---
title: 'The 5 Best Classes to Main in WoW Midnight'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=lWThb0iJvmo'
video_id: 'lWThb0iJvmo'
date: 2026-08-09
duration_sec: 1232
---

# The 5 Best Classes to Main in WoW Midnight

> Source: [The 5 Best Classes to Main in WoW Midnight](https://youtube.com/watch?v=lWThb0iJvmo)

## Summary

This video ranks the top five classes to main in the upcoming World of Warcraft: Midnight expansion, evaluating each based on performance, talent tree design, rotation feel, and key changes. The host provides detailed breakdowns of Paladin, Mage, Warlock, Druid, and Shaman, highlighting their strengths, spec-specific updates, and ideal player profiles.

### Key Points

- **Introduction to Top 5 Classes** [00:01] — The video introduces the top five classes for World of Warcraft: Midnight, evaluating them on performance, talent tree design, fun factor, rotation feel, and biggest changes.
- **Paladin: The Safe and Strong Main** [00:37] — Paladin is highlighted as one of the safest and strongest mains due to its flexibility across tanking, healing, and DPS, plus game-changing utility. It adapts well to any situation, and if one spec falls behind, another rises.
- **Retribution Paladin Changes** [01:32] — Retribution's gameplay is similar to The War Within, but Hammer of Wrath is now an upgrade to Judgment during wings. Executioner's Sentence and Final Reckoning are combined into a passive Apex talent that adds extra damage to Blade of Justice and Holy Power spenders.
- **Protection Paladin Changes** [02:12] — Protection Paladin loses Eye of Tyr and Moment of Glory but gains higher passive damage mitigation and better self-healing with Word of Glory. The Apex talent, Glory, gives Judgment a chance to make Avenger's Shield echo light damage and increases Shield of the Righteous damage.
- **Holy Paladin Changes** [02:54] — Holy Paladin's talent tree is completely overhauled. Light of Dawn now heals anyone in a 40-yard radius. Aura Mastery and defensive cooldowns feel more impactful. The Apex talent, Beacon of the Savior, automatically places a beacon on the lowest-health ally within 30 yards, replicating 30% of healing to them and granting an absorb shield.
- **Paladin Overall Evaluation** [03:51] — Paladin has a very high power ceiling, with Protection dominating as a meta tank and Holy Paladin performing better after recent updates. It's a stable expansion main with high flexibility, ideal for players who don't want to worry about rerolling.
- **Mage: The Consistent Powerhouse** [04:42] — Mage is shaping up to be one of the strongest DPS classes, with a history of dominating the meta. As a pure DPS class, it scales aggressively with gear and tier set bonuses, and brings strong mobility and survivability.
- **Fire Mage Changes** [05:35] — Fire Mage saw drastic changes: Phoenix Flames removed, key talents pruned. Damage is still high during Combustion windows but slower outside. The Apex talent, Fire Up, increases Fire damage, extends Combustion duration, and reduces Fire Blast cooldown.
- **Frost Mage Changes** [06:15] — Frost Mage gets a new freezing and shattering debuff system. Icy Veins is replaced with Ray of Frost. The Apex talent, Hand of Frost, summons a hand to pursue and deal AoE damage when shattering, and Ray of Frost summons additional hands.
- **Arcane Mage Changes** [06:54] — Arcane Mage becomes simpler with a new Arcane Pulse ability (AoE version of Arcane Blast) and a reworked talent tree. The Apex talent, Touch of the Ark Mage, increases damage and makes Touch of the Magi deal more AoE damage after expiring.
- **Mage Overall Evaluation** [07:22] — Mage is an advanced class with a high skill curve but a track record of reaching elite damage levels. It lacks flexibility (DPS only) but has multiple specs that perform well. It scales incredibly well with gear and rewards proper skill planning.
- **Warlock: The Long Game Pick** [08:44] — Warlock is recommended for players who think long-term. It may not be the loudest pre-expansion, but it becomes one of the most valuable classes once the expansion starts, with strong utility like battle resurrection and excellent survivability for a ranged DPS.
