It's been over a month since we released our first WoW DPS Leaderboards article, and in the weeks that followed Nathria Castle Raid was regularly beaten into submission. We don't have to rely on pure simulation anymore at this point now that we have real real-world results, and suffice to say there were quite a few surprises when the dust settled. Using a combination of Warcraft Logs, Noxxic simulations, and data collected while evaluating the best guilds and DPS players listed in Raider.io, I've put together an updated DPS ranking for WoW Shadowlands here at the end of January. Let's do a quick and dirty clean up before we jump in, shall we?
A few brief notes for the knowledgeable WoW player.
All right, let's eliminate the PSAs. Before we get started, let me remind everyone that these DPS rankings indicate who is currently crushing the WoW Shadowlands charts, riding comfortably, and in need of some Blizzard love. In no way do these DPS rankings indicate which classes you should completely sideline: the mantra “bring the player, not the class” continues to hold true. Every class in WoW can take down Castle Nathria on Mythic difficulty, and unless you're striving to be in the top 1% of raid guilds, you don't need to ruthlessly minify your guild. A person who loves their class and excels at it will always be a better choice than the person who has simply switched to one of the current flavors of the month.
Second, Blizzard has made some minor class adjustments to WoW Shadowlands since our first DPS Rankings post. These have largely buffed high-performing classes a bit, so the overall DPS floor is higher. More comprehensive and sweeping class tweaks won't happen until Update 9.1, which is expected to arrive in the spring (according to a PC Gamer post with a brief interview with Game Director Ion Hazzikostas). In other words, barring additional minor tweaks via hotfixes, the DPS ranking in WoW today probably won't change too drastically over the next few months. Alliance Abilities and Soulbinds also play an important role in overall class performance, and these will also receive adjustments in Update 9.1.
Finally, these WoW DPS ratings are based on the high tier Mythic difficulty for Castle Nathria in Shadowlands, so it's important to remember that these DPS ratings don't always translate to 1:1 lower difficulties. Some classes adapt better and faster with upgraded gear than others, and it's important to remember that underrepresented classes and specs tend to drop in overall stats due to the simple fact of not be popular. That's not to say that a Survival Hunter is a hidden gem – class and spec are the lowest of the three hunters – but it might not be as bad as some make it out to be. Also, as you go from Mythic to Heroic and lower difficulties in Castle Nathria, those gaps between WoW DPS rating classes start to narrow, at least between mid and lower tier DPS specs.
WoW DPS ranking for raids in January 2021.
To keep things simple, I've split WoW's DPS rating into three categories: Overperforming, Tied, and Needing Love. Outperform is for classes that are absolutely tearing up graphics right now and are more likely to receive nerfs than other classes in patch 9.1. Sur Par is where the majority of classes will fall – these classes are in a generally healthy place at the moment and will likely only receive minor tweaks in the future. Needs Love is exactly what it says on the box: these classes can still clear content, but they need some substantial tweaks and tweaks from Blizzard to reach their full potential.
Classes within these categories are listed from strongest to weakest (because that's sort of what the DPS ranking is all about). These categories are here to quickly indicate where classes are currently located in Shadowlands. Again, these rankings are based on Mythic Castle Nathria to better demonstrate class performance at their theoretical peak. I've used data derived from actual results and rankings, then cross-referenced it with simulated results alongside lists of the top 10 WoW Mythic Raid Guilds to better illustrate where different classes and specs sit with ranking. January WoW DPS.
It's worth noting when comparing these DPS rankings with last month's WoW DPS rankings: Feral Druids was initially in the Needs Love category, but they've since proven us all fools and moved up into the over-performance category. . On the other end of the spectrum, Frost Mages were meant to be overkill, but they landed safely in the On Par category. Alright, let's move on to the WoW Shadowlands DPS ranking, namely the Castle Nathria raid.
Outperforming
- Libra Druid
- fire mage
- Affliction Warlock
- feral druid
- Windwalker Monk
- precision hunter
Tied
- Unholy Death Knight
- shadow priest
- outlaw thief
- Mage arcanique
- Paladin of Retribution
- Elemental Shaman
- weapon warrior
- Frost Mage
- Frost Death Knight
- warlock warlock
- Thief of Subtlety
- Havoc Demon Hunter
- fury warrior
- Shaman Upgrade
Need love
- Assassination Thief
- Warlock of Destruction
- Beast Mastery Hunter
- survival hunter
