Which race should you pick in WoW Forever? All 10 races, their classes and every racial

Your race is the first decision you make in WoW Forever, and the hardest one to undo. This guide won't tell you which one is "best": Blizzard tuned the racials to give similar offensive power, so the real difference is which problems each one solves for you. It's here to help you narrow things down fast and know exactly what each racial does.

The numbers below come from the beta client and the official race and class table Blizzard published on September 22. The beta changes every week — the Gnome racial, for example, was nerfed on September 24. We keep our race pages up to date with every build.

Quick answer

Decide in this order:

1. Faction. Horde and Alliance can't group up under any ruleset. If you're playing with friends, their faction decides.
2. Class. Not every race can play every class. Paladins are limited to three races and Druids to four.
3. Racials. Look at what they solve for you: breaking a stun, gliding down, regenerating mana, running faster.
4. Looks and starting zone. You'll look at this character for hundreds of hours. Torn between two? Pick the one you like looking at.

Still can't decide? Take the Which hero are you? quiz or let the race and class randomizer pick for you.

All 10 WoW Forever races and their classes

Forever has Classic's eight races plus the Skyborne, who count twice because they pick a faction at character creation. Classes in bold are ones that race couldn't play in Classic.

Humans and Trolls are the most open races, with seven classes each. Tauren are the most restricted. The table matches Blizzard's official one cell for cell.

What each racial does

Every race has two active racials and two passive ones. Here are all 40, with numbers from the beta client. On October 15 Blizzard reworked several of them (the three weapon specializations no longer depend on your weapon, and numbers changed for Tauren, Skyborne, Orcs, Undead, Gnomes and Trolls), and they are listed below with the new values.

October 26 tuning pass (for launch, not in the beta yet): Blizzard announced another racial pass. It says it prioritized each race's identity, rolled some generic racials back to ones tied to a role or class, kept weapon specializations out so loot isn't judged by "the weapon type you need", and tuned several passives. The changes are flagged below; until the launch build arrives, the beta client keeps the October 15 values.

Human

• Will to Survive (active, 3 min): instantly removes all Stun effects.
• Perception (active, 3 min): dramatically increases stealth detection for 20 sec.
• Ruthless (passive): +1% critical strike chance with all spells and attacks, whatever weapon you wield (down from 2% at launch). Replaces Sword Specialization since October 15.
• The Human Spirit (passive): +10% Spirit (up from 5% at launch).

Dwarf

• Stoneform (active, 3 min): removes Bleeds, Poisons and Diseases, grants immunity to them and reduces Physical damage taken by 10% for 8 sec.
• Find Treasure (active): marks nearby treasure on the minimap. Since October 15 it also gives a chance at extra items in most chests.
• Artisan's Precision (passive): +1% hit with spells and attacks. Added at launch (the name may change: it isn't in the client yet); it replaces Earth Fury (+2% to critical strikes and heals), which is removed.
• Big Game Hunter (passive): +5% damage against Beasts.

Night Elf

• Elune's Light (active, 3 min): +10% critical strike chance with all spells and attacks for 15 sec.
• Shadowmeld (active, 10 sec cooldown): slip into the shadows while you stand still.
• Quickness (passive): +1% dodge chance and +2% movement speed, which since October 15 stacks with other increases; Night Elf Rogues and Druids stealth as if 1 level higher.
• Wisp Spirit (passive): move 75% faster as a ghost.

Gnome

• Escape Artist (active, 2 min): instantly frees you from Roots and Snares and grants immunity to them for 3 sec.
• Eureka! (active, 2 min): for 8 sec, your non-periodic damaging abilities cost 10% less Mana, Rage or Energy and deal 10% more damage. Since October 15 it's an 8-second buff with no charges (it used to cover three abilities), it also boosts Power Word: Shield, and it can't be used while stealthed or invisible. Until September 24 it went up to 50% for Mages and Warlocks.
• Expansive Mind (passive): +5% of your maximum resource (Mana, Rage or Energy).
• Engineering Specialization (passive): engineering devices fail 20% less often.

Skyborne (High Order, Alliance)

• Walk on Air (active, 90 sec): glide downward for 10 sec, controlling your direction.
• Read Ley Line (active, 2 min, castable while moving): +50% health and mana regeneration for 15 sec (down from 100% at launch); it can't be used while Innervate is active. Used at a ley line it also grants Attuned for 1 hour (100% regeneration), which persists through death and is removed upon entering a raid. Since October 15 there are more ley lines in most zones.
• Wind Blessed (passive): +2% Haste at launch (was 3%).
• Elemental Insight (passive): +5% damage against Elementals.

