Power Ranking all Classes (For 5-toon Multi-boxing)

[Vegasboxing]

Power Ranking all Classes (For 5-toon Multi-boxing)


Well we’re about 6 months away from the release of the Legions expansion… I wanted to go over all of the classes in PvP in their current state, discuss their current power and ranking, and give thoughts about how the Legion expansion will impact each class.


This article is about 5-boxing in PvP, all 5 toons being the same class. I have leveled every class to 100 and 5-boxed them in PvP… Ashran mostly, but battlegrounds as well. If I discuss any tactics, it will assume Ashran, but many tactics can also apply to BG’s.

A couple of notes before we get started. As far as gear goes, I primarily stack Versatility for all of my slots including trinket slots and enchants. Crit is my go-to secondary stat. This holds up for pretty much all classes, however on my Frost Mages I tend to lean a little to the Multistrike side as well for a secondary stat.

Also, I will not be discussing mobility in Ashran and BG’s, or my method of following. That is a topic for a different thread. I will say this though, there are really, really good options out there to get your toons moving with you, you just have to be a little diligent in your search.


Now for the list… 13 specs ranked 1^st through 13^th in four categories:


Marksmanship Hunter:

Overall Ranking: 1^st Single Target Burst Dmg: 1^st AOE Burst Dmg: 1^st Survivability 2^nd

The undisputed kings of damage in the current Meta. They have been on top since Mists of Pandaria, and they only seemed to get better in Warlords.

Single Target: Chimaera Shot is THE hardest hitting instant cast spell in the game currently. Only Chaos Bolt hits harder, but for a 3 sec cast and only once a resource has been filled for it. For the purposes of ranking, I considered Chimaera to be single target damage…. However, it occasionally hits 2 targets that are really close together, and this is a bonus when it does. It doesn’t do this with any real consistency though, so I don’t classify it as AOE.

Other single target DPS heavy hitters include Aimed Shot and Kill Shot. Chimaera Shot usually one-shot kills any target, (of course by one-shot I mean a simultaneous casting of all 5 toons you are boxing), but sometimes tanky targets will require more. If I’m targeting a tank, (or a Disc Priest), I will usually open up with Aimed Shot, followed by Chimaera Shot, and then a Kill Shot if it is still needed. That combo will take out even the heftiest of tanks.

AOE damage mostly comes from Barrage. This is a must have talent in the 90 bracket, and in my opinion is the hardest hitting AOE in the game currently. It is especially effective in Ashran when the two sides are going at it in the middle or at an event. Each side will be all bunched up together with a clear line drawn between them that only the occasional tank will dare to cross. Target a healer or tank at full health, use Barrage, and sit tight for 3 seconds to watch the ensuing carnage. Their whole team will drop to low health, and many will die. Finish off the healer or tank you have targeted with a Chimaera or Kill Shot, if they didn’t already die from the Barrage. With only a 20 second cooldown on this amazing AOE, you’ll keep consistent pressure on the enemy team and force them to keep backing up… until they eventually rout and flee.

Survivability comes from Disengage, Deterrence, Traps, and Spirit Bond. Spirit Bond is one of the best self-heals in the game, and should always be your lvl 45 choice, unless you’re one of those players that just wants to Lone Wolf all the time. I don’t recommend it. Lone Wolf is fine if you want to open up with it, and hit people at range, but the moment you get targeted and attacked, you need to be summoning your pet and disengaging. Even if you pick Lone Wolf as a talent, keep Spirit Bond as a talent, so that you can summon your pet whenever you get low on health to tick back up. Lone Wolf’s biggest drawback is that it doesn’t work with Barrage, the ability that would benefit the most from it. Chimaera already hits hard enough. I just pick up Exotic Munitions instead for the extra DPS and utility. (I put Incendiary on 3 toons, Poisoned on 1 toon, and Frozen Ammo on 1 toon.) You just have to remember to refresh the buff every hour.

Other Notes: Beast Mastery is fun but not nearly as effective in this Meta for PvP. It’s definitely a good PvE choice if you raid or do dungeons though.

