Racials after the Forever rework - beta week 1

Forever rewrote racials, so this ranks the racials as they stand in the beta client, not as they were in Classic. We weighted three things: does the racial work for every class, does it work without a condition, and can you feel it while levelling to 20 — the only thing the beta lets anyone test right now.

S — always on, and good for whatever you rolled. 스카이본 tops the list for the thing the beta can actually test. All of its racials are new. Wind Blessed gives 1% melee, ranged and spell haste to every class that can be one, and each faction adds its own active: High Order (Alliance) gets Read Ley Line, which doubles health and mana regeneration — most of what levelling to 20 consists of — and Windshaper (Horde) gets Skysight, 10% movement speed. It also opens six class combinations that did not exist before. Be clear about why it is here, though: it wins on breadth and downtime, not on burst. One per cent haste is a smaller number than Blood Fury or Elune's Light, and on a per-spec basis Skyborne does not beat Orc or Night Elf for any single tree — our race-and-spec list ranks it accordingly. If you are picking a race to level a new character this week, it is the best answer; if you are picking one to maximise a spec at 60, it is not. 오크 gained the most from the rework: Blood Fury now raises spell power as well as attack power, so it is no longer a melee-only racial, and Shatter Curse is new. Axe Specialization now adds 1% crit to all spells and abilities while an axe is equipped, and Hardiness now cuts the duration of stuns on you by 20%. 나이트 엘프 has Elune's Light, a new flat 10% crit for 15 seconds that does not care what you equip, on top of Quickness.

A — strong, but narrower. 트롤 pairs Berserking's 10% haste with the new Rapid Regeneration, which restores half your health and matters more while levelling than it will at 60. Beast Slaying is 5% against exactly the mobs you kill on the way to 20. 타우렌 has the best stat line in the game — Endurance is 5% health and now 1% hit as well — and Plainsrunning is new, though it only builds while you keep moving and drops off when you take damage or stand still. 노움 has the new Eureka!, which makes your next three damaging abilities cost 10% less and deal 10% more damage (priests get it on heals too), and Expansive Mind now covers rage and energy as well as mana.

B — barely touched by the rework. 드워프 did well out of it in fairness: Stoneform now cuts physical damage taken by 10% on top of clearing bleeds, poisons and diseases, and Big Game Hunter is new. It sits here because the rest of the kit is situational. 인간 and 언데드 changed the least. Human gained Will to Survive, which removes all stun effects, and Sword Specialization now raises your crit with all spells and attacks by 2% while a sword is equipped, so casters holding a sword benefit too; with Perception it is still the best PvP package. Undead gained Touch of the Grave, a 5% chance on spells and attacks (10% for priests, mages and warlocks) to drain up to 5% of your maximum health, and keeps Will of the Forsaken, which is the single strongest PvP racial in the game, plus Cannibalize, which is genuinely good between pulls while levelling. Neither is bad — their changes are just smaller than everyone else's.

Two things this list does not do. It does not split Skyborne by faction. High Order and Windshaper differ in one active racial (Read Ley Line or Skysight) and one class each (Mage or Shaman), but the three racials they share are what put it on top. And it does not try to rank racials for level-60 raiding, which no one can test yet.