chance, etc.).

By contrast, hunters do not gain significant attack abilities with melee weapons. While certainly more deadly in melee combat than most spellcasters, the Hunter will be outmatched in a serious swordfight (or axefight, fisticuffs, etc.). Close-range combat is not a strength for Hunters and is avoided as much as possible. Before patch 2.3 there was a minimum range for the use of ranged weapons referred to as the "dead zone." This referred to an area that lay just beyond melee range and just before ranged attack range where the hunter was unable to attack. It was often exploited in PvP combat and has since been removed.

The Hunter is able to tame many animals from the wild and use them as pets, a central aspect of the class. They are the only class allowed to name their pets, but note that names are semi-permanent and need not be assigned right away, so choose carefully. (To change a pet's name, you will need a .)

The Hunter class is the most well adapted class for solo play, and is often considered to be the easiest and fastest leveling class. In solo play, the Hunter will send the pet to engage the enemy and shoot the enemy from a distance during the fight. Keeping the enemy focused on the pet, rather than running back to the hunter, is a balancing act Hunters must master to play effectively. Hunters can keep pets throughout the life of the character if desired; pets level with the Hunter and can be trained in new abilities as the Hunter learns them. Specializing in Beast Mastery can ultimately give the pet considerable destructive power.

Hunters also have the ability to lay traps, which can either damage or crowd control the target. Hunters are often expected to use their freezing trap in group situations to help with crowd control.

In groups, Hunters are usually considered damage dealers, using their normal modus operandi to hit the target (pet engages, hunter shoots). In instances, the skilled Hunter can often be very useful at pulling, as the Hunter has the ability to cancel the encounter using the Feign Death ability, presuming it is not resisted and the group is far enough away. It should be noted however that Hunters must be practiced at controlling their pets in instances for reasons of aggro control, knowing when and how to keep the pet restrained so as not to interfere with other group members' duties.

In PvP, Hunters have traditionally specialized in ranged damage (Marksmanship) and traps (Survival), but this has been turned around thanks to the changes made to the talent trees and pet skills in Wrath of the Lich King. Beast Master tends to be a caster-killer build, thanks to all the pet damage boosts. Survival is more of a heavy-armor killer, since the powerful and dangerous Explosive Shot deals pure fire damage and ignores armor. Marksmanship is the middle ground, but still dangerous thanks to Silencing Shot and Chimera Shot.

If you think you would enjoy controlling a pet, using crowd control, generating high powered burst damage, and tackling difficult encounters by yourself, the Hunter may be a great choice.

Mage
The mage is a powerful ranged combat class. Mages arguably cause the most straightforward damage in the game, and for this have earned the nickname "nukers". They have the biggest arsenal of instant cast offensive spells of all the ranged classes, allowing them to inflict great burst damage when combined with long-casting spells.

Mages are famous for their area of effect spells (AoE), such as Blizzard or Arcane Explosion, that cause damage to all enemies in a given area simultaneously. When used improperly, this will result in a small army assaulting the mage directly and the mage's sudden death. When used judiciously, however, AoE spells shorten fights, save group members' lives, and make certain encounters easy that might otherwise be very tough.

Mages have other useful abilities besides their destructive spells. They have a quite useful crowd-control spell called Polymorph which temporarily turns an enemy into a sheep, pig, turtle, or even a penguin. This comes in very handy when facing multiple opponents, and in PvP also provides comic relief. Mages are also popular for their ability to open Portals for their party to use to travel to a capital city (Orgrimmar, Ironforge, etc.), and their ability to conjure water and food for faster regeneration of mana and health between fights.

Mages have particular weaknesses that offset their strengths. Their greatest weakness is that they are limited to cloth armor and cannot long survive melee combat, which they should avoid more than any other class. Their other chief weakness is their total reliance on mana, which limits the sustainability of their damage. Mages cannot do significant damage with melee or ranged weapons, so if they run out of mana they are relatively powerless (Wands might be useful for pumping out more damage while waiting for Mana to regenerate, but their DPS is pathetic compared to nearly all other weapons of the same level). As a result, Mages can be considered, in terms of play style, unforgiving with mistakes. Timing and awareness play a huge part in survival. In fact, while the Warlock and the Hunter are considered by some to be overpowered, the Mage is hardly mentioned, due to the Mage having among the lowest survivability in the game.

