Have you ever tried to play WoW: Classic? Well, if not, Blizzard found another way to get you involved in the classic experience. Soon they will release the new version of World of Warcraft that includes one of the most beloved expansions, The Burning Crusade. And I guess that everyone will want to play for the best class WoW TBC can offer! Players from all over the world will conquer Magtheridon’s Lair, Karazhan, Gruul’s Lair, Tempest Keep, Sunwell Plateau, and, of course, the Black Temple. For sure, the content will be delivered partially to players. However, we have enough information to get back in time even now and to reveal to you strongest classes in the Burning Crusade in our special guide. What for? To become PREPARED!
Here, in Leprestore, we have prepared a brief overview of the classes and their changes in Burning Crusade Classic compared to the Vanilla version. Also, some remarks will be made for those who come to TBC from retail. The first thing to note, the vast abilities you have in Shadowlands are going to change significantly. Besides the classical reason for that (something is cut or returned every expansion), Blizzard uses the Legion artifacts powers to strengthen various classes in the last two addons. For sure, in TBC:Classic, you will not find anything like this, and in our guide we will try to show the true picture.
The Burning Crusade: Classic will release on June 1st.
This article will have information about the best healer class, the best tank, and the best DPS class in Burning Crusade Classic. We will first outline the best classes in the corresponding roles, and then the article will be focused on showing the best class WoW TBC you should choose for various activities. Are you ready to enter Outland?
Best Damage Dealers in TBC: Classic
We will choose the top-3 classes for each role, which may be the most popular choice for you. These classes will most probably be in TBC meta during all phases of this expansion, but you should remember that everything depends on the way you play any class. Knowing rotations might not be enough for a good game, so try to explore all possible skills of the classes we overview.
3 place – MAGE
No surprises that mages are opening our list. In WoW Classic, Fire mages were the top casters, and all of this because of comfortable rotation, which can deal huge damage in a short time. Both Arcane mage and Fire mage can be useful in PvE content. However, we would recommend you to choose Fire spec for several reasons. Your Improved Scorch allows you to stack significant damage on the enemy, and Dragon’s Breath makes good AoE combined with disorientation for 3 sec. In BC, the Fire mage was not significantly reworked. However, it fails to beat several strongest classes that gained game-changing abilities.
We know you remember this sound. You remember it very well…
The best Alliance races for mages are Gnomes, Draenei, and Humans. The first ones have a significant Intellect bonus (5%), Draenei increase the precise chance to hit with spells by 1%, and Humans’ spirit is higher 10% than other races have. Talking about the Horde, Trolls, and Blood Elves seems to be the right choice. Trolls’ instant ability, called Berserk, allows cast speed to increase up to 30% if your health is falling down. Arcane Torrent and Mana Tap racials give mages significant potential to gain additional mana and silence their enemies. Raids require mages to build their talent tree in a way that allows some degree of survival. It is especially important on Archimonde in the Battle for Hyjal raid.
| Activity name | Description | Overall Class rate |
|---|---|---|
| PvE | Global PvE is an easy task for Mages since they have plenty of AoE options (like Blizzard or Dragon’s Breath), and at the same time, they can rapidly kill enemies or deal additional control (Frost spec). | 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
| PvP | Frost Mages are excellent Arena champions due to the multiple control options. However, other specs seem to be not so successful. Frost mages probably the best PvP class in TBCC. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
| Raids | Mages remain the good raiders. However, they became less damaging compared to other classes, and also, in TBC, raiding requires better survival options. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
2 place – HUNTER
Hunters started to almost dominate among the best classes in the Burning Crusade since the developers significantly enhanced this class. They got two powerful abilities that completely changed the rotation for this class. The now-famous Steady Shot and Kill Command are given to the players on levels 62 and 66. Because of the global cooldown, it is possible to put the really good rotation in a single macross. However, it works mostly for Beast Master spec. It is one of the best specs in the Burning Crusade expansion overall. However, keep in mind that in PvP on arenas, its excellent damage might not be as good as you see it in the PvE content.
Hunters are going to be one of the best classes in TBCC.
