WotLK Classic Raid Composition Guide for 25 Man Raids

By Passionate Last Updated: 2023/01/11 Changelog Patch: 3.4.3

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Wowhead's Raid Composition ToolClass Buffs and Benefits in WotLK RaidsWarrior

and are raid-wide buffs available to all Warriors, lasting 2-minutes and giving everyone within 30-yards a bonus to Attack Power and Health respectively. These are both buffed by the talent from the Fury tree.
is shared with and they both give the same amount of Attack Power.
is shared with , giving drastically more health and not requiring a specific Warlock pet to get.

reduces the targets armor by 4%, stacking up to 5 times for a total of 20% and is available to all Warriors, but generally both Arms and Fury Warriors will want to avoid spending Rage and global cooldowns casting . The armor reduction debuff is also provided by both Rogues and Beast Mastery Hunters with Worm's. While Worm's are generally not something you'll see in raids, Rogues are. Even so, this debuff is best applied by Warriors no matter what spec, losing less than a Rogue would and multiple Warriors can contribute to reaching 5 stacks faster.

reduces the Melee Attack Power of all enemies within 10-yards for 30 seconds, shared with from Feral Druids, Vindication from Paladins and from Warlocks. When talented, all of these spells reduce Melee Attack Power by the same amount, but requires one cast per enemy and Vindication can only hit a maximum of 4 targets at once, and will be the best way to apply this to very large packs of enemies.

is one of the main attacks used by Protection Warriors and applies a stack of with each hit, easily and passively applying the 5 stacks you need for the maximum effect.

together with reduces enemies attack speed by 20%, shared with and , and . is already a base part of a Protection Warriors rotation, as well as being an instant area-of-effect version, making it easily the best way to apply this debuff.

increases all physical damage a target takes and is applied passively by Arms Warriors as long as or is active, which they should always be. Unfortunately, this is shared with Combat Rogues , having the same effect as well as being applied equally passively.

increases the Bleed damage a target takes and is also applied passively everytime an Arms Warrior crits. This debuff lasts for 1-minute meaning after the first application it will always be reapplied before it falls off again. This debuff is also applied by Feral Druids as a part of their basic rotation, with and both applying the same effect.

passively increases the ranged and melee critical hit chance of everyone within 100-yards of the Fury Warrior. This is only shared with from Feral Druids. Both buffs are provided passively, with neither being better than the other. Unfortunately for Warriors most Raids will likely bring at least one Feral Druid, so this is unlikely to be needed.

Paladin

, , and are provided by any Paladin, giving a 30-minute buff to all players of the targeted class. These are very useful in that if you are limited on how many Paladins your raid has, you can pick and choose what buff to give each class based on their needs and wants.

an Attack Power buff shared with Warriors and when untalented or combined with their respective talents, and , they give the same amount of Attack Power.

is a Mana Regeneration buff shared with Shamans and when untalented or combined with their respective talents, and , they give the same amount of Mana Per 5.

increases all primary stats by 10% and is a buff unique to Paladins. This is a fantastic buff and incredibly useful for every class and spec.

, , , , and are Auras provided by any Paladin, giving mostly unique but situational buffs passively to raid members within 40-yards of the caster.

is a raid-wide Armor buff, not shared with any classes. Retribution/Protection Paladins will generally keep this active as their first choice of Aura. Protection Paladins can also spec into , increasing the Armor provided as well as giving a bonus to healing received, shared with from Restoration Druids

deals damage to anyone attacking a buffed player, similar to but stacking with each other. This will generally be the second choice Aura for Retribution Paladins.

reduces the pushback when taking damage while casting. This stacks with pushback protection talents like and and Holy Paladins can grab to further improve this effect, as well as reducing the duration of silences and interrupts for their party.

, , are all very niche, situational Auras that will see very little use in Wrath of the Lich King Classic. Some boss fights, like Sapphiron make it worth using a Resistance Aura, but these fights are few and far between. and do not stack with the Shaman totems and respectively.

and Judgment are debuffs unique to Paladins, restoring either Mana or Health to players attacking the debuffed target. These effects stack with all other Mana or Health restoring effects and because of this are incredibly valuable in any raid. is especially needed by many classes in the game to sustain their Mana on longer fights.

makes a raid member temporarily immune to Physical damage, giving them a get out of jail free card for a lot of bad situations.

