BIG CHANGES! Most FUN Ranged DPS Tier List

[00:03] The fire Demon Hunter has destroyed the fun of all of the other range DPS specs. was not our destiny.

[00:15] >> Hold on, warlocks. It's not that bad yet. Wait until you actually see who we're going to be doing today. We're going to be ranking all of the range DPS specs in terms of fun because since last time we've did this,

[00:29] I have played a bunch and I have changed my mind on some of them. I'm not happy about it, but we will get to that in a second. First, we need to talk about second. First, we need to talk about Affliction Warlock baby.

[00:42] This is almost a giga fun or the equivalent S-tier that we would have on This hasn't really changed since the beta version when I've tested Affliction. It's still really fun. It does have its problems though and that's

[00:56] conflicted because the design of the spec actually plays a good part in how fun it is and the fact that at least in dungeons where you have most amount of since dungeons are like so volatile, so

[01:09] packs, small packs, cleave, all of that of how cool and awesome Affliction can be with its current talent design when you have to sacrifice single target to do AoE. Very few other specs, let's say,

[01:22] have to do this particular sacrifice and definitely not what's going to be giga fun later on the tree. Now, we're going to be moving on to Augmentation. Um

[01:41] Augmentation last time. I'm pretty sure I had a lot of fun on on the beta, but the more I I want to play a dragon, bro. I want to play a black dragon that just slams everybody and Augmentation is actually

[01:53] just really good this season. Not to mention, I super love the uh the Apex talents and I'm not sure what Augmentations play these days because I will only play Chronomancer because getting a mini bloodlust whenever you

[02:09] use simple the skills for that sweet sweet sweet Apex clone extension is sweet sweet Apex clone extension is unprecedented amounts of fun. And I, the person that has tested the Apex talents, the first time that they were

[02:22] introduced, and has made fun of people that have confused the clone with my person and died as a mechanic, I have done the same thing. I was uh trying to Augmentation's clone all the way in the back like, "Wait, wait, wait, wait,

[02:37] "Oh!" It's the duplicate future self of an really fun. An Augmentation is really cool. Augmentation. Cluck cluck cluck cluck

[02:52] >> Balance Druid is kind of the same spec as always. It is actually decently fun. It has fallen off in terms of like meta and DPS, but gladly that's not the video that we're doing today. And I do have to say that a

[03:05] simple change into Eclipse being a charge-based cooldown that you press and you kind of like play around a little bit and kind of switch it up and down. I think that's the level of simplicity that a lot of specs could learn from and

[03:17] particularly specs like Fire Mage. I'm going to get to Fire Mage in a second. Uh but, I feel Balance actually does a good thing. I wasn't really sold at say It felt very bland, very like a nothing burger. But, the more I play with it, oh

[03:30] buttons, like all the little things that Balance hasn't really changed in terms of like what it actually represents and the same specs. You don't really have, let's say, a new button. I mean, I don't

[03:44] button cuz you're just getting the same thing. You just press it instead of it being a passive anymore. So, it's kind of like reverse bloat, which is a good thing. But it's it's kind of still the same spec and I'm I'm waiting to see

[03:56] when they actually do something cool with balance. Ideally something less cosmic and more druidy. That's what I'm hoping for. Arcane is okay, I could play it. Listen, I

[04:08] is okay, I could play it. Listen, I there's a hmm no. See, okay. Here's where we can talk about something other than just pure fun in terms of our rotation. Let's talk about tankiness, which can go into fun because if you

[04:20] keep dying, if you're the first one to keep dying in a pack, it's just it's just not it's just not it, chief. And going from World Within where Arcane Mage was probably the tankiest DPS spec in the game to Arcane Mage being the

[04:34] weakest DPS spec in the game is just too polarizing, man. I understand we we prune and do stuff to specs, but this is just way too much the other way, bro. amount of defenses that they had. And Arcane was probably the more egregious

[04:49] one because mass barrier that it had provided prismatic barrier to everybody. Then prismatic barrier reduced magic damage by 25% so long as it stayed as an absorb on you and that was very very strong. Now they just lost all of it.

