WoW The War Within: Updated Class Picking Guide For 2024 & 2025

The War Within is the upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft (WoW), and it’s as tough as always to figure out which main class to focus on when starting it.

Each class is going to get a new Hero Talent tree to give them new abilities, plus there’ll be other balance changes and reworks as well. Nonetheless, classes overall function the same as always… which means it’s not easy to pick one, especially for a beginner!

In this guide, we’ll give you a quick breakdown of what makes each class shine to help you find the one that’s right for you before WoW: The War Within releases.

Updated Class Picking Guide For 2024 & 2025 – The War Within

Death Knight

The first class on our list, and also the first Hero Class. That means that they have an advantageous start, starting at Level 8, unlike regular classes.

Death Knights serve the roles of Tanks and Melee DPS. They don’t tank by blocking damage, though! Instead, they rely on healing themselves after dealing damage to power their abilities. This also means that they’re quite volatile and hard to play effectively, but they are a force to be reckoned with in the hands of a capable player.

Tanking as a Death Knight is tougher than as a Paladin, for example, but your damage output is also much higher. Just try to be careful and heal yourself back up before your Health drops too low!

Demon Hunter

Our second class is also a Hero Class and is exclusively available to Night Elves and Blood Elves. As a Hero Class, they also start at Level 8 like the Death Knights.

Another similarity to Death Knights is that the Demon Hunters serve the roles of Tanks and Melee DPS. What sets them apart is their incredible mobility and the ability to take up various demonic forms to give them different abilities in battle. Their abilities give them high survivability as they can easily move out of harm’s way while attacking, and they can take quite a beating even if they fail to dodge!

The versatility of Demon Hunters has always made them stand out as one of the best classes in WoW meta, which is something that remains unchanged in The War Within. Plus, they’re also pretty easy to use even for beginners.

Druid

A highly versatile hybrid class, Druids can be played as either Tanks, Healers, Melee DPS, or Ranged DPS.

Druid is an easy class to pick if you find yourself unable to decide on a single playstyle from the get-go. Thanks to their versatility, you can spec in any role you want once you have spent more time playing WoW.

That said, Druids are generally at their best when you spec into either Guardian (Tank) or Restoration (Healer). Their DPS specs are a tad less powerful overall, even if they are still solid choices. Despite that, picking Druid is still the best way to dip your toes into all main roles and playstyles in WoW: The War Within!

Evoker

The Evoker is one of the most unique classes in WoW, and that remains in The War Within. One of the main reasons for this is its race lock: all Evokers are of the Dracthyr race, and all Dracthyr are Evokers.

All Evokers as of this writing will start at Level 58, as this is one of the Hero Classes in the game. However, we highly recommend creating an Evoker as soon as possible if you wish to take advantage of that! The patches leading up to The War Within release will change them to start at Level 10 instead.

When it comes to gameplay, Evokers are a very complicated class that we can’t recommend to newcomers. They serve as a Support DPS caster, being able to destroy foes with strong long-range spells while also healing allies by using the power of dragonflight. Very versatile, but requires a lot of smart decision-making on the fly.

Hunter

This class is all about DPS, especially Ranged DPS. They can tame a large variety of beasties to use as pets in battle as well, making Hunter the best choice for a pet-based class!

Thanks to their wide selection of potential pets, Hunters are also a fantastic choice for solo players. You don’t really need to be alone when you can tame any creature you want, right? When in groups, Hunters can also greatly help their parties by dealing strong damage from range and kiting enemies into unfavorable positions. As a bonus, the focus on pets and ranged attacks also gives them pretty solid innate survivability. Overall, a great pick for both beginners and veteran players in WoW: The War Within!

If you’re a WoW veteran, you might also be happy to know that there’s an upcoming rework for the Hunter class. It’ll give them more versatility and make them more fun to play for those seeking a more “nuanced” playstyle. That’s, of course, without making the class too intimidating for beginners!

Mage

If you’re eyeing the Mage class, you already know what to expect: powerful spellcasting potential that serves purely as a Ranged DPS class.

As a Mage, you’ll get to command a wide array of powerful spells that allow you to devastate foes from a safe distance. Your damage potential will be truly incredible, both when dealing with single enemies or groups!

The catch is obviously the low defenses, but that’s a bit deceptive. Magi have a lot of powerful Crowd Control and utility options that allow them to limit their opponents’ abilities. On top of that, you’ll be able to use Blink to move out of harm’s way quickly. That does mean that you’re effectively a glass cannon, though.

Mage can be pretty tough for beginners in WoW: The War Within, but it’s looking to remain as possibly the strongest class to pick provided that you master using their diverse array of abilities.

Monk

Why rely too much on weapons when you’re a deadly weapon yourself? Monks in WoW are strongly inspired by the romanticized ideals of Shaolin Monks and serve as Tanks, Healers, and Melee DPS.

