If you’re brave enough or just up for a challenge and looking to try out the new Hardcore WoW Classic servers, you may be trying to figure out the best class to do so. Even though the current retail version of World of Warcraft has its class balance in a pretty decent spot, you have to remember: This is World of Warcraft Classic.
With nine classes in total, it can be a bit overwhelming to decide which class to create. If you have ever played Classic WoW before you will know that all classes are certainly not equal. Once you throw in the added element of hardcore, it can be very important you choose the right class. You want a class that has some survivability, and the utility skillset to escape unexpected dangerous situations.
However, don’t worry. Even though the absolutely single best Hardcore WoW Classic class is a bit suggestive, we will tell you why we chose the class we did, as well as provide a tier list for leveling every class.
Best Hardcore WoW Classic class
In our opinion, the single best Hardcore WoW Classic class is the Hunter. First off, they have insane raw damage output, allowing them to quickly kill monsters while leveling. Furthermore, their ranged toolkit allows them to kite enemies very well and churn out high damage while on the move. However, perhaps the biggest strength for Hunter is their pets. Pets scale purely on level, while most things in Hardcore WoW Classic scale based on gear. In a hardcore leveling environment, this makes the Hunter pet extremely viable.
Even though the Hunter is considered one of the best classes for new players, there’s also a high ceiling or min-maxing with this class. Once you’ve mastered the Hunter you can take down enemies much stronger than you, as well as easily escape tricky situations. This makes the Hunter the best class for Hardcore WoW Classic.
Two alternative honorable mentions would be the Mage and Paladin. Mages require a bit more experience with the class and an overall understanding of hardcore. They have the fastest AoE kill speed as well as slows and other crowd control to keep enemies at a distance. Paladin, in comparison, is probably the safest melee option. They are incredibly tanky and have high survivability via several spells including the ability to heal. They do kill a bit slower than these other classes because most of their damage revolves around auto-attacks. However, with their beefy toolkit it will be hard to die as a Paladin.
Hardcore WoW Classic leveling tier list
In order to understand our tier list, let’s first go over what each tier means for our ranking list.
- S Tier — We believe these are the overall best classes for Hardcore WoW Classic that give you the best chance of successfully reaching max level. Typically these classes have some sort of extra survivability or utility that allows them to escape tricky situations. Also, these classes are usually the most solo-friendly.
- A Tier — For the most part you should not have trouble with these classes. In fact, they are very viable for hardcore. However, they may have a little less survivability or utility options compared to the classes in the S tier.
- B Tier — While all classes can technically successfully reach level 60 in hardcore, these may have a bit more trouble. For the most part, these classes are missing a piece of the hardcore puzzle. They may lack escape options, survivability, or even damage output. You should probably be an experienced WoW Classic player if you choose these classes.
Now let’s go over our actual ranking for all Hardcore WoW Classic classes:
S Tier
- Hunter
- Mage
- Paladin
A Tier
- Rogue
- Warlock
- Druid
B Tier
- Shaman
- Priest
- Warrior
