---
title: 'Times Change! Most Fun Melee DPS Tier List'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=Tv_X-1FNSL8'
video_id: 'Tv_X-1FNSL8'
date: 2026-08-03
duration_sec: 1037
---

# Times Change! Most Fun Melee DPS Tier List

> Source: [Times Change! Most Fun Melee DPS Tier List](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Tv_X-1FNSL8)

## Summary

The video presents a subjective tier list ranking melee DPS specs in World of Warcraft based on fun factor, not performance. The creator evaluates each spec's playstyle, changes in the Midnight expansion, and personal enjoyment, offering a mix of praise and criticism.

### Key Points

- **Arms Warrior: Decently Fun** [00:18] — Arms is fun due to the old-school vibe of big hits and large numbers, but it's not top-tier fun because of performance concerns and inconsistent big numbers.
- **Assassination Rogue: Decently Fun** [01:39] — The Deathstalker playstyle is not enjoyable due to inefficient resource movement and lack of reward for single-target damage, though it can top meters.
- **Outlaw Rogue: Decently Fun** [03:58] — Outlaw is fun with the new Killing Spree and preparation concept, but the new Roll the Bones feels too simplistic and safe.
- **Survival Hunter: Very Fun** [04:29] — Survival is very fun with a simple playstyle, cool abilities like boomstick and AoE bombs, and a new identity, though it could be more interesting.
- **Enhancement Shaman: Very Fun** [05:25] — Enhancement is very fun with the rework, but the creator misses the wolf mechanic and feels defensives are lacking, with too few utility buttons.
- **Feral Druid: Okay, Could Play It** [06:29] — Feral is fluid and fast but hasn't changed enough; new abilities like Frenetic Frenzy and Champ are just variations of existing ones, making it too basic.
- **Frost Death Knight: Decently Fun** [07:24] — Frost DK just works with the same playstyle, but the empowered rune weapon adds dynamic cooldown reduction, making it more unpredictable and fun.
- **Fury Warrior: Okay, Could Play It** [08:35] — Fury is disappointing; the new talent Killer Be Killed feels PvP-oriented, and the spec lacks meaningful changes, feeling like the same old version.
- **Havoc Demon Hunter: Giga Fun** [09:58] — Havoc is incredibly fun with a 1-minute hunt burst and meta that juices DPS, offering the most aggressive melee playstyle with point-blank nukes.
- **Retribution Paladin: Okay, Could Play It** [10:58] — Ret Paladin needs love; it's the same old spec with potential for cool fantasy elements like dual-wielding or angelic explosions, but it's boring.
- **Subtlety Rogue: Decently Fun** [12:47] — Subtlety has dipped due to reduced burst and removal of dynamic cooldowns, with some abilities like Gloom Blade feeling useless.
- **Unholy Death Knight: Giga Fun** [14:05] — Unholy is giga fun because of the Cycle of Death talent that reduces cooldowns via Death and Decay, adding unpredictability and versatility.
- **Windwalker Monk: Okay, Could Play It** [15:26] — Windwalker is undercooked; new Zenith changes are interesting, but the loss of identity and pruning of abilities like Whirling Dragon Punch is disappointing.

### Conclusion

The creator emphasizes that fun is subjective and encourages players to enjoy the game regardless of meta performance, noting that buffs are coming to underperforming specs.

