WoW Dragonflight Season 3 tier list

With Season 3 upon us in World of Warcraft Dragonflight, you might be wondering what class to play. It's a difficult choice to make, so let me help you out a bit by breaking it down in a tier list.

WoW Dragonflight Season 3 Tank tier list

Throughout Dragonflight, tanks have been in a very strong spot with the ability to stay alive just about forever. While there have been a variety of buffs and nerfs over the expansion, all the tanks look solid in Season 3. Guardian Druids have taken the biggest hit, which is a shame considering we're in a Druid-centric season at the moment.

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Every tank is still perfectly viable until the cutting edge of content, something that most of you (including me) won't be touching. With that said, some tanks do come out on top of others. The Season 3 dungeon pool has a lot of AoE damage opportunities, so those classes are typically better than ones who can't provide that.

S-tier

• Vengeance Demon Hunter
• Protection Paladin

These tanks will be able to handle the content with ease, provided you're able to pilot them effectively yourself. With Vengeance Demon Hunters being extremely tanky and boasting high damage, it makes sense to put them at the top.

Joining the Demon Hunter will be the Protection Paladin. There's just about no situation the Paladin can't handle, and they are the master of interrupts which firmly puts them as among the best in PUG (pick up group) situations.

A-tier

• Protection Warrior
• Blood Death Knight

Protection Warriors aren't as strong as they used to be during Dragonflight Season 1, but they are still effective choices. Spell Reflection remains a very powerful ability, and nobody handles raw physical damage as well as a Protection Warrior.

Blood Death Knights remain a strong choice, and they can get even better once they get their hands on the Legendary Axe dropped by Fyrakk. Even if you're not a raider, Blood DKs are completely self-sustaining and they offer their grip ability that can easily pull mobs in toward them for easy cleave damage.

B-tier

• Guardian Druid
• Brewmaster Monk

Strangely enough, we're seeing Guardian Druid drop from the best tank to one of the worst in Season 3. It's still easy to pickup and play, but it's been hit with a variety of nerfs that now put it down in B-tier. They still offer the strong Mark of the Wild buff, and will also be a perfect choice for players looking to learn how to tank.

Brewmaster Monk is a tricky one because it can also do a ton of damage, but it's tough to play. Brewmasters suffer greatly from having too many abilities to hit, and that can be mitigated in a way by choosing passive abilities instead of active ones on the Talent Tree. There's nothing inherently bad about Monks, or any tank really, but they are the most difficult to pilot. This means unless you're a dedicated player of the spec, you're better suited going elsewhere.

WoW Dragonflight Season 3 Healer tier list

Healers are in a decent spot in Season 3, and despite Dragonflight as a whole being harder to heal in raid and Mythic+ settings, you should be able to make any healer work. Holy Paladins took a big hit in healing output going into Season 3, but they are still one of the best in the game.

S-tier

• Discipline Priest

If nerfs are coming for any healer, it's certainly the Discipline Priest. It's capable of topping the healing charts and also provide strong DPS throughout a fight. The spec has typically been called one of the most difficult to play in the game, but they are downright lethal in the right hands.

A-tier

• Holy Paladin
• Preservation Evoker
• Mistweaver Monk
• Restoration Druid

Holy Paladin is still very strong despite nerfs, but it's really only that way if you play it like the melee healer it is. Many people want the caster build to work, but it's a clear step down from the melee-centric one.

Preservation Evokers are the new spec added in Dragonflight, and they have remained strong and powerful healers throughout the expansion. Their limited healing range is made up for with their strong utility, durability, and good movement.

Related: How to use Gear Upgrading in WoW Dragonflight

Mistweaver Monk is another melee healer, but this allows it to absolutely excel at M+ healing. Doing damage will result in bigger heals, so you're essentially playing like a DPS that also heals. It's a lot of fun and simple to learn.

Restoration Druid, unlike Guardian Druid, remains quite powerful. This class has a lot of healing on short cooldowns, so keeping the group alive should never be an issue if you know what you're doing. They also have the nice bonus of swapping to Bear Form in case things get spicy.

B-tier

• Restoration Shaman
• Holy Priest

Restoration Shamans have one of the best healing abilities in the game with Chain Heal, but the main drawback of them is the other classes just having a bit more in their arsenal. Resto Shamans are still perfectly fine, and they even bring Heroism/Bloodlust to a group, but their healing and damage output will be beaten by most other healers

Holy Priests are probably the easiest healer to pick up and learn, and things are as simple as casting spells like Flash Heal to top health bars off. The main drawback here is the fact the Discipline Priest is just much better, so it'll just feel bad to play the Holy spec knowing a better class is a button click away.

WoW Dragonflight Season 3 DPS tier list

There are a whopping 26 different DPS specs in Dragonflight Season 3, so it's very tough to know what one to play as. Luckily, they are all perfectly serviceable, so don't feel like you have to a reroll to a certain character to be effective. With that said, some are just much better than others.

S-tier

• Havoc Demon Hunter
• Outlaw Rogue
• Frost Mage
• Fire Mage

With Demon Hunters getting a rework, both the DPS and Tank specs both find themselves among the game's best in Season 3. They can output the most damage in the game, so don't be shocked to see people playing them very often in the opening weeks of the season.

All of the Rogue specs are solid going into Season 3, but the Outlaw spec might be the one that stands above the rest. It's definitely the best damage dealer of them, and that's why it's making it to the highest tier, but you really can't go wrong with any of the three.

Frost and Fire Mage both come out ahead of Arcane Mage. Frost provides a lot of utility in M+ dungeons, and there's really no beating the constant slow thrown on mobs. Fire will do more damage than your typical Frost Mage, and it has one of the best AoE profiles of the entire game.

