WoW Forever Racial Traits: Every Race and Every Racial From Blizzard's Own Table

By Indie Kings | September 26, 2026

Updated September 26, 2026: Blizzard has published the full race and class table for World of Warcraft: Forever, listing every racial trait for all nine playable races including the new Skyborne. It confirms six new race and class combinations: Orc Mages, Troll Warlocks, Undead Paladins, Human Hunters, Gnome Priests, and Dwarf Shamans.

Source note: Every trait below is transcribed from Blizzard's own "Create the Hero You Want to Be in World of Warcraft: Forever," published September 22, 2026. Where a trait has no percentage in Blizzard's article, we say so rather than filling the gap.

Image: World of Warcraft: Forever race and class options. Credit: Blizzard Entertainment.

The race and class table, and what is new

Blizzard's article lists every race against every class, and the shape of it is the first useful thing to understand. Each faction has four native races plus the Skyborne, and each race draws from a restricted set of classes rather than all nine.

Night Elf is the most restricted race in the game, with only four classes. The Orc, Undead, Dwarf, and Gnome rows are identical, and the Human row is that list plus Druid.

The six combinations Blizzard calls out as new are Orc Mages, Troll Warlocks, Undead Paladins, Human Hunters, Gnome Priests, and Dwarf Shamans. Reading those against the table tells you what actually opened up. Gnome Priest matters because it stacks a second new racial onto the same race, which is the pairing that drew the most speculation when Eureka! was first revealed. Dwarf Shaman is significant for a different reason, since the Horde-exclusive Shaman identity you may know from earlier coverage now has an Alliance route.

The Skyborne, and why the two halves differ

The Skyborne, also known as the shen'dorei or hidden people, are a new playable race whose journey begins on Zephras Isle. Blizzard's own wording is that you choose between Horde-aligned Windshapers who can become Shaman, or an Alliance-aligned High Order Skyborne who can become Mages.

So the Skyborne is not a race with a broad class list. It is one class per faction, which makes it the most constrained race in the game and simultaneously the only race where your faction choice locks your class. That is unusual, and it is the reason the Skyborne is treated as its own category rather than folded into the general race list.

Our existing Skyborne coverage details the numbers, factions, and racials behind this launch, and the Zephras Isle guide covers the starting zone.

Horde racial traits

Each race has two active traits and two passives, and Blizzard states that several traits were updated for Forever to better support the expanded class options.

Alliance racial traits

The Alliance races follow the same two active and two passive structure, with several traits that have obvious defensive or economic use.

A few of these are worth calling out as mechanically distinct rather than numerically larger. Perception detecting stealthed enemies for 20 seconds and Find Treasure tracking chests are information traits with no stat attached, and in a game with open-world gathering and faction reputation they may be worth more than their lack of a percentage suggests. Wisp Spirit, giving 75% increased run speed while dead, is a quality-of-life trait that affects the moment you are most likely to be frustrated, which is after a corpse run.

The numbers Blizzard does not publish

This is the part worth reading carefully, because it is where secondary coverage tends to overstate certainty.

Blizzard's article gives effects but not always a value. Three traits are listed with no percentage attached in the source:

• Plainsrunning is described only as gaining increased movement speed the longer you stay moving. No cap, no rate, and no duration are given.
• Shatter Curse is described as immunity to Curses and Banes plus reduced magical damage for 8 seconds, with no reduction percentage stated.
• Touch of the Grave is described as sometimes draining health with your attacks, with no proc rate at all.

Community beta testing has circulated specific figures for these, including a 30 percent maximum for Plainsrunning, a 15 percent magical damage reduction for Shatter Curse, and a proc rate for Touch of the Grave that is roughly double for Priests, Mages, and Warlocks compared to melee. We have not been able to confirm those against a Blizzard source, so treat them as beta observations rather than published values, and we will update when Blizzard publishes them or the values are confirmed at launch.

There is also a wording difference worth flagging on Eureka!. Blizzard describes it as reduced cost and 10% increased damage or healing on the next 3 spells or abilities. That is broader than the damaging-abilities-only framing used in some beta coverage, and it means the racial has a healing component for Priests that is easy to miss. Separately, Blizzard's own article does not state the cost reduction percentage, which is why the flat 10 percent figure from the September 24 beta notes matters, and why that value is flagged as a beta number rather than a launch one.

FAQ

What are the new race and class combinations in WoW Forever?
Six, per Blizzard: Orc Mages, Troll Warlocks, Undead Paladins, Human Hunters, Gnome Priests, and Dwarf Shamans, plus the Skyborne as a new race entirely.

What class can the Skyborne play?
One per faction, per Blizzard's wording. Horde-aligned Windshapers can become Shaman, and Alliance-aligned High Order Skyborne can become Mages.

How many classes can a Night Elf choose from?
Four: Warrior, Priest, Rogue, and Druid. That is the most restricted race in the game.

How many racial traits does each race have?
Two active and two passive traits per race, with several updated for Forever to support the expanded class options.

Does Blizzard publish a number for Plainsrunning?
Not in its race and class article. The trait is described as gaining increased movement speed the longer you stay moving, with no percentage, cap, or duration given. Community beta figures exist but are not Blizzard published.

Is Eureka! a healing racial for Priests?
Blizzard's article describes Eureka! as reduced cost and 10% increased damage or healing on the next 3 spells or abilities, which does include a healing component. The cost reduction percentage is not stated in that article.

Bottom Line

Blizzard has now published every racial trait in Forever, and the table settles several arguments the class guides could not. The structural finding is that race choice constrains class far more than faction choice does, with Night Elf down to four classes and the Skyborne down to one per faction, which makes racial identity a genuine build decision rather than flavour. The new combinations are not evenly distributed, and Gnome Priest stands out because it is the pairing most likely to attract the two-new-racials-on-one-race stacking that drove the earlier Eureka! speculation. The honest limitation is that three traits, Plainsrunning, Shatter Curse, and Touch of the Grave, have no published values, and anyone quoting a specific percentage for them is quoting a beta observation rather than a Blizzard statement. The other correction worth carrying forward is that Eureka! heals as well as damages, and Blizzard words it as spells or abilities rather than damaging abilities, which widens its Priest value beyond what the beta table suggested.

Source: Blizzard Entertainment, Create the Hero You Want to Be in World of Warcraft: Forever, published September 22, 2026

Related: Skyborne official numbers, factions, and new race and class combinations | WoW Forever class changes and new talents for every spec | WoW Forever Gnome Eureka racial nerf explained