## Transcript

But it doesn't really matter if specs are not fun. And we haven't talked about how fun things can be, especially for melee DPS spec, which is what we're going to be doing today in a very long time. And I think that discussion needs
to be revisited because I have seen too many people engrossed in their own little meta bubble that they forgot to have fun. Starting with arms right away, there are a couple of things here. I will put into decently fun, and this is
because of my personal bias, and I will explain to you why. First of all, arms is fun because you're just the stereotypical big dude with a big weapon that does the most amount of damage. Arms is one of the only few specs
remaining in the game that has the old school wow vibe of I hit one button and it hits really hard and I see the number really big on my screen. It's still not kind of like the only one that gives you this appeal and this vibe with big
mortal strikes, big cleaves, big executes, and stuff like that. Almost big executes. The only reason it's not in giga fun, it is probably because of necessarily about its performance, although that probably plays a little
bit of a factor. And I don't care that arms is actually really top in mythic not the point. The point is that when I press execute and mortal strikes and during execute with executioner's precision and all of that stuff,
the numbers to showcase this consistently. And I mean, we kind of know that arms is a little bit when it comes to single target damage performance. Moving on to assassination, I do have to
assassination. I cannot say that I enjoyed the death stalker play style, tuning higher and higher in the meters. I don't know if by the time you watch been meta at the time of recording this, so I hope it's not going to be meta
because the encounters are just not designed to favor death stalker a lot and Deathstalker is not a big enough risk that's rewarded if you play it the war where you put all of your eggs in one basket and if the stars align you
just absolutely destroy. Similar things with Deathstalker you kind of really of move it around but it's kind of really inefficient and feels a little bit meh. So you're not really fully rewarded on one target because the
all of your poisons and bleeds and stuff like that. That's still annoying and it bothers my mind that this something that we have to go through in 2026 when dungeons and raids with World of Warcraft specs still. And
know, 1207 is coming out really soon with a new raid boss and we really really are looking forward to see if the amount of gear inflation that comes with and we can also see assassination being really good because of course we're not
talking about strictly performance and that's fine. And I'm not going to lie, I assassination can actually top the meters. And best way to enjoy these is of course with our Plater and Plater Name Plate
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you very much to the existing patrons and the new ones that are coming. Moving to Outlaw, it is okay, could play it kind of. I kind of really like Outlaw. It's actually now I'm going to move it into decently fun. They actually
doing really well with Rogue and I kind of like with the new Killing Spree. I like the concept of preparation. I'm not a big fan of the new Roll the Bones. It feels a little bit too simplistic. It feels a little bit too safe, I want to
not really faulting them for it, but that's kind of what's keeping maybe have been enjoying Rogue a lot this expansion. It is incredibly fun and Outlaw's definitely a big part of it. Survival is also really, really, really,
really fun. I have been a fan of Survival for quite a while and the fandom for the Midnight Survival has started with the implication that we'll eventually get a money, which definitely factors into the two axes wielding
hunter leaping into combat and cleaving everything around, which is not going to money. However, the playstyle is very simple, the spec right. You get cool abilities that just blast boomstick in AoE bombs are still a
thing, but now they're not just like the only thing, which is something I've been criticizing Survival for for years. So, I am grateful that we now have identity, fine, but make it a little bit more interesting and definitely
more interesting and definitely boomstick is the biggest selling point tried it, I super, super recommend you do.
for the last I don't know if it's giga fun, but it's definitely very fun, It has been really good with with this rework as well. It's one of the more complex specs moving out from the world within going into Midnight that still
incredibly simple to play, way more approachable for a lot of people and it is just absolutely blast. There are a couple of things that little gripes that I have. I kind of miss having wolves as an actual mechanic that I physically
interact with and call out. Now it just feels like a little bit too passive for me. That was a really cool thing for enhancement and although I do like the enhancement and although I do like the button blow reduction, I still feel like
in the terms of defensiveness, I don't have enough utility. I don't have enough buttons for my defensives. I understand that they took away Earth and Wall Totem and that was a boring defense and I'm not saying that I want that back, but I
