Ask WoW Insider: Is there a class/spec truly viable for both PvP and PvE?
by Barb Dybwad 
Nov 2nd 2007 at 4:20PM
Welcome everyone to this week's edition of Ask WoW Insider, where we throw your questions out to the wisdom of crowds. Last week we looked at how to approach PuGs when everyone can see your spec in one click, and this week we have another talent-related question. David wants to know if there are any truly great builds that are highly viable in both PvP and PvE: I'm on my second re-roll and finally have my character to 70, fairly well geared and have found myself in the exact same position as before... My PvE 5-man spec is entirely unsuitable for raids, or PVP, my raid spec is unsuitable for soloing or PvP, and my PvP spec is useless outside of BGs and Arenas! I was previously a Warrior, who needs to be Prot for tanking but Arms/Fury for Arena and I at least only had to bounce between two specs. Now I'm a Mage, and I have to consider bouncing between THREE specs to be what everyone expects me to be if I expect to be competitve!You heard the man -- what's your answer? How do you find a balance between PvP and PvE-oriented specs, and how do you maximize your ability to enjoy all the types of content you want to enjoy without spending a fortune respeccing every 5 minutes?
I know the common answer is "suck it up and pay to respec whenever you want to do whatever you want to do" because dailies give out so much free money, but this doesn't work for my mage with however many hundreds of gold and hours of work put into getting my Frozen Shadoweave set. The problem is, I rolled a mage for the exclusive purpose of not HAVING to fill two roles with one character and not having to respec every time I wanted to branch out and experience multiple aspects of the game.
So, my question is this: Is there any class+spec out there, that is equally effective and in demand for 5-man instances, raids, solo play and PvP?
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Filed under: PvP, Raiding, Ask WoW Insider, Classes, Talents
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Bart Nov 2nd 2007 4:23PM
Thank the heavens your not a druid.
Paperclip1 Nov 2nd 2007 4:28PM
Rogues can pull it off fairly easily with combat swords, fist/sword, fists or even in 2.3, maces (with the new 5% crit bonus from mace spec).
James Nov 2nd 2007 4:30PM
It would have to be lock or shadow priest...
stahl Nov 4th 2007 1:52AM
I have luck as an elemental shaman. I've also put a lot of work in my gear.
lilnekorb Nov 2nd 2007 4:31PM
I have a 70 mage... why don't you try a hybrid spec... great for raiding and for pvp... something around 33/28/0. you get the power of fire...and the pvp strenth of POM and AP. you may be a little squisher than frost but you make up for it in burst power... i do very well in both raid and pvp(bg and arena)
therationalpi Nov 2nd 2007 4:31PM
I would say that Affliction locks fall in the category of all-around spec/class. They bring the hurt in raids, and the can top the damage meters in long fights. In five mans, they still bring a lot of pain. In arena PvP, they can slap DoTs on everything that moves, still have fear, and the felhunter is amazing for utility. Plus, nothing screws with a healer quite like unstable affliction flying around. In battlegrounds, they can siphon life off everyone, and drain life for some great results.
I think this is for one simple reason. No matter where you put a warlock, you want them to be doing big, consistent, ongoing damage. Affliction does all those things with class.
Rich Nov 2nd 2007 4:34PM
At the end of the day, some talents are only good in PVP and some are only good in raids. If you want to excel at one you can't waste any talents points on talents that are only good for the other. I play an Arms Warrior, and I still don't consider myself PVP specced because I don't have Second Wind, Improved Intercept, or Tactical Mastery. In 2.3, I might find myself respeccing between different Arms specs every week while until I get an 1850 rating.
Freehugz Nov 2nd 2007 4:34PM
PvP, Raids/Instances, Soloing
Most specs will be viable for 2 out of the 3. So just respec every couple of weeks and focus on 2 of them. Then respec for the other after a while.
Razhlok Nov 2nd 2007 4:37PM
41/20/0 BM hunter is viable in all aspects of the game. Now BM is not the optimal spec for arena PvP, but, it's still viable.
ILYAS Nov 2nd 2007 4:38PM
Affliction Warlock
They only start having problems in BT with too much caster item budget spent on useless for them stats: spell crit and spell haste.
Memzer Nov 2nd 2007 4:45PM
The Affliction Warlock, Shadow Priest, and Holy Paladin - to a point. At high level PvP/PvE all of the above are going to want to spec for their respective jobs.
Girr Nov 2nd 2007 4:48PM
Actually my main is a feral druid and with the right gear you can be very effective and in demand for tanking/dps in both raids and 5-mans. BG's are very fun as a feral druid, arenas are where it's the toughest. I'd prefer to be resto in an arena because there is a greater demand and success comes easier, imo. But you can still do well in arenas as a feral you just have to be good player and have decent gear.
Solo play as a feral is cool because you can do just about anything with the ability to stealth and heal yourself.
In fact I could see resto druids being very in demand for just about anything...if you enjoy healing, hehe. The only problem there might be solo play if dont have great feral/moonkin gear to pump up your dps.
Kyrr of Uther Nov 2nd 2007 4:47PM
I currently have a Demo Lock (7/43/11) that does pretty well in PVP, Arena, Soling, & so-so in Raids. Demo is definitely the course to take to be Arena viable, & I do fine there. As far as soloing, the Felguard comes in most handy even though he is pretty much worthless in raids. I do miss the 6.6k SB crits being Destruction, but the over all utility of the spec I am currently more then makes up for massive damage output. I also switch out a few key pieces of gear depending on what I am doing. After having a 70 druid, I am used to carrying around all sorts of extra stuff to swap out for sure!
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-talents.xml?r=Uther&n=Kyrr
Chip Nov 2nd 2007 4:49PM
#4 has is dead on. Affliction warlocks (or SM/Ruin in my case) are really the jack of all trades. I can solo / grind all day without having to eat or drink, I'm always at the top of the meters in 5-mans and Kara, and though I don't do BGs often, I certainly hold my own when I do. I've had my current build for several months and I couldn't imagine playing any other way. I may go back to demonology to level when WotLK hits, but you can be sure I'll switch to full-time affliction/ruin when I hit 80.
Nails Nov 2nd 2007 4:49PM
combat rogues
seamus Nov 2nd 2007 4:52PM
61 point resto Shamans
Sonvar Nov 2nd 2007 4:54PM
With the exception of deep arcane I would think any deep fire or deep ice would be well for both pvp, raids, and pve. I'm not a mage so I don't honestly know for sure. Being a 41/20 BM hunter seems well for me for anything I do be it pve, or pvp. Really the only thing its missing is being able to do scatter shot but with intimidation I don't have much problem.
Jacob Parsons Nov 2nd 2007 7:30PM
Holy Paladin. The only things you might ever change are the various improved buff talents, but a nice 41/13/7 build can do just fine for all things healadin.
Alch Nov 2nd 2007 5:00PM
Affection lock will get you pretty far until you get into higher ranked arenas. You have to go hybrid demon/affect just to live long enough to get some spells off.
It was the whole reason I quit playing my warrior. I could tank up till level 65 or so as an arms warrior just fine without the respec.
Physical Original Nov 2nd 2007 5:02PM
There's probably a PvP centric build, but the balls-out shadow priest seems like it lives and breaths shadowy death in any situation (while doing massive amount of health and mana regen for your party).