most viable tank+dps+pvp

[outlaw-raider]

hi everyone, im a noob to the tanking scene ive allways been dps on all my toons...but, about a month ago i tryed to tank a few 5-mans with my pally and, i fell in love with tanking its awesome...my question is i still like to dps and, pvp also....so, i was wondering of all the tank classes[pally-warrior-dk-driud] whats the most viable for all 3....give me the pros and, cons of all tank classes for pvp-dps-tanking....all comments will be very appreciated...thanks in advance....p.s. love tankspot its an awesome site...

[Tengenstein]

I'm a warrior. I tank as Prot, DPS as arms and PVP as Prot.

Protection is by far my favourite of the tanks, while a smidgen more complex than pally tanking, it has so many extra toys, and its mobility and ability to put up both tanking debuffs in make my pallytank a frustrating expieirence at best.

Amrs DPS its pretty fun, its got very DPS, isn't as gear dependant as fury and is probably easier to play.

PvProt is somewhat limited in its ability to do arenas, not many people will touch it for 2s as it's quite easy to ignore it and burst it down, though in 5s it can be really useful, in BGs Prot rocks the mobility, control and raw staying power of the prot warrior makes it an ideal flag carrier and you can't really be ignored, and while not brilliant at base defense we can generally hold out until our team can fall back to us in king of the hill affairs, on the offensive we can't put out the raw burst but you can take a withering amount of damage before you fal over. In non-rated BGs we have the advantage that few people seem to have much expierience with prot and are inclined to give you rage and stack vengeance as you beat on their healers.

[Loganisis]

For the love of Arthas...

We need a standard response for every request for every "Which class is OP'd so I can faceroll it" question.

Unless you're looking to reach the elite levels of all three (which you aren't because those players don't ask questions like this) then you are likely to do well with any of them.

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Now, if you want to ask what are the different Tank / DPS / PvP playstyles of each, that's a completely different question than which is the most OP, I mean "viable" class.

Sorry, I just get fed up with people asking for easymode buttons.

*****

Now, onto something non-ranty...

Are you looking for RBGs or Arenas for PvP? While I don't PvP, many guildies do and different class do tend toward one over the other.

As for PvE DPS - According to stateofdps... Boomkin > Arms/Frost/Fury > Cat/Ret > Unholy

***

Tanking - Any of them work. Personally, I've seen great pally, warrior, and DK tanks, but our guild, desipite having 47 druids in a raid doesn't actually have a bear tank, so I don't have much of a comparison there.

***

Overall, Druids will give you the most flexability, you can be caster or melee DPS, tank, or heal. Pallys all but caster. Warriors are melee/tank.

Do you enjoy rage, mana, runic power, or focus? That'll be another key to which one you want to play.

It really is, find the one that fits the playstyle you want, and that will likely be one you will do the best with, regardless of the easymodeness of each one.

[outlaw-raider]

wow bro that was a mouthful lol....btw-im not looking for easymode or how ever you put it...im not a noob im a noob tank....isnt this the section your supose to ask these kinds of questions??? i have 6 lvl 85's but, i want to expand my play style thats all....f i steped on any toes here im sorry it was not my intention to stir up the pot...so, ill just shut up now

[Deathundone]

Aw don't be like that. This is the place to get info as I understand it. Coming from someone who has tanked endgame at some point or another on all tank classes, it realy is just a matter of prefrence. From a tank perspective, DK: Has lots of cooldowns, has alot of aoe, and is easier to manage abillities and cd's, also the best defense against magic damage, B-REZ! Pally: Great cooldowns, lots of raid utility with hand of freedom, salvation and such, also has good burst aggro with avenging wrath. Warrior: Best staying power IMO, a little complitcated with abilities and cd's, great mobility, a ton of stuns to realy reduce incoming damage. Druid: Relies solely on dodge, stam and armor, weak with holding aoe aggro but strong single target, can switch to dps easiest, few abilities to manage while in bear form, hard to gear, B-REZ!
All in all it's what you feel like doing.
For dps, question is do you want to do melee or caster. All of them have melee trees with the druid having a caster tree. Also druids and pallys can heal if you feel like going into healing.
Thing I hate to go up against the most in pvp are Druid's. With all their heals, forms, travel form to get the hell out of dodge, and prowl to creep back in when you least expect. They are just the most versatile while in bg's and are realy good as resto in arena's because they can stay on the move but still heal a group.

Realy it just comes down to what you want. Dosen't matter if you don't top the HK charts, DPS charts, or you are not the most uber tank on your server. Do what's the most enjoyable, because this is what playing a game is all about.

[Quinafoi]

This is a place to get info yes. However there are rules on these forums.

Class comparisons rarely go anywhere but downhill and are almost certainly going to just get closed.

Posting & Chat Rules - READ ME BEFORE POSTING

[Quinafoi]

Discussing the inner workings of classes and understanding their roles in the dynamics of group composition is useful discussion. Discussing which class is considered overpowered currently in a given context is not constructive. The flavor of the month will change next month anyway. Things change over time and skill makes a major difference. Just because one class may be stronger due to number chrunching, does not mean the player that plays it is capable of playing it at that level.

I am a good druid healer. If a patch is released tomorrow which shamen the best healers in theory, this does not change the fact that I am still a good druid healer. Because I am good at what I do, I am competitive regardless. Being good at what you do is more important than how strong your class is at the exact moment, because if you are skillful you will always preform closer to your potential.

[Charon]

I agree that picking the class that's the most fun is the most important.

