Our Forever Open tier list: all 27 specs ranked for level 30 duels

The frame: level 30, Horde only, 26 talent points

This ranking is our view of the field before The Forever Open, the $100,000 level 30 dueling tournament held on October 17 and 18. It judges what each spec can do under the tournament's conditions. It is not a measurement, and single duels or clips are not treated as proof.

Three conditions shape the list. Every competitor is Horde, so there is no Gnome Warrior with Escape Artist. Every character has 26 talent points (21 plus 5 from Legacy), so 31-point talents such as Mortal Strike are unreachable, and Blind, learned at level 34, is missing too. In the finals there is at most 1 minute between games and no waiting for cooldowns, so a long defensive cooldown spent in game 1 is often still unavailable in game 2.

One more rule limits what any tier list means here. The top 4 of each class reach the finals, so the bracket will contain 4 Warriors and 4 Druids whatever their tier, each also playing for a class prize of about $5,555. Class popularity matters as well: in a community snapshot of level 30 tournament characters on October 13, Hunter was the most common class, Priests were about 16% and Warriors about 6%.

Sources: Official Tournament Guidelines: prize split, finals format · Official Qualifiers & Finals Format and Rules: top 4 per class, no waiting for cooldowns · Talents Forever export (CC BY 4.0): talent points, ranks and levels, game data checked October 14 · Our census article: October 13 community snapshot of level 30 tournament characters (unofficial, not final check-in)

S tier: two Hunters, Discipline and Demonology

Marksmanship has perhaps the biggest burst in the field. Intellect on gear becomes attack power, and a healer starting a long cast takes even more damage while pushback slows it. Scatter Shot, range and Improved Concussive Shot's 20% chance to stun give it fallbacks. Killing the pet does not help the opponent much: the Lone Wolf talent gives a Hunter without an active pet 20% more damage with every attack.

Survival is, in our view, the best of the three Hunter specs. It is fairly tanky and has a large toolkit against melee: extra parry, Deterrence, a speed boost, shorter slows on itself, longer traps, cheaper abilities and shorter cooldowns. That lets it reset fights and make distance more often than any other Hunter. Its weakness is a lack of self-healing and few ways to close on a caster who stays at range.

Discipline heals itself, keeps up pressure, regenerates mana in combat and carries Mana Burn for healers and casters and Fear for everyone else. Without the latest Penance nerf and the October 8 change that removed reduced critical strike efficacy in PvP, we would have rated it higher still. Shadow resistance gear and heavy pressure on its mana are the main counters, and with Priests so common, opponents will prepare for it.

Demonology is the spec we think handles the most matchups. Soul Link makes it very durable, Curse of Tongues makes a caster's spells take 50% longer, Curse of the Elements lowers resistances, and its damage arrives as Fire, Shadow and physical damage from the pet, so resistance gear helps less against it. Add strong sustain and Fear without a cooldown, and we could not find a class with an easy matchup.

Sources: Talents Forever export (CC BY 4.0): talent points, ranks and levels, game data checked October 14 · Official October 8 development notes: critical strikes in PvP no longer have reduced efficacy

A+: Retribution, Subtlety, Enhancement and Frost

Retribution is one of the most underrated specs here. It has Blessing of Freedom, strong cooldowns, Repentance and Hammer of Justice to stop a big heal, then real burst and sustain. It lacks mobility, and Lay on Hands and Divine Protection are long cooldowns, so a Ret who spends both in game 1 may have neither for game 2.

Subtlety is our dark horse. Garrote silences, and Preparation resets key cooldowns so the opener can be extended. A good Sub Rogue can give an opponent no chance at all. The flip side is harsh: if the target survives the opener, even on 5 to 10% health, the Rogue has little left. That single weakness keeps it out of S.

Enhancement is tanky and fast, interrupts casts, gets Stormstrike much earlier than in Classic and adds Windfury. We stopped short of S because more of its success depends on Windfury luck than on a repeatable plan. Frost Mage has freezes, slows, repeated Polymorph and Cold Snap to bring back Ice Block, and the October 8 critical strike change made it hit very hard. It missed S because counters such as Frost resistance gear keep improving.

Sources: Talents Forever export (CC BY 4.0): talent points, ranks and levels, game data checked October 14 · Official October 8 development notes: critical strikes in PvP no longer have reduced efficacy

A and B+: strong kits with one clear limit

Shadow Priest keeps pressure with damage over time and has Silence and Blackout's chance to stun, but it has no in-combat mana regeneration and does not hit much harder than Discipline. A run of Blackout procs can make it look like S tier; that is luck, not a plan. Beast Mastery has speed, a stun, traps and Hawks, but no sustain of its own, a trap cooldown too long to keep resetting fights, and a pet that can be crowd controlled, with no way to swap it during a stage.

Arcane is better than its reputation, with Improved Counterspell, ways to lower the target's spell resistance, extra range, mana regeneration and strong burst, though Frost can do more once ahead. Affliction has sustain and crowd control, but at level 30 Soul Link in Demonology is too strong to skip.

Fury gets a second way out of Fear beyond Berserker Rage: Death Wish, which also adds 20% physical damage and matters against Priests and Warlocks. Feral does a bit of everything with Bear, Cat, stuns, interrupts and heals between forms. Restoration Druid outlasts classes that cannot heal themselves but lacks the damage to finish everyone else.

Sources: Talents Forever export (CC BY 4.0): talent points, ranks and levels, game data checked October 14

B and C: survival without a way to win

The lower tiers share a pattern: specs that can survive but struggle to force a result. Holy Paladin, Restoration Shaman and Protection Paladin are hard to kill, but without pressure or burst the opponent can usually wait them out; we called Protection Paladin a meme spec for now. Balance has resets and cheap damage but, we think, not enough to beat a Priest or Warlock. Protection Warrior adds Shield Bash and Concussion Blow, yet it is slow and cannot reduce healing. Assassination's poisons are not yet strong enough at this level, and without Blind a Rogue has a hard time resetting a fight. Destruction gives up Soul Link for burst that does not make up for it.

Arms is in C despite being a good spec. With 26 points it cannot reach Mortal Strike, so it cannot cut healing; as Horde it has no Escape Artist, and its only way out of a root is a Free Action Potion drunk beforehand. Combat lacks Subtlety's opener and reset, Holy Priest's extra healing does not win duels, Elemental has neither Lava Burst nor the mana to keep casting, and Fire has no Combustion while giving up Ice Block, Cold Snap and Frost's control.

Sources: Talents Forever export (CC BY 4.0): talent points, ranks and levels, game data checked October 14

Our pick, our dark horse and what the list does not measure

Our pick to win the $50,000 was the Demonology Warlock, and Subtlety Rogue was our dark horse. With 4 players from every class in the finals, each chasing a class prize, upsets from the lower tiers were always possible.

The tiers describe toolkits and plans under the tournament rules, not results. Our finals preview, published after the qualifiers, looks at the recorded Swiss duels instead.

Sources: Official Tournament Guidelines: prize split, finals format