WoW Forever Racials: All Race Abilities & Classes

WoW Forever gives every race four racials, two active and two passive, according to Blizzard’s BlizzCon deep dive. The racials below come from the WoW Forever beta client data, so the numbers can still change before launch on 4 November 2026.

There are ten playable races. The Skyborne, WoW Forever’s new high elf race, pick Alliance (High Order) or Horde (Windshaper) at character creation, and the two versions share Walk on Air, Elemental Insight and Wind Blessed but differ in their fourth racial: Read Leyline for the Alliance and Skysight for the Horde. The Skyborne racials are new to World of Warcraft, so they have no Classic version to compare with.

Which classes each WoW Forever race can play

Six race and class combinations are new in WoW Forever: Gnome Priest, Human Hunter and Dwarf Shaman for the Alliance, and Orc Mage, Troll Warlock and Undead Paladin for the Horde. They are marked “New” below; ✓ marks the other playable combinations.

Race	Faction	Warrior	Paladin	Hunter	Rogue	Priest	Shaman	Mage	Warlock	Druid
Human	Alliance	✓	✓	New	✓	✓	–	✓	✓	–
Dwarf	Alliance	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	New	–	–	–
Night Elf	Alliance	✓	–	✓	✓	✓	–	–	–	✓
Gnome	Alliance	✓	–	–	✓	New	–	✓	✓	–
Skyborne (Alliance)	Alliance	✓	–	✓	✓	–	–	✓	–	✓
Orc	Horde	✓	–	✓	✓	–	✓	New	✓	–
Undead	Horde	✓	New	–	✓	✓	–	✓	✓	–
Tauren	Horde	✓	–	✓	–	–	✓	–	–	✓
Troll	Horde	✓	–	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	New	–
Skyborne (Horde)	Horde	✓	–	✓	✓	–	✓	–	–	✓

WoW Forever racials by race

Racials do not use talent points, so they are not part of the WoW Forever talent calculator. Pick your race here, then plan your class in its talent calculator, for example the Warrior talents or Paladin talents for an Undead Paladin.

Human racials (Alliance)

• Ruthless: Increases your critical strike chance with all spells and attacks by 2%.
• The Human Spirit: Spirit increased by 5%.
• Perception: Instant, 3 min cooldown. Dramatically increases stealth detection for 20 sec.
• Will to Survive: Instant, 3 min cooldown. Instantly removes all Stun effects.

Classes: Warrior, Paladin, Hunter, Rogue, Priest, Mage, Warlock.

Dwarf racials (Alliance)

• Find Treasure: Instant. Allows the dwarf to sense nearby treasure, making it appear on the minimap. Lasts until canceled.
• Stoneform: Instant, 3 min cooldown. Instantly removes and grants immunity to all Bleed, Poison, and Disease effects, and reduces all Physical damage taken by 10% for 8 sec.
• Earth Fury: Increases your critical strike bonus to damage and healing by 2%.
• Big Game Hunter: Damage dealt versus Beasts increased by 5%.

Classes: Warrior, Paladin, Hunter, Rogue, Priest, Shaman.

Night Elf racials (Alliance)

• Shadowmeld: Instant, 10 sec cooldown. Activate to slip into the shadows, reducing the chance for enemies to detect your presence. Lasts until cancelled or upon moving. Using this ability in combat discourages enemies from attacking you, but increases the cooldown to 2 min.
• Quickness: Dodge chance increased by 1% and movement speed increased by 2%. Night Elf Rogues and Druids are harder to detect in Stealth as if they were 1 level higher.
• Wisp Spirit: Transform into a wisp upon death, increasing movement speed by 75%.
• Elune’s Light: Instant, 3 min cooldown. Increases your critical strike chance with all spells and attacks by 10% for 15 sec.

Classes: Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Priest, Druid.

Gnome racials (Alliance)

• Escape Artist: Instant, 2 min cooldown. Instantly escape the effects of any movement impairing effect and gain immunity to those effects for 3 sec.
• Expansive Mind: Maximum Mana, Rage or Energy increased by 5%, whichever your class uses.
• Engineering Specialization: Your gnomish ingenuity reduces the rate of engineering devices failing or backfiring when you use them by 20%.
• Eureka!: Instant, 2 min cooldown. For 8 sec, your non-periodic damaging abilities cost 10% less (Mana, Rage or Energy) and deal 10% more damage. For Priests, your non-periodic damaging or healing abilities cost 10% less Mana and do 10% more damage or healing. Periodic effects get nothing from it; a channeled spell is not periodic. The Mage’s own tooltip is the one that leaves out non-periodic.

Classes: Warrior, Rogue, Priest, Mage, Warlock.

Skyborne (High Order) racials (Alliance)

• Walk on Air: Instant, 1.5 min cooldown. Glide downward through the air for 10 sec while controlling your direction of travel.
• Read Leyline: 2 sec cast, 2 min cooldown. Attempt to tap into the power of a nearby leyline, increasing your Health and Mana regeneration by 100%. Lasts 30 sec if no leyline is nearby, and 15 min if one is found.
• Elemental Insight: Damage dealt versus Elementals increased by 5%.
• Wind Blessed: Increases your spellcasting, melee, and ranged Haste by 3%.

Classes: Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Mage, Druid.

Orc racials (Horde)

• Blood Fury: Instant, 3 min cooldown. Increases Attack Power and Spell Power by 10% for 15 sec.
• Hardiness: Duration of Stun effects on you reduced by 20%.
• Savage: Increases your critical strike chance with all spells and abilities by 1%.
• Shatter Curse: Instant, 3 min cooldown. Instantly removes all Curses and Banes, and reduces all Magical damage taken by 5% for 8 sec.

Classes: Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Shaman, Mage, Warlock.

