[0:00] Season 3 is in full swing and we've seen
[0:02] everything from the rise of frost DKs to
[0:05] the complete shutdown of a red paladin
[0:07] discord channel. And with the race to
[0:08] world first being well over at this
[0:11] point, Blizzard has continued to tune
[0:12] the knobs on class balance in 11.2.
[0:15] That's why we decided it was time to hit
[0:16] up our consulting team from Echko and
[0:18] Method to get an update on the meta. And
[0:20] using these same players, we've rolled
[0:22] out brand new updates for all of our
[0:24] Mythic Plus courses at skillcap.com.
[0:27] There you will learn a ton of minmaxing
[0:29] tips in one convenient place, organized
[0:31] into byite-size videos that teach you
[0:32] rank one level knowledge fast. We've
[0:35] even leveled up the skill cap add-on for
[0:37] season 3, giving you a fully configured
[0:39] UI with just one click, including custom
[0:41] name profiles, weakas, and hitting
[0:43] settings tweaks to give you everything
[0:45] you would ever need to climb. Everything
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[0:56] So, if you're ready to start your
[0:58] journey today, be sure to use the
[0:59] exclusive discount link below to get
[1:01] started. For now, let's get back to the
[1:03] tier list. This might seem like a weird
[1:05] place to start, but let's talk about the
[1:07] healer meta first. Looking at the
[1:09] leaderboards, you will notice a trend.
[1:12] There's a lot of blue and orange in the
[1:14] healer column, with shaman and druid
[1:15] being the obvious standout so far this
[1:17] season. Having great utility, phenomenal
[1:20] stops, and some of the best raid buffs
[1:21] in the game is one thing, but having
[1:23] that in the toolkit of a healer feels
[1:25] exceptionally strong. So, it's no wonder
[1:27] that both of these healers are doing
[1:28] well in season 3. Resto shamans are
[1:31] extremely high value right now. Not only
[1:33] having a bunch of stops, but really
[1:35] great active damage and one of the best
[1:37] raid buffs in the game with Sky Fury,
[1:39] which is a massive DPS buff to many DPS,
[1:42] especially Frost Death Knight. And
[1:43] although their spot healing can still be
[1:45] an issue, resto shamans compensate by
[1:47] having a ton of healing cooldowns. While
[1:50] shamans have definitely dominated the
[1:52] early season so far, we're starting to
[1:54] see more resto druids climb to the top
[1:56] of the leaderboards. As always, druids
[1:58] will always be high value in Mythic Plus
[2:00] thanks to Mark of the Wild and are doing
[2:02] an incredible amount of healing this
[2:03] season without compromising too much on
[2:05] damage. In any case, resto druids always
[2:07] seem to scale well with time over the
[2:09] course of an expansion, and it's no
[2:11] wonder we're seeing them pop up in
[2:12] season 3. So, if you're wanting the
[2:14] absolute best healers for the highest
[2:15] keys, you can't really go wrong with
[2:17] either one of these options. Now, if
[2:19] there's one healer we think could be
[2:21] undervalued right now, it's definitely
[2:23] Preservation Evoker. This spec does
[2:25] ridiculous damage due in part to this
[2:26] season's foreset and the fact that
[2:28] Chrono Warden gives evokers a dose of
[2:29] steroids every pull thanks to tip the
[2:31] scales. And speaking of doing big DPS,
[2:34] voidw weaver disc priest is up there
[2:36] too, having some great damage and
[2:38] healing during mindbender windows.
