keeps all nine Classic classes. Only 
What is known and what is not (read this first)
The day of Blizzard's Deep Dive recap — and one day after the BlizzCon announcement — World of Warcraft: Forever still uses the nine Classic classes. Blizzard has said all specs are updated. That sentence is not a kit. The only class with a published spell and talent dump is 
Paladin.
Shaman, 
Druid, and 
Hunter lists are not published beyond all specs updated, a note that Enhancement Shaman gets hybrid itemization help, and the racial/combo notes below. More class articles are planned. A standalone Paladin tweet URL was not found; the canonical write-up is the Deep Dive article. Saturday press: nothing is off the table, not even new classes. No new class is announced at launch.
Do not treat this page as a DPS ranking. There is no parse board, no beta log sample in Blizzard’s published material, and no published numbers for racial damage. A best-class section later is reasoning from what was written, labelled as such.
Product context: Forever vs Classic. Dates: release date. Hub: /wow-forever. Offer pages: leveling from $259 (shorter brackets cost less on the same slider) and coaching $29/hour, both pre-order from 4 November 2026.
The nine Classic classes still exist
Forever does not add a tenth class at launch. Death Knight, Monk, Demon Hunter, and Evoker are modern-era classes and are not in the Forever class list. If a site posts a Forever new class, it is mixing products. The published additions are race/class combinations and the pack-gated 
Skyborne race, not a new base class.
| Class | In Forever | Published kit |
|---|---|---|
 Warrior | Yes | Not published beyond all-specs-updated |
| Paladin | Yes | Deep Dive dump — Holy Strike, unconsumed seals, baseline Consecration, named trees |
| Hunter | Yes | Exists; Human Hunter is a new Alliance combo; no kit |
 Rogue | Yes | Not published beyond all-specs-updated |
 Priest | Yes | Not published beyond all-specs-updated |
| Shaman | Yes | All specs updated; Enhancement named for hybrid itemization; no spell list |
 Mage | Yes | Not published beyond all-specs-updated |
 Warlock | Yes | Not published beyond all-specs-updated |
| Druid | Yes | Exists; Skyborne forms called out; Improved Mark of the Wild baseline; no kit |
What applies to every class, from the same Deep Dive recap:
Talents: 1.12 row count. Milestones at 11 / 16 / 21 / 31 (16 is new versus the Classic 1.12 spacing players remember).- Baseline raid buffs: Blessing of Kings, Divine Spirit, and Improved Mark of the Wild are now baseline. Those used to be talent taxes. Every group still wants the classes that press them; those three buttons no longer consume a talent point.
- Itemization help that is class-adjacent: combined hit/crit; +heal includes one-third spell damage; unique dungeon boss items are blue; hybrid itemization help is named for Enhancement Shaman. Dungeon party sizes are not published.
- Combat pacing: 10–15 seconds per mob. That is a world-combat note, not a rotation length.
Class-by-class rotations, talent grids for Warrior/Rogue/Priest/Mage/Warlock, and any numeric racial DPS are not published. We'll add them as soon as Blizzard publishes them.
Ask which class →Tell LFCarry Alliance or Horde, tank/heal/melee, and whether you will buy a pack. The answer uses the published Paladin kit and the six combos — not a made-up ranking.
Six new race/class combos at launch (free with a sub)
Deep Dive list, launch, more planned:
Gnome PriestAlliance · freeHuman HunterAlliance · freeDwarf ShamanAlliance · freeOrc MageHorde · freeTroll WarlockHorde · freeUndead PaladinHorde · free| Race | Class | Faction | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gnome | Priest |  Alliance | Combo only; no kit published |
| Human | Hunter | Alliance | Combo only; Hunter kit not published |
| Dwarf | Shaman | Alliance | Combo only; Shaman kit not published |
| Orc | Mage |  Horde | Combo only; Mage kit not published |
| Troll | Warlock | Horde | Combo only; Warlock kit not published |
| Undead | Paladin | Horde | Published Paladin kit + Retribution charger quest |
Forsaken Paladins are tied to the Forsaken Kingdom story: Bandarion Keep, Whispering Wood, Tirisfal. They receive a level-60 epic mount quest in the name of Retribution. The Alliance charger quest is named Redemption (Found Photos). BlizzCon stills: a skeletal horse in skull-and-gold barding, plus a skull-helmed ram variant. Dedicated page: Undead Paladin. Official combo list is six, including 
Dwarf Shaman (Dwarf Shaman) — Wowhead's BlizzCon coverage listed five. That is the one combo with a published end-of-leveling beat.