[05:02] This is just it's just too much. The rotation itself is still kind of fun. I haven't seen the interaction that I was kind of playing with on the beta where you had both missiles and orbs consume

[05:14] clear casting and try to figure out exactly a cool way to do it. It still even though it's decently fun, the rotation is decently fun, but it still feels like it's just always a cookie cutter build. It's always the exact same

[05:26] talents. The AoE or single target maybe swap like one thing. And this is the fourth season in a row and I got to be honest, I'm getting a little bit bored of this. I am getting a little bit bored. I am waiting to see some more

[05:39] versatility in the play style of Arcane within the context of a particular different cookie cutter build. That's just not for me. That's just not for me. Also, something that's just not for me.

[05:52] Let me tell you about the two things that Beast Mastery does well, actually. spells and it's definitely way more interesting than Multi-Shot because Multi-Shot was really really really boring. And two, which is not really

[06:06] related to Beast Mastery, but rather to Pack Leader. I really like Stampede. would have loved to get. And this is not necessarily new to Midnight, but good. And I think they made the War Within tier set into Stampede now.

[06:20] It's actually really fun. I like seeing a bunch of animals just ram the enemy That's kind of where the things that I like about Beast Mastery. And Beast Mastery has changed over the years more and more. And every time I have to like

[06:34] okay. I kind of don't like this, but I like the concept of Beast Mastery, so bit." And I think I probably reached the point where I'm like, "Bro, I just can't anymore." Um I'm not even talking about necessarily being super super

[06:46] of it because I have played Beast Mastery in BFA was my main and I've played it since and I had fun a lot with it since. And it wasn't complex then. It was still the simplest spec in a game, period, but it had some neat

[07:00] interaction. It still had some of that Beast fancy there that I feel like we've and more just to make it into a bland soup. I'm not a fan of the current Beast Mastery. But, I am a fan of Demonology.

[07:16] This probably has had the the biggest change in terms of my preferences starting from the beta because this was kind of like a roller concept of its epic talent summoning demons from Argus. I thought that and I

[07:29] still think to this day that in terms of class flavor, class fantasy, Demonology literally a warlock that's summoning demons from Argus, the factory of the It doesn't get more demonology than that. And the fact that at least at the

[07:46] beginning of the season you had and you kind of can still play different variations of your AoE build with Doomguard, with the AoE charhound. Doomguard, with the AoE charhound. Maybe you can still play the the imp /

[08:00] just like a single target ability anyway. Wasn't really an AoE ability before, but you did have some some back and forth. To hell and back has to be one of my favorites changes to implosion and I feel like if they take that talent

[08:13] away, which is when you implode your imps, you get three imps back that do AoE damage, that just have their fel bolts gives implosion a different vibe. It has some issues with implosion kind of

[08:26] summoning those imps kind of sucks. But if you're going to put a cool down on are really good and I hope they add more because I feel like demonology has room for for more. And there's definitely the variety that I have in the demonology

[08:40] instance. Destruction is just way too bland. I cannot realistically put it in the same boat as arcane although it is very very close in getting there. It is still kind of cookie-cutter-y. Thankfully it's a

[08:52] retains some of that warlock magic. It's not as squishy as arcane although I didn't mention this for demonology warlock has kind of also been hit with the squishiness bug for some reason even though it was supposed to be one of the

[09:06] tankiest DPS out there. Still has a lot of HP, but soul leech kind of like an afterthought that there are talents in your talent tree that increase the value of soul leech while it's still being a ability or a passive rather

[09:18] doesn't really feel very enticing to play. I feel like warlock as a whole and destruction because destruction in terms of a spec is just very bland. It lost

[09:30] most of its flavor and and its love from the world within. And the only thing destruction is that it lets you be a warlock. Probably more so than the other less involved, let's say. So, maybe there's

[09:42] you have curses, which are really cool as a warlock. Um the fact that you can traveler, that actually is also really cool. But, because the rotation is very bland, for some reason um dimensional gate or whatever it's called, when you

[09:57] thing. For some reason, they really like I haven't heard of a single destruction or that mechanic, basically the artifact weapon in in Legion. And they keep insisting on having that in the game while taking out stuff like Decimation,

[10:11] which was what we had in the world within that gave you Soul Fire procs of 0.5 second cast time Soul Fires, which was incredible, delicious, was incredible, delicious, uh fun moments of uh stacked cleave or

[10:24] dual target cleave or purely just AoE shard generation with with Mayhem being just lost that. And the more I talk about it, the more I feel like I want to knock it down a tier. So, I'm going to stop right here.

