Best Race for Every Class in WoW Forever

How we pick

• PvE (questing, dungeons, raids): more damage or healing, more resources, fewer deaths.
• PvP: breaking out of stuns, fears and slows. In PvP, one escape on a 2–3 minute cooldown often matters more than 1–2% crit.
• Skyborne need the Skyborne Heroic Pack (a paid race). We list them where they fit, but never as the only choice.

What changed on October 15

• Weapon specializations removed. Instead:
  • Humans get Ruthless (+2% crit chance with all spells and attacks, whatever weapon you use).
  • Orcs get Savage (+1% crit chance with all spells and abilities).
  • Dwarves get Earth Fury (+2% critical damage and critical healing).
• Tauren: Endurance still gives +5% health, and now +2% critical damage and healing instead of hit chance. War Stomp has a 90-second cooldown, and Plainsrunning also speeds up mounts.
• Orc:
  • Blood Fury has a 3-minute cooldown.
  • Shatter Curse now removes all curses and banes instead of granting immunity.
  • Shatter Curse reduces magic damage by 5% (was 15%).
• Undead: Touch of the Grave triggers far more often: a 30% chance for casters and 20% for Paladins, Rogues and Warriors, with a 25-second internal cooldown. It drains up to 5% of your maximum health.
• Others:
  • Trolls: the health regeneration bonus goes up from 10% to 20%, and 20% of your total health regeneration keeps working in combat.
  • Night Elf Quickness stacks with other speed bonuses.
  • Gnome Eureka! now lasts 8 seconds: abilities cost 10% less and deal 10% more damage. What counts depends on class and resource: with Rage and Energy it only applies to non-periodic damaging abilities, and for Priests the development notes say it also covers Power Word: Shield. Details per class on the Gnome page.
  • Skyborne Wind Blessed gives 3% haste.

Sources: the official development notes from October 15 and the tooltips from the beta game data. official

Overview

Class	Alliance – PvE	Alliance – PvP	Horde – PvE	Horde – PvP
Warrior	Human / Night Elf	Human	Orc / Tauren	Orc / Undead
Paladin	Human / Dwarf	Human	Undead (only choice)	Undead
Hunter	Night Elf / Human	Night Elf	Orc / Troll	Orc
Rogue	Human / Night Elf	Human / Gnome	Orc / Undead	Undead
Priest	Human / Dwarf	Dwarf / Human	Undead / Troll	Undead
Shaman	Dwarf (only choice)	Dwarf	Orc / Tauren	Tauren / Orc
Mage	Human / Gnome	Gnome / Human	Undead / Troll	Undead
Warlock	Human / Gnome	Human / Gnome	Undead / Orc	Undead
Druid	Night Elf	Night Elf	Tauren	Tauren

Warrior

Alliance

• Human: Ruthless gives +2% crit chance with all spells and attacks. You're no longer tied to swords.
• Night Elf: Elune's Light (+10% crit chance for 15 seconds, 3 min cooldown) is a strong burst on demand.
• Dwarf: Earth Fury (+2% critical damage) and Stoneform, which removes bleeds, poisons and diseases and reduces physical damage taken by 10% for 8 seconds.
• PvP: Human. Will to Survive instantly removes all stun effects (3 min cooldown).

Horde

• Orc: Blood Fury (+10% Attack Power for 15 seconds, now a 3 min cooldown), Savage (+1% crit chance), and Hardiness shortens stuns on you by 20%.
• Tauren: Endurance gives +5% health and now +2% critical damage, and War Stomp (now 90 seconds) stuns up to 5 enemies.
• PvP: Orc for Hardiness, or Undead for Will of the Forsaken (removes all charm, fear and sleep effects) and the stronger Touch of the Grave.

Talent planner and builds · BiS list

Paladin

Alliance

• Human for Ruthless (+2% crit chance with all spells and attacks).
• Dwarf for Earth Fury: +2% critical healing makes it a good fit for Holy Paladins.
• PvP: Human for Will to Survive against stuns.

Horde

• Only Undead can be a Paladin on the Horde side. That's new in WoW Forever.
• For Paladins, Touch of the Grave now triggers with a 20% chance and drains health from the target, and Will of the Forsaken breaks fears.

Talent planner and builds · BiS list

Hunter

Alliance

• Night Elf: Elune's Light, plus Shadowmeld and +1% dodge.
• Human: Hunters are new for Humans in WoW Forever, and Ruthless now works with every weapon (+2% crit chance with all spells and attacks).
• Dwarf: Earth Fury (+2% critical damage) and Big Game Hunter (+5% damage against beasts).
• PvP: Night Elf for Shadowmeld.