/ is a talented buff, reducing damage taken by 3%, increasing Strength and Stamina by 10%, and restoring Mana whenever the target blocks, parries or dodges a melee attack. The damage reduction doesn't stack with or , while the Strength and Stamina increases don't stack with . This is primarily a buff for Protection Paladins to keep their Mana high while tanking.

reduces enemies attack speed by 20% when hit by a Judgement spell. This is passively applied by Protection Paladins on a single target just by doing their rotation, but is very difficult to maintain on multiple targets. This is shared with with , with , and . is already a base part of a Protection Warriors rotation, as well as being an instant area-of-effect version, making it easily the best way to apply this debuff to multiple targets.

and allow a Paladin to redirect 30% of the raids damage to themselves and reduces the damage taken by the raid by 20% for 6 seconds. This is one of the best raid-wide defensive cooldowns in WotLK and can be a life saver.

increases the damage caused by anyone affected by a Retribution Paladins Auras. This buff is shared with from Beast Mastery Hunters and from Arcane Mages. Beast Mastery Hunters are very rare in WotLK raiding, and Mages may want to stop playing Arcane in later Phases, making one of the best ways to apply this buff.

increases the Haste of anyone affected by a Retribution Paladins Auras. This buff is shared with from Balance Druids, with neither being better or easier than the other.

increases the raids critical chance against targets hit by a Retribution Paladins Judgement spells. This buff is shared with Assassination Rogues and Elemental Shamans . Retribution Paladins are one of the worst classes to apply this buff, as can easily be on multiple targets at once using Fan of Knives, and is a raid-buff instead of a target debuff.

Vindication reduces the Melee Attack Power of all enemies hit by a Retribution Paladins damaging attacks. This does not include spells like , limiting its AoE potential to 4-targets using Divine Storm. This debuff is shared with from Feral Druids, from Warriors and from Warlocks. When talented, all of these spells reduce Melee Attack Power by the same amount, but requires one cast per enemy and Vindication can only hit a maximum of 4 targets at once, and will be the best way to apply this to very large packs of enemies.

applies the highly coveted Replenishment to 10 raid-members whenever a Retribution Paladin uses a Judgement spell. This is shared with from Survival Hunters, from Frost Mages, from Shadow Priests, and from Destruction Warlocks. Even though Replenishment doesn't stack on the same target, you want multiple classes that can apply this to make sure it has the highest uptime you can get on as many players as possible, and Retribution Paladins are one of the better classes to apply this.

Hunter

reduces an enemies chance to hit with melee and ranged attacks. This debuff is shared with from Balance Druids. Generally this debuff is rarely needed in raids, but Balance Druids will generally be applying it with their rotation by default anyway, so will rarely ever be used.

Misdirection allows a Hunter to redirect their threat to a target for 4 seconds. This can be used to pull a target from far away and have it run directly to a tank, or to give a tank a much needed threat increase on pull. This is incredibly useful and has a lot of odd niches.

is an Armor reduction debuff applied by a Wasp pet. This debuff is shared with from Warlocks and from Druids. will generally be kept up by a Balance Druid for , meaning it is very rarely useful to bring a Wasp instead of any other pet.

applies the highly coveted Replenishment to 10 raid-members whenever a Survival Hunter crits with , , or . This is shared with from Retribution Paladins, from Frost Mages, from Shadow Priests, and from Destruction Warlocks. Even though Replenishment doesn't stack on the same target, you want multiple classes that can apply this to make sure it has the highest uptime you can get on as many players as possible, and Survival Hunters are one of the better classes to apply this.

increases the Attack Power of all raid members within 100-yards. This is shared with from Blood Death Knights and from Enhancement Shamans, with all three being effectively identical.

increases the damage caused by everyone in the raid. This buff is shared with from Retribution Paladins and from Arcane Mages. Beast Mastery Hunters are very rare in WotLK raiding, making the other two versions the more common ones.

is an armor reduction debuff, applied by Worm pets and is shared with and . If you are already bringing a Beast Mastery Hunter this debuff is worth bringing a Worm, otherwise it is covered easily by the other two classes.

is a debuff, increasing Bleed damage taken by the target for 12-seconds, applied by Clefthoof pets. This is strictly a worse version of , , and , that will always be applied to the target if your raid uses Bleeds.

