WoW Classic Season of Discovery: Class Roles and Meta Explained

The latest Season of Discovery in WoW Classic has shaken up the class meta and brought new life to the game with its innovative Rune Engraving system, allowing classes to take on previously unheard-of roles. With these new abilities and class roles, players have more freedom in how they can enjoy WoW Classic and potentially discover a new way to play their favorite class.

What are Roles in WoW Classic Season of Discovery?

Roles are the jobs that your class can fulfill in WoW Classic: Season of Discovery and determine what you will do when playing content, such as dungeons and raids.

There are three main roles your class could potentially fill, with some classes able to fill multiple roles. These are as follows:

• Tanks – Sporting high health and defense, this role focuses on drawing enemy attention and keeping it to protect the party. They will often have several abilities to block and reduce damage taken and have a selection of damaging abilities that can hinder enemies and make them easier for the party to kill.
• DPS – The primary damage dealers, those in this role are tasked with doing as much damage as they can to enemies and, on occasion, dealing with some extra mechanics or quirks that come with dungeons, raids, and bosses. There are two types of DPS, melee and ranged, with some classes able to do both.
• Healer – The support role in a party, healers are tasked with keeping the party alive and providing buffs and support to help tanks stay alive, and DPS do the most damage possible. This role is often seen as the most vital yet challenging to play, as it plays a significant role in your party's success in content.

All Class Roles in WoW Classic: Season of Discovery

Thanks to the new Rune Engraving system, new abilities have been added to the game that allows certain classes to take on roles they never could before, opening up more ways to play Classic and its classes.

New Roles in WoW Classic: Season of Discovery

Several classes can now perform new roles in Season of Discovery, allowing for more flexibility in their class and giving new ways to play. Here are some details and noteworthy mentions on the new class roles:

Mage Healer

Mages are now able to act as party healers thanks to Rune spells such as Regeneration, Mass Regeneration, and Rewind Time. Their primary method of healing comes from the Temporal Beacon buff status, which applies to anyone they heal and converts 80% of all arcane damage the Mage does (except for Arcane Explosion) into healing for those with the status.

Shaman Tank

Shamans are now able to tank thanks to the Way of Earth Rune effect, which gives you multiple effects and bonuses when the Rockbiter weapon is active on your main weapon. These include increasing your threat by 50%, giving a 6% reduction of critical hits from melee attacks, 10% reduced damage, 30% more health, and Earth Shock becoming the class's taunt.

Rogue Tank

Rogues are now able to tank thanks to two new Runes, Just a Flesh Wound, and Blade Dance. Just a Flesh Wound gives Rogues a 20% reduction on damage taken while Blade Dance is active, and their threat generated gets a massive increase; on top of that, they get a 6% reduction of critical hits from melee attacks, and Feint becomes their taunt called Tease.

Warlock Tank

Warlocks are now able to tank thanks to the Metamorphosis Rune, which transforms the Warlock into a demon, with 500% more armor, a 6% reduction to they will be critically hit, an increase to threat by 50%, and Life Tap mana gains increase by 100%.

Stay tuned for more updates and guides on WoW Classic Season of Discovery!