Orc

• Blood Fury (active, 2 min): +10% Attack Power and Spell Power for 15 sec.
• Shatter Curse (active, 3 min): removes Fears and Curses and reduces Magical damage taken by 5% for 8 sec (it used to be 15% plus immunity).
• Command (passive): +5% damage from Hunter and Warlock pets. It returns at launch and replaces Savage (+1% crit), which is removed. It makes sense for a Hunter or a Warlock with a demon; other classes get nothing from it.
• Hardiness (passive): Stun effects on you last 20% shorter.

Undead (Forsaken)

• Will of the Forsaken (active, 2 min): removes Charm, Fear and Sleep. In Forever it no longer grants immunity to them.
• Cannibalize (active, 2 min): eating a Humanoid or Undead corpse restores 7% Health and 7% Mana every 2 sec for 10 sec.
• Underwater Breathing (passive): breathe underwater three times as long.
• Touch of the Grave (passive): your attacks can drain Health, up to 5% of your maximum Health, at most once every 15 sec: 30% chance for Priests, Mages and Warlocks and 20% for Warriors, Paladins and Rogues. Since October 15 it no longer scales with Shadow damage or spell rank; since September 24 it no longer breaks crowd control or triggers off abilities that deal no damage.

Tauren

• War Stomp (active, 90 sec): stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yds for 2 sec.
• Cultivation (active, 15 min): grows a duplicate of a nearby herb you can harvest without Herbalism. Each herb requires a minimum character level.
• Plainsrunning (passive): +2% movement speed every 5 sec spent moving, up to 60% (double the beta's 1% and 30% at launch); lost on taking damage or standing still. It no longer affects mounted speed, and you must keep covering a minimum distance per second (stutter-stepping doesn't keep it up).
• Endurance (passive): just +5% Health. At launch it loses the bonus to critical strikes and heals (on October 15 that had replaced the +1% hit chance).

Troll

• Berserking (active, 3 min): +10% attack and casting speed for 15 sec.
• Rapid Regeneration (active, 3 min): regenerate half your Health over 6 sec if you don't move or get hit.
• Beast Slaying (passive): +5% damage against Beasts.
• Regeneration (passive): +20% Health regeneration, and 20% of it stays active in combat (it used to be 10%).

Skyborne (Windshapers, Horde)

• Walk on Air (active, 2 min): same as the High Order's.
• Skysight (active, 2 min, castable while moving): +15% movement speed for 15 sec, including mounted (up from 10% at launch). Used at a convergence of elements (more zones have them since October 15) it also grants Charged for 1 hour (30% speed), which persists through death and is removed upon entering a raid.
• Wind Blessed (passive): +2% Haste at launch (was 3%).
• Elemental Insight (passive): +5% damage against Elementals.

Eureka! and Expansive Mind (Gnome) and Touch of the Grave (Undead) change by class — pick a class on each race page to see the exact text.

Pick your race by the class you want to play

Once you know your class, the list of races gets much shorter:

Worth knowing about each one:

• Priest: race matters more here than for any other class. Every Priest race learns two racial spells of its own, and five are new to Forever:

  • Human: Divine Grace (new — instant heal on an ally below 50% Health) and Feedback.
  • Dwarf: Chastise (new — damages and immobilizes a Humanoid) and Desperate Prayer.
  • Night Elf: Elune's Grace and Starshards.
  • Gnome: Confounding Flash (new — confuses up to 5 enemies) and Contingency Plan (new — a Holy ward on an ally).
  • Undead: Dark Sacrifice (new — trade Health for Mana) and Touch of Weakness.
  • Troll: Shadowguard and Hex of Weakness.

  What each one does, with ranks and levels, is on the Priest page.

• Paladin. Both factions have it for the first time: on the Horde side it's Undead only, and they get their own questline and an epic level-60 mount. Dwarves bring Stoneform and, from launch, Artisan's Precision (+1% hit; provisional name); Humans bring Will to Survive and Ruthless (+1% crit with any weapon).

• Shaman. Dwarf is the only Alliance option. The Horde has four; Windshapers Skyborne are the only ones with Wind Blessed.

• Druid. Skyborne get their own bear, cat, travel (a bird) and moonkin forms. Night Elves bring Elune's Light and Shadowmeld; Tauren bring War Stomp and Endurance.

