Dragonflight Pre-Patch DPS, Tank and Healer Log Rankings, Week 2: Class Tuning Results

 

We’re back with a look at week 2 of the Fated Sepulcher of the First Ones rankings, after a very large set of class tuning fixes mixed things up quite a bit. Now that we have a baseline from the first week it’ll be easier taking a look at the spec movements, so let’s get started and welcome our new Warlock overlords. Again. For the third time.

Mythic

95th Percentile

Well, despite several hotfixes lowering Affliction’s power in the past 2 weeks, the actual tuning itself seems to have dialed it up a notch and players are very much figuring out the AoE capabilities of the spec with the all the Drain Soul damage amplifiers… all of which leaves us with yet ANOTHER Warlock spec absolutely dominating the proceedings. This is the third patch in a row that we have a purple spec not only at the top, but by a very large margin as well, with Destruction having reigned in the original Sepulcher, then Demonology in Season 4, and now we have a very Affliction pre-patch. It almost makes you wish for a broken Devastation Evoker to come and break the status quo. Almost.

On the non-purple side of the street we see another once giant return towards the top as Balance sits in 2nd, also very far ahead of the rest of the pack in this AoE-heavy raid, almost doing as well as in its Castle Nathria heyday. Arcane is a surprising face to see in the top 3, as it rises 6 spots, and without any help from the tuning either. Frost Death Knight is still the most stable spec between the last 3 patches, as it actually gains ground this week, moving up 2. Beast Mastery also took a large leap, despite a minor nerf in the tuning, as it climbs up a whole 5 spots, just ahead of Windwalker who is experiencing quite the opposite, down 5 since last week after a significant set of nerfs. We have a third 5-spotter after that, as all DKs seem to be doing better, with Unholy also joining the moving-on-up crowd. Retribution fans shouldn’t feel too bad this week, as it may not be in the top 3 anymore, but it’s still hanging in there at No.8, followed by Havoc which is 2 spots up. Closing out the top 10 we see Arms representing Warriors, and dropping 2.

We have a bit of a tragedy at the bottom, as the 2 Hunter specs dropped a few spots from last week, but the true tears are being shed, as very much expected, by Enhancement, which received a truly crazy and unprecedented 25% overall damage nerf in the tuning last week.

95th percentile Mythic data by Warcraft Logs.

Our Warlock guide writer Motoko is back with some more Affliction examination, trying to explain the crazy numbers (and you can read more about Affliction in general in last week’s entry).

Affliction continues to dominate the charts this week especially thanks to the fated affix Chaotic Essence, which plays incredibly well into a spec that has Soul Flame as one of the talents available, inflating the overall damage while also providing the massive damage bonus of the affix itself. As a result, the overall strategy is to burst for 15 seconds on the initial motes then cast as many Seeds of Corruption on the following split motes, to trigger Soul Flame chain reactions.

All Percentiles

We do see a bit of a difference in the generalist bracket, with Frost DK doing 1 better and breaking into the top 3, while Havoc moves in between Beast Mastery and Windwalker, doing quite a bit better here than in the high percentiles. The same goes for Arms, and while it’s doing better than in the top percentiles, it is actually 1 spot down from last week in this particular bracket. We see a flicker of yellow here as well, as Outlaw rises into 9th, with the final top 10 spot going to Retribution. Unsurprisingly Enhancement finds its way into the penultimate slot after a top 3 showing last week, with only Marksmanship doing worse.

All percentiles Mythic data by Warcraft Logs.

Tanks and Healers

We’ll only be taking a quick look at the tanks and healers, as Guardians are still doing their trinket/mote shenanigans (which you can read more about in last week’s entry), and are now breaking the 50K DPS mark, as the rest of the rankings remain the same for tanks.

All percentiles Mythic data by Warcraft Logs.

Healers did have a bit of a shakeup this week, with Monks coming out on top. Holy Priest had a particularly bad week as it lost 3 spots to Mistweaver, Resto Druid and Discipline!

All percentiles Mythic data by Warcraft Logs.

Heroic DPS

The Shaman tragedy continues in Heroic as well, and while Enhancement was riding the highest here last week, sitting on top of everything else, at least it isn’t suffering the indignation of the bottom 3, “only” dropping 16 spots to No. 17. Affliction and Balance reign supreme, but we do see a big change from Mythic in 3rd, as Arms claims the bronze, which is perhaps unsurprising seeing as the spec has always been much more popular and performed better in Heroic. Fire upstages Arcane here, as Outlaw also does better than in Mythic, but it seems another Rogue spec had to pay for that, with Subtletly finding its way to (almost) the bottom.

All percentiles Heroic data by Warcraft Logs.

 

As always, if you want even more info on a spec, you can check out our pre-patch class guides here, or for even more data, head on over to Warcraft Logs. You can also take a look at our Fated raid guides.