In PvE groups, the Mage should never engage the enemy immediately; instead they should allow the tank and other classes to wear the enemy down and build up sufficient threat. Once the enemy is suitably focused on the tank, the Mage will unleash a torrent of damage that quickly ends the fight. Knowing when to start attacking and how much damage to do is one of the main skills a Mage must master.

In solo play and in PvP, the Mage relies on spells that slow or freeze the enemy in place so it cannot approach within melee range. They have several escape abilities (e.g. Blink) that can help if they are losing a fight.

If high-powered ranged combat and mass carnage suit your tastes, the Mage is a good choice.

Warlock
The warlock is one of the more eccentric classes in the game. Warlocks are similar to Mages, except they have a Demon pet, and primarily use Damage over Time (DoT) spells instead of Direct Damage (DD) spells, though most classes have a little bit of both. Warlocks are brought primarily to raids for their DoT spells and debuffs, and also for their Soulstone ability which can be useful in wipe recoveries.

Warlocks can specialize in many different ways:

An Affliction Warlock is capable of surviving long protracted fights, draining large amounts of life from their opponents while inflicting slow but overall excessive amounts of damage through DoTs.

Demonologists can rely heavily on their pets to cause serious distractions in PvE, with the powerful Felguard able to handle most situations, and the powerful Metamorphosis. These Warlocks also tend to have large reserves of health and mana at their disposal. At high levels, Demonology Warlocks offer significant buffs for their group through their talents.

Destruction Warlocks are arguably almost on a par with Mages for DPS, and also gain a few extra Direct Damage spells to their arsenal. In addition, a Destructive Warlock can gain the ability to stun their opponents for short spaces of time, giving them time to cast the next big spell.

Warlocks have several potent forms of crowd control (Fear and Seduce) to offset their lack of snaring abilities. A Warlock's DoTs will drain their opponent's life away, regardless of whether the Warlock himself survives.

The biggest advantage offered to all Warlocks is the interchange of mana and health pools. A Warlock is capable of sacrificing health for mana, and then has spells which drain health back from its enemies. It is possible through Talents for a Warlock to gain more mana back than health sacrificed and then more health back through their spells than the mana they spent casting them, almost making the Warlock appear unharmed and without loss of mana through a long fight. In comparison to the other cloth classes, the Warlock can be involved in multiple fights without having to take a break.

A well-played Warlock is arguably the busiest DPS class in the game; there is plenty of debuffing to be done to help the group (e.g. Curse of Tongues to slow enemy casters down, Curse of Elements to make enemies vulnerable to magic, and more), a pet to control, crowd control to be handled, all the while trying to maintain a high damage output.

If you enjoy playing a less straight-forward spellcaster and seeing your enemies suffer, the Warlock might be your class.

Hybrid Classes
The hybrid classes have the ability to fulfill several roles in a group (melee or ranged damage dealer, tank, or healer), some better, some worse. Druids are able to specialize in all four roles, and are even able to cover two of them with one single talent build (melee DPS and tank), though they suffer much more in the un-specialized areas for it. Some players also believe that these classes have the ability to solo much more efficiently than the "pure" classes, but this subject is, like many other things in World of Warcraft, a topic of heavy debate.

Death Knight
The death knight is a plate-wearing melee class and World of Warcraft's first hero class. Compounding the survivability of the warrior, the raw frontal damage of a rogue, and the damage over time that would make a warlock proud, they are a force to be reckoned with.

In PvE play, a death knight can be used as a tank, like the paladin and warrior. Unlike these classes, however, the a death knight cannot use shields. While this dramatically hampers their apparent defensive ability, they have three presences to choose from that function almost exactly like a warrior's stances. Blood Presence increases the death knight's stamina a considerable amount, improves his armor by a whopping 60%, and greatly augments his threat generation. This last part is one of the most important aspect of death knight tanking: They do not have the reactive threat a paladin specializes in, and also don't have the wide array of high threat skills a warrior can use. They are forced to generate threat through sheer damage (something death knights are very, very good at).

