by Hald Twinpack

November 30, 2024

WoW best solo classes: What to play if you are a lone wolf

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You can’t or don’t want to play with other people? Fret not. You can always be a lone wolf in WoW. Let’s discover the top classes and specs to play solo!

Despite being an MMO, the modern World of Warcraft is a game you can enjoy playing solo. The multiplayer aspect is still there, but a lot of content can be enjoyed alone or with the help of NPC. Exploring the world, the intricate stories and lore doesn’t require a party either. The War Within also introduced Delves and changed Great Vault rewards for solo activities. Now World Quests, Special Events, and World Bosses reward players with loot. Hence the question arises. What is The War Within best solo class?

The right answer to that, more than ever, is the one you enjoy the most. Currently, we at that time in WoW were due to Hero talents and balancing, the classes are pretty close to each other in terms of rankings. But what if you enjoy many classes? Or have trouble choosing one amongst various options? Do not worry! We at WowVendor and our WoW solo classes guide have you covered.

In our The War Within best class for solo guide, we will look at every class and their specs, and Heroic talents from the perspective of solo play. With that in mind, we selected the spec or, in some cases, several of them that we think are best suited for solo play. Instead of creating a tier list, we will list the possible pros and cons of each of them, as well, and give personal recommendations at the end.

While WoW is obviously meant for cooperative gaming, it’s not the only option. There are instances when you can’t or don’t want to play with others. And that’s when solo play comes into the scene. Playing solo is a valid and fun approach to World of Warcraft. Moreover, certain specializations enhance the solo experience, providing comfort and effectiveness. With this in mind, let’s dive into our WoW best solo class 2024 guide.

What Makes the Best Solo Classes

The main problem with cooperation-oriented games like World of Warcraft is that many essential activities expect you to depend on and provide support to your teammates. You can survive better in raids, dungeons, and even some world events when you work with other people.

You can, however, be a lone wolf and still make an impact. It requires a class that survives well on its own through mobility, self-healing, utility spells, and ample damage. Not all specs can be played this way, and even the ones on this list can’t conquer a raid alone. But you can always try your best. So, why not look at the current best solo class WoW?

WoW best solo classes

Death knight

Death knights can play either as Tank using Blood Death knight spec, or DPS by choosing either Frost or Unholy. The class uses plate armor that makes, while class talents increase your survivability early on.

Blood

Due to being tanks, Blood Death knights can easily survive taking a lot of damage. Every tank has its own way of performing its duties, and this spec uses powerful Health absorption and shielding effects, like Bone Shield, to succeed. This means that even without healers, you can keep yourself healthy in long battles, eventually overcoming challenging fights. Unless enemies one-shot you.

The available Heroic talents choices are San’layn and Deathbringer. The first talent tree focuses on upgrading further your powerful sustain, thanks to Vampiric Strike procs. The Deathbringer is there to increase your damage output, as talents provide Reaper’s Mark interactions to your kit. Each Hero spec serves its purpose, so if you want to have even more sustain, you should go San’layn. If you feel like you survive just fine, then pick extra damage with Deathbringer.

Unholy

The main strength of the DK as a solo class is their ability to summon ghouls through many spells. They can distract and tank damage, allowing you to rely on creatures under your control in a fight. Raise Dead, Control Undead, and Army of the Dead form the bulk of this playstyle.

Unholy also possesses the potential for self-healing and immunity casts. This provides a degree of sustainability to a class dependent on long cooldowns and burst damage.

Rely on your high DPS output while making strategic choices. Unholy is one of the most prolific damage dealers, inflicting DoT and diseases. Death Knights can seriously harm their opponents while kiting them and using summons to their advantage. Just note that it’s not the fastest class, and not the easiest.

The Hero Talents for Unholy DK are San’layn and Rider of the Apocalypse. RotA increases your damage, providing extra procs and increasing the power of your burst cooldown. San’layn doesn’t increase your damage as much but instead provides extra survivability. The Vampiric Strike procs make this possible.

Demon hunter

It is no surprise to anyone, but Demon Hunters are a no-brainer when choosing WoW the War Within best solo class. They are easy to understand and play, have the best mobility among all the tanks, and have high damage and survivability. The unique passive that allows DH to consume soul fragments in battle provides great self healing.

Havoc

Among the best solo classes, Havoc DH is a playing style of a different stripe. The reason it could be WoW best solo class the War Within is its great mobility and high melee DPS. Besides, ample self-healing properties allow you to afford mistakes and compensate for lost health points if you do get caught. In this sense, it’s one of the best specs for kiting in the game.

Such abilities as Glide, Double Jump, and Fel Rush enable you to traverse a good distance in any direction without much pause. At the same time, Shattered Souls and Charred Warblades provide a lot of additional self-healing. This allows you to approach an enemy, deal damage, retreat, heal, and rejoin the fight.