- **Destruction Warlock Changes** [09:40] — Destruction Warlock sees minimal changes, remaining a one-to-one copy with minor talent adjustments. Rain of Fire and Chaos Bolt remain massive damage dealers. The Apex talent, Embers of Niolim, gives Incinerate a chance to invoke dark titan power for AoE damage, and auto-casts with Chaos Bolt and Rain of Fire.
- **Affliction Warlock Changes** [10:07] — Affliction Warlock is reworked top-to-bottom, reverting to a damage-over-time spec. Malefic Rapture is removed, with Unstable Affliction and Seed of Corruption returning as Soul Shard spenders. The Apex talent, Shadow of Nathrezim, gives Haunt a chance to summon a demonic soul for AoE damage.
- **Demonology Warlock Changes** [10:48] — Demonology Warlock is simplified: Dreadstalkers are instant and free, auto-summoning Charhound. The talent tree is reworked, bringing back abilities like Doomguard as a 2-minute cooldown pet. The Apex talent, Dominion of Argus, summons additional minions when popping Demonic Tyrant.
- **Warlock Overall Evaluation** [11:28] — Warlock's power ceiling can reach elite damage levels when tuning and gear align. It has multiple specs for flexibility and performs well in raids, solo content, and Mythic+. Its scaling potential is as good as or better than Mage, becoming 'out of control' as gear improves.
- **Druid: The Futureproof Flexible Class** [12:21] — Druid is one of the most futureproof classes due to its flexibility across tanking, healing, melee DPS, and ranged DPS. It can adjust to meta shifts without changing mains, making it relevant in nearly every pillar of the game.
- **Feral Druid Changes** [13:01] — Feral Druid's bleed snapshotting is easier, with less juggling. New abilities include Frantic Frenzy (AoE) and Chomp (single-target bite when low on energy). The Apex talent, Unseen Predator, is passive, giving a chance to flicker and deal extra damage on Ferocious Bite.
- **Balance Druid Changes** [13:30] — Balance Druid's Eclipse system is reworked into an active button, with gameplay focused on staying in Eclipse as long as possible. Mastery is now a flat Arcane and Nature damage increase. The Apex talent makes Eclipse activation deal immediate damage, boosts Star Surge and Starfall, and adds damage-over-time on critical strikes during Eclipse.
- **Guardian Druid Changes** [14:10] — Guardian Druid sees major changes: Thorns of Iron removed, no more Ironfur spam. Gameplay shifts toward active decision-making and is harder. The Apex talent, Wild Guardian, after Incarnation, echoes the next two casts of Ironfur, Maul, or Frenzied Regeneration.
- **Restoration Druid Changes** [14:37] — Restoration Druid reduces ramp time for powerful heals like Lifebloom, becoming more reactive. The Apex talent, Ever Bloom, drastically increases Lifebloom power, making it burst into stacking healing and providing powerful on-demand healing with Soul of the Forest. Considered one of the best healer Apex talents.
- **Druid Overall Evaluation** [15:02] — Druid's four specs lower the risk of falling out of relevance. It's an amazing choice for players who value freedom and role-switching, perfect for those who prefer committing to one character long-term rather than maintaining alts.
- **Shaman: The Dependable Support** [16:07] — Shaman is one of the most dependable classes for raid groups and Mythic+ dungeons, consistently bringing value regardless of meta shifts. It has a history of becoming valuable during progression, with irreplaceable utility like raid buffs and support tools.
- **Enhancement Shaman Changes** [16:49] — Enhancement Shaman is pruned and polished, reducing button bloat from The War Within. The talent tree is updated. The Apex talent gives Maelstrom spenders a chance to make the next Crash Lightning ignore its cooldown and deal additional AoE damage.
- **Elemental Shaman Changes** [17:16] — Elemental Shaman gets a new ability causing Flame Shock to hit enemies in an AoE and making the next Lava Burst hit all of them. The talent tree is updated and pruned. The Apex talent, Feedback Loop, increases Elemental Overload damage and gives a 25% chance for additional overloads, creating a 'machine gun' effect.
- **Restoration Shaman Changes** [17:57] — Restoration Shaman is substantially pruned: Healing Surge removed, no longer gets both Healing Tide and Ascendance, and Cloudburst, Earth Wall, and other niche totems removed. The Apex talent, Storm Stream Totem, gives Riptide a chance to upgrade the next Healing Stream Totem into Storm Stream, healing all party members substantially.
