Which class or spec should I choose as ALT in Wrath of Lich King Classic? If you are struggling in picking up your alt. We want you to stop here to read our guide (summed up from Skill Capped WoW Guides' Video) before you make an ALT in Wrath classic.
WotLK Alt Picking Guide - Best ALT Classes for PvP in Wrath of Lich King Classic
Unlike Shadowlands, there are no crazy catch-up systems in Wrath of the Lich King which mean you have to invest a lot of time making sure you choose the right secondary and if you make the wrong decision, you will have wasted months worth of time and effort. So how do you know what alt is best for you? In this guide, we will explain the different archetypes of melee, ranged and healers that you will encounter in Wrath classic, and once this is done you will have a better idea of what alt you should be making for PVP in Wrath of the Lich King.
WotLK Classic Best Melee DPS Alt Classes
Melee DPS falls into three distinct categories (Brawler, Tactician, Hybrid) in Wrath of the Lich King and as it turns out this fundamental division in class design exists in Wrath Classic on one end of the melee Spectrum. Brawlers are the types of specs that you want to run in maximize uptime and deal as much damage as possible.
1. Arms Warriors (Brawler)
The most common spec that falls into this category is Arms Warrior which is arguably the best melee in the entire game. Unlike Shadowlands where Arms Warriors play more or less a support role. Wrath Warriors are very Zug Zug, one key point of separation is Intervene. In retail, this ability is a team defensive CD used precisely in one-to-one cooldown trades. In Wrath, Intervene is utilized more for mobility than anything else since it only redirects one physical attack, of course, this means it can be used to soak things like sap off of blind but the majority of its uses will be as a gap closer since mobility is more limited in Wrath PVP.
In any case, Arms Warriors are the gold standard of the Brawler melee archetype in Wrath of The Lich King classic, so of doing unhealable pressure while being an unkillable tank sounds interesting to you? Then Warrior might be worth picking up.
2. Unholy Death Knights (Brawler)
Another common melee brawler is Unholy Death Knight. They are one of the most aggressive melee specs because of their main wing condition - Summon Gargoyle is how most games are won in DK comps. Generally speaking, the goal is to maximize value out of Summon Gargoyle by applying as much pressure as possible during its 30 second duration, this usually involves chaining micro CC's together like grip, pet stun and Strangulate with other external stuns to outright win the game. While Summon Gargoyle is chunking away at enemy health bars, this win condition forces DKs to play very aggressive in many comps and is no surprise that they often pair with Arms Warriors for one of the most historically Zug Zug comps in Wow's history TSG.
3. Enhancement Shamans (Brawler)
What is the Most Aggressive Melee in WOTLK? It is Enhancement Shamans. If Arms Warriors are the gold standard of the Melee Brawler category, Enhancement is its bastard cousin that's because shamans have one win condition - wolves. Feral Spirit is insanely over budgeted but that's because it is how they win in Arena, the game is basically wandering wolves or lost if the enemy manages to survive, this is why Shamans typically play comps like Beast Cleave since the combined damage of wolves, bloodlust and Bistro Wrath with a healing reduction effect are able to complement the explosive damage profile of an Enhancement Shaman.
4. Rhett Paladins (Brawler)
The one-handed Rhett build sacrifices Divine Storm in favor of Reckoning in order to get more The Art of War procs which translates to more overall healing and slightly more magical damage, making it really good into other melee DPS especially since one-handed builds use a shield, giving them more physical damage reduction. However this build requires a lot of uptime to work well since it is so dependent on melee swings, this means one-handed red paladins need to stay constantly pushed in which is a key difference between the more standard two-handed spec.
5. Subtlety Rogues (Tactician)
Just like in shadowlands, Rogues in Wrath classic need to adopt a hit-and-run play style that's because they are one of the squishiest classes in the game and prioritize control over consistent pressure, this is why for the most part at least Rogues typically play with Mages or Priests since they benefit more by controlling the pace of the game with their lockdown and small bursty windows rather than pressing the W key at an enemy healer all game. Even Subtlety Rogue who has two charges of evasion thanks to preparation, can't possibly go toe-to-toe with something like a warrior, backstab damage is so laughably low into the plate, that it's no surprise Rogues will often run away for restarts. Even in one of the fastest paced expansions of all time.
