All playable races in WoW Classic have unique abilities, known as “racials”, that work independently of their classes. We show you what the 8 playable races can do and in which situations their skills are worth it.
The skills of playable races in WoW Classic differ in part from those in the retail version, where they have undergone many changes over the last 15 years.
In which areas the races particularly excel has also changed. To ensure that newcomers, returning players, and veterans do not lose track, we show you all the skills of the races here in detail.
PvE or PvP: Which race is worth it?
If you want to get the most out of your character, choosing the right race in WoW Classic is important to maximize every percentage from your character. Pay attention to this when you have decided what you primarily want to do in WoW Classic:
The strongest racial skills and races in PvP
- Undead: You have the ability to escape many control effects every 2 minutes and become immune. Particularly strong in battlegrounds like Arathi Basin.
- Dwarves: Dwarves can remove poisons, bleed effects, and diseases, allowing them to circumvent the basic mechanics of many other classes to win a fight.
Tip for PvP: Get the addon “ClassicCastbars”, which lets you see what the opponent is casting. “ClassicCastbars” is one of our 6 addons that are really worth it for Classic.
The strongest racial skills and races in PvE
- Trolls: With “Berserker”, you have something like your own little battle frenzy, and “Beast Slaughter” helps you both in questing and later in some raids like Zul’Gurub when dealing damage.
- Gnomes: Due to the increased intelligence of gnomes, especially spell-casting classes benefit from more mana and an increased critical hit chance on spells. Escape Artist helps you escape from threatening situations in raids and dungeons.
The best versatile racial skills and races
If you can’t decide or want to explicitly engage in both PvP and PvE later, you should choose humans or orcs. Both races are particularly versatile and provide advantages in both areas without being overly strong on either side.
Which race-class combination is worth it?
The nine available classes in WoW Classic each have advantages and disadvantages that can be amplified or mitigated by racial skills.
Some classes benefit more or less from the racial bonuses. Our guide will help you in choosing the best race-class combination in WoW Classic.
Your class choice should not only depend on the race. It also depends on your playstyle – and whether you want to find friends:
Racial skills of the Horde in WoW Classic
The playable races are divided into four races each for the Alliance and the Horde. For clarity, we show them to you separately here. The Horde has access to orcs, trolls, undead, and tauren in WoW Classic.
Orcs
The racial skills of the orcs:
- Axe specialization (passive): Skill with axes and two-handed axes is increased by 5.
- Commanding (passive): Companions of hunters and warlocks deal 5% more damage.
- Toughness (passive): 25% increased chance to resist stun effects.
- Blood Fury: Increases the base value of attack power by 25% for 15 seconds. However, the healing received is reduced by 50% for 25 seconds. 2-minute cooldown.
Orcs excel in: Thanks to “Commanding”, orcs are a beginner-friendly race that is particularly good for leveling with their companions as warlocks and hunters. However, they are also extremely effective in raids, dungeons, and PvP due to increased damage and resistance to stuns.
Trolls
The racial skills of the trolls:
- Bow specialization (passive): Skill with bows is increased by 5.
- Throwing weapon specialization (passive): Skill with throwing weapons is increased by 5.
- Beast Slaughter (passive): You deal 5% more damage to beasts.
- Regeneration (passive): Health regeneration is increased by 10%. Additionally, 10% of total health regeneration continues during combat.
- Berserker: Attack and spell casting speed is increased by 10-30% for 10 seconds. The lower the troll’s health, the stronger the effect. 3-minute cooldown. Consumes 7% of base mana, 5 rage, or 10 energy upon activation.
Trolls excel in: Trolls are particularly useful as hunters in PvE due to their abilities, as they can deal more damage and relieve healers in longer fights. They also make a good choice as healers, as they can heal better in dangerous situations with “Berserker”.
Undead
The racial skills of the undead:
- Shadow resistance (passive): Increases shadow resistance by 10.
- Underwater breathing (passive): The breath of undead lasts 300% longer while diving. They drown later.
- Cannibalize: Consumes a humanoid or undead corpse to restore 7% of maximum hit points every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Damage taken or movement breaks the effect. 2-minute cooldown.
- Will of the Forsaken: Grants immunity to charm, fear, and sleep for 5 seconds. Corresponding effects are removed upon activation. 2-minute cooldown.
Undead excel in: Through their ability to quickly heal from corpses, stronger resistance to shadow damage, and immunity to many control effects, undead are particularly feared opponents in PvP.
Tauren
The racial skills of the tauren:
- Endurance (passive): Increases total health by 5%.
- Green Thumb (passive): Increases herbalism skill by 15.
- Nature resistance (passive): Increases nature resistance by 10.
- War Stomp: Stuns all enemies within 8 meters for 2 seconds upon activation.
Tauren excel in: Due to their increased health and the ability to stun all opponents, tauren are particularly useful in PvE as tanks. The resistance against nature damage doesn’t help them much in PvP, since on the Alliance side only druids primarily deal nature damage, no other class.
Racial skills of the Alliance in WoW Classic
For the Alliance, humans, gnomes, dwarves, and night elves are available. Here are their abilities.
Humans
The racial skills of the humans:
- Diplomacy (passive): Humans gain 10% more reputation.
- Sword specialization (passive): Skill with swords and two-handed swords is increased by 5.
- Mace specialization (passive): Skill with maces and two-handed maces is increased by 5.
- Unyielding (passive): Increases willpower by 5%.
- Vigilance: Dramatically increases stealth detection for 20 seconds. 3-minute cooldown.
Humans excel in: Similar to orcs, humans are strong in every area without standing out particularly. They are a good choice as a starter race on the Alliance side.
Dwarves
The racial skills of the dwarves:
- Frost resistance (passive): Increases frost resistance by 10.
- Treasure Hunter (passive): Dwarves can see treasures (chests) on the minimap.
- Gun specialization (passive): Increases firearm skill by 5.
- Stoneform: Grants immunity to bleeding, poison, and disease for 8 seconds upon activation, also increases armor by 10%. 3-minute cooldown.
Dwarves excel in: Dwarves have a particular advantage in PvP with Stoneform against many classes. The frost resistance can also make a decisive difference, especially in combat against mages and shamans.
Night Elves
The racial skills of the night elves:
- Shadowmorph (passive): When dying, the night elf transforms into a wisp, gaining a 50% speed boost.
- Nature resistance (passive): Increases nature resistance by 10.
- Agility (passive): Increases chance to dodge by 1%.
- Shadowmeld: Upon activation, stealth is activated, making it harder for enemies to detect the night elf. Cannot be used in combat. Night elf rogues and night elf druids passively receive an additional bonus to their stealth and are even harder to detect. 10-second cooldown.
Night elves excel in: The abilities of night elves do not provide significant advantages in combat. Only the increased dodge chance is useful but negligible. However, due to Shadowmorph, night elves are faster in the open world in both PvE and PvP when they are killed, which at least saves time.
Gnomes
The racial skills of the gnomes:
- Arcane resistance (passive): Increases arcane resistance by 10.
- Technologist (passive): Increases engineering skill by 15.
- Alert Mind (passive): Increases intelligence by 5%.
- Escape Artist: When used, you escape from all effects that cause mobility impairment or slow you down. 1-minute cooldown.
Gnomes excel in: The combination of abilities benefits gnomes particularly in PvE as mages or warlocks. Abilities such as Escape Artist and Technologist are, however, also useful in PvP. Bombs and dynamite provide a distinct advantage in open PvP combat.
