I Ranked All Specs in Cataclysm... Was I Right or Wrong? | Cataclysm Classic

Cataclysm has now been out for over a month, and it's time to take a look at how the specs that I ranked before the release actually ended up being in the live version of the game.
Original ranking videos with more context and class info:
Melee DPS: • Ranking WOW Cataclysm ...
Ranged DPS: • Ranking WOW Cataclysm ...
Healer: • Ranking WOW Cataclysm ...
Tank: • Ranking WOW Cataclysm ...
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:39 S-Tier Overview
02:14 A-Tier Overview
04:40 B-Tier Overview
06:05 C-Tier Overview
07:28 D-Tier Overview
08:11 Updated P1 Tierlist
08:41 Outro

[@Dalex19]

Thanks for all the Cata vids! The quality is always top notch. Glad to see you growing

[@Riyaniwow]

Thank you bud! 💕

[@HandoGamez]

i rank this video, S tier

[@Riyaniwow]

I rank you S tier!

[@EdmondsEditing]

Just found your channel, digging your videos!

[@Riyaniwow]

And I’m digging you! 💕

[@OKScottT]

Playing a disc priest and damn I hate healing warriors and pals. They just suck now.

[@Riyaniwow]

In the right hands, they are not that bad, but man I hear you.

[@zpauls888]

Agreed

[@FishCasts]

I do think Destro is being a bit overvalued as its high parsing numbers are somewhat due to the fact it has significantly less parses than demo/afflic. Twin Dragons has 250 destro parses while afflic sits at 1200 and demo has over 3000 parses so the lower end of those specs will make destro appear to parse better when its closer to equal despite the 15% dmg boost you mentioned. A tier and ahead of demo feels too high for destro.

[@deceivedonegaming6105]

Big true its easy to have purple parsee when there is 200ppl parsing on a region lvl

[@Riyaniwow]

Sorry, should've specified that the tier rankings at the end is in no specific order. I still think demo is by and large stronger than destro.

[@hunterlarsen194]

Just my opinion but hearing alot of people dont like demo play style. Demo is better and high end players it will be better. For a casual who might not be good at or enjoy demo can put up around the same numbers and maybe feels less like a chore and more fun But for hype reasons looking are dps boss by boss destro is doing really well so maybe if more people play and optimize can they get more out of it

[@yukinurd1010]

I like how you pointed out it’s hard to tell mono cat from bear cause they’re both “feral druid” now! I remember correctly feral Druid is cat while guardian Druid is bear. WCL is so broken this expansion they couldn’t recognize one another

[@Siegmeyer23]

If you go down just a bit to 90th percentile already MM hunter dmg is beating all of the A, B and C tier specs, but is still relegated to D tier overall since its just not quite as good as survival? No mention of the utility of having another ranged interrupt or instant CD refresh with readiness? I don't understand the continued disregard for MM even when its raw performance is above average and has roughly equal utility to the other hunter specs.

[@aerosmithfan1991]

Boomkin is still B tier even though it pulls higher damage than some of his A tier classes too…

[@xpotion7686]

Holy Priest and Resto Druid are the same class with neither having any raid utility. They should be together... on the bench

[@Danteburnett]

Hater, but you might be right

[@The-Choo-Choo-Shoe]

All hunter specs are S-tier, you'll be full BIS in 2 weeks and by the time others catch up we're moving on to the next raid tier.

[@greyraingames]

I’m here to enhance and steal all your gear.

[@MathijsW91]

🎉

[@josedavidmunozmartinez4722]

I still don't get why people put Rdruid above Holy Priest and not equal lol... I mean, they both lack Raid defensive CDs, and if we look at Raid healing, Divine Hymn is waaaaay stronger than Tranquility... Also, Prot Warriors would def be B tier instead of C tier imo... But I guess I'm thinking about good players.

[@FrazierHarcrow]

Because druids just have a lot more output and mana sustain than holy priest and still has tree form + tranq making theirs stronger( don't forget berserk for troll aswell which most r druids are. Most Hpriest players are goblin human or belf ATM.) Hpriest is dog water tier.

[@Riyaniwow]

Prot warrior is absolutely fine-- I even raid on one in my splits. But it's rated against the other tanks where it falls behind the other options, even if it's perfectly viable and even the best option on some encounters.

[@adimio]

As one of the high performing frost dks… how dare you bump me down!! 🤣🤣 Jk… there are less high performing ones because the master frost build is hard to keep up with, the haste oblit build is way easier but not performing well overall. In hindsight I wish I had gone Hunter or Ele for the easier big damage.

