Midnight Raid DPS Tier List: Season 2 Venomous Abyss, 12.1.5
Midnight raid DPS tier list for Season 2 (12.1.5): all 27 specs ranked by 733 Mythic kills from Oct 13-29, plus the best DPS for each Venomous Abyss boss.
In this guide 13 sections
This Midnight raid DPS tier list ranks all 27 damage specs for Season 2 on patch 12.1.5. It doesn't copy anyone else's tier letters. Every tier comes from one public data set: the rosters of 733 Mythic raid kills that guilds logged after 12.1.5 went live, pulled from Raider.IO on October 29, 2026. Below the tiers you'll find what Mythic guilds bring to each Venomous Abyss boss, which is where a raid spot is really decided.
Quick summary
- Best raid DPS in Midnight Season 2: Arcane Mage. It fills about 1 in 9 DPS seats in Mythic kills since 12.1.5, more than any other spec, in both samples.
- The other S tier specs are Demonology Warlock and Arms Warrior. They sit 2nd and 3rd in both samples.
- Best ranged DPS: Arcane, then Demonology, Balance and Marksmanship. Best melee DPS: Arms, then Havoc Demon Hunter and Retribution Paladin.
- Some bosses have specialists: Affliction Warlock on The Coiled Altar, Frost Mage on The Twin Fangs, Beast Mastery Hunter on Sszorak, Assassination Rogue on Ula'tek.
- A low tier isn't a ban. Every spec appears in Mythic kills. D tier means few Mythic guilds pick it right now, not that it can't clear the raid.
How this raid DPS tier list is ranked
- Kith'ix share. All 174 Mythic kills of The Unbinding of Kith'ix with public rosters on Raider.IO (October 13 to 29). Mythic Kith'ix opened with 12.1.5, so every kill uses current tuning, and the first killers are the strongest guilds in the world. Five more kills have hidden rosters.
- Venomous Abyss share. 559 first Mythic boss kills in The Venomous Abyss logged October 14 to 29 by 480 guilds. For each boss we took up to 100 kills, starting with the highest-ranked guilds. That's 100 each for Vashnik, Sszorak, The Twin Fangs and Ula'tek, 99 for The Coiled Altar, and the 31, 15 and 14 post-patch kills that exist for Entombed Sentinels, The Lost Explorers and Nek'zali.
- What we count. A spec's share of all DPS seats in that sample. If 100 DPS players were in those kills and 12 were Arcane Mages, Arcane gets 12%. With 27 specs, an even split would be 3.7% each.
- Tier. The average of the spec's rank in the two samples. S is 3 or better, A is up to 8, B is up to 12.5, C is up to 20, and D is above 20.
- Context, not counted. The race column shows the first Mythic kills of all eight bosses by the world's top 50 guilds (400 kills, August 22 to September 27). That predates 12.1.5, so it shows how the meta moved.
Seat share measures what Mythic guilds bring, not raw damage. Guilds stack specs that do well on a fight, but they also bring raid buffs and the players they already have. Augmentation Evoker is a support spec, so its share reflects its buffs more than its own damage. The data comes from Raider.IO's public API, which reads guild rosters from uploaded combat logs.
