Top 10 Best Race/Class combos in Classic WoW (World of Warcraft)

[@hirumaredx]

A little update to address some common comments -The +5 Weapon skill did not give 3% extra hit, though it seems to do that a lot on private servers. I'll have more information on that below*1. -The Horde did have Tremor totem with shamans in vanilla wow. Fear Ward was just better as vanilla tremor totem did not work like it does today and was unreliable*2. -Trolls did make a good tank class, better than Taurens even*3. -Forgot to mention in the video, but on Horde side Trolls made the best Priests and Rogues*4. -Since I didnt go over PvP racials very much, Dwarfs and Orcs both had very good pvp racials*5. -I will have more information on all these points as replies to this comment.

[@hirumaredx]

*1 - From a Classic WoW Dev Blue post us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/bug-hit-tables/185675/34 "There is some code in 1.12 that explicitly adds a modifier that causes the first 1% of +hit gained from talents or gear to be ignored against monsters with more than 10 Defense Skill above the attacking player’s Weapon Skill. This means that the so-called “hit cap” is in effect 9% rather than 8% for a player with 300 Weapon Skill fighting a level 63 monster with a Defense Skill of 315. With a Weapon Skill of 305, such as from Sword Specialization (Humans) or Axe Specialization (Orcs), this hit modifier is no longer in place against +3 level monsters, provided that you are using the appropriate weapon type to gain the passive bonus. Needless to say, this makes +Weapon Skill very good against raid-level monsters. This code is already fully present in the WoW Classic client, and this will continue to function exactly as it did in the original game." It looks like you get at least 1% hit chance with +5 weapon skills. I think I heard the +15 thing in an interview or something since I cant find a source on that, so I could very well be wrong about what I said in the video. Its not 3%, but if its 1 % then thats still worth talking about in relation to how good weapon skills are for ranged weapons. So with this new info, all the classes stay on the list, but I'd move up troll hunters on the list because they do have a +5 Bow racial. Making them even more of the best hunter class. The dwarfs do have a +5 in guns but there were no BiS guns in classic. All the best ranged weapons were Crossbows, so not even trolls get that much benefit. Humans and Orcs are even BETTER than described in the video if they get a +1% hit in addition to the glancing blow stuff. And when looking for a source on the +3% hit chance from weapon skills, all I could find was contradicting evidence, and private server sources. Basically private servers gave weapon skills a +3% hit chance based on what was probably incomplete data. And then it became a norm for vanilla private servers to just give a +3% hit chance to weapon skills.

[@hirumaredx]

*2 - Tremor totem was in vanilla wow, but it was nothing like the tremor totem we have in live. Vanilla tremor totem ticked every 4 seconds, could not be used while feared like you can use it today, had a short 20 yrd range, and only worked on party members. It also didnt guarantee a fear removal on all party members when it ticked. And since fear made you run, it was very common for people to be feared out of the tremor totems short range anyway. The reason fear ward was better, was because it could be placed on high value targets and prevent the fear from every happening. If a tank was feared and ran away from the boss, they'd be hit in the back and could die to that before a tremor totem de-feared them. Most healers played at max range, and didnt want to be feared even further away. Preventing the fear from every happening also meant not having any of your abilities interrupted or getting a tremor totem dispell at the end of a 3 second long fear. Fear ward was just better in almost every way.

[@hirumaredx]

3* - Troll tanks were the only class combo that could reliably get the max berserking haste from the racial, and tank threat was often more important than defenses anyway. Taurens did have an extra 2 yard range because of their larger hit box which gives them some extra brownie points as far as chasing people down goes. And as someone pointed out, there are no good tanking axes until phase 3 so trolls might actually be the best PVE race for Horde.

[@hirumaredx]

*4 - Rogues could not use axes in vanilla wow so the axe racial was useless to them. So Troll was the go-to pve race for rogues. Trolls also had the only racial that gave healing priest any kind of pve advantage, But Undead priests had Devouring Plague which was a neat damaging ability. It generally cost to much mana to use so it wasnt a good healing racial at all (since mana is super important to healers for all you non healers reading this) but if you are dead set on shadow priest then undead is a fun alternative, but even then trolls might still be better because DP also takes up a debuff slot which your raid might not have available for you to even use.

[@hirumaredx]

*5 - Dwarf and Orc PvP Racials were really good in pvp. For a dwarf rogue, stoneform could allow you to clear dots to re-stealth better than any other race giving them a big advantage. The 25% stun reduce racial that orcs have is so good blizzard nerfed it pretty much every expansions after vanilla wow. So in classic you get to experience it in its most broken form. Its so good in fact that rogues are more likely to ignore Orc players just because of the racial. Also shadowmeld could not be used in combat in vanilla wow so it was a pretty situational racial ability. It did have a 2ndary passive effect of making a druids and rogues stealth a little bit better, so nelfs could be the most stealthy race in the game. But thats not a huge deal compared to the much better human and dwarf racials.

[@Quintaner]

Best warrior race is night elf, because they move faster while dead, and you’re gonna spend a LOT of your leveling time dead as a warrior

[@aGuyNamedEr1c]

When I first started I had no idea about anything, and arbitrarily made a NE Warrior for my first character that I took to 60 and beyond. I didn't realize other races had to do the run of shame for quite a while into it. :D

[@Rescultir]

true but when you get to level 60 and you're doing raids/dungeons where you don't plan on dying as much, that racial is now useless

[@itsdyl1031]

I’m hurt by this, but also agree

[@nev7]

Rescultir yeah and you have to wait for the whole raid to get there anyway so you’re just waiting there for everyone else

[@erichall090909]

Warrior really didn’t seem all that hard to level I think it’s overblown

[@Ashadow700]

Basically: don't roll night elf? Got it. I'm rolling nelf for the jumping animation. =)

[@alec7568]

I front flipped over a dwarf today. Worth it.