Community context, attributed, not a poll: Undead Paladin is the free-combo magnet on the official forums (launch thread + a dedicated thread + a category row titled Undead Paladin Is Stupid with hundreds of listed replies). Wowhead comments include retail players asking for the combo. After the Skyborne pack price landed, at least one Wowhead commenter (Romanthony) wrote they would play Forsaken Paladin instead. That is conversation volume, not a performance number. Skyborne share of day-1 characters is not measured.
Skyborne class list (pack-gated)
Skyborne (shen’dorei / hidden people) pick Horde or Alliance at creation. Shared classes:
| Class | Horde | Alliance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warrior | yes | yes | Shared |
| Hunter | yes | yes | Shared |
| Rogue | yes | yes | Shared |
| Druid | yes | yes | Shared. New Skyborne forms — form list unpublished |
| Shaman | yes | no | Horde-only for this race |
| Mage | no | yes | Alliance-only for this race |
There is no Skyborne Paladin or Priest on the published list. New racials, customizations, voices, and dances are stated; the racial names and numbers for Skyborne are not in the written Deep Dive dump the way Dwarf and Undead examples are.
Zephras Isle (levels 1–12) is the Skyborne start and is paid with the race (What’s Next + shop footnote). A normal subscription plays Forever; it does not play this start. Heroic Pack is $29.99 / €29.99; Epic $59.99 / €59.99; Collection $79.99 / €79.99 through 11 January 2027 (Battle.net shop). Full race lore: Skyborne guide. Beta access is Epic/Collection only (17 September–21 October 2026 PST official). If you want to test a Skyborne Druid or Shaman before 4 November, that is a pack question, not a class-balance question.
Paladin: the only published kit
This is the design dump from Blizzard's Deep Dive article.
Baseline combat. Holy Strike at level 6: instant Holy weapon strike, 12-second cooldown. Seals are not consumed by Judgment. Consecration is baseline at 20, with high damage/threat on the first four targets. Seal of Fury (Protection): aimed at fast weapons, small absorbs; Judgment while the seal is active taunts. Official note: this is not a one-button taunt; Paladin still has no interrupt and no generic slow.
| Tree | Named talents |
|---|---|
| Holy | Improved Holy Strike; Voice of Truth (silence/interrupt immunity); Reverence (Spirit while casting); Infusion of Light; Holy Shock on a 10-second cooldown; Consecrated Ground; Light’s Vigil (party heal or extra damage). |
| Protection | Improved Seal of Fury (Mana on absorb); Shield Specialization Mana on block; Swift Judgment (reset Judgment once per minute); Templar’s Bulwark; redesigned Reckoning; Iron Creed. |
| Retribution | Vindication; Sacred Arbiter; Champion of the Light; Instrument of the Law (Holy Wrath instant, less threat); Twist of Light; Shockadin path kept. |
That is a larger published Paladin surface than any other Forever class has today. It is still not a parsed ranking. Undead Paladins use this kit plus the Forsaken racial rewrite and the Retribution-named epic mount quest.
Forever coaching →Coaching is a pre-order delivering from 4 November 2026. You stay on the character. This is not a Blizzard level-boost item — none is in the packs.
Racial rewrite (2+2) and talent milestones
Every race gets two active and two passive racials, with a similar offensive budget. Published examples — not a complete racial table:
| Race | Published lines |
|---|---|
| Dwarf | Stoneform now physical damage reduction (not Armor). Find Treasure stacks with other tracking. Mace Specialization crit. Big Game Hunter versus Beasts. |
| Undead | Will of the Forsaken no longer grants immunity. Cannibalize restores Mana and Health. Touch of the Grave is listed. The fourth Undead racial slot is not fully spelled beyond the 2+2 rule. |
Per BlizzCon coverage (Wowhead racials write-up), not yet in Blizzard’s written Deep Dive: Tauren Cultivation grows bonus herbs that do not require Herbalism; Orc Axe Specialization now increases crit; Gnome Expansive Mind raises maximum resource; new Gnome Eureka! reduces cost and adds +10% damage or healing on the next three spells. Skyborne press lists split High Order (Alliance) vs Windshaper (Horde) — racials guide. Full per-race table for Human / Night Elf / Troll: not yet in Blizzard’s written articles. Do not copy Classic racial numbers onto Forever.