RogueTricks of the TradeMisdirection

Tricks of the Trade works similarly to Misdirection, allowing a Rogue to redirect threat to a target for 6 seconds, but with one key difference. Tricks of the Trade increases the damage the target deals by 15% for the duration, giving a significant damage boost to a single target. Because of this one difference, this is most often used as a DPS increase for the raid, instead of a threat increase for the tank.

Mystic Touch reduces the targets armor by 20%, lasting longer for each combo point used. This debuff is shared with from Warriors and Beast Mastery Hunters with Worm pets. While Worm's are generally not something you'll see in raids, Warriors are. This debuff is best applied by Warriors no matter what spec, losing less than a Rogue would and multiple Warriors can contribute to reaching 5 stacks faster.

increases all physical damage a target takes and is applied to all poisoned targets. This debuff is shared with from Arms Warriors, having the same effect as well as being applied equally passively.

increases the raids critical chance against targets poisoned by an Assassination Rogue. This debuff is shared with from Retribution Paladins and from Elemental Shamans. Assassination Rogues are one of the best classes to apply this buff, easily able to debuff multiple targets at once using Fan of Knives. is a raid-wide buff instead of a debuff, ultimately making it the best of the three if you do bring an Elemental Shaman.

Priest

and are unique to Priests and increase the Stamina of the raid. This is a fantastic buff that all raids will want to have around if possible.

increases the Spirit of all raid members. This buff is shared with from Affliction Warlocks, but providing more Spirit.

increases the Shadow resistance of all raid members. This buff is shared with from Paladins, but because they can only have one Aura active at a time, this is generally the superior version.

Symbol of Hope and Divine Hymn are channeled raid-wide spells. These spells hit 3 players every 2 seconds for 8 seconds, prioritizing the players with the lowest Mana or Health respectively. These are unique to Priests and can be incredibly valuable for raids.

Power Infusion increases the cast speed and reduces the mana cost of a single players spells for 15 seconds. This is a big offensive cooldown unique to Priests that will drastically boost a players burst window. This doesn't stack with all buffs, for example Icy Veins, limiting the potential targets.

reduces the damage taken by all raid members. This is applied to everyone when the Discipline Priest casts and lasts for 1 minute, giving it effectively 100% uptime. The damage reduction is shared with from Protection Warriors and from Protection Paladins.

restores mana, rage, energy or runic power to targets that take enough damage to break . This is a unique buff, similar to from Restoration Druids, but they both work together.

reduces the physical damage taken by targets that are critically healed by Priests with this talent. This buff is shared with from Restoration Shamans, and both are passively applied by simply healing.

is applied passively with the normal Shadow Priest Rotation, increasing the raids chance to hit with spells by 3%. This debuff is shared with from Balance Druids, but because it is applied passively instead of taking a global cooldown it is the preferable way to apply this debuff.

applies the highly coveted Replenishment to 10 raid-members whenever a target with is hit by . This is shared with from Retribution Paladins, from Frost Mages, from Survival Hunters, and from Destruction Warlocks. Even though Replenishment doesn't stack on the same target, you want multiple classes that can apply this to make sure it has the highest uptime you can get on as many players as possible, and Shadow Priests are one of the better classes to apply this.

