Update checked November 1, 2026. The changes below are taken from Blizzard's October 26 beta development-notes post and its October 27 clarification. These are beta notes; values and implementation can still change before or after launch.
Human
- Ruthless: critical-strike chance reduced from 2% to 1%.
- Human Spirit: Spirit bonus increased from 5% to 10%.
Dwarf
- Earth Fury (+2% critical damage and healing) was removed.
- Artisan's Precision was added, granting +1% hit chance with spells and attacks.
Tauren
- Plainsrunning: movement speed per stack increased from 1% to 2%, raising the maximum bonus from 30% to 60%.
- Plainsrunning no longer increases mounted movement speed.
- Endurance has no additional modifiers beyond its +5% health effect.
Orc
- Savage (+1% critical chance) was removed and Command restored, increasing pet damage by 5%.
- Blood Fury: cooldown reduced from 3 minutes to 2 minutes.
Troll and Undead
- Troll Berserking: duration increased from 10 to 15 seconds.
- Undead Touch of the Grave: internal cooldown reduced from 25 to 15 seconds.
Skyborne
- Wind-Blessed Haste: haste bonus reduced from 3% to 2%.
- Read Leyline: base mana and health regeneration increased by 50% for 15 seconds (reduced from 100%). Using Ley Line grants Attuned for one hour, raising the Read Leyline benefit to 100%.
- Skysight: base movement-speed bonus increased from 10% to 15% for 15 seconds. Using elemental convergence grants Charged for one hour, increasing the movement-speed benefit to 30%.
- Attuned and Charged persist through death and are removed when entering a raid.
What Blizzard says about racial balance
Blizzard explained that racial identity is a priority and that every race is not expected to be equally effective in every role. The developers also noted that weapon-specialization racials were not part of the rollback discussion because they can create constraints around loot tables.
Other notable October 26 notes
- Profession-created items have a reduced vendor sell price.
- Horde characters are no longer welcome in Dalaran's open world and are attacked on sight. Blizzard says this does not apply to the City of Dalaran dungeon.
- Battleground Marks of Honor stack to 30, up from 20.
- The Auction House now displays equippable level and correctly displays stats on suffix items.
For race selection, compare the actual effect with your class, role and playstyle rather than assuming one racial is universally best. This article records Blizzard's dated beta values, not a permanent tier list.
Official source: WoW Forever Beta Development Notes — updated October 26.