As for talent choices, Spirit Bond and Barrage are probably the only two must haves for PvP. I also use Posthaste for speed bursts, Intimidation which I put into macros for stuns, (I have Intimidation in a different macro for each toon, i.e. Steady Shot macro for one toon, Concussive Shot for another toon, Aimed Shot for another, etc.), Dire Beasts for extra DPS and energy recovery, and Blink Strikes, (although Murder of Crows is another viable choice, I just don’t find the need to do more single target DPS spells than necessary).

Explosive Trap seems to be a mandatory glyph this xpac for knockbacks… though I wouldn’t mind seeing Blizz take this out of the game because it’s highly annoying to be on the receiving end of constant AOE knockbacks in PvP.

Legion Thoughts: It looks like Chimaera Shot is moving to Beast Mastery, which means BM might be a more viable spec in PvP in Legion. It might be a welcome change; I kind of miss killing players with pets alone… it’s fun, and they can’t hide behind walls and barriers when pets are on them.

Marksman is getting Lone Wolf as a passive, and Sniper Shot and Head Shot sound like they could be as powerful as Chimaera Shot, but only time will tell.

The explosive trap knockback is going away but getting replaced by Bursting Shot, which has a 30 second cooldown, for more highly annoying knockback fun in PvP. (Not a fan btw if you haven’t picked up on the sarcasm.) Knockbacks are difficult for a boxer to recover from if some or all of their toons are knocked off ledges and such.

The biggest loss seems to come from not having Spirit Bond… I may be missing something but I don’t see any passive self-healing anymore, which is a huge loss to survivability. Exhilaration is still there on a 2 minute cooldown, but it’s not enough.

Kill Shot also seems to be missing from the menu; no idea if they will have an equivalent, but this would be a big loss as well.


Shadow Priest:

Overall Ranking: 2^nd Single Target Burst Dmg: 2^nd AOE Burst Dmg: 6^th Survivability 4^th

The overall ranking for the #2 (SPriest) and #3 (Mage) spots is almost a tie. The deciding factor between these two classes is playstyle and whichever you prefer. They are both fun.

Single Target DPS comes from Mind Blast, Devouring Plague, Insanity Mind Flays, and Shadow Word: Death. I choose the major glyph Mind Harvest, which gives you two additional shadow orbs the first time you Mind Blast a target. This ensures you can always follow it up with Devouring Plague. The downside is the increased cooldown, but the level 100 talent Clarity of Power should be taken to reduce the cooldown and make Mind Blast instant. This is crucial.

Basic combo is select a target, Mind Blast them, follow it up with Devouring Plague, then finish them off with an Insanity Mind Flay and/or SW: Death. Select another target, rinse, wash, and repeat. It’s EZ mode.

For AOE damage, you can choose to use an Insanity Mind Sear instead of Flay. Little less damage than Flay, but with a 10 yard radius. I do this only when the enemy team is all bunched up together, like in the mines event in Ashran. Also Cascade is a great AOE spell.

Survivability comes from Power Word: Shield, Devouring Plague self-heals, Vampiric Embrace self-heals, and Flash Heals work in a pinch if one of your toons is taking heavy damage. Dispersion is your run away tool when the going gets rough, and if one of your toons is dragging behind being snared and DPS’d, you can use Leap of Faith to bring him back to your lead toon.

For talents, you want Body and Soul for the movement speed increase, Insanity for damage, Psychic Scream to get melee off of you, Twist of Fate for damage, Cascade for damage, and Clarity of Power as I mentioned before. The first tier of talents is whatever you prefer; there is no wrong selection. Cascade is interesting to macro with Vampiric Embrace, so you cast both together, and get some very quick burst healing going on in a pinch.

Legion Thoughts:
Shadow Priests are going to be tough to judge how they will work out in Legion, because they are getting a new resource bar (Insanity), and a new Voidform stance, which you switch into when your Insanity meter is full.

Mind Blast looks like it will be just as powerful, but I do not see a talent to make it instant cast anymore. Self-healing will come from Vampiric Touch instead of Devouring Plague, and it looks like they removed Devouring Plague altogether which is a huge burst loss. It may be replaced by Void Bolt, which is a burst spell you can only do while in Voidform. Pinch healing will be done with Shadow Mend, which could work better than Flash Heal currently.

The PvP talents don’t really look all that impressive, so I’m skeptical about this class being as good as it is now when Legion drops.