Racials and BiS

Elitesniper

Grandfathered
So Horde seems to have so much racial diversity in opinions and in practice, some people love Gobo and others think Tauren is Master Race(which it is), but that does not mean the other races don't have some BiS classes/specs as well. Whereas Alliance has always had some alright Racials, but nothing significant enough for me to say, "You have to use this Race with this Class" (Maybe some Worgen are BiS). I always like Tier lists and such and figured the community could come together and give a relatively set in stone response to a fun topic of discussion.
 
How do the racial passives (orc stun, troll slows) affect the pvp trinket 20% reduction to cc
 
So a quick recap of racials.
  • Draenei - Heal is meh and on a long cooldown. Slight increase to primary stat is ok, shadow resist is w/e.
  • Dwarf - Stoneform is actually pretty decent for a defensive CD (gets rid of a lot of pesky boomkin/hunter/etc dots). 2% crit damage is nice on some classes. Frost resist is w/e.
  • Gnome - Escape artist is sometimes decent. Engineering buff is useless now afaik. Expansive mind for 5% more resource might be nice for certain classes, but not amazing. 1% haste is nice for most classes. Arcane resist is small, but theres some arcane damage going around these days.
  • Human - Every man for himself is solid, even with the 30s shared cooldown. 2% extra rating for secondaries is ok. The rep bonus doesn't do anything for pvp, but if you like to do the later rep grinds on your twink, its a godsend.
  • NE - Shadowmeld is pretty strong, especially if you know how to use it. Canceling spells is strong. The occasional shadowmeld into stealth is good for rogues. Wisp Spirit is actually pretty nice for more advanced play if your body doesn't get taken. 2% movespeed, 2% dodge, and 1% crit/haste are all nice. Nature resist is small, but theres a decent amount of nature damage out there.
  • Worgen - Sprint is nice, but ultimately probably only "BiS" race for FCs. Crit strike chance by 1%.
  • Panda - Quaking Palm is pretty decent due to the limited amount of CC at 19. You can incapacitate in a 1v1 and get a couple bandage ticks. It can hold an enemy EFC for a few seconds to let others catch up or even burn a trinket. It breaks on damage, so its less useful for dots - but still basically works as an interupt. Its melee range, which makes it less useful for casters, but works to peel. Also doubles stam/verse from food buffs.
  • BE - RIP Arcane Torrent. Still useful for catching HoTs and bubbles, but the days of everyone being BE are over. Resource gain can help get an extra attack in, but its hard to really rely on with the GCD. 1% crit strike chance is ok. Arcane resist is small, but theres arcane mages and moonfires all over the place.
  • Goblin - Rocket Jump is one of the few movement abilities at 19 - so its pretty useful, especially for any class that likes to kite weasels. Rocket barrage seems ok, but nothing special. 1% haste increase is useful for almost everyone.
  • Orc - Bloodfury is a nice stat buff on demand. Good for almost all damage dealers, especially in more advanced pvp with calls to focus a target. Reduced stun duration is always nice. Pet damage is nice for BM/survival hunters.
  • Tauren - War Stomp is pretty solid and hasn't changed much over the years. Short-range aoe stun can be used to great effect to peel, kite, interrupt, and help ensure those clutch flag picks. Endurance is extra stam, which everyone likes. 2% Crit strike bonus dmg/healing is solid for a number of classes. And nature resist is small, but nature damage exists.
  • Troll - Berserking is a mini-self-bloodlust and is useful for getting that burst damage in. The slow reduction and health regen are nice, but not game changing.
  • Undead - Will of the Forsaken is really only useful for fears at this level - but locks aren't too meta currently. Touch of the grave isn't huge, but a bit of extra damage/self heal is nice. Cannibalize is useful in BGs to heal up after the fact, so it might save you a few bandages/food. Shadow resist is meh.


So with that all being said, heres my opinions on the "best" races. Horde have a lot more options.

Worgen/Tauren/NE for FC druids
Troll/Tauren/NE for boomkin/resto druids
Orc works for any damage class, bonus pet damage for surv/BM hunters.
Troll works for any caster who wants the haste racial. Arcane mages come to mind.
Goblin works for a lot of things because mobility. Useful for classes without enough movement options (warr) and for things with a slow (shaman).
Tauren - Warstomp OP and everyone likes stam. Always an option.
BE - not as OP anymore, best paired with melee attackers who go in and snag a hot/shield (rogue/warrior/survival/ret?)
Panda - Average for basically everything. Quaking palm works best for melee attackers without dots (rogue/warr), but can also work well defensively for priests/shamans.
NE - Shadowmeld has a lot of potential for spell cancels (and normal stealthy stuff). Lots of little movespeed/dodge/wisp things make it all around good. Best alliance class IMO.
Dwarf - Stoneskin is lowkey good. Especially for anyone who gets focused (frontline, healers)
Draenei gets the award for best porn that itches that goat fetish I know yall have.
Humans still have lots of trinket, so will always be an option. Unless trinket doesn't work the same (been a while since I played them).