[@oriondesautels7966]

The value of Shadowmeld is really understated here. Shadowmeld is fantastic.

[@whatNtarnation90]

@@oriondesautels7966 afk while questing - shadowmeld.... getting ganked? shadowmeld.... camping flag room in warsong? shadowmeld... I don't play Alliance, but yeah shadowmeld is a very good ability.

[@orngdrnk]

NE are the best hunters. Shadowmeld is amazing with a cat, highest base agi, bow skill, and dodge

[@ryantwomey3463]

well the thing with rogues is they get 5 weapon skill from their talents for swords daggers etc and you can get maladeth to hit 309 sword skill so taking a nightelf with its higher base agility as a rogue isn't bad at all

[@matan2936]

Orcs are best pve warlocks Me: makes undead warlock cause looks really cool

[@blueskadoo1402]

warlocks don't benefit from crit until wotlk. Well, their dots don't crit until cata at least.

[@filipeamador314]

Actually Undead warlock is best than orc warlock. In classic there are 2 warlock builds. One of them (Demonic Sacrifice / Ruin) uses classic.wowhead.com/spell=18788/demonic-sacrifice which means you won't be using your pet. The other build (Shadow Mastery / Ruin) is used to give the main tank the imp stamina buff, which means he will have the imp in phase and not attacking at all, so the pet damage is useless. Pick undead because of will of the forsaken in order to get rid of some fears in the raids. TLDR: Pick whatever you like the most. The difference is not much.

[@filipeamador314]

@@blueskadoo1402 ?? you wan't the crit for shadowbolt not for the dots.

[@Preacher_.]

Orc's 25% stun resistance is INVALUABLE

[@looneymar9153]

@@blueskadoo1402 i played wotlk private server for 5 years, lock's dots are crit just fine

[@Leopoldshark]

What about the Night Elf Mohawk?

[@Fugitive292]

T, there's no such thing as a Night Elf Mohawk.

[@XaxasAoC]

@@Fugitive292 SHUDDUP FOOL

[@Fugitive292]

@@XaxasAoC Like I was saying...

[@Kan5Demon]

@@Fugitive292 that's where you're wrong and tc there can only be one night elf Mohawk

[@dawnevergarden3275]

@@Fugitive292 it was a grenade.

[@williamjeffery9653]

For the average player, most of these differences shouldn't be enough to dissuade you from picking a race-class combo you like. If you're trying to top meters in raids or speedrun them, maybe, but otherwise it's more important to run a combo that you enjoy for a 200hr + game. The raids in Classic only start getting hard with AQ and Nax, and even then they are entirely doable with sub-optimal race/class combos. The one notable exception is the dwarf priest's fear ward. Because without it, the Alliance has very little in the way of countering bosses with fear (horde have shaman tremor totems). So a raid will want at least a few dwarf priests. Though amusingly, a perfectly optimized group would probably have a mix of dwarf and human priests, since humans benefit from their 5% bonus spirit, improving mana regen and with a certain talent increasing healing power by a smidge. So humans technically outperform dwarves in all fights that do not involve fear, but only by a small margin. Also, the racials overall impact is probably better felt in pvp then pve, since opposing players will always be a greater threat then a raid boss who operates as a static challenge. So while human warriors are the strongest in pve, they are actually the weakest in pvp since those weapon skill racials have no effect on players, perception is incredibly situational, and all the other alliance races have better pvp racials (nelf shadowmeld, dwarf stoneform, and gnome escape artist).

[@100Predator]

Agreed, thats why im going UD warrior, i prefer the animations, and since ive already done these raids back in the old vanilla. Theres no reason FOR ME to try and hardcore it, so i go with what i prefer lookin at more ^^

[@godlygamer911]

For the average player it still should unless you are actively choosing to suck...

[@100Predator]

@@godlygamer911 except all it does is give you an edge, theres no race that activly gives you an disadvantage you are just an par with everyone else, unless you pick Orc

[@Kan5Demon]

You see, where the problem lies is when trying to find groups for raids as most people are going to want to run them as efficiently as possible so don't expect to get into many good groups if you're not running and optimal setup Though I completely agree, run what you like

[@lebensmittelgeologe697]

People talk about classic like it's the hardest games of all... Classic is easy asfc#&k.. You don't need an optimal setup for killing an boss or to get part in good groups. Just Play what you want like the op said.

[@QUQINGPING]

10/ Undead (pvp) 9/ Tauren warrior (tank) 8/ Troll shaman (racial) 7/ Troll hunter (racial) 6/ Gnome warlock (racial) 5/ Gnome mage (racial) 4/ Human rogue (wpn skill) 3/ Orc warrior (dps) 2/ Human warrior (tank & dps) 1/ Dwarf priest (fear ward)

[@joripien]

*Gnomes are the best warlocks and mages in the game* *Me making my human warlock and mage:* That sign can't stop me because I can't read! Seriously, I don't care how powerful a dps increase they get, I am not playing a gnome

[@myerk1971]

The best part about being a gnome is escape artist....it doesnt share a cooldown with pvp trinket.

[@usedfuzzbox]

Honestly, role playing is so much more important, so i'm with you on this :D

[@davidkermoon7346]

I made a human mage bc i just like it more, i dont want to be gnome xD I dont need to min max like gnome tryhards, i'll just enjoy the game. xD

[@jackburton-u7f]

Undead Lock > Gnome lock in pvp

[@Teato0o]

Gnomes are the best race in the Alliance, even in the current version of WoW. Gnomes rule.

