Talent build Most talent builds ( also referred to as talent specs , talent specializations or just specs or builds ) are identified by the names of the talent trees , with the tree with the most points named first . For example , a " disc / holy " priest would have 31 points in the discipline tree and 20 in the holy tree . Usually no more than 51 points are put in a single tree , because that ' s the required number for reaching the highest talent . There are , or course , exceptions . The act of choosing such a path is referred to as speccing . Changing a character ' s spec is called respeccing or is referred to as a respec . Starting at level 10 , players receive one talent point for each level they attain . Players can spend these to enhance their character , making it better than a default , cookie - cutter example of their class . Often players will spend Talent Points in such a way to increase their enjoyment of playing their character ' s class , especially by enhancing abilities that they find themselves using often or to give new abilities that are useful in the style of play they enjoy most . Often a spec defines the role a character will play in a group . For example , a Protection - spec warrior or paladin makes an ideal tank . A character ' s spec can radically shift this role . A Holy or Discipline priest will generally heal in an instance , while a Shadow - specced priest will DPS and crowd control . Certain talent trees excel in PvE content , while others are especially useful for PvP content . It should be clear at all times that there is no " best " solution for anything in this game . The greatness of WoW is that there are many approaches to any goal . Just as there is no " best " race for each class , there is never a " best " build for each class . Everything is a tradeoff - an increase in efficiency in PvP usually means a decrease in PvE or endgame instances , and vice versa . Of course there are certain basic truths , such as " a mage is a DPS class " , " Hunters are good pullers " , etc . , which are widely accepted while some talent s are considered " bread and butter skills " . There are also simple and natural ways to achieve things — if you want to play your priest solo , it ' s much easier if you skill him as a Shadow priest . By no means should this be taken as " Disc / Holy priest cannot play solo " — of course he can , it ' s just more challenging . Re - spec . Changing a character ' s talent build is called " respeccing " or is referred to as a " respec . " Characters can unlearn all of their talents ( becoming untalented ) at their respective class trainers , at a cost . Unlearning talents scales up the more times it is done : 1 gold , 5 gold , 10 gold , 15 gold , etc . , up to 50 gold . The cost to unlearn talents decays over time . This cost will be reduced by a rate of 5 gold per month to a minimum of 10 gold . Pet trainer s can reset hunter pet s ' talents . Unlike player talents , unlearning pet talents is free . Death knight . Death knights are " World of Warcraft " ' s first hero class . They are a hybrid class that combines damage dealing and tanking . Each talent tree for death knights can be used for either of those roles but depending which you choose will affect their play style . Blood focuses on the physical damage dealt by melee spell , weapons and abilities with a high self - healing rate and single target DPS . Frost focuses on control elements , with a strong critical - strike / bonus - damage , as well as several talents that improve damage mitigation . Unholy heavily focus on diseases , improving summoned minions , AoE , spell damage shielding and movement improvement abilities . Druid . Druids are a hybrid class that switch roles largely through " shapeshifting " . In their original humanoid form , they are similar to priests , able to damage their enemies with spells , buff themselves and their allies , and heal people . The restoration and balance trees enhance their healing and spell damage respectively . The cat form is geared toward stealth and melee DPS , while bear form allows them to tank . Those forms are enhanced by the Feral Combat tree , with a few special talents in restoration . Druids can acquire specialized forms for balance and restoration , but many non - raiding druids will stop short of Tree of Life Form to get extra versatility from balance or feral combat . Hunter . The hunter is a pure DPS class , known for their pets , long - range abilities with a gun or bow , and traps . Each of their talent trees focus on improving one of these aspects in some fashion . Depending on your playstyle , you may focus on one of these alone , or follow a hybrid build . Beast Mastery hunters are known to level extremely quickly and be effective in PvP , but produce sub - par damage output in raid . If you prefer to deal most of the damage by yourself , Marksmanship is your choice , with high , bursty physical damage . Survival Hunters excel at getting out of close range by more useful traps and more frequent stuns . Marksmanship and Survival both excel in a raid environment , and all three specs provide useful buffs to party and group members , including 3 % damage , 10 % Attack Power , and Replenishment . Mage . Mages are used as a ranged DPS class . In groups , they deal high amounts of damage to their targets , while generating a great deal of threat from monsters . They excel at doing Area - of - Effect damage ( doing damage to multiple mobs at once ) . Mages have the greatest AoE capability of any class currently in the game . In addition , they are the weakest class at surviving having damage dealt against them . Because of this , it is advisable that another group member tanks while the mages do their thing . Mages have strong control mechanisms , such as snares , roots and crowd control . Frost mages enhance these control abilities , while fire mages specialize in sheer all - out DPS . The arcane tree remains a powerful utility tree providing strong burst DPS as well as very competent single target DPS . Paladin . The paladin class is based on surviving and keeping allies alive . In endgame instances , paladins can heal , tank or dps depending on their spec . A paladin comes loaded with defensive and offensive buffs , and invulnerability spells for himself and others . The talents he chooses will augment these skills in certain ways . The Holy tree increases healing and holy damage as well as making them more difficult to interrupt ; it is a great PvE and PvP build . Protection is another way to keep your allies from dying , by taking the damage yourself as a tank . This spec is required to main tank five - man instances and epic - level raid content , and is on par with both warrior s and druid s in the tanking hierarchy . Retribution paladins are able to produce massive damage output . It is a paladin ' s best PvP spec . Since Patch 2 . 3 , it has gained popularity in endgame PvE as well . Priest . Holy priests are famous for their various healing spells and the protective shield , which make them the favorite healers for many people . While the traditional role of a priest is healing , Shadow priests , who can dish out significant single - target DPS and provide mana regeneration for the whole party , are also a common sight for end - game raids . Shadow priests also do very well in PvP . The Discipline tree helps the mana threshold , thus it complements both Holy and Shadow . In addition to powerful healing and single - target damage , Priests can also supply players with helpful buff s . Rogue . A rogue ' s main purpose , either solo , in small groups , or in a raid , is maximum DPS , with crowd control as a secondary role . Assassination rogues are skilled at dealing massive burst damage from the back of the enemies using daggers . On the other hand , Combat Rogues are balanced with both offensive as well as defensive talents , and produce sustained damage using sword , mace or fist weapons . While the damage improvement provided by the Subtlety tree may not be as impressive as the other two , Subtlety Rogues can perform many subtle moves in PvP and easily catch their unwary enemies by surprise . Shaman . Shaman is a very versatile class . In endgame instances , their main roles are buffing and curing , as well as healing or DPS depending on spec . Restoration tree provides many wonderful abilities for those who would like to heal and support the others . Enhancement shamans focus on dealing physical damage . They are also loved by other melee DPS for the offensive buff their totems bring . In contrast , Elemental Shamans are caster DPS who usually do their damage from range . For PvP , Enhancement is a weak choice , because it needs melee range , but lacks ways to get or stay there . Restoration maybe preferred more . Elemental is better than Enhancement but vulnerable to interrupt / silence effects as all healing and most damage spells are of the nature school . Warlock . Although all the three trees can enhance the damage power of the warlocks , the playstyle of the warlocks of each specs can be very different . Affliction increases the power of the warlock ' s curse s and damage over time spells . Demonology helps the endurance of the warlocks , by splitting damage taken with pets and better buffs from their pets , by either keeping it active or sacrificing it . Finally , Destruction allows for a mage - like style of playing by improving their direct damage spells . Warlocks are widely considered to be one of the best one - on - one PvP classes in the game . Warrior . In the endgame instances , the traditional job of a Warrior is to tank . Warriors have a variety of abilities that give them strong threat production and damage mitigation . Warriors ' strength also scale very well with gear . Dual - wield Fury warriors are among the top damage dealers in the game . With the continuing addition of better gear , it is becoming more common to see warriors in raids whose sole purpose is to DPS . In solo and PvP play where aggro management is irrelevant , the warriors can produce even more fearsome damage . The Arms tree also provides many important talents that help the warriors in PvP .