And of course, for most people, just play what you want. If you prefer staring at a female BE instead of a green orc ass, we understand.
 
I had a thread about this in the Starter Edition section of 20-29s sub-forum a long time ago:
https://xpoff.com/threads/most-out-of-racials-as-f2p.73464/
(Still need to re-arrange the order, as it mostly based on preference.)

Would love to get the discussions going again. Consideration for Racial Abilities will be a little bit different for you guys; as you don't have mounts. So the Worgen Sprint might be worth more in your bracket than in the bracket that gets mounts in BGs.
 
NE - Shadowmeld is pretty strong, especially if you know how to use it. Canceling spells is strong. The occasional shadowmeld into stealth is good for rogues. Wisp Spirit is actually pretty nice for more advanced play if your body doesn't get taken. 2% movespeed, 2% dodge, and 1% crit/haste are all nice. Nature resist is small, but theres a decent amount of nature damage out there.
You forgot to mention nelf has 5% movement speed in stealth as well, so 119% speed as rogue (and 149% speed with prowl?!), so this + everything else it brings to the table just outweighs by far any other racials for rogues
The effects stack, making Relentless very powerful on those classes.
Relentless doesnt stack with orc racial in bfa so no relentless+orc is pretty terrible (and this doesnt even concern 19s :<)
 
You forgot to mention nelf has 5% movement speed in stealth as well, so 119% speed as rogue (and 149% speed with prowl?!), so this + everything else it brings to the table just outweighs by far any other racials for rogues

I primarily play horde, so I didn't know about the undocumented racial. That def makes NEs the premier rogue class and is a nice boost to boomies (though worgen is still better for FC). Apparently hunter's have it too for camouflage (does nothing for 19s). 119% movespeed while stealthed is no joke. Def worth having a "stealth" set with minor speed/gift of verse/catseye ultra goggles.

Though I imagine a panda rogue still warrants a look with 5 extra verse and an incapacitate combo. I imagine cheap shot -> SS spam -> incapacitate when cheap shot up -> regen energy until incapacitate is done -> SS spam. Tho if incapacitate procs ele force/hidden satyr then nevermind.
 
I primarily play horde, so I didn't know about the undocumented racial. That def makes NEs the premier rogue class
Disagree with this, Worgen sprint is by far the strongest racial for rogue in WSG, even more so after arcane torrent got cucked recently specifically killing the FC who will blow dash and who will swap out of your pistol shot slows and eventually get away. Being able to use worgen racial and maintain a high dps rotation instead of gimped dps pistol shots is huge

For Horde its probably Goblin for the same purpose and also some other useful applications
 
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Disagree with this, Worgen sprint is by far the strongest racial for rogue in WSG, even more so after arcane torrent got cucked recently specifically killing the FC who will blow dash and who will swap out of your pistol shot slows and eventually get away. Being able to use worgen racial and maintain a high dps rotation instead of gimped dps pistol shots is huge

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I'm not trying to say NE is the only viable race - but I still think its the best alliance rogue race. Worgen sprint is pretty solid (150% with minor speed I think) and will keep up with the EFC in travel form - which is a good situation for it. Dash is still faster (by 20%), but you'll certainly be better off than walking.
 
IMO Orc is BIS race for any AP/SP dependent classes (Rogue/Warr/mage/lock) in a premade.

Sure they'll have less utility, but if your intention is mid control Orcs outperforms any race. Stun reduction + AP/SP burst cd.