Vengeance

Vengeance demon hunters belong to the Tank role meaning they are even harder to kill. Since most of the spec abilities deal Fire damage, combined with Charred Warblades talents you can have powerful sustain. Some of the other talents grant extra shields as well, making Vengeance DH impossible to kill. Even in group content, it feels like they don’t need the help of others at all.

The Hero talents trees are the same for both specs. Fel-Scarred increases your demonic powers: sigils and the Metamorphosis. That way, you can deal even more fire damage to heal and attack simultaneously. Aldrachi Reaver is more focused on your Glave attacks. The choice depends on the primary build of your Vengeance Demon hunter.

Druid

Despite the new Warband feature which provides easier access to multiclassing, Druids still remain the most versatile among the best solo class WoW. Not only do they have access to all three roles, but they also have access to sub-roles like ranged and melee DPS. Many of their defensive and healing skills are available for all the specs, providing them a boost in survivability.

It also makes it a great solo class. Guardian Druids seem the optimal choice, but Balance Druids are no less effective. Both are durable, mobile, and don’t rely on outside help.

Guardian

Guardian druids are of tank spec, meaning they have higher Health and damage reduction than all the Druid specs. They are not the most fun to play, however, but they can deal with most solo threats as long as they pay attention to Health and are not afraid to press their defensive cooldowns.

Guardian Druid have ways to reduce taken damage, including the Frenzied Regeneration. Ironfur, Nurturing Instinct, and Killer Instinct provide additional protection further up the talent tree. The baseline Barkskin can protect any Druid specialization from harm, as well. 

Guardian Druid Hero talents include Elune’s Chosen and Druid of the Claw paths. Dedicating yourself to Elune increases your Arcane damage, as well as turning Lunar Beam into a stronger cooldown. The path of the Claw increases your shapeshifting capabilities, allowing you to more effectively shift into Cat form to deal damage, while still having your defensive stats from Bear form. For more interesting and involving gameplay, we recommend picking Druid of the Claw for Guardian Druid.

Balance

Balance Druid is also a viable alternative if your personal playstyle favors DPS over tanking. Balance Druid’s Eclipse, for instance, can offer a lot of base damage. Furthermore, this spec isn’t completely without healing or damage protection. You basically trade some healing for some more offensive abilities.

Hero Talents for this spec include Elune’s Chosen and Keeper of the Groove. Elune’s Chosen provides better single-target nukes, providing you with bonuses that ramp up in power. This is especially useful when fighting against a single target. Keeper of the Groove offers more utility, as this Talent tree requires you to get Force of Nature. This spell summons treants that can keep enemies away from you.

Evoker

Evoker is the latest class added to the game and it really shows. The class feels modern, with fun positional and movement interactions tied to being only available to draconic Dracthyr. Yet these features don’t make them good solo class. Evokers are very good at group content. This is where they get to shine the most. They don’t have a tanking spec but have the unique support spec, Augmentation. And this one requires allies for maximum efficiency. Many healing abilities are locked behind healing spec Preservation. You cannot effectively sustain yourself and deal significant damage simultaneously. In that regard, Evoker is similar to many other classes, having access to a similar pool of defensive resources.

Hunter

Since the launch of World of Warcraft many consider Hunters to be the best class for solo WoW. Thanks to hunter pets, almost any solo content can be cleared easily. The advantage of range, pets with various roles and abilities, straightforward gameplay, and buffs to survivability talents made Hunters an even better choice for solo play nowadays.

Beast mastery

Beast mastery hunters are probably your best bet out of all 3 Hunter specs. They take all the bonuses from the base Hunter and multiply it. Having several pets at once, access to DoTs, and long-range attacks give Beast mastery hunter the tools for almost any challenge you can meet solo. One can argue that reworked Survival Hunter is a better choice thanks to the new Mastery effect. But the range advantage of Beast mastery hunter is better. This opens up an unprecedented potential for kiting.

A typical solo BM gameplay revolves around managing your beasts and keeping them alive. This will ensure that you can deal reliable damage and not attract the ire of your opponents. Your companions can trade HP long enough for you to dispatch your foes.

Just note that Beast Mastery Hunters themselves are not particularly durable. You have a few saves in increased mobility and limited healing opportunities. But it’s largely up to your beasts to hold defense. In the meantime, you can chip away at the enemy’s health with your pets.

Possible Hero talent choices are Dark Ranger and Pack Leader. Dark Ranger focused on a Kill Shot ability replaced by Black Arrow. This is a proc-based build that relies on a random chance of dealing extra damage. Pack Leader improves your pet interactions, granting them various buffs. One of the important talents here is Den Recovery which increases your healing capabilities.