Death KnightBlood Boil

increases the raids Strength and Agility for 2 minutes. This is shared with from Shamans. Death Knights will always want to cast this, even if they have , because also gives them runic power.

increases the Attack Power of all raid members within 100-yards. This is shared with from Marksmanship Hunters and from Enhancement Shamans, with all three being effectively identical.

buffs a single player, increasing their physical damage dealt by 20% but drains their health every second. This is unique to Blood Death Knights and can be a very strong raid DPS boost during burst phases.

reduces enemies attack speed by 20% when they are affected by . This is shared with with , , and . is already a base part of a Protection Warriors rotation, as well as being an instant area-of-effect version, making it easily the best way to apply this debuff to multiple targets, but combined with Blood Boil, this debuff can easily be spread to a lot of targets.

increases the melee haste of raid members by 20%. This buff is only shared with Windfury Totem with from Enhancement Shamans, but is provided fully passively, making it the better option.

together with reduces enemies attack speed by 20%. This debuff is shared with with , and . is already a base part of a Protection Warriors rotation, as well as being an instant area-of-effect version, making it easily the best way to apply this debuff, but combined with Blood Boil, this debuff can easily be spread to a lot of targets.

increases a targets magic damage taken by 13% as long as they are affected by or . This debuff is shared with from Balance Druids and from Warlocks. When combined with Blood Boil this becomes the only area-of-effect application of this debuff and easily the most valuable version because of it.

ShamanchooseBloodlustHeroism

Bloodlust/Heroism increases the raids Haste by 30% for 40 seconds. This is why Shamans have a permanent spot in every single raid group. This buff is unique to Shamans in WoTLK and is the single biggest raid DPS increase available. While you only need one Shaman to blanket the entire raid with this, having two Shamans, casting this sequentially can contribute to getting temporary pets like Shadowfiend buffed with Bloodlust as well as the pets owner.

increases the raids Strength and Agility while placed. This is shared with from Death Knights.

increases the raids Armor while placed. This is a unique buff to Shamans and is typically placed when you bring two.

Tremor Totem is a party-wide Totem, breaking Fear, Charm, and Sleep on all party members every 3 seconds. This is a very unique strength for Shamans, allowing them to passively break certain CC even while affected by it. Using this in a Healer or Tank party can be a life saver for raids.

increases the Spell Power of all raid members. This buff is shared with from Demonology Warlocks and from Elemental. is the weakest of the three Spell Power buffs, but does not require any specific talent spec and can be placed by any Shaman.

is a Mana Regeneration buff shared with Paladins and when untalented or combined with their respective talents, , and they give the same amount of Mana Per 5.

is a Health regeneration buff unique to Shamans. While the actual Health restored is often negligible, this can be used if there are multiple Shamans in the same raid.

is a party-wide Disease and Poison cleanse, removing one of each from every party member within range every 3 seconds. This can be used alongside other dispels and is a fantastic way to passively cure Disease and Poison debuffs, both of which are fairly common in WotLK raiding.

is a raid-wide 5% Spell Haste boost that is exclusive to Shamans. This buff will always be sought after by any raid, adding to the usefulness of the class.

is a party-wide Totem that will absorb the next single target harmful spell cast at a party member. This may have rare niche uses in WotLK and can be used to protect a tank if they share a party.

, , and are all very niche, situational Totems that will see very little use in Wrath of the Lich King Classic. Some boss fights, like Sapphiron can make it worth using a Resistance Totem, but these fights are few and far between. It is also important to keep in mind that you will lose one of your four Totems in order to place a Resistance Totem, potentially costing your raid a more important support buff. and do not stack with the Paladin Auras and respectively.

increases the Attack Power of all raid members within 100-yards. This is shared with from Marksmanship Hunters and from Blood Death Knights, with all three being effectively identical.

Windfury Totem together with increase the melee haste of raid members by 20%. This buff is only shared with from Frost Death Knights. provides this buff to everyone within range passively, without requiring a Totem to be placed, making it the better of the two.

increases the raids critical strike chance by 3% against enemies and increasing the Spell Power of all raid members within 40-yards of the Totem. The critical chance is shared with Assassination Rogues and Retribution Paladins , while the Spell Power is shared with from Demonology Warlocks and . The Spell Power bonus from is significantly stronger than and for a large portion of early WotLK raiding will be stronger than . All of this together makes this one of the best ways to apply these buffs, but unfortunately Elemental Shamans may be one of the rarer specs in WotLK raids.

gives all raid members within 100-yards 5% spell critical chance. This buff is shared with Moonkin Form from Balance Druids. You generally always want to bring a Balance Druid, so they will be the best source of this buff.

reduces the physical damage taken by targets that are critically healed by Restoration Shamans. This buff is shared with from Priests, and both are passively applied by simply healing.

