Every build and weight on this page comes from Sharpie's Gear Judge's own models of WoW Forever, built from the game's real numbers and checked against what players actually do in the beta. Nothing is copied from other guides.
Leveling builds: the fastest time to 60
For each class, a model works through leveling level by level: how fast you kill a mob of your level with your spells and talents at that level, how much damage you take, and how long you spend drinking, eating or resting between pulls. Spell damage, costs, talent effects and mob stats come from the Forever game client's own data files.
A search then tries talent sets for each talent tree and picks the order to spend the points, one per level from 10, so that the total time from 10 to 60 is as short as possible. Every build stays in its own tree from the first point, follows the game's tier and prerequisite rules, and can be learned in game as written. "Slower" is how much more total leveling time a build takes than the class's fastest solo build, in the same model.
Dungeon and level-60 builds
- Dungeon leveling builds use a group version of the model: damage, healing or threat per pull, with the pull sizes, boss share, fight lengths and gear taken from public beta dungeon logs on Forever Logs.
- Raid builds and the level-60 stat weights come from the wowsims Forever combat simulator against a raid boss; healers use Gear Judge's healing model.
- PvP leveling builds are for open-world PvP while leveling. A duel simulation fights each build against all nine classes at every level, each opponent being that class's leveling build played as its own model plays it: damage, health, armor, heals that cost cast time and mana, stuns, fears, roots and silences with real durations, cooldowns and diminishing returns from the game client, kiting, gap closers, spell pushback and pets. The opponents are tuned to real level-30 duel results (the wowforeverranked.com ladder and The Forever Open qualifier); the model then picks the winner of 63 of the 72 real class matchups. The search finds the talents that win the most, level by level. They're marked Experimental.
- Farming and level-60 PvP builds use smaller, rougher models, and their notes say so.
The leveling weight tables
Each table shows how much one point of each stat speeds up your leveling at that level, against the spec's main stat. They come from the same models: add a little of one stat, see how much faster you level. Gear Judge blends between the listed levels and adjusts the weights for the talents you actually have.
What the models are checked against
- Public beta combat logs: which abilities players use, how often, how many mobs they hit, and what gear they wear.
- The Forever bug tracker, where the developers confirm how talents and spells really work.
- Each new client build: when a patch changes talents or spells, the builds are searched again.
Limits
- The builds assume an average player in ordinary gear. Your own play, gear and group change the real numbers.
- The beta is capped at level 30, so everything above 30 is the model's best estimate until it can be checked.
- Builds tagged Experimental are what the model finds best but nobody has tried in game yet. Treat them as a suggestion to test.
- WoW Forever is in beta and changes often; a build can be briefly out of date after a patch.
Questions or something that looks wrong? Ask on the Sharpie's Gear Judge Discord.