feel like I just don't interact enough with my survivability outside throwing a couple of heals out, which eat into my DPS kind of a little bit. Um and I I kind of wish it was a little bit more, but we'll see if that ever
changes in the future. Feral Druids has been a favorite of mine for a very long time, but I will knock it down to okay could play it mostly for the fact that it hasn't changed enough. I understand that it got a Frenetic
I understand that it got a Frenetic Frenzy and Champ, which are fine, but they're more buttons of the same thing. Frenetic Frenzy is just Feral Frenzy now just does AoE. They could have just made Feral Frenzy do AoE
damage and it would be just the exact same thing. Champ is just a bigger bite great. It doesn't really have a lot of implication on your play style. I felt like Feral was getting something new, but actually playing it is just
more of the same. Feral is nice. It's very fluid. It's very fast. It's It's a cool concept and stuff, but it's just too basic for what Midnight can offer. Survival Hunter. Yes, that's what I wanted to say.
Not there yet. Frost Death Knight doing to Frost Death Knight cuz it hasn't had a lot of things going for it, man. It's just the same thing that it has been in the war within.
It just works, man. It just works. It's what I wish kind of feral would be. The basic play style is kind of the same. You have obliterates and you have during your pillar of frost. You have breath of sindragosa if you want to and
it has been made less annoying, which is great. You also have the epic sounds is one of the visually most impressive things that frost does. But, I think feel frost has gone that not a lot of people talk about is the empowered rune
weapon. Empowered rune weapon being a short two charge ability that blasts cool down is dynamically reduced by you consuming, I believe, rhyme, consuming, I believe, rhyme, adds the unpredictable and the payoff
lot of specs just don't have cuz a lot of the RNG or the dynamic cool down completely out of a lot of the specs and I feel like frost decay is one of the only few ones that still does this and we'll talk about the other one soon.
Because next we have to talk about fury. I was way more excited about fury moving into than I am right now. I was excited because of couple of things. Of course, once again, we're not really talking about meta performance, but rampaging
ruin was supposed to be the I do damage on more than just five targets type don't know if I haven't seen people using maybe using in niche situations, factor that I hoped would take fury to
new lengths of massive AoE DPS. And it still feels like it has its niche and even in its niche it doesn't feel like it's the best spec out there. And it didn't really get enough changes in midnights. The new talent killer be
killed is kind of pointless. It feels like it's kind of PvP-ish oriented, PvP talent, but obviously, as much as I love PvP, that's that's just not it, man. That's just not the game. And give PvP stuff as well, but
feels like fury is just the same old version with the exception that some of boring, I think. I don't know if it's hack slash. That's more boring now or whichever talent used to give you recklessness now just gives you a charge
It's just That's fine, but that's just more boring. And simplifying and making that's fine, but give us something else. Give us like a cool new button. At least I'm glad that Odin's Fury seems to make it more into more talent builds as we
play midnight. Havoc is also giga fun. Even though I main it's counter part devourer, havoc is incredibly fun to play with fell 1-minute hunt that gives you a decent damage burst profile. I do feel like as
far as 1-minute specs go, the hunt is definitely on the lower side of damage performance. But thankfully you have meta which just absolutely juices you up with like insane roids of DPS. And the fast-paced in-your-face playstyle. I
think it just took the identity of fury warrior and it's just the most aggressive melee playstyle ever. Aggressive in the sense that you're just blasting nukes in the in point-blank range of enemies. That is a very
satisfying feeling that I don't think a lot of specs I think this might be the only real spec that feels like it's doing this. Although I feel that that identity should be something that fury warrior embraces or
red paladin. Boy oh boy oh boy. Probably as to nobody's surprise, I believe red paladin needs some love. Now I understand that people who like red paladin really like red paladin and
paladin and that is perfectly fine. I'm not saying it's a bad spec. I'm saying that it's just the same old same old. Kind of like how fury is, kind of like how feral is. And I'm kind of bored of that. It's it's the same red paladin
a little bit more boring cuz I mean you don't have final reckoning anymore. It seems like it's doing a little bit more damage, which is something that I have asked for and that's great. But, I feel like Ret Paladin has the potential
to have cool [ __ ] That's all I'm saying. It's cool [ __ ] Think of Arator in the immolation cinematic. I'm I'm not saying dual-wielding Paladins are saying dual-wielding Paladins are though.
