World of Warcraft: The War Within has arrived, and with it are the new Hero Talent Trees — here are all the classes and their options ranked into tiers.
Hero Talent Trees are a new feature for WoW's latest expansion which expands the class fantasy of each playable specialization, often in creative, fun ways.
Each class spec will have access to two different options when it comes to choosing which Hero Talent Tree they want to explore, which the player will slowly fill out as they progress to the new level 80 player cap.
To clarify, these rankings are mostly based on how the respective hero talents fulfill the fantasy aspect of their classes. Power-wise, there are bound to be plenty of changes before the endgame of Season 1 of War Within begins.
WoW: The War Within Hero Classes Tier List
Death Knight - S-Tier
Death Knights are some of the biggest winners when it comes to their hero talents.
'Rider of the Apocalypse' lets Death Knights utilize the power of the four horsemen and even allows for some mounted combat.
'Deathbringer' lets the player become the emissary of death, aiming for the very soul of their enemies utilizing the power of the Shadowlands. This results in many visual frozen explosions, providing a notably satisfying experience.
Then there's 'San'layn,' which plays heavily on the blood angle, even letting players summon a blood beast to help them in combat.
Mage - S-Tier
Another big winner for The War Within's Hero Talent Tree is the Mage, with all three options being exciting in one way or another.
'Frostfire' lets both Fire and Frost mages utilize the opposing elemental force in their abilities, which makes the player feel like an absolute force of nature. The added visual effects are quite nice to watch unfold as well.
Then there's 'Spellslinger,' which lets mages "splinter their magic," resulting in the player very much living up to their name. This new visual creates literal magic splinters that proc above the player during combat, which then slingshot over into the enemy.
Finally, there's 'Sunfury,' a Hero Talent Tree that many WoW fans will immediately fall in love with due to its connection to the legendary character Kael'thas Sunstrider.
Now, players themselves can create their own Spellfire spheres to appear above them to empower their spells. They can also summon their own Arcane Phoenix.
Warrior - A-Tier
All three Warrior Hero Talent Tree options are solid, even if they might not breach S-Tier.
'Mountain Thane' draws strength from the earth and power from the storm, which results in plenty of new lightning explosions and storm effects in combat.
Fittingly, this tree boosts Thunder Clap to make it more powerful and useful.
Then there's 'Slayer,' which is themed on the idea that these Warriors set their eyes hard on a target and don't let up. Realistically, this results in Bladestorm being on cooldown far less often, meaning those with these talents will be doing lots of spinning.
Finally, 'Colossus' gives the Warriors a new channeled ability called Demolish. While some may hate that it's channeled, it does do massive amounts of damage, so that could make up for it.
As a fun bonus, anyone with 'Colossus' grows in physical size by 5%.
Paladin - A-Tier
Thematically, all of the Paladin's Hero Talent Trees fit the class perfectly.
First, there's 'Herald of the Sun,' which harnesses the sun's power and solar energy to burn enemies.
Then, 'Lightsmith' lets Paladins sculpt the very light into new weapons and constructs to wield against their opponents. While the concept is great, there's no denying that the visuals could be a tad more pronounced.
Finally, and easily the best Paladin Hero Talent Tree available, is 'Templar.' Put simply, this causes a cascade of holy hammers to constantly rain from the sky, crushing enemies into the ground — it's as cool as it sounds.
Warlock - B-Tier
Above and beyond, the best Warlock Hero Talent Tree option is the 'Diabolist,' which lets the hero summon even more powerful demons than before. There's nothing more that most players of the class would want.
'Soul Harvester' gives Warlocks the ability to proc a Succulent Soul who spawns on your shoulders as you are casting your abilities. The animation is great, and it appears quite often while in combat.
The weakest of the bunch is still respectable, and it's 'Hellcaller,' which gives Warlocks the ability to "weave together the vilest of shadow magic and entropic fel fire."
The biggest visual change here is how the entire character can become engulfed in shadow and corruption, even changing your eyes to glowing purple.
Priest - B-Tier
The strongest Priest Hero Talent Tree is easily the 'Voidweaver.'
Utilizing the power of the void (which is fitting given the expansion and World Soul Saga theming), Discipline and Shadow Priests get access to a host of awesome new animations. One key new ability lets them throw out a black hole that pulses and explodes AOE damage.
The second best is 'Oracle,' which plays around with the idea that the player can gain insight into the future. To help denote this, the Priest gets a glowing third eye on their forehead at all times, and glowing eyes.
Last, but not bad by any stretch, is 'Archon,' which focuses on the Priest's halos. The new visuals are a large halo the player sends out around them and not much more.
Shaman - B-Tier
'Totemic' is perfect for anyone who loves their totems, as it not only empowers their use in a Shaman's rotation but also gives them a whole new one to utilize during combat.
'Farseer' is a little simple but still fitting, as it simply summons ancestors to join you during combat.
'Stormbringer' for Shamans is another simple talent tree that empowers the class with more lightning and storm abilities, striking enemies with lightning from above.