[@MarketCipher1]

Troll Shadow Priest. -Berserking helps you get off fast heals from low hp or mana burn foes -Shadowguard procs Blackout stun, S weaving and VE, completely wrecking a rogue's opening and has a bomb spell coefficient -Hex of weakness reducing healing in 1v1 -Beast slaying through Horde zones and Stranglethorn Vietnam

[@vvvortic]

lol stranglethorn vietnam, perfect way of describing that place

[@Bucanero95]

Long life to da witchdocta

[@wesfresh]

Taurens war stomp and 5% hp in group PvP is insanely useful. 1 heal interrupt or stopping a flag click will change the tides of the game BIG time

[@silverback5814]

apart from horde lose against premades and cause blizzard to stop pvp xrealms on discord kek lulw

[@similitude240]

The NE hunter was a pretty solid PvP choice since you could use shadowmeld to stealth and then use a cat pet to stealth with you for ambushes or pet scouting in AB. Also there was a time you could use aimed shot and it wouldn't break stealth until it actually fired but I'm pretty sure they fixed that by 1.12.

[@zeuel]

Night Elf Hunter was a nice combo that I played in vanilla. During shadowmeld you could get a full aimed shot cast off before you would be revealed which was amazing for guarding stables in AB. An enemy who started capping the flag would eat an aimed shot, multi shot, and auto shot in quick succession before being able to react which was an amazing way to start a fight.

[@Jstandshere]

I feel orc enhancement shaman should have gotten mentioned as the axe skill increase really matters for not missing out on a windfury proc, which probably matters more for them than any other melee. Not to mention the ap bonus and stun resist is really huge for a shaman since they have lower armor than warriors.

[@orkoedukado6725]

I don't know if it would make it in the list, but back in the day I had a gnome rogue... nobody could actually find it. Size matters LMAO

[@DhiegoJolyBotogoske]

Orko Edukado gnomes were an awesome option for rogues in classic. Escape artist and combos with engineering. Damn!

[@aGuyNamedEr1c]

I had a gnome rogue as well. The small size actually did have a noticeable advantage that doesn't show on the stats sheet, especially in a chaotic battleground pvp situation.

[@silverback5814]

@@aGuyNamedEr1c not really i have a guildy that cant beat me in a duel im full t2 rogue human hes a gnome rogue he uses blinds i dont i never use blinds i dont care for it all i do is either use perception and open on him or when he tells me not to use it i let him open on me i use vanish into a cheap shot pop adrenaline rush blade flurry and evasion i still win even when he uses blinds hes not shit far from it hes destroyed a r14 rogue every time he tries ganking in ironforge im r11 doesnt mean much but gives you pvp experience i never once changed to dagger spec for pvp and still smashed people in pve combo sword spec toe to toe with wars without opening on them and i consider my self shit at pvp heck i only have 91 average parse in bwl because of slow boss kills with guild but my point is gnomes are only good for capping flags with that nogginfogger potion or what ever its called

[@sjakierulez]

@@silverback5814 Weird flex but okay

[@hirumaredx]

I have a tier list of all the race/class combos in the video description if you want to see how how other race/class combos compare to what was in the video.

[@saarlan6455]

Thanks

[@mikewayand]

Troll hunter is missing from that list but I assume its tier a with the other trolls

[@MrNicobo]

hey hirumared, few things tomthis video. the troll racial can appearently go to 43% speed (people have tested it and it wasnt a bug, the tooltip has been wrong since vanilla or something ) also the 5 wep skill for trolls and dwarfs appearently give 3% hit chance. other than that great video as always :D

[@ricklee2380]

Awesome video, I loved your in-depth explanation for Human Rogue which made my mind up on re-rolling for the passive race bonus

[@ryantwomey3463]

Rogues for pve where weapon skill matters usually go combat which already have +5 weapon skill to swords daggers and fist weapons baked in so play what you want

[@Cream_89]

Remember Troll Priest have Shadowguard that can proc Blackout and VE and they have Hex of Weakness that gives 20% reduced healing. I know it's not really good in PVE, but in PVP they are super strong.

[@moparman2nd]

Two other reasons for human tanks warriors. Thunderfury and Quel'serrar, the two best tanking weapons in the game, are swords.

[@Solereaper21]

moparman2nd yeah, except you aren’t going to get one so it’s a bad idea to pick a race around it

[@WormyMaster]

Grim Not like there aren't other great swords in game. Pre-BIS for common folks who dont get ironfoe is the Dal'Rend sword set. Brutality Blade is the best One-Hand sword in Molten core. BRE is one of the best overall 2h swords in the game and drops from Rag, because of it's armor ignoring effect it even outclasses the KT drop mace 'Might of Menethil' in a lot of scenarios! Obsidian Blade is a sword that drops frequently on non-flamewalker MC bosses and gives a lot of str and +8 to 2h swords. BWL has two good axes with the trash drop epic axe and Cho'rush from Nefarian, HOWEVER, both of them can be outclasses by the 1h tanking sword from Broodlord, which gives defense on top of being a good 1h overall. Can't say too much about AQ since that's the raid I'm least experienced in, HOWEVER: Naxxramas, the final raid dropping the best loot in the game, HEAVILY favours swords. >Iblis, from Razuvious is an insane offhand weapon >Widow's Remorse from Faerlina is a great tanking sword Up until there, we have the axe from Noth as a good option to balance things out But KT doesn't drop a good axe. Instead he drops these two SWORDS: >Gressil, the best DPS mainhand for rogues and warriors >The Hungering Cold the best tanking mainhand and an excellent offhand for DPS. This is one of the many reasons, along with Paladin blessings being insane, why alliance has an easier time towards the end of vanilla.