Midnight raid DPS tier list
| Spec | Tier | Kith'ix share (rank) | Venomous Abyss share (rank) | Average rank | Race share, pre-12.1.5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arcane Mage | S | 12.3% (1st) | 10.7% (1st) | 1 | 11.6% (3rd) |
| Demonology Warlock | S | 8.5% (2nd) | 8.2% (2nd) | 2 | 4.7% (7th) |
| Arms Warrior | S | 8.3% (3rd) | 8.0% (3rd) | 3 | 13.7% (1st) |
| Balance Druid | A | 7.7% (4th) | 7.0% (4th) | 4 | 7.8% (4th) |
| Marksmanship Hunter | A | 7.7% (5th) | 6.4% (5th) | 5 | 11.7% (2nd) |
| Havoc Demon Hunter | A | 6.2% (7th) | 5.3% (8th) | 7.5 | 3.2% (14th) |
| Elemental Shaman | B | 5.4% (8th) | 4.7% (9th) | 8.5 | 4.7% (8th) |
| Retribution Paladin | B | 4.3% (13th) | 5.6% (6th) | 9.5 | 1.1% (19th) |
| Subtlety Rogue | B | 7.1% (6th) | 3.3% (14th) | 10 | 5.3% (6th) |
| Shadow Priest | B | 4.9% (10th) | 4.3% (10th) | 10 | 3.9% (12th) |
| Beast Mastery Hunter | B | 2.9% (14th) | 5.5% (7th) | 10.5 | 1.5% (17th) |
| Windwalker Monk | B | 4.8% (11th) | 3.9% (11th) | 11 | 6.4% (5th) |
| Frost Death Knight | B | 4.3% (12th) | 3.8% (12th) | 12 | 0.2% (21st) |
| Augmentation Evoker | B | 5.0% (9th) | 3.0% (16th) | 12.5 | 4.4% (9th) |
| Assassination Rogue | C | 1.7% (16th) | 3.8% (13th) | 14.5 | 3.1% (15th) |
| Devourer Demon Hunter | C | 1.6% (17th) | 2.7% (17th) | 17 | 4.4% (10th) |
| Unholy Death Knight | C | 1.1% (20th) | 3.1% (15th) | 17.5 | 1.2% (18th) |
| Devastation Evoker | C | 2.0% (15th) | 1.7% (20th) | 17.5 | 3.7% (13th) |
| Affliction Warlock | C | 1.5% (18th) | 2.5% (18th) | 18 | 1.9% (16th) |
| Enhancement Shaman | C | 1.1% (19th) | 1.4% (21st) | 20 | 0.2% (23rd) |
| Destruction Warlock | D | 0.4% (22nd) | 0.6% (22nd) | 22 | 4.1% (11th) |
| Frost Mage | D | <0.1% (26th) | 2.3% (19th) | 22.5 | 0.9% (20th) |
| Fury Warrior | D | 0.5% (21st) | 0.5% (24th) | 22.5 | 0.2% (22nd) |
| Feral Druid | D | 0.2% (23rd) | 0.6% (23rd) | 23 | 0% (25th) |
| Survival Hunter | D | 0.2% (24th) | 0.4% (26th) | 25 | 0% (26th) |
| Outlaw Rogue | D | <0.1% (27th) | 0.5% (25th) | 26 | 0.1% (24th) |
| Fire Mage | D | 0.1% (25th) | 0.1% (27th) | 26 | 0% (27th) |
The two current samples agree closely. The top five specs are the same, in the same order, in both. The biggest disagreement is Subtlety Rogue: 6th on Kith'ix but 14th in the Venomous Abyss.
Best DPS for each Venomous Abyss boss
The tier above is an average over nine fights. On single bosses, Mythic guilds stack very different specs. This table shows the specs whose seat share jumps most on each boss compared with their raid-wide share. Fight notes come from our Venomous Abyss raid guide.