• Mage and Warlock. The Orc's Blood Fury also boosts Spell Power, the Troll's Berserking speeds up casting, the High Order Skyborne's Read Ley Line adds 50% mana regeneration for 15 sec, the Orc's Command adds 5% damage to a Hunter's or Warlock's pet, and the Gnome adds Expansive Mind. Eureka! no longer hands out half-off mana: since September 24 it's 10%.

• Warrior, Rogue and Hunter. Almost every race works. Since October 15 the crit racials no longer depend on your weapon, so they don't push you toward a weapon type; with the October 26 pass only Ruthless (Human, 1%) and Artisan's Precision (Dwarf, +1% hit) remain, while Savage and Earth Fury are removed. Humans can be Hunters for the first time.

Once you've settled on a race and class, plan your build in the talent calculator.

Pick your race by what matters to you

In the Deep Dive panel, Blizzard said racials are tuned for similar offensive power and that every race keeps its signature utility. If that holds, race won't decide who does the most damage — it decides which problems you solve best.

PvP

What matters most is whatever gets you out of crowd control or puts it on your opponent:

• Against Stuns: Will to Survive (Human) removes them; Hardiness (Orc) cuts them by 20%.
• Against Fear, Charm and Sleep: Will of the Forsaken (Undead), now without immunity.
• Against Roots and Snares: Escape Artist (Gnome), with 3 sec of immunity.
• Against Poisons, Bleeds and Physical damage: Stoneform (Dwarf). Against Curses and Magical damage: Shatter Curse (Orc).
• To control the fight yourself: War Stomp (Tauren) and, if you're a Priest, Confounding Flash (Gnome) or Chastise (Dwarf).
• Stealth: Perception (Human) detects it; Shadowmeld (Night Elf) hides you.

Which crowd control matters most depends on who you're fighting, and that won't be clear until there are real matches.

Raids and dungeons

• Active offensive cooldowns: Blood Fury, Berserking, Elune's Light and Eureka!
• Passives: Wind Blessed (+2% Haste), Ruthless (+1% crit) and Artisan's Precision (+1% hit); the Orc's Command only helps if you have a pet or demon.
• Against a specific enemy type: Elemental Insight (Skyborne), Beast Slaying (Troll) and Big Game Hunter (Dwarf). How useful they are depends on which bosses show up.
• Resources: Expansive Mind, The Human Spirit, Cannibalize and Read Ley Line.

The first raids open on December 9. Until then, any racial ranking for raids is a guess.

Leveling

From 1 to 60, what you notice most is time spent standing still or running:

• Less downtime: Rapid Regeneration and Regeneration (Troll), Cannibalize (Undead) and Read Ley Line (High Order Skyborne).
• More speed: Skysight (Windshapers, +15% for 15 sec), Plainsrunning (Tauren, up to +60% if you keep moving, no mounted effect), Quickness (Night Elf, +2%, now stacking with other speed increases) and Wisp Spirit to get back to your corpse.
• Quality of life: Walk on Air, Find Treasure, Underwater Breathing and Cultivation.

Looks, lore and starting zone

Every Classic starting zone gains NPCs, quests and small story moments (starting zones page). The Skyborne start in their own zone, Zephras Isle, levels 1 to 12. The Alliance also gets a new ship route between Stormwind Harbor and Auberdine, so its races can meet up early without a long trek.

If the name matters as much as the face, the name generator builds a first name and surname for each race.

Playing with friends

Forever has no realms: you pick a ruleset (Normal, PvP, Roleplaying and, after launch, Hardcore). You can only group with people on the same ruleset and in the same faction, and you can't switch rulesets without transferring your character. Ask your group before you create yours. More in No realms: rulesets, Hardcore and surnames.

What other players are picking

There's no data on what people are actually playing in the beta: Blizzard doesn't publish it. What does exist are community votes, which measure what people want to play, not what performs best. On Forever Mains, where people vote between two combinations ("which of these would you main?", over 400,000 duels), the combination with the most duel wins is Undead Paladin, followed by Orc Shaman, Dwarf Shaman and Night Elf Druid. The full numbers, with their method and biases, are on What the community wants to play. In our own poll you can say whether you'll be Horde or Alliance.

