Best and worst classes for leveling in WoW Fresh Classic
Since WoW Classic Fresh will be released soon, many players must choose a class to level. We prepared a guide on how to do it.
Table of Contents
Finally, the WoW Classic 20th Anniversary servers are up, and many players are starting their journey to relieve their beloved stories once again. Leveling is a long journey that will be your main job for the next tens or even hundreds of hours. Of course, many players sincerely love leveling, but let’s be honest: some classes are much easier to play during this activity. This is why we made this tier list based on how every class feels and performs during leveling. This guide is primarily made for Classic Era and Classic WoW Fresh Era. If you are wondering which classes are the best for Hardcore leveling, read our Best and worst classes for leveling in WoW Classic Fresh Hardcore guide.
Primarily, any class feels nice closer to the end-game, when all skills are available and form a decent rotation. This is why we remind you that this guide is subjective. Don’t be disheartened if you find your favorite class at the bottom of our tier list. The best class to play for you is the one that brings you the most joy! So don’t hesitate to choose the class for WoW Fresh Classic leveling based on how it suits you. Now, without further ado, let’s dive into our opinion on the best and worst classes for leveling in Fresh Classic.
Best classes for WoW Fresh Classic leveling
Here are the best classes for leveling primarily based on their performance during questing and dungeon runs.
Hunter
Hunter is probably the best class for leveling in WoW Fresh Classic. This class is comfortable for both new and experienced players. Thanks to pets, Hunters don’t have much trouble in tanking mobs. Questing with a pet becomes pleasant and less stressful. You don’t have to rely on your weapon so much since your buddy will do half the job. This is a ranged class, meaning they can easily kite enemies and line-of-sighting (dodging ranged abilities by hiding behind corners, etc.). Hunters have plenty of CC (like Frost Trap, Freezing Trap, Scare Beast, and Wing Clip), making group of enemies management possible in many ways. Disengage is a perfect spell to leave a bad combat or place a trap, and Feign Death is an ultimate ability that can help you avoid death in critical situations.
Being a ranged class, Hunters can still fight back in melee, but In Classic Era WoW, Hunters can’t use their bows or guns in close range because their ranged attacks need at least 8 yards of distance to work. At the same time, their melee attacks only work up to 5 yards. This creates a gap, or “dead zone,” where they can’t attack at all, making it important for Hunters to stay at a distance and avoid enemies getting too close. Their pets also require feeding, so you must save a few steaks for your friendly predator. There are a few more weak sides: mana and ammo management. First of all, Hunters quite heavily rely on mana. Drinking here or there will always be needed. However, they can still fight with common attacks combined with pet damage. Second, this class needs ammo stored in the inventory. This might take more slots in your inventory than you would like it to. But even with these minuses, Hunter is one of the best classes for leveling in WoW Classic Fresh.
Warlock
Warlock is a ranged caster class with many helpful tools for comfortable leveling. The variety of summons Warlocks have helps them in any situation, whether they need a tanking familiar, kicks from Spell Lock, CC like Seduction, or pure damage output from Imp. Having such assistance from summons helps a lot during questing. Simply summon Voidwalker and let it thank mobs. Their Felsteed class mount can be obtained by completing a unique quest chain, saving you money for buying and learning mounts. Being a ranged class, they can kite and line-of-sight enemies, having less trouble with mobs. They have plenty of utility, like Soulstone and Healthstones, which also assist their teammates in dungeons. Nice CC like Fear complements their kit. Thanks to Drain Life and Drain Mana spells, Warlocks can continue fights even when some resources are low.
On the other hand, Warlocks need to juggle their HP and mana with Life Tap. The class is designed to have almost unlimited mana resources, meaning mastery in carefully sacrificing your HP for it can be tricky. Their summons are obtained by quest chains that can be a bit annoying compared to the Hunter’s pets. And the last problem Warlocks have is Soul Shards. Warlocks need them as an extra reagent for their spells, meaning you must collect them with Drain Soul and save them in your inventory. This can take some space but is not that crucial. Even with all these downsides, Warlocks are beginner-friendly and the best class for Fresh Classic WoW leveling. If you tried and liked Hunters but wanted to add magic and casting to them — you will love Warlocks.
