The War Within Tier Set Tier List - Best Class Set Bonus Ranking in WoW TWW Beta

With The War Within Beta rolled out, all class tier set bonuses got leaked. Looking beyond appearances, let's take a look at which classes will likely gain the most benefit from their exclusive tier set gear? For that, we've sorted out the War Within Tier Set ranking by going over the bonuses and testing in Beta!

The War Within Tier Set Tier List - Best Class Set Bonus Ranking in WoW TWW

With The War Within beta finally here, there is a wealth of new information coming out, including these set bonuses which have just been datamined. Here we will exclusively analyze the class tier set bonuses from a gameplay perspective, noting which ones have the most potential to impact rotations and maximize damage or healing. We will also discuss which bonuses seem underwhelming or lacking in interactions. After testing the sets in beta, we provide this initial ranking of which bonuses offer the most interesting and impactful gameplay. While numbers are still subject to tuning, this early look aims to help players get excited about experimenting with different build options as new raids and dungeons open up in the WoW War Within.

1. Paladin Tier Set Bonus

The four piece allows you to stack up to 5% increased damage and healing during Avenging Wrath for each holy power ability used. With Crusader Strike and Templar's Verdict/Divine Storm being holy power spenders used frequently, this can lead to massive damage ramp during AW. The tooltip says "casting a holy power ability" so utility like Hand of Sacrifice may also procure it. With perfect play and timing of cooldowns, this set bonus seems like it would provide the largest overall damage increase.

Holy:

2-piece: Holy Shock healing and cooldown increased
4-piece: Holy Shock increases initial heal of next Word of Glory or Light of Dawn

Protection:

2-piece: Shield of the Righteous damage increased, grants damage reduction
4-piece: Spending Holy Power increases damage/healing of next Avenging Wrath

Retribution:

2-piece: Blade of Justice and Wake of Ashes damage increased
4-piece: Wake of Ashes increases damage done by 10%

2. Warlock Tier Set Bonus

Having Shadow Bolt occasionally enrage your Felguard to increase the damage of its next Legion Strike by a massive 300% is a huge burst damage increase. With good RNG, this could single-handedly increase overall DPS. Demonology's rotation already focuses on maximizing Felguard damage through Impending Doom, so this slots in very well without changing gameplay much. The proc chance and uptime would need to be high for it to consistently improve results over other bonuses.

Affliction Warlock:

2-piece: Malefic Rapture damage and crit chance increased
4-piece: Rapture increases Agony damage by 15% for 8 seconds

Demonology Warlock:

2-piece: Primary demon deals more damage, Shadowbolt damage increased by 50%
4-piece: Shadowbolt has chance to enrage primary felguard, increasing Legion Strike by 300%

Destruction Warlock:

2-piece: Incinerate crit chance and Flame Critical Strike chance increased
4-piece: Critically striking fire damage increased by 5%

3. Mage Tier Set Bonus

Refunding the cooldown of Phoenix Flames on damage plus a 6% spell damage buff that stacks up to 6 seconds provides strong sustained damage. Phoenix Flames is already a core ability, so this directly buffs their primary rotational damage. Getting the cooldown back also enables more Flamestrikes. The damage buff duration may need to be higher to compete with Demonology or Ret Paladin bonuses depending on tuning. Overall though, it directly amplifies Fire's core rotation.

Arcane:

2-piece: Arcane Blast and Arcane Explosion damage increased
4-piece: Arcane Blast/Explosion has chance to make next Barrage deal more damage and generate Arcane Charges

Fire:

2-piece: Phoenix Flames damage increased
4-piece: Phoenix Flames refunds 1% cooldown when dealing damage, granting 6% spell damage for 10 seconds

Frost:

2-piece: Ice Lance damage increased, Fingers of Frost increases next Frozen Orb damage
4-piece: Frozen Orb increases Ice Lance damage, Orb reduces damage taken

4. Hunter Tier Set Bonus

Increasing pet damage and the damage of Mongoose Bite to targets with the Wildfire Bomb debuff enables good synergy between skills. Beast Mastery's damage heavily relies on maximizing pet damage uptime. This slots in well to their existing rotation without changes. The effect is simple enough to benefit from without being overpowered based on optimal play. The damage increases seem impactful without being too strong.

Marksmanship:

2-piece: Arcane Shot and Multi-Shot damage increased by 20%
4-piece: Consuming Precise Shots increases damage of next Aimed Shot, stacking up to two times

Survival:

2-piece: Wildfire Bomb damage increased
4-piece: Mongoose Bite deals more damage to targets affected by Wildfire Bomb

5. Demon Hunter Tier Set Bonus

The bonuses accomplish the goal of increasing Demon Hunter performance through their core mechanics. They provide clear damage and utility boosts without overly complicating gameplay. While numbers could change, the designs themselves take advantage of Demon Hunter strengths. Some bonuses like the Soul Cleave reset have potential for interesting dynamic play as well. So given the information, these set bonuses seem well designed to meaningfully aid Demon Hunters without restrictiveness or unintuitive effects.

Havoc Demon Hunter:

2-piece: Blade Dance does more damage, Chaos Strike does more damage and has a chance to reset Blade Dance cooldown
4-piece: Soul Cleave deals 15% increased damage and has a 35% chance to shatter a Lesser Soul for healing

Vengeance Demon Hunter:

4-piece: Consuming a Soul Fragment increases damage and healing of next Devastation by 30%

6. Priest Tier Set Bonus

Having Penance increase Mind Blast and Power Word: Shield damage stacks up to three times provides utility as well as damage. It encourages weaving damage spells into the healing rotation. Since Discipline uses both abilities regularly, this enhances their core effectiveness. Three stacks may be high depending on tuning, but overall it directly buffs important spells without changing gameplay too much.

