WoW Dragonflight New Class Buffs & Nerfs - Best New PvE/PvP Classes to Main in Dragonflight

The new expansion of Dragonflight launched earlier this week. Over the last few days, many have been diligently leveling their characters, some choosing to level blazing fast, while others have taken their time to explore the new zones and enjoy the gorgeous scenery. But many of you that are still leveling are having a hard time deciding on which class you will main in this brand new expansion. Check this list, we present some new best classes coming in Dragonflight for PvP. 

New Class Buffs & Nerfs Coming in Dragonflight - Class Changes, PvE Updates, Best Classes To Main 

This week we got a brand new blue post which goes over some of the upcoming major class changes which includes buffs to help assist some of the play styles that feel underwhelming, but also surprising nerfs that are going to diminish the dominant standing of other classes. This set of upcoming changes could potentially affect your decision in which class you may end up maining in Dragonflight and there's a good chance we'll see even more updates announced over the next few days, which we cover on guide, now let’s go over all of the upcoming class changes that we're expecting to see this week during the very first reset of the expansion of Dragonflight. 

Dragonflight PvE Class Changes - Best New PvE Classes to Main in Dragonflight

First we go over changes that will impact your class performance in PVE content like dungeons and raids. And afterwards, we'll go over how your main will be impacted in player and player encounters.

Tank 

First, we see a global adjustments to all tanks in PVE content. Recently, tank players have noticed that they sometimes struggle to wrestle threat away from the DPS counterparts especially against classes that generate aggro in a blink of an eye, like the explosive evoker flying into battle head-on. Causing early deaths and many unhappy, DPS players always blaming the tank. For this reason, all tank threat is effectively bolstered in this upcoming build by roughly 15%. This change allows tanks to hold attention more consistently though you will still be required to use offensive cooldowns to hold aggro against large crowds at end game content.

Demon Hunter

Next we see slight adjustments to the class of Demon Hunter with the damage of haunt nerfed globally for both specs by 10%. And the proc rate of fodder to the flame, no longer modified by hastem which reduces the survivability and the damage of spawn demons going forward.

Druids 

Druids have seen a very small nerf this week, with regrowth being reduced by 6% for restoration. The castle hunter is going to see damage increases to a handful of abilities found in their class tree.  primarily cooldown abilities like steel trap, explosive shot and barrage to help increase the overall impact.

Hunter 

- Markmanship

- Survival

Marksmanship spec also saw a 10% damage increase to their overall abilities which helps put them ahead of Beast Mastery by 2 or 3%percent depending on how fully geared they are at end game content. Heavy ammo causes trick shot ricochets to deal additional damage which will help improve Marksmanship in AOE content like Mythic+ dungeons. Overall, Marksmanship may be looking up heading forward into the first season of Dragonflight. The spec of survival also saw a small damage increase as well, improving its ability output by 5%. 

Mage

- Fire

Then we have the class of Mage, with the fire spec seeing damage increases as of this upcoming reset. Everything from Flamestrike, Pyroblast, Fireball, Scorch and Ignite are seeing damage improvements all across the board. A small set of boss which should help fire Mages find a better footing at end game content .

Rogue

- Assassination

Then we have the spec of Assassination Rogue, where the ability of Exsanguinate is going through a variety of Nerfs to help bring down its overall performance. Exsanguinate’s cooldown will be drastically increased going from a 45 second cooldown up to 3 minutes which is a jarring change. The effectness of Blade takes that Exsanguinate provides will be reduced by 20% as well. As drastic as this change is, it overall results in roughly 5 to 6% nerf for Assassination Rogues immature to PVE content, while surprisingly keeping the talent still a very competitive choice. What makes the same relationship so good is this interaction with the Deathmark ability during which all paramera bleeds and poisons double up in volume. Exsanguinate causes those bleeds to rapidly decay which allows for greater overall damage and burst output. Overall, this results in what sounds like a very scary change but one that has a very limited impact and specifically targets a unique interaction between a handful of abilities.

Monk

- Brewmaster

- Mistweaver

Next we see changes to the class of Monk. Brewmaster's balance is going to help increase your stamina, this does technically increase your survivability but it does nerf you healing in the process as well as certain talent interactions. You'll be better at taking big hits, but not as good at recovering from those big hits that follow. Then we see Mistweavers again even more healing when using spinning crane kick as a heal for the Mistweaver play style, a buff to a peaceful mending talent and an adjustment to Yu’lon’s' Whisper increasing its output but reducing target count. 