Talents again, because class pickers ask this as wow forever talents. Rows match 1.12. Extra milestone at 16. Kings, Divine Spirit, and Improved Mark of the Wild are baseline, so those talent rows are no longer the reason to roll Paladin, Priest, or Druid. You still roll those classes for the rest of the kit — and for Druid, that rest is unpublished.
Best class to pick — reasoning, not a tier list
There is no Forever tier list on this page. No ranks, no S/A/B letters, no guessed DPS numbers. What follows is reasoning from the published kit dump and from attributed community attention. It can be wrong the first week of beta (17 September 2026, cap 30, press) or at launch.
Gnome PriestAlliance · freeHuman HunterAlliance · freeDwarf ShamanAlliance · freeOrc MageHorde · freeTroll WarlockHorde · freeUndead PaladinHorde · freeIf you want the class Blizzard actually documented: Paladin. It is the only class with a published, expanded kit. That is a documentation advantage, not a damage meter.
If you want the free combo the forums are already arguing about: Undead Paladin. It is the most-discussed free combo in the official WoW Forever forum category. It also has the only named level-60 epic mount quest among the six combos. That is attention + a quest beat, not a clear rate.
If you want Alliance Shaman or Horde Mage without paying for Skyborne: Dwarf Shaman and Orc Mage are the free answers on the combo list. Their kits are unpublished. Skyborne Horde Shaman / Alliance Mage are the pack versions of a similar fantasy.
If you want Druid or Hunter: both exist; Skyborne Druid is called out for new forms; Human Hunter is a new Alliance combo. Blizzard has not published those kits. Autocomplete is already asking wow forever druid / shaman / hunter. The honest answer today is: they are in the game; the buttons are not in the articles.
If you want to avoid a paywall on your main: any of the nine classes on a Classic race, or one of the six free combos. Skyborne + Zephras 1–12 requires Heroic or higher. A subscription-only player who starts on Zephras is buying a pack, not missing a hidden free unlock.
LFCarry will not assign a secret rank. Ask in the chat on this page with your faction, whether you will buy a pack, and whether you want to tank, heal, or melee. Coaching $29/hour and 1–60 from $259 are pre-orders from 4 November 2026. Dungeon practice after that: dungeons $9 / $29. Hardcore class planning waits for that ruleset: Hardcore $349.
BlizzCon update
Found Photos and floor stills showed the 
Forsaken Paladin epic charger: a skeletal horse in skull-and-gold barding, plus a skull-helmed ram variant. The level-60 quest is in the name of Retribution; the Alliance charger is Redemption. Per BlizzCon coverage, racial examples include Tauren Cultivation, Orc Axe Spec crit, Gnome Expansive Mind, Gnome Eureka!. Skyborne racials are faction-split in press. Saturday press: nothing is off the table, not even new classes. Official launch combos remain six, including Dwarf Shaman. Instrument of the Law makes Holy Wrath instant — Wowhead's BlizzCon coverage printed Hammer of Wrath; the official article is Holy Wrath. Dedicated routes: Undead Paladin guide and Undead Paladin leveling (1–60 from $259; shorter brackets cost less on the same slider); Dwarf Shaman guide and Dwarf Shaman leveling (same prices).
Read next.
Sources and related guides
- Blizzard News — Deep Dive panel recap (speakers named there: Clay Stone, Josh Greenfield, Ana Resendez, Kris Zierhut; combos and Paladin kit)
- Blizzard News — Found Photos (Forsaken Paladin mount quest and place names)
- Blizzard News — What’s Next and the Battle.net shop (Skyborne class split and Zephras paywall)
- Wowhead Forever news (Deep Dive coverage omitted Dwarf Shaman; press racial extras)
Community attention on Undead Paladin and the Skyborne price reaction: attributed forum/Wowhead threads — not a survey. Siblings: vs Classic, leveling, Skyborne, beta, release date. Hub: /wow-forever.
FAQ
Forever leveling →Leveling pre-orders deliver from 4 November 2026. Zephras 1–12 only if you own Heroic or higher. Self-play or piloted.