World of Warcraft: Midnight Season 2 has reached the point where everybody wants the answer to the traditional opening-week question:
What should I play?
We now have the first serious Week 1 Mythic+ tier-list prediction following Blizzard's recent tuning, and there are a few surprises.
Blood Death Knight is still expected to lead the tank field despite additional nerfs. Arcane Mage survived the latest round of bad news remarkably well. Guardian Druid is emerging as a possible sleeper pick. Holy Priest and Restoration Druid have climbed following healer tuning, while Discipline Priest has moved in the opposite direction.
And perhaps most importantly, the expected composition is no longer simply three casters standing behind one extremely confident Blood DK.
Hybrid groups containing both melee and ranged DPS are increasingly plausible.
There is one important warning before anyone rerolls.
This is a prediction based on testing and tuning, not live Week 1 performance data.
Season 2 is only just starting.
Blizzard has also managed to change several classes and all eight Mythic+ dungeons since people started assembling these rankings.
So naturally, everyone should make irreversible life decisions immediately.
Blood Death Knight Is Still the Tank to Beat
Blood Death Knight has taken another round of nerfs heading into Season 2, including reductions to parts of the San'layn package.
It apparently has not been enough to knock Blood from the top.
Icy Veins still considers Blood DK the strongest Mythic+ tank going into Week 1, pointing to its combination of durability, damage and the enormous practical value of Death Grip in a dungeon pool containing troublesome ranged enemies.
There is an important caveat.
Blood has not been extensively tested at the very highest title-range key levels following the final tuning. That means its famous ability to alternate between completely immortal and medically concerning still needs proper live testing.
The interesting challenger may be Guardian Druid.
Guardian is not expected to compete with Blood's damage, but its durability and utility remain strong, and Mark of the Wild becomes particularly valuable when groups start mixing physical and caster DPS. Icy Veins specifically describes Guardian as a potential sleeper pick if Blood receives further reductions.
Protection Paladin remains another obvious alternative.
Vengeance Demon Hunter has excellent damage and utility, but concerns remain about its durability in the highest keys.
Arcane Mage Survived the Nerf Panic
Arcane Mage spent much of the last few days being discussed as though Blizzard had placed the specialization in a small box and lowered it into the sea.
The actual Week 1 outlook is considerably less dramatic.
Arcane remains among the strongest expected Mythic+ DPS choices after the latest tuning. Its combination of single-target damage, AoE, improved durability and group utility keeps it firmly near the top.
That is particularly notable because Blizzard heavily reduced Arcane's Season 2 two-piece tier bonus before the raid even opened.
The bonus went from dramatically overtuned to considerably less dramatic, but Blizzard's wider changes left the underlying specialization strong enough that Arcane has not fallen out of the expected meta.
So the lesson appears to be:
Never judge a Mage exclusively by the size of the forum thread written immediately after patch notes.
Arms Warrior Is Looking Extremely Dangerous
Another specialization entering Season 2 in excellent shape is Arms Warrior.
The current full DPS ranking places Arms in the very top group alongside Arcane Mage. Its strength comes from a particularly useful combination of excellent single-target damage, priority-target damage and strong AoE.
That damage profile is almost suspiciously convenient for Mythic+.
Boss?
Good.
Dangerous lieutenant buried inside a trash pack?
Also good.
Eight things standing close together?
Apparently still good.
It is one reason the predicted Season 2 compositions are becoming more varied.
Icy Veins suggests combinations such as Arms Warrior + Elemental Shaman + Arcane Mage, while another plausible setup combines a Rogue, Elemental Shaman and Arms.
That is a much healthier looking picture than one rigid three-spec composition being declared mandatory before anyone has inserted a keystone.
Windwalker Is Still One of the Big Season 2 Winners
Windwalker Monk also remains close to the top after its enormous climb during testing.
Several rounds of buffs dramatically improved its damage, giving Windwalker some of the strongest melee burst expected in Season 2. The major concern remains survivability, especially once groups begin pushing genuinely dangerous key levels.
We covered that unusual rise in our look at Windwalker suddenly becoming a Season 2 Mythic+ favorite.
Nothing about the latest tuning has erased the underlying story.
Windwalker appears capable of doing absurd damage.
The Monk simply needs to remain technically alive long enough to do it.
Balance Druid Is Being Carried by More Than Damage
Balance Druid has received nerfs but remains highly rated.
The reason is a useful reminder that Mythic+ tier lists are not damage meters.
