World of Warcraft (WoW) Class Selection Guide

It is important to know and understand the different roles played by characters in the MMORPG World of Warcraft, or WoW. There are three essential raiding roles: Tank, Healer and Damage. These three roles completely rely on one another to ensure the ability to clear content and survive.

Tank

The Tank assumes the role of keeping the NPCs, non-player combatants, 'aggroed' to his character. What this means is that the tank wants to retain the threat against the NPCs in an effort to keep them attacking him, and to have him not attack the other players in the party. A tank will need to have a large amount of health, or hit points, in order to successfully fulfill his role and soak up large amounts of damage. In addition, he will need to be sure that has a large amount of defense and is at defense cap to help ensure his survivability against NPCs. Tank Spot is a wonderful website with hundreds of videos on how to properly tank certain bosses in all of the WoW dungeons and raids.

Healer

A healer is the person or persons within the group that will be responsible for keeping the group alive. As you will learn below, a few classes have healing capabilities. Healers are essential in World of Warcraft, especially in end game content. Without a healer, even the best tank character could die and the NPCs will wipe out the entire group. A healer is geared to have a large amount of spell power in order to simplify their healing efforts.

Damage (DPS)

Damage positions are referred to in game as DPS, or damage per second. These positions fill the role of damaging the NPCs, while the NPC is generally hitting the tank and while the healer is healing the tank and DPS. DPS characters take a large amount of damage as they are geared to hit hard and hit fast rather than to survive like tank. A five-man dungeon will consist of one tank, one healer and three DPS. These three DPS will do the most damage in taking down the NPCs and continuing on with the dungeon or raid.

Classes

Druid

The druid is an all around character because they can serve as a healer, damage or a tank. The druid has multiple forms he can take on to ensure survivability as a tank, damage as a DPS and healing as a healer. I have seen exceptional druids perform in all three roles during dungeons, raids and PVP (player versus player). As of patch 3.3, a druid can only be a Night Elf (Alliance) or a Tauren (Horde).

Hunter

The hunter can only serve the role of ranged damage in WoW; however, their pet can serve as a tank for them while leveling if the right pet is chosen. Pets will not serve as a tank for dungeon and raid content. This class is a wonderful choice for those who intend to level solo and prefer ranged attack and the element of surprise to up close melee combat. As of patch 3.3, a hunter is available to the Night Elf, Dwarf and Draenei on the Alliance side or as an Orc, Tauren, Troll or Blood Elf on the Horde side.

Mage

The mage is an incredible ranged damage dealing character but many of their advantages lie outside of the damage ability. Mages can summon food and beverages as a refreshment table or as a stack at a time. They can supply the refreshments to their group to help with the restoration of their health and mana. Mages can also open portals to the main points of Azeroth. As of patch 3.3, the mage class is available to Humans, Gnomes and Draenei on the Alliance side and Undead, Trolls and Blood Elves on the Horde side.

Paladin

The paladin is an amazing character as it can assume all three roles as the druid. This class is exceptional as a tank, amazing at damage and a great secondary healer for large groups. The paladin attacks up close and personal as a melee DPS. Many World of Warcraft players often refer to the paladin as being OP, or over protected as they have bubbles to absorb damage, heals to restore their health and an abundance of spells in addition to their melee attacks. As of patch 3.3, the paladin class is available to Humans, Dwarves and Draenei on the Alliance side or to the Blood Elf on the Horde side.

Priest

The priest class is versatile as a healer or damage dealing character. However, they are excellent healers. According to the World of Warcraft website the priest is the most sought after class in a raid. Priests are capable of mind control, slow fall and levitate in addition to their primary role. Mind control plays an important part when entering Naxxramas. As of patch 3.3, the priest is available to the Human, Dwarf, Night Elf and Draenei on the Alliance side or Undead, Troll or Blood Elf on the Horde side.

Rogue

Rogues are capable of damage positions only. The rogue can do insane amounts of damage and are masters of surprise. The rogue can stealth, attack their target from behind, and stab them with poisoned blades to their death. Rogues are excellent characters for PvP content as they can successfully stun and poison their targets often before taking too much damage themselves. This class is also the only class capable of unlocked locked items such as chests and doors as well as having the ability to disarm traps and bombs. As of patch 3.3, this class is available to the Gnome, Human, Dwarf and Night Elf on the Alliance side or the Blood Elf, Orc, Undead or Troll on the Horde side.

Shaman

The shaman is a great healer as well as a good damage character. This class has the ability to inflict both melee damage as well as ranged damage. The shaman uses totems as buffs, and they have a range of totems to choose. The totems produce their effects on the entire group as long as they are within range, usually thirty to fifty yards depending on the type of totem. Shamans have previously had the ability to tank through certain specifications in the talent tree. However, they are not effective tanks, although according to WoWWiki they could successfully tank an instance up to about level sixty. As of patch 3.3, the shaman class is available to the Draenei on the Alliance side or the Orc, Tauren and Troll on the Horde side.

Warlock

The warlock is a DPS class with other exceptional abilities. This class has the ability to summon a minion, create a summoning stone to summon other party members and provide the group with health stones, often referred to as cookies. In addition, the warlock can soul stone a party member, allowing them to resurrect from where they lie in death without having to first visit a graveyard or spirit healer. As of patch 3.3, this class is available to the Gnome or Human on the Alliance side or the Orc, Undead or Blood Elf on the Horde side.

Warrior

The warrior is effective as either a tank or a damage dealer. They utilize various stances including defensive stance, battle stance and berserker stance to aid them in their abilities. The warrior's damage capabilities are strictly melee and they can deal insane amounts of damage while being able to withstand the same insane amounts of damage from NPCs. As of patch 3.3, this class is available to every race of either faction, except the Horde's Blood Elf.

Death Knight

As of patch 3.3, the death knight is the only hero class available to play on World of Warcraft. You will only have the ability to create a death knight after you have successfully leveled another character up to level 55. Then your death knight will start at level 55. You will only be able to have one death knight per realm. The death knight is a great tank as well as a great DPS. This class has AOE (area of effect) abilities, the ability to summon a minion, various taunt effects, the ability to summon the army of the dead to fight by their side, the ability to sacrifice their minion to fulfill their own health and much more. This class is available to all races on either the Alliance or the Horde side.

Race plays an important role when it comes to class selection as well. In addition to deciding what role you would like to play, tank, damage or healer, you will also need to decipher what racial abilities are best suited for your desired role and play style.

The Alliance side can choose between Draenei, Dwarf, Gnome, Human and Night Elf. The Horde side can choose between Blood Elf, Orc, Tauren, Troll and Undead. Keep in mind that not all classes are available to all races when deciding which race/class combination is right for you. When the expansion pack, Cataclysm, releases, two new races will be introduced: Goblins and Worgen.