[2:39] Obviously, the main problem with priest
[2:41] is that you lack an interrupt. And
[2:43] although their AoE healing is pretty
[2:44] good, disc can struggle with single
[2:46] target spot healing. Unfortunately for
[2:48] all of you holy priest fans out there,
[2:50] the spec is arguably the worst healer in
[2:52] Mythic Plus right now and doesn't offer
[2:54] anything particularly useful in the
[2:56] meta. Up next is Holy Paladin, who in
[2:58] terms of being an actual healer is in a
[3:00] really good position, having really good
[3:02] spot healing and burst AoE healing
[3:04] without being as tied to CDs compared to
[3:06] previous seasons. Holy Paladin is one of
[3:08] those healers who just offer their group
[3:10] a ton of stability. They do have some
[3:12] issues though, as even though Paladins
[3:14] can provide solid AoE damage, right now
[3:16] their single target damage isn't that
[3:18] great. All that's left is Mistw Weaver
[3:20] Monk, who were obviously really great at
[3:22] the start of last season thanks to
[3:23] having some insane damage output. But
[3:25] after taking a few nerfs over the course
[3:26] of the expansion, Mistw Wewaver isn't in
[3:28] the best of shape. Obviously, the
[3:29] advantage of bringing a monk is that
[3:31] they tend to do well in physical comps
[3:33] while having decent stops and good
[3:35] passive damage, but right now they're
[3:36] just surpassed by preservation evokers
[3:38] and disc priests in the meta. Anyway,
[3:41] that brings us to our complete picture
[3:42] of the healer meta in season 3 with
[3:44] druid and shaman being at the top with a
[3:46] variety of off-meta alternatives in the
[3:47] A tier. Now though, let's take a look at
[3:49] what's happening in the melee meta for
[3:51] season 3. If there's one spec that's
[3:53] really standing out right now, it's
[3:55] definitely Frost Death Knight, who
[3:57] enormously benefited from their rework
[3:59] going to the 11.2 patch. With the buffs
[4:01] to Deathbringer and with reworks to
[4:03] Breath of Syndra and Frost Scythe, Frost
[4:06] DKs are doing an absurd amount of AoE
[4:08] and priority damage. And while DKs don't
[4:11] bring an official raid buff, they
[4:13] compensate with their utility and
[4:14] unrivaled tankiness, and we fully expect
[4:16] Frost DK to be in the lineup of many MDI
[4:19] comps later next month. The only other
[4:21] melee which is clearly standing out
[4:23] right now is Havoc Demon Hunter who have
[4:25] really good funnel damage with Aldrachu
[4:27] Reaver thanks to Wounded Quarry. DH
[4:29] obviously brings one of the best debuffs
[4:31] in the game thanks to Chaos Brand, which
[4:33] was of course nerfed earlier this
[4:34] expansion, but is still super high value
[4:36] given the prevalence of magic damage in
[4:38] this day and age. Demon Hunter is also
[4:40] relatively tanky, especially against rot
[4:42] damage. And as one of the specs with a
[4:43] healing reduction effect, it does gain
[4:45] some niche value, especially against the
[4:47] mini boss towards the end of Halls of
[4:49] Atonement. Both Frost DK and Havoc Demon
[4:51] Hunter will be landing on the S tier.
[4:53] Moving down to the A tier, we have Red
[4:55] Paladin, a spec which is so polarizing
[4:57] that it shut down an entire Discord
[4:59] channel earlier this patch. It's pretty
[5:01] common for players to overlook stability
[5:03] when it comes to Mythic Plus. While
[5:04] Rhett Paladin isn't necessarily the best
[5:06] spec to have for the highest keys, it's
[5:08] definitely a staple for any pugs thanks
[5:10] to their wide array of utility and
[5:12] incredible durability. And speaking of
[5:14] being tanky, we have two of our rogue
[5:16] specs landing somewhere in the A tier
[5:18] with subtlety and outlaw both offering
[5:20] dramatically different flavors of melee
[5:22] DPS. Subtlety is definitely the more
[5:24] bursty of the two, having some
[5:26] ridiculous damage peaks every 90 seconds
[5:28] thanks to shadow blades in
[5:29] flagagillation, doing great priority
[5:31] damage while also dealing good AoE
[5:33] thanks to unseen blade on the trickster
[5:35] hero tree. On the other hand, Outlaw's
[5:38] damage profile is much more flat, having
[5:40] a significantly longer cooldown window,
[5:42] assuming you don't die, of course. In
[5:44] many ways, Outlaw Rogue is basically a
[5:46] Fury Warrior in disguise, but with a
[5:48] different target cap. And speaking of
[5:50] Fury Warrior, it's also a high tier
[5:52] option this season, but still performs
[5:53] best in melee comps with Brew Master
[5:55] Monks when pushing the highest keys.
