The Warcraft universe is inhabited by many races of sentient and sapient beings. These races speak many different languages, have different homelands and racial traits, and can pursue different classes.

Though most races are native to the world of Azeroth, some have arrived from other worlds, such as Draenor. The armies of the Burning Legion are culled from many worlds throughout the Twisting Nether.

As of Cataclysm, there are two playable factions in World of Warcraft, the Alliance and the Horde, and each is comprised of six very different races who can play a variety of different classes.

In Warcraft lore, race often has the same definition as species.^[1] Occasionally, within a race/species are groups called subspecies/subraces^[2][3][4] Note that use of race may not always denote separate species however (and may refer to ethnicities/subraces/subspecies within species, i.e. blood elves vs. high elves).

Playable races

													Base Stats
Faction	Race	Priest	Rogue	Warrior	Mage	Druid	Hunter	Warlock	Shaman	Paladin	Monk	Death knight	Str	Agi	Sta	Int	Spi
Alliance	Human												20	20	20	20	21†
	Dwarf												22	16	23	19	19
	Night elf												17	25	19	20	20
	Gnome												15	23	19	24†	20
	Draenei												21	17	19	21	22
	Worgen												23	22	20	16	19
Both	Pandaren												20	18	21	19	22
Horde	Orc												23	17	22	17	23
	Undead												19	18	21	18	25
	Tauren												25	15	22	15	22
	Troll												21	22	21	16	21
	Blood elf												17	22	18	24	19
	Goblin												17	22	20	23	18

^† Note that Humans receive a +5% racial bonus to Spirit and Gnomes receive a +5% racial bonus to Intellect. For simplicity, these bonuses are reflected in the table above, although they are not actually calculated until after the class and level bonuses are added.

Base stats do not include the bonus scores from classes.^? The class bonuses are:

^† Monk is NYI and planned for the Mists of Pandaria expansion.

^* Death knight bonus stats represent a level 55 character.

Burning Crusade races

• The Burning Crusade added Draenei for the Alliance and Blood elves for the Horde.

Cataclysm races

• Cataclysm added Worgen (altered humans) for the Alliance and Goblins for the Horde.

Mists of Pandaria race

• Mists of Pandaria added the Pandaren playable race which can be either player faction ().

"Subraces"

Subraces (aka subspecies)^[3] are generally considered lesser groups within a main race/species. However, even these subgroups can be considered separate races or species themselves in some cases.

• Elf sub-races can include Blood elves and High elves. Night elves may be distinct enough to be a truly separate race or species.
• Dwarf sub-races can include Wildhammer, Ironforge, or Dark Iron dwarves.
• The various types of trolls are usually considered separate subraces, though occasionally separate races.^[5][6][7] The terms appear to be interchangeable to Blizzard.
• Aesir and vanir are considered two of the titan's various subraces.^[8]

See also

• Lists
  • Creatures - all species (including non-sapient)
  • Factions
  • Languages
  • Racial traits
  • Mounts
  • Small Pets
  • Species

• Background and analysis
  • Lore
  • Future race ideas
  • Origin of the Races

References