??? are you ok in the head

lets have a real look at all the racials from a premade standpoint, not gonna include every passive (not pugs becuz irrelevant)

Alliance:

Night Elf: pretty much useless if ur too slow in the brain to take advantage

Shadowmeld - cancel casts and CC immunity, doesnt drop combat instantly like it used to :/ also niche uses in cancelling harpoons/charges

Elusiveness - +5% movement speed in stealth, pretty self explanatory, u go faster

Auto Pick for: Druids
Good Pick for: Mages, Monks


Gnome: underrated healing race, monks and priests only tho so

Escape Artist - removing every and any snare/root, got a nerf many many years ago where you can pop it without having any snares/roots on you, rip, probably on GCD now too, very underrated healer racial, if ur going against the best mage in the bracket (me) you'll be novaed out of range of your efc on 90% of pushes and this racial will save the cap for sure, niche uses in removing concussion shot -> trap though with possible gcd changes this will be made very hard unless you're experienced in holding gcds, which if ur playing 19s in 2018 you wont be.

Expansive Mind - +5% resource pool (energy,rage,mana) if ur a mongo rogue who shouldnt even be playing in this expansion the extra 5% energy might equate to another ss before ur energy starved, but any good rogue would never dump a full energy pool so who cares lmao, +5% mana on a healer is huge for long mid fights, do healers still have the +400% mana passive from talent specialization? why arent u all running +mana on chest so its affected by the talent, coupled with +5% gnome racial and u shouldnt ever oom.

Auto Pick for: nobody
Good Pick for: Monks, Priests


Draenei: i had to look up the racials for this dog race to see changes of the last 8 years

Gift of the Naaru: 4% hp every 1 sec for 5 secs, with a 3 minute cd and on the gcd, if you're dumb you'll look at this and think its decent, it's not. off the gcd it's okay, on the gcd it's useless, 20% hp on a fc is going to be roughly 400-500 healing over 5 secs, that's the same as most priests bubble with no cd, its a little bit of extra help if you're a class that cant heal but there's better races for u to be anyway.

Heroic Presence - +3 primary stat, garbage.

Auto Pick for: nobody
Good Pick for: nobody


Human: just remove this race

Every man for himself - remove all stuns 3min cd, 90 shared cd with trinket, pretty much useless at endgame, even more useless in a bracket with 3 total stuns (war stomp, cheap shot and hoj)

The Human Spirit - 2% more secondary stats from all sources, so from my very basic understanding if you have 100 haste rating you get an extra 2, good luck guys :)

Diplomacy - the only racial they have that is useful, helps you get furbolg medicine pouch faster, aaa nvm

Auto Pick for: nobody
Good Pick for: people with disabilities to let people around you know of your condition.



Dwarf: stoneform is pretty good but overrated

Stoneform - removes every poison, magic, curse, bleed, disease effect and 10% physical dmg reduction for 8 secs, as a shaman ur gonna be pigeonholed into playing dwarf so its good to break nova when ur breaking to help fc pick or to 1shot efc with ur earth shock gimmick as ele, the removing debuffs in mid is overrated, there should be no reason for it to be a life or death situation unless ur healers are dogshit (which granted they will be because its 19s and all u healers suck) niche situation of removing debuffs to bandage though i guess, or getting a restealth if u belong in a mental hospital and picked a dwarf rogue for some reason.

Might of the mountain - +2% crit dmg/healing, lmao.

Auto Pick for: Shamans
Good Pick for: Paladins


Worgen: another favourite

Darkflight - +40% movement speed for 10 seconds, absolutely huge, ive seen people dismissing it because of speed pots, if you're one of those people just cancel your sub and go play candy crush, it's practical for every class that can use it but it's godly for hunters, doesnt need an explanation.

Viciousness - 1% crit.

Auto Pick for: Hunters, Rogues
Good Pick for: Priests, Warriors, Mages, Druids, Warlocks (yep everyone who can use them)


Horde:


Orc: just not good at all

Hardiness - 20% stun duration reduction, again in a bracket with 3 total stuns its next to useless, nothing to say really

Blood Fury - 13 attack power/intellect for 15secs, very underwhelming as this equates to roughly a 7% increase for 15 seconds, not entirely useless dont get me wrong but definitely better options for all the classes it affects.

Command - 1% pet damage increase

Auto Pick for: nobody
Good Pick for: Mages, Locks


Troll: my personal favourite :) not bias tho :/

Berserking - 15% haste for 10 secs, absolutely huge not just for its damage output but the ability to get CC off much faster makes this racial the best racial in mid by far, nothing comes close except the 1 in a million niche use of other racials you can dream up to argue it.

rest of racials pretty shit - 20% snare duration reduction, 10% hp regen in combat

Auto Pick for: Mages, Druids, Locks
Good Pick for: Priests, Shamans


Blood elf: haha lol

Arcane Torrent - dont even try to justify the uses of this spell, because there are none. removing 1 magic debuff and restoring 15 energy/focus/rage or 3% mana just isnt worth it, it being on gcd makes removing priests shield useless unless you land it on multiple targets at once, so dont even try to defend that usage, the only thing worth removing is enveloping mists and even then its not worth picking blood elf over anything else for that sole use. yes it can remove all 3 stacks of warrior of elune but no boomkin runs that talent.