[5:57] These two specs have passive synergy in
[5:59] terms of pull size where both BM monks
[6:02] and fury warriors benefit from smaller,
[6:04] more controlled pulls rather than
[6:05] relying on massive AoE. We're also going
[6:08] to put unholy DK on the high tiers, too.
[6:10] Even though Frost seemed to benefit more
[6:12] from their rework, there's still a lot
[6:14] of potential for this spec as it does
[6:16] bring great uncapped AOE damage. If
[6:18] Frost winds up falling out of the meta,
[6:20] we could easily see Unholy become a
[6:22] strict 1:1 replacement in High Keys. The
[6:24] only other melee that really stands out
[6:26] is Feral Druid, which as a reminder got
[6:28] some fairly substantial buffs going into
[6:30] the 11.2 patch. Feral Druid has some
[6:32] pretty solid funnel and AoE damage
[6:34] thanks to the combination of rampant
[6:35] ferocity and AoE rips. And although it's
[6:37] not as passively tanky as some of the
[6:39] high tier melee, feral is still very
[6:41] rewarding for smart defensive play,
[6:43] otherwise known as shifting into bear
[6:45] form. And at this point, we have a
[6:46] complete picture of the high tier melee
[6:48] for Mythic Plus, with many of the A
[6:50] tiers being extremely strong in the
[6:52] right comps. Beyond this, we start
[6:54] seeing specs fall victim to some
[6:55] structural issues. While assassination
[6:57] rogue is arguably the best funnel damage
[6:59] on paper thanks to singular focus, it is
[7:01] still one of those specs the entire
[7:03] group needs to play around, even
[7:04] adjusting their entire route to allow
[7:06] for those muchneeded restalths so that
[7:08] the rogue can consistently ramp their
[7:10] damage. In the right context, Asa is A+
[7:12] tier, but for pugs, it might seem weak.
[7:15] Enhancement shaman also has some issues.
[7:17] One being that both Resto and Elemental
[7:19] are so insanely good this season, which
[7:21] can make it harder to slot this mid-tier
[7:23] melee into some groups. Right now,
[7:25] Enhance is super reliant on making the
[7:27] most out of Ascendance procs and
[7:28] Tempest, essentially turning it into a
[7:30] slot machine spec and leaves a lot to be
[7:32] desired when it comes to single target
[7:33] damage. Rounding out the mid tiers is
[7:36] Arms Warrior, which is basically the one
[7:38] toone replacement for Fury in any
[7:40] dungeon with bigger pull sizes. Other
[7:41] than doing better AoE damage, there's no
[7:44] real benefit to bringing an Arms Warrior
[7:46] into your group. And at this point, we
[7:47] have made our way through the mid tiers
[7:49] with only two specs remaining.
[7:51] Unfortunately, Windalker Monk is one of
[7:53] them. While monks do provide good
[7:54] utility while being relatively tanky,
[7:56] the damage numbers just aren't there
[7:58] this season. That leaves survival hunter
[8:00] as our last spec. Right now, both marks
[8:02] and BM doing significantly better damage
[8:04] with survival having the obvious
[8:06] downside that it is a melee spec. But
[8:08] with every melee covered, let's take a
[8:10] look at the ranged meta going into the
[8:11] middle of season 3. Right now, Arcane
[8:13] Mage is definitely a standout. The mage
[8:15] class as a whole always seems to have a
[8:17] place in the high tiers of mythic plus
[8:19] given the fact that they are practically
[8:20] immortal when played well and have some
[8:22] of the best stops and defensive utility
[8:24] in the game with mass barrier. This
[8:26] season, Arcane is just the standout
[8:28] spec, having absolutely insane priority
[8:30] damage and shining in pulls with
[8:31] fortified targets, which offers perfect
[8:34] synergy with the next S tier DPS, Markx
[8:36] Hunters. Even though hunters don't
[8:38] really bring a true raid buff, both
[8:40] marks and BM are doing exceptionally
[8:42] well this season in different contexts.
