---
title: 'It''s Time! Most Fun Ranged DPS in 12.1'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=dnnJn1MjAQU'
video_id: 'dnnJn1MjAQU'
date: 2026-08-03
duration_sec: 1323
---

# It's Time! Most Fun Ranged DPS in 12.1

> Source: [It's Time! Most Fun Ranged DPS in 12.1](https://youtube.com/watch?v=dnnJn1MjAQU)

## Summary

The video provides a tier list ranking the most fun ranged DPS specializations in World of Warcraft patch 12.1, based on their tier sets and gameplay changes. The creator evaluates each spec's interactive potential, noting which ones are exciting and which are disappointingly passive or boring.

### Key Points

- **Devastator Tier Placement** [00:28] — Devastator is placed in B tier. The spec is fun but punishing and not new-player friendly. It is being nerfed heavily, shifting focus away from collapsing stars to reaps, which reduces the fun factor.
- **Balance Druid Tier Placement** [05:19] — Balance druid is placed in A tier due to personal bias and mobility benefits in the current raid. The tier set is okay-ish and doesn't change gameplay much.
- **Augmentation Tier Placement** [06:26] — Augmentation is placed in B tier. The tier set is slightly boring, and Upheaval having a different DPS window doesn't change much. The spec is fun but uncertain for next season.
- **Devastation Tier Placement** [07:20] — Devastation is ranked below Augmentation in B tier. The tier set is described as 'god awful boring' but not terrible, with a four-piece that provides some benefit.
- **Beast Mastery Tier Placement** [08:17] — Beast Mastery is placed in B tier. The baseline design is disliked, but the tier set makes it slightly more interesting by giving Cobra Shot more meaning, though it's mostly passive.
- **Marksmanship Tier Placement** [09:28] — Marksmanship is very interesting in theory. Explosive Shot is brought back and the tier set makes it deal tick damage, reducing cooldowns on Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire, creating dynamic gameplay.
- **Arcane Mage Tier Placement** [10:42] — Arcane Mage is the S tier holder. The Apex talent gives access to Prismatic Bolt, which is a powerful spell that generates full Arcane charges and interacts with the tier set to buff Arcane Blast.
- **Fire Mage Tier Placement** [12:33] — Fire Mage is placed below Arcane in B tier. The tier set forces Pyroclasm gameplay, which is bland, and the spec is described as 'the beast mastery of mage'.
- **Frost Mage Tier Placement** [13:27] — Frost Mage's tier set is praised as what a tier set should be. The two-set accelerates Glacial Spike generation, and the four-set gives a chance to proc another Glacial Spike, creating cool interactions.
- **Shadow Priest Tier Placement** [14:30] — Shadow Priest is the only S tier spec. The rework makes Void Volley charges and Tentacle Slam reduce cooldowns, with Vampiric Touch becoming instant and spawning Shadowy Apparitions. Visually and mechanically impressive.
- **Elemental Shaman Tier Placement** [16:30] — Elemental Shaman is placed in B tier. The tier set makes spenders free, which is fun, but the spec has lost some depth over the years.
- **Affliction Warlock Tier Placement** [17:39] — Affliction is placed in C tier. The tier set is boring with flat damage to DoTs, but the Seed of Corruption applying Unstable Affliction at 50% effectiveness with a stacking spell power buff is interesting for AoE.
- **Demonology Warlock Tier Placement** [19:13] — Demonology is nearly F tier due to a boring tier set that just makes imps implode passively. The spec is fun baseline but lacks changes.
- **Destruction Warlock Tier Placement** [20:37] — Destruction is placed in F tier. The tier set is described as the worst, with passive damage procs and no meaningful interaction, just buffing existing abilities.

### Conclusion

The video concludes that the most fun ranged DPS specs in 12.1 are those with interactive tier sets like Arcane Mage, Shadow Priest, and Marksmanship, while passive and boring tier sets like Destruction and Demonology rank at the bottom.