Death knights are among the best solo-playable classes available, second only to hunters and warlocks. This is especially true of Blood-Specced knights, who have a very prominent life-stealing/regenerating theme as well as high damage output. Death knights are capable of tremendous damage mitigation, combining Blood Presence with numerous mitigation talents. Unholy knights have the Ghoul, which through focusing on Unholy becomes their own minion-type ally that follows them wherever they go. They also have numerous Area of Effect damage abilities through certain talents, and are excellent at defeating many enemies in a hurry.

Blood death knights regenerate life almost as fast as they lose it in combat, making them monstrously efficient and have skills like Rune Tap and Vampiric Blood, as well as fast runic power generation but (curiously) no real runic power dump besides Dancing Rune Weapon. Frost knights focus on keeping the flow of battle under control with the vicious Howling Blast. Unholy emphasises diseases more than the other trees, as well as containing a very powerful utility skill in Anti-Magic Zone, along with a Ghoul pet and serious Runic Power dumps such as Gargoyle and an improved Death Coil. All of the trees provide speedy, efficient kills, little downtime, and a very active and energetic experience.

If you prefer a quick and active combat style with durability, power, and a wide variety of ways to defeat your victims enemies, and the aesthetics of being a fallen hero turned walking engine of ruinous power, the Death Knight may be a perfect fit.

Druid
Druids are a shapeshifting Hybrid class. Unlike other hybrid classes, Druids do not fulfill several roles at once (e.g., both healing and melee at the same time), but can choose which role to take by shifting into one of their forms.

In their normal form, they are healers and casters, with a wide array of heal over time spells and some offensive spells. In Bear Form, they gain considerable toughness and a Rage bar, allowing them to act as a tank. The Cat Form gives them an Energy bar and Rogue-like abilities for a high damage output, while their Moonkin Form (balance talent) allows them to gain extra armor equal to plate, give their group a spell crit aura, and cast potent damage spells on par with a Mage. They also have 3 travel forms: Travel Form for land, Aquatic Form for Water, and Flight Form for air, which dramatically increases their speed, and therefore often survival.

The Druid gains more from stats than any other class (e.g. 20 Agility = %1 Critical hit & 1% Dodge, etc.). This allows them to be moderately sufficient in all roles. If a Druid concentrates all of their equipment to suit one of the Druid branches and uses the correct talents, they can be as efficient as any class for a given role. While Druids can only wear Leather armor and Cloth armor, this is offset by their Bear, Moonkin, and tree forms, which increase their armor by a large percentage (180% (Bear), 200% (improved tree), or 370% (Moonkin and Dire Bear) increase on top of base armor); this makes high-level Druids with the right gear the class with the highest armor in the game. Druids are also the only class to have a resurrection spell which may be used in combat, Rebirth. However, unlike the other resurrection spells, it can only be used fairly infrequently (5 minute cooldown) as a trade-off to its combat-usability. This, in addition to their heals, tanking and Innervate, makes a well-played Druid able to save a group from what would otherwise be a guaranteed wipe.

In end-game raiding, Druids historically were expected to heal. This has been changed with the talent change in 2.0 and increased gear supporting the Feral talent tree. Nowadays feral Druids can spend their talent points in such a way that they can be both a melee-damage-dealer (Rogue-type) in cat form and a tank in bear form. No other class offers that much versatility (DPS and tanking in one single talent build), though the two roles require two different sets of gear. Beyond that, Druids can still specialize to become a healer or a DPS caster.

If you enjoy fulfilling multiple roles, the Druid class might be for you.

Paladin
Paladins are arguably the strongest support class in the game. They can heal, tank and DPS very effectively in a raid. Unlike Priests and Druids, the main support strength of a Paladin is based on his wide variety of buffs, support spells, and auras. The Paladin's buffs are powerful and efficient, making them as useful on the battlegrounds as they are in instances. While other classes have two or three buffs at most, the Paladin can have as many as nine, though he can apply only one blessing per target at a time. Paladins also have auras to give both himself and his party members a benefit, both offensive (Retribution Aura) and defensive (Devotion Aura, Concentration Aura), as well as situational Resistance Aura. Switching between auras is free, allowing the Paladin to change auras dynamically based on the situation.