6. Two-Handed Rhett Paladins (Hybrid)
Standard two-handed Rhett Paladin build plays a middle ground role sometimes a Brawler other times a Tactician. Unlike its one-handed counterpart, it is frailer into melee DPS and especially vulnerable to casters. For the most part, this is why rep paladins often play around pillars, looking to push in for small bursts of damage and pull away before things get too hairy. You might be wondering though why this doesn't make them a true tactician and that's because they still have a lot of utility meaning they need to be constantly interacting with their team while also maximizing uptime whenever possible for more instant cast healing and damage. Unlike a rogue who can kite all game and still win a rep, Paladin really wants to be pushed in whenever possible in order to increase the number of contributions they can make with damage and utility.
7. Frost Death Knights (Hybrid)
You might think remember Unholy DK has one main win condition with Gargoyle, unfortunately, Frost DK doesn't have any offensive cooldown quite as strong and instead relies more on Hungering Cold as a setup tool and Unbreakable Armor as a damage modifier, both on a one minute CD. In a way this mirrors the Shadowlands Frost DK play style where games are built around interactions with pillar or Frost and blinding sleet which is more or less the same type of setup combo. In any case, this means that Frost DKs can adopt more of a push-and-pull play style since they aren't funneling as many resources into a Long offensive cooldown like Gargoyle.
You can play whatever you want but if you want to play something similar to your main then just select a melee DPS within your circle for instance: If you play Arms Warrior then you might feel comfortable playing Enhancement Shaman or even Frost DK. But if you want a different melee experience you could also Alt Rogue, bearing in mind that it has a completely different feel and high-level Arena gameplay.
WotLK Classic Best Range DPS ALT Classes
For the range DPS ALT, there are also three archetypes (Zoner/Wizard, Pace Setter, Hybrids) covered here. Zoner/Wizard is the type of specs that loves the open field, their dream is to stand still and pump out as much uninterrupted damage as possible which usually winds up being unhealable if the enemy team doesn't pillar.
1. Affliction Warlocks (Zoner/Wizard)
It shouldn't come as a surprise that Affliction warlock fits in this category, one key distinction between WOTLK and more modern expansions is that sustained damage actually matters and it just so happens that Affliction warlocks have some of the highest sustained damage in the game. Partially thanks to the incredible dispel protection of Unstable Affliction, the bane of many casters is spammable Magic to spell which typically limits some forms of damage output, but with UA on multiple targets, priests and paladins had to think twice before mashing to spell. You might be wondering does an Affliction warlock have fear and coil shouldn't they be setting up kills? Certainly, these can be set-up mechanics, but more often than not they are simply utilized to put enemy targets in more vulnerable positions to do damage.
2. Shadow Priests (Zoner/Wizard)
One spec that UA warlocks might play with is Shadow Priests who coincidentally also fall into the Zoner category. Just like Affliction, Shadow Priest dot damage actually hurts they are not some wimpy hybrid DPS limited by weak output, they are absolute damage gods. While they do have some utility in the form of a defensive dispel, they would rather be free casting damage in the open field, especially since they have their own potent dispel protection in the form of Vampiric Touch. Because of this, it's no surprise that Shadow Priest is one of the most popular SP comps throughout the expansion since it punishes enemy healers for being lazy. Just like Warlock, Shadow priests have some setup tools with silence and psychic horror, but these spells aren't really used for perfectly calculated CC setups and more often than not will be simply used to lay on top of their tremendous pressure
3. Beast Mastery Hunter (Zoner/Wizard)
Beast Mastery Hunter is in the same category as Warlock and Shadow priest. BM Hunters are absolute damage beasts well for a few seconds, but really there's nothing more they want than to spam as much damage as possible into one target in the open field. They don't care about perfectly calculated CC setups, they just want to do damage. Any meme you've heard about Beast Mastery Hunters over the years partially sims from the class design in earlier expansions where they literally embodied the phrase, live fast and die young.
