WoW Forever Races and Classes

Updated October 26: Blizzard has announced another racial tuning pass. Orc’s pet bonus returns, Dwarves gain hit chance, and Tauren lose their mounted-speed bonus. If those benefits influenced your race choice, check the revised tables before committing to a character.

The race/class roster comes from Blizzard’s September 22 guide. Racial values below include the October 15 beta changes, posted October 16 UTC, and the October 26 announcement. The new post gives no client build or regional rollout time; the beta remains closed. These are announced values, not an in-game test or a guarantee against further tuning.

Choosing a Skyborne faction

Both factions can play Warrior, Hunter, Rogue and Druid. Horde Windshaper Skyborne can also be Shamans; Alliance High Order Skyborne can also be Mages.

Skyborne begin on Zephras Isle. Check the character planner before choosing a faction: your class options differ between Horde and Alliance.

Choosing Skyborne for the model style?

Blizzard says Standard Definition Skyborne player characters and SD Druid forms are in development for early 2027. No exact date or launch availability is promised. If the older model style is part of your race choice, do not plan on selecting it for Skyborne at launch.

Blizzard previews revised HD Skyborne Druid forms with more detailed fur, less softness and adjusted colour saturation. These HD revisions are distinct from the later SD Druid forms. Blizzard’s October 7 preview separates the two projects; it does not give a live beta rollout time for the revised HD forms.

Full race and class matrix

Horde

Race	Available classes
Orc	Hunter, Mage, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior
Tauren	Druid, Hunter, Shaman, Warrior
Troll	Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior
Forsaken	Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior
Windshaper Skyborne	Druid, Hunter, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior

Alliance

Race	Available classes
Dwarf	Hunter, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior
Gnome	Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior
Human	Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior
Night Elf	Druid, Hunter, Priest, Rogue, Warrior
High Order Skyborne	Druid, Hunter, Mage, Rogue, Warrior

The six headline additions to the familiar Classic combinations are Gnome Priest, Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Forsaken Paladin, Orc Mage and Troll Warlock.

Racial abilities

The October 26 changes restore some race-specific strengths, including Orc pet damage. They do not restore weapon specialization racials, so choosing Human, Orc or Dwarf does not require building around the old racial weapon types.

Race	Active racials	Passive racials
Orc	Blood Fury: +10% Attack Power and Spell Power for 15 sec; 3 min cooldown. Shatter Curse: dispels Curses and Banes and reduces magic damage taken by 5%.	Command: +5% Hunter and Warlock pet damage; replaces Savage. Hardiness: stun durations reduced by 20%.
Forsaken	Will of the Forsaken: removes Charm, Fear and Sleep. Cannibalize: restores 35% Health and Mana over time from corpses.	Underwater Breathing: breathe 300% longer underwater. Touch of the Grave: attacks can drain health.
Tauren	War Stomp: stuns nearby enemies for 2 sec; 90 sec cooldown. Cultivation: grow bonus herbs that do not require Herbalism to gather; 15 min cooldown.	Plainsrunning: +2% movement speed per stack, up to +60%; no mounted-speed bonus. Endurance: +5% Health only. Stutter-stepping no longer maintains Plainsrunning.
Troll	Berserking: +10% casting and attack speed for 10 sec. Rapid Regeneration: regenerate 50% of maximum Health over time.	Beast Slaying: +5% damage to Beasts. Regeneration: Health regeneration bonuses increased to 20% in the October 15 notes.
Human	Will to Survive: removes Stuns. Perception: detects Stealthed enemies for 20 sec.	Ruthless: +1% critical chance. The Human Spirit: +10% Spirit.
Dwarf	Stoneform: immunity to Bleeds, Poisons and Diseases plus reduced Physical damage taken for 8 sec. Find Treasure: track nearby treasure chests, with a chance of additional items in most chests.	Artisan’s Precision: +1% hit chance with spells and attacks; replaces Earth Fury. Big Game Hunter: +5% damage to Beasts.
Night Elf	Elune’s Light: +10% critical chance for 15 sec. Shadowmeld: gain Stealth while immobile.	Quickness: +1% Dodge and +2% run speed, stacking with other movement-speed increases. Wisp Spirit: +75% run speed while dead.
Gnome	Escape Artist: brief immunity to Roots and Snares. Eureka!: reduced cost and +10% damage or healing for 8 sec, with no charges; also benefits Power Word: Shield.	Expansive Mind: +5% maximum Mana, Rage or Energy. Engineering Specialization: more reliable engineering devices.

Will of the Forsaken cannot be used during Scatter Shot. If you are choosing Forsaken for PvP, do not treat that racial as an answer to every loss-of-control effect.

For race choice, compare the kind of bonus as well as its number: critical chance and critical damage/healing do different jobs. The table is not a universal race ranking for every spec.

Skyborne racials

Both Skyborne variants share three racials and get one faction-specific active ability.

Skyborne	Racial	Effect
Both factions	Walk on Air	Glide downward through the air for 10 seconds; 90-second cooldown.
Both factions	Wind-Blessed	Wind-Blessed: +2% Haste.
Both factions	Elemental Insight	Passive: +5% damage to Elementals.
High Order — Alliance	Read Leyline	Read Leyline: +50% Health and Mana regeneration for 15 seconds; +100% while Attuned. Using it at a Ley Line grants Attuned for 1 hour, persisting through death. Unusable during Innervate; Innervate replaces it.
Windshaper — Horde	Skysight	Skysight: +15% movement speed for 15 seconds; +30% while Charged. Using it at an elemental convergence grants Charged for 1 hour, persisting through death.

The hour-long effects are preparation buffs. Attuned and Charged strengthen later uses of the relevant racial; each use still lasts 15 seconds. Neither promises an hour of uninterrupted regeneration or movement speed. Both actives remain castable while moving, as stated in the earlier October 15 notes.

Class quests are getting new chapters

Some Season of Discovery class questlines return in Forever, alongside new class quests and expansions to existing chains. The full list is still emerging.

Search the Quest Atlas for the quests and NPCs players are finding during beta.

Considering a Paladin?

If Classic’s tanking limitations put you off, Blizzard’s October 15 Paladin deep dive changes the starting point: Seal of Fury arrives at level 10, and Judgement becomes your taunt while that seal is active. Its range is 10 yards, so plan your position rather than expecting a long-range rescue. Judgement no longer consumes your active seal.

Consecration is baseline at level 20. It deals meaningful damage to the first four enemies and much less beyond them; that is not a promise of effortless threat on every mob in a large pull. Start with a manageable pack and watch enemies outside that core group.

The October 15 beta patch now lists those Salvation and Reckoning fixes as delivered: Salvation/Mass Salvation can coexist with Blessings, Revoke removes Salvation from a party or raid member, and Reckoning stores up to four charges for your next melee swing. Consecration’s Spell Power coefficient per tick falls from 0.095 to 0.042, while Righteous Fury’s Holy-damage threat bonus rises from 60% to 90%. Reassess threat with your current gear instead of assuming the damage change tells the whole story. Explore the Paladin talent tree to compare roles, but keep this class overview separate from an exact build recommendation.

Build your next main

Explore all nine classes in the talent calculator, or start with a creator build. Compare the choices, load one into the calculator and save your own version.

Sources & credits

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