| Boss | What the fight asks for | Specs Mythic guilds stack here |
|---|---|---|
| Nek'zali the Soulcoiler | Break shields on adds, then cleave them | Destruction Warlock (8.5% of DPS seats in the race, about twice its average) and Devastation Evoker (7.4%) |
| Entombed Sentinels | Two bosses kept 40+ yards apart, health kept even | Destruction Warlock: 10.4% in the race, 2.5 times its average |
| The Lost Explorers | Two turtles kept apart, interrupts | Destruction Warlock (9.8%) and Devastation Evoker (6.8%) in the race |
| Vashnik the Malignant | Fountains and venom control | Demonology Warlock (9.9%), Retribution Paladin and Beast Mastery Hunter (8.1% each) since 12.1.5 |
| Sszorak | Single target with Dig In windows (+30% damage taken for 25 seconds) | Beast Mastery Hunter: 10.5% since 12.1.5, almost twice its average, and five times its average in the race |
| The Twin Fangs | Two bosses killed together | Frost Mage: 9.0% since 12.1.5, nearly four times its raid-wide share. Demonology leads at 10.6% |
| The Coiled Altar | Soulbinding burn window (+100% damage taken), two bosses even in Phase 3 | Affliction Warlock: 11.2% since 12.1.5 and 13.3% in the race, four to seven times its average |
| Ula'tek | Burn the Venomous Heart in a shrinking arena | Assassination Rogue: 7.6% since 12.1.5, double its average. Arcane (12.5%) and Balance (10.2%) lead |
| Kith'ix | Add waves, then a burn phase from 25% with Luminous Grace | Arcane, Demonology and Arms. Subtlety Rogue is 6th here at 7.1% |
The first three rows use the race sample, because only 14 to 31 guilds killed those bosses for the first time after 12.1.5. Our Kith'ix raid guide covers that fight's phases.
Example. Your guild is stuck on Mythic Coiled Altar. Your Warlock plays Demonology for most of the raid. In the data, Mythic guilds swap Warlocks to Affliction for this boss more than for any other fight, so ask your Warlock to learn that build before the next pull.
Best ranged and melee DPS for raids
| Range | Best specs, in tier order | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Ranged | Arcane Mage, Demonology Warlock, Balance Druid, Marksmanship Hunter, Elemental Shaman | Ranged specs hold 6 of the top 10 spots |
| Melee | Arms Warrior, Havoc Demon Hunter, Retribution Paladin, Subtlety Rogue, Windwalker Monk | Arms is the only melee spec in S tier |
Shadow Priest is the 10th spec overall. Beast Mastery Hunter is 11th, and its Sszorak spike is the main reason it's in B tier.
Why the top raid DPS specs rank where they do
Arcane Mage (S)
First in both current samples. It appears in 96% of Kith'ix kills and 87% of Venomous Abyss kills since 12.1.5. It holds the most DPS seats on four of the five bosses with about 100 post-patch kills, so it's never a bad pick. Our Arcane Mage guide covers the build and rotation.
Demonology Warlock (S)
The biggest riser. It was 7th in the race and is 2nd in both current samples. It leads the DPS seats on The Twin Fangs (10.6%) and is near the top on Vashnik and Sszorak. Warlocks also switch to Affliction for The Coiled Altar, so one class covers two jobs.
Arms Warrior (S)
Arms was the most common DPS spec in the race at 13.7% of seats, and almost every top-50 kill had one. Its share fell to about 8% after 12.1.5, but it's still 3rd in both samples and the only melee spec in S. See our Arms Warrior guide.
Balance Druid and Marksmanship Hunter (A)
They hold 4th and 5th in both samples. Balance is a top pick on Ula'tek, and Marksmanship was 2nd in the race. Blizzard's October 27 hotfix also buffed Marksmanship's area damage (Trick Shots, Explosive Shot and Volley), which isn't in this data yet.
Havoc Demon Hunter (A)
Havoc climbed from 14th in the race to 7th and 8th now, well ahead of Devourer. It appears in 80% of Kith'ix kills.
The B tier
Elemental, Retribution, Subtlety, Shadow, Beast Mastery, Windwalker, Frost DK and Augmentation all hold 3% to 7% of seats in at least one sample. Retribution (19th in the race, 6th in the Venomous Abyss now) and Frost DK (21st in the race, 12th now) are the clearest 12.1.5 winners. Our Retribution Paladin guide and Elemental Shaman guide cover two of them.
What changed with 12.1.5 and the October 27 hotfixes
- Destruction Warlock fell furthest. It was the race's pick for the first three bosses and 11th overall. Since 12.1.5 it holds under 1% of seats. Blizzard raised Rain of Fire damage by 20% on October 27.