## Transcript

in 12.1? With the new reworks for some of the specs and the cool tier sets for some of the specs all combined into a glorious experience of having fun
because damage can be anywhere really if we look at season 1 it's been there and then it's here now and then it's whatever so you never really know. So let's talk about what's fun from the first version of these specs going into
the PTR and how they look in terms of promising interactive gameplay. Devastator. As you may know this is my current main in season 1 and I'm still
2. I am not holding out hopes. Devastator in general is a fun spec. I'm going to put it B tier as middle of the pack because [music] although I like the general kit of Devastator, they are
changing it as you probably know by the surprise. Definitely not my surprise cuz I did call this. The version of Devastator that we have in season 1 is very I don't want to call it sweaty but it is not very friendly for new players
depending on where you look at it since it's not very approachable and it's very punishable. It has a lot of reward if you know the risk rewards gameplay is but I can see why a lot of people won't like it. Not to mention that they're
nerfing it a lot and which I guess it maybe has to happen. It was really maybe has to happen. It was really performing really over the top. However, I think they're nerfing it a little bit too much as I kind of was afraid and
that the damage will no longer be in shooting those big collapsing stars which was the fun part like managing the gameplay to get those collapsing stars and with the tier set you're going to be focusing more on reaps and so far as of
recording this right now people are looking at playing no collapsing star next season. Although I love void scythe, those are kind of poop choices to have for this particular respect when it comes to playing it. And I don't even
know if there's like cool loot that will make it more fun to play the war. Probably not. Been looting this encounter for weeks. Oh. That's a lot of rewards.
See, Blizzard? That's how you make smashing enemies feel rewarding. Just like our video sponsor, Watcher of Realms, who is celebrating its third anniversary by showering its players with all sorts of rewards like codes for
an epic hero of your choice between Alicia or I. Also, they are giving out a free legendary hero, Aurelius Gale, by just logging in, plus 137 free draws and >> [music] >> I mean, that's awesome. But what about
the actual gameplay? They said this game is not your average strategy game. Well, I'll be the judge of that. All right. I have a masculine dude to play with and a pretty lady. Kind of seen this before and oh, oh my god. Oh my god, this is a
tower defense. I haven't tried one of these since the old Warcraft 3 custom games. This is my guilty pleasure and also weakness. I'll be honest with you guys. I have played hundreds of hours of hero collecting and summoning games and
don't lie to me. I know you have tried it at least once. But I have to say, summoning game? Now, that's a new thing for me I did not know I needed. The gameplay is actually quick to pick up and very accessible to new players. The
heroes have like an AoE range which they can reach enemies in with different heroes having different sizes and shapes to their range and reach. This gives you some strategic advantage if used correctly. And if you don't, well,
I'm not saying the game gets harder. Just saying I lost one match, okay? One. Also, as with most hero collecting games, you have to grind for resources to boost them up. What Watcher of Realm does that I personally really like is
give me ways to farm AFK while I do other work since [music] really my free time is very limited and I need that. Also, the game caught me by the middle of writing the script and I still wasn't able to burn through all of
my energy and push into the campaign. I feel like more mobile games should give players hours and hours of gameplay at the start so they can get the feel of >> Yo, man. Have you finished the video yet?
>> The third anniversary is also giving players new story lines to explore which I haven't even gone to yet. Been just too busy playing many raids to make my perfect team pop off. Check out these two new heroes coming with it, the
Fallen Angel Canaan and the sexy demon Jezebel. And enjoy the epic saga woven with the myths of the Seraphim race. Just immerse yourself in an epic fantasy worlds. What more can you want? The game is also very
easy on the eyes. The visuals and audio effects are perfect for me to get lost into and not have my phone burn up. You can get the game with the link in the description or pinned comment or even the QR code on the screen. It plays on
Android, iOS and Windows PC. The code also gives you access to one of the two epic heroes for free and you will be supporting our channel as well and we'll be super grateful for it. Going back to our own Sun and Stars,
literally balance druid oddly enough has a okay-ish tier set that won't really change his gameplay. Balance druid is actually decently fun but it hasn't changed a lot and I will put it to A
