Breakfast Topic: Best class to solo with?
by Mike Schramm 
Feb 22nd 2007 at 8:49AM
Though I can't find the link, I'm almost sure we've covered this before, but not with the changes after the expansion.Reader Will dropped a tip (thanks!) saying he has almost reached 70 with his Hunter, and really enjoyed playing his way up because Hunters are so good at soloing. I have to agree-- I haven't played anything as relaxing to solo as a Hunter, just send the pet, throw autoshot on, toss in a few arcane shots or stings for good measure, loot and repeat.
His guildies say if he rolls a new alt, it should be a Rogue. Personally, I think Warlocks are a great class to be a solo artist with, but Druids certainly have been making headway lately. Will also wonders about builds-- I've had a great time soloing with my shadow Priest, but I've heard holy priests are a pain to solo (my resto Shaman has certainly been more annoying than a few other alts I've had).
Because Blizzard has done so much to make almost every class viable solo, I'm sure everyone's got an opinion. Share yours and help Will out here.
Filed under: Hunter, Rogue, Tips, Breakfast Topics, Leveling
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Dave Feb 22nd 2007 8:56AM
I quite enjoy soloing with my pally. In fact, I almost always solo when I play, seeing as I have almost zero time to play anymore.
All of you pally haters can think what you will.
atr Feb 22nd 2007 9:03AM
I've largely solo'd my way to 70 as a holy priest (in fact I only put points in shadow at 68 when I went for spirit tap to reduce downtime), and it's not really that hard if you play it well and don't try to tackle too much at once. It's never going to be as easy as a shadow priest but I've not exactly gone round falling over dead every time a mob has come at me.
Not to say there haven't been a couple of frustrations, but I bet I'd have had a few of those as shadow too. In short, sub-optimal certainly, but calling it a pain would be going too far I think.
Dr. Doak Feb 22nd 2007 9:01AM
Druid. Feral, specifically.
Constant kills, no downtime, self heals and multiple options as far as cat for single target or bear for extra defense.
Dan Bradley Feb 22nd 2007 9:01AM
Hunter is probably the most efficient solo class, though kind of boring to me. Aspect of the Cheetah speeds travel time up early on. Feign Death ups your survival rate. Your pet helps you easily take on multiple mobs at once.
Rogues are also very good to solo. Stealth can help you out a lot, avoiding some tricky parts. With Improved Sap there are times where you can bop a couple people on the head, grab what you need, and be done with the quest quickly. And there is essentially no downtime with a Rogue.
A demonology Warlock is a very good solo class at high levels, but I find the class a little tough at the mid-levels. From 50 on with a Felguard you are in great shape.
Druids are a great solo class, efficient but also fun. You can heal and cure yourself, in Feral form you are constantly regenerating mana. You can stealth, you can handle multiple mobs, you can kite, you can root and run away.
If I needed to level as quickly as possible, I'd go with a Hunter. But if I wanted to level very quickly while also having a lot of fun and ending up with a class that was interesting to raid with, I'd go with a Druid.
I would stay far, far away from Warrior, Priest and Mage.
felunost Feb 22nd 2007 9:07AM
I agree that hunters are a very good class to solo with, mages also make good soloers with there aoe and CC - I also agree that shammy are not super at soloing.
never played pally but can see them being good at solo =D
Matt Feb 22nd 2007 9:09AM
I have a 67 hunter and 51 Shammy, and out of the two, the hunter wins hands down for solo grinding. The shammy, while wonderful in PVP (IMO), is way too mana intensive for solo grinding/farming. Just my thoughts.
daniel Feb 22nd 2007 9:14AM
I'm enjoying soloing my new blood elf shadowpriest, it has plenty of crowd control to make soloing most item quests without having to find a group, has so much power that I can solo elites my own level. I even got a macro last night that casts VT, SW:P, VE, Mind Flay, Mind Blast and then more flays so I can click this one action button repeatedly, run away while casting the instants and get away with very little interaction, might seem boring but gets the job done.
acariquara Feb 22nd 2007 9:16AM
In Outlands, an Undead Demo Lock is really easy to solo without ever needing to bandage (Cannibalize/Lifetap FTW) and with the right Felguard build you can solo even the elite quests.
Some Nagrand hunting elite quests are even easier - enslave some elite demon @ a forge camp, send it to kill named elite, banish when enslave breaks, run for your life.
I agree that mid-30's, a lock's life is hell btw.
Sylythn Feb 22nd 2007 9:38AM
I've had great success soloing with my Blood Elf Pally - their racials give you that little edge over casters that used to be the bane of a pally's exisitence.
Tigraine Feb 22nd 2007 9:20AM
Having played both Hunter, Warlock, Druid and Rogue I really can say that the hunter is the best option for Soloing.
It gets a bit too mindless on a Hunter (Pet -> Autoshot -> Loot) but you have absolutely no downtime due to the fact that you can DPS without mana and your pet does anything for you.
The Warlock still has the disadvantage that he is mana dependand. There is no possible way to keep up a good killspeed without drinking now and then. Still he is really good when it comes to soloing things others usually can't. You can bring anything down, but you will be drinking every 5-20 mobs depending on spec.