I have an 85 DK that I tanked on all through Wrath, and it was kinda tiresome to the point that I don't even like tanking on DKs anymore. He's semi-retired. I LOVE.. LOVE LOVE LOVE Prot pallies (Mine's only 58, but it's bloody FUN!) and ret's not too terrible either. My highest level warrior has been 17. Dislike the class greatly. Not because it's terrible, but because I don't find it fun. Druids are pretty fun as well, but I typically stick to cat or thunderchicken, and only go bear when the tank drops group and I'm getting impatient.

For PVP, personally I'd go 2h Frost DK or Thunderchicken. PVProt with either shield class doesn't have the burst I like, but the stunlock of warriors and slow/silence of a pally are really, really nice. Also, ret SHINES if you're defending a gangbanged healer because Divine Storm.. well, we all know about Divine Storm, don't we?

[outlaw-raider]

i thought about replying to the responses i got for a few days...but, really did not know how to respond to them with all the rules here its like walking on egg-shells....but, anyway here goes ive read alot of posts here for many months and, like the site and, information you get here...thats why i desided to post my question here....but, i now regret that decision instead of posting useful comments....i get snarky remarks and, get the [read before posting rules] threwed up in my face....all for asking a question....to all constructive non-snarky comments thank you for your responses....as for me this will be my last post here i dont need to be treated like a 5 yr. old for asking a question....so, good luck to you all....thanks

[Loganisis]

Lets be very clear on why the responses came as they did. You didn't ask for help, you asked for the OP class. You can rationalize it all you want, but it's like the line out of Animal Farm - you were asking if all classes are equal, which one is more equal. There is no other possible meaning for "which class is the most viable".

There are too many posts already every week with people asking "what's the strongest class" and yours came across as just another one. The response to all posts like this is "play the one you enjoy".

If you meant something other than which class is the most kick ass at everything so I can play that one because it's the easiest, then, well, ask for exactly what you're looking for. If there's a question about the viability of a a class in a role (has anyone had issues with bear tanking on fights like X - what roles are pallys better suited for in RBGs and Areas right now) ask that.

Even my post which was ranty to start with, then tried to tease out what it was you were looking for. RBGs or Arenas, did you want to be the most verstile or were you looking for tank/melee only.

Instead of engaging both parts, you choose to only focus on the first part. Just as you're choosing to do now. Instead of being proactive and engaging the parts that are of interest to you, you're choosing to only focus on the parts you percieve as negative or attacks.

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On the off chance you read this - lets go back to the top:

1. Are you focusing on Arenas, RBGs, or both?
2. All tanks are viable.
3. Do you value flexability or is there a specific resource you enjoy.

The same three questions I asked at the top.

[outlaw-raider]

1.pvp-RBG'S MOSTLY

2.TANKS-WHAT'S BEST A.O.E AND, SINGLE TARGET TANK???

3.D.P.S-BEST DPS OFF SPEC. TANK CLASS???

[Mäcintosh]

The answer is really simple, like Loganisis said, whatever you find the easiest and most fun to play.

As a warrior, I can do AOE tank, single target tank, DPS and PvP in both Prot and Fury (depending on what the situation calls for). Am I the best at everything? No, but I do a great job at all because I know my class and how to utilize my abilities, unless Blizzard takes them effing away.(bring back my shield bash damnit!!) So is a Druid better at tanking than I am? No, is the player playing the Druid better than me, could possibly be so. That DK has different abilities but takes more damage, but has bigger self heals because of it....Pallies...well they're pallies....(j/k pallies!) blizzard knows what they are doing and balances classes the best they can to prevent problems like, "only Druids are viable tanks". I've seen tons of posts where priests supposedly are crappy raid healers and then some dude will come on and contradict that right away and say L2P. So asking what class is better is just bad form around here and gets the same response.

The way you asked your question, it truly sounded as if you wanted to know, and still do, which class is best for all, which is frowned upon here due to the flame wars it can start, so we want to avoid that here and be civil about it. Saying you'll take the ball and go home because you were criticized for what you asked doesn't help the situation out either. If you can't understand this, then I don't know what you'll understand.

Now if you ask things like which is EASIEST, then you'll get a good discussions about 9-6-9, how fury is mindless button mashing and arms is the thinking mans spec, stuff like that, so you can figure out what clicks as far as play style you are looking for.

[Loganisis]

1. - How classes perform in RBGs is something I can't say.

2. Best - bad word. All tanks are viable for AoE and single target, but shield tanks, due to block mechanics tend to be more desired as add tanks - though there are plenty of bear and DK tanks here who are quite proud of their ability to do better than their shield wearing counterparts. In reality, the player makes it viable, not so much the spec. It's really going to be the class you are most comfortable with.

3. Best - bad word. All 4 tanks have viable DPS specs. It's going to be personal ability that makes a difference. Stateofdps.com (which I gave a ranking of above, will show you the theoretical ceiling by the best players in the world. However for all but the very best - the class you are most comfortable with will lead to more DPS than the 'best' class.

***

I would guess that DKs, Warriors, Druids, and Pallys all have solid places in RBGs, more so than they might in a 2v2 or 3v3 arena setting.

All tanks have sufficient AoE capabilities, though shield tanks may have slightly more survaiblity the way mastery works for pallies and warriros than bears and DKs.

In single target environments all work well. I personally have seen DK = Pally = Warrior. We don't have bear tanks in our guild.

And all classes have viable DPS off-specs. For some fights it may be different than others. Boomkin may be better on some than Arms on others than Fury on others than Frost on others versus Ret on others... But the bottomline is the one you're best at will likely be the one you do best at.

Feral is low on stateofdps.com charts, but the feral cats in our guild push our meters. It's all about what you do best.

[Tengenstein]

One thing to keep in mind is your raid group Buffs, Having an Offspec that provides an additional buff is always nice.