Orc is the best Hunter race on the Horde and Night Elf is the best on the Alliance in WoW Forever, and the gap to the rest is small. Your pet now copies your critical strike chance, and Orcs got Command back on October 26, so the races that boost both you and the pet pulled ahead. Eight races can be Hunters in Forever, Human and both Skyborne branches among them for the first time. Below, we compare all eight for raids, PvP and the road to 60, explain which racials actually change your damage, and share a few tricks for pressing them at the right moment.
Forever gives every race two active racials and two passives, and the Hunter cares about three kinds of them: damage cooldowns you can line up with Rapid Fire, passives that add crit, hit or Haste all the time, and tools that keep you alive in PvP. The pet matters too. Since an October beta fix, it inherits the higher of your melee or ranged critical strike chance, so crit racials work twice. Race also sets your starting Agility, the Hunter's main stat. Per the latest simulation data, a level 60 Night Elf starts with 130, Troll 127, Skyborne 126, Human 125, Orc 122, Dwarf 121 and Tauren 120, which helps explain why Night Elf leads and Tauren trails.
The table grades each race on a simple scale: S is the top pick, A is within a percent or two of it, B gives up a little more. Treat the grades as launch rankings. In the latest pre-launch simulations, Night Elf finishes first in every Hunter setup, the next four races usually sit within 2 percent of it, and the gap from top to bottom is 2 to 3 percent. These sims are still experimental, so a small gap can change once players test the races on live servers.
| Race | Faction | Key racials for a Hunter | PvE | PvP | Leveling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orc | Horde | Blood Fury, Command, Hardiness | S | S | B |
| Troll | Horde | Berserking, Beast Slaying, Rapid Regeneration | A | B | S |
| Tauren | Horde | War Stomp, Plainsrunning, Endurance | B | A | A |
| Windshaper Skyborne | Horde | Wind Blessed, Skysight | A | B | A |
| Night Elf | Alliance | Elune's Light, Shadowmeld, Quickness | S | S | S |
| Human | Alliance | Ruthless, Will to Survive, Perception | A | S | B |
| Dwarf | Alliance | Artisan's Precision, Big Game Hunter, Stoneform | A | A | B |
| High Order Skyborne | Alliance | Wind Blessed, Read Leyline | A | B | A |
Which races can play which class is covered in our WoW Forever races and classes chart.
Orc is the clear Horde pick, and it got stronger with the October 26 racial update. Command came back and makes your pet deal 5% more damage, which no other race offers. Blood Fury adds 10% Attack Power for 15 seconds, and since October 27 it is back on a 2-minute cooldown, so you can press it with every Rapid Fire and every Bestial Wrath. In PvP, Hardiness cuts every stun on you by 20%, which buys time against Rogues and Warriors, and Shatter Curse removes Curses and Banes and cuts magic damage taken by 5% for 8 seconds.
There is one catch. Command only works while a pet is out, so a Marksmanship Hunter who plays without one through Lone Wolf loses the pet bonus and keeps only Blood Fury. Orc's damage lead is also clearest in Beast Mastery: in Marksmanship and Survival simulations, Windshaper Skyborne matches or narrowly passes it.
Troll is the Horde alternative if you level a lot. Berserking adds 10% attack speed for 15 seconds, up from 10 seconds since October 27, and Beast Slaying adds 5% damage against Beasts, the most common mobs on the way to 60. Between pulls, Rapid Regeneration heals 50% of your Health over 6 seconds, and Regeneration keeps part of your health regeneration going in combat, so you eat less.
Tauren has no damage racial, and it finishes last in every damage simulation, but it is a strong choice for melee Survival and world PvP. War Stomp stuns up to five enemies for 2 seconds every 90 seconds, which sets up a trap or a Wing Clip in melee range, and Endurance adds 5% Health. On foot, Plainsrunning adds 2% movement speed every 5 seconds, so it takes 2.5 minutes of running to reach the 60% cap. It no longer works on a mount, and it does not stack with Aspect of the Cheetah once you learn that at level 20.
Windshaper Skyborne trades burst for a permanent bonus. Wind Blessed adds 2% Haste to every shot at all times, which keeps it near the top of damage meters over long fights. Its actives are built for travel: Skysight adds movement speed and Walk on Air glides, so it has no stun break or defensive cooldown for a PvP fight. Skyborne also needs the Skyborne Heroic Pack or a higher edition.
Our WoW Forever Skyborne race guide explains both branches and how to unlock them.
Night Elf leads the Alliance for raids and leveling and shares the top spot in PvP, and it finishes first in every damage simulation. Elune's Light adds 10% critical strike chance for 15 seconds every 3 minutes, and since the pet copies your crit, it gets the same 10%. Press it together with Rapid Fire and Bestial Wrath for your strongest burst window. Shadowmeld makes enemies drop you as a target when used in combat, and Quickness adds 1% dodge and 2% movement speed that now stacks with other speed effects.
Human is new to the Hunter class in Forever and finishes within 2 percent of Night Elf in PvE simulations. Ruthless adds 1% crit to all your shots, with any weapon, and the pet inherits it. It was 2% until the October 26 update, which is why many older guides still put Human first. In PvP, Will to Survive removes every stun once per 3 minutes, and Perception reveals Rogues and Druids before they open on you.
