Every race in World of Warcraft Forever now has two active and two passive abilities, principal game designer Kris Zierhut said at the World of Warcraft: Forever Deep Dive panel at BlizzCon 2026. The “Race Abilities: Revamped” slide describes each kit as an equal mix of unique utility, throughput, and survivability. Zierhut said the team made racials “stronger and more different than they ever were before”.
He also said six new race and class combinations are coming: gnome priests, human hunters, dwarf shamans, orc mages, troll warlocks, and undead paladins, “with more planned to come in future content”. That list was spoken on stage and did not appear on a slide. Dwarves and Undead were the two races shown in full, chosen “because of our new options with shamans and paladins”.
Dwarf
Stoneform (instant, 3 minute cooldown) instantly removes and grants immunity to all Bleed, Poison, and Disease effects, and reduces all Physical damage taken by 10 percent for 8 seconds. The old version raised armor, which Zierhut said did nothing for the many Dwarf priests: “It increased your armor and who cares.”
Find Treasure (instant) lets the dwarf sense nearby treasure and shows it on the minimap until canceled. It now runs alongside any other tracking ability instead of replacing it.
Big Game Hunter is a new passive: damage dealt versus Beasts increased by 5 percent. Zierhut said abilities like this give each character in a raid a fight to shine on, “so there’s a reason to bring everybody”. Mace Specialization increases critical strike chance with all spells and attacks by 1 percent while a mace or two handed mace is equipped. Zierhut said Dwarf shamans and priests will now care about having a mace equipped.
Undead
Will of the Forsaken (instant, 2 minute cooldown) now instantly removes all Charm, Fear, and Sleep effects. It no longer grants immunity, which Zierhut said was “a little bit too strong”.
Cannibalize (5 yard range, instant, 2 minute cooldown) regenerates 7 percent of total Health and 7 percent of total Mana every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. It only works on Humanoid or Undead corpses within 5 yards, and any movement, action, or damage taken cancels it. The mana return is new and “particularly fantastic for those paladins”.
Underwater Breathing is unchanged: underwater breath lasts 300 percent longer than normal. Touch of the Grave is the new passive, the one Zierhut called “the big one”: your spells and attacks have a 5 percent chance to drain Health from the target, up to 5 percent of your maximum Health. He said it gives the Undead “the increased damage and survival that they never had before”.
Zierhut closed with “that’s just a taste” and told players to “go play the demo to see them all”. No other race’s kit was shown, and the panel did not say whether Skyborne, the new race, follows the same layout.