[10:39] And move [music] on to Fire Mage. >> [sighs]

[10:51] fun. Dude, I don't know, man. Maybe maybe Fire Mage is like that toxic about. Like, I know it's bad for me. I know it took away everything that I liked about it, but I I I I find myself logging in and then I find

[11:05] into my mage, even though the other two specs are arguably better designed, uh objectively better designed than Fire Mage. The simplicity is still there. I'm not happy playing it, by the way. It's just I I guess I'm just like a Fire Mage

[11:20] at heart at the moment, but I'm a I'm a grieving, wounded Fire Mage for how [music] the spec has kind of turned into. I am kind of coping right now at night before I go to bed and I and in a dark corner of the room and pray. Pray

[11:33] to the last Titan gods that maybe there's a fire mage rework coming in 12.1 that we're not aware of because this current fire mage cannot possibly However, speaking of fire mage, the mobility is

[11:47] kind of still there cuz now you can finally play a proper Scorch. The simplistic. You can play a flame strike. I know a lot of people don't like flame strike, I would have probably knocked down fire mage by a tier. However, I'm

[12:01] problem with it. The fact that the identity is is very like last year, but combust, you can just nuke a target down and the damage just spreads everywhere. very properly tuned, so it doesn't really feel like you're accomplishing

[12:15] much, but it feels like a like a shell of a former self, but the shell is definitely still there. The baseline, the foundation, the the skeleton of its its anatomy is still there. It just doesn't have meat on the bones, and I

[12:29] about now. Frost mage is really cool. I'm not a big frost mage player, but it's definitely decently fun. And I've been enjoying I've been enjoying playing frost mage this expansion.

[12:42] and he definitely makes it look way cooler than when I played it. I cannot really put it in giga fun. I'm sure he would put frost mage into giga fun with it being its main and all. However, I do feel like frost mage is how you take a

[12:55] which is something that fire mage can definitely learn from. The simple changes to shatter are crazy cool. I do feel like taking away the passive icicle build up out of combat and to be able to start combat with glacial spec is a very

[13:09] lame change for frost mage. I don't know why they thought that's not good for the game. I know they have their reason, but I'm I'm kind of tired of losing fun little cool things for the purpose of eliminating a potential degenerate

[13:22] something that only very few people care about, and when the devs look at that and then change it for the rest of the 99% of the player base, it's just very you making the game for?" That was really fun. Like, that almost happened

[13:36] because we just wanted to make a little bit more strength for it and put them up. Like, bro, people like it. People like it when they have cool, fun buttons of buttons because uh it needs to be a little bit

[13:49] that, bro. Just make it fun, dude. Marksmanship is kind of like uh I think gone through a bunch of changes throughout the development of Midnight so far. I am not interested in picking it up whatsoever right now. I I'm glad

[14:05] it was like a last-minute change. Like, "Oh, people really don't like shot back." That's great, but they need to kind of do something cool with it. Okay, I get the the Aim Shell Lock and Load procs that fires explosive shot as

[14:19] in the War Within, I'm glad that that's there, but it's still the same anymore. I want to play like a Midnight version of Marksmanship, and I don't feel like it is that. And I cannot help but judge Marksmanship through the the

[14:33] lens of what it could have been because I have tested the first iteration of its Apex talents would have still lived to this day, they would have probably been the best Apex talents in the game. Better than Demonology warlock, probably

[14:46] because they rotated procs for different abilities, and you would always have one kind of gameplay is just really fun for all the Warcraft, and I think it's been gameplay that has ever made. And for some reason, they took it AWAY FROM

[14:59] MARKSMANSHIP. WHY? Devastation was very high up on my list before, but it kind of dipped down, and this is a rare case of I'm going to address a little bit of the uh the

[15:14] tuning and the damage output because it feels like every season there's at least Devastation was really strong at the beginning of the season, and then it just was nuked into the ground and never touched again. I have a problem with

[15:27] this style of spec balance because it does affect fun. I've played through thing in the world within, but also I've had friends that played fury warriors within in the season one whenever they were nerfed into the ground and they

[15:41] just become laughable, right? And we have seen success stories this season for those same specs, particularly frost death knight that is now an S-tier spec going to buff it now because it was just way too much nerfed and I don't see that

[15:54] for devastation. And okay, damage is not really the be-all end-all when it comes to fun, but the rotation is fun. But when you work a lot and do a lot of cool amounts to almost nothing or it amounts to like such a low number compared to

[16:07] nerfed and it's like, "Okay, you stay there." It feels bad to play. It feels devastation players consider right now or how they they're reacting to this, but I I don't feel like I want to pick up this spec whatsoever.

