WoW Forever classes and races: the nine Classic classes, the Skyborne, six new race-class combinations, and the one class Blizzard has fully detailed

The table shows every race-class pairing Blizzard has confirmed: the original Classic combinations, the six new ones named in the Deep Dive, and the Skyborne rules from the What's Next recap. Combinations Blizzard has not mentioned are marked as such rather than assumed either way; Blizzard has said 'more planned for future updates'.

Two Skyborne facts drive the last two columns. A Skyborne picks Horde or Alliance at character creation; Horde-aligned Skyborne 'embrace elemental traditions and gain access to the Shaman class', Alliance-aligned Skyborne 'pursue the arcane legacy of their ancestors and gain access to the Mage class', and 'both factions can also play Warriors, Hunters, Rogues, and Druids'.

The design brief is stated twice, once in each panel recap. What's Next: 'Class identity remains central … with new abilities, new race and class combinations, and updates designed to preserve the feel of the original game while opening new possibilities. Our goal is to cover gaps where they exist without erasing what makes each class unique.' Deep Dive: combat 'remains rooted in the feel and pacing of World of Warcraft: Classic', classes 'are intended to stay simple while still offering engaging depth', and 'each class should remain distinct'.

In practice that means three kinds of change across the board. Talents: the trees keep 'familiar structure, the same number of rows' with milestone talents at 11, 21 and 31 points 'now joined by a new 16-point milestone'; some talents are 'exactly as they were in patch 1.12', some are 'adjusted or improved', and talents that granted key buffs — 'Divine Spirit, Blessing of Kings, and Improved Mark of the Wild' — 'are now baseline for their classes'. Racials: 'reworked to feel stronger, more distinct, and more meaningful', two active and two passive per race. Itemization: hit and crit are merged across spell, melee and ranged, which 'helps hybrid specializations such as Retribution Paladins and Enhancement Shaman'.

Blizzard chose the Paladin as its worked example, and the depth is real: Holy Strike at level 6, Seals no longer consumed by Judgment, Seal of Fury as a tank Seal whose Judgment taunts, Consecration baseline at level 20, and named talents for each specialization — Infusion of Light and Light's Vigil for Holy, Templar's Bulwark and Swift Judgment for Protection, Sacred Arbiter and Twist of Light for Retribution. Just as important is what Blizzard says the class still cannot do: 'Paladins still lack an interrupt, still cannot slow targets the way some other classes can, and still rely on the Seal and Judgment system to access their taunt.'

That last sentence is the template for every class. The stated philosophy is 'give each specialization new tools while preserving meaningful gaps in the class toolkit' — so expect each of the other eight to receive additions that address its weakest specialization without removing its defining limits. The Paladin page has the full published list.

For Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Priest, Shaman, Mage, Warlock and Druid, the record consists of the general statements above plus a handful of specific mentions scattered through the recaps. Priests lose the need to talent Divine Spirit; Druids get Improved Mark of the Wild baseline and, for Skyborne only, 'new Skyborne druid forms created specifically for the race'. Warriors, Hunters and Rogues are named as beneficiaries of the merged hit stat 'when improving the reliability of tools such as Taunts, Poisons, and Traps'. Enhancement Shaman are named alongside Retribution as hybrids helped by the stat merge. Mages, Warlocks and Priests are named as the mana-using classes helped by the Undead racial Cannibalize now restoring Mana.

Nothing else. No ability lists, no talent trees, no spec notes. The official forum's Forever category already has threads such as 'Shadow Priest — No Vampiric Touch is crazy', which shows how players are reading the Classic baseline as the starting point — but those threads are not Blizzard statements, and this site does not turn them into class pages. When Blizzard publishes a class article, it gets a page here the same day.

The Deep Dive gives the rule and two worked examples. Every race gets 'two active abilities and two passive abilities, tuned to provide a similar amount of offensive power while preserving signature utility'. Dwarves keep Stoneform's removal of and immunity to Bleeds, Poisons and Diseases but its defensive part 'now reduces Physical damage taken instead of increasing Armor'; Find Treasure works alongside other tracking; Mace Specialization now raises critical strike chance 'with all spells and abilities while a mace is equipped'; and a new Big Game Hunter passive adds damage against Beasts. Undead keep Will of the Forsaken's removal of Charm, Fear and Sleep but lose the immunity; Cannibalize 'now restores Mana as well as Health'; Underwater Breathing is unchanged; and a new Touch of the Grave gives attacks 'a chance to drain life'.

Human, Night Elf, Gnome, Orc, Tauren and Troll racials have not been detailed. The racials page tracks what is published race by race.

The Skyborne — 'also known as the shen'dorei or hidden people' — start on Zephras Isle, a levels 1–12 zone 'blending Classic Warcraft aesthetics with architecture inspired by Skywall', and choose Horde or Alliance at creation. Their class list follows that choice: Shaman for Horde-aligned, Mage for Alliance-aligned, and Warrior, Hunter, Rogue and Druid for both, with druid forms of their own. They come 'along with new racials, customizations, voices, dances, and visual options'. The race is available only through the Skyborne packs ($29.99 and up); a subscription alone does not unlock it. The Skyborne page covers the lore, the zone and the packs.

Gnome Priest, Human Hunter and Dwarf Shaman on the Alliance side; Orc Mage, Troll Warlock and Undead Paladin for the Horde. Blizzard lists them in one sentence and adds 'with more planned for future updates'. Only one of the six has a published story: the Undead Paladin, whose path 'rolls directly out of the new Warcraft III campaign Forsaken Kingdom', with Bandarion Keep in Tirisfal Glades as its key location and a level-60 epic charger quest 'in the name of Retribution'. The combinations page has the detail and the open questions, such as whether Dwarf Shaman get totems with a dwarven look — Blizzard has not said.

Each child page below covers one published topic in depth and stops where Blizzard stops. The Paladin page is the longest because Blizzard's pass was the longest; the talents and racials pages are shorter for the same reason. As class articles arrive — Blizzard has promised them — new pages will be added under this hub and listed here, dated.

The 17 September developer Q&A is the first scheduled venue for class questions. After that, the pattern Blizzard describes is 'future videos and articles' per class and specialization. The news feed on this site reads Blizzard's news page every 30 minutes and flags anything mentioning Forever; the forum watch reads the official Forever forum every 15 minutes and marks threads with a Blizzard reply. Those two pages are where the next class fact will appear first.