potential to add the fantasy of Ret Paladin into its actual play style and Paladin into its actual play style and rotation. Have some an angelic explosion rotation. Have some an angelic explosion mechanics. Have some leapy chargy stuff
that Tyril would do in in Diablo, which is not really the same, but I mean Ret Paladin seems to be like a carbon copy of that type of fantasy where you're judgy or, you know, you bring justice and vengeance to the battlefield with
the power of the light, right? That's basically Ret, right? So, I feel like it simply Paladin from Diablo 4. I mean, I compare these a lot, but that's because Paladin is inspired by the Diablo Paladin, by the way, because the Blessed
Hammers are a Diablo thing. The Divine Steed is a Diablo thing. The only thing Diablo's basically Divine Shield in terms of fantasy. So, all I'm saying is that there's material there that's not being used and Ret Paladin is a little
with that, it's just the same spec that I've been playing for the last four or five years. Subtlety has kind of dipped a little bit it at the beginning of the season and does still have its appeal. Part of the
reason why I really enjoyed Subtlety is because of the insane burst that it had and it's not like now it doesn't have insane burst. It's not the same burst that it used to have. And now, the fact that you don't really have dynamic
Dance, that's great, but being able to abilities and aligning them for insane burst or using the dynamic cooldown to kind of adjust you uh game encounters and game phases and boss phases and all
subtlety could do. Then they took that away and that's something that I personally enjoy. Um I still see Goremaul's Bite and I'm pretty sure Gloom Blade is still kind of useless at the moment and I feel like there's a lot
of stuff in subtlety's kit that's just being ignored and they're like, "Dude, these. I we hope that players just ignore them." And I get that's the feeling I'm getting for subtlety and I cannot really honestly enjoy playing
rogue and as much as subtlety is at the top of my all-time favorite melees. Okay, listen. Listen. Listen
Okay, listen. Listen. Listen to me. The reason I'm putting unholy in gigafun is not because it's the most broken melee DPS spec in the game at the That definitely helps cuz you know, pressing a lot of buttons and seeing the
is definitely satisfying for any kind of wow player. By the way, if you're going to stand there and judge me. But I think the the reason why unholy just jumped gigafun is so simple and just proves how little you need to make
specs fun for players like myself. And that is the cycle of death talent where you make Death and Decay reduce the cooldown of putrified. So simple because dynamic cooldown reduction. Because whenever you dynamically change the
cooldown, it makes the game a little bit more unpredictable, but it also offers more possibilities and I feel like that's what's missing. Whenever uh the cooldowns are strict and like set in stone, it makes the game predictable and
it doesn't leave room for versatility, flexibility, variety, and stuff like that. And I love that. And it's just so simple. And because I can just have something like simple like Death and Decay is such a boring ability, but one
talent can just make it interesting. Of course, it's capped because of course, it's capped, but I mean, uncapped would just be making unholy pretty crazy to be fair. But that is just one thing that could just make a spec great. It took
one talent in 12.5, and that was it. And I don't see why more specs don't just get this. I've been slightly coming around to I've been slightly coming around to Windwalker. I'm not fully convinced yet,
but to be fair, I kind of have been missing Windwalker. I cannot honestly I can put it in front of feral just to kind of point out that it's not as bad. And the new changes to Zenith definitely makes it a lot more interesting to play.
I kind of miss a lot of its The War Within play style. I do see the value of it, but I feel like it's undercooked as it is at the moment. Similar to a lot of the specs in its same tier in the okay could play it tier. And I really hope
that they just kind of rethink a bunch of stuff. I like what they're doing to to wind kicks. I like what they're doing to rising sun kicks in general as a play style. That's actually really cool. I kind of didn't want to like lose things
to gain that, and having whirling dragon punch and I constantly want to say thunderfist be a choice node. Okay, that's great, but that just feels like it's limiting the fantasy and the play style of the
pruning, but I cannot help but feel like I have to lose a part of my identity to Windwalker, which is, you know, not the version that I fell in love with. But,
that's how it looks at the moment. It is also based on fun, by the way. Almost nothing to do with performance, and I do recommend you guys just stop and and just and just have fun. Just enjoy the game, because the game is good, and we
are seeing more and more buffs to underperforming specs, underperforming hero talents. And we covered all of that, by the way, in this video right here that you can click and see if your favorite spec, if your favorite hero
talent that's not been good so far, has been addressed.