A Holy Paladin is a great healer, having the best mana-efficiency of all healers. They are also the best single target healer making them great for healing tanks.

A Protection Paladin with Consecration, Devotion Aura, and other abilities makes it the best AoE tank in the game. In fact, a Protection Paladin will often solo by pulling a group of mobs, then killing them all at once.

Retribution Paladins rely on melee combat supplemented by magic buffs. With a fighting style that mirrors that of a Warrior, the Paladin uses similar types of skills to deal both physical and Holy damage to their opponents. Holy magic deals solid sustained damage because it is not partially resistible by targets; this helps to give both Paladins and Priests an edge in combat. One tactic employed by Paladins is to weaken the target to Holy damage (much like a Warrior's Sunder Armor or a Rogue's Hemorrhage) and attack them with a series of instant attacks with Crusader Strike (similar to use of Mortal Strike or Sinister Strike) in a chain combination while also dealing physical damage. When geared properly a Retribution Paladin is a very durable and damaging melee fighter and is deceptively powerful in PvP/PvE.

The Paladin's ability to wear plate armor, melee, heal, and become invulnerable for a short amount of time also makes them extremely durable. Paladins are very good in group play, as they are able to cover all roles needed, have good buffs, and are often able to prevent wipes through offhealing & tanking (if not quite as well as a Druid). If you want to be a holy knight slaying your enemies and protecting and healing your allies, a Paladin is the class for you.

Priest
Much like a strong tanking character, the presence of a healer is usually vital to the success of a party. There is very little argument among veteran players that the Priest is the most versatile healer in the game. The Priests have a variety of buffs as well as numerous utility healing spells. Priests also have access to one fear (Psychic Scream) and one charm ability (Mind Control, but using this ability is more of an art form).

Contrary to popular belief, the Priest is not just a healer. In Shadowform (Shadow Magic talent), Priests can cause very high damage that can rival any other ranged class. Although they can't use Holy spells in Shadowform, they can still use the spell Power Word: Shield to prevent some damage to themselves and allies. Also of note is the talent Spirit Tap, which greatly reduces downtime. The efficiency of Shadow Priests (a Priest with Shadowform) makes them quite feared in PvP. It should be noted, though, that simply taking Shadowform does not mandate its constant use and so doesn't preclude the Priest from a healing role. A Shadow Priest can still be an effective main healer until near the end-game.

While Shadow is popular among Priests, and particularly favored while leveling, a Holy Priest is in no way restricted to just healing spells either. Through Smite and Holy Fire, especially when augmented with a suitable talent build, a Holy Priest has access to some very mana-efficient damage spells as well, with the added bonus of increased healing efficiency not available to those specializing in Shadow.

If straight forward healing is not your thing, the Discipline Tree offers many interesting things, improving (in a way) single-target healing compared to Holy's multi-target healing, while also providing a slight damage boost, as well as massive improvements to their buffing capabilities. They also get a spell similar to a Holy Paladin's Holy Shock with the Penance spell. This can be a fairly powerful single-target dps weapon, or a potent heal in the right situations, since all three "pulses" can crit seperately. Since Discipline Priests focus on damage prevention and large single-target heals, they also make effective healers in PvP.

The Priest might only be able to wear Cloth armor, but, through a variety of spells (most notably Power Word: Shield, Inner Fire, Shadowform, Dispersion and heals), they can become hard to kill.

If you would enjoy playing a vital support class that has strong damage options, you may like playing as a Priest.

Shaman
Shamans are an offensive hybrid class known for their high damage and totems. They can wield most melee weapons and shields, cast numerous direct damage spells, cast healing spells, and buff themselves and their party with totems. They can wear Cloth armor, Leather armor and after level 40 they can wear Mail armor.

An elemental (ranged DPS) Shaman can deal lots of damage, and in the case of emergency is able to switch to healing very quickly (without changing gear or form). With the better armor protection, Shamans are also more survivable than the cloth wearers, but they also need it because, excluding Wind Shock, they severely lack aggro-reducing abilities. In PvP, Elemental Shaman are often considered "turrets" since they pretty much just sit and spam their ranged spells, turning when needed.