tier cuz it is one of my, you know, close and dear specs to my heart and to be fair I kind of missed playing druid over the last couple of months and the out and the fact that this season is just wild with the mechanics that are
breaking in this situation range from doing their cast, having a spec that's relatively mobile is really good. Although, you know, mobility is is a depending on how much you end up actually hard casting. I mean, I'm
mostly thinking of Mythic Plus, right? But the raid is also very very sketchy. the whole raid and usually raid mechanics can sometimes change by the time it goes live and the raid environments and groups and guilds kind
overall how it feels in raid might actually change by the end. But I am and maybe that's what's pushing balance a little bit higher. Otherwise, you could probably see it in B tier as well. It's not particularly amazing. I just
miss playing druid. Augmentation is also kind of getting a slightly boring tier set. So, I'm going to put this into B tier as well. And I'm going to use a tier set as one of the main drivers of or ranking these specs
what changes in the next season unless there's like fundamental class reworks, tier set doesn't really feel like it's going to change much. Upheaval having a different DPS window doesn't really sound like it's going to change anything
that you do with augmentation in theory anyway. it's Augmentation is fun to play. Listen, I'm I've enjoyed Chronowarden a lot this expansion. I'm not sure if it's going to
be good next season. I guess we'll know. The the big brains are working on it and >> [music] >> But as starting right now, it's it's uh >> But as starting right now, it's it's uh uh I I don't I don't know. Uh we'll see.
Also something that's maybe a little bit more disappointing is Devastation. I I'll rank Devastation below Augmentation, which is which is probably a premiere here. And mostly because the tier set is just god awful boring. It's
probably better than other tier sets and we will get to those. But as it stands Augmentation and no buffs on the on the horizon, Although this is not a you know kind of have to have a little bit of damage. If you do tank level damage
going, that's not going to be fun for a bunch of other people as well. There's they don't really do anything. But the fact that the tier set is is a is as far I'm a little bit too harsh. It's not that terrible. You do get a little bit
four-piece on devastation. So I guess maybe that's better because I do have some qualms with certain tier sets that are definitely going to tank this this tier list. But I guess it's fine. I guess maybe being B
specs cuz you want to be excited about it. I'm not excited about B tier. Oddly enough, I dislike Beast Mastery's baseline design, but the tier set is making it slightly more interesting. So I'm going to put this into B tier as
Mastery, so I do want to say this from my own subjective bias. Take this with a Mastery. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad [music] spec. I just find it very boring. The tier set slightly alters
that gameplay with giving Cobra Shot a little bit more meaning. Now, it's a little bit more meaning is is a stretch. The tier set is mostly passive as well. Barbed Shot giving you on a two-set an extra stomp at 50% effectiveness is
that. It's just I'm tired of the tier set that says, "Oh, you do this. Do this with a little bit more That's that's boring, man. That's just tuning. That's note. Four-set might have some interactions,
wish Beast Mastery would [music] be would become fun again for me to play. well because I know a lot of people also like the general gameplay of Beast Mastery. I think I would personally, if this was just a personal tier list, I
might actually put it into C tier. But let's not be overly negative at this point. Marksmanship, however, is in theory very interesting. Uh I am digging the direction of Marksmanship right now. I'm
not sure if it's finalized. So, they they've brought back for anybody who content we did or from other content explosive shot back properly and it's slightly changing on how it's how it's
doing its damage and the cool part is with its tier set now. So, the tier set makes explosive shot deal tick damage and tick damage at the very least, it reduces the cool down on aim shot and rapid fire. And
that level of dynamic cool downs is something that I perfectly love. I would something that deserves this tier way more. However, Marksmanship is just looking way way way way way better. And I'm I'm happy for it. I I hope this
before in the beta for midnight and we kind of had some like cross finger hope and it didn't really turn out that way. So, maybe this is what Marksmanship needed. We'll have to wait and see. Now, Arcane Mage originally before I
finished looking over all of these range DPS specs was the S tier holder. It's no DPS specs was the S tier holder. It's no longer the S tier.
do this. Don't normally do this but we need we need we need a tier four to actually. I don't think Arcane I was going to put Marksmanship but I think it's not it's not even close. No. Arcane is definitely
