World of Warcraft’s Midnight may optimize classes, but these 2 races are forever doomed to be the worst

Among the foundational pillars of World of Warcraft‘s upcoming Midnight expansion are the addition of a whole housing system, exploring the next chapter of the War Within era, introducing the Haranir as a playable race, and making massive changes to the gameplay flow by addressing class complexity. The class changes in World of Warcraft‘s Midnight expansion didn’t all go smoothly in terms of fan reception, with some reworks still debated within the community, and the general idea of “pruning” skills getting mixed opinions. As much as the classes are getting an overhaul, races are very much not, with the Haranir possibly becoming one of the best from the get-go, while two longtime options remain forsaken.

One of the main banners under which World of Warcraft content is being released in modern times is that of accessibility, with the philosophy of “play the way you want” becoming more and more tangible with each update. However, after Midnight’s class rebalance and rework, you won’t really be able to play the game the way you want, even if all classes end up being on the same power level. That’s because of races, as they do provide tangible bonuses, even if they’re little in the grand scheme of things. In this case, though, some races are much better than others, and both Lightforged Draenei and Undead are easily the worst.

Related

World Of Warcraft: Best Races For Death Knights

World of Warcraft is a huge game with a lot of options for roles that players can take on. Death Knight is an impressive role for any race to try out.

World of Warcraft’s Racial Traits and Bonuses Explained

Races in World of Warcraft have been a staple since it first debuted, and while many have undergone significant changes over the years, and new ones tend to have better, more entertaining passive and active abilities, some are outdated, underperforming, or both. The bonuses are as follows:

• Alliance
  • Human
    • An active stun removal (Will to Survive), improved reputation gain, 2% more to all secondary stats
  • Dwarf
    • Bonuses to archaeology, reduced Frost damage taken, 2% more critical damage and healing, an active self-purge that also reduces Physical damage taken (Stoneform)
  • Night Elf
    • Extra speed when in Rogue Stealth or Druid Prowl, reduced Nature damage taken, 2% more movement speed and increased chance to dodge attacks, an active way to become stealthed and cleanse threat (Shadowmeld), increased Haste or Critical Strike by 1% depending on day or night, becomes a wisp on death to move faster
  • Gnome
    • Reduced Arcane damage taken, improved Engineering, an active impairment removal (Escape Artist), 5% increased resource pool, 1% increased Haste
  • Draenei
    • Active targeted heal (Gift of the Naaru), increased main stats based on level, improved Jewelcrafting, reduced Shadow damage taken
  • Worgen
    • Active speed boost (Running Wild and Darkflight), 1% increased critical strike chance, improved Skinning, reduced Shadow and Nature damage taken, active transform ability (Two Forms), a way to go back to human form after combat (Calm the Wolf)
  • Void Elf
    • Reduced Shadow damage taken, additional damage and healing as Shadowfrost, reduced cost of WoW‘s transmog system, no delay to casting when taking damage, active teleportation (Spatial Rift)
  • Lightforged Draenei
    • Active damage ability (Light’s Judgment), improved Blacksmithing, more experience from demons, damage and healing on death, reduced Holy damage taken
  • Dark Iron Dwarf
    • 4% more movement speed indoors, active self-purge with main stat improvement (Fireblood), reduced Physical damage taken, improved Blacksmithing, active travel option (Mole Machine)
  • Mechagnome
    • Primary stat increase in combat, crafting bonuses, passive self-healing, active lock opener (Skeleton Pinkie), active misdirection ability (Hyper Organic Light Originator)
  • Kul Tiras
    • Increased Versatility and passive self-healing, improved swimming, active stun ability (Haymaker), improved professions, reduced Frost and Nature damage taken
• Horde
  • Orc
    • Active ability to improve melee and spell power (Blood Fury), increased damage dealt by pets, reduced duration of stuns on self
  • Undead
    • Active ability to remove charm/fear/sleep (Will of the Forsaken), active ability to regenerate health and mana over time by consuming a corpse (Cannibalize), chance to deal extra Shadow damage and heal self, breathe indefinitely underwater, reduced Shadow damage taken
  • Tauren
    • 2% increased critical damage and healing, passive Herbalism bonuses, increased Stamina based on level, reduced Nature damage taken, AoE stun ability (War Stomp)
  • Troll
    • More experience from beast enemies, active Haste improvement (Berserkering), reduced duration of movement impairing effects, improved health regeneration
  • Blood Elf
    • Improved Enchanting, increased critical strike chance by 1%, reduced Arcane damage taken, active AoE purge of beneficial effects from enemies (Arcane Torrent)
  • Goblin
    • Active jump forward (Rocket Jump), active damaging ability (Rocket Barrage), increased Haste by 1%, gold discount on prices, improved Alchemy, active remote banking access (Pack Hobgoblin)
  • Nightborne
    • Improved Inscription, 1% more magical damage dealt, active remote mail access (Cantrips), active AoE damaging ability (Arcane Pulse), reduced Arcane damage taken
  • Highmountain Tauren
    • Active AoE stun (Bull Rush), improved Mining, 1% more Versatility, reduced damage taken based on Stamina, chance to get more meat and fish when looting
  • Mag’har Orc
    • Active primary stat improvement (Ancestral Call), 10% more mounted speed, reduced duration of poison/disease/curse effects, increased pet health by 10%
  • Zandalari Troll
    • Increased gold earned from enemies, empowerment based on Loa selection (Embrace of the Loa), reduced falling speed, active health regeneration (Regeneratin’)
  • Vulpera
    • Active way to create a camp outdoors (Make Camp), active way to teleport to the camp (Return to Camp), reduced Fire damage taken, 8 extra inventory slots, active ability to deal AoE damage or healing (Bag of Tricks), active way to customize Bag of Tricks (Rummage Your Bag), reduced damage on the first hit from an enemy
• Neutral (Alliance/Horde)
  • Pandaren
    • Increased effects from food, improved Cooking, increased rested experience, reduced falling damage, active stun ability (Quaking Palm)
  • Dracthyr
    • Active flight ability (Soar), bonuses to flying in WoW via Soar, reduced Soar cooldown based on exploration, active form change ability (Visage), a way to automatically change forms after combat, increased Mastery by 1%, improved gathering, active AoE knockback (Tail Swipe and Wing Buffet), ability to glide while flying
  • Earthen
    • Active damaging or healing ability (Azerite Surge), active health and mana regeneration (Quiet Contemplation), improved gathering, food bonuses based on minerals consumed, increased armor, increased exploration experience

