Season One of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands has officially kicked off as the Castle Nathria raid series begins, but are the DPS rankings any different? Because the raid is now underway, many players are looking to see if DPS rankings have changed since the beta and pre-patch. While the rankings have mostly stayed the same, there are a few differences players should be aware of when deciding on what Shadowlands DPS builds are best for raids.
The Normal and Heroic difficulties for Castle Nathria are now live, with the Mythic difficulty and Raid Finder Wing 1 coming on December 15th. The Season 1 Shadowlands raid series currently goes through February 2nd, when Raid Finder Wing 4 is scheduled to open. Because of these routine updates, World of Warcraft's DPS rankings can change over time, depending on which raid difficulty players are taking part in.
The Castle Nathria raid is located in Revendreth. It has ten bosses, ending with Sire Denethius, and the fights mostly favor ranged DPS. This is nothing really new, as most endgame raids in World of Warcraft favor ranged attackers over melee. But because of this, most top-tier DPS classes in Shadowlands are ranged. However, for Normal and even Heroic difficulties, most WoW DPS classes will work just fine, assuming players know their correct rotations.
Best DPS Classes For WoW: Shadowlands' Season One
The Marksmanship Hunter and Shadow Priest still take top spots in terms of DPS rankings for WoW: Shadowlands' Season 1. Balance Druid is now also considered a top-ranking class in World of Warcraft, which is a slight change from the pre-patch. Both the Marksmanship Hunter and Balance Druid specs have AoE attacks, making them valuable for endgame raids. The Shadow Priests' multi-DOTs are also great for dealing and stacking damage to foes over time.
The DPS rankings for Normal and Heroic difficulties haven't changed much since World of Warcraft: Shadowlands' beta and pre-patch, although this may all change when Mythic+ difficulties arrive soon. Fire Mage received a buff prior to Shadowlands' full release, and is one of the few specs that has uncapped AoE abilities. Because of this, some fans and sites are predicting Fire Mage will play a more important role in Mythic+ raids. However, classes like Marksmanship Hunter and Shadow Priest should still excel as well.
Due to the nature of WoW's raids series and updates, things like DPS rankings in Shadowlands are always changing. For now, these are considered the best DPS classes in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands for Season One, although all of that may change once additional content comes to the game.