World of Warcraft: Forever keeps character choice at the heart of the trip through Azeroth. Your race shapes your character’s people, homeland, faction story, and racial abilities; your class determines how you fight, support a group, and solve problems in the world. Forever starts from the familiar early-Azeroth lineup, then adds a new playable people and fresh race-and-class combinations. This hub brings those pieces together and separates announced details from the choices Blizzard has not fully explained yet.
Quick overview: The familiar races are split between the Alliance and Horde, while the new Skyborne can join either faction. The original class lineup includes nine roles: Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, and Warrior. Forever has announced six additional race-and-class combinations and says more are planned.
Alliance races
Humans are adaptable people whose kingdoms and conflicts sit near the center of many Azeroth stories. Their broad identity makes them an approachable starting point for players who want to experience the Alliance’s political and heroic traditions. Forever is adding the Human Hunter combination, opening a new way to pair a familiar race with a ranged, pet-using class. Read our Human guide.
Dwarves bring the hardy culture of Ironforge, a love of exploration, and a deep interest in the history beneath the mountains. Blizzard’s Forever deep dive has already described changes to Dwarf racials: Stoneform continues to address Bleeds, Poisons, and Diseases, while its defensive benefit now reduces Physical damage; other racial updates emphasize tracking, mace use, and fighting Beasts. Dwarf Shaman is one of the newly announced combinations. See the Dwarf guide.
Night Elves are an ancient people closely connected to nature and the long history of Kalimdor. Their identity suits players drawn to the forests, druidic traditions, and quieter corners of the world. The class and race details for Forever should be checked against current announcements as the team reveals its updates; this overview avoids assuming that every older version’s racial or class rules carry over unchanged. Read our Night Elf guide for the confirmed race-specific details.
Gnomes are ingenious tinkerers whose curiosity and technological skill stand out even among larger allies. Their small stature does not limit their ambition: Forever specifically adds Gnome Priest, a combination that connects inventive culture with a class associated with healing and holy or shadow magic. Explore our Gnome guide.
Horde races
Orcs are proud, resilient warriors whose history in Azeroth is shaped by struggle, family, and the search for a future on their own terms. Forever adds Orc Mage, making room for arcane study alongside the race’s more familiar martial image. Visit the Orc guide for more.
Undead, often called Forsaken, are people who have reclaimed their will after death and built a distinct society in the ruins of Lordaeron. Blizzard has announced Undead Paladin as a new combination. The deep-dive recap also described Undead racial revisions, including Will of the Forsaken’s removal effect, Cannibalize restoring Mana as well as Health, and Touch of the Grave as a new life-draining offensive trait. Those changes make the race especially interesting to players who want a different take on a traditionally light-associated class. Explore the Undead guide for its confirmed details.
Tauren are a people of the plains with a strong spiritual and communal identity. Their traditions connect naturally with the Shaman and Druid class fantasies, while their size and strength make Warriors an equally intuitive choice. Blizzard’s Forever class-and-race updates may shift the practical considerations, so choose by the story and playstyle that appeal to you rather than assuming one race is required for a role. See the Tauren guide for more.
Trolls carry the history of ancient tribes, fierce independence, and a broad range of cultural traditions. Forever adds Troll Warlock, a new pairing that expands the ways Troll characters can approach magic. Read the Troll guide for the details confirmed so far.
Skyborne: a new race with a faction choice
You may see this race called “Skyborn” in conversation, but Blizzard’s official name is Skyborne. The What’s Next panel recap introduces Zephras Isle, an elemental, skybound starting experience for levels 1–12, and describes Skyborne as a new playable race whose shared ancestry has led to different visions for its future. At character creation, you choose whether your Skyborne joins the Horde or the Alliance. That makes this race unusual in the familiar lineup: its faction choice also determines some class access and cultural direction.
Horde-aligned Skyborne embrace elemental traditions and can be Shamans; Alliance-aligned Skyborne pursue an arcane legacy and can be Mages. Both factions can also choose Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, or Druid. Blizzard has also mentioned race-specific Druid forms, racials, customizations, voices, dances, and visual options. The starting island and branch-specific class choices make Skyborne a natural option for players who want a new introduction to Azeroth rather than a familiar starting zone. Our Skyborne guide follows what has been announced.
Explore individual race guides
All nine race guides currently published on Azeroth Plus:
- Skyborne race guide
- Human race guide
- Dwarf race guide
- Night Elf race guide
- Gnome race guide
- Orc race guide
- Undead race guide
- Tauren race guide
- Troll race guide
For class-specific advice, see our class guide; for confirmed character options, see the race-and-class compatibility guide.
The nine classes and the roles they suggest
Forever’s class lineup is rooted in the recognizable Classic archetypes, with adjustments intended to make class identity matter while opening more viable choices. Druids shift between forms and can fill different group needs. Hunters fight at range, use traps, and adventure with a loyal beast. Mages command arcane, fire, and frost magic. Paladins blend armor, weapon combat, and holy magic, with healing, protection, and damage paths. Priests support allies with healing and shields or turn toward shadow damage.
Rogues rely on stealth, control, and precise melee attacks. Shamans call on the elements and use totems to support their group or strengthen their own attacks. Warlocks wield curses and destructive magic alongside demonic companions. Warriors are weapon-focused front-line fighters who can tank or deal damage. These descriptions are broad class identities, not a promise about an exact build, rotation, or balance ranking.
What Forever is changing—and what remains open
Blizzard says racial abilities have been reworked to feel more distinct and useful without making every race’s strengths identical. In the deep-dive recap, the team described a framework of two active and two passive racial abilities per race, tuned for comparable offensive value while preserving signature utility. The recap gave examples for Dwarves and Undead, but it is not yet a complete race-by-race ability catalogue.
New Race-Class Combos Confirmed
Blizzard’s Deep Dive transcript confirms these six new race-and-class combinations:
- Gnome Priest
- Human Hunter
- Dwarf Shaman
- Orc Mage
- Troll Warlock
- Undead Paladin
Skyborne’s faction-specific class options are described above. Blizzard says more combinations are planned for future updates, but has not named them all.
Talent trees are also receiving updates: the announced approach keeps a familiar structure while revising some talents, retaining others, and making selected class buffs baseline. That can change how a class feels without turning it into a different archetype.
Do not treat a race as mandatory for a class based on old min-max tables or another WoW version. Forever’s revised racials, new combinations, and evolving talent details make current official information the better guide. Exact racial tooltips, full compatibility tables, and further class changes should be considered provisional until Blizzard publishes them or beta testing confirms them.
Choosing your first character
Start with the experience you want. Pick a race whose people, starting story, and visual identity make you excited to spend time in Azeroth. Then choose a class whose moment-to-moment play sounds fun: ranged combat and pets, stealth and control, spells, elemental abilities, holy support, or direct weapon fighting. If playing with friends matters, coordinate faction and ruleset before character creation; characters on different factions or rulesets cannot simply adventure together in every context.
Sources: Blizzard Entertainment’s Forever Deep Dive panel recap and What’s Next panel recap; for the original Classic framing, see Blizzard’s Taking Your First Steps in World of Warcraft Classic.