Mage
Mages are known for being one of the best classes for leveling in WoW Classic. They can kite and kill ginormous groups of mobs during AoE farming, gaining tons of XP and loot. Mages are one of the best caster classes in terms of kiting. They have a kit with plenty of CC (like Frost Nova, Cone of Cold, Blizzard, and Polymorph. Their Blink gives them even more potential in kiting. Mages are welcomed in any party thanks to their Conjure Food and Conjure Water abilities. Free food is a massive advantage in dungeons and game overall. Managing gold in the Classic Era is essential since spells must be learned from trainers, and repairs are always needed. Saving money on food and drinks helps a lot. You will again thank this spell when you have just enough currency to buy your mount.
Being a caster class, Mages rely on mana, meaning you can run out of it if caught off guard. Thankfully, as we mentioned before, conjured drinks fix this problem with no gold requirement. But if you want to go to the AoE farm, be careful. This type of activity requires skill and game knowledge. Being a cloth-wearing class, Mages can quickly die if someone reaches them. Tankiness is not something this class can boast about.
Fine classes for WoW Fresh Classic leveling
Here are classes that are fine for leveling. All these classes have good utility and damage but have serious weak sides.
Druid
Druids are one of the most universal classes. They have almost everything in their kit. This flexibility makes it one of the most comfortable classes for leveling in Fresh Classic. Druids have a decent self-heal from Rejuvenation and Regrowth. They have great survivability from Bear Form and Mark of the Wild and can Prowl through enemies, skipping unnecessary packs. Their Travel Form helps them move around faster than other classes since you get it earlier than when you ride mounts. Druids can easily find a party for a dungeon because of the variety of roles they can play. Normally, in the Classic Era, you would need to change your talents and gear if you were leveling in Cat Form and wanted to join a dungeon as a tank in Bear Form. But since WoW Classic Fresh added dual specs, such changes in role became much easier. Druids’ Rebirth spell can be crucial in instances, saving the group in wipe situations.
Being a hybrid class, Druids have problems that balance them. Despite being able to do everything, they are not the best in anything. They still perform very well but can’t be called the best DPS, Healer, or Tank. They also have a lot of forms that you have to juggle with. Keybinding on Druids can be overwhelming, making them a hard class for some players.
Shaman
Shamans are a hybrid class, just like Druids, but they can only be in Horde since only Orcs, Trolls, and Taurens can choose this class. They have a nice self-heal from Healing Wave and Lesser Healing Wave. They can be picked in dungeons as ranged or melee DPS or Healers. Shamans are very pleasant to play, even at low levels, as they form a decent rotation, keeping you busy. They have a great Ghost Wolf mobile form, allowing them to travel from one destination to another faster. This spell gives them a great advantage in traveling since most other classes must wait for a mount to become available. Shamans also welcomed any dungeon group because of their utility, healing, and stable damage (even if it is not that high).
On the other hand, Shamans still lack numbers because of their flexibility. Totem managing and quest chains for them can be exhausting, but the effort is worth it. Once you master this class and totem management, you will have a decent solution to any problematic situation. This is why Shamans can be one of the best classes for leveling in Fresh Classic.
Rogue
Rogue is one of the most comfortable classes for Fresh Classic leveling. This class is almost perfect for leveling on PvP servers. Stealth lets them skip unnecessary packs and lurking players from the opposite fraction. Rogues have great CC (like Blind, Sap, Cheap Shot, and Kidney Shot) that lets them manage groups of enemies, killing them individually. This class can Pick Pocket enemies and open locked chests and boxes with Pick Lock for extra gold and resources as a pleasant edition. Despite having no self-heal, Rogues have good defensive skills like Evasion and Vanish.
