Classes & races

Every class in Forever, and what changed from Classic

Looking for which race can play which class? That is a table of its own: every race and class combination in Forever, with the twelve new ones marked.

Forever ships the nine Classic classes and adds no tenth at launch. The four you will not find are Death Knight, Demon Hunter, Evoker, Monk: they belong to expansions this game does not include.

The useful comparison is against Classic, not retail, because Forever is built on Classic’s combat model. Below is what is actually different, per class. Be warned that Blizzard has published a full kit for 1 of the nine, so most of these lists are short on purpose. Where a tree has not been revealed, this page says so instead of guessing.

What changed for everyone

These land on all nine, and between them they undo several of Classic’s most-complained-about constraints.

A new 16-point talent milestone

Talent trees keep Classic’s structure and row count, and the one-point milestones at 11, 21 and 31 points stay. Forever adds a fourth at 16 points in every tree, which gives shallow off-tree dips a real payoff for the first time.

Party buffs are baseline, not talents

Divine Spirit, Blessing of Kings, Blessing of Might and Improved Mark of the Wild no longer cost talent points. In Classic these were the tax that locked a raid slot into a fixed build; in Forever those points are yours to spend.

One Hit stat and one Crit stat

Spell, melee and ranged hit chance consolidate into a single stat, and the three critical strike chances do the same. This quietly fixes hybrid gearing, where a Classic Enhancement Shaman or Feral Druid had to stack two separate versions of the same stat.

Bonus healing carries damage with it

Bonus healing now also grants one third as much bonus damage, so healing gear is no longer dead weight the moment you need to kill something. Weapon skill required per item is also reduced.

Caster weapons and dungeon loot rebuilt

Every dungeon drop was re-examined, with hundreds of new or adjusted items, spell damage and healing arriving earlier in progression, and real spell damage on caster weapons. New stat options include parry and dodge reduction.

Slower, more deliberate combat

Blizzard is targeting roughly 10 to 15 seconds for a solo player to kill an ordinary creature, which is closer to original vanilla pacing than to anything since.

Class by class

Druid

Tank / Healer / Melee / Ranged

The one class that can fill every role, at the cost of gearing for each. Forms do the heavy lifting.

Changed from Classic

• Improved Mark of the Wild is baseline, so the Druid tax on the Balance tree is gone.
• Skyborne can be Druids on either faction, with their own forms. Druid stops being a four-race class.
• One Hit and one Crit stat matters more here than anywhere: a Feral Druid no longer gears twice.system-wide
• Bonus healing granting damage helps hybrid Druids who swap roles mid-dungeon.system-wide

Not published: The Balance, Feral and Restoration trees have not been published. Fan sites listing specific Druid talent numbers are ahead of any source we can check.

Hunter

Ranged

A pet, a bow, and the most forgiving solo levelling in the game.

Changed from Classic

• Humans can be Hunters. The Alliance’s most popular race gains the class it never had.
• Skyborne can be Hunters on either faction.
• Unified Hit improves Trap reliability, since traps no longer key off a separate hit table.
• Reduced weapon skill requirements ease the ranged weapon grind.system-wide

Not published: No Beast Mastery, Marksmanship or Survival rework has been published.

Mage

Ranged

Burst damage, crowd control and portals.

Changed from Classic

• Orcs can be Mages, which breaks one of the oldest Horde restrictions.
• Alliance Skyborne can be Mages. It is the Skyborne’s faction-locked option.
• Caster weapons now carry meaningful spell damage, so a Mage weapon is a real upgrade rather than a stat stick.
• Polymorph stays central: dungeons are still built around crowd control.

Not published: No Arcane, Fire or Frost talent redesign has been detailed.

Paladin

Tank / Healer / MeleeFull kit published

The most reworked class in the game, and the only one with a published kit.