Hunter is the best class for leveling in Burning Crusade. However, it is better to choose the race which fits it the most. In the Alliance, these are Draenei, Night Elves, and Dwarves. The first “newbie aliens” have a Heroic Presence buff which helps your allies to hit your enemies, increasing its chance by 1%. Night Elves basically have better Agility than other races, and it appears to be vital for Hunter. Dwarves have a bonus for the critical hit chance using guns, which excellently helps our Hunter in any spec. The must-have choice of race in the Horde is to be an Orc, but the good ones are also Blood Elves and Trolls. Orcs have passive Command ability, which increases your pets’ damage (Beast Master says ‘thanks’), and the Blood Fury active one that sacrifices the healing you receive but gives you additional attack power. Blood Elves are good for the same reason as for Mages, as they significantly support your resource management, while Trolls are also helpful for their Berserking and the passive increase of critical hit chance with Bows by 1%.
| Activity name | Description | Overall Class rate |
|---|---|---|
| PvE | One of the best classes for global PvE, and especially Beast Master spec, is good at it. Quite useful AoE and comfortable rotation. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
| PvP | Probably, Beast Master will be good on arenas, but only with the mastery of using his pets. Keep in mind that it might be a difficult class for PvP. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
| Raids | An absolutely cool pick for raids. Rotation allows dealing significant damage even to the controlling bosses like Kael or Archimonde. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
1 place – WARLOCK
Warlocks were top DPS in multiple expansions. However, in most cases, various specs were nerfed during the addon, and their specs were “traveling” from one place to another in the DPS ranking list. However, during the whole Burning Crusade expansion, the Destruction Warlock remained the champion caster DPS for its extremely easy-to-master rotation and various possibilities that emerge from building your talent tree well. It happens so because the Shadow Bolt deals the critical hit often enough. Thus you succeed in fighting a single target. At the same time, Seed of Corruption allows for significant AoE damage without excessive efforts. While building the talents, you should mostly develop the Demonology tree along with the Destruction one.
She is not aware yet that soon she will become the Master of Demonology…
The warlock-gnomes probably became this famous in WoW because it was the most powerful combination for the Alliance in the Burning Crusade. Gnomes have the Expansive Mind passive ability, which increases your intellect by 5%, and since there are not so many things Warlock can improve to deal better damage, this bonus helps you a lot. The Horde proposes obvious choices again. Blood Elves, with their abilities to gain mana and silence enemies, give better control options for Warlock, while the Orcs provide this class with significant damage burst by the Berserk ability we have already mentioned.
| Activity name | Description | Overall Class rate |
|---|---|---|
| PvE | All specs are perfect for playing PvE since any talents’ build will strengthen your damage, even if your choice was a bit inaccurate. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
| PvP | Has PvP problems like Hunters, but because their DOTs are not as successful in the arenas as the abilities of other classes. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
| Raids | The best possible pick for raids and dungeons in TBCC. Besides significant DPS, Warlocks have Healthstones and Portals, which significantly ease the group’s life. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
Not listing some classes and specs here does not mean they are useless to play in the DPS role. However, the other classes most definitely will not be the top-tier choice in TBCC, and thus you should not be surprised with their low popularity among players. The most problematic life will await Warrior specs and Retribution Paladin, even though they felt good enough in Vanilla. Though, here in our tutorial, we will show you that these classes have benefits in other specs.
Best Healers in TBC: Classic
Unlike Shadowlands, in World of Warcraft TBCC, you won’t meet this many healing specs and classes. However, most of them are quite viable in PvE content and choosing “the wrong one class” won’t damage you a lot in this role. Time to find out who is the best healer in our guide!
3 place – HOLY PRIEST
Holy Priests are healers that can be useful both for healing a single target (when the bosses are seriously pressing tanks) and for the raid-wide support. The core rotation of holy priests revolves around the coherent use of various downranking heals, which guarantee you different efficiency according to the length of the battle and other factors. Single-target healing requires you to use the Prayer of Mending in the right moments to help your tank and summon Shadowfiend in the moments the boss cannot easily kill it since it increases your mana regen. Quite the same applies for AoE healing, but you should rely on skills like Circle of Healing.
Looking forward to Burning Crusade Classic’s transmog?