What changed from Classic

Coming from Classic, here's what no longer works the way you remember:

• Six new combinations: Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Gnome Priest, Orc Mage, Undead Paladin and Troll Warlock. Blizzard says more are coming, with no date.
• One format for everyone: two active, two passive. In Classic, Humans and Trolls had five racials with only one active; Dwarves and Undead had two and two; everyone else had one active and three passive.
• Racial resistances are gone (Dwarf Frost Resistance, Night Elf and Tauren Nature Resistance, Gnome Arcane Resistance, Undead Shadow Resistance), along with Diplomacy (Human), Command (Orc, which Blizzard brings back at launch), Gun Specialization (Dwarf), and Throwing Specialization and Bow Specialization (Troll).
• Weapon specializations gave crit, not weapon skill. Mace Specialization moved from Humans to Dwarves and, since October 15, the three weapon specializations became racials that don't depend on your weapon: Ruthless (Human), Earth Fury (Dwarf) and Savage (Orc). On October 26 Blizzard announced that for launch Ruthless drops to 1%, Earth Fury is replaced by Artisan's Precision, and Savage gives way to Command.
• New racials: Will to Survive (Human), Big Game Hunter (Dwarf), Elune's Light (Night Elf), Eureka! (Gnome), Shatter Curse (Orc), Touch of the Grave (Undead), Plainsrunning (Tauren) and Rapid Regeneration (Troll).
• Familiar racials changed: Stoneform reduces Physical damage instead of raising Armor, Find Treasure stacks with other tracking, Will of the Forsaken no longer grants immunity, Cannibalize now restores Mana too, and Escape Artist is instant with 3 sec of immunity.

Every race page opens with a "Classic → WoW Forever" table covering these differences.

The Skyborne: one race, two factions

The Skyborne are the only new race. You pick a side at character creation, and that decides one class and one racial:

• High Order (Alliance): can be a Mage and has Read Ley Line.
• Windshapers (Horde): can be a Shaman and has Skysight.

Both can be Warrior, Hunter, Rogue and Druid, and both share Walk on Air, Wind Blessed and Elemental Insight.

There's one requirement no other race has: you need the Skyborne Heroic Pack or a higher edition to unlock the race and its starting zone. Wowhead reports a $29.99 price. Forever itself comes with your subscription, so the other eight races don't cost anything extra. The full story is in our Skyborne article.

What could still change

• The numbers. It's a beta and Blizzard tunes every week; Eureka! changed on September 24, and on October 15 many racials were reworked (mainly the crit ones, Tauren, Skyborne, Undead and Troll). We update the race pages with every build.
• More race and class combinations, announced for later with no date.
• Race or faction change services. There's no official announcement of either for Forever, so pick as if it's permanent.

Frequently asked questions

Which race should I pick for PvP in WoW Forever?

It depends on which crowd control bothers you most. Will to Survive (Human) removes Stuns, Will of the Forsaken (Undead) removes Fear, Charm and Sleep, Escape Artist (Gnome) frees you from Roots with 3 sec of immunity, Stoneform (Dwarf) removes Poisons and Bleeds, and Shatter Curse (Orc) removes Curses and reduces Magical damage by 5% (since October 15 it no longer grants immunity). There are no level-60 matches yet to say which matters most.

Which race should I pick for raids and dungeons in WoW Forever?

Blizzard says racials are tuned for similar offensive power. The active offensive ones are Blood Fury (Orc), Berserking (Troll), Elune's Light (Night Elf) and Eureka! (Gnome). Raids open December 9 and values can still change before then.

What does Eureka!, the Gnome racial, do?

For 8 seconds, your non-periodic damaging abilities cost 10% less Mana, Rage or Energy and deal 10% more damage. It has a 2 min cooldown. Since October 15 it's an 8-second buff with no charges (it used to cover your next three abilities) and it also boosts Power Word: Shield. Since September 24 it's 10% for every class; before that it went up to 50% for Mages and Warlocks.

Which races can play the most classes in WoW Forever?

Human and Troll, with seven classes each. Dwarf, Orc and Undead follow with six. Tauren is the most limited, with four: Warrior, Hunter, Shaman and Druid.

Which race and class combinations are new in WoW Forever?

Six: Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Gnome Priest, Orc Mage, Undead Paladin and Troll Warlock. On top of that, every Skyborne combination counts, since it's a new race.

Does race matter if I play a Priest?

Yes, more than for any other class: every Priest race learns two racial spells of its own. Human, Dwarf, Gnome and Undead have one new to Forever (Gnome has two). You'll find them all on the Priest page.

Do you have to pay to play Skyborne?

Yes. The race and its starting zone require the Skyborne Heroic Pack or a higher edition; Wowhead reports a $29.99 price. The other eight races come with the subscription.

Can I play with friends on the other faction in WoW Forever?

No. Horde and Alliance stay separate and can't group up. You can also only group with characters on the same ruleset.

Still undecided?

Take the Which hero are you? quiz, let the race and class randomizer pick for you, or compare two races side by side on the races page.