[@WormyMaster]

To clarify: By 'best tanking mainhand' I mean apart from TF of course

[@iamsobanned]

As a mage main, and former raid class leader, and tactician If ANYONE brought thunderfury to a raid they get booted and banned until reset. The second time they get booted from the guild.

[@drumlineking07]

@@iamsobanned why?

[@G.A.N.]

i would like see such video for every expansion, just to hear the News and infos about How they were balancing races durning expansions and their racials

[@DeepFriedHugs]

Yes would be cool to see this for BFA

[@CouchPotato252]

Would've loved to have heard your thoughts on the Tauren melee reach and hitbox "racial" in conjunction with leeway, even just as an honorable mention or an aside. Being able to execute someone from ~12 yards is certainly powerful :)

[@joshabernathy972]

CouchPotato252 people forget that you can also hit Tauren from that far away. Their larger model makes their hit box larger, and that worked negatively for them in certain situations as well.

[@petercarioscia9189]

Bug, not a feature.

[@vigge111111]

it's ok to smirk it’s not a bug anymore blizzard has said so

[@theJakal137]

@CouchPotato252 Tauren shammys were also powerful because of this - for long range WF's and Stormstrike into Earth shock. And also because War Stomp into lightning combo is amazing.

[@Evereghalo]

That's not a class + race combo really its uniform across all classes.

[@noxumbra173]

You forgot a very important combo for night elf hunters. And that is to feign death and the shadow meld.

[@Nevilleg930]

also shadowmeld + aimed shot for pvp

[@Sid_the_space_Sloth]

@@Nevilleg930 I believe you can't cast aimed shot while shadowmeld.. also it's not useable in combat

[@visha0203]

@@Sid_the_space_Sloth you can cast aimed shot and while the projectile is traveling cast shadowmeld

[@Sid_the_space_Sloth]

@@visha0203 ooh i see

[@Lejiapower]

@@visha0203 i think that will not work in classic since you get in combat only casting abilities

[@ekscalybur]

In Vanilla, that dodge racial for nightelves was counterproductive for tanks. When tanking raid content, rage generation was huge for maintaining threat. If you have raid geared rogues or hunters, and you want them to do anything other than auto-attack, the tank has to go balls out generating threat. That nightelf dodging attacks helped the healers mana pool, but he generated no rage when he dodged. Meaning his threat generation fell off a bit and the rogues/hunters then had to self gimp their damage output or risk making the boss turn around and face the raid.

[@lovedoctorheimerdinger8674]

I think a video on class/ profession combinations would be as popular as this one!

[@GKNomu]

Here b4 Stone cold gold gets a hard on bc human warriors are so high on the list.

[@silverback5814]

it should be fire mage #1 and dagger #2

[@aztrix364]

Still not StoneColdGold :(

[@MacdevVX]

this info should really be taken with a grain of salt. yeah some of this races might be best for min\maxing but if you hate your characters animations and how gear looks on them, you aren't really gonna be too enthusiastic to level your char. great vid per usual!

[@ryantwomey3463]

And some of it completely wrong

[@sjakierulez]

Why look at your character when you got meters you can watch?

[@lycanmychances7926]

orc windfury shaman ftw! who needs heals when stuff drops dead as u run past it (39 orc windfury twinked to the max named Doom swinging dun dun dun Pendulum of Doom) yes that's right i researched it before i even created and named my character and i don't regret a thing! Shazam "your phones charged", "your phones charged", "your phones charged" Doom "your dead", "where'd he go", what warrior?", "FOR THE HORDE", "zug zug"

[@MrSinaster]

Lycan Mychances im so glad I’m the same faction as you

[@lycanmychances7926]

@@MrSinaster xo

[@vorhandklaus]

Lycan Mychances orc or Tauren shamy for enhanc?

[@lycanmychances7926]

@@vorhandklaus orc all the way

[@AlexeyFilippenkoPlummet]

Undead priests and rogues on August 27: cool story, bro!

[@cybershadow58]

Best video info on Race/Class combos yet!!

[@jabohonu]

1:48 I think Undead was/its good as warrior, because you can use your "Will of the Forsaken" against fear/cham/sleep, and save your "Berserker Rage" for other CC`s and also the cannibalize its very usefeul. what do you guys think ??

[@Relbl]

Honestly Vanilla content is easy enough that you should just play what you want and enjoy yourself. The only class/race combo that people will grief you over not choosing is the dwarf priest

[@fiddlesticks6240]

im 9 months late but im pretty sure they share cds.

[@Malfusion85]

Tank troll... Bezerking at low hps for more tps as their going to be dropping to make max use

[@ayyyizme]

Troll Warrior is 100% better for PvE than Tauren.

[@zkatom3773]

Kyle Buckner Is this for real?

[@ayyyizme]

@@zkatom3773 maybe 50%. The stam bonus is essentially useless, but War Stomp is actually great in a pinch to save taking dmg or as an interrupt, but Berserking is just too good. Plus for dps Warrior, Tauren has nothing to help its case, whereas Berserking is fantastic for Fury.

[@negerfolmer4082]

I was just about to look for something like this, and then you've made a video for it! Perfect timing.

[@goran77ish]

Troll tank > tauren tank. As you say threat is an issue and troll racial helps with that. It is better then orc tank to since orc racials are useless for the tank. You will be using a sword most likely and racial reducing healing taken is awful for a tank. Troll one gives you more damage plus bonus damage on some bosses that are considered beast.

[@stewpottv6622]

Irrelevant after you aquire some gear. You switch to fury/prot. I'd take the 5% total health. The haste doesn't do much, where as 5% total health can be difference between a wipe or kill.