Being a pure DPS class, Rogues must restore health after encounters, meaning you must maintain some food in your inventory. This class is primarily focused on solo-target damage, making it hard to play against larger groups of enemies. However, being a melee leather-wearing class with no self-healing or pet, Rogues must be careful during encounters. They can’t tank mobs face-to-face and might need a strategy to CC and kill enemies without taking too much damage. Another problem in leveling Rogue is this class’s high reliance on the main hand weapon. If you find yourself unlucky and don’t find a new weapon for long, your damage output will suffer.
Worst classes for WoW Fresh Classic leveling
In our opinion, these are the worst classes for leveling. Starting with these classes can be quite boring and annoying. But as we mentioned at the beginning of our guide, their performance becomes much more sustainable with higher levels.
Priest
Priest is probably one of the worst classes for leveling in WoW Fresh Classic. Yes, this class has a decent self-heal from Flash Heal, Heal, and similar spells, but its overall damage is far behind most classes. Priests struggle with leveling because they have long casts and problems with mana on lower levels. You will most likely spam Wand attack once low on mana. Such gameplay is more than annoying, repetitive, and boring, making Priest one of the worst classes for leveling in WoW Classic Anniversary realms.
Paladin
Paladins is a tanky melee class that specializes in holy damage and can only be in Alliance since only Humans and Dwarfs can choose this class. This class has other good sides, like self-healing from Flash of Light and Holy Light. However, the biggest problem in leveling Paladin is that there is almost no rotation until higher levels are reached. Your main gameplay during encounters will be casting seals, auto–attacking, and unleashing a seal with Judgement. This will be repeated for most of your leveling experience. This problem is combined with the absence of decent spells for tanking in dungeons until a much higher level (Consecration becomes available on level 30). All of this makes Paladins the worst class for leveling in Fresh Classic.
Warrior
Warriors are known for how hard it is to level them. This class is concentrated on higher levels when most of the skills are available. The beginning of your leveling is going to be almost torturous. The Warriors’ main resource is Rage, which is very frustrating at low levels. This resource accumulates slowly, and skills need a lot of it. This class has no mobility spells for better traveling, long cooldowns on defensives (e.g., 30 minutes CD on Shield Wall), and heavily relies on their weapon. If you want to level up as a warrior, we recommend choosing this class as your alt. This class is good for leveling in Fresh Classic WoW when you can buy extra gear for gold made on your main character. Or you can level Warrior with your friends who are kind enough to heal you. Without such help, this class will struggle with even two mobs at a time. Having an unlucky fight with an equal enemy, when your attacks and skills are dodged or parried, can easily result in your death. This is why solo killing elites while questing will be almost impossible.
Conclusion
This is it for our tier list of worst and best classes for leveling in WoW Classic Fresh Era. We tried to compare all classes based on their leveling experience, including dungeon runs and even potential in movement speed. Many aspects make class pleasant and suitable for leveling or not. But as we mentioned at the beginning of this guide, this top is subjective. Every class has its ups and downs during leveling, but the end-game content on the max level can be completely different. This is why you shouldn’t hesitate to pick any class regardless of its place in this article. The best class is the one that suits you the best! Thank you for reading this guide, and see you on WoW Fresh Classic servers!
What do you think about some classes in this guide? Which one is your favorite one to level? Let us know in the comments!
Comments
I like to play a paladin because they are stolid and dependable. You are one of the two classes on Alliance which can use sheilds, and can also be a healer in groups and dungeons. I really enjoy healing as a Paladin because all types of armor are available to me instead of being limited to cloth. Some people may like a complicated rotation, but I do not want to have to stance dance as a tank, and I like the benefits the Judgments provide IE healing you or an ally when they strike an enemy, or giving mana back to you or an ally for the same, among others.
The advice to play what is enjoyable and comfortable I wholeheartedly agree with. At the end of the day, this is a game and should be enjoyable.