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BEST WOTLK SOLO CLASSES SPECS FOR DUELS BGS OPEN WORLD PVP WOTLK CLASSIC SOLO PVP TIER LIST

Best WotLK Solo Classes & Specs For Duels, BGs, Open World PvP | WotLK Classic Solo PvP Tier List

9/19/2022 4:42:11 PM

Maybe you are a hero of the alliance who likes to slash spit on those disgusting horde losers in Warsong Gulch, or maybe you are a skilled rogue who wants nothing more than to outplay the ratty noobs of Dalaran sewers, or maybe you are just really lonely and have no friends. Well, no matter who you are, we got a guide for you solo PvP enthusiasts, we will tell you what are the best classes and specs for duels Battlegrounds, and Open World PvP.

Best WotLK Classic Classes for Solo PvP (Duels, BGs, World PvP)

Let's start by going over the criteria of how we will be doing our rankings each class will be given a score out of five for duals, battlegrounds, and world PvP:

For duels, we will assume that every cooldown will be available for both players and there might be a line of sight involved
For BGs, it should be self-explanatory, and we're under the assumption that both teams will have a mix of random classes and skill levels with each team presumably having a healer or two, our main focus will be on the maps with 10 or 15 players
For world PvP, we will assume that cooldowns might not be available and might even include 1v2 or even 1v3 situations at times

1. Rogues

Score For Duels: 5

Rogues just aren't that good in duels, they struggle super hard into rhett paladins because of Divine Purpose turning a hand to freedom into a stun breaker, and of course, having a counter instantly makes rogues bad. Aside from DK, the rogue is arguably the best dueling class, in fact, sub rogues are one of the few specs that can actually beat DK's 1v1 in early season five, but that requires a bit of technical knowledge of both classes which of course can be difficult to learn if you're new to Wrath. Shadow dance damage is absolutely insane and puts enemy players in a checkmate situation automatically, if they trinket the shadow dance a full blind reset is possible where they will then have to deal with the cloak, evasion sprint, and vanish in order to win.

Score For Battlegrouds: 5

If you've played WoW in any capacity, you already know that rogues are the kings of battlegrounds, there is not a single class that can individually swing a game harder than a rogue and that is all thanks to stealth, of course this comes with unrivaled burst control and lockdown making rogues a nightmare for flag carriers and base defenders alike. We confidently give rogue a score of 5 in BGs.

Score For Open World PvP: 5

The story doesn't end there though as rogues are also the best class in world PvP. If you even managed to live through their shadow dance without a PvP trinket, you have to contend with seemingly infinite cooldowns which can all be reset by the way thanks to preparation. So rogues score a five for world PvP.

2. Death Knight

Score For Duels: 5

Death Knights play a super important role in the Wrath of the Lich King solo meta, we're confident in saying that DK is the best overall dueling class since they are super well equipped for 1v1 situations. Death knights are one of the few classes with multiple cooldowns with powerful offensive tools like Summon Gargoyle and generalized defensive tech with AMS, Icebound Fortitude, and self-healing, This makes DK's an execution test in any dueling setting as they can gradually rotate through their multiple defensive options while challenging virtually every class with their offensive power. They have favorable matchups against every other class in 1v1s with the exception of the rogue who will be their toughest fight in the early stages of the expansion.

Nonetheless, they are the gold standard for 1v1 and we are giving them a total score of 5 for dueling. But it doesn't stop there, as DKs are one of the few melee classes that are super well rounded in random battlegrounds, here mechanics like death grip become infinitely more valuable for controlling team fights, while Anti-Magic Zone becomes much stronger when used to negate high AOE damage. Not to mention DKs are able to do considerable AOE damage of their own thanks to pestilence spreading diseases.

Score For Battlegrounds: 5

Above all, though DKs offer two strong zoning options with both chains of ice and desecration making them one of the best specs for keeping players in and out of skirmishes, again DKs will score a 5 in the battleground category

Score For Open World PvP: 3.5

World PvP is the only place where DKs might struggle, since they are so cool down centric, it is never guaranteed that they will have CDs ready for surprise attacks. And without any reliable way to manage multiple enemy players, DKs might actually face issues in open world PvP, where we give them a 3.5 to round out their score.