Dwarf is a quiet pick for players who start without hit gear. Artisan's Precision adds 1% hit chance, which is worth at least as much as 1% crit until you reach the hit cap and worth nothing after it. Big Game Hunter adds 5% damage against Beasts, and Stoneform removes and blocks bleeds, poisons and diseases and reduces Physical damage taken by 10% for 8 seconds, a strong answer to Rogues and Warriors in PvP.
How much hit you need and where to find it is explained in our WoW Forever hit cap guide.
High Order Skyborne shares Wind Blessed with the Horde branch, so it brings the same steady 2% Haste. Its own active, Read Leyline, raises Health and Mana regeneration by 50% for 15 seconds, and casting it at a leyline makes you Attuned for an hour, which doubles the effect until you enter a raid. That cuts drinking time while leveling, but in PvP it has no defensive button.
The best race shifts with what you plan to do. This section sums up the picks by activity and spec, so you can skip straight to your own plan.
Night Elf comes first for all three specs on the Alliance, with Human the closest free alternative. The Horde pick depends more on the spec. Beast Mastery gets the most from Orc, because Command, Blood Fury and Bestial Wrath all push the pet. In Marksmanship and Survival, the pet does less of the damage, so Orc's lead fades and Windshaper Skyborne catches it through Wind Blessed. Orc remains the best Horde choice for those specs if you do not own Skyborne, and Marksmanship with Lone Wolf gives up Command entirely. The table below sums this up, based on pre-launch simulations.
| Spec | Best Alliance race | Best Horde race | Why it wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beast Mastery | Night Elf | Orc | Pet copies the crit of Elune's Light, and Command adds 5% pet damage |
| Marksmanship | Night Elf | Orc with a pet, Windshaper Skyborne with a Lone Wolf build | Blood Fury for burst, or steady Haste from Wind Blessed |
| Survival | Night Elf | Windshaper Skyborne, with Orc and Troll close behind | Crit and Haste count for both your weapon and your shots |
Human and Night Elf share the top on the Alliance. Human breaks stuns, Night Elf drops targets with Shadowmeld and bursts with Elune's Light. On the Horde, Orc is the safe pick with Hardiness and Blood Fury, and Tauren is the best melee Survival choice thanks to War Stomp. Skyborne trails in PvP on both sides because none of its actives help in a fight.
For a ranking of every class in open-world fights, see our WoW Forever world PvP tier list.
Troll is the strongest Horde Hunter for the whole road to 60, since it cuts downtime with Rapid Regeneration. Tauren is the fastest to level 10 thanks to Plainsrunning, but that lead shrinks at level 20, when every Hunter gets Aspect of the Cheetah. On the Alliance, Night Elf moves faster with Quickness, which stacks with Cheetah, and with Wisp Spirit on corpse runs, and High Order Skyborne drinks less with Read Leyline.
Our WoW Forever Hunter leveling guide takes you from 1 to 60 with any of these races.
Blizzard reworked the racials in the October 15 beta build and made a final pass on October 26, with cooldown changes added on October 27. Several of these changes moved the Hunter rankings, so older tier lists often disagree with this one.
The hotfixes of October 30 and 31 and the November 2 notes changed no racial numbers. The November 2 notes did correct base stats for all races, including Tauren and both Skyborne branches, and raised Hunter shot damage, which can shift these small gaps slightly. Every racial of every race, with exact numbers and cooldowns, is in the tool below.
The full list of class and racial changes is on our WoW Forever patch notes page.
Racials are small, so the gain comes from using them at the right time. These habits make the difference.
Pets matter as much as your race: our WoW Forever Hunter pets guide lists the best pets and their new abilities.
These guides cover the rest of the Hunter class and the race choice for every other class.
These are the questions players ask most about choosing a Hunter race.
Orc on the Horde and Night Elf on the Alliance. Orc boosts the pet with Command and Blood Fury, and Night Elf shares the 10% crit of Elune's Light with the pet.
Orc for raids and PvP. Troll and Tauren level faster, and Tauren is the best melee Survival race for PvP.
Night Elf, with Human within 2 percent in raids and equal in PvP thanks to Will to Survive.
Orc for damage and most PvP. Tauren finishes last in damage simulations, but Plainsrunning and War Stomp make it a good fit for reaching level 10 fast, world PvP and melee Survival.
No. Hunter is open to eight races at launch: Orc, Troll, Tauren and Windshaper Skyborne on the Horde, and Night Elf, Human, Dwarf and High Order Skyborne on the Alliance.
Yes. Human Hunter is one of the six new race and class combinations in Forever. The new Skyborne race can also be a Hunter on both factions.
Yes. The pet inherits the higher of your melee or ranged crit, so Ruthless and Elune's Light reach it, and the Orc Command adds 5% pet damage directly.
For raids, yes: Wind Blessed gives 2% Haste all the time. In PvP it falls behind, since its actives are made for travel. Skyborne also needs the Skyborne Heroic Pack or a higher edition.
No. The damage gap between the top races is one to two percent, far less than gear, talents and how you play.