A-tier

• Augmentation Evoker
• Balance Druid
• Enhancement Shaman
• Subtlety Rogue
• Beast Mastery Hunter
• Unholy Death Knight

Augmentation Evoker is in a weird spot because it has been subject to heavy tuning ever since its release. It used to be a no-brainer must-include in any group, but that's not quite the case anymore. It still gives huge buffs to other DPS players as it's the only support spec in the game, but it's not as strong as it once was. Any group will still benefit from it, and that's why it's still among one of the best specs.

Balance Druids are one of the Druid specs that is shining in Season 3, and it can bring out a lot of AoE and single-target damage. This makes it quite strong in both a raid and M+ setting. You also have the ability to shift in to Bear Form to survive big hits that would kill other DPS classes.

Enhancement Shamans are among the most difficult classes to play in the game with having a lot of buttons to hit. This is made up for by the fact they are also one of the strongest. You bring Bloodlust/Heroism, but you don't have a lot of tools to survive a big hit. This makes surviving big group-wide damage an issue as you do harder content.

Subtlety Rogues are quite strong, and with some of the M+ dungeons giving you the ability to skip trash, having a rogue for its shroud ability is nice. The real downside here is it's just not as strong as Outlaw, but you should get by just fine.

Beast Mastery Hunters are among the strongest DPS classes in the game, a huge shift from where they find themselves at the start of the expansion. This is easily the strongest Hunter spec from a damage perspective, so if that's what you're interested in then BM is for you.

Unholy Death Knights have very strong burst windows, and that's always made them quite strong in a M+ setting. Unfortunately, some tuning by Blizzard has taken them down a few pegs. They are still very strong, but it's not a lot more competitive in their tier.

B-tier

• Fury Warrior
• Arms Warrior
• Feral Druid
• Retribution Paladin
• Demonology Warlock
• Affliction Warlock
• Survival Hunter
• Marksmanship Hunter
• Devastation Evoker
• Elemental Shaman
• Arcane Mage
• Frost Death Knight
• Assassination Rogue

Both Warrior DPS specs are solid in Season 3, but for different reasons. Fury Warrior is among one of the simplest classes in the game, and it's capable to dealing out a lot of damage. Arms has a strong opening burst in fights, but does get weaker the longer a fight goes on. The downside to Arms is the fact it has to choose between AoE or single-target for its build. That makes it strong in a raid setting, but it suffers in M+.

Feral Druid is looking good in Season 3, and we ever saw Team Liquid bring the spec into the Race to World's First. It dishes out strong AoE damage, and brings the always appreciated Mark of the Wild buff.

Retribution Paladins benefited greatly from a rework mid-Dragonflight, and it has made the class much better. There are far fewer buttons to hit, and that means you can spend a lot more time just doing damage. Ret Paladins can also take a beating and offer off-healing in a pinch.

Demonology Warlocks and Affliction Warlocks are the two strongest Warlock specs in Season 3. Demonology does the most raw damage, and that's what a lot of players value the most. Affliction can hold its own with a strong burst opening on AoE, but it does fall behind its stronger counterpart.

The two remaining hunter specs, Survival and Marksmanship, come in behind Beast Mastery. Survival is the melee focused spec, and it's quite fun to play this season with the tier set, and it's looking the best it has all expansion. Marksmanship is a lot weaker than it once was, but their tier set bonus does give them a nice boost to damage. The downside to hunters is the little utility offered to a group, but it's not the end of the world to take one with you or play as one.

Devastation Evoker is a perfectly fine class, but the problem you'll run into is many people just wanting you to play the Augmentation spec. You don't have to give into the pressure as Devastation is doing just fine.

Elemental Shaman is the ranged spec for Shamans, and you'll find it a very nice spot in Season 3. They have good ways to survive all sort of damage, and their bring Bloodlust/Heroism. There's a lot to like here, and you'll find them very serviceable over the course of the season.

Arcane Mage's biggest issue is the fact the other two specs just perform a bit better. If you're an Arcane player, there's no reason to switch, however. Just know the others can do a bit more damage, but you're just a bit of tuning away from being back on top.

Frost Death Knight is certainly the weaker of the two DPS DK specs, but Frost is a lot easier to pick up and play. If you're going for the 2h Obliteration build, you have a painfully simple rotation. The Breath of Sindragosa build is stronger, but it does require a bit more work to be strong.

Assassination Rogue is arguably the weakest of the Rogue specs, but it's still a solid choice. It's weaker in AoE situations when compared to the other two, and that's the main reason it lags behind.

C-tier

• Windwalker Monk
• Shadow Priest
• Destruction Warlock

Windwalker Monk has been in a sort of no man's land for much of the expansion, and longtime Monk players know that pain. It has strong survival tools, but outside of the Mystic Touch debuff there's just not a whole lot the Windwalker can do that other specs can't.

Shadow Priest was once one of the strongest specs in Dragonflight, but the ebbs and flow has now brought it down to the bottom. Big reasons are a new tier set essentially forcing you into a different playstyle. On top of that, the staple of the class, Power Infusion, is not as strong as it once was.

Destruction Warlock is looking like the weakest of the Warlock specs. The Tier Set bonus doesn't seem to let it excel on AoE situations, so it can fall off quickly in M+. On the other hand, it should do some decent raid damage. Ideally, you'd want both, and that's why Destruction finds itself down in C-tier.

For more World of Warcraft news and guides, check out How to get the Flourishing Whimsydrake in WoW Dragonflight on Pro Game Guides.