[@dargurt]

@@stewpottv6622 5% total health is pretty miniscule vs 30% increased attack speed. like yours saying roughly 200-250 HP is worth more AS that gives you insane threat generation

[@MyViolador]

@@dargurt healers wont Risk having you on low hp just so you can have your haste buff

[@stewpottv6622]

@@dargurtYea looking into - might've been biased because i didn't want all characters to be orc - Orc/Troll are best. Since WPvP will be a masive part of my experience and playtime, I've switched to orc. Feel like troll could be crazy good for both dps and tanking. Trash tier for pvp tho.

[@matrix255]

Dude. Trolls have Regeneration, that sweet 10% combat health regen makes them the BEST tanks evar.

[@shaynesimmons7487]

Gnome warrior with access to the different elemental absorption potions and fap potion is the craziest mage killer I’ve seen

[@cihannesvat4261]

The fact that there are no good 1hand tanking axes until phase 3 removes orc tanks advantage of axe specialization

[@BlinksTehShit]

But the best 1h dps weapon p1 is an axe, so still holds true for dps.

[@ryantwomey3463]

And then everything is a sword and the fact if you get thunderfury also a sword you wouldn't be using that axe anyways

[@TheT0N1c]

Where is the Troll hunter in the Tier list in the description? Edit: thanks for fixing it hiru

[@hirumaredx]

yah I forgot, made sure to add them to S tier

[@lucianosimmons3003]

Ty for the thorough and easy to get explanation of weapon skill. Raided Naxx as a human rogue and never thought to understand the meta and logic of it. This was incredible. So much more knowledge this time.ty for this! Immensely helpful!

[@DangermuffinVideos]

Classic content with modern footage makes me scared.

[@silverback5814]

i think the modern footage makes me not want to play retail i like the old models retail looks like a different game

[@Preacher_.]

7:20 You lost me there Hiru... For Pure DPS 100% Troll... But man That will of the Forsaken comes in SO HANDY when fighting warlock, and especially shadow priests.... It's especially fun when a warrior fears you and thinks he has 8sec to bandage, go out for a charge, ect.... Then u pop that baddy hit em with the Break Fear>>nova>>CoC>>Fireblast>>cold snap>> nova>>cone of cold>> fireblast>> AE to death 💙

[@VicZam9]

In my opinion, Orc is great for any of the classes it can simply because of hardiness. That bonus 25% to resist is amazing. Every character has a base 5% to resist stun, so Orcs actually have 30% resistance. Most of the classes have some form of stun in Classic, it's more than the number that have access to a fear, charm, or sleep effect. Thus in my opinion hardiness is overall more useful and can make the difference even though it is a passive RNG, the chance to resist nearly 1/3 of all incoming stunts is powerful.

[@mateuszwoznicki5994]

Tauren is bretty good as warrior because in classic he can hit mele dps from bigger distance than the other races. Orc Hunter is also good for marksman cuz of 25% chance to avoid being stunned.

[@schwegburt3002]

You forgot a detail about +5 Weapon Skill racials for Warrior Tanks. Weapon skill for tanks also increases your chance to Hit and not get Parried thus greatly helping threat gen in a class that often didn't have a lot of gear that increased threat. On pulls it meant you could more reliably land your opening skills. And because parries back then increased attack speed for the following attacks (That included bosses parrying then throttling tanks), it meant that WS also reduced boss damage, particularly burst damage. Weapon skill for tanks was really strong as a result.

[@trungalung90]

Nightelf Hunter is also good because of the Feign Death + Shadowmeld combo.

[@clay7182]

Best in depth classic wow race/class vid I seen yet

[@rigrmortis3393]

I always enjoyed my Dwarf / Rogue combo. Stoneform was quite nice in pvp vs other rogues, warriors, hunters and shadow priests. It was still useful in pve as many mobs used bleed or poison mechanics while disease was less common iirc. Then their treasure finding was just fun to find chests inside caves / dungeons that were random spawns, many times seeing it before even thinking about entering said area. The only negative to find treasure was you had to cycle between it and any gathering profession or miss things.

[@Doomted90]

I expected human holy priest somewhere on the list at like 8 or 9. Human spirit is insane as holy increasing your SP and making you almost unoomable

[@MrENT18]

Good timing with this video. I was wondering what races are the best for some classes.

[@juliusnizama7347]

I mean I waited for a priest the entire video and oh man you never disappoint!

[@Dioxane]

You're missing out on the weaponskill bonus of the +5 for trolls and dwarves. From what I've seen and remember, it's a several point difference of hit needed

[@arkadious9320]

This ^^

[@chazdomingo475]

Yes, it is relevant. But neither bow or gun is ultimately BiS. There are some bows you will use for a long time though. Gun skill is pretty much useless. Berserking is a bigger impact. Trolls are definitely highest dps hunter. Night elf is better on alliance though.

[@bandit7459]

@@chazdomingo475 its 3% hit but yeah night elf means what 9 total more agility? While I would roll night elf because vanilla dwarf models suck the dwarf racial stone form is actually really good as a racial defensive. If you do roll alliance and plan on pvping dwarf is king.

[@Dioxane]

@@chazdomingo475 Trolls with berserking is definitely a bonus, plus the damage to beasts, but having a 3% hit bonus means that you can focus on more AP/AGI gear and trinkets vs hit specific trinkets. If you're dipping into survival/MM then you are now down to 3% hit needed. While not as important later on, its significant in being able to put out consistant dps when you're just fresh 60. I'm just saying that I feel that troll and dwarf hunter specifically should be rated higher, as well as troll being higher than dwarf due to the best ranged weapons bows. The last good gun is Ouro's gun in AQ.