Mage

Mages are considered among the best WoW class for solo, but not for reason one might think. They don’t have access to healing or are not really able to tank a lot of damage. Instead, they provide unique quality-of-life abilities, that make playing World of Warcraft way more enjoyable. Teleport spells allow you and your friends to travel to any major city in seconds. Magical tables provide everyone with free food and refreshments. You can even turn yourself invisible to avoid trouble.

Mage also packs a punch, being one of the strongest DPS. Still, when picking Mage one needs to know how to play Mage properly to ensure you won’t die in mere seconds. Using your barriers, Alter Time, Blinks, crowd control abilities, etc., requires an understanding of these abilities.

Frost

Out of three specs, Frost mages have superb crowd control. Only they have access to Cold Snap, a powerful cooldown that resets many ice abilities that can save your life, such as Ice Block.

The Hero talent trees for a Frost mage are Spellslinger and Frostfire. Spellslinger provides a passive increase to your ability effects, making them interact with Frost Splinters. This path doesn’t add extra buttons and allows you to focus on your kit. The Frostfire is interesting, as it makes your general fire spells matter. This also gives you access to the iconic Frostfire Bolt and makes Icy Veins even more powerful.

Monk

Monk is one of those classes that can go any of 3 roles thanks to specs. They have decent mobility, while also being able to dodge attacks at an increased rate. Most important is access to self healing, which allows you to survive longer than many other classes.

The downside is the difficulty of the class, as it takes longer to master all the intricacies of its gameplay. But mastering Monk is worth it.

Brewmaster

Monks are a generally pleasant class, but Brewmaster is the best solo class of this bunch. It has much to do with this spec’s high survivability and Stagger ability. A well-timed cast can render you nearly immortal if you manage incoming damage.

Extra mobility allows you to avoid the worst moments of the battles. The lesser wounds are dispersed or negated with the large collection of defensive abilities in Brewmaster’s arsenal. The only problem is that you should activate these abilities well, which requires a certain degree of skill.

Being a tank, Brewmaster combines defensive abilities with extra sources of healing to survive longer than other specs. It is not as easy as it sounds, as Stagger mechanic is more complete than what other tanks have going on.

Master of Harmony and Shado-pan are Hero talent choices for Brewmaster. Master of Harmony increases healing and defensive abilities, allowing to turn some of that defense to offense, thanks to Celestial Brew interaction. Shado-Pan is more centered around your damage increase, so if you feel tanky enough, that is a perfect tree to choose.

Paladin

Paladin is another example of a possible WoW best class for solo play with access to every role. That is, they also have many answers to various situations, thanks to their great utility. Various Auras, Blessings, Invulrnabilitites, crowd control, healing, Seals, Judgements. These guys can do it all while feeling safe. The damaging and healing abilities are easy to understand and use. Various utility abilities require some extra reading to know when to use them.

Any of the specs are good, as they balance each other out. Choosing one is up to preference, but Protection paladins are the safest bet. Getting a damage-oriented Hero spec, like Templar or Herald of the Sun is advised, as survivability is not a problem for Paladins.

Retribution

Often considered a baseline spec, Ret Paladin excels playing solo not through summons and kiting but through tenacity. A combination of healing, defense spells, and moderate damage output enable this specialization to stay long enough in a fight to eventually overpower their opponent.

Ample healing spells and defensive abilities like Divine Shield make Ret some of the most durable specs in the game. Normally a massive team contributor, Retribution can be tailored for a lone playstyle. You should choose a tank and DPS talents over healer abilities in the progression tree.

Mobility is a slight downside. Paladins are more likely to be pinned in place, but at least they can take the punishment. The DPS is on the slightly weaker side, but it’s compensated by the extreme durability of this spec. It is a very comfortable solo class.

Paladin is another example of a possible WoW best class for solo play with access to every role. That is, they also have many answers to various situations, thanks to their great utility. Various Auras, Blessings, Invulrnabilitites, crowd control, healing, Seals, Judgements. These guys can do it all while feeling safe. The damaging and healing abilities are easy to understand and use. Various utility abilities require some extra reading to know when to use them.

Any of the specs are good, as they balance each other out. Choosing one is up to preference, but Protection paladins are the safest bet. Getting a damage-oriented Hero spec, like Templar or Herald of the Sun is advised, as survivability is not a problem for Paladins.

Priest

A class more dedicated to healing than dealing damage, Priest still has some options for those who consider using it for playing solo. Playing healer spec is not always fun especially solo, as that role requires interaction with other party members. Priests have access to healing, mitigation, and other utility spells and abilities. Even as Shadow, you can use innate Priest abilities to keep yourself safe.

