WoW Forever raid comp: build it from your real roster

What sizes are the WoW Forever raids?

Barrow Deeps is 10-player, Hyjal Summit is 20-player and Onyxia’s Lair is 40-player. All three open on 9 December 2026. That comes from Blizzard’s roadmap, as collected in Wowhead’s raids hub. Bosses, tier sets and attunements are not announced yet.

Raid	Size	Opens
Barrow Deeps	10	9 December
Hyjal Summit	20	9 December
Onyxia’s Lair	40	9 December

Three sizes in one week is the planning problem. A guild with 25 regulars can run two groups of 10, one 20 with a bench, and needs to recruit or invite friends to fill a 40. The comp you build depends on which of those your guild is aiming at first.

How do the new race and class combos change a raid comp?

Both factions can now bring paladins and shamans, and paladins can tank. That removes the oldest comp difference between Horde and Alliance.

Blizzard has confirmed these new combinations, per Wowhead’s race and class guide:

New combo	What it means for a raid
Undead Paladin	Horde can bring paladins. Undead is the only Horde paladin race
Dwarf Shaman	Alliance can bring shamans
Paladin as tank	Paladins can tank and taunt in Forever
Gnome Priest, Human Hunter, Orc Mage, Troll Warlock	More race choice for classes the faction already had
Skyborne (new race)	Warrior, Hunter, Rogue and Druid on both factions, Shaman on Horde, Mage on Alliance

On a Horde raid, whatever paladins bring is available for the first time. On an Alliance raid, the same goes for shamans. A paladin who can taunt is also a real off-tank option, which matters for a 40-player raid that may want 4 to 6 tanks.

Forever also gives every class new skills and talents. That means the exact buffs each class brings may not match what veterans remember. Check the Forever class guides before you decide a comp needs a particular class, and read our Skyborne and new combos post for how to ask the guild who is rolling what.

Should we build the comp from the class tier list?

No. Build it from the roster you have, then use the tier list to decide who rerolls or levels an alt. A comp of ideal classes you don’t have is a wish list.

Wowhead’s tier lists are useful for one question: if the guild has a gap, which class closes it best? Ask that question before launch, not in December, while asking someone to level an alt is still a small favour.

The order that works:

1. Find out who is playing what (main and alts, by class and spec).
2. Count by role against the raid size you want first. Use the calculator above.
3. Fill gaps from alts before you recruit.
4. Only then look at buffs and class balance.

What is the difference between a roster and a comp?

The roster is who would go if everyone showed up. The comp is who is going tonight. Keep them separate, and raid night becomes adjusting a plan instead of starting one.

	Roster	Comp
Built	Once per team and raid size	Once per raid night
From	Your guild’s characters	That night’s signup sheet
Holds	Seats and a bench in call-in order	Groups, assignments and that night’s bench
Changes	When someone joins, leaves or swaps main	Every week

In GuildPro, the roster lives in the Roster Builder and the comp in the comp builder. Each team can have a roster for 10, 20, 25 and 40 players, so one team can hold a Barrow Deeps roster, a Hyjal roster and an Onyxia roster side by side. The rules are on the Roster Builder docs page.

How do I build a Forever raid comp in GuildPro?

Collect mains and alts with /rostercall, build a standing roster per size in the Roster Builder, then pull it into the comp builder on raid night. Here is the order.

1. Before launch, run /rostercall. Everyone picks a main and up to five alts by class and spec, or Undecided. The answers fill a Preliminary roster card on your Forever guild roster, so you can see gaps before anyone is level 60.
2. After launch, set specs. The guild roster fills from the addon. A character’s role comes from its spec, so set specs on the Guild roster page, or tanks and healers are overcounted.
3. Build a roster per size. In the Roster Builder pick 10-man, 20-man or 40-man. Autofill fills the role shape and prefers whoever closes a missing core buff. Brings lists what the seated raiders cover and what is missing. Put standbys on the Bench in the order you’d call them in.
4. On raid night, open the comp builder on that night’s sheet. Pull roster seats each rostered raider who signed up, in their usual seat. Generate fills what is left from the signups.
5. Post the roster. It goes to Discord with Confirm my slot, Request a swap and I can’t make it buttons. The comp builder names the bench before you post.

You can keep up to nine versions of a roster per team and size, which helps when you want to try a paladin off-tank against a second warrior.

Who goes on the bench, and does it count?

The bench is everyone who signed up and wasn’t seated, and in GuildPro a benched night counts in their attendance. On a 20-player night with 23 signups, three people sit. If sitting cost them standing, they’d stop signing up.

Two GuildPro rules help with three raid sizes:

• One character per player in a roster. A raider can’t be seated twice on one roster, even on different characters.
• One roster per character across teams. A character on one team’s roster can’t be added to another team’s. If you run two groups of 10, give each group its own team, and anyone playing in both brings an alt to the second.

The comp builder’s Teams setting can build up to 4 groups from the same sheet, and it won’t seat one person twice on the same night. The bench rule in full is in raid attendance tracking that counts the bench, and the comp builder side is on the raid comp docs page.

For everything else your guild should settle before 4 November, see the WoW Forever guild checklist.