[@asch220]

The pet damage on orc passive can result in more dmg in certain fights that last a long time with the pet having s high up time and with good micro by the hunter in theory

[@bandit7459]

For what? MC? Cause after that pet scaling is so bad that 5% is unnoticeable.

[@TheMisleduser]

We have now transitioned from a matter of days to a matter of hours before we can go home. Also for the first time in my life I'm playing a Gnome.

[@Blazingwheel]

IMO Tauren Hunters are great, they're overlooked a lot because of the bigger dead zone however... Tauren Hunters will have access to the racial ability War Stomp which will Stun up to 5 enemies around you for 2 seconds and can be useful to peel for other players or yourself. It will also give you a 2-second window to Feign Death and place a Freezing Trap on your target. Since you can't place traps in combat in Classic, this is very useful. It also allows you to save your Scatter Shot which is usually what hunters will use before feign/trapping.

[@chazdomingo475]

I agree, it is useful, but I still think it's not as good as Orc Hardiness in general. A hunter's worst nightmare is being stunlocked. Also, the dead zone is not bigger, it's just moved. The thing is, it makes you easier to hit from farther range. And that's the worst part about it.

[@zomfgwtfpwnage]

Orc rogue has to be the most underrated class/race combo in classic. They're arguably more OP than UD in PvP due to 25% stun resist being absolutely insane WHILE also having Bloodfury which makes them by far the most OP Rogue Horde class.

[@manuelemilioaquinoaraujo3154]

Undeads are better at 2v1s and at resisting shafow dmg

[@swarmofmudkipz]

Of course the PRIEST MAIN put priest at #1 smh. Jk cheesing raid fights is pretty damn good makes me rethink rolling horde

[@politicallycorrectredskin796]

Don't. Horde priests have far superior racials. Dwarf priests are only good on alliance side since they lack shamans and therefore tremor totems. A horde raid would laugh at fear ward. They didn't need it then, and they don't need it now. And consequently horde priests are free to do other things, like healing or being the best damn shadow priests in the game, no competition.

[@swarmofmudkipz]

I think the ability to straight trivialize certain fights is extremely powerful. I agree that horde racials are wayyy more consistent but they're only MAYBE above average compared to fear ward. If you'd ask me what I'd like to take to raid night, I'd still take Horde priest racials for sure.

[@swarmofmudkipz]

Taking that Troll for sure tho

[@wookietoots5179]

This is a fantastic video. PLEASE make a new one including the new Allied races!!!!!!!

[@superbooster2636]

Back around the end of vanilla and when they rolled out the burning crusade I did an obscene amount of lvl 19 warsong gulch pvp with a guild that specialized in lvl 19 warsong gulch pvp, and my little gnome warrior was always near the top of the list. unbelievably well rounded with the ability to kill, defend, and cap, depending on how I felt like playing,

[@marshling6365]

I really liked this video, because it looks more like your classic videos from 1-2 years ago.

[@MEMELogix]

This video made me renew my wow sub. Thanks Hiru

[@Zenn3k]

Ranged weapon skill still matters, it gives +hit%, which means as a troll hunter you need a little less +hit gear to reach soft cap.

[@hirumaredx]

you need +15 for 1% hit. Its not worth going for. I do go out of my way to explain that in the video since weapon skills are confusing and blizzard never actually said what they did exactly.

[@TheT0N1c]

@@hirumaredx It would be really interesting where you researched this. +5 bows gives you +3% hit against lvl 63 mobs. +15 bows gives you +4% hit.

[@Zenn3k]

@@TheT0N1c It gives 1% hit, where 305 gives melee 3% hit.

[@TheT0N1c]

@@Zenn3k why would it only give 1% hit? Source?

[@t3chn0dr0n3]

I've never seen or heard anyone rolling nelf cuz of them having the highest base agility. The reason is because nelf hunters are the most natural archers/hunters in Wacraft's lore. When you think of a night elf (or just any elf, really), the first thing that pops to mind is an archer, not a priest, warrior, rogue or druid.

[@Cressx]

generally only the females were hunters/warriors - the males were like priests and druids and them fighting was taboo

[@Elthenar]

Undead Shadow Priest was godly at PvP in vanilla. 20 sec Will and they got a second shadow DOT as their racial spell.

[@Spika94]

This video made it clear for me that I should just pick what I want over what is best.

[@c4k3p0pTDR-5S]

Spikà skill and game sense is always gonna be > race. Nobody isn’t gonna group/dungeon/raid with you cuz you aren’t the mathematically best race or cuz you don’t have one specific cooldown.

[@Spika94]

@@c4k3p0pTDR-5S ye of course, I'm just saying.

[@theJakal137]

"alliance has an edge in raiding, becuase they have fear ward available to them and the horde does not" You have that because we have shamans with tremor totems. Tremor totems are also better because they arent single target. Its just how blizz balanced that out.

[@taylorbarnes9392]

I would prob make an argument that due to the power of human warriors and rogues as well as gnome casters, that's why they have an edge, not fear ward lmao

[@ryantwomey3463]

And mostly salv literally it's because of salv and the other buffs pallies bring and also bring a very efficient healer Tbh tremor if you time it correctly works better then fear ward since you can time it so when it ticks it ticks from the fear comes out basically nullifying fear for 5 people Ata time instead of 1

[@dwimrel]

Gnome mage. Still played it when I quit wow.

[@enriquejaimes3368]

My tremor totem doesn't care about your fear guard 💪

[@Strrroke]

Aren’t dwarf rogues good in PvP thanks to their poison removal?

[@hirumaredx]

yes they are

[@MetalCorndog]

What about the top 10 WORST class/race combinations?