[8:44] In dungeons with smaller pull sizes,
[8:46] dark ranger marks is doing really well
[8:48] on damage thanks to phantom pain. And
[8:50] we're even starting to see BM hunters
[8:52] swap over from pack leader too thanks to
[8:54] the added defensive perk of
[8:56] smokeokescreen. These two specs are S
[8:58] tier within specific context. If the run
[9:00] involves smaller packs, marks can do
[9:02] well, but since many BM hunters are now
[9:04] playing dark ranger, beast mastery might
[9:06] have the overall lead in the meta with
[9:08] the flexibility to shine on AoE and pryo
[9:10] damage depending on hero spec. The only
[9:13] other range DPS that really stands out
[9:15] right now is Elemental Shaman, who is
[9:16] doing some ridiculous damage as
[9:18] Stormbringer right now, all while having
[9:20] some of the absolute best utility in the
[9:22] game. There's only two downsides to
[9:24] Ellie right now. The first being that
[9:25] their single target damage isn't that
[9:27] great, and the second being that their
[9:28] survivability still isn't the best. In
[9:30] any case, these are the specs which have
[9:32] been the most impressive so far this
[9:33] season and are proven to work in the
[9:35] highest keys. Then moving into the A
[9:37] tier, we have balance druid, which is
[9:39] still very competitive despite seeing
[9:41] much better days. Of course, boomkins
[9:43] have a lot to offer with their base
[9:45] toolkit, including the MVP raid buff,
[9:47] great utility, and a bunch of stops, but
[9:49] leave a lot to be desired when it comes
[9:51] to damage. Another problem this season
[9:52] is dungeon design and routing of all
[9:54] things, where the value of solar beam
[9:57] just isn't there compared to previous
[9:58] seasons. Up next, we have Desterro
[10:00] Warlock, which is quite a polarizing
[10:02] spec. On one hand, Hellcller Desterro
[10:05] has the best uncapped AoE in the game
[10:07] and scales exponentially with pull
[10:09] sizes. In any dungeon with smaller pull
[10:11] sizes, however, Diabolist starts to take
[10:13] the lead. And this is also the preferred
[10:15] hero spec for demo at the moment, which
[10:17] in many ways is a rather neutral spec in
[10:19] the sense that it doesn't really care
[10:21] about pull sizes and is less reliant on
[10:23] cooldowns. All you do is blast. Of
[10:25] course, the warlock class as a whole has
[10:27] good passive survivability which
[10:29] altogether make Demo and Destro solid A
[10:31] tier picks. And if you're wondering
[10:33] about affliction, this spec is
[10:34] structurally worse than the other two.
[10:36] While Heller Athlete can put out some
[10:38] crazy numbers, it's significantly more
[10:40] cooldown dependent. We're also going to
[10:42] place frost and fire mage in the mid to
[10:44] high tiers. It's always hard to gauge
[10:46] these offmeta specs of a pure DPS class
[10:48] since people tend to gravitate towards
[10:50] whatever is the most OP. There's always
[10:51] going to be a place for mage and mythic
[10:53] plus given all the strength of their
[10:54] base toolkit, but in terms of numbers,
[10:56] neither frost nor fire can compete with
[10:58] arcane. Anyway, rounding out the A tier,
[11:00] we have Shadow Priest, which might seem
[11:02] like a hot take, but this spec has a ton
[11:04] of potential with the right skill set.
[11:06] Shadow offers some niche utility, but is
[11:08] more or less a passenger in every group.
[11:10] Its role is to pump damage and provide
[11:13] PI, and that's pretty much it. The spec
[11:15] does require a bit of ramp and has a
[11:17] steeper learning curve when it comes to
[11:19] extending cooldown windows, so it might
[11:20] not be the best in lower key levels.