- **Shaman Overall Evaluation** [18:24] — Shaman is capable of high performance when tuned properly, as seen with Elemental dominating Season 3 of The War Within. It brings consistent group value and rarely falls out of relevance, with multiple damage profiles and a dependable healing spec. Ideal for players who value consistency and meaningful group impact.
- **Conclusion and Call to Action** [19:17] — The video concludes by summarizing the best classes for Midnight and promotes the host's live shows and guild recruitment for The Comeback Kids.

## Transcript

than a month, classes and all of their designs are in the final stages of adjustments before launch day. At this point, what we see is what we get. So, today we're going to be bringing you the top five classes heading into World of
Warcraft Midnight based on the class's performance and how their damage tanking and healing capability is, their Apex talent tree design, if they're fun and impactful, the rotation if the class feels good to play, as well as some of
their biggest changes heading into the Midnight expansion. Hopefully, by doing so, we can help select a class that is perfect for you. Starting off first with an absolute banger, we got to talk about the Paladin. I'd say if your goal
heading into Midnight is to pick a class that is powerful, reliable, and extremely hard to regret after picking, Paladin might honestly be one of the safest and strongest mains heading into Midnight. We all know every expansion
introduces a ton of tuning swings and balance changes through all classes. But through all the fire and smoke, it's a reason why I'm such a big advocate for a class having flexibility. Flexibility is one of the strongest advantages a class
can have, and very few in World of Warcraft can match that same flexibility different role types, and because of your gamechanging utility, Paladin literally has the opportunity to adapt to any situation a group could possibly
need. If one spec falls behind, another almost always rises to become stronger. And that's why I love the Paladin. You have strong defenses, powerful utility, lifesaving cooldowns. Paladin brings a lot more value beyond raw damage or
their biggest strength. Moving on to some spec changes for Retribution. Overall, the gameplay and vibe is very similar to what it was in The War their hero talent tree. Hammer of Wrath is no longer a separate ability. It
upgrades judgment whenever you pop wings, so you can just deal more damage. and they combined executioner sentence with final reckoning into one ability for retribution's apex talent. It's an entirely passive talent that adds extra
damage to your blade of justice and your holy power spenders. It gives you a chance to unleash a wave of holy light to deal extra damage to enemies in an area. It's not the flashiest ability ever, but it's free damage and it keeps
paladins, eye of tier and moment of glory are gone, but replacing that, your passive damage mitigation is much higher with your brand new rework talent tree. Your self-healing and sustain is substantially better with Word of Glory,
and your damage is still very high as a protection paladin overall, even for a tank. For protection's apex talent, it's an entirely passive talent called Glory your judgment has a chance to cause your
Avenger shield to echo light damage across enemies and increases the damage of your shield of the righteous. Again, not a new play style type of talent, but that's always a win for them. [music] And lastly, for Holy Paladin, they
completely overhauled their talent tree. Additionally, they rework the Light of Dawn ability to heal anyone in a circle around you in a 40 radius as well. aura mastery and your powerful defensive cooldowns feel more impactful. Holy
talent points centered around them to make them feel powerful and weighted again. So overall, things feel really great from a gameplay perspective for talent, it's called beacon of the savior. Think of it as having an
additional beacon on a lowest health ally within 30 yards automatically. Any healing you do onto others, 30% of that healing will replicate to this target. receives this beacon, they gain an absorb shield and some damage
mitigation. The only issue we need is some better UI clarity to know who has this absorb shield and beacon so we can actually tell who it is. But overall, Holi. When we're evaluating the Paladin overall heading into Midnight, their
power ceiling right now seems very high. I got to say, protection is dominating as one of the meta tanks, and Holy Paladin is doing substantially better after the recent updates the other day. It's almost always going to be a very
flexibility across the board. This is the profile of what you would call a very stable expansion main character to pick. A class that you know you can play the entirety of an expansion. If you're someone that doesn't want to worry about
r-rolling, it's hard to match what a paladin can bring. It's also perfect for players who enjoy flexibility and swapping roles from time to time for adjust to the meta. If you're the type of player that loves bringing
game-changing utility to a group, Paladin has always excelled in that space. Moving on next with another strong performing class, we have the mage. Now, if you're looking for a class that has potential to dominate an