Changed from Classic

• Seals are no longer consumed by Judgment. The single biggest change to any class: in Classic, judging burned your Seal and you re-applied it constantly.
• Holy Strike at level 6, an instant Holy weapon strike on a 12 second cooldown. Paladins finally have something to press while levelling.
• Consecration is baseline at level 20, with high damage and threat on the first four targets. Paladin tanking no longer needs a talent investment to hold a pull.
• Seal of Fury, a Protection seal with absorb shields, makes Judgment taunt. A real single-target taunt on a class that never had one.
• Holy Shock is on a 10 second cooldown, alongside new Holy talents Infusion of Light, Voice of Truth, Reverence, Consecrated Ground and Light’s Vigil.
• Retribution gains Vindication, Sacred Arbiter, Champion of the Light, Instrument of the Law and Twist of Light. Protection gains Shield Specialization, Swift Judgment, Templar’s Bulwark, Iron Creed and a redesigned Reckoning.
• Undead can be Paladins, so the Horde gets the class for the first time outside of Blood Elves.
• Deliberately still no traditional interrupt and no real slow. Blizzard says that is intentional, not an oversight to be patched.

Voice of Truth, Swift Judgment, Vindication are confirmed to be in the trees. The full grid has not been published, so we are not going to draw you one.

Priest

Healer / Ranged

The default healer, with a shadow side that solos well.

Changed from Classic

• Divine Spirit is baseline. In Classic it sat deep in Discipline and effectively dictated one raid Priest’s entire build.
• Gnomes can be Priests.
• Bonus healing granting a third as much damage makes Shadow levelling in healing gear far less punishing.

Not published: Holy, Discipline and Shadow tree changes have not been outlined.

Rogue

Melee

Stealth, openers, and the best escape tools in the game.

Changed from Classic

• Unified Hit improves Poison reliability, which removes one of Classic’s most opaque gearing problems.
• Skyborne can be Rogues on either faction.
• Sap and crowd control stay valuable: dungeon design still assumes them.
• Lower weapon skill requirements per item make weapon swaps less costly.system-wide

Not published: No Assassination, Combat or Subtlety rework has been published.

Shaman

Healer / Melee / Ranged

Totems and elemental damage, and no longer Horde-only.

Changed from Classic

• Dwarves can be Shamans. This breaks the oldest faction rule in the game: Shaman was Horde-only at launch.
• Horde Skyborne can be Shamans, their faction-locked option.
• Enhancement benefits most from unified Hit and Crit of any spec, since it needed both melee and spell versions in Classic.
• Bonus healing carrying damage suits Shaman’s hybrid gearing directly.system-wide

Not published: Totem changes and the Elemental, Enhancement and Restoration trees have not been published.

Warlock

Ranged

Demons, damage over time, and a summoning stone your group will love you for.

Changed from Classic

• Trolls can be Warlocks.
• Redesigned caster weapons with real spell damage change Warlock weapon progression.
• Banish and Fear stay relevant: crowd control is still part of dungeon design.

Not published: No Warlock talent rework has been revealed, and nothing has been said about demons or Soul Shard handling.

Warrior

Tank / Melee

The rawest tank and a gear-hungry damage dealer.

Changed from Classic

• Unified Hit improves Taunt reliability. In Classic a missed Taunt could end a pull, and it used the normal attack hit table.
• Skyborne can be Warriors on either faction.
• Rebuilt dungeon loot and stronger weapon progression hit Warriors hardest, since they are the most weapon-dependent class.
• Reduced weapon skill per item softens the cost of switching weapon types.system-wide

Not published: No Arms, Fury or Protection tree rework has been published.

The six new race combos

Free with a subscription at launch, and each one breaks a rule Classic enforced for twenty years.

What the Skyborne can play

Elves descended from Highborne exiles who made a pact with the wind elementals of Skywall. They start on Zephras Isle, a floating island, and they are the one race that picks its faction at creation. They need an upgrade pack, so unlike the six above a subscription alone does not cover them.

Last verified 2026-09-15. System-wide changes and the Paladin rework come from Blizzard’s Deep Dive panel recap; the race combinations come from the BlizzCon 2026 reveal. Entries marked system-wide are Blizzard changes applied to that class rather than statements Blizzard made about it. Beta does not open until September 17, so detailed talent tables circulating for the eight classes without a published kit cannot be datamined yet, and none are reproduced here. Class icons are Blizzard game assets.