Analyzing DPS in Phase 3 of WotLK Classic: A Warcraft Logs Review

As the Trial of the Crusader and Phase 3 come to a close, it's time to reflect on the DPS performance of different classes in the raid. The top performers in this phase, which are the Unholy Death Knights, Affliction Warlocks, and Fire Mages, are likely to be sought after in early Icecrown Citadel raids. However, it's important to note that the overall rankings don't tell the whole story. Each boss in Trial of the Crusader has unique mechanics that can push some classes up or down the rankings.

For this analysis, we have gathered data from the Warcraft Logs Statistics page for Trial of the Crusader, accessed on 10/08/2023. We are interested in the maximum potential of each class, so we are looking at the 95th percentile of representatives of each class, or the top 5%. While 19 out of 20 players may not produce this much raw damage output, the relative power level of the classes does not shift significantly when moving down to players closer to median performance.

Top DPS Classes in Phase 3

Mages, Death Knights, and Warlocks claim the top spots in Phase 3, with Rogues not far behind. Death Knights and Warlocks have shown their strength in Phase 1 and Phase 2, and they continue to be top-ranking damage dealers in Phase 3. The Fire specialization for Mages is a powerful scaling specialization that becomes even stronger with higher critical strike chance. We saw Mages start to shine in Ulduar, and their ascension continues with the more powerful gear from Trial of the Crusader.

However, looking at the "All Bosses" category alone does not provide the complete picture. Each encounter in this phase has different DPS rankings for the classes, as some encounters boost certain classes' performance due to unique mechanics.

Encounter Analysis

• Northrend Beasts

The Northrend Beasts encounter is the most straightforward of the five bosses in Trial of the Crusader. While it mostly revolves around single-target damage, some classes like Warlocks and Shadow Priests can apply damage over time effects to both Acidmaw and Dreadscale while they are active, giving them a decent boost in total damage output. Additionally, melee classes with cleave and multi-target damage abilities can make use of them on the Snobolds that spawn during the first phase with Gormok active. However, the Snobolds have unique targeting properties, favoring certain classes with functional abilities.

• Lord Jaraxxus

Lord Jaraxxus introduces two aspects that significantly impact the damage rankings for this boss. The first is his ability called Nether Power, which grants him a powerful spell damage buff. Mages can use Spellsteal to gain this buff and experience a substantial boost in their damage, making it a fight mechanic that benefits Mages exclusively.

The second aspect is the frequent summoning of extra demon enemies during the encounter. This benefits classes with effective multi-target damage capabilities, such as Fury Warriors. The impact of these mechanics is more pronounced compared to the Northrend Beasts encounter.

• Faction Champions

The Faction Champions encounter is so skewed that Warcraft Logs opted to remove it from their "All Bosses" damage category, and for good reason. In this encounter, you face numerous NPCs meant to simulate a PvP encounter. In order to prevent raids from simply relying on AoE abilities to defeat the encounter, the NPCs have a special buff that reduces all AoE damage they receive by 75%. However, this reduction only applies to "direct" AoE spells, leaving room for tactics that allow certain classes to work around this damage reduction.

Classes with effective multi-target damage abilities that can bypass this 75% reduction dominate this encounter, while those that cannot do so are left at a disadvantage.

• Twin Valkyr

Similar to Faction Champions, Twin Valkyr also have unique damage mechanics. Each player can select either a light or dark essence, which increases the damage they deal to the opposite-essence Valkyr boss by 50%, but decreases the damage to the same-essence boss by 50%. Certain classes can make great use of this mechanic, such as Affliction Warlocks who can apply Corruption to both bosses by changing their essence.

However, the biggest abusers of this essence-based damage boost are Rogues with the ability Blade Flurry. This ability copies the damage dealt to the first target onto the second target, without taking into consideration the difference in essence. This gives Rogues a significant advantage on this encounter. Other multi-target damage abilities, such as Whirlwind, calculate damage separately for each target, making them less effective on this encounter.

• Anub'arak

Anub'arak emphasizes classes with good multi-target damage even more than Lord Jaraxxus. With 4 Burrower adds spawning every 45 seconds, there are plenty of targets for AoE classes to shine, pushing down classes focused on single-target damage like Assassination Rogues and Arcane Mages. An interesting achievement on this encounter is being able to skip the burrow phase entirely. If the boss reaches 30% health before it is supposed to burrow, it will cast Leeching Swarm and begin Phase 3 without going underground. This achievement is rare but possible with a highly skilled raid group.

Looking Forward to Icecrown Citadel

What we've learned from Ulduar and Trial of the Crusader is that class performance is highly dependent on the encounter. While Unholy Death Knights and Affliction Warlocks consistently perform well, each encounter presents unique challenges that favor different classes. Based on the information available, Icecrown Citadel seems to have a stronger focus on single-target damage and less on AoE and multi-target damage compared to Ulduar and Trial of the Crusader. This shift in encounter design is likely to impact class rankings once again. With the release of Icecrown Citadel just around the corner on October 12th, anticipation is building among the community. If you want to get ahead of the curve quickly, then feel free to peruse through our vast services on WotLK here. And with that, we'll see you in the next one!