4. Frost Mage (Pace Setter)
Frost Mage is in a very unique position in Wrath of Lich King, much like Rogue their playstyle sacrifices consistent pressure in order to make the most out of small burst windows involving a combination of procs and CC to set up kills. In fact, the majority of the time spent in Arena as a Frost Mage involves fishing for Fingers of Frost and Brain Freeze procs by literally using rank 1 frostbolt which does little to no damage. Frost Mages intentionally do zero damage in order to build towards more potent kill setups with their burst in CC, this is clearly distinct from The Wizard or zoner archetype since Frost Mages don't really offer much pressure outside of their small bursty Windows. Even if allowed to free-cast, Mages are still one of the squishier classes in the game which means they can be easily punished for trying to interact too much with the Enemy team. Because of all this, it shouldn't come as a big surprise that Rogues and Disc Priests are their primary partners since their control toolkits synergize perfectly with one another.
5. Elemental Shaman (Hybrid)
This one of the most popular ranged DPS in this middle category despite what you might think Elemental shamans aren't really true Wizards, their damage is incredibly strong but it's not consistent in the same form as an Affliction warlock or Shadow priest instead Ellie shamans deal most of their damage in periodic waves mostly through Lava first. Although one of the best abilities in the game, it comes with 8 the Second cooldown and requires some initial setup by applying a flame shock first to become more effective, this means that Ellie shamans don't really care about spam casting because their only lethal damage combo comes once every 8 seconds. Shamans can play aggressively pushed into the enemy team but they also might need to be a bit more evasive at times when up against bigger threats. More than anything though, Elemental shamans are a massive roadblock for any comp, they are masters of stalling damage being disruptive, and having multiple forms of utility that situates them between both ends of our range DPS.
6. Destruction Warlocks (Hybrid)
Just like Elemental shamans, their primary lethal spell comes attached with a short cooldown. Their accessory damage spells also require some setup. With Conflagrate needing an active immolate on the target in order to deal with the damage, this can be a bit tricky to deal with as priest and Paladin teams will often spam dispel immolate to prevent some pressure. So as much as Destro wants to be a true wizard, it really doesn't have that luxury and instead needs to pivot a bit towards control using Fear, Shadow Fury, and Death Coil in order to set up kills, avoid disruption and play around spam dispels. Once you realize this it should become clear why Ellie Destro is such a popular 3v3 combo since these two specs effectively have the same damage profiles and similar goals.
7. Marksmanship & Survival Hunters (Hybrid)
Moving on, we have our remaining Hunter specs with both Marksmanship and survival. Unlike BM, these specs are significantly less aggressive and tend to play a more passive role by avoiding damage and setting up kills with CC, that's because they actually have the tools to do so, mostly due to Scatter Shot which is one of the most reliable ways to set up freezing trap CC combos. While marks and survival can do a lot of damage in the open, they're still incredibly squishy meaning they can't stay in the open for very long, especially against something like an Affliction warlock or Shadow priest who will rip them apart, instead they generally opt to play nearer killer interacting with the enemy team when needed, but then avoiding as much damage as possible in between setups. This makes them somewhat like Frost Mage, but they need to play slightly more aggressive due mostly to the fact that they have an important debuff to maintain in the form of Aimed Shot.
8. Arcane Mages (Hybrid)
Arcane Mage is actually pretty good in Wrath of the Lich King and even though it is noticeably weaker than Frost its playstyle is a bit more flexible. Again one of the biggest limitations of Frost Mage is that its consistent damage really doesn't matter, that is definitely not the case for Arcane Mages who are able to deal a massive amount of lethal damage by themselves just with some huge obstacles. Like the fact that all their damages are on one spell school and it generally costs a lot of Mana, this can make Arcane a bit more awkward in longer games where multiple forms of disruption are present. Arcane would like to stand still and free-cast its most threatening damage, but this isn't always possible and without the proper set of tools like deep freeze Arcane needs to play around other win conditions like Missile Barrage procs which means avoiding damage until having the proc needed to land the W.