While all the options fit the class fantasy perfectly, it feels like Blizzard could have gone an extra step and added just a little more to each.
Evoker - B-Tier
For Evoker's, the fan-favorite is 'Scalecommander,' which lets players spew forth three different Disintegrate beams simultaneously. They can also now steer the direction of Deep Breath while also being able to drop bombs with a new talent.
The 'Flameshaper' tree is themed heavily around Alexstrasza and the ability to manipulate dragonflame. The big addition here is the Engulf ability, which is satisfying to use, even if its cast animation is lackluster.
'Chronowarden' enhances Evoker's spells with Bronze magic. Sadly, there isn't much exciting happening with this Hero Talent Tree, with it mostly being a series of buffs that are similar to what one would already have.
Monk - C-Tier
The first of the C-Tier is the Monk's three choices.
Monk's 'Conduit of the Celestials Tree' is a Hero Talent Tree that is a perfect example of fulfilling class fantasy. These lucky monks get to summon the August Celestials.
However, some might argue that another channeling ability wasn't necessary.
'Master of Harmony' is the next, and it's almost entirely passive as it stores healing to be used in later abilities automatically. It's another example of a Hero Talent Tree that one might forget they even have activated.
The 'Shado-Pan' tree is meant to increase the amount of punches and kicks you pull off in combat. The end result is a completely passive talent tree that gives very little visual feedback to the player that anything is happening and a charged-up proc that takes too long to actually activate.
Druid - C-Tier
Druid gets four hero talent trees, but two are fairly disappointing.
At the very least, 'The Druid of the Claw' is interesting in concept. It specifically lets Druid more fluidly swap between bear and cat forms in combat, allowing some of the defense of bear form to carry over to DPS.
'Wildstalker' is all about additional bleeds for DPS and, of course, more healing power for Restoration Druids. The biggest visual differences come with exploding thorns for various abilities if used for Feral and blooming flowers for Restoration Druids during their healing powers.
'Elune's Chosen' empowers all of the moon-based abilities, which, at the end of the day, can feel a little redundant, especially as a Balance Druid. There are some neat visual flares, and players will be spamming Moonfire more than ever before.
For Emerald Dream lore lovers, 'Keeper of the Grove' makes Druid a key protector of nature and the Dream. This specialty summons empowered treants, but they are not nearly as useful as they should be.
Sadly, it's probably the worst of the bunch. It doesn't sync very well with choosing the best general talent tree options, and it can often feel like you aren't utilizing any hero talents at all.
Demon Hunter - C-Tier
Demon Hunter, who only gets access to two hero talent trees, ranks in the C-Tier because only one of them is worthwhile.
'Fel-Scarred Tree' amplifies the felfire wielded by every Demon Hunter, leading to players' various abilities getting empowered (with even their icons changing once it procs).
'Aldrachi Reaver' is all about leaning into the Demon Hunter being a glaivemaster. Sadly, most of its benefits are passive, and it feels like Blizzard could have leaned far more into this, being a talent tree for DHs to throw warglaives like crazy.
Rogue - D-Tier
Almost at the bottom of the list is the Rogue at D-Tier, which players of the class shouldn't be surprised about, as the class generally has not been doing so well lately.
'Fatebound' is flawed by its very inception––its abilities are fueled by cosmic damage that is based on the outcome of a coin flip. Not only should rogues not be doing cosmic damage, but leaving the damage output so heavily to luck is far from satisfying (if one can even tell anything is happening in the first place).
The 'Trickster' Hero Talent Tree is based around dirty tricks, flashing blades, and misdirection. There's not much creativity to be seen here, as just stealth-themed abilities do slightly more damage.
The tree's biggest no-no is how it's most important proc am ability called Coup de Grace, which completely locks one out from their rotation and unable to click anything on their Global Cooldown––which can be devastating to a rogue's DPS.
Finally, there's 'Deathstalker,' aka the "Harbingers of Death." Sadly, most of this tree is passive, and it tries to force abilities in a Rogue's cooldown that don't make sense.
Hunter - D-Tier
Sadly, all three of the Hunter's Hero Talent Trees miss the mark and live comfortably in the D-Tier.
Out of the three, 'Tree Sentinel.' The theming adds some arcane damage to attacks and introduces mystical owls. Despite some fun visuals here and there and a fast-recharging True Shot, these talents are more passive than might be best.
Then there's 'Dark Ranger,' which sees the hunter utilize shadow-empowered abilities. Sadly, while it is supposed to be based around Sylvannas Windrunner, an iconic World of Warcraft character, it doesn't even come close to matching the fantasy of playing as her.
The worst part is that the talent tree's main ability, 'Black Arrow,' doesn't fit well into the rotation of either Beast Mastery or Marksmanship Hunters.
Last, and very much least, is the 'Pack Leader' Hero Talents. It's simple, dull, and adds next to nothing to the class. It's easily the worst Hero Talent that The War Within has to offer.
World of Warcraft: The War Within expansion is now available for paid Early Access, with the base version of the game going live for all owners on Monday, August 26.
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