World of Warcraft: Forever has the same nine classes as original WoW, but Blizzard calls every class and specialization "revamped". All of them keep their Classic identity and weaknesses, and each talent tree gains new abilities, several borrowed from later expansions and reworked. This page compares the classes side by side so you can pick one before launch on November 4.
| Class | Roles | Specializations | Races | Blizzard's summary | Talents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Druid guide | Tank, Healer, Melee damage, Ranged damage | Balance, Feral Combat, Restoration | 4 | Can fill any role with the right gear and talents, but has no snare, silence or interrupt and weaker crowd control. | Druid talent calculator |
| Hunter guide | Ranged damage | Beast Mastery, Marksmanship, Survival | 8 | Damage only, with the longest range in the game and a pet that can tank solo content, but no stun or interrupt and a dead zone within 8 yards. | Hunter talent calculator |
| Mage guide | Ranged damage | Arcane, Fire, Frost | 6 | Strongest and most varied ranged area damage, Polymorph crowd control and food and water for the group, but extremely fragile in melee. | Mage talent calculator |
| Paladin guide | Tank, Healer, Melee damage | Holy, Protection, Retribution | 3 | Effective tank, competitive damage dealer and the strongest single-target healer, but no interrupt, no way to slow enemies and limited range. | Paladin talent calculator |
| Priest guide | Healer, Ranged damage | Discipline, Holy, Shadow | 6 | The most versatile healer with direct heals, heals over time and absorb shields, but wears cloth and has few ways to escape. | Priest talent calculator |
| Rogue guide | Melee damage | Assassination, Combat, Subtlety | 9 | Master of Stealth with exclusive Poisons and the highest potential single-target melee damage in the game. | Rogue talent calculator |
| Shaman guide | Healer, Melee damage, Ranged damage | Elemental Combat, Enhancement, Restoration | 5 | Totem-based support that can heal or deal melee or spell damage, wears mail and a shield, but lacks effective crowd control. | Shaman talent calculator |
| Warlock guide | Ranged damage | Affliction, Demonology, Destruction | 5 | Three very different damage styles built on curses, demons and fire, but physically weak and dependent on demon pets for protection. | Warlock talent calculator |
| Warrior guide | Tank, Melee damage | Arms, Fury, Protection | 10 | Master of melee who can tank or deal damage and the only melee class with sustained multi-target damage, but has few ways to recover from damage taken. | Warrior talent calculator |
Not sure which to play? The class picker filters classes by faction, role and features like pets or stealth, using only official data.
Rules that apply to every class
- Talents start at level 10. Trees keep the same number of rows as patch 1.12, with one-point gold medal talents at 11, 21 and 31 points and a new one at 16 points.
- Change talents at a class trainer in one of the major cities. Legacy talents are changed there too.
- Dual Specialization unlocks at level 40.
- Some talents are exactly as they were in patch 1.12. Others were adjusted, and talents that gave key group buffs, such as Divine Spirit, Blessing of Kings and Improved Mark of the Wild, are now baseline for their class.
- Hit and crit are unified. Spell, melee and ranged hit chance are one stat, and so are spell, melee and ranged crit. Blizzard says this helps hybrids such as Retribution Paladins and Enhancement Shamans.
- Bonus healing also gives a third as much bonus damage, so healers can quest more comfortably.
- Low-rank spell fishing is nerfed. Talents that give a free proc have a lower chance to trigger from much lower-rank spells.
- Combat pacing stays Classic: Blizzard says an ordinary creature should take roughly 10 to 15 seconds to kill solo, and crowd control still matters in dungeons.
New in Forever for each class
Tanks, healers and damage dealers
Based on Blizzard's own class summaries:
- Can tank: Warrior, Paladin, Druid. Enhancement Shamans can serve as a temporary tank in small groups, and a Hunter's pet can tank solo and small group content.
- Can heal: Priest, Paladin, Druid, Shaman.
- Damage only: Hunter, Mage, Rogue, Warlock.
We have deliberately not published a tier list. Rankings made from beta numbers age badly, and Blizzard said classes could still change before launch. Once the game is live we will only rank classes on data we can show.
Talent calculator
Our WoW Forever talent calculator covers all nine classes with the talent trees read directly from the game client's data: every talent, rank, row requirement, prerequisite and tooltip, plus the required level for your build.
Sources
Facts on this page come from the sources below: official Blizzard posts unless marked as a secondary source. If Blizzard changes something, we update the page and the date above.
- Create the Hero You Want to Be in World of Warcraft: Forever (2026-09-23)
- World of Warcraft: Forever Deep Dive Panel Recap (2026-09-14)
- Class Deep Dives — Hunter and Druid (2026-10-01)
- Class Deep Dives — Priest and Warrior (2026-10-01)
- Class Deep Dives — Mage and Shaman (2026-10)
- Class Deep Dives — Rogue and Warlock (2026-10)
- Class Deep Dives — Paladin (2026-10-16)