the reworks because the Apex talent right now will give you access to Prismatic Bolt. I think if they haven't changed this, with Arcane Barrage to turn your next Arcane Blast into Prismatic Bolt. And
Prismatic Bolt is a giga Arcane Blast {slash} Arcane Missile, right? You just shoot a big Arcane projectile at the enemy. It generates full Arcane charges. It gives you four arcane salvos at this moment. Those are crap full a ton of
the tier set, now when you shoot out arcane missiles, you buff for each arcane missile, you buff your next arcane blast, arcane pulse, although barrage by a certain amount. And I think it stacks all the way to six. Doesn't
right? And if you play your rotation right, you have a chance after you shoot arcane blast into prismatic bolt. And then you probably get clear casting and then you shoot out missiles, then you shoot out a fat prismatic bolt that just
if they change the animation of prismatic bolt to be that of Khadgar tower, easy main, easy main just because of an animation. It feels great. It does a lot of damage. It feels like it's the
collapsing star of next season. So, that's really exciting. But, we'll have to see exactly how it shapes up coming into the season because we've been here nerfs. I've been missing fire mage quite a bit
and I do have to say that maybe the tier set is one of the better one. So, I'm put it where arcane is. You have to understand. [music] changes for fire mage, okay? So, it's only the tier set that's new. And the
tier set will make you play pyroclasm, which is not a particularly interesting different instead of spamming fireballs. And you get pyroclasms, which is, you strikes hit way harder. Now, it also automatically crits whenever you do it.
And that's that's kind of cool. And we need stuff like that. We need like two or three more things like that for for fire base on the talent trees for the because it's just way too bland. It's kind of It's kind of like the beast
mastery of mage and that's just a shame. Another thing that can give arcane a run for its money, dude. Fire is just eating eating dog poop because frost and arcane are just taking the cake. Dude, in theory, oh my god, I I hope this ends up
playing well once we get to like high mythic plus and mythic rating, but the tier set for frost mage is just what a tier set should be. Your two set makes you icicles, so that means you accelerate the rate at which you shoot
out glacial spikes, and I love glacial spikes. And the four set shooting glacial spikes has a chance to give you a glacial spike. That is exactly the kind of cool interactions that I want to see from more of of these
tier sets in terms of like game play interactions. Like just make a cool spell that you like pressing, just press it more, as opposed to what happens for instance for devours, where you just you empower your your generators.
frost mages has. I know Marceline might want to play a different main next season, but I don't know, man. I don't know. Mage is looking good. there's a reason nobody is in S tier, and the reason is shadow priest.
it's not final, but at this point this is probably my main. shadow priest, of course it is, cuz it's a new patch. Where when you shoot a void
form, you activate your void volley, which is the little missile shadowy things. Now, the change of the talent, cuz I'm I'm pretty sure this isn't touched shadow priest in a while. I'll set up the PTR.
You you get about three charges, up to four charges of void volley to shoot at four charges of void volley to shoot at your enemy. And you just explode in like a artillery missile void monstrosity thing, which is incredible. That's one
thing. The second thing is you can probably play more tentacle slam slam is really cool. The tier set reduces the cool down of tentacle slam, makes it do more damage, and when you tentacle slam with the tier set your
vampiric touch becomes instant and once you use it it spawns shadowy apparitions. Now, I understand that tentacle slam applies vampiric touch and getting a fresh cast of vampiric touch is a little bit redundant. I think this
could be easily solved if you change the the proc to be with shadow or pain but then you don't get the instant spell cast anymore unless they buff of vampiric touch that does I don't know five 10% more damage. It just has to be
like a reason to be a DPS gain cuz it's not a DPS gain to proc another yet another vampiric touch after you've just put vampiric touch on your enemies. But the fact that it procs shadowy apparitions is just visually so cool and
apparitions is just visually so cool and it's just such a simple proc cuz I I god of my favorite things for shadow priest. BUT THAT'S NOT ALL. If you play Archon, if this isn't new for shadow then I've been way too long away from shadow but
when you use in void form when you use a shadow word madness so you shoot out a void volley. Dude. Dude, this is this is this is not even close to the rest of the World of Warcraft classes. Shadow priest for
president. Elemental shaman is not too shabby as well in the next season. I'm going to put it into B tier. Maybe maybe in front the same tier as the mages but maybe it's a little bit too much because