3. Druid

We have a druid where both feral and balance take turns as the preferred spec. Farrell is a contender for one of the best melee dueling specs, in most cases, they rely heavily on a hit-and-run play style, stunning enemy players by building combo points for bleeds or savage roar, and then kiting away using instant cyclones or entangling roots thanks to predatory strikes. They need to play like this because they are relatively squishy in CAT form and generally don't fare well-going toe to toe with enemy melee.

Score For Duels (Feral Druid): 4

Their goal is to eventually reset the fight enough to apply all of their bleeds and overwhelm the enemy player in an unbreakable stun. Although they might have one of the highest skill caps in the game, we give them a score of 4 for duels assuming they know what they're doing.

Score For BGs (Balance Druid): 4

In BGs, balanced druid takes our pick as the preferred DPS class, this really shouldn't come as any surprise to anyone familiar with the post Wrath RBG meta, turns out having a highly mobile class with tons of AOE damage is also really good in WotLK random battlegrounds. Starfall is an entirely different beast in Wrath of the Lich King dealing some insanely high dps over a very short period of time, when combined with AOE dots boomkins have some of the highest dps in BGs. And again thanks to their stealth and mobility, they are a jack of all trades able to play multiple roles on any map giving them a score of 4 on our rankings.

Score For World PvP (Feral Druid): 4

For world PvP, we go back to the king of the jungle with feral as the clear winner in open world environments. Once again we're assuming that situations might evolve into 1v2 scenarios which feral druids are actually equipped to handle thanks to predatory strikes, the ability to instant clone or root enemy players gives them far better control than their boomkin counterparts when dealing with multiple attackers. We give feral druids a score of 4 in open world PvP.

4. Hunter

Score For Duels: 3.5

For the most part, all three specs do comparatively well in duels, not the best but still good enough to be a challenging match-up even for some of the meta classes. BM is a bit more gimmicky and more or less auto wins into any caster thanks to Bestial Wrath, the combined CC immunity with high amounts of physical damage is able to truck through warlocks and mages quite easily. Other classes are not exactly free wins especially if they have some way of simply avoiding Bestial Wrath damage with a defensive cooldown. Marksmanship is overall the better spec, especially against melee, where they can simply max range most attacks and deny gap closers thanks to disengage. All in all, though we give hunters a score of 3.5 for Duels.

Score For Battlegrounds: 4.5

As for BGs, the story is quite different, here hunters are one of the most impactful classes. On FC maps, they can play utility role zoning off flag carriers into specific choke points to set up small ganks with rogues. Outside of this though, hunters are just one of the more useful BG classes their high mobility combined with meaningful burst damage, and a ranged MS effect gives them a deserved spot in any BG roster, and we give them a score of 4.5

Score For World PvP: 4

For world PvP, hunters are actually quite good and might fare slightly better than they do in duels. Being able to reliably kite multiple enemy players while also having cross CC potential makes them very well suited for the open world, especially where they aren't limited by the dueling range, which means they can simply kite until infinity and are really the only class that can do nearly all of its DPS rotation on the move. Here hunters score a 4 out of 5.

5. Mage

Score For Duels: 4

As you will find scores consistently high in all of our categories, frost mage does well into every melee with the exception of DK and its worst matchups against ranged are probably hunters and shadow priests. Everything else is fair game, one huge advantage mage has in duels is the ability to constantly reset the fight if needed a simple polymorph to drink combo is enough to turn losing matches around, and their multiple roots in blink stun make them super slippery against most of the melee cast. Altogether we give them a score of 4 for duels.

Score For Battlegrounds: 4

In BGs, mages can play a role similar to hunters, though arguably less effective as they aren't able to do much damage while moving. In any case, mages can play a very dynamic function on any map whether it be controlling mid fights with polymorphs or counterspell or even playing a strict zoning role blocking off enemy flag carriers just like hunters. Because of their flexibility we give them a score of 4 for BGs.