Shadow

Shadow Priest is the only DPS option for Priests. The damage profile is unique, as they rely on resources generated by their damage-over-time effects. Having DoTs allows you to still deal damage while being focused on healing yourself alive.

For Hero talents, any of the two trees, Voidweaver and Archon, fits playing solo. Although Archon Halo improvements shine in group content, other talents in this tree improve your survivability and utility spells. Voidweaver empowers your damage by adding an extra mechanic to your Void Torrent. So if you want even more damage, go Voidweaver.

Discipline

Discipline Priests are another good survivability bet. Ample healing and sufficient mobility make it a worthwhile candidate if you can manage inadequate DPS. The spec has very few offensive abilities and is one of only two specializations in the game without an interrupt. It makes it a durable but harmless choice.

A more logical path for a Discipline Priest is indeed a raid healer. But it can be played solo with reasonable effectiveness. Although some of their best talents are AoE heals, they are still beneficial when keeping themselves in good shape. So, Disciplines can still sustain themselves and remain formidable in combat, all the while dealing damage gradually. But all in all, it is a relatively hard spec, especially for soloing.

From the DPS perspective, your ways to damage are simple. This a double-edged sword, as it can feel boring. To spice things up, we recommend going with the Voidweaver tree, as it focuses on improving the damage potential of the spec. The Orcale Hero tree is mainly about utility improvements of your spells, providing benefits to various parts of your kit, without specific focus.

Rogue

Although Rogue doesn’t have conventional survivability tools, they are still a popular choice for solo play. Why? Because they are an absolute menace in PvP. Invisibility, various stun, and other incapacitating effects, poison, etc. make you regret ever picking a fight with a Rogue.

We cannot recommend picking one for PvE however. Even though on paper the idea of ignoring the rules of the game sounds enticing, more often than not the game won’t allow that. Stealth is still useful, allowing you to skip mobs and avoid needless confrontations. Together with various forms of stuns, you can easily go in and get out, without having to fight mobs. But sadly, you cannot get content rewards without a fight. When it is time to play fair, they are on equal terms with many other melee DPS. Without defensive cooldowns, Rogue is not as durable as one may think. The damage profile also favors fighting a single target. You can expect trouble fighting groups of mobs. Thus, we do not advise this class to participate in solo activities like World quests, bosses, etc.

Shaman

Shaman is a decent class to play, even solo. They don’t have any advantages, nor do they have some significant drawbacks. All specs have access to healing options, some defensive totems, and shields. DPS specs also deal a lot of damage, so you can easily deal with many challenges. Balanced as they are, you have all the resources to play solo, but nothing that will make you feel broken.

Since the class has many utility spells, Shaman is currently considered to have a button bloat. That is a situation when proper gameplay requires a lot of keybinds. This can be a problem for new players or in case of emergency.

Warlock

Warlocks are a great option for going solo. Thanks to their utility, pet, and spells that allow you to heal with ease, you can survive anything, as long as you play your cards right. Out of all the casters, they feel the tankiest.

Affliction

Affliction Warlock focuses on DoT damage instead of dealing high burst damage of his peers. If you were following our guide, you already know that DoT damage allows you to keep attacking the enemy. While you can focus on keeping yourself alive if the need arises. Combine that with Voidwalker which can tank many threats for you, and you can play one of the safest casters in the game.

Both talent trees are valid, as both empower your DoT potential and interactions. Wither from Hellcaller replaces Corruption, making it more of a passive choice. Soul Harvester empowers specific powerful abilities, such as Malefic Rapture, Soul Rot, and Nightfall procs. This Hero tree requires a specific build.

Warrior

Warrior that one class that is known to depend on the gear. The higher the stats, the better the class performs. That can be said about every other class in the game, but this is what it is for the Warriors. They are a stat stick. And if the stick is great, then every hit with it really hurts.

Thus, they have decent damage resistance due to plate armor, but not many self healing options. Playing them without proper gearing may feel underwhelming. If you get all the BiS pieces or something close to that, the effort pays off.

Conclusion

And this is it for our World of Warcraft best solo class guide. To conclude, we have next recommendations:

• If you don’t mind defeating enemies slowly, while remaining safe, pick a class with a Tank role. Beginner-friendly best solo classes WoW are Vengeance Demon Hunter, Protection Paladin, and Blood Death Knight.
• If you want the best solo WoW class among the DPS who can deal with threats, while staying safe, we recommend Hunter, Warlock, Havoc Demon Hunter.
• If you want various quality-of-life features and advantages on a single character, Druid or Mage may be best WoW solo class for you.

We hope this WoW best solo classes guide helped you to make a choice. No matter which one you choose, the most important thing is to have fun while playing. You can always use Hero Trial to get a feeling of the class before committing to leveling on. Happy gaming!