[@Riyaniwow]

Gotta rep that frost! Yeah, the masterfrost playstyle I don't think is intuitive to most people and it's not something that's necessarily covered through guides very well.

[@antizombiepasbeaux]

My poor Amage :( sent right into the trash can with p1. I'm sold to Arcane mage since cataclysm original release and had so many Fmage trashtalking or showing their pride for playing "such a strong" spec being all superior and all. Well good for them, but don't come crying when hou don't proc a single thing during a combust window while I take my own destiny in charge with knowledge and mana management. I still don't understand why people stills kick on sight mages that aren't playing fire even outside of HL content even if the ones that are playing fire in the group are doing less dmg, effective and doesn't provide either the 3% dmg buff or the 3% crit which they have on them anyway thanks to the arcane they just kicked "for playing something else than fire"

[@paullowe8437]

Ita because of the shit community. If you aren't min maxing the absolute best spec you are trash didn't you know that

[@johannesh.6142]

Play a better spec

[@CyberMonkey03]

Am I tripping or did you not talk about shadow priest in the A rank overview

[@Riyaniwow]

There were a lot of classes I didn't talk about where my thoughts from the original ranking videos haven't changed.

[@NF-nv3xw]

I think its mostly because they start to shine after some 372 pieces. Im super unlucky with shadow orbs, got another spriest raiding with me and boy its night and day when one of us procs orbs asap or not.

[@Kogano]

Frost DK to S tier 😌

[@Riyaniwow]

I wish

[@aerosmithfan1991]

How is boomkin B tier but outdamage A tier classes on tons of fights from the meters shown

[@Riyaniwow]

Only really the 99th percentile where the boomie is performing well. But yeah a really good boomie I'd say can make it a-tier.

[@NorthernWalks]

Rssto druid is better than both

[@RR-wb8ek]

Warrior mains in shambles

[@Greynth]

Literally not at all. Arms is crazy fun

[@Drspoigs]

Arms warr is one of the best dps wot u mean

[@TomDoddy]

All the classes covered apart from balance druid which doesnt even get a mention. Sad.

[@The-Choo-Choo-Shoe]

F-tier

[@rahyrarpg1600]

They are literally in the B tier section

[@Riyaniwow]

There were a lot of classes I didn’t talk about where my original video is reflective of their current standing, like boomie, arms, uhdk, affli, s-priest, etc. But I’ll toss you a bone! I think they are generally b tier, but a good boomie can perform in a-tier caliber for sure. Some 95-99 parsing boomies are pumping.

[@Drspoigs]

Balance definitely pumping with dark intent buff from the lock

[@badderen92]

Feel like your tier was wrong. Balance druid and holy priest should be A tier easily.

[@Riyaniwow]

Balance Druid in the 99th percentile, sure. Overall, no. Holy priest definitely is definitely a b-tier pick for the vast majority of content.

[@VividVoid]

What drugs are you smoking?

[@badderen92]

@@Riyaniwow How is Holy priest B tier ? I honestly don't get it. They have insane amount of output, incredible strong Divine hymn and guardian. If holy was B tier non of the top guilds back in the days would be using atleast one of them so you obviously don't have much clue if you look back from the old days.

[@badderen92]

@@VividVoid What drugs am i smoking ? How old are you mate ? If you can't come with a legit question then don't bother.

[@Riyaniwow]

@@badderen92 B doesn't mean bad. Their healing output is on par with rest of the healers (excluding holy pala) but brings poor raid cooldowns and no valuable external. Looking at what people did in original Cataclysm and comparing that to today's classic experience tells us nothing as patch balance and playerbase is totally different. Like, I would not mind bringing a holy priest to our 25m hc clears at all. I think they fill the same niche as the resto druid and is a perfectly fine pick for the 5th or 6th healing slot granted they are okay with flexing to shadow.

[@DanzGaymer]

Blood DK is the squishiest tank. No healer likes them lmao.

[@Riyaniwow]

Oh

[@steven301]

The Mainstream Ppl Play BDK in The wrong way. Some Like Paper while others Never dyin. Me as Main Tank in Classic and retail. With Mythic Raid and 3k+ m+ xp lovin Classic DK ❤

[@IronZheka]

All wrong. Go delete 😆

[@Riyaniwow]

Thanks for keeping me grounded