expansion like usual, mage is once again shaping up to be one of the strongest DPS classes you can main heading into Midnight. If history has taught us anything, it's that betting against this class before an expansion is released is
always a big mistake. Everybody knows if you've played World of Warcraft, Mage is Blizzard's Sacred Child and either one or sometimes even two specs dominate the meta throughout the entirety of the expansion without a doubt. As a pure DPS
class, of course, Mage is entire design is centered around damage output. That often allows them to scale very aggressively as gear improves, and you get your tier set bonus as well as your stat priority all locked in. So, you
tend to scale stronger than most classes. Expansion after expansion, Mage is very consistent. But beyond raw damage numbers, Mage brings tools that are always valuable. Strong mobility, good survivability when played right,
complain about having. When it comes to each spec and their biggest changes for Fire Mage, they definitely saw the most drastic changes heading into Midnight. Phoenix Flames has been removed, and a lot of very key talents for what made
Fire Mage great have been pruned. During combustion windows, you're still very high damage and nuclear on the DPS meters, but outside of this, things are slowed down maybe too much. Your Apex talent is called fire up, where
increase your fire damage, and now fired up increases the duration of your combustion, while not only that, reducing the cooldown of your fire blast ability. So, it really helps you in your combustion window. For frost mage
new freezing and shattering debuff mechanic system. Now, some of your spells apply a debuff to a target which you shatter by using Iceland or Comet Storm. Not only that, Icy Veins is now removed and replaced with the Ray of
Frost ability. And overall, the talent tree has been reworked for frost mage for substantially better improvement. Your Apex talent is called a Hand of Frost, where whenever you shatter an enemy, you have a chance to summon a
hand of frost to pursue them and deal AoE damage. Not only that, your ray of frost will summon Hand of Frost over its duration and it will gain an additional charge as well. For Arcane Mage, they got changed and it's become way more
simple than it was before. You have a brand new Arcane Pulse ability, which is like Arcane Blast, but instead deals AoE damage consistently with a complete change to their talent tree with very unique build and variety. Now, your apex
talent is called Touch of the Ark Mage, and it makes your Touch of the Magi receives. It increases your damage overall and makes your Touch of the Magi deal more damage in an AoE on the floor after it expires. Listen, when it comes
to the star ratings for skill curve on mage, you have to know that the mage is a very advanced class to play. So, when we're evaluating the mage overall, it's obvious that few classes have the track record the mage has when it comes to
record the mage has when it comes to reaching truly elite damage levels. Of course, tuning can shift classes up and down, but mage almost never disappears from high-end content, whether it be for raiding or mythic plus. I will say they
don't have much flexibility as you're locked into a DPS role, but their strength comes from having multiple damage specs that typically perform well across the meta. Mage has long been a class that accelerates with gear, and
their scaling potential is through the roof the second your secondary stats kick in. To put it simply, this class is built to perform at a high level if you know what you're doing. If your goal is to play a class that has a potential to
proves that this is one of the best classes in the game. It's also fantastic for players who enjoy mastering a spec over time as mage rewards proper skill planning and execution. If a paladin represents stability, I would say mage
represents power. Speaking of power, we now have to talk about the warlock. If the long game rather than short-term hype, I would say warlock might be the best main for you. I'll be upfront. Warlock isn't always the loudest class
before an expansion, but it has a habit of becoming one of the most valuable once the expansion actually begins. As a pure DPS class with multiple specs, one of them typically find their way in the meta, whether through raw damage,
bring when it comes to a group with their battle resurrection through soul stone, hell stones, and even powerful the warlock that a lot of people underestimate is it probably has the
best survivability in the entire game for a ranged DPS. Of course, in difficult progression environments like high mythic plus keys and raiding, staying alive is often just as valuable as dealing damage. It doesn't matter how
high your DPS is. If you cannot live, it does not matter. Warlock always rewards repeatedly shown that patience with the Warlock and mastering it pays off more than most. When it comes to each spec
Destruction Warlock, they really didn't see much change heading into Midnight. They're kind of a one:one copy of what they have been other than some minor talent changes and adjustments. You're still seeing massive damage with Rain of
