WoW Forever races: the eight Classic races, the Skyborne, which classes each race can be, and how every racial kit changes

Forever keeps the faction line where Classic drew it and adds one race that straddles it. 'Factions remain separate, so Horde and Alliance players still cannot group together' (Deep Dive), and the Skyborne are the exception only at creation: 'At character creation, you'll choose whether your Skyborne joins the Horde or the Alliance'. Once chosen, a Skyborne is Horde or Alliance like any other character; there is no neutral race in Forever's published rules.

The product page gives the two Skyborne paths names — 'Follow the path of the Windshaper Horde or the High Order Alliance in your quest to defend Zephras Isle' — and the What's Next recap gives them their class consequence: 'Horde-aligned Skyborne embrace elemental traditions and gain access to the Shaman class, while Alliance-aligned Skyborne pursue the arcane legacy of their ancestors and gain access to the Mage class.'

Classic's race-class table gains six cells: 'Gnome Priest, Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Orc Mage, Troll Warlock, and Undead Paladin'. Each is a class the race could not be in patch 1.12, and two of them cross what was a faction line for the class — the Dwarf Shaman and the Undead Paladin, which the product page headlines as 'the newest class and race combos: the Forsaken Paladin or Dwarf Shaman'. The Battle.net shop gives the Forsaken Paladin a story: the Warcraft III: Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom campaign bundled in the Warcraft Forever Collection is 'the untold story of the first Forsaken Paladin', bridging 'the story from the Frozen Throne to the first days of World of Warcraft'.

The Skyborne's list is fixed by faction: 'Both factions can also play Warriors, Hunters, Rogues, and Druids, including new Skyborne druid forms created specifically for the race' — plus Shaman for Horde-aligned and Mage for Alliance-aligned. Five classes per Skyborne faction, six across both. Priest, Paladin and Warlock are not available to the Skyborne in anything published. The race-class-combinations page carries the full launch matrix and the reasoning behind each new pairing; this page keeps the summary.

'Racial abilities have been reworked to feel stronger, more distinct, and more meaningful without pushing every race toward the same strengths.' The structural rule follows: 'Each race now has two active abilities and two passive abilities, tuned to provide a similar amount of offensive power while preserving signature utility.' That applies to all nine races, including the Skyborne ('new racials' in the What's Next recap), though only two kits are described.

Dwarf: Stoneform 'keep[s] … its focus on removing and granting immunity to Bleeds, Poisons, and Diseases, but its defensive bonus now reduces Physical damage taken instead of increasing Armor'; Find Treasure 'can now remain active alongside other tracking abilities'; Mace Specialization 'increases critical strike chance with all spells and abilities' (with a condition the racials page quotes in full). Undead: Will of the Forsaken 'still removes Charm, Fear, and Sleep, but no longer grants immunity to those effects'; Cannibalize 'now restores Mana as well as Health'; Underwater Breathing 'remains unchanged'. The racials page walks through both kits ability by ability and lists what the other seven races are still missing.

Three sources, a handful of sentences. The product page: 'Stand with a new race of windswept elves as their once-secluded home faces an existential threat.' The What's Next recap: Zephras is 'home to the Skyborne, a new playable race whose shared ancestry has led to very different visions for the future', with a starting experience 'from levels 1 through 12, blending Classic Warcraft aesthetics with architecture inspired by Skywall', and 'new racials, customizations, voices, dances, and visual options'. The Deep Dive names the groups 'vying for control' of the isle: 'the Windshapers, the High Order, and the Al'Aketh'.

The commercial rule is on the Battle.net shop: 'Access to Skyborne Race or the Zephras Isle starting experience questline requires purchase of Skyborne Heroic Pack or higher edition.' There is no published stand-alone unlock and no date for one. The Skyborne page collects every sentence about them; the price page covers the packs.

Two Deep Dive changes touch race indirectly. Quest rewards 'have also been updated or expanded to support more classes and roles' — the recap's examples are Mor'ladim's Duskwood quest adding 'the Ladimore Heirloom Ring for spellcasters' and Hemet Nesingwary's Stranglethorn quests adding 'the Master Hunter's Spellsword' — which matters for the new pairings (a Human Hunter or Gnome Priest quests through the same zones with rewards that now fit). And racial abilities are 'tuned to provide a similar amount of offensive power', which is the sentence that removes the old reason to pick a race for its damage.

Nothing published changes racial mounts, racial languages or faction reputations, and the transmog rules are by armour type and quality rather than by race (a Skyborne Druid uses the same appearance rules as a Tauren one). The itemization page covers the reward changes; the transmog page covers the appearance rules.

Only the Skyborne have a published customisation sentence: 'new racials, customizations, voices, dances, and visual options'. For the other eight races, the published visual changes are global — 'High-Definition (HD) and Standard-Definition (SD) character-model options' and 'restored Classic animations for HD character models' — and apply to every race equally. Blizzard has not said whether Classic races gain new customisation options (skin tones, hairstyles, tattoos) in Forever; the graphics page keeps the model and preset rules.

The Skyborne druid forms are the one race-specific asset Blizzard names: 'new Skyborne druid forms created specifically for the race'. No images of them have been published in the material this site reads; the Skyborne page will add them the day Blizzard does.

'Wow forever races tier list' is a real search, and the answer is that nothing exists to rank. Blizzard has published two of nine racial kits, without numbers — 'increases critical strike chance' is not a percentage — and has stated a design goal that a tier list would contradict: 'a similar amount of offensive power while preserving signature utility'. If that goal is met, the race choice is about utility (Stoneform's cleanse, Cannibalize's mana, Find Treasure), which does not rank on one axis. Any tier list published before the beta client is datamined and tested is a guess dressed as a table; this site will not publish one, and readers should treat any they find elsewhere as the writer's opinion about a game they have not yet played.

What a reader can usefully decide now: faction (which fixes the race pool), whether the Skyborne's pack cost is worth it for the Shaman or Mage access and the 1–12 starting zone, and whether one of the six new pairings — Undead Paladin and Dwarf Shaman above all — is the reason to roll. The classes hub covers the class side of that decision.

Seven racial kits. Skyborne racials, customisation detail and the druid forms. Any new class for Night Elves or Tauren ('more planned for future updates'). Whether Classic races gain customisation options. Skyborne lore beyond three sentences and three faction names. Each will be quoted here with its date; the news feed on this site carries Blizzard's posts as they appear, and the roadmap hub's changelog records every edit to this page.