Why Your World of Warcraft Race Matters

Even at a glance, these bonuses are not made equal. Dwarves and Tauren getting increased critical damage and healing makes them great for most classes, for example, but it’s hard to argue in favor of Tauren when pitted against the Dwarves’ Stoneform ability. Night Elf is just a fantastic race option whenever available, and there’s a reason why Night Elf Druid is one of the most used combinations in the game.

Mag’har Orcs are often at the top of DPS charts, and other awesome options are Orcs, Trolls, Void Elves, and Dark Iron Dwarves. For utility and good damage, Blood Elves are fantastic, especially as Paladins in World of Warcraft. And yet, some races are always at the bottom of DPS and HPS (healing per second) charts on sites like bloodmallet, such as Vulpera, Lightforged Draenei, and Undead. Most of all, your race selection can be very important for the active racial abilities it provides.

World of Warcraft’s Worst Races You Can Pick Are Lightforged Draenei and Undead

The Vulpera are notoriously bad at damage and memed upon due to their looks, for better or worse, but they pack a lot of utility with extra inventory slots that will always come in handy, or Bag of Tricks’ helpful effects and uses, like pulling aggro as a tank. World of Warcraft‘s Lightforged Draenei are slightly better at damage overall, in most cases, but they’re equally memed upon for being a full-fledged race instead of a skin and having an on-death effect, making it extremely situational at best. However, the Undead are one of the oldest races in the game, and it shows in lackluster abilities like Cannibalize, whereas Will of the Forsaken is almost always inferior to effects like Stoneform and Fireblood.

As such, the Vulpera may be the worst in terms of damage, but it’s far from the worst in terms of utility. This leaves the Lightforged Draenei and the Undead as the worst race picks in World of Warcraft, and for good reason:

• World of Warcraft‘s Eredar Draenei customization options involve an entire questline of content and are cosmetic, whereas the Lightforged Draenei take up a race slot that is mostly unjustified.
• The Lightforged Draenei’s Light’s Reckoning passive deals AoE damage and healing when the character dies, which is, in and of itself, a useless ability, as content like World of Warcraft‘s M+ Dungeons and Raids will never benefit from a death. Furthermore, this ability’s scaling is awful, being even more worthless on top of that.
• The Undead’s Cannibalize ability requires a specific type of corpse in the area to be used; it’s a channeled ability, and it heals for less than World of Warcraft‘s new healing ability for all classes, Recuperate, which instead requires a one-time button press with a short channeling animation.
• Will of the Forsaken is mostly used in WoW‘s PvP, but it’s not as good as other options in PvE, and the same goes for the Touch of the Grave passive, which is subpar compared to similar effects other races have access to.

While each race has its boons, from a mere utility/damage standpoint, Lightforged Draenei and Undead take the lowest spots on the chart. Even lower than WoW‘s Nightborne for non-magic classes, one might argue.

Systems

Released

November 23, 2004

ESRB

T for Teen: Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence (online interactions not rated)

Engine

Unreal Engine

•