Score For Open World PvP: 4

Mages can hold their ground, remember that Open World ganks sometimes involve unfair matchups against multiple players, but luckily the expansive control kit of a mage makes this fairly manageable. One unique quirk of frost mage is that they get a free Novo with Shattered Barrier every time their shield breaks and this nova doesn't share DR with other freezing effects, making them super evasive in 1v1 combat. Pair that with the fact that mages aren't that reliable on CDs and usually have cold snap available when needed, and they are actually well suited for Open WorldPvP, where we give them a hat-trick score of 4.

6. Warlock

Score For Duels: 4

Warlocks are on a similar power level to mages and duels, one thing that may surprise you is that Destro warlocks almost exclusively play with succubus pets who are able to quickly seduce targets out of stealth allowing warlocks to prep damage with immolate. Most of their 1v1 kit is built around setting up damage with fear or seduce and then unleashing it with shadow fury or coil. For the most part, this works well in classes that have limited ways to manage these interactions. But like other casters on our list, this means losing matchups into DKs, hunters, rogues, and sometimes enhancement shamans. Otherwise, though, Destro warlocks are well suited for 1v1s giving them a score of 4 in the category.

Score For Battlegrounds: 4

In BGs, warlocks are also quite strong, though do suffer a bit in the defense department since they can be easily cleaved down in team fights, but if that doesn't happen both Destro and Affliction are really well suited for BGs, just like other expansions unstable affliction is one of the few forms of dispel protection which bolsters team damage when disc priests or paladins are on the other side of the field. In any case warlocks are a true glass cannon inside BGs and in the right hands get a score of four in this category.

Score For Open World PvP: 4

Just like mages, warlocks are actually pretty decent in world PvP. Unlike some of the other classes on this list, they aren't super reliant on the long defensive or offensive cooldowns and instead can do just fine as long as shadow fury or coil is available, and of course, playing with the succubus translates to having more control in 1v2 skirmishes, so just like mage, they will be getting a score of 4 in world PvP.

7. Paladin

Score For Duels (Retribution Paladin): 3

Paladins are a bit too specialized to score high in dueling. There is one thing that a red paladin needs in order to do well uptime, that is because a lot of their self-healing is baked into art of war procs which grants them an instant flash of light casts after melee critical strikes, and can even be bolstered with an additional talent called Sheath of Light. Because so much of their self-healing relies on being able to stay on target, this makes them naturally bad against any class that can zone, most notably hunters mages shamans, and warlocks. On the flip side, rhett does fairly well into melee since they can be a bit more durable thanks to more self-heals, and are incredibly tanky when playing a one-handed spec which you can learn about in our paladin starter course.

Score For Battlegrounds (Holy Paladin): 4.5

In battlegrounds, the holy paladin becomes the preferred spec and represents one side of the battleground healer trinity, alongside wrestler druids and disc priests. Much of the tech that makes holy paladin good in arenas, happens to translate perfectly to BGs where Divine Sacrifice is one of the few AOE damage mitigation tools in the game helping slow down team fights with a single button. And of course, paladins are one of the few classes with a magic dispel and holy just, so happens to come equipped with one of the most broken tools in the game for bolstering their team's passive defense with sacred cleansing which is massively frustrating to any caster DPS and prevents a lot of AOE pressure.

Score For Open World PvP: 2.5

World PvP is where paladins have their weakest showing, again their biggest weakness is just needing to have up time on enemy targets which is never guaranteed in the expansive open world where some classes are able to kite for miles on end. Although rep might be able to manage against some melee it's self-healing isn't powerful enough to deal with more than one attacker at a time, because of this we give red a score of 2.5 in open world PvP.