Fire and Chaos Bolt, and that's not going to change here. Their apex talent is called embers of niolim and it causes your incinerate to occasionally invoke the power of the dark titans to deal damage to enemies in an area. Also, when
you chaos bolt and reign of fire, it will automatically cast this ability as well. For affliction warlock, you're seeing a toptobottom rework of the spec. Overall, it's being reverted back to a spec being all about damage overtime
effects while removing malefic rapture entirely. You have soulshard spenders now such as unstable affliction and seed of corruption back and a ton of new affliction, you're officially back to being that slow damage overtime rot spec
yet again. Your apex talent is called shadow of nathrazee where where your haunt ability damage has a chance to summon a demonic soul from the twisting nether to deal damage to your target and enemies around them. For demonology,
they also drastically reduce the skill required to play this spec. Your dreadstalkers now are instant and free cast. And they also automatically summon your charhound for you. So just one ability, you have a ton of pets out
instantly attacking enemies. Not only that, they completely reworked their entire talent tree and brought back a ton of new abilities, including a Doomguard as a twominute cooldown pet that you can summon. Your apex talent is
called Dominion of Argus, and it summons additional minions whenever you pop your demonic tyrant from the home world of the Legion, flooding the battlefield evaluate the warlock, the power ceiling can definitely reach elite levels of
damage when tuning and gear align. Similar to mage, you're committed to the damage role, but having multiple specs create flexibility for yourself, which can be fun. They tend to perform well in raids, solo content, and mythic plus.
to say the scaling potential for Warlock is just as good, if not better than Mage. As gear improves, the class has the reputation for becoming absolutely out of control compared to everyone else. So, when the Warlock finally does
come online, it's usually a wrap. Warlock is an exceptional choice for players who think beyond just the first few weeks of an expansion. If you're the type of player willing to invest in mastering this class, Warlock fits that
mindset very well. And yes, it may not always be the early hype class, but this pick is built for players who invest in the long game. Moving on next with one Warcraft, we got to talk about the druid. If you're the type of player that
values flexibility when choosing a main, druid is easily one of the most futureproof classes you can play in World of Warcraft. Very few classes in all of WoW offer the flexibility and adaptability that a druid can bring. And
with that, their biggest advantage. Druid historically excels through major class tuning with access to tanking, healing, melee DPS, and range DPS, it gives them the ability to adjust without changing their main at all. While druid
may not always be the go-to class, dominating every category. It's relevant. [music] Whenever there's uncertainty, the druid's flexibility becomes its true power. When it comes to specs and all of their big changes for
feral druid heading into midnight, bleed snapshotting did get substantially easier than before. You're not juggling so many things at once, and you have a frantic frenzy, which is a cool little AoE ability, as well as Chomp, a single
target bite ability whenever you're low on energy. They did get some pruning comes to their apex talent, Unseen Predator, it's entirely passive and it pretty much just has a chance to flicker and deal some extra damage whenever you
ferocious bite. Balance druid. When it comes to them, their biggest change is that eclipse as a system got reworked and it's now a button that you actively press. The gameplay for balance now is trying to stay in eclipse state as long
as you can to deal substantially more damage. Not only that, your mastery got buffed and it's now just flat arcane and nature damage increase overall. For the eclipses and it makes it to where whenever you activate an eclipse, you
immediately deal damage to enemies. It makes your star surge and starfall hit harder and your critical strikes deal additional damage over time to enemies during eclipse, which feel really good. For guardian druid, they got a lot of
changes in midnight. thorns of iron as a passive got removed and there's no more iron fur spam style of gameplay. It's now a major shift toward active decision-making and it is a bit harder to play overall. Their apex talent is
called wild guardian where after you pop incarnation, you gain access to another ability called wild guardian. This causes the next two cast of iron for maul or frenzied regen to be echoed again which offers some good variety for
restoration druid. drastically reduce the amount of ramp needed to get off some powerful heals like lifelume and your other heal overtime effects as they drastically deal more healing faster and it's become overall a more reactive
healer. Restoration's apex talent ever bloom drastically increases the power of your lifelume ability making it burst into shrogger healing that stacks over time and have powerful ondemand healing whenever you consume soul of the forest
making it easily one of the best healer apex talents in the entire game. Listen druid, you have four specs that dramatically lower the risk of falling out of relevance. But with all this role flexibility in the game, very few
