Race & class choices

Alliance

Horde

Choose with your group

Choose faction and ruleset together before creating characters. Blizzard’s starter guidance says grouping and guilds are organized by faction and ruleset; see World PvP and rulesets before committing. Battleground matchmaking has its own rules.

Start with the role you want to learn: a class can offer more than one role, but the available race combinations constrain the choice. Open a class article for its available abilities and talent trees; the tables above are a roster, not a performance ranking.

What Forever adds

Blizzard names six additional combinations: Human Hunter, Gnome Priest and Dwarf Shaman for Alliance; Orc Mage, Troll Warlock and Undead Paladin for Horde. The existing combinations remain in the tables rather than being implied by class fantasy.

Skyborne characters have separate Alliance and Horde paths. Both offer Druid, Hunter, Rogue and Warrior; only the High Order path offers Mage and only the Windshaper path offers Shaman. The race and starting questline have separate product access requirements; see Skyborne.

Evaluate racial abilities

Racial abilities can influence a choice, but an effect’s value depends on the activity, group and character. For example, a travel ability may help while exploring even when it offers no advantage to the group’s chosen dungeon role.

Wowhead’s November 5 Forever racial guide reports class and racial effects as of that update. Its numbers and later balance changes should be read as dated guidance; a universal best race cannot be concluded from a list of abilities.