World of Warcraft classes have NEVER been perfectly balanced...
...and they never will be.
Alright, but what is the best DPS class in Shadowlands now? What class has the highest
DPS in World of Warcraft today?
On this page we will show you the current WoW meta, DPS charts, and class Tier List for WoW
Patch 9.1.5.
Our data is based on thousands of the most recent Raid Logs from real WoW players. It's
fetched from WarcraftLogs and is always up-to-date – we update it with fresh Logs
daily!
As you can see from our data above, the DPS class balance in PvE (Raid) Content is not so
perfect in
Shadowlands 9.1.5. Neither it was in Patch 9.1 – or even in Castle Nathria Raid before
that.
Sanctum of Domination, the latest Raid of Shadowlands introduced by Blizzard in World
of
Warcraft Patch 9.1, shows us that some classes advance in their DPS performance, while
others fall
behind.
Raid Leaders can leverage this data to adjust their Raid Group for certain Bosses in SoD.
Players can use this knowledge to understand what is the easiest class to play in WoW SL.
"Overtuned" specs need less effort to succeed, thus making them an easy class.
They can also see what is the best ranged DPS class and best melee DPS class as of today.
You can also use our DPS data to find out what is the best spec for Rogue/Mage/Warlock (or
whatever
class you are interested in) in Shadowlands.
Our Methods
Now it's time to explain how we get these numbers.
We fetch all data from the latest Raid Logs through the official WarcraftLogs API every day.
It's a ton of data - thousands of Logs. That's where we use algorithms to do the math to give you a
nice rundown of summary statistics.
We never use old data – we only include Raid Logs that are most recent (within the last two
weeks).
Also, we don't narrow down our data samples to 1% of the best performing players. That
would be a too-small sample of players which is bad for statistics.
Instead, we collect all the data available to include as many players as possible. This helps to
eliminate outliers and gives a better-averaged summary, rather than extreme cases.
Let's discuss what each column in our WoW DPS Rankings means:
Popularity is how often World Top 50 Guilds pick this class/spec (compared to all other
specs) for their Progression Raiding in the latest Raid Tier. Top Guilds know the current meta
very well, so it's a solid reference point when you want to assess the DPS performance of each
class.
Median DPS is the median DPS values of each spec for the whole data sample of the most
recent Raid Logs from SoD (Sanctum of Domination Raid).
Maximum DPS is the highest DPS value recorded for each spec in the DPS list (in the
current sample, thus in the last 2 weeks of Raid Logs).
Further Explanation
While no data is perfect, we believe that we've come up with the most reasonable Shadowlands DPS
Rankings possible.
In contrast to simulation-based data (which means using tools like SimulationCraft to simulate damage
output of ideal players in perfect conditions), we resort to real Raid Logs as a source – which is
what you actually see in the game – not just "on paper".
As players better optimize their characters (be sure to check out our Shadowlands
Best in Slot
Guides to optimize yours) and Blizzard tunes certain specs, class balance keeps constantly
shifting.
That's why the current meta is not "set in stone".
Just look at the Shadowlands DPS Charts figure below:
The Top Tier DPS class is always changing. Source: WCL
This historical graph demonstrates how the top DPS spec keeps evolving over time.
As you see, WoW damage charts never stay the same.
You should come here from time to time to check the latest updated data for DPS.
Conclusion
There you have it: the latest WoW Shadowlands DPS Rankings for PvE (Raiding) as of January 2022.
In our DPS Charts, we've shown you the best ranked DPS classes and specs in WoW today.
We've covered the best ranged DPS and melee classes here. We even have Healers and Tanks ranked by
DPS!
We also have classes sorted by their popularity - in case you want to know what is the most
popular
class in WoW.
In addition to that, you've seen our DPS Class Tier List with Top DPS classes for Shadowlands Patch
9.1.5.
All of the above should give you a solid idea about the current WoW meta and the overall class
balance in the game.
Keep in mind that these numbers are subject to change as World of Warcraft Devs are constantly
tinkering things.
Be sure to come back here every once in a while to always stay updated on the latest DPS meters!
:)
These WoW DPS Rankings are for Shadowlands PvE Raid Content.
According to the definition by Wowpedia, "Damage per second
(DPS) is a measure of
the damage dealt by a person or group over one second".
You should also know that we refer to certain classes and specs as "DPS", meaning
Damage Dealers.
What is the best class for DPS in WoW?
The strongest DPS classes ("OP classes" or "FotM" as some like to call them) are
usually
placed in the Top 5 of our Shadowlands DPS Tier List. You can judge for yourself
by
exploring the data above.
How your Shadowlands DPS Rankings compares to Icy
Veins/Noxxic/Wowhead?
All of these sites use different methods from what we do. Some of them resort to
opinion-based rankings, some use WoW sims as their source.
We have a different approach by using Raid Logs as our data source.
Are lower-ranked classes unviable?
Not at all! These WoW DPS Rankings are meant to show the overall trends, however,
in
actual in-game scenarios many other factors may chime in and the lowest-ranked
class/spec may end up being Top #1 DPS in raid/group and vice versa.
You should always play the class that you enjoy the most – regardless of the
current
WoW meta – and instead try to maximize your damage output by leveraging our WoW
Shadowlands Best in Slot Guides.