[@blackie75]

female tauren shaman

[@krepler]

@@blackie75 that's gotta be number 1 with female dwarf warrior following that

[@rowboatcop4451]

Idk if its top tier but Troll Warrior Tank can be good, because the hate can help gain more threat, and since youre a tank you're more likely to get the increased benefits for low health.

[@Redfordcrate]

Keep in mind the reason Human Rogue was so important versus Human Warrior (especially Human FURY warrior) was due to the existence of the edgemaster's handguards. They are mail. Therefore, a rogue can not use them. A non-human non-orc fury warrior can use the edgemaster's handguards and get a similar bonus to the racial abilities, while letting them use racials from other races without losing that all-important bonus. Also, keep in mind that for PvP those +weaponskill racials are an empty ability. They might as well not be there. This suddenly makes other races very attractive if you're going to use an arms or fury warrior in PvP. You might say "But Redford, you could get BOTH and then the bonus would be even bigger!" And it would, but keep in mind that after a certain points, the +weaponskill is subject to diminishing returns, and again, attacking faster as an troll, or shedding roots and using better engineering as a gnome might be worth it to you, in exchange for being forced to use the edgemaster's handguards. A rogue, on the other hand, has no choice in the matter. They are forced to make use of racials or have a very hard time getting weaponskill.

[@williamjeffery9653]

One big caveat to that. Unless you are in a high-performance speedrunning kind of guild, you could always just run a dagger-based rogue. There's a lot of great daggers for rogues in Vanilla, and human's don't get any advantage with those. Meanwhile, a dwarf rogue is just as good with daggers as he would be with swords or maces, and there are some dagger skill options that are surprisingly easy to get, like the mugger's belt in Dire Maul. That said, a human rogue with best in slot swords with typically outperform even the best dagger rogue, if even only by a slight margin. But that's relying on RNG drops going your way, and your typical guild is going to want some rogues to be taking advantage of epic daggers that drop.

[@Millirawk]

Uhm...for the number one spot what about tremor totem that shamans got? It's an Aoe ward with no cooldown lol

[@MagnussenDK]

Fear Ward can be used raidwide, Tremor Totem is only for the Shamans party, and can be destroyed. Fear Ward is there for a surefire way of nullifying a fear on a tank. Though if the Tremor Totem is not destroyed, then it can obviously be superior. But with a minimum of 2 Dwarf priest in a raid, then the raid will be pretty quickly warded.

[@Millirawk]

@@MagnussenDK I see that makes sense now good explanation

[@Rescultir]

I think that my list would also be good if you plan on doing all race/classes but I think it's more for role-playing and not min/maxing. *ALLIANCE* Human - Paladin Dwarf - Priest Night Elf - Druid Gnome - Mage *HORDE* Orc - Warrior Undead - Warlock Tauren - Shaman Troll - Hunter For rogue, I would make an *Undead/Orc* or *Human/Gnome* I know that rogues have amazing high damage in PVE but I consider them to be more of a PVP class but that's just me.

[@waldmeister0815]

+5 on range weapon skill gives you a bonus of 3% hit against level 63 Mobs (this includes Bosses). That's why trolls are considered the best PvE hunters up to late BWL. Beserking is also very nice.

[@SSquirrel1976]

Edge master hand guards are the only things I can think of offhand that had big weapon skill bonuses but it wasn’t on any ranged. They were amazing tho

[@Dwarfurious]

Dwarf priest/cleric, classic!

[@izidor]

Dwarf priest is OP. Wins against locks and other priests 99% of the time. You just cant fear him.

[@METerrell]

Hmm. Would have thought Night Elves would get a mention in rogues for their agility, since that's important to that class.

[@krim7]

Going to play a Troll Warrior, I think. I have always liked the Trolls but never really mained one before

[@blackie75]

get ready to never enjoy shoes again

[@d3fq0n1]

Before watching :D for pvp ORC, I used to resist cheap/kidney combo with orc :D ! Now i will see pve combos :D

[@violetbliss4399]

Shadowmeld is always overlooked or under-appreciated, isn't it? One of the strongest effects across all of the 15 years, particularly for some classes such as druid or rogue, where it had a lot of use as an extra stealth effect to springboard other stuff from. Not to mention its general pve use.

[@DriftNick]

You can't use it in combat (this was changed in Wotlk) so it's not nearly as strong as it is now.

[@Catchdown]

Let me explain why Night Elves suck in vanilla. Nature Resistance: Nature Resistance increased by 10. Resistance +10 is very minor. On average, 10 resistance reduces the damage you take by 3%. From poisons, shaman lightning, as well as some hunter stings and druid skills. This is not useless, but not worthy of mentioning compared to what other races bring, who also usually have +10 resistance of their own. Wisp Spirit: Transform into a wisp upon death, increasing movement speed by 50%. This is actually the best racial if you suck, but actually does nothing if you don't. Quickness: Dodge chance increased by 1%. Dodge only works versus melee swings, not spells or dodges. And it's only 1%, which is extremely minor. 1% damage reduction from only melee swings is almost nothing, while other races have useful racials which increase damage or survivability by 3-5% or more. Shadowmeld: Activate to slip into the shadows, reducing the chance for enemies to detect your presence. Lasts until cancelled or upon moving. Night Elf Rogues and Druids with Shadowmeld are more difficult to detect while stealthed or prowling. Shadowmeld is not usable in combat, which makes it virtually useless for anything but AFKing(just log out>?). Although "better stealth" sounds good in theory, in practice every rogue is stealthed good enough to not be detected while approaching other classes/monsters, so it makes virtually no difference. Although it might help you win a rogue 1v1 vs a horde, human's detection racial is a lot better for that, too. The only thing Night Elves have going for them is their higher base agility, but that means little when every racial is so lackikng. All of these racials amount to almost nothing. Every other race brings something really strong to the table. Night Elves just don't. This is why blizzard eventually buffed their racials by allowing them to use shadowmeld in combat.