Paladin 

- Protection

We also see adjustments to the protection Paladin with a buff similar to that of a Brewmaster, where the stamina increase is going to help you take on a lot more damage, but that does mean a reduction to your overall self-recovery. The armor buff however is a nice increase and is going to improve your ability to take on physical damage.

Shaman

- Restoration

This week, we're also seeing slight adjustments for Restoration Shaman, with the Base Healing being improved and the talent of acid rain gaining increased 50% more damage. Overall, a very small update for Restoration Shaman based on the early tuning numbers.

Warrior

- Arms

- Protection

Then we have the class of Warrior, where arms and protection see survivability increases from Fueled by Violence, greatly increasing its healing potential. And protection loses some value on Brutal Vitality as well.

Dragonflight PvP Class Changes - Best New PvP Classes to Main in Dragonflight

Death Knight in PvP

- Frost 

- Unholy

Death Knights are seen PvP nerfs all across the board with a lot of changes targeting their survivability. Death Strike killing, Anti-Magic Shell absorb and Will of Necropolis are all being reduced which will leave Death Knights a lot more vulnerable when versing enemy players. We also see a big change to the Abomination Limb ability. Previously, the ability would attempt to grasp nearby enemies towards you every few seconds, causing Death Knight to disrupt enemy players. This ability will now grip only once, while still maintaining its full clawing damage output. This change to its group ability is going to make it much easier for every other player to escape the grasp of Death Knights within PVP which is a buff for everybody else but an obvious nerf for the Death Knight itself.

Druid in PvP

- Restoration

Restoration Druids are seen reductions this week to help reduce some of the effectiveness of Lifebloom ability within PvP combat. 

Evoker in PvP 

- Preservation

As a class, Evokers found themselves extremely bursty which leaves all who challenge them struggle to counter the fiery output. So in this upcoming build, the burst value of fire breath and talents that empower a living flame are being reduced by 30%. But the damage of abilities like Disintegrate and Pyre is being increased, so that Evokers gain better sustain output. The sudden changes applies for both, the preservation and the devastation specs of the Evoker. With healing evokers also seeing their manner regeneration reduced by 10% in PvP combat.

Mage in PvP

- Arcane

- Frost

We're seeing even more Mage PvP adjustments over the next few days. Arcane will receive reductions to talents of Nether Precision, Prodigious Savant and Arcane Bombardment. With the main purpose of reducing some of the bursts, but primarily the execute potential of arcade mages barrageability within PvP. Frost Mages have seen reductions to piercing cold in order to bring down the effectiveness of Glacier Spike crits within PvP. But the damage of Ice Lance is being improved to compensate for reduction of bursts windows. And we also see improvements to snowdrift which will activate instantly, no longer needing a cast time to set up. And its cooldown is reduced to 45 seconds which should make it more reliable in PvP content.

Monk in PvP

- Mistweaver

This week we see adjustments for Mistweavers within PvP. Blizzard was to promote an aggressive healing playstyle of Mistweaver monks, where you heal your allies by doing damage to enemy targets. The talent of teachings of the monastery is being buffed to heal for 375% of all damage done to help promote this aggressive playstyle. Usually, one of the biggest issues of Meatweavers is the overall survivability which tends to be on the lower end in PvP combat. Given a squishy healer, a melee healing playstyle might be a bad combo, as it could put monks in front of danger and easily make them the priority target, though Dragonflight does offer new offensive capabilities and defensive talent options. So it's possible that a visceral monk build could rise over the next few weeks.

Rogue in PvP

The class of Rogue sees a reversal to the talent of Echoing and Reprimand as the ability has proven itself to be too potent and too bursty to leave uncapped within PvP.

Shaman in PvP

- Enhancement

Finally, we have the class of Enhancement Shaman. With the talents that help enhance Maelstrom, empowerment spells are being reduced which reduces both the damage of abilities like lightning bolt, lava burst and Ellie blast, but also nerves your overall healing for abilities like healing surge as well as impacted personal survivability as well as the uphilling capabilities.

So this is the full list of class changes that we should be expecting in the next upcoming reset of the expansion of Dragonflight. What are your thoughts about some of the upcoming changes to classes? Are there any buffs that you were especially excited for and which of the nerfs do you think look a little bit too harsh?