WoW The War Within Hero Talents tier list

WoW The War Within’s Hero Talents offer players new ways to approach their class. Instead of expanding the already massive talent trees, each class has access to two Hero Talent trees. These cross over with another one of their specs, offering a bit of flexibility. Most classes other than Druid (Four) and Demon Hunter (Two) have access to three Hero Talent trees. These also vary wildly in power, feel, and synergy.

This tier list could (and almost certainly will) change as time goes on for the WoW The War Within Hero Talents. The Hero Talent trees changed a significant deal between the testing phases and launch, and will no doubt be updated as time passes. It’s also worth noting that just because we think a build is/isn’t good, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pick it.

At the end of the day, pick the talent tree set that feels best for you. If it fits your concept of your character, or it just looks cool, that’s all that should matter to you when you pick Hero Talents in WoW The War Within. Since it costs nothing, you can change your Hero Talents at any time. We considered class powers, synergy, usefulness, and overall feeling of these talent trees for the tier list. However, it’s very much my opinion, so take that with a grain of salt.

WoW The War Within Hero Talents tier list. Which picks are the best?

Sunfury is easily one of the best Hero Talent designs in the whole of this expansion (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

S-Tier

Sunfury
Frostfire
Diabolist
Elune's Chosen
Chronowarden
Deathbringer

The WoW The War Within Hero Talents at S-tier are the best of the best. They have the best in-game feel, the best synergy with their class, and are, in general, remarkable. In particular, Sunfury was, and continues to be, overwhelmingly powerful. Both Sunfury and Frostfire trees are great, but the feeling of summoning a powerful Phoenix that can spellsteal, not to mention cast powerful spells for you? Oh, that’s amazing.

Deathbringer is arguably the most powerful Death Knight set of talents, bar none. It deals amazing damage, has strong talents, and is a must-use. If you want to play a Death Knight that’s sturdy and does reliably powerful DPS, this is a great pick. Any talent tree found in S-Tier is among the most satisfying in the game to play.

A-Tier

Herald of the Sun
Templar
Conduit of the Celestials
Colossus
Flameshaper
Druid of the Claw
Stormbringer
Hellcaller
Archon
Fel-Scarred
Scalecommander
Spellslinger

The A-Tier talents are a solid mix of fun and powerful. The talent trees found here have robust, quality options, and are reliable in almost every situation. They’re great, but not quite S-Tier. Herald of the Sun and Templar are the WoW The War Within Hero Talents I have the most experience with so far.

I’ve played the entire expansion as a Retribution Paladin first, before going to other classes. It will also be the class I raid on in most situations throughout Season One. I want to make them S-Tier, but I just can't justify it.

I’m also a huge fan of Colossus and Scalecommander. I waffled on Spellslinger for a while, because frankly, I think all three Mage trees are incredible. That said, I think Spellslinger just isn’t as cool as its counterparts. I also think Hellcaller is neat and useful, but it’s nowhere near the power of Diabolist.

B-Tier

Slayer felt strong, but I could never tell when I was doing something that used my skillset (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Rider of the Apocalypse
Farseer
Soul Harvester
Slayer
Voidweaver
Master of Harmony
Keeper of the Grove
Aldrachi Reaver
Oracle

The B-tier Hero Talents in WoW The War Within are solid, but still a bit underwhelming. I’m glad to see that Oracle changed a bit from its early days. I was completely underwhelmed by it at first.

Rider of the Apocalypse is one that I think is a little on the clunky side in World of Warcraft. However, it makes up for that with an incredible design and a really fun lore/in-world feeling. It’s just cool. I think it could probably use some tweaking, but it’s nonetheless incredibly satisfying to get right.

The hero talents at this level are still viable for sure but may take some more work. Take Soul Harvester for example. Why would you go with this when Diabolist is on the table? Both are solid picks, but Diabolist is just far more powerful, and is a cooler offering. Some of the B-Tier talents are simply decent, but boring - like Farseer.

C-Tier

Frankly, it felt like Hunters got a raw deal in this expansion, in our estimation (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

San'layn
Shado-Pan
Dark Ranger
Wildstalker
Pack Leader
Totemic
Mountain Thane

The C-Tier Hero Talents of WoW The War Within are just diasppointing. I don’t think any other class feels as bland as the Hunter trees. The Dark Ranger/Pack Leader builds at least have a cool factor to them, even if they are a little on the underwhelming side.

The class picks found here are okay, at best. You can, and definitely should still play them if you really like their aesthetic and abilities, but they just don’t stack up, power-wise.

I think they have merit, for sure. I'm grateful that Shado-Pan doesn't add too much more to a Monk's rotation, because that, to me, is already pretty miserable. Another one that could have been amazing but just wasn't was Mountain Thane. It had such a cool premise, but the delivery was dismaying, at best.

D-Tier

There isn't a class I'm less excited to play than Rogue (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Deathstalker
Trickster
Lightsmith
Sentinel

The D-Tier ones are the most disappointing of the lot. They are either weak, lack usefulness in battle, or perhaps both. I was really excited for Lightsmith right out of the gate, but it feels miserable. It’s an amazing concept, held back by a combination of bloat and unnecessary complication. I’m just not a fan of how it feels right now.

If there’s a class I feel is underserved as much, if not more than Hunter, it’s probably Rogues. Deathstalker just feels weird and complicated, and Trickster being built around Feint is just an odd choice.

Check out our other WoW The War Within guides

Edited by Abhishek Manikandan