[@ItsBarnabyJones]

@@CatchdownI love how you criticize the Ne racial but make absolutely no suggestion of what a better race would be to play lol.

[@TheNinjaLamb]

Tbh I feel like a lot of the great advantages many of the racials gave didn't hit that high problem point until BC. A lot of the bc talents took some of the class race combos from being slightly better to impossibly frustrating. BC holy priest had a talent where after suffering a critical attack you could not be crit again for 6 seconds from any damage source. Combine that with stoneform, desperate prayer (with a much lower cd), and the new dwarf racial chastise, and rogues were at most cc/lockout annoyances with no chance of killing you.

[@Phoenix-Reborn2009]

Now you will you witness the full power of Millhouse Manastorm

[@BoshinTV]

I want a human mage but my min max side tells me to go gnome... how should I decide

[@matthewgagnon9426]

Intellect helped a tiny bit in Vanilla, but it's pretty minimal compared to Strength and Agility adding Attack Power. The difference is there, but it's pretty insignificant in practice.

[@alionus6783]

*Priests are only allowed to be dwarf* Me: Makes Human Priest

[@saigonkat]

Humans get a 5% spirit bonus, so as long as you have enough dwarves for fear ward, it is the best choice.

[@mellowblossom9111]

human is a great choice. like said before raids will be filled with dwarf priest.

[@NeroThacher]

Very informative and helpful, but you should try and end up making 2 more videos similar to this one, except faction focused. A Horde Race/Class video and an alliance Race/Class video

[@SlimeyWatermelon]

In the Video he says Orcs are the best for Melee hunters but there is no Melee hunter in Vanilla?? 3:55

[@devinconsla2540]

It was a joke

[@chazdomingo475]

Best Tank for Horde is Troll. Threat is more important than extra EHP in classic. 5% HP is mostly irrelevant as it doesn't even provide more mitigation to save healer mana. Also Orc anything is overpowered in PvP.

[@zollinarthemagicalseal692]

so no gnome rogue ? I mean yes expensive mind is useless but the escape artist with sprint and evasion and that you have 20 % dodge chance is good

[@aaronshadowhunter656]

Horde has grounding totem Wich also works on multiple people so you can't say alliance is stronger because of fear ward

[@tydal6516]

Fear ward is more reliable

[@aaronshadowhunter656]

@@tydal6516 even so alliance isn't straight up better because of it

[@tydal6516]

@@aaronshadowhunter656 Keep telling yourself that

[@olasvare2500]

What about nightelf Rouge or nightelf druid. Cant they user their racial to enter Stealth Mid combat??

[@metalicana5894]

did you forget about tremor totem?

[@Tomoyo0827]

No.1 Undead anything Because it has the coolest animation ever, which will make your PVP skill level increase 1000000

[@MyViolador]

But you look like crap wearing any non robe gear

[@Tomoyo0827]

MyViolador rubbish, leather look sick on undead male

[@MyViolador]

@@Tomoyo0827 im not a fan of missing elbows and hips

[@xxyoloproxx7230]

First PS Hiru, I love your vids so much!

[@TouchedbyCastiel]

I have a video idea: What are the most common names in WoW. Sounds weird but there’s character names that you’re almost guaranteed to encounter like Terrorc and Sapntap

[@Mzuleft88]

How is Fear Ward a slight edge over Horde in raiding? I'll just drop my Tremor Totem which is a better and cheaper option.

[@chazdomingo475]

Paladin is why Alliance are better than horde at raiding.

[@ilight8]

Wait so if you want super high warlock dps, I have to play alliance for gnome?

[@Mavion89]

Not really, expansive mind only gives you like 1% crit at high gear levels.

[@mightypoopie6884]

For my first EVER character I chose a gnome monk because I’m cool like that😎

[@nev7]

I couldn’t imagine picking my least favourite class with my least favourite original race, sounds like a cancerous ganker build to me

[@babyspine]

I feel like you missed out on orc rouge cause they benefit the most from the blood fury do they not?

[@Limrasson]

Yes, yes, fear ward gives alliance an edge in PvE...but what about the tremor totem?

[@MrSinaster]

Limrasson not as reliable as fear ward but still good

[@lief3414]

The real reason is that paladins are better in raid enviroment than shamans. Since tanks are always warriors you don't really need to care about the few bosses that actually fear.

[@Limrasson]

@@lief3414 That's....simply not true. We had warrior tanks of course, and the raids needed dwarven priests to cast fear ward on the tanks. We the healers had to heal from max range and the tank tanked the boss also at max range and so the healers did not get the fear effect.

[@ThePunishersRevenge]

Man I want them to bring those little bonuses to the modern WoW, to me it makes your character just little bit unique.

[@nev7]

They wouldn’t do that, Blizzard hates good game mechanics

[@gamerunknown9472]

I think it wouldn't work if it was brought back anymore the meta slaves would just get more toxic about people trying to have fun doing mythics or raiding.

[@Nokkternal]

Undead Warrior is just bad ass, you are practically immune to Fears, whether PvP or PvE, Cannibalism was also really good for Warrior questing too and the most troll thing you could do to someone after you kill them in PvP lol

[@MyViolador]

You look like crap wearing plate gear tho

[@nikola4107]

Back then i guess fear ward on Onyxia was like WOOW. But common man, this is really one of those lets make classic wow videos train.