Arcane Acuity - 1% crit.

Auto Pick for: nobody
Good Pick for: people with disabilities to let people around you know of your condition.


Undead: very very niche but overall bad

Will of the forsaken - removes charm, fear, sleep, turned effects, shares 30sec cd with trinket, warlocks are under-represented in competitive play atm but this racial is still useful to break an offensive priests psychic scream on their pushes and in the same sense to break defensive priests psychic scream on your pushes, not many useful situations at all.

Touch of the grave - damaging an enemy has a chance to proc extra damage that heals you for the same amount of damage it caused, does pretty nice damage, internal cd of 20 secs, nothing special.

Cannibalize - niche spell that shouldnt be dismissed, eat an enemy corpse to regenerate 7% hp and mana every 2 secs for 10 secs, usable in combat. useful to get a tick or two while oom as a healer without needing to drop combat to drink and possibly get sapped, breaks on any damage though so its niche.

Auto Pick for: nobody
Good Pick for: Priests


Tauren: fotm race that i wish didnt look like shit and ruin all tmogs

War Stomp - 0.5 sec cast time 2 sec stun in a bracket with such minimal stuns it's not likely to be DRed in 95% of cases, should be taken by every healing class except shaman, niche uses in stomping surv harpoon -> trap, regular use in stomping enemies opener on efc, if ur not picking tauren as any healer except shaman ur an idiot and should delete ur toon.

Brawn - +2% crit damage/healing, lol.

Endurance - +8 stamina passive that scales with bear form and other similar effects.

Auto Pick for: Druids, Warriors, Priests, Paladins
Good Pick for: Shamans


Goblin: overrated trash race that only benefits people with positioning issues (auto pick for obj tho)

Rocket Barrage - (42.9% sp + 50% ap) + 38, looks pretty good right? no its awful, and also puts your rocket jump on cd so when you're caught out of position (which u will be, thats why u picked goblin, coz u suck at positioning), you're dead.

Rocket Jump - the only useful situations for this ability is in the case of getting returns/repicks from people out of range, or the niche uses of faking people off roof and doing sneaky jumps like getting onto tot without having to do the normal jumps, if you're using this to fix your bad positioning you're an idiot and shouldnt be in competitive games.

Time is money - 1% haste.

very good for shamans and hunters tho as any extra mobility while escorting fcs/breaking to kill efcs is good :)

Auto Pick for: Shamans, Hunters, Rogues
Good Pick for: people with positioning issues who need a panic button so they dont get 10+ deaths and blacklisted from future games


The Neutrally Dogshit Pandaren:

Bouncy - 50% less fall damage, hehe lol

Quaking Palm - melee range 4 sec duration incap, shares DR with sheep, trap, sap. i'm torn between if its good or not, which im sure most people are, having never played a panda or actually seen any good players playing one i genuinely cant tell you if it removes dots when applied or not, which is important.

if it removes dots then with communication you can make sure it lasts the full 4 secs, or even coordinating with a warlock to fear off it, etc etc.

if it doesnt remove dots then you can use it as something to quickly cancel an enemies cast and not lose any downtime on rot, although theres more downsides to this than upsides as it wont be reliable at all as a cc in a rot meta.

can be used to cancel harpoons/goblin rocket jump with correct timing

pretty good for rogues openers when sap is unavailable on a healer, cheap on healer -> incap their trinket or after cheap is falling etc

but generally considered a dead race because every class would shine on a diff race.

Auto Pick for: nobody
Good Pick for: Warrior, Rogue, Monk, Priest
 
They all have their pros and cons. None are my favorites.
Pretty much all I do is play resto shamans on both factions. I have had all of the racials save me multiple times.
Pandarians bouncy has saved me by allowing me jump off of LM hill without dieing. No other race could have done that. Can’t forget 2x food buff too. Nor the ability to put a melee target to sleep.
That little bit of extra healing from the Draenei racial has saved me multiple times when I was being focused down as well.
The Goblin rocket jump has allowed me to get away I don’t know how many times from tunnel visioned DPS chasing me.
The Tauren stun has stunned thousands of unsuspecting melee pounding on me.

/cheers
 
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