Nothing significantly changes for Priests in terms of useful races as far as they act like casters too. For the Alliance players, Draenei and Humans will fit priests the best fit for Priests. The first ones help spellcasters hitting enemies because of their Inspiring Presence we have already mentioned, while the second race significantly boosts the healer’s spirit. In the Horde faction, Trolls and Blood Elves will significantly increase Priest’s abilities since they can grant additional casting speed when the raid is damaged (Berserking) or (AGAIN!) burst your mana through Mana Tap. Extremely useful for Priests that always lack their key resources.
| Activity name | Description | Overall Class rate |
|---|---|---|
| PvE | Any healer is difficult to play in Global PvE. Your talents will be built using mostly Discipline and Holy branches, so don’t wait a lot from this class. | 🍀🍀🍀 |
| PvP | Quite an average choice. However, they can shield allies and significantly buff them, so with nice partners, you may succeed. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
| Raids | Here is the place where buffing and shielding significantly help the group, so Holy Priests will be a popular spec to take in raids and dungeons. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
2 place – HOLY PALADIN
Holy Paladins will probably become the best single-target healers in TBCC. And it is a fair acknowledgment, as they act both as good tank protectors and raid buffers for their Improved Devotion Aura. It improves the ordinary Devotion Aura armor bonus, so your raid will have an additional defense. However, playing Holy Paladin in TBCC might seem difficult as the rotation implies you constantly manage your mana through Divine Illumination and deal damage through the various skills to improve your healing. However, the good news here is that the AoE healing scheme is quite the same.
Paladin, paladin, throws all enemies to bin. Paladin, paladin, there’s no way to beat his team!
In TBCC, the Horde can be happy to have Paladins as the class coming to their faction. However, the Alliance too gives players nice options that are similar to the ones that Priest has. However, worth noting that apart from the Heroic Presence that the Draenei race gives you, these guys also have Gift of the Naaru that deals a good heal to target during 15 seconds. In the Horde, Blood Elves will be the only option to choose. However, it is doubtful whether they will show good performance.
| Activity name | Description | Overall Class rate |
|---|---|---|
| PvE | “Battle Healers” are perfect in Global PvE. Even if you’re not good with the rotation, there are plenty of skills that make your life easier in Outland. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
| PvP | The utility of Holy Paladins on the TBCC arena is insane as they can combine battling with healing. Definitely a good pick. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
| Raids | Despite being a cool single-target healer, raid-wide support is not as good here. Holy Paladins may show bad performance in Tempest Keep or even in Hyjal. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
1 place – RESTORATION SHAMAN
The Horde get Paladins. Well, it is time to say Shamans will join the Alliance too! Three reasons Shamans will be best healers (and one of the best classes overall) – Bloodlust, Elementals, Totems. However, for Restoration Shamans, the key way to be useful is to maintain your raid healing abilities like Chain Heal coherently with the use of Mana Tide Totem. For the best performance, Restors also correctly develop their talents tree. Unlike other classes, you will spend mostly all the points you have on your own branch.
Fear Shamans. They are too dangerous to beat alone in TBCC.
No new races to hear about for Shaman. Same Trolls and Orcs for the Horde (any abilities that increase your casting and attack speed are really useful for Shaman). In the case of the Alliance, the only option to play Shaman is to choose Draenei, and unlike Paladin’s problem with Blood Elves, the Draenei race can boost your healing through the wise use of the Gift of Naaru.
| Activity name | Description | Overall Class rate |
|---|---|---|
| PvE | Elementals and totems help Restor not to become too weak in Global PvE. Players will probably change some things in its core talents build, but overall it is a perfect class for global PvE. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
| PvP | All Shaman specs are quite good in arenas if they mastered the rotation regarding totems. However, it is not difficult to do, so pick it with confidence. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
| Raids | Best raid-healing in TBCC. Just remember the core build that is based on the restor’s branch, and support your Chain Heal correctly. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
Best Tanks in TBC: Classic
Here we have only three tanking specs, so there are not so many choices. However, all of them will be valuable among players during the expansion, and their difference is not significant at all. Let us show you a brief comparison.
3 place – PROTECTION PALADIN
Proto pals have significantly changed from the Vanilla times in TBCC. Because their AoE aggro abilities were enhanced, now they can be extremely efficient in raids with multiple enemies on encounters. These paladins have a quite easy-to-perform rotation that is similar in the case of a single target and AoE battling. This Paladin can also deal quite sufficient damage through the Avenger’s Shield and Hammer of Wrath in line with other abilities.
