Whether you’re a long time Warcraft veteran or just starting your adventures in Azeroth, picking the right race for you can be tricky task. With the release of the World of Warcraft: Forever beta, all of the existing and brand new racial abilities are available, and I’ve collected and categorized them to help you get ahead of the curve before the full release on November 4.

#1: Orc

Active Abilities:
Blood Fury – Instant, 2 min cooldown. Increases Attack Power and Spell Power by 10% for 15 seconds.
Shatter Curse – Instant, 3 min cooldown. Immunity to Curses and Banes and reduces Magical Damage taken by 15% for 8 seconds.
Passive Abilities:
Axe Specialization – Having an axe equipped increases spell and ability crit chance by 1%.
Hardiness – Stun durations decreased by 20%.
Best Classes: Warrior, Rogue, Shaman
Best For: Competitive DPS players, Warlock haters

Orcs have one of the most complete packages in WoW: Forever. Blood Fury is one of the strongest DPS cooldowns in the game, and is especially strong when paired with a melee class that can benefit from the axe crit. It’s important to not that in Forever, Rogues have access to one handed axes, giving Horde Rogues access to a crit racial that was previously alliance exclusive. For PvP enjoyers, Hardiness and Shatter Curse will make you the bane of every caster, especially Warlocks.

#2: Human

Active Abilities:
Will to Survive – Instant, 3 min cooldown. Instantly removes all stun effects.
Perception – Instant, 3 min cooldown. Detects stealthed units for 20 seconds.
Passive Abilities:
Sword Specialization – Having a sword equipped increases spell and ability crit chance by 2%.
The Human Spirit – 5% increased spirit.
Best Classes: Warrior, Paladin, Priest
Best For: Competitive DPS players, PvPers

To make up for their lack of a DPS active, Humans are granted an extra 1% crit over their Orc and Dwarf cousins. Will to Survive and Perception, while almost completely useless in PvE content, can be life savers in PvP when versing Druids or Rogues that can chain-CC you to death from stealth. Will to Survive also counters Paladins, which the Horde now has access to in Forever. The Human Spirit is very strong for Priest and Paladin healers, but especially strong for Holy Priests, who gain increased healing and spell damage by 25% and 5% of their total spirit respectively from the new Spiritual Guidance passive.

#3: Gnome

Active Abilities:
Escape Artist – Instant, 2 min cooldown. Escape any movement impairing effect and gain immunity to them for 3 seconds.
Eureka! – Instant, 2 min cooldown. Your next 3 damaging or healing abilities cost 50%(15% for Priest) less mana, and do 10% more damage or healing.
Passive Abilities:
Expansive Mind – +5% mana, rage, and energy.
Engineering Specialization – Engineering devices fail less often.
Best Classes: Mage, Priest, Warlock
Best For: Caster mains, healers

Eureka! Is one of if not the single strongest racial ability added in WoW history. For that alone, they would be a contender for the top caster race. On top of that, Escape Artist was heavily buffed from Classic, Gnomes have an increased mana pool, and Gnomes two unique Priest abilities are the best out of any race in the game. I foresee Gnome Priests topping the heal list for a long time to come, although hopefully not Forever.

#4: Night Elf

Active Abilities:
Elune’s Light – Instant, 3 min cooldown. Increases your crit chance with all spells and attacks by 10% for 15 seconds.
Shadowmeld – Instant, 10 sec cooldown. Enter stealth until you move. Usable in combat: enemies are discouraged from attacking you, but the cooldown becomes 2 min.
Passive Abilities:
Quickness – 1% increased dodge chance, 2% increased movement speed.
Wisp Spirit – 75% increased movement speed while dead.
Best Classes: Hunter, Druid, Warrior
Best For: Crit addicts, PvPers, open world trolling

Night Elves are shaping up to be the best Druid race in the game with their insane crit chance buff from Elune’s Light and ability to kite enemies and tank better with Quickness. Although it will likely be less damage over an extended fight, Elune’s Light is incredibly strong in PvP for every class. As always, Shadowmeld proves an effective option for trolling people in the open world if you enjoy camping corpses, herb/ore nodes, or quest mob locations. Night Elf Hunters in particular will enjoy the ability to kite enemies with the increased movement speed at all times.

#5: Undead

Active Abilities:
Will of the Forsaken – Instant, 2 min cooldown. Removes all Charm, Fear, and Sleep effects.
Cannibalize – Channeled, 2 min cooldown. Regenerates 7% of total health and mana every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Requires a humanoid corpse.
Passive Abilities:
Underwater Breathing – Breathe underwater 300% longer.
Touch of the Grave – Your spells and attacks have a 5% chance to drain health from the target, up to 5% of your maximum health.
Best Classes: Paladin, Warlock, Priest
Best For: PvPers, careful levelers, Horde Paladins

The Forsaken have always been a PvP staple, but the buffs to Cannibalize make their PvP even stronger, and the new Touch of the Grave gives them potentially insane tankiness in both PvE and PvP. For those that want to be full health and mana before every fight, the Cannibalize buffs make leveling a breeze.