- Subtlety Rogue was nerfed after this data started. Blizzard says Subtlety's 12.1.5 compensation buff "overshot expectations" and cut all its ability damage by 8% on October 27 (Blizzard hotfix notes). Expect it to slide.
- Small buffs on October 27: Feral Druid and Fire Mage got +5% all damage, and Affliction's Unstable Affliction got +20%, all outside PvP (Blizzard).
- Kith'ix arrived with 12.1.5, on October 13 in the Americas and October 14 in Europe (Blizzard 12.1.5 notes).
The hotfixes landed one or two days before the data was pulled, so they barely show in these shares.
Pick a raid DPS spec for your guild
- Check your raid buffs first. A missing Arcane Intellect, Battle Shout, Mark of the Wild, Power Word: Fortitude, Skyfury, Chaos Brand or Mystic Touch can matter more than a few percent of damage.
- Look at your progression boss, not the whole tier. On Coiled Altar, an Affliction Warlock is worth more than an S tier spec with no answer to that fight.
- Play what you can perform. A practiced B tier player usually beats an unpracticed S tier one on progression.
- Watch the tuning. Specs that rose fastest are the most likely to be adjusted.
Example. You main a Feral Druid in a Heroic guild. Feral is D tier for Mythic, but Heroic doesn't need the top-end stacking these rosters show. Stay Feral, compare your logs with other Ferals on the same boss, and keep Balance in mind if your guild later pushes Mythic.
Check your own logs before you reroll
Compare your Warcraft Logs parse with players of the same spec, on the same boss and difficulty. The gap between you and your spec's typical result is usually bigger than the gap between specs. Fix uptime, rotation and avoidable deaths first. Our Season 2 gearing guide shows which boss drops each tier slot, and the best addons for Season 2 help you track cooldowns.
Returning and alt raiders
- Returning for 12.1.5? Start with our 12.1.5 catch-up guide. Raid Finder needs item level 273.
- Choosing a class, not just a spec? The Midnight class tier list compares classes across content.
- Pushing keys too? Raid and dungeon rankings differ. The Mythic+ DPS tier list ranks DPS from top-key data instead.
For healers and tanks, see the Midnight raid healer and tank tier list. For Mythic+ healers and tanks, see the Mythic+ healer and tank tier list. Every other Midnight guide is linked from the World of Warcraft hub.
Want a hand with this?
If you would rather not grind this part yourself, Venomous Abyss raid services are listed on FullBoosts. Read Blizzard's End User License Agreement before you buy any service from anyone, FullBoosts included. A marketplace listing isn't publisher permission.
FAQ
What is the best raid DPS in WoW Midnight Season 2? Arcane Mage. It holds the most DPS seats in Mythic Kith'ix kills (12.3%) and in Venomous Abyss Mythic kills since 12.1.5 (10.7%). Demonology Warlock and Arms Warrior are the other S tier specs.
What is the best melee DPS for raids in Midnight? Arms Warrior, the only melee spec in S tier. Havoc Demon Hunter is next in A tier, then Retribution Paladin and Subtlety Rogue in B.
What is the best ranged DPS for raids in Midnight? Arcane Mage, then Demonology Warlock, Balance Druid and Marksmanship Hunter. Ranged specs hold six of the top ten spots.
What is the best DPS for Sszorak? Beast Mastery Hunter stands out most. It holds 10.5% of DPS seats in Sszorak kills since 12.1.5, almost twice its raid-wide share. Arcane Mage and Demonology Warlock are the most common overall.
Is Destruction Warlock bad in raids now? Mythic guilds rarely bring it: under 1% of DPS seats since 12.1.5, down from 4.1% in the race. Blizzard buffed Rain of Fire by 20% on October 27, which isn't in this data yet.
How often does this raid tier list change? Raid rosters shift after tuning, so the list is rebuilt from fresh kill data. These tiers are a snapshot from October 29, 2026.
Related guides
More from World of Warcraft
Explore services and find the right option for your next goal.