She is going to beat some asses in Outland. Believe me, she can. She came from Vanilla…
Proto pals in the Alliance should pick Humans or Dwarves as their races. The mighty bearded guys have Stoneform, which significantly increases Paladin’s resistance and armor, while ordinary Humans have specialization bonuses to Maces and Swords. Blood Elves are the only option for the Horde Paladin, and we think it is even more worthwhile to take this race for the tank here than for the DPS.
| Activity name | Description | Overall Class rate |
|---|---|---|
| PvE | A wide variety of builds allows this Paladin both to heal, protect, and attack extremely well. Probably, one of the best classes for safe Global PvP. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
| PvP | Feels great on arenas, thankfully to Divine Shield and other saving abilities. Totally not the worst choice. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
| Raids | Despite easy rotation, it is difficult to master Proto pal to the level where this class beats the other tanks. However, we still think that it might be in the 1st place in the right hands. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
2 place – PROTECTION WARRIOR
Battle of all times. Who is the best tank in TBCC? We respect Protection warrior as well as the fact it was the only and the best in Vanilla, but it received less positive changes in the next expansion than many have expected. Proto warrior remains a popular option thanks to his single-target aggro rotation. However, the fact they should change tactics for multiple enemies might be difficult to accept (especially for the new players). Our main advice is to use Thunder Clap as often as possible while dealing with the necessity to tank many mobs.
What Warrior players will do after TBCC will be released (or they will not).
Same as for Proto pal, for the tanking warrior, the Alliance offers Humans and Dwarves as primary options (and for the same reasons!). If you play the Horde warrior, then choose Tauren or Trolls for such a purpose. The first ones have health bonuses, while the benefits of Trolls that we have already discussed may be helpful in global PvE.
| Activity name | Description | Overall Class rate |
|---|---|---|
| PvE | Good damage, diverse builds, easy survival. Everything you need to solo the global PvE content in TBCC. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
| PvP | Quite sustainable on arenas, however, have fewer benefits than other classes. Though, you still can slow and stun the enemies, which is good for such PvP. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
| Raids | Mastering protection warriors will still guarantee you places in raids because the various rotations help wars be successful on the bosses with many adds and powerful single targets. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
1 place – FERAL BEAR DRUID
Probably, the class that faced the most changes from the Vanilla times. Its Feral bear spec is the key rival of Protection warrior in the competition for the best tank TBC can offer to the players. It has both sustainable health and armor, various damaging options, and versatility in tanking. Some retail players might be happy that when they enter TBCC, feral druids won’t be significantly different. For AoE aggro, they use Demoralizing Roar and Swipe, while the single-target encounters require to Mangle enemies and use Enrage. Its key benefit is the possibility to rapidly become a cat in cases when the boss can be single-tanked.
Yeah, before Warlords of Draenor your size was like a half of the finger on Archimonde’s hand. Still wanna fight him?
Unfortunately, only Taurens and Night Elves can be Druids, so it is totally up to you who to play. The Horde Druids will have a 5% health increase, while in the Alliance, your Dodge chance will be increased by 1%. They are equally useful for the Feral bear, so just pick the faction you like.
| Activity name | Description | Overall Class rate |
|---|---|---|
| PvE | The fast transformation between cat and bear allows this class to survive in a wide range of situations. Any Global PvE threat might be easily solved by Feral bear druids. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
| PvP | Druid tank does not depend on the allies this much as other classes in PvP, so it might be a useful choice if you do not trust other players, for example, but want to have a good result. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
| Raids | As we have mentioned before, there are many bosses where one tank is enough, and it makes additional value to this feral druid. | 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀 |
Now let me conclude this article with the summarizing of the classes best for different types of content in the Burning Crusade Classic. If you need more precise information on which class to choose, we would recommend you to watch the MetaGoblin video about it! Thanks for reading and buy from Leprestore!
| Ranking | Global PvE | Best Healer | Best Tank | Best DPS | Best PvP | Best for Raids |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st place | Beast Master Hunter | Restoration Shaman | Feral Bear Druid | Destruction Warlock | Frost Mage | Destruction Warlock |
| 2nd place | Feral Bear Druid | Holy Paladin | Protection Warrior | Beast Master Hunter | Destruction Warlock | Feral Bear Druid |
| 3rd place | Holy/Protection Paladin | Holy Priest | Protection Paladin | Fire Mage | Subtlety Rogue | Beast Master Hunter |
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