Horde

• Orc: Blood Fury and Savage.
• Troll: Berserking (+10% attack speed for 10 seconds) and +5% damage against beasts.
• PvP: Orc for shorter stuns.

Talent planner and builds · BiS list

Rogue

Alliance

• Human: Ruthless (+2% crit chance) and Will to Survive.
• Night Elf: Elune's Light, and Night Elf rogues are harder to detect in stealth (Quickness).
• Gnome: Escape Artist against slows and roots, plus a rogue version of Eureka!.
• PvP: Human (stun break) or Gnome (Escape Artist).

Horde

• Orc: Blood Fury and Savage.
• Undead: Touch of the Grave (now a 20% chance for Rogues) and Will of the Forsaken.
• PvP: Undead for the fear break.

Talent planner and builds · BiS list

Priest

Alliance

• Human: Ruthless (+2% crit chance with all spells and attacks).
• Dwarf: Earth Fury gives +2% critical healing, plus Stoneform. It's a strong pick for healers.
• Gnome: new for Priests in WoW Forever, with a priest version of Eureka!.
• Night Elf for Shadow Priests: Elune's Light (+10% crit chance for 15 seconds).
• PvP: Dwarf for Stoneform, or Human for the stun break.

Horde

• Undead: Touch of the Grave now triggers 30% of the time for casters, and Will of the Forsaken breaks fears.
• Troll: Berserking (+10% casting speed for 10 seconds).
• PvP: Undead.

Talent planner and builds · BiS list

Shaman

Alliance

• Dwarf is new in WoW Forever. For the first time, the Alliance can play Shamans. Earth Fury (+2% critical damage and healing) fits every Shaman role, and Stoneform comes with it.
• Dwarves are the only Alliance Shamans. Skyborne Shamans exist only on the Horde side (Windshapers).

Horde

• Orc: Blood Fury raises Attack and Spell Power by 10%.
• Tauren: Endurance gives +5% health and now +2% critical damage and healing, plus War Stomp.
• Troll: Berserking for more casting and attack speed.
• PvP: Tauren for War Stomp (now every 90 seconds), or Orc for shorter stuns.

Talent planner and builds · BiS list

Mage

Alliance

• Human: Ruthless (+2% crit chance with all spells and attacks).
• Gnome: Eureka! (now an 8-second buff) and Escape Artist.
• PvP: Gnome for Escape Artist, or Human for Will to Survive.

Horde

• Undead: Touch of the Grave now triggers 30% of the time for casters.
• Troll: Berserking.
• Orc Mages are new in WoW Forever and benefit from Blood Fury (+10% Spell Power).
• PvP: Undead for the fear break.

Talent planner and builds · BiS list

Warlock

Alliance

• Human: Ruthless and Will to Survive.
• Gnome: Eureka! and Escape Artist.

Horde

• Undead: Touch of the Grave (30% for casters) and Will of the Forsaken.
• Orc: Blood Fury (+10% Spell Power).
• Troll Warlocks are new in WoW Forever.
• PvP: Undead.

Talent planner and builds · BiS list

Druid

Alliance

• Night Elf: Elune's Light, Shadowmeld, and harder to detect in stealth (cat form). Quickness now stacks with other speed bonuses.
• Skyborne of the High Order can also be Druids.

Horde

• Tauren: Endurance gives +5% health and now +2% critical damage and healing, plus War Stomp. Plainsrunning now speeds up mounts too.
• Skyborne Windshapers can also be Druids.

Talent planner and builds · BiS list

The Skyborne (paid race)

• Both factions: Wind Blessed (now +3% haste) and Elemental Insight (+5% damage against elementals).
• Windshapers (Horde): Skysight (+10% movement speed).
• High Order (Alliance): Read Ley Line (+100% health and mana regeneration).
• Both abilities can now be used while moving.
• With 3% haste, the Skyborne are a real option in PvE now. They still have no escape from crowd control, so in PvP the classic races keep the edge.

• Windshapers: Druid, Hunter, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior.
• High Order: Druid, Hunter, Mage, Rogue, Warrior.

More in the Skyborne guide.

All race pages

• Human
• Dwarf
• Night Elf
• Gnome
• Orc
• Undead
• Tauren
• Troll
• Skyborne
• Best race per class

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