little bit bland when it comes to its moment to moment gameplay. The tier set is at least interesting where you can make your spenders free and that's it happened to balance in previous tier sets cuz we've had that when starfall
really cool. Now, I don't know how the maelstrom interaction will end up being if it still considers you spending your maelstrom resource even though it's cool cuz spamming spenders is always really fun on classes that are all about
that spender damage. Of course earth shock earthquake elemental blast of seemingly with elemental blast as well. And that's really fun. It seems like it's a very simplistic fun a fun play style. I dig it. I cannot help but feel
like elemental shaman kind of lost a little bit over the years. Ah, I cannot put it higher than B tier. That's what I want to say. do have to preface this. Warlock in general plays really well.
okay? So, I'm going to put affliction into C tier. Although, I do want to say here. Because if I would just rank it based off of the changes that affliction has gotten next season, it would just be almost almost F tier. Well, we're
getting to that. So, the tier set the two two-piece was changed into just flat damage to agony and corruption, which is very boring. The problem with it that had a chance to generate more soul shards through your moments of my
floating so many soul shards, you don't really need them. I would have hoped for just a passive buff instead of like a tuning piece bonus. The second what's interesting is that your seed of corruption applies unstable affliction
at 50% effectiveness, but also for each stack of unstable affliction up, you get a 2% spell power boost up to 6%. So, you it can stack to three. This was a talent in the beta for midnight, by the way, that I thought for sure was going to
especially in mythic plus, and they took this doesn't mean that you're going to be spreading unstable afflictions on multiple target. It feels like seed of corruption puts unstable affliction on
three times in a row on the main target, you still get the stackable buffs. So, affliction in AoE, and that's really great. You, of course, don't have to cast I I just I don't think so, uh seed of corruption in single target because
you should. The unstable affliction that it applies is just 50% effectiveness, and you're of course using a soul shard for it instead of for the actual to be consuming nightfall with unstable affliction. In that case, I could
definitely see affliction going it up into the beat here. So, that's the end result of affliction by the way, cuz we need to talk about demonology. Oh my god, this is almost the worst tier set in the game. It
the worst tier set in the game. It almost made it into F tier. This is so incredibly boring. If demonology wouldn't be so fun baseline to play cuz plus the season, this would be an
still early in the PTR. I don't know what the builds will be like because one of the selling point of demonology in season 1 was that you could actually about three to four different builds in mythic plus from playing doom guard to
playing pure vile fiends to playing pure imps. Like the diversity was there and DPS. And demonology definitely delivered, but it's not getting any changes gameplay wise next season and the tier set is absolutely boring. And
across the board. Basically, the tier set is just they just implode themselves or they have like a 20% chance to implode themselves. And they do more damage when they implode.
I already have implode. I The thing that I do that's really cool, it sometimes can happen passively without my input at all. And that's so boring. It's so lazy. And I do have to put destruction into F
tier. This is the the poop le grand supreme. This is the worst tier set I sure there might be a melee one that's slipping right now, melee DPS one. This slipping right now, melee DPS one. This is dog [ __ ] Oh my god, nothing about
this tier set feels like it has to do anything with the tier set whatsoever. It feels like it's just buffing destruction even more. Ah, I'm I'm tired of this. Incinerate does more damage. Incinerate has a 10%
spawn, is a passive damage proc. Visually, it looks pretty dope, but increases the damage of Echo of Sargeras or something like that. The passive stuff that happens passively happens more passively and it buffs the
passively without your input. Bro, bro, bro, mobile games have more more design depth than this. I am just very disappointed. Not to mention that now. This is just a midnight issue for destruction, not necessarily season 2
issue, but it if it's not corrected in the next season when you have specs like like Arcane Mage, like Marksmanship Hunter, like Shadow Priest getting have done something for destruction and they just haven't. So, until that
happens, destruction is going to be F-tier. Thank you once again to Watcher of Realms for sponsoring our video. Don't forget to use our code to start playing right away. Celebrating their third anniversary with a lot of free
rewards and supporting our channel in the process. Thank you.