Best Classes to Main – Cataclysm Classic Season 9 PvP Tier List - Skill Capped (2024)

We are entering a new chapter of World of Warcraft Classic PvP, and with it – come a number of changes that may affect your choice of main class or spec for the expansion. There are a lot of changes coming to PvP that deserve their own articles, and we will go over them in due time. For now we will focus on the most important changes and the classes that will be outshining others in the Cataclysm Classic expansion. Here, we will be discussing the best classes to main for PvP in Cataclysm Classic by some of the best players in the world.

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Before we get to figuring out which classes are the best and most worthy of becoming your main for Cataclysm, we have to go over what’s actually changing for PvP. While there weren’t a lot of big PvP-specific changes, there were a couple that might alter arena balance in a huge way.

Most of these classes listed have had overall reworks to their rotation, while also providing extra abilities that these specialization can use. Some new abilities from Cataclysm include Ring of Frost for Mages, Spirit Link Totem for Shamans, Leap of Faith for Priests, and Heroic Leap for Warriors.

It is important to know that dispels for all healers in Cataclysm have been changed, allowing all healer specializations to have a magic dispell. Non-healer specializations that had dispel, Retribution Paladins and Shadow Priests, are not able to remove magic debuffs with their dispel. Shadow Priest have retained this with Mass Dispel.

Melee

Feral Druid

This specialization excels with powerful bleed effects to apply on your target, while also having unique utility and a diverse amount of defensive cooldowns.

Feral Druid’s burst profile involves snapshotting with abilities like Tiger’s Fury, on-Use trinkets, and the Tailoring Cloak enchant, all leading towards a massive amount of bleed damage. Feral Druids also have Predatory Strikes for instant cast Cyclone, which can help slow down the enemy team or to set up a kill. Pairing this with their newly added interrupt, Skull Bash, Feral Druids have massive control on the direction of an arena match.

If this specialization was extremely squishy, none of these topics wouldn’t matter as much, but that is simply not the case for Cataclysm Season 9. Due to Feral Druids having 1-minute Barkskin, Survival Instincts, Frenzied Regeneration rework for additional HP effects, and 20% passive additional healing, makes them difficult to take down.

Subtlety Rogue

Subtlety Rogues is probably the most iconic specialization during Cataclysm, and the most prominent defensives that make this specialization so strong is Recuperate and Combat Readiness. Recuperate’s self-heal and Combat Readiness are key parts to Rogue playstyle in Cataclysm, allowing them to push more aggressively against their opponents without fear of being vulnerable.

Their burst primarily comes from Shadow Dance, and from their primary generators as opposed to their finishers. Ambush and Backstab grant Rogues the ability to provide massive burst to their foes during a Cheap Shot or Kidney Shot, followed by other Crowd Control from their allies.

Let’s not forget about Subtlety Rogue utility, as they are also provided with Gouge and Sap to slow down your opponents for team recovery, or to set up on your opponent to guarantee a kill. Pairing Sap with Blind, allows for extremely long control on a target. Blind can be used freely due to Glyph of Blind, making Rogues have immense control over their opponents throughout a game. Its important to identify that Subtlety Rogues are one of the few classes that provide a Mortal Strike effect on a target, causing them to create more pressure for Healers and enemy decision making throughout a match. Cataclysm also released Smoke Bomb for Rogues, which is used to help assist your teammates or to have other options when it comes to win conditions. By the way, Smoke Bomb can even be reset with Preparation, making their toolkit even more deadly.

Retribution Paladin

The Cataclysm expansion has introduced Holy Power and Word of Glory to Retribution Paladins, making this specialization primarily a hybrid support role in any composition. Retribution Paladins use talents Selfless Healer, allowing your Word of Glory casts to be 50% stronger when applied on a friendly target. This can be synergized with Last Word, increasing the Critical Strike chance on Word of Glory when the target is at low HP.

Retribution Paladin’s damage profile brings on two new cooldowns that are typically paired with your Avenging Wrath. Zealotry will grant full Holy Power whenever using a generator ability, allowing Rets to spam Templar’s Verdict. Guardian of Ancient Kings will grant you additional base strength per attack on the target, making your Avenging Wrath even better than before.

Due to Self Healer being so strong, this causes Retribution Paladins to be primary kill targets in most games, but are still remarkably tanky. This is because of the amount of Resilience Rets typically stack on their character, while also having Sacred Shield as a Cheat Death mechanic.

Arms Warrior

Throughout the entire expansion of Cataclysm, Arms Warrior is far from the best melee, but Season 9 is where Arms Warrior will shine the most. Due to PvE gear not providing as much value as it does in later stages of the expansion, Warrior damage is at its peak compared to every other specialization.

Warriors are introduced with a few iconic abilities in Cataclysm. This includes Heroic Leap, which replaces Intercept, Colossus Smash as a highly efficient burst ability, and Throwdown, which has a stun and knockback effect. Warriors also keep their utility in Cataclysm, but is not as powerful as other classes. This includes Piercing Howl, Intervene, and Intimidating Shout, allowing them to maintain their support role for their teammates if necessary.

Although casters may be difficult for Warriors down the line, most Warrior builds will involve the talent, Gag Order, as a silience effect for Pummel and Heroic Throw, allowing your team to recover in crucial moments.

Ranged

Marksmanship Hunter

Hunters in Cataclysm were notoriously known for swapping out their pets in order to reset pet cooldowns that were extremely valuable for survivalibility and control. Hunters typically used a monkey pet, which provided unique abilities that were essential in PvP combat.