9. Balanced Druids (Hybrid)
Balanced Druids really want to be wizards but don't really have the offensive power to do so. Starfall is pretty much their only win condition which means their consistent damage isn't nearly that threatening, especially when half of it can be spam dispelled. Without any dispel protection and with janky casted damage, boomkins need to adopt a hit-and-run play style similar to more modern versions of the spec, their goal is to survive using spam Cyclones on multiple targets until Starfall is available again. So for brief moments in the game, they are a true wizard doing nearly unhealable spam damage, but other times they are trying to simply delay and play until the next.
Again if you wanted to choose an ALT that is similar to your current main then stay within your circle, otherwise, if you want a completely different feel then hop on over to the other side, the choice is yours.
WotLK Classic Best Healer ALT Classes
Now we've finally arrived at healers where once again we have two main categories (Interactive & No-Interactive) and hybrid archetype. Interactive Healers are the types of healers that want to be pushing in with their team supporting with damage or CC.
1. Disc Priests (Interactive)
Disc Priest is the best example of a highly interactive healer, they are without a doubt the most offensively capable healer in Wrath of the Lich King classic able to contribute to kills with meaningful damage, but perhaps more importantly the reason they are so aggressive is that they have the best to spell in the game. With the Dispel Magic removing two buffs or debuffs with each press, this allows them to keep their teammates active all while harassing enemy players with Spam purges. What helps Disc Priest is the fact that they have a relatively versatile healing toolkit and rely on different forms of healing to manage multiple situations. Although one of their main weaknesses is getting trained by melee Cleaves, they can play around this by having more precise control pairing with synergistic classes like Rogues and mages.
2. Resto Shamans (Interactive)
Surprisingly Resto shamans also fall into the interactive healer category. Just like Elemental, Resto can be highly disruptive blocking CC with grounding and Tremor wind shearing casts and harassing with purge, mechanics like this while also being great on defense are amazing tools for keeping up momentum. Although Resto Shamans might not have the damage profile of a disc priest, they still have Lava Burst which can actually hit pretty hard and with the best team-wide offensive cooldown in the game. Resto Shamans offer their team unmatched damage support especially against teams that lack offensive dispels. The one thing that really holds Shaman back is their relatively weak healing output and poor Mana which is why short explosive games are typically preferred.
3. Holy Paladins (No-Interactive)
Holy Paladins might be the best healer in the game, they are also the most passive, the reason is mostly due to the design of their healing toolkit which is mostly based around Holy Shock - a spell with a very limited range, this along with a range-based AOE defensive means they have to be more pushed into the enemy team all while avoiding CC chains and damage from enemy players. Take it all together, Holy Paladins are difficult to master position wise and often need to avoid any risky offensive play that sacrifices their positioning, to a paladin a pillar is your best friend.
4. Resto Druids (Hybrid Healer)
Resto Druids epresent a middle ground between aggro and passive play styles, there are times where Druids want to be pushed in with their team supporting with kills by crossy seeing multiple targets. Even though their damage might be weak, their support with control is unmatched. But unlike more modern versions of WoW, Resto Druids are super squishy and are generally really unforgiving if they ever fall behind. There is no Overgrowth in WotLK Classic, if you fall behind on healing you have to spend five globals getting back to where you started, this means that Druids have to be more flexible with their game plan, recognizing when it's worth it to push in and being willing to fall back when needed.
5. Feral Druid (Hybrid Healer)
Feral Druid is a melee with an energy bar, it's definitely not like a rogue no just like retail Wrath ferals have one of the most unique and dynamic playstyles out of any spec in Wow's history. They are relatively squishy but only in cat form have great damage but not in Bear form, can do great control in any form. Feral Druid is the jack of all trades, master of none even in Wrath of the Lich King, its melee play style is relatively hit-and-run in cat form but also requires them to hard cast cyclone and off heal in human form, and tank a bit of damage and interrupt while in Bear form. If you want to play a Feral Druid as an alt, go for it, just know it might be different than anything you've ever experienced in PvP.
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