In this guide, we're going to run you through the top 5 specs that we think are going to be safe choices for the raids of Dragonflight Season 1!

Top 1 - Balance Druid

Balance Druid is looking pretty promising for Raids in WoW Dragonflight, it brings great utility to your raid through abilities like Innovate which you can never get enough of ask your healers they'd stack boomies. If they could they bring Stampeding Roar as well which is also a cooldown you're never going to say no to, which we've seen countless times helping raid group's battle movement mechanics. Obviously, the return of Mark of the Wild is probably already going to be in your raid group through the different specs of Druid, but it is such a massive buff that the Druid now brings that really cannot be glossed over. The range has also consistently been a safer choice for raids due to so much of the player base being melee dominated, so that coupled with Balance druid's amazing sustained damage once they're ramped up, especially in spread AOE scenarios really helps cement this Spec's place in this list. They're also a very tanky spec through the likes of Barkskin and your default mooncan armor, just passively mitigating more damage than other specs. Further amped up through talents like thick hide and also being able to drop into bear form to handle any dangerous mechanics, makes Balance Druid a great choice for dealing with soap mechanics, especially as they're so self-sustainable through their off heels.

Balance Druid is always a solid choice for the raid, mainly because of the utility they bring which has no diminishing returns as you're never going to have too many innovate or stampeding rules, paired with their great spread AOE damage the spec really does deserve a spot on this list.

Top 2 - Enhancement Shaman

Even after the gutting, it received on beta is still definitely a powerhouse in damage, especially in single target and final scenarios which is going to be amazing for dumping that priority damage into the boss which is obviously the end goal of all raid fights. But it's not just about the Shaman's damage that makes the specs so valuable, the real selling point of enhancement is Windfury Totem. Since the reintroduction of Windfury Totem, the spec has seen a lot more play in a raid setting due to buffing up not only your damage but also your melee groups damaged by quite a big chunk dependent on the spec of your actual party. They have gotten tankier coming into this expansion through being able to beef up their astral shift as well as now bringing Stone skin totem which could actually be massive for your raid depending on the fight， reducing physical damage by 10% for your party could alone be enough reason to stack an Enhancement Shaman depending on the encounter. Abilities like Wind Rush Totem never go amiss either, unfortunately, they're not as good as the likes of stampeding raw, however, you can all always appreciate an AOE movement increase for your raid. 

Enhancement Shaman is looking really solid going into the start of Dragonflight and specifically a great choice for going into raiding.

Top 3 - Assassination Rogues 

Assassination Rogues have one of the highest single-target damage profiles in the game which is why we are placing them on this list. This is then furthered by them boasting one of the best execute windows out of all DPS specs as well which is an insanely valuable trait to bring. The spec is relatively weaker on multi-target fights but Rogue has two other specs that are exceptional in AOE settings meaning as a class Rogue is able to excel on pretty much any boss. Also Rogues, in general, are very strong defensively through countless abilities like Feint Evasion, Cloak of Shadows, and Feign Death in situations that would otherwise kill you. These abilities make the road great choices to handle solo mechanics too which cements their spot in a raid. Furthermore going into Dragonflight, you will always need at least one Rogue due to their new poison ability a trophic poison, making all mobs they poisoned deal three percent less damage which over the course of a fight is going to make a tremendous difference the

Assassination Rogue is very strong across its whole toolkit but the main reason we've decided to put it on this list is its raw single-target damage throughput. 

Top 4 - Demonology Warlock

We are sure it comes as no shock to you because Warlock in general is always a very safe choice for raiding but in specific this time we are going with the Demonology Warlock. With what seems to be quite a few fights where stack leave is present, demo warlock is going to be pumping the meters as long as people can hold down the nether portal rotation. The main reason for demo being in this list though is that it has excellent survivability that is only game coming into this expansion through a lot of talents found in the Warlock class talent tree. The class tree is packed from head to toe with powerful defensive tools that could easily be mistaken for a tank talent tree if you weren't any wiser, to give you some context they have access to Soul Link, Fel Synergy, Demonic Embrace, Demonic Fortitude, Demonic Skin, Fel Armor, Dark Pact on a 45 second cooldown, Sweet Souls give you big heels whenever someone uses a hellstone, as well as Mortal Coil just to name a few. 

This coupled with their unique utility Demo Warlock brings to any raid through gateways helping you maneuver around fights, healthstones for an extra health pot every fight and also being able to summon those people that can never show up on time, straight inside the raid makes them vital for any raid comp and a solid pick for raiding this expansion.

Top 5 - Havoc Demon Hunter

Nevertheless, Havoc is phenomenal in both single Target and AOE encounters. As previously mentioned with cleave encounters being present across the whole of this raid, Demon Hunter will definitely be up at the top of the meters with other specs, as they passively do great cleave damage without actually losing any of their single Target DPS. It has amazing survivability as well through passive damage reduction talents and also abilities like blur and netherwalk to save you in any tricky situations. They bring Darkness too which can be a very impactful raid defensive cooldown, not just for themselves but the value really comes from the rage stacking in it especially with a spirit link totem at the same time. And to round out their kit, they contribute one of the strongest raid Buffs in the game through Chaos Brand which has insane value across your raid group representing a truly massive amount of damage from just bringing a Demon Hunter in general.