Monks are extremely versatile, as they can spec into any main role they wish. They can pummel foes with ease while debilitating them, take aggro to defend their allies, or provide support and healing to the rest of the party. On top of it all, Monks are one of the most mobile classes. You’ll get to move all over the battlefield as you wish to use your strong body to destroy foes and your spirituality to keep allies alive!

The downside to Monks is that they’re fairly tough to master. As such, we can’t really recommend picking this class as a beginner in WoW: The War Within… unless you’re ready for a challenge, that is.

Paladin

These holy knights are basically the defacto Tanks in WoW, but they also dabble in Healer and Melee DPS roles.

Paladins have been historically one of the easiest classes to play in WoW, and that isn’t changing with the release of The War Within. Their incredible survivability and self-healing powers make them capable of excelling as Tanks, keeping their allies safe by taking the brunt of the damage from foes. This same survivability is also why they’re so easy to use, as even beginners can survive tough encounters with ease!

They can also provide some healing to allies and damage to enemies, though they fall behind compared to dedicated Healers and DPS. Nonetheless, Paladins are quite versatile and easy to pick up no matter your skill level.

Priest

These followers of the Holy Light are the go-to Healers, but they can also do some Ranged DPS thanks to their spellcasting powers.

Priests are, generally speaking, the straight-up basic Healer archetype. This is especially true with the Holy spec, which is all about providing straightforward healing to yourself and your party. Discipline spec is a tad more complex as it relies more on damage mitigation, but it’s still fairly simple healing. As such, Priests are quite simple to play but also extremely effective and important for most party setups.

Of course, you can also dabble into the Shadow spec to gain control over Shadow magic. This will let you deal much more damage and give you lots of Crowd Control spells, while still being able to serve as a Healer when the situation calls for it!

All in all, a very simple class to play that we highly recommend picking for anyone wishing to play as a Healer in WoW: The War Within.

Rogue

This class is exactly what you’d expect from a fantasy Rogue: highly mobile Melee DPS with low defense.

As a Rogue, you’ll be able to use your incredible agility to deal high damage to foes and apply various status effects such as Poison or Bleed. You’ll have the element of surprise on your end as you also get the ability to go into Stealth, which can be extended to your whole party as well. However, you’ll primarily excel at dealing high damage to single targets while having trouble dealing with larger groups.

As of now, Rogue is actually looking somewhat rough going into WoW: The War Within, which you should consider when picking your class. They require extremely high skill to use effectively, yet they seem to not be dishing out enough damage to make them worth the effort. This isn’t helped by their upcoming Hero Talents looking extremely weak so far. But you never know, maybe things will be better upon the expansion’s release…

Shaman

Shamans are masters of the elements and nature, giving them access to the Healer, Melee DPS, and Ranged DPS roles.

Similar to the Druids, you can’t go wrong with what role you pick as a Shaman. Their main unique mechanic is the ability to place totems on the battlefield, which can provide a variety of buffs and healing to your entire party. This makes them particularly useful when tackling any of the various Raids in WoW: The War Within!

Mastering the Shaman class really shows how hard it is to master the elements, though. They have to keep up with a lot of key presses and they need to pay close attention to the battlefield to summon or reposition their totems. We can’t recommend picking this class for beginners in WoW: The War Within! However, veterans of the game should be extremely pleased by Shamans maintaining their power and versatility into the next expansion.

Warlock

If the Mage isn’t edgy enough for you, the Warlock has you covered as the edgiest Ranged DPS around!

Warlocks tap into the dark magics to be able to cast powerful dark spells and curses against their foes. They excel at inflicting status ailments and debuffs, which makes them particularly good at dealing damage over time. As if that weren’t enough to topple their foes, they can also summon a variety of demons to do their bidding and help them in battle!

Playing as a Warlock is relatively simple to grasp, and their ability to have demons makes them a solid choice for solo players. However, truly making the most of their wide array of dark magics requires a lot of experience. Essentially, they’re a perfect example of being “easy to learn, hard to master”. If you’re picking a class to play for the long term, Warlock might be your best choice in WoW: The War Within.

Warrior

At long last we have the Warriors. They are one of the main Tank classes and also the most straightforward Melee DPS class.

Warriors have access to very strong plate armor, which gives them survivability that’s second only to the Paladins. As for fighting, they get access to large weapons and simple skills meant to deal strong damage to both single targets and groups. Warriors are as simple as they are effective, no matter what role you end up focusing on!

Their simplicity makes them an easy choice when picking your class for WoW: The War Within, especially if you’re a beginner. Warriors’ only real issues are lacking build variety and the fact that they are extremely reliant on obtaining good gear.

Nonetheless, that’s the end of our guide for picking a main class in the upcoming WoW: The War Within! We hope we’ve helped you decide which one of these unique classes best fits your playstyle and preferences.