Restoration specialized shamans will be very useful in groups for unique healing spells (in particular Chain Heal which is probably the best multi-target heal in the game) and again more durability than other healing classes, as well as Earth Shield, the restoration 41 point talent, and the unique HoT, Riptide, the 51 point talent. They're also best paired with other casters, thanks to their powerful Mana Tide Totem.

Enhancement Shamans have concerns in high end PvP, where they can be useful in some battlegrounds, but less so in arenas. This is because an Enhancement Shaman relies a lot on talent procs and Windfury Weapon procs than pure direct damage skills like a Rogue or Warrior has. Enhancement Shaman are also somewhat limited do to cool downs, since both of their Direct Damage melee skills, Stormstrike and Lava Lash are on cool downs, as well as the shared cool downs of their Shock spells. However, in PvE, where the fights can last long enough, especially in raid content, an Enhancement Shaman can get their procs and significantly boost other Melee DPS classes.

Compared to the Paladin, Shamans have more powerful but less efficient heals, and more ways to debuff enemies, but their totem buffs are limited to an area around the totem and shaman cannot tank. They do however have a wide range of totem buffs and can give up to 4 buffs simultaneously, most of them affecting the whole raid. To pay for this, they do not have the Paladin's supreme survivability, and they must pay mana to replace their totems at the start of each fight.

They are the only class to lack an easy Crowd Control ability, they can only slow PCs or NPCs using Earthbind totem or Frost Shock or summon a temporary offtank with their Stoneclaw and Earth Elemental totems, until they hit extremely late into the game where they can train the Hex spell, which is similar to a mage's Polymorph. They are also the only class that are able to resurrect themselves.

Warrior
The warrior is the tough melee class. Warriors can both inflict and withstand a tremendous amount of damage.

The signature role for a warrior is tanking in PvE (player versus environment) play, but damage dealing is also a very viable role. They have many tools available to draw the enemy's fire away from their more vulnerable teammates. For this, protection Warriors are highly valued by groups. Having at least one Protection warrior to play the role of main tank was considered essential by many in many circumstances, particularly in instances and at higher levels, although as the game has evolved this has changed to include Feral Druids, Protection Paladins, and Blood Death Knights.

The role of a warrior tank is somewhat counter-intuitive to new players; though it involves being on the front line, it does not always involve doing the most damage to the enemy. If you want to be at the top of the damage-per-second list at the end of a fight, tanking as a warrior is probably not the best role for you, but Warriors have great potential for being at the top of the damage-per-second list if they are geared correctly and are Arms or Fury specced. Tanking is better suited for players who enjoy tactical thinking, control, and the concept of "the captain goes down with the ship". A good tank controls the mobs, and is the true leader of the fight. An experienced player who has mastered the art of tanking will always be in high demand.

Warriors are somewhat tough to play solo. They have only limited means to deal with adds. When a fight is going poorly for a warrior, there's not much he can do besides use potions. Because warriors use rage — which is built up during combat — instead of mana or energy, there is relatively little downtime between fights (exc. for eating).

In player versus player (PvP) play, Warriors suffer the disadvantage of having to be near an opponent to deal damage. All classes have a weakness in PvP though, and the Warrior certainly has the strengths to compensate for its. Its charge and intercept allow it to quickly close in with the enemy, and its high armor and DPS allow it to survive long enough to turn the tide of battle to its faction.

One of the biggest things to keep in mind if you do choose to play a warrior is that they are known for being very dependent on their gear, which is both a good and bad thing. At lower levels, warriors generally have a hard time defeating enemy players in PvP combat; but at higher levels with good gear, it's not unheard of for a warrior to dispense with an enemy player in only a few blows. Similarly, a tank with sub-par gear can die very quickly even with a good healer, but a tank with higher quality gear can generally survive a lot more damage. Of course, all classes depend on their gear to increase their abilities, but the difference it makes for warriors is much greater than that of other classes.

Выбор класса