Mage

increases the Intellect of all raid members. This buff is shared with from Affliction Warlocks, but providing more Intellect.

increases a single targets chance to critically hit with spells by 3% and buffs the casting mage whenever they do crit. This is unique to Mages and is a strong buff for a single player.

increases the damage caused by anyone within 100-yards of the Arcane Mage. This buff is shared with from Beast Mastery Hunters and from Retribution Paladins. Beast Mastery Hunters are very rare in WotLK raiding, and Mages may want to stop playing Arcane in later Phases.

debuffs targets hit by , giving everyone attacking them 5% more critical chance with spells against them. This debuff is shared with from Frost Mages and from Warlocks. isn't a key part of Fires rotation, but is vital to Warlocks, making them the best candidate for applying this debuff.

debuffs targets hit by Frost spells, giving everyone attacking them 5% more critical chance with spells against them. This debuff is shared with from Fire Mages and from Warlocks. Frost isn't generally considered a raiding spec, and isn't a key part of Fires rotation, but is vital to Warlocks, making them the best candidate for applying this debuff.

applies the highly coveted Replenishment to 10 raid-members whenever hits. This is shared with from Retribution Paladins, from Shadow Priests, from Survival Hunters, and from Destruction Warlocks. Even though Replenishment doesn't stack on the same target, you want multiple classes that can apply this to make sure it has the highest uptime you can get on as many players as possible, but it isn't worth bringing a Frost Mage for this.

WarlockBloodlustRitual of Summoning

gives Health to the raid as long as the Warlock is using Summon Imp. This buff is shared with , which gives drastically more health and does not require a specific pet.

increases a targets magic damage taken by 13%. This debuff is shared with from Balance Druids and from Unholy Death Knights. This is generally the worst option of the three, requiring a global cooldown and restricting the Warlock from using any other curses.

reduces the Melee Attack Power of a single target. This debuff is shared with from Feral Druids, from Warriors and Vindication from Paladins. When talented, all of these spells reduce Melee Attack Power by the same amount, but requires one cast per enemy and Vindication can only hit a maximum of 4 targets at once, and will be the best way to apply this to very large packs of enemies.

debuffs targets hit by , giving everyone attacking them 5% more critical chance with spells against them. This debuff is shared with from Frost Mages and from Fire Mages. isn't a key part of Fires rotation, but is vital to Warlocks, making them the best candidate for applying this debuff. Worth noting is that Destruction Warlocks may opt to skip this talent in favor of other more valuable talents.

is unique to Warlocks and allows them to place a 15 minute long buff on a raid member, reviving them once if they die during that time. This is easily forgotten but incredibly valuable for a raid.

creates a Soulwell, giving every player that interacts with it a Fel Healthstone. These share cooldowns with a few items, but not with Potions, making them an incredibly valuable tool to have in your pocket whenever you need an emergency heal.

Ritual of Summoning allows the Warlock to create a Summoning Stone anywhere, including inside of raids. While this generally isn't useful once the raid has gotten going, it is very useful leading up to that point, saving massive amounts of time getting everyone in position.

increases the Spell Power of all raid members every time the Demonology Warlocks pet crits. The Spell Power from this buff is equal to 10% of the Demonology Warlocks at the time, meaning it scales with gear. This buff is shared with and from Shamans, but because this abilities boost is based on the Warlocks Spell Power, it will gain a boost from either totem on its initial proc. This is initially worse than both totems, surpassing around 1500 Spell Power, and at around 2800 Spell Power.

applies the highly coveted Replenishment to 10 raid-members whenever procs. This is shared with from Retribution Paladins, from Shadow Priests, from Survival Hunters, and from Frost Mages. Even though Replenishment doesn't stack on the same target, you want multiple classes that can apply this to make sure it has the highest uptime you can get on as many players as possible.

increases the Intellect and Spirit of all raid members as long as the Warlock is using Summon Felhunter. The Intellect portion of this buff is shared with from Mages and the Spirit portion is shared with from Priests. provides less of both stats, but Affliction Warlocks will generally be using Summon Felhunter anyway.