classes can pivot as well as the druid. Now, whether it be raiding, mythic plus, or solo play, druid has maintained a strong presence across nearly every pillar of the game, bar none. I would say druid is an amazing choice for
players who value freedom in how they experience the game. If you enjoy the idea of being able to shift roles as your guild or party may need it, the druid is the best class in the game for that. It's a fantastic choice for
players who prefer committing to one character long term rather than maintaining multiple alternate characters. This class is perfect for one play style. You may not always be
rarely playing the wrong class with the druid. It's not about chasing the meta. Druid is simply all about being ready to change for the meta. And moving on, lastly, we have the shaman. Now, if you're looking for a main that
consistently brings value no matter how the meta shifts, shaman is always going to be one of the most dependable classes you can take into a raid group or mythic plus dungeon. Shaman may not always dominate the conversation, but it has a
long history of becoming very valuable the second progression hits. In an becomes important, like raiding or mythic plus, classes that offer something irreplaceable tend to age very well, and shaman has traditionally
excelled in spaces like that. Whether it's their new raid buff they got in the war within, the powerful support tools they bring, or the kind of group impact that leaders look for, Shaman rarely struggles to justify it having a spot.
and their biggest changes for enhancement, they got pruned and polished drastically heading into the new expansion. This was one of the button bloat in War Within, and they tightened it up and made it so much
better heading into Midnight. Not only that, they updated their talent tree and them. So overall, things are looking good for enhancement. The apex talent is maelstrom you spend has a chance to cause your next crash lightning to
ignore its cooldown and deal additional damage in an area. When it comes to latest addition to the spec, and it causes flame shock to hit enemies in an AoE and causes your next lava burst to hit all of them on a very consistent
basis. Not only that, they updated their talent tree substantially and pruned the elemental's apex talent, it's called feedback loop. This is causes your elemental overload damage to be higher and cause elemental overloads to guess
what? Have a 25% chance to cause an additional elemental overload where you're pretty much shooting out spells like a machine gun. For restoration shaman heading into midnight, they got substantially pruned. Healing surge is
gone. You don't get both healing tide and ascendants anymore. Cloud burst, earn wall, and other niche totems were also removed as well. Their apex talent is called storm stream totem and it makes it to where whatever you rip tide,
you have a chance to upgrade your next healing stream totem into storm stream, which heals for a substantial amount of health to all allies in your party. From one of the best apex talents in the entire game. When it comes to evaluating
the shaman as a whole, when tuned properly, shaman is more than capable of performing at a high level, as we saw it dominate all throughout season 3 of The War Within with Elemental. They always bring consistent group value, and
they're rarely falling out of relevance. When it comes to flexibility, they have multiple damage profiles and a very dependable healing spec across raid, Shaman has a track record of contributing meaningfully across all
forms of content. If you're all about group content, this is exactly what you main. I would say shaman is an outstanding choice for players who value consistency when choosing a main. If if you want a class that reliably brings
something to the group, shaman should fit that mindset. In my opinion, I love shamans. They're all about meaningful impact beyond just raw numbers and healing, man. It's not about being trendy or super flashy. It's just simply
about being reliable and trusted. But okay, ladies and gentlemen, with month out, we just wanted to bring you the best classes overall heading into release. If you guys are interested, be sure to check out our live shows every
Wednesday and Saturday night. And if you're looking for a guild, listen up you. One last note we wanted to make. If progress through Mythic Plus with or raid with next season, the Comeback Kids
are recruiting and any and all players are welcome to come on down, play with us. We're looking to fill out some new members for the raid. Oh my god, we [ __ ] did it. Oh my god. Let's [ __ ] go. If you're on the horde, you can
simply just go to the guild tab and search up the comeback kids and we guild size on any so you can actually see us. Either way though, if it doesn't the comment section below. Hop in there and verify, get yourself in, and then we
can get you invited by you posting your name and server under the guild invite tab. Hey everybody, thanks for watching. If you enjoyed the content, consider subscribing or check out one of the videos you see on screen here to stay up
is Sky for the Comeback Kids. It's an absolute pleasure to make content for you all. I'll see you in the next one. Peace.