Every class in WoW Forever: what changed, who can play it, how it levels

• Spearing Strike (Arms): dismounts mounted targets and deals bonus damage to Giants and Dragonkin.
• Weaponmaster folds every weapon specialisation into one talent: axes and polearms crit, maces ignore armor, swords swing extra.
• Bloodthrill: main-hand hits on a Rended target can enable Overpower. Its proc chance was doubled in the September 24 beta build.
• Improved Battle Shout is baseline and Protection has more AoE threat.

The hardest 1 to 60 in the game, on purpose. Almost no self-healing, so you eat every hit. Icy Veins: "leveling alone can be less forgiving than playing something like Hunter or Warlock." Beta Warriors at level 20 report rage starvation. You arrive at 60 as a tank every group wants, or a Fury DPS that scales with every upgrade.

Moves: Charge and Intercept. Never kited, always first in.

Brings: Battle Shout for the party, Sunder Armor for the melee, and tanking.

• Holy Strike at level 6: an instant Holy weapon strike on a 10-second cooldown. Blizzard says it will help leveling "immensely".
• Seals are no longer consumed by Judgment, and Judgment debuffs last 40 seconds.
• Consecration and Blessing of Kings are baseline at 20. Blessings last an hour. Auras are raid-wide.
• Undead Paladins: a new Horde combo with its own story hub at Bandarion Keep.

Reported as the strongest leveler in the beta at level 20. Holy Strike, self-heals and Divine Shield mean you almost never die, and you never wait for a group as a tank or healer. Blizzard kept the gaps on purpose: no interrupt, no slow, fewer ranged options against anything that is not Undead or Demon.

Moves: Low. No gap closer, no slow. Blessing of Freedom and a bubble.

Brings: Blessings, raid-wide auras, Lay on Hands (now 20 minutes), Kings baseline, and Holy Wrath stuns Undead and Demons.

• Survival is now a melee spec.
• Traps can be placed in combat.
• Summon Hawk (Beast Mastery) and Sniper Shot (Marksmanship) are new.
• Human Hunter is a new Alliance combo. Skyborne Hunters exist on both factions.

The consensus easiest solo class. Icy Veins: "one of the best solo classes in the game, especially when it comes to leveling." Warcraft Tavern calls it S-tier for soloing. Your pet tanks, you shoot, Feign Death erases mistakes, Aspect of the Cheetah gets you everywhere first.

Moves: Highest in the game out of combat. Kiting is the whole job in combat.

Brings: Tracking, traps, kiting, pet off-tanking, Feign Death to dump threat.

• Rogues can use one-handed axes.
• Mutilate and Venom for Assassination, Thousand Cuts for Subtlety.
• Poisons now stack with Sharpening Stones and Windfury Totem.
• Merged hit stat makes poison application reliable.

Stealth past what you cannot kill, Sap what you can, and pick fights one at a time. Icy Veins: "leveling a Rogue can always feel a bit sluggish due to the inherently slow generation of resources." Beta Rogues at level 20 report being energy-starved. It gets better as talents fill in.

Moves: Sprint, Stealth, Vanish. You are wherever you want to be, unseen.

Brings: Sap, Kick, lockpicking, poisons, and the best control kit in the game.

• Fear Ward and Devouring Plague are baseline for all races.
• Gnome Priest is a new combo, with Confounding Flash and Contingency Plan as race spells.
• Discipline and Holy each have real identities: shields versus multi-target heals.
• Wands carry spell power from about level 10; every guide says level with one.

Wand and Smite early, Shadow later. Icy Veins: "at lower levels, Shadow Priests are incredibly reliant on Spirit Tap... upon reaching Level 40 and unlocking Shadowform, Shadow's situation improves drastically." You will be invited to every dungeon as a healer whether you asked or not.

Moves: Low. Power Word: Shield, Fear and Psychic Scream keep things off you.

Brings: Fear Ward for everyone, Power Infusion, Vampiric Embrace healing while you DPS, Mind Control for chaos.

• Dwarf Shaman on Alliance, with its own totem quest chain starting at level 4 in Anvilmar.
• Call of the Elements drops all four totems in one cast; Totemic Projection moves them; Totemic Recall refunds mana.
• Lava Burst, Maelstrom Weapon and Riptide are the three new capstones.
• Skyborne Windshapers can be Shaman too, with their own totem models.

Steady and self-reliant. You heal yourself, Ghost Wolf between quests, and Windfury procs make Enhancement feel explosive. Reincarnation is a free death. Not the fastest leveler on any guide, but one of the most comfortable.

Moves: Ghost Wolf. Frost Shock and Earthbind to keep enemies where you want them.

Brings: Totems for the whole party: Windfury, Strength of Earth, Mana Spring, Tremor. Purge. Reincarnation. Water walking for the group.

• Orc Mage is a new Horde combo. Skyborne High Order can be Mages on Alliance.
• Arcane Blast, Ice Lance, Frostfire Bolt, Hot Streak and Fingers of Frost are all in.
• Arcane Meditation now keeps 50% of your regen while casting.
• The Gnome Eureka! racial was tuned down for Mages in the September 24 build.

Frost is one of the fastest levelers in the game and Icy Veins still says so. Nova, Blizzard, Blink, drink. You carry your own food and water and you are the group VIP for portals. Squishy: if it reaches you, you are in trouble.

Moves: Blink, Frost Nova, slows. You control the distance.

Brings: Polymorph, portals and teleports, conjured food and water for everyone, Counterspell.

• Demons scale with your stats and gear. Icy Veins: "much more damage and much tankier."
• DoTs can crit. Wrack, Incinerate and Demonic Pact are new.
• Troll Warlock is a new Horde combo.
• Voidwalker Sacrifice now scales with your healing power.

Icy Veins: "exceptionally quick at solo leveling." Imp for the best kill speed from 1 to 10, then a Voidwalker that tanks for you all the way to 60. DoT, drain, Fear, Life Tap, repeat. Third-party beta lists put Warlock right behind Hunter for leveling speed.

Moves: Low. Fear and your demon keep the distance for you.

Brings: Summon the late guy, Healthstones for everyone, Soulstone a healer, Curses for the raid.

• Skyborne Druids on both factions, with race-specific forms.
• Wild Growth, Eclipse, Primal Bite and Berserk are new or reworked.
• Improved Mark of the Wild is baseline; Thorns scales with spell power.
• Beta forums called Balance weak at 20 before the Wrath buff. Blizzard is tuning it.

Bear at 10, cat at 20, travel form at 30. Middle of the pack for speed; Icy Veins notes both forms "lack tools" until later levels. What you get instead is never being stuck: heal yourself, tank a dungeon, stealth in cat, run in travel form.

Moves: Travel Form, shapeshift out of roots and slows, Prowl in cat. Second only to Hunter.

Brings: Innervate, Rebirth (the only combat resurrection), Mark of the Wild, Moonkin crit aura, Faerie Fire.