Most choices don't matter much. A few do. Have fun.
Leveling guides argue endlessly about rotations and talents. This site simulates thousands of pulls to answer a simpler question: how much does a choice actually change how fast you level?
Usually the answer is "not much". Two rotations a couple of kills per hour apart feel identical in play, so pick the one you enjoy. But now and then a choice is worth 10–30% more kills per hour, and those are worth knowing about:
- Hunter: start shooting while your pet runs in, instead of waiting for it to reach the mob.
- Frost mage: Frost Nova the moment the mob is in range, before it reaches you.
- Balance druid: Vengeance plus a Moonfire opener beats the classic Wrath, Wrath, Starfire opening.
- Arcane mage: Improved Channeling matters; Arcane Shielding doesn't.
Each spec's Findings page has the details.
Questing and routing matter at least as much, probably more. Picking up quests in batches, turning them in together, killing the mobs on the way, and not running back and forth will save you more time than any rotation here. The sim only covers the fighting and resting part of leveling. Get your route right first, then use this to tune the fights.
Simulating the whole leveling loop
Most calculators stop at damage per second. Leveling is more than that: the mob has to run to you, spells take time to fly, getting hit delays your casts, mana runs out, and you sit down to eat and drink. This sim tries to include all of it:
- Pulling from range, with the mob running in (and being slowed, frozen or stunned).
- Spells in flight, cast times, the global cooldown, and pushback when you're hit.
- Mana, energy and cooldowns carried from one pull to the next.
- Eating, drinking, healing, mending your pet and walking to the next mob. That's often half of your time.
The headline number is kills per hour, including all that downtime, because that's what decides how fast you level. As far as we know, nobody else tries to simulate the drinking.
Why bother? Respeccing is expensive
Trying a new build in game costs gold and an evening. Here it costs a few seconds: paste a talent link from wowforevertalent.com, pick your level, and compare. If a build you like is within a few percent of the "best" one, keep it and enjoy the game.
How to read the numbers
- They're estimates. Spell numbers come from the beta tooltips. Mob stats come from classic's database, and gear, pet stats and some proc rates are educated guesses. Every Findings page lists what to double-check in game.
- Compare, don't quote. The sim is best at "A beats B by about X%". Treat exact kills per hour as a ballpark.
- Within a spec beats across specs. Comparing rotations or talents for one spec is the most reliable use of the sim, because both sides share the same gear and stat guesses. Comparing one spec or class against another is rougher for now: each class has its own estimated gear, and some beta mechanics (like warrior rage) are still changing.
- Small gaps are noise. A difference of 1–2 kills per hour is within the randomness of the simulation.
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