8. Priest

Score For Duels (Shadow Priest): 4

Although disc can actually do well in 1v1s, we're going to assume most people would prefer dual as the shadow. Shadow is a bit of a wild card in duels and relies heavily on line of sight for success, that is because the class is built to weave in and out dotting targets with instant casts, using CC when players connect, and then avoiding or healing enemy damage when needed. All of this becomes easier with a pillar, the main win condition for shadow is live until the second psychic scream using the first one to force out trinkets and then stalling long enough to capitalize on a two-timer. But without a pillar, shadow will struggle massively into the likes of death knights, feral druids, hunters, and even warriors, all of which have mechanics to avoid getting feared.

Score For Battlegrounds (Discipline Priest): 4

For BGs, Disc becomes the preferred spec, as again it is one of the best battleground healers. There are a few reasons for this, one being the strength of prayer of mending which is easily one of the most mana-efficient AOE heals, secondly though priests have the strongest defensive dispel being able to remove two magic effects at once with a single key press, this makes them really good at keeping their teammates free of debuffs, especially when utilizing the haste buff from borrowed time which can have insanely high uptime with multiple shield targets.

Score For Open World PvP: 2

World PvP is definitely where priests will struggle, as both specs will undoubtedly have mana issues in random Open World skirmishes. Shadow, in particular, will have its own set of mana problems early expansion which is one of its main limiting factors until later seasons where PvE trinkets can help mitigate this issue, until then we are giving priests a low score of 2 for world PvP.

9. Shaman

Score For Duels (Enhancement Shaman): 4

For duels, enhancement beats out elemental, even though Ellie might have a spot at the top of the arena tier list, it is just too slow to work effectively in highly explosive duels which is why enhancement is the premier dueling spec. A lot of this boils down to one cool down wolves, if you aren't aware by now feral spirit is one of the strongest cooldowns in the game, giving the shaman massive damage mobility and self-healing for 45 seconds. These wolves can be killed but you would probably be dead before that even happens, their matchup spread is pretty decent and their hardest 1v1s are against DKs and rogues which really shouldn't come as a surprise. With favorable matchups into the rest of the cast, we give enhance a score of 4 in dueling.

Score For Battlegrounds (Elemental Shaman): 4

BGs are a different story and this is where elemental really shines. Every shaman speck is passively good in BGs thanks to bloodlust and of course the infinite amount of unique utility that totems are able to provide. Elemental just happens to have one of the best team-wide buffs thanks to Totem of Wrath, combined with some incredible AOE damage. They can knock people off cliffs of course so that's cool enough to give them a score of 4 out of 5.

Score For Open World PvP: 2

Open world PvP is where shamans really struggle, both elemental and enhancement will find problems here. Again elemental is just too slow to deal with highly volatile skirmishes, in reality it really needs to sit there and ramp up its damage a bit while also needing to hard cast, this works in arena but isn't that ideal for 1v2 games. Enhance on the other hand is fairly weak without wolves and when they aren't available in the open world, it becomes a much weaker spec. Altogether though, shamans get a score of 2 for world PvP.

10. Warrior

Score For Duels: 2

Their story is similar to Elemental Shaman, while warriors might be one of the best overall melee for the arena, it doesn't really translate to duels. Their biggest obstacle is zoning. Classes like hunters, mages, druids, and even DKs present a huge problem for warriors since they can simply apply a slow and kite away. Of course, you might be saying what about blade storm doesn't that destroy everything? While it certainly does deal a lot of damage many defensive cooldowns can be efficiently traded to mitigate it entirely. Honestly, there really aren't that many winning matchups for warriors in 1v1, and for these reasons they score a measly two out of five.

Score For Battlegrounds: 4

Battlegrounds are a different story however, here warriors are freer to do warrior things assuming they have a pocket healer. Remember how we said that DKs are one of the best melee classes in BGs, warriors are up there too and are a solid option for small node skirmishes where their sustained damage can help snowball team fights. Overall warriors are relatively flexible in the BG format which is why we're giving them a score of four out of five.

Score For Open World PvP: 2

Unfortunately, their prowess and BGs don't carry over well to Open World PvP, where their same dueling issues just get amplified. Just like some of the other melee classes on this list, warriors can simply get kited forever in the open world and without much self-healing, this is a recipe for disaster. Overall we give warriors a score of 2 in world PvP.