Undead racials (Horde)

• Underwater Breathing: Underwater breath lasts 300% longer than normal.
• Will of the Forsaken: Instant, 2 min cooldown. Instantly removes all Charm, Fear and Sleep effects.
• Cannibalize: 5 yd range, Instant, 2 min cooldown. When activated, regenerates 7% of total Health and 7% of total Mana every 2 sec for 10 sec. Only works on Humanoid or Undead corpses within 5 yds. Any movement, action, or damage taken while Cannibalizing will cancel the effect.
• Touch of the Grave: Your spells and attacks with a damage part have a chance (30% for casters, 20% for Paladins, Rogues and Warriors) to drain Health from the target, up to 5% of your maximum Health. 25 sec internal cooldown. Does not break crowd control.

Classes: Warrior, Paladin, Rogue, Priest, Mage, Warlock.

Tauren racials (Horde)

• War Stomp: 0.5 sec cast, 1.5 min cooldown. Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yds for 2 sec.
• Endurance: Total Health increased by 5% and critical strike bonus to damage and healing increased by 2%.
• Cultivation: Instant. Cultivate a nearby herb, growing a duplicate you can harvest without requiring Herbalism skill. Each herb may only be cultivated once. In play it goes on a 15 min cooldown, though its tooltip shows none.
• Plainsrunning: Gain 1% increased movement speed every 5 sec spent moving, up to a maximum of 30% increase. Taking damage or standing still will reduce this effect. In addition, you move 3% faster while mounted.

Classes: Warrior, Hunter, Shaman, Druid.

Troll racials (Horde)

• Berserking: Instant, 3 min cooldown. Increases your spellcasting and attack speed by 10% for 10 sec.
• Regeneration: Health regeneration rate increased by 20%. In addition, 20% of total Health regeneration will continue during combat.
• Beast Slaying: Damage dealt versus Beasts increased by 5%.
• Rapid Regeneration: Channeled, 3 min cooldown. Regenerate 50% of your maximum Health over 6 sec. Any movement, action, or damage taken will cancel the effect.

Classes: Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Priest, Shaman, Mage, Warlock.

Skyborne (Windshaper) racials (Horde)

• Walk on Air: Instant, 1.5 min cooldown. Glide downward through the air for 10 sec while controlling your direction of travel.
• Skysight: 0.5 sec cast, 2 min cooldown. Attempt to draw power from a convergence of elements and receive its blessing, increasing your movement and mounted movement speeds by 10%. Lasts 30 sec if no elemental convergence is nearby, and 15 min if one is found.
• Elemental Insight: Damage dealt versus Elementals increased by 5%.
• Wind Blessed: Increases your spellcasting, melee, and ranged Haste by 3%.

Classes: Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Shaman, Druid.

Notable racial changes from Classic

Several Classic racials work differently now. At BlizzCon, Blizzard’s deep dive named a few: Dwarven Stoneform reduces Physical damage taken, Find Treasure can stay active alongside other tracking, and Big Game Hunter adds damage against Beasts. Undead Will of the Forsaken no longer grants immunity to Charm, Fear and Sleep, Cannibalize restores Mana as well as Health, and Touch of the Grave is new.

Racial changes in beta build 1.60.1.70425

The October beta build 1.60.1.70425 changed nine of the ten races compared with build 1.60.1.70291 from early October:

• The weapon racials are gone. Human Sword Specialization is now Ruthless (2% critical strike chance with any weapon), Dwarf Mace Specialization is now Earth Fury (2% more critical strike damage and healing) and Orc Axe Specialization is now Savage (1% critical strike chance with any weapon). Your weapon no longer decides your racial bonus.
• Tauren: Endurance trades its 1% hit chance for 2% more critical strike damage and healing, War Stomp’s cooldown drops from 2 min to 1.5 min, Plainsrunning also makes you 3% faster while mounted, and Cultivation goes on a 15 min cooldown instead of 1 hour.
• Undead: Touch of the Grave procs far more often, 30% for casters and 20% for Paladins, Rogues and Warriors, but now has a 25 sec internal cooldown instead of 1 sec.
• Troll: Regeneration doubles to 20% Health regeneration, and 20% of it continues in combat.
• Orc: Blood Fury’s cooldown rises from 2 min to 3 min, and Shatter Curse no longer grants immunity to Curses and cuts Magical damage by 5% instead of 15%.
• Gnome: Eureka! now lasts 8 sec instead of covering your next 3 abilities.
• Skyborne: Wind Blessed rises from 1% to 3% Haste, Walk on Air’s cooldown drops to 1.5 min, and Read Leyline lasts 30 sec instead of 15 sec when no leyline is nearby.

These are beta numbers. The racial lists above always show the latest build this site has imported.

Questions players ask about WoW Forever racials

What is the best race for a Warrior in WoW Forever?

It depends on what you value, and many guides still show the old numbers. As of build 1.60.1.70425, Warriors can be any of the ten races. Humans and Orcs get critical strike chance with any weapon (Ruthless 2%, Savage 1%), Orcs add Blood Fury and shorter stuns, Dwarves and Tauren get 2% more critical strike damage, Tauren also get 5% more Health and War Stomp, Trolls get Berserking and faster regeneration, and Skyborne get 3% Haste. Weapon choice no longer changes any race’s bonus.

What are the Skyborne racials?

Both Skyborne share Walk on Air (a 10 sec glide on a 1.5 min cooldown), Elemental Insight (5% more damage against Elementals) and Wind Blessed (3% Haste). The Alliance High Order add Read Leyline, which doubles Health and Mana regeneration, and the Horde Windshaper add Skysight, which raises movement speed by 10%; both last 30 sec, or 15 min near a leyline or an elemental convergence.