Balance brings Mark of the Wild, poison removal, curse removal, Soothe and a strong damage profile across large pulls and single targets. That toolkit keeps the specialization attractive even when raw damage is reduced.
That same logic explains why some specs can produce excellent simulation numbers without becoming automatic Mythic+ choices.
A dungeon group only has five slots.
Eventually somebody needs to bring something other than another attractive bar on Details.
Destruction Warlock Has the Opposite Problem
Destruction Warlock illustrates the other side.
It was moved down despite not receiving a direct nerf in the latest ranking update.
The problem is relative power.
Other specializations improved around it, while Warlock lacks the kind of unique group-wide buff that automatically secures a party slot. Icy Veins consequently argues that Destruction needs to outperform competitors in raw damage to justify its place more consistently.
This is why meta rankings can change without Blizzard touching your spec.
You did not get worse.
Everyone around you received presents.
Discipline Priest Has Fallen Hard
The healer picture has changed even more dramatically.
Blizzard's Season 2 tuning reduces Discipline Priest's overall damage by 30%, compensating through stronger Atonement conversion so healing does not fall by the same amount. Void Shield has subsequently received another reduction as well.
Those changes have pushed Holy Priest and Restoration Druid ahead of Discipline in the latest Week 1 assessment.
That does not make Discipline useless.
Its external defensive toolkit may still justify bringing it in specific high-end situations.
But groups primarily interested in throughput and dungeon performance may now be much more willing to use Holy.
We have already seen how late Blizzard is willing to tune this season. Retribution Paladin received another 6% damage buff only hours before Season 2, while Discipline picked up yet another Void Shield reduction.
Which brings us to the biggest problem with every Week 1 tier list.
The Tier List Is Already Chasing Blizzard
The current ranking reflects the first major Season 2 tuning pass.
Then Blizzard kept tuning.
And tuning.
And then changed the dungeons.
Today, Blizzard reworked all eight Season 2 Mythic+ dungeons only hours before launch. Murder Row now requires fewer enemy forces, Ruby Life Pools has a less chaotic final phase, Temple of Sethraliss has been adjusted again and Mythic 0 now resets daily.
Those changes matter to class rankings.
If a dungeon requires different pulls, different utility or a different healing profile, the relative value of individual specs changes with it.
And every enemy still carries the 4% Season 2 Mythic+ health increase we covered earlier.
Meta analysis is therefore trying to hit a target that Blizzard is politely moving across the room.
Hybrid Groups May Be the Real Winner
The most encouraging part of the current prediction is not that one particular specialization sits in S-tier.
It is that the gap between the best choices appears small enough to support several different compositions.
Icy Veins had previously expected something closer to a caster-heavy meta. The latest tuning has made physical and hybrid compositions increasingly credible.
That gives tanks and healers more interesting group-building decisions.
A physical-heavy composition can lean into Battle Shout and Skyfury.
A mixed composition may value Mark of the Wild differently.
Blood DK's grips can solve specific dungeon pulls.
Protection Paladin can bring a different utility package entirely.
There may not be one correct answer.
At least not until somebody times a +20 and ruins everybody's creativity.
Do Not Reroll Based on Week 1 Predictions
This is the part that tends to disappear whenever a tier-list image reaches social media.
The rankings themselves explicitly warn that they are subjective and will change as Season 2 develops. They consider damage, utility, survivability, mobility, damage profiles and group synergy, not simply theoretical DPS.
They are most useful for understanding trends.
Blood DK looks extremely strong.
Guardian may be better than people expected.
Arcane survived its nerfs.
Arms looks dangerous.
Windwalker remains a real contender.
Discipline has lost ground.
And the expected meta is becoming less rigid than it appeared several weeks ago.
That is useful information.
Deleting the character you have played for twelve years because somebody moved its icon down one coloured row is less useful.
Week 1 Will Give Us the First Real Answer
Season 2 begins today in North America and on August 19 in Europe. Blizzard's new season brings the eight-dungeon Mythic+ rotation, The Venomous Abyss, Bountiful Delves and the rest of the new progression cycle.
Once thousands of live keys begin producing actual data, the first real meta will emerge.
Some predictions will be correct.
Some sleeper specs will wake up.
Something considered completely ordinary will inevitably turn out to be ridiculous.
And Blizzard already has more tuning dates planned.
So enjoy the first Season 2 tier list.
Just maybe do not laminate it.
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