Retribution Paladin has reclaimed the top spot in World of Warcraft’s Mythic+ popularity charts for the sixth week of version 12.0.7. The change came during a broader dip among the most-played specializations, with Guardian Druid taking the biggest hit near the top of the rankings.
The figures cover every Mythic+ run from the current reset across all key levels. They do not represent the full season, and the popularity data comes from Raider.IO’s current-reset analytics.
Retribution moves back into first place
Guardian Druid dropped 1.4 percentage points to 7%, leaving room for Retribution to return to No. 1. Retribution also declined, but only by 0.1%, so its rise came from Guardian’s larger fall rather than from an increase in players.
Several other popular specializations lost players during the same period. Beast Mastery fell by 0.3%, Unholy dropped 1%, Restoration Shaman declined 0.2%, and Mistweaver lost 0.5%. Frost Mage was the first specialization near the top to hold steady.
Discipline Priest was one of the clearest risers, moving up two places after gaining 0.2%. Elemental Shaman gained 0.4%, though that was not enough to move it from 12th place. Many of the least-played specs also picked up between 0.1% and 0.2%, which may point to players spending more time on alternate characters near the end of the season.
Higher keys feature a wider spread of specs
The popularity balance changes at higher key levels. More specializations appear in the +25 range, although the number of runs for many of them is still small. That makes the overall chart a better measure of broad player preference, while the high-key breakdown offers a narrower view of the groups attempting the toughest content.
Guardian groups remain common among the top compositions
Guardian Druid’s overall decline did not immediately break up the most common high-end group composition. The top 30 compositions measure the share of those 30 groups, not every group formed in Mythic+. In that narrower sample, the leading Guardian composition rose by 1 percentage point to 34.6%.
Its share across the full player population told a different story. Guardian fell by 0.5 percentage points to 1.8%, which helps explain the specialization’s drop in the overall popularity rankings.
The second-most-played composition also gained 1 percentage point within the top 30 and reached 9%. That group uses a Retribution Paladin in place of an Augmentation Evoker, giving Retribution another presence among the most common high-level setups. The broader composition figures are available through Raider.IO’s group data.
Mythic+ DPS rankings continue to move
The DPS charts use normalized aggregate scores rather than raw damage. A timed completion at a higher key earns more points, while completion speed has a much smaller effect. The top specialization is set to 100, and every other score is measured against that peak.
95th percentile
Feral moved down two places to seventh, allowing Outlaw and Survival to pass it. Survival also overtook Retribution after rising two places, while Retribution fell one spot.
Demonology Warlock had one of the biggest gains, climbing four places to ninth. Enhancement Shaman moved down to 10th, while Outlaw and Assassination remained close together just outside the top 10.
All percentiles
Arms Warrior suffered the sharpest fall in the all-percentile view, dropping four places to eighth. Survival and Retribution moved ahead of it, while Demonology rose two places. Feral held its position as Arms slipped.
Raw damage tells a different story
Normalized scores are useful for comparing timed runs, but they are not the same as damage dealt. A separate view from Mythicstats uses top Warcraft Logs runs from +16 to +25 and ranks average dungeon DPS. The numbers include non-combat time, so they provide another point of reference rather than a replacement for the timed-run rankings.
Retribution’s return to the popularity lead is the clearest change in the latest reset data, but the rankings remain fluid. Guardian is still central to the most common top-30 composition, while Survival and Demonology made the sharpest gains in the DPS views.
Which specialization and group setup have you been using in Mythic+ this week? Share your thoughts in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, and Instagram.