[11:22] Anyway, if you're looking for a high
[11:24] tier range DPS to play this season,
[11:26] there are quite a few viable options.
[11:28] Every other caster will land somewhere
[11:30] in the B tier. Starting with
[11:31] Devastation, there's a general rule you
[11:33] should know by now. If you don't bring a
[11:35] crazy raid buff, you better be doing
[11:37] ungodly damage like those hunters. And
[11:40] while Devastation can do great AoE
[11:42] damage, it doesn't have the best single
[11:44] target, which essentially turns the spec
[11:46] into a budget version of Ellie Shaman.
[11:48] Unfortunately, we haven't seen much data
[11:50] on augmentation so far this season, but
[11:52] it has a solid base kit, so the B tier
[11:54] seems appropriate. Anyway, that brings
[11:56] us to our complete picture of the range
[11:57] DPS meta in season 3 with Arcane Mage,
[12:00] Hunter, and Elemental Shaman all being
[12:02] staples in the highest keys. But now,
[12:04] let's wrap things up by taking a look at
[12:06] the state of tanks. At the very top of
[12:08] the meta, there are two very different
[12:09] flavors of dominant tanks. On one hand,
[12:11] we have prop warrior, who lucked out on
[12:13] the tier set lottery and are doing some
[12:15] insane AoE damage output as mountain
[12:17] fain while being super tanky this
[12:19] season. As always, Pratt warriors have
[12:21] great utility and synergize well with
[12:23] any physical comp. On the other hand,
[12:25] pro Paladins continue to offer stability
[12:27] to high keys. While it is not the
[12:29] tankiest tank and doesn't have the best
[12:31] overall damage, this spec is a Swiss
[12:33] Army knife of cooldowns and utility
[12:35] while having the ability to solo kick
[12:37] better than any other tank, which
[12:38] altogether make prop paladin a safety
[12:41] pick for pugs. Without a doubt, these
[12:42] are the absolute best tanks in the meta
[12:44] so far in season 3. Right below them, we
[12:47] have some more situationally useful
[12:48] options. Starting with Vengeance Demon
[12:50] Hunter, who are still pretty bulky and
[12:52] synergize well with caster comps. Just
[12:54] like Havoc, Vengeance also excels with
[12:56] funnel damage while having really good
[12:58] control. If the meta ever shifts back to
[13:00] fully ranged groups, we could see
[13:01] Vengeance becoming a staple once again
[13:03] in high keys. Joining DH on the A tier
[13:06] is Brew Master Monk, who admittedly has
[13:08] a bit of a learning curve and is one of
[13:10] the more challenging tanks to play, but
[13:12] definitely has its niche in melee comps.
[13:14] As we mentioned earlier, there are some
[13:15] DPS who benefit from smaller pull sizes,
[13:18] which is where BM Monk excels. The only
[13:20] caveat for this tank is that it does
[13:22] require a bit more babysitting from
[13:23] healers, but pairing with a resto druid
[13:25] tends to solve this issue. Anyway, these
[13:27] are the options for high tier tanks so
[13:29] far this season. Dropping down into the
[13:31] mid tier, we have our last two specs
[13:33] with guardian druid and blood decay.
[13:35] While there are some people who are
[13:36] definitely making these specs work in
[13:38] high keys, comp selection is a big issue
[13:40] considering that both resto druid and
[13:42] frost DK are insanely strong this
[13:44] season. With that said, blood DKs are
[13:46] capable of doing some insane damage,
[13:48] especially during dancing rune weapon.
[13:50] And if your goal is to give your healer
[13:51] a heart attack, then this might be the
[13:53] spec for you. Anyway, if you were
[13:55] wanting a snapshot of the tanking meta
[13:57] in season 3, then any tank that starts
[13:59] with the word protection is a foolproof
[14:01] choice. And be sure to check out
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[14:17] We even have dungeon walkthroughs that
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