Feral Druid really kicks ass with catform killing and switching for heals to Humanoid. But imo the Druid gets far too mutch damage as a cat compared to a rogue, so although you don't have any "real" downtimes, I still find myself switching out of cat every 3-4 mobs to heal myself. + that 10 seconds you need to wait for your Energy to back up to 100 I think it kinda slows you down.
Combat rogues are fast to level .. but you should carry bandages with you. You can take down almost anything and your survivabilty is pretty high with Vanish und Evasion etc. Still you need that one bandage every 5 mobs.
Imo the most entertaining solo class is either Druid or Warlock. Hunter is just too botlike. I always had that feeling like my brain would slowly fade out of existance while I was killing like 100 mobs without even thinking about a break to regenerate mana/hp.
Heymish Feb 22nd 2007 9:20AM
Rogue FTW! With the exception of the pet classes, there is no better class for soloing, and I have more fun with a rogue than the others. We have a get out of combat button (vanish) which is the most valuble skill for soloing. Bad pull? Use vanish. If I'm on a boss slaying quest, and the boss is in the middle of an outpost surrounded by mobs, I can just ride in, aggro everything on the way to the boss, dismount, and vanish. Poof! All the aggro goes away and I'm stealthed and ready to take down the boss.
Larawen Feb 22nd 2007 9:25AM
I love to solo as a rogue (my main is a 65 rogue). I don't think its the easiest to solo with, but you get quite a few OOPS! buttons like evasion and vanish that other classes don't have. With IMP sap and some good timing, its possible to take on multiple targets. The only down time you have is healing, but bandages take care of that. If I had to choose another class I would have to choose feral druid, I have a 24 feral druid alt, and I have to say that I love it.
chimera Feb 22nd 2007 9:31AM
"I would stay far, far away from Warrior, Priest and Mage."
Let's see... :) I have a 48 warrior, levelled mostly in prot for challenge... THAT sucks! Very slow kills, close to 0 active defenses/escape mechanisms. Respecced to fury but that wasn't so much better. I killed mobs faster, but it was still boring and I had very hard time fleeing when things went wrong, even piercing howl is insufficient, casters can still gank me :)
My mages are 54 and 70, I have huge combined playtime on them. Mages are one of the most effective solo class imho. Fast kills and lots of active defenses. Believe or not, mages are close to immortal when played well. Even my firemage didn't die more than 2-3 times on my way from 60-70. (always be aware of repops, use sheep, counterspell, shields, bandages, nova, blink etc at the right time wisely) Being frost helps even more. Ofc you need some skill, otherwise you will die pretty often and will have huge downtime. Frosties solo higher level melee elites easily. It's amusing that most ppl think mages are 1button class, but it's not true, they require skill to be any good. I remember how badly I sucked on my first mage :D
I have a 68 priest aswell. She levelled in shadow until 56. It was extremely easy (and boring), especially from lvl40 and above. Shadow priests are close to unkillable aswell and they can solo higher level elites most of the time easily. I respecced her to a holy DPS build at lvl64 and soloed 4 levels faster than my firemage did! (bc I already knew the quests and areas already, unlike when I explored things on the mage) I got 80-160K xp/hour on my holy priest solo. (with rested) Yes rly. She's close to undestroyable aswell. Fear+bubble+heal = safety. I find holy dps to be viable and extremely fun to play.
my 2cents
Falgorn Feb 22nd 2007 9:33AM
Warlocks can solo anything that can be feared.
Brus Feb 22nd 2007 9:49AM
I'm currently lvling a BE lock, and loving every kill of it; low downtime, pet tanks, and SS, when I do a noob moment(s).
I've lvled up a hunter, 2 warriors (one arms, one def), and a mage to mid 60s. All were fun, but for pure soloing, I'd say the hunter or mage are the best. Hunter is less hassle, but a fire mage is just plain fun.
cynthias Feb 22nd 2007 9:50AM
I'll second the hunter motion; my hunter's only 46, usually taking on mobs 3-4 levels higher with ease which translates into fast xp.
I levelled a druid to 60 with most points in restoration, since playing a healer in groups was my ultimate goal and I believe in learning your role as you go. It was very sticky solo most of the time, and I shelved the druid at one point and took my rogue through as my main.
Once BC came out and I began grabbing some of the hot feral gear (blues and greens no less), the druid has become a joy to solo with. Still only 7 points in feral, but I get 1600 crits in cat form and can off-tank instances, and I don't spend so much time wisping back to my corpse.
NH2 Feb 22nd 2007 9:56AM
If you're drinking anything as a warlock then you aren't affliction spec. On normal mobs I end each fight with full health a mana.
/whee just a half level to go to hit 70...
Todd Feb 22nd 2007 9:59AM
I like to solo with my mage. Chimera summed up the usefullness of the spells pretty well. I'm a frost mage to boot, so I have added protection at a slight cost of +dmg. However I can make that up with +dmg gear.
Frame Feb 22nd 2007 10:06AM
I really enjoyed soloing on my shadow priest. They have great DPS, excellent survivability and very little down time. Also when not soloing you get the choice of either healing or dpsing in groups, which keeps things nicely varied.
Ephor Feb 22nd 2007 10:08AM
Pally is hands-down the best class to solo with on a PVP sever, simply because you're ungankable (bubblehearth=