[16:23] Now, um fun, but I am making a point of putting it behind demonology warlock. I think Devastation is one of the most

[16:38] haven't seen a more mixed opinion on a spec I think since ever. I think people more than anything the majority kind of disliked Devastation when it came out as Dragonflight, which was the last one that we got. And I kind of feel like

[16:54] but Devastation kind of gives people every reason to like it, but for some of its design and how punishing collapsing star gameplay is. I feel like because if they take that away, then they have to nerf the damage of

[17:08] collapsing star and doing less damage on a big ability sucks. Because I think Devastation is one of the only specs in the game that gives you that all classic wild feel of press one button and just see the number be very big on the

[17:21] screen. And whenever you press the number, you can see the ability push you up on the damage meter. There are almost no specs that do this anymore in nowadays. You have to like spam a gazillion cooldowns or be in a 20 to 30

[17:34] mob AoE pull to be able to get that out. But Devour still does that and I feel aspect of wild that made wild feel remember when Mortal Strike and Execute used to do that, when Fire Mage

[17:47] used to do that, when Fire Mage Pyroblast used to like actually destroy and Chaos Bolt for Destro Warlock. Those were all spells that singularly would move you up the DPS meter. When you shot them, you had a big number that you can

[17:59] you're like, "Oh I just pressed my big button." And we don't have that anymore outside of Devour. And okay, maybe it's too much for some people, but I feel like if we lose that, there's just I I'll just be sad.

[18:16] lately. I did enjoy it initially, but the more I play demonology, the more I play warlock, let's say, the more I realize I cannot play elemental anymore. And this is funny because I've had this discussion with one of our our biggest

[18:30] community mods, admins and all of that. Talking about you, Percy. And I kind of see your point at the moment. It's just way too simplified. It It lost too much enhancement is a much better example of what they could have done with

[18:43] fun. It's It's cool. It's black, but it's kind of like the old Beast Mastery. little bit of its magic, but you're not going to have death into it. You're not going to go deep and explore it anymore. If it stays this way, I guess it's fine.

[18:57] people, but I don't know if I could ever main elemental. main elemental. Last but not least, Shadow Priest has been decently fun ever since it was kind of addressed in in beta with Shadow

[19:11] there. It's it's missing a little bit from being a good fun. And most of the time my problem with shadow priest and why it's not higher on the list cuz it's screen. Is that I don't know what the the

[19:25] psychic link is supposed to be. I don't know what the devs are intending for it. think of myself like, okay, I'm this this this [music] single target nuker AoE damage because psychic link just pressed the damage round. Or I'm just

[19:39] pressed the damage round. Or I'm just this AoE maniac that has efficient one target. I don't have to stress about checking the dots and everything on target and then everybody else takes damage. Like I don't know where that is.

[19:52] forth. And personally, I kind of want a little bit of a more consistent identity. And not to mention that fundamentally, I miss mind sear because I don't think psychic link is enough to to have an AoE fun rotation. However,

[20:07] the apparitions, the idols, the tentacles. Oh, and the change to void form is definitely way better. Although I liked the the back and forth between it kind of gave you like an option and a little bit of build diversity. Void form

[20:22] was kind of like blah. Like meh. But now void form is actually really cool. Void they could do for stuff like fire mage, take an ability and make that transform into another ability that does a cool

[20:34] thing. So, elemental can also have this as well, by the way. So, I think they're success stories in how to make specs simple but also very fun and have a little bit of diversity [music] and depth into them. And this is

[20:47] also did the melee one last week, by the way, which you can check right here and see how we consider the most fun melee DPS to be. Even though this season kind of feels like a ranged metal, let's not forget melees are also specs, too.