#6: Tauren

Active Abilities:
War Stomp – 0.5 sec cast, 2 min cooldown. Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yds for 2 seconds.
Cultivation – Grow bonus herbs without Herbalism.
Passive Abilities:
Plainsrunning – Gain increased movement speed the longer you keep running.
Endurance – Total health is increased by 5%, chance to hit is increased by 1%.
Best Classes: Druid, Hunter, Shaman
Best For: Gold farmers, impatient levelers

One of the most demanded Classic+ changes was the reintroduction of Plainsrunning, which was removed from the game in beta. Even though it returned in a notably weak state (taking over two minutes to fully ramp up to 30% movespeed), any amount of bonus speed is noticed in Forever, where it could take the average player 100 or more hours to get their first mount. The rest of the passives are solid as ever but the lack of any substantial DPS increase besides 1% hit chance leaves them squarely in the “just OK” tier.

#7: Dwarf

Active Abilities:
Stoneform – Instant, 3 min cooldown. Removes and grants immunity to all bleed, poison, and disease effects. Reduces physical damage taken by 10% for 8 seconds.
Find Treasure – sense nearby treasure and show it on the minimap. Lasts until cancelled.
Passive Abilities:
Mace Specialization – Having a mace equipped increases spell and ability crit chance by 1%.
Big Game Hunter – Deal 5% increased damage to beasts.
Best Classes: Rogue, Shaman, Paladin
Best For: Off-meta tanks, Alliance Shamans

Dwarves have once again been cursed with an underwhelming selection of racials, and this time around every Priest has access to Fear Ward. Their selection is particularly bad when contrasted against the other choices afforded to the Alliance. If you are a competitive player, I would only recommend Dwarves for Shaman mains who want to play Alliance and those who will be attempting off-meta tanking strategies as Rogue or Shaman tanks.

#8: Skyborne

Active Abilities:
Walk on Air – Instant, 2 min cooldown. Glide swiftly through the air for 10 seconds.
(If Horde) Skysight – 0.5 sec cast, 2 min cooldown. Gain 10% increased movement speed for 30 seconds, or 15 minutes if an elemental convergence is nearby.
(If Alliance) Read Ley Line – 2 sec cast, 2 min cooldown. Gain 100% increased health and mana regeneration for 15 seconds, or 15 minutes if a ley line is nearby.
Passive Abilities:
Wind Blessed – 1% increased melee, ranged, and spellcasting haste.
Elemental Insight – Damage to elementals increased by 5%
Best Classes: Rogue, Druid, Shaman (if Horde) or Mage (if Alliance)
Best For: Those who love traversing the open world in creative ways, experiencing a new starting zone and lore, or roleplaying as a completely new original race.

Skyborne is the controversial new kid on the block, but their racials are very much uncontroversial. The most stand out is the 1% haste being really good for casters. If you don’t care about playing the most optimal race for doing damage or getting the most kills, Skyborne have an incredible new starting zone experience, hunting the open world for ley lines and convergences is fun, and finding heights to glide off of to speed yourself up is easily one of my favorite things about the beta so far. Their lore, while being something many people worried about, pleasantly surprised me with its faithfulness to the Classic WoW style. Skyborne are also best-in-slot for anyone wanting to be a beautiful elf on the Horde (suck it Blood Elves!)

#9: Troll

Active Abilities:
Berserking – Instant, 3 min cooldown. Increases cast and attack speed by 10% for 10 seconds.
Rapid Regeneration – Channeled, 3 min cooldown. Regenerate 50% of your maximum health over 6 seconds.
Passive Abilities:
Beast Slaying – Deal 5% increase damage to beasts
Regeneration – 10% of health regen continues in combat.
Best Classes: Warlock, Hunter, Mage
Best For: Off-meta hunter tank memes, being hard to kill in PvP

Although Berserking is an incredibly strong ability on its own, the rest of the Troll package is underwhelming at best. Rapid Regeneration is the same as a bandage, practically useless in PvE and niche in PvP. I theorize that, combined with the new Hunter talent that provides regeneration to you and your pet, a dubiously viable tank Hunter could be crafted for dungeons or PvP. Overall, quite weak.

Final Rankings and Tier List

S Tier (Meta defining) – Orc, Human, Gnome
A Tier (Strong picks) – Undead, Night Elf
B Tier (Average) – Tauren
C Tier (Needs buffs) – Dwarf
D Tier (Noticeably weak) – Skyborne, Troll

I was shocked on launch day to see just how competitive and varied the selection of racials was for most races in the WoW: Forever beta. What do you plan on playing during the full release? If it’s an Alliance race, I can’t wait to fight you in the new PvP battleground. Regardless of your allegiances, we would love to discuss all things WoW: Forever on our Facebook group or our Discord.

Featured Image: Blizzard Entertainment

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