DruidInnervate

increases the Stats, Armor, and Resistances of all raid members. This buff is unique to Druids and can be improved with .

Innervate buffs a single player, regenerating a massive amount of mana over 10 seconds. This can be an incredible tool for longer fights and for keeping Healers going.

is a resurrection spell that can be used in combat, on a long cooldown. This is unique to Druids and can be a much needed get out of jail free card if things get bad.

passively increases the ranged and melee critical hit chance of everyone within 100-yards of the Feral Druid. This is only shared with from Fury Warriors. Both buffs are provided passively, with neither being better than the other. Unfortunately for Warriors most Raids will likely bring at least one Feral Druid.

passively heals raid members for 4% of their health whenever they critically hit with a melee or ranged attack. This is unique to Feral Druids and stacks with Judgment.

and increase the Bleed damage a target takes for 1 minute. This debuff is also passively applied by from Arms Warrior as a part of their basic rotation.

reduces the Melee Attack Power of all enemies within 10-yards. This debuff is shared with Vindication from Retribution Paladins, from Warriors and from Warlocks. When talented, all of these spells reduce Melee Attack Power by the same amount, but requires one cast per enemy and Vindication can only hit a maximum of 4 targets at once, and will be the best way to apply this to very large packs of enemies.

reduces enemies attack speed by 20% when hit by , , and . This is shared with with , with , and . is already a base part of a Protection Warriors rotation, as well as being an instant area-of-effect version, making it easily the best way to apply this debuff to multiple targets.

Moonkin Form gives all raid members within 100-yards 5% spell critical chance. This buff is shared with from Elemental Shamans. Because you generally want to bring a Balance Druid, this will be the best source of this buff.

increases the Haste of raid members within 100-yards. This buff is shared with from Retribution Paladins, with neither being better or easier than the other.

is applied alongside , increasing the raids chance to hit the target with spells by 3%. This debuff is shared with from Shadow Priests, but because is applied passively instead of taking a global cooldown it is the preferable way to apply this debuff.

reduces an enemies chance to hit with melee and ranged attacks. This debuff is shared with from Hunters. Balance Druids apply this as a part of their rotation, as such it is the better of the two.

increases a targets magic damage taken by 13%. This debuff is shared with from Warlocks and from Unholy Death Knights. This is applied passively, and you will typically want to bring a Balance Druid anyway, so this is a great buff to have, even if it isn't applied to multiple targets at once.

is a raid-wide buff, increasing the healing received by everyone within 100-yards. This buff is only shared with Paladins specced into .

gives your and ticks a chance to restore energy, rage, mana or runic power each tick. This is a unique buff, similar to from Discipline Priests, but they both work together.

Optimal Raid Compositions Groups for WotLKRaid Composition ToolReplenishmentMisdirectionMoonkin FormView this in our Raid Composition tool here!needTricks of the TradeTricks of the TradeReplenishmentVampiric EmbraceReplenishmentPatchwerkView this in our Raid Composition tool here!ReplenishmentView this in our Raid Composition tool here!

Comments

Comment by ShiZZe

Destruction warlocks do not spec into Improved shadow bolts. Only Affliction and Demonology do

Comment by ShiZZe

Shouldn't "Hunter's mark" be included for hunters?

Comment by legoman60

Devotion Aura and Stoneskin Totem are the same armor buff; neither is unique to their respective class.

Also, there are a number of instances where the 'better' source of a buff/debuff isn't necessarily going to provide it. For example, Balance Druids provide a chance to miss debuff via Insect Swarm that is the 'better' source, but that effect is removed by the glyph that is used by all PVE specs in wowhead's talent build guide. So a raid leader probably shouldn't expect a Balance Druid to provide that debuff unless it is discussed before the raid.

WotLK Classic Raid Composition Guide for 25 Man Raids

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