Azeroth Survivors Classes: All Nine, Explained and Ranked

How the nine classes work

The pick happens on the main screen, before you choose a zone. Health and the opening spell come with the class and stay with it for the whole run.

Each class also carries its own unlock progress. Clear Elwynn Forest with a Mage and Duskwood opens for Mage only. The Warrior on the same machine still starts in the forest. That is why the zone chain further down is written per class rather than per account.

Level 5 adds the class movement spell on F. It is the only spell the run hands to a key, and on the harder classes it decides whether a bad second turns into a dead run.

All nine at a glance

Health and opening spell, ordered by the size of the pool. The tier column groups the roster the same way the tier list page does; the scores behind those letters are on that page, not here.

Paladin

245 health, and Consecration to open. A burning patch on the ground that only pays out if enemies stand in it. Walk the rim of a pack and it keeps ticking. Plant yourself in the middle and you trade health for the same damage. A self-heal covers the seconds when the patch is down.

The most forgiving start in the game: the largest pool, a heal in the kit, and no combo to keep track of. Build direction: keep the patch wide enough that adds cannot walk around it, then spend the middle levels on recovery.

Hunter

240 health, and Auto Shot to open. It fires while you move, which makes this the class that punishes bad positioning least. A pet adds damage you never pressed a key for, and the pool is the second largest in the game.

For anyone who would rather backpedal than stand inside a pack. Build direction: coverage first, for the moment a wave splits around you, then anything that keeps the shots and the pet working while you retreat.

Warrior

230 health, and Cleave to open. It hits an arc in front of you, so the class wants enemies on one side and open ground on the other. Orbiting the edge of a blob is the whole technique. Standing in the middle of one deletes the health pool in about four seconds.

For players who already know the Elwynn clock and want to stand their ground instead of kiting. Build direction: health and damage reduction early, because the class has no answer to a surround except killing faster.

Mage

215 health, and Fireball to open. A single loud hit, and the kit turns it into the highest area damage on the roster once the cards arrive. Until they arrive, every second you stand still is a second the swarm closes.

For players who keep their distance by habit. A Mage that gets surrounded has no answer except killing faster. Build direction: area coverage first, cast speed second, and one defensive card before minute twelve if the pack is already touching you.

Druid

205 health, and Wrath to open. A steady ranged hit, and the kit carries self-healing, which turns a bad minute into a survivable one. The trade is speed: packs die slower than they do for a Mage, and the last boss notices.

For players practising sustain, or a second run after a comfortable first clear. Build direction: keep the heal relevant, then add area damage so the clear does not fall behind the clock.

Shaman

195 health, and Lightning Bolt to open. It chains, and totems keep working without an input from you. That is damage arriving from places you are not standing, which suits a class that has to keep moving.

For players who like indirect damage and do not mind managing totems while they kite. Build direction: totem uptime first, then chain damage. Treat the movement spell as part of the rotation rather than a panic button.

Rogue

190 health, and Sinister Strike to open. Fast and close, and the kit is built around quick single-target hits. Only Priest and Warlock start with less health, so a surround ends the run instead of costing you a card.

A second-run class. Knowing when packs spawn matters more here than on anything above it. Build direction: mobility and single-target damage, with one coverage card so a split wave does not finish you.

Priest

170 health, and Smite to open. A ranged hit backed by shields and heals. The kit works. The problem is that every heal is time spent not moving, and a pool this small does not forgive two mistakes in a row.

For players who want to practise cooldown discipline under pressure. Build direction: shields first, then area damage, and hold one heal for the boss timer rather than spending it on trash.

Warlock

165 health, and Shadow Bolt to open. It starts a damage-over-time stack that needs its target to live long enough to pay out. The pool is the smallest in the game and the ceiling is the highest, which is the whole trade in one sentence.

For a third or fourth run, when you know what kills you and can afford to set up before the pack arrives. Build direction: dots first, then whatever keeps you alive while they tick.

The three tiers

S is the three classes whose damage ceiling reaches 5: Hunter, Mage and Warlock. Two of them are also gentle starts. Mage is not, and Warlock starts on the smallest pool in the game. The letter describes how far the damage goes, not how kind the first ten minutes are.

A is the sturdy middle: Paladin, Warrior and Shaman. Paladin and Warrior both score ease 5 on the strength of their health pools, and neither reaches the ceiling of the classes above them. Shaman sits between the two on ease and matches Warrior on ceiling.

B is the rest of the roster: Druid, Rogue and Priest. That is not a warning. Druid is one of the more comfortable classes to play and simply clears slower. Rogue and Priest ask for cleaner movement than the classes above them.

Which class to pick first

This page lists the roster, so it does not name a pick. The first-run answer, with the reasoning behind it, is on azeroth survivors best class. The two scores behind the tier letters are on azeroth survivors tier list.

One shortcut that is not a ranking: the classes at the top of the health column forgive a mistake. Start there if this is your first hour with the game.

Zone unlocks per class

Twelve zones, opened one at a time, per class. The boss on the right ends that zone and opens the next gate for the class you are playing. Naxxramas is the end of the chain.

Only Elwynn Forest is open on a new save, and its clock ends with Edwin VanCleef at 16:00. Boss times for every zone are on the azeroth survivors guide. Co-op parties follow the same rule, which is why a lobby can turn away a hero who has not unlocked the host's zone: see azeroth survivors co-op.