World of Warcraft Classic The nine classes have a plethora of options to juggle when you're immersed in the game, and none are more important than their specialization. Each class has three, and they can be mixed and matched as you like, but to get the actual goods you tend to have to go quite far.
Choosing your primary specs is essential, and it can be easy to pick the wrong one (especially with some classes) if you don't know what you're doing. So here's a quick rundown of each class's specs and their relevance to PvE, PvP, or both.
World of Warcraft Classic: Better and Worst Specializations
Druid
Druid gets some sort of raw contract in Vanilla WoW, being lagging behind in PvE and PvP. Their best specialization is Restoration (PvE), while fierce combat and balance is poor on both main facets of the game, unless you know what you're doing.
hunter
Hunter has plenty of options with his specs, though the constant is that the best general-purpose specialization is Marksmanship (PvP and PvE). Survival is a second place, with plenty of solid options, and Beast Mastery is a niche, but potentially viable with a lot of luck and mic, but the two will be combined with Marksmanship as the first talent tree.
stomach
Mages manage single-target magical DPS and will play that role very well, regardless of specialization. However, in general, Frost (PvP and PvE) is your specialty. Frostbolt is your most effective damage provider for most WoW Classic content. Arcane is a good additional tree (most versions of Frost using almost as much Arcane), and Fire looks great on paper (and features in the latest patches and expansions), but struggles when the endgame of WoW Classic features a ton of enemies immune to fire or resistant. , so better to avoid.
Paladin
Paladins primarily play a healer or tank role (mostly off-tank). If they excel in the first and strong in the second, in both cases they will speculate a lot in the Holy specialization (PvE and PvP). Tank Paladins will have more Protection and less Healing and Healing Paladins, but they will use it a lot. Neither wants to take much advantage of Retribution 9) DPS spec, making it the worst specialization.
Priest
Priest is an exciting class who can be both an excellent healer and a ridiculously effective DPS character under certain circumstances and for certain builds. Still, for the most part, Holy (PvE and PvP) will be your best bet, with Shadow (PvP) and Discipline (PvE and PvP) also being extremely viable options in their own right. Nonetheless, Holy is used in more versions and situations in the game, so it takes the top spot very closely.
Naughty
All thieves do damage and a lot. All of their specs are excellent, with Combat (PvE) taking the advantage of being used most often to complete a build. However, thieves have a clear distinction between PvE and PvP, with subtlety (PvP) clearly winning. Assassination is no slouch, it's splashed with PvE and PvP, but it's rarely the primary driver of construction.
warlock
It's a tough call for Warlock, and it depends almost entirely on your personal preferences, whether it's Destroying (PvP and PvE) or Affliction (PvP and PvE). We do DoT, we do explosion, but they are also excellent. Demonology is a distant third compared to the other two. It is mainly used for raids where you cannot trust your tanks.
warrior
Warriors excel in PvE and PvP as tanks or DPS. All of their talent trees are practically neck-to-neck for added utility, with Fury (PvP and PvE) ahead for general use, being a crucial part of DPS and Tank builds to varying degrees. Protection (PvE) is a close second, of course being the key to the success of the Tank Warrior, and Arms (PvP) is just behind, it is little used for PvE and only enhances the effectiveness of Fury for PvP.