These pet tactics are patched in Cataclysm Classic, but we are still projecting Marksmanship Hunter as one of the best ranged specializations. This is due to their diverse selection of Crowd Control, allowing them to set up Freezing Traps on Healers with ease. This involves Bad Manner and Scatter, and is typically followed up with Silencing Shot. Also, Careful Aim, allows for Marksmanship Hunters to burst while using the newly added Camouflage ability, making their openers in Crowd Control based compositions more deadly.

Even if spam Dismissing pet is not an option in Cataclysm Season 9, Marks Hunters can still make up for it due to their profound damage output and control they can place on their opponents. This will be a contender for the best ranged specialization in Season 9.

Affliction Warlock

Throughout the entirety of Cataclysm, Affliction Warlock is considered the best caster during Cataclysm, especially when PvE gear becomes valuable in later seasons. Affliction Warlocks are considered the top three best caster specializations, and this is due to how tanky this class is as opposed to other classes. This specialization is provided with Soul Link, Demon Armor, and Demonic Circle: Teleport, allowing Warlocks to kite mobility while also receiving additional damage mitigation effects on their character. Cataclysm assists Affliction Warlock into becoming the original model of a dampening class before Dampening existed.

Similar to Feral Druids, Affliction Warlocks benefitted greatly on their snapshotting effects for their DoTs. Soul Swap and Demon Soul assist with these DoTs being modified through snapshotting, as well as your empowered DoTs having the ability to transfer onto multiple targets quickly. This can really make the damage output from Affliction Warlocks deadly, and makes it difficult for healers to deal with due to Unstable Affliction having a dispel protection.

Fire Mage

Comparing both Mage specializations, Fire Mage is arguably the better option, but both will be solid options for Cataclysm Season 9.

Fire Mage plays around the mechanic, Shatter, to increase your direct damage from Pyroblast. Mages gain Hot Streak procs through critting Scorches and Fire Blasts, which then can be used to shatter an instant cast Pyroblast. Combustion is typically used after casting shattered Pyroblasts to place a massive Fire DoT on the target and other targets nearby. This makes Fire Mage damage excel, and can be deadly if a Healer is not immediately mashing Dispel on Ignite.

Frost Mage

Even if Fire Mage is not the specialization for you, Frost Mage is still a great option as well. This is the expansion where Frost Mage is given stronger Shatters, making their damage profile focused primarily on big bursts from your crits.

Applying Frost Nova on your target can occur in multiple ways. This can be from using Cone of Cold on your targets, Having your Ice Barrier break, or by just pressing your Frost Nova ability. All of these methods to apply Frost Nova allow for you to cast powerful Frostbolts, causing massive pressure on the enemy team. Pairing this specialization with a Subtlety Rogue can make scoring kills quicker, espeically when a target is in a Smoke Bomb or Kidney Shot.

Healers

Restoration Shaman

Restoration Shaman in Cataclysm provides the strongest toolkit, considerably making this specialization the best of the best when comparing all other healer specializations.

Cataclysm gives Restoration Shaman the spell, Unleash Life, as well as the secondary stat, Mastery. Mastery’s effect for Resto Shaman is called Deep Healing, which increases the healing done to targets that are low HP. Restoration Shamans are also given one of the most iconic spells in Cataclysm, Spirit Link Totem, but Smoke Bomb that can negate that effect. Very few healers even come close to having such an amazing life saving ability.

Cataclysm also gives all healers a magic dispel, which is big deal for Resto Shaman due to their passive talent, Cleansing Waters. Every dispel on a friendly target provides a small heal, and due to Warlocks, Shadow Priests, and Mages always applying Magic debuffs on your teammates, this single passive can provide massive healing. Combining this with their utility, such as Wind Shear and Grounding Totem, make Restoration Shaman the strongest anti-wizard healer.

Discipline Priest

For this tier list, we have chosen Discipline Priest as our second best healer specialization in Cataclysm. Disc’s identity is based as an offensive support healer, and also has a dispel that removes two magical debuffs at a time. This is a massive advantage that Disc Priests receive over other healer specializations. Cataclysm also gives all Priests the iconic Mind Spike ability, which can be sequenced 3 times in a row to guarantee a crit on your Mind Blast, followed by a Shadow Word: Death if the target is low enough.

Discipline Priest’s tier set bonus is what really defines Priest in this expansion. They receives a 4 second freedom, which can help them to make key offensive plays with Psychic Scream or to kite from danger.

Their defensive toolkit is relatively powerful, as they offer Pain Suppression, which can be used in stuns from Glyph of Desperation, Power Word: Barrier, and Inner Focus having an Aura Mastery effect. Their utility with Leap of Faith allows Priest to save teammates in crucial moments, especially against Rogues with Smoke Bomb.

Holy Paladin

As our final spot for the best healer specialization in Cataclysm, Holy Paladin best fits this position. This is from their valuable cooldowns that synergize well with and against melee cleaves. Melee cleaves typically peak in Season 9, currently making Holy Paladin a strong contender, but falls behind in subsequent seasons.

Holy Paladins in Cataclysm have the ability Guardian of Ancient Kings, which duplicates their next 5 heals while doing additional cleave healing. Pairing this with Word of Glory and the new Holy Power system implemented for Paladin, this allows them to abuse their healing output with the talent Last Word. Holy Paladins are quite durable from Divine Protection, as a damage reduction, and Speed of Light, to freedom to safety or to move quickly across the map to Crowd Control their opponents.

Final Thoughts

It should be noted that if you don’t see your spec on this list, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be bad. A majority of tuning has already been in place for Cataclysm Season 9, and that the release of Cataclysm Classic is based on the last patch of Season 11. With that in mind, we were able to notice some trends in the changes that have already been made, allowing us to make some conclusions with relative certainty.