Discipline:

2-piece: Atonement healing increased
4-piece: Penance increases Mind Blast/Power Word: Shield damage/absorb

Holy:

2-piece: Serendipity is more effective
4-piece: Flash Heal/Prayer of Healing chance to cast again at 35% effectiveness

Shadow:

2-piece: Devouring Plague duration increased
4-piece: Devouring Plague increases Damage Done by 2% for 10 seconds

7. Rogue Tier Set Bonus

Stacking the Combat Potency buff on Between the Eyes along with a 6% damage increase fits well within their rotation. Getting five stacks of buff requires good RNG luck or talent/gear setups to reliably maintain uptime. Damage increase is high but requires multiple conditions. Overall though it directly enhances important spells for Outlaw. Might see more potential with tweaked numbers or less reliance on external factors.

Assassination:

2-piece: Bleeds have chance to grant poison damage buff
4-piece: 5+ poison damage buff stacks increases major dot damage

Outlaw:

2-piece: Pistol Shot, Ambush, Combat Potency damage increased by 20%

4-piece: Rampage damage increased between the eyes proc by 6% and stacks

Subtlety:

2-piece: Symbols of Death increases Secret Technique damage
4-piece: Secret Technique increases damage of other finishers by 20% for 7 seconds

8. Shaman Tier Set Bonus

Increasing Stormstrike, Lava Lash, and Feral Spirit damage fits neatly into Enhancement's core combat loop. Longer Feral Spirit uptime provides consistent benefit through their damage/buffing. Damage increases seem impactful without being too strong. Simple and effective bonuses that enhance the default rotation as intended.

Elemental Shaman:

2-piece: Elemental Blast and Earth Shock damage increased by 25%
4-piece: Spending Maelstrom gives more crits and crit damage

Enhancement Shaman:

2-piece: Stormstrike, Lava Lash damage increased
4-piece: Feral Spirits last 100% longer

Restoration Shaman:

2-piece: Titewave healing increased, spells affected by 10%
4-piece: Titlewaves 80% more effective, mana cost of affected spells reduced by 8%

9. Druid Tier Set Bonus

Ramping crit chance on Tiger Palm and increasing damage of finishing moves fits well within Feral's rotation. Tiger Palm is a common ability to proc the crit buff. Finishing moves dealing more damage when buffed is a clear DPS increase without changing gameplay. Might see higher potential with tweaked numbers on the buffs.

Balance Druid:

2-piece: Starfire damage increased, Starfall damage increased
4-piece: Lunar Eclipse and Solar Eclipse each increase Astral Power Wrath generates by 1

Feral Druid:

2-piece: Chance to crit strike increases by 6% for 10 seconds, increasing by 1 every 2 seconds
4-piece: Crit strikes with combo point generators increase damage of next big button potentially a lot

Guardian Druid:

2-piece: Thrash and Moonfire damage done and reduces damage taken, stacking 3 times
4-piece: Arcane damage increased by 5%, Bleed damage increased by 5%

Restoration Druid:

2-piece: Rejuvenation, Wild Growth, Swiftmend healing increased
4-piece: Healing increased by 8% when consuming Soul of the Forest

10. Monk Tier Set Bonus

Increasing Tiger Palm damage and resetting Killing Machine works but adds some RNG. Killing Machine procs can feel out of the player's control at times. Big damage increase to a TP requires it to land a crit. Overall still enhances the rotation but relies more on luck than some other options. Slightly more risk involved.

Windwalker:

2-piece: Next melee ability damage increased
4-piece: Melee abilities increase damage of next Tiger Palm

Mistweaver:

2-piece: Enveloping Mist and Renewing Mist healing increased
4-piece: Vivify extends duration of Mists on primary target

Brewmaster:

2-piece: Blackout Kick and Keg Smash deal more damage, Shuffle grants damage
4-piece: Kicking increases damage, chance to reset Keg Smash cooldown

11. Death Knight Tier Set Bonus

Looping 2-3% damage reduction from Bone Shield plus a damage increase fits into the core defensive rotation. Damage increase relies on getting many stacks, which requires surviving or handling runic power well under pressure. Mostly functions as intended but damage benefit depends a fair amount on outside circumstances enhancing the difficulty to benefit fully.

Blood Death Knight:

2-piece: When you have 1 or more Bone Shield charges, damage taken is reduced by 2% up to a cap, losing a charge has a chance to reduce damage taken by an additional 1%
4-piece: Damage is increased by 1% per active Bone Shield charge, taking damage below 6 charges has a chance to generate a Bone Shield charge

Frost Death Knight:

2-piece: Runic Power spending abilities deal more damage
4-piece: Consuming Runic Power has a chance to increase Strength by a amount for 15 seconds

Unholy Death Knight:

2-piece: Minions deal more damage
4-piece: Summoning a minion increases Haste by 2% for 8 seconds up to 8%

12. Warrior Tier Set Bonus

Looping extra damage on Bloodthirst and Raging Blow crit resets fits neatly into the core rotation. However, damage increases provided seem lower than some other options. Also relies more on Raging Blow crit procs which are out of the player's control. Overall enhancing intended gameplay but power level seems slightly lower with more dice roll involvement.

Arms Warrior:

2-piece: Mortal Strike and Cleave damage increase next Overpower by 10%
4-piece: Overpower cooldown reset increases MS or Cleave damage and crit

Fury Warrior:

2-piece: Bloodthirst damage emphasis, increases next Rampage by 10%
4-piece: Raging Blow cooldown reset increases next Bloodthirst damage

Protection Warrior:

2-piece: Shield Slam cooldown reset by Strategist increases SS damage
4-piece: SS crits increase Thunderclap and Revenge damage by 10% for 8 seconds