Night Elf Racials in WoW Forever
Night Elves keep their five Classic classes. What they gain is a new offensive cooldown, Elune's Light, and a set of small upgrades to Quickness and Wisp Spirit, while Nature Resistance is gone.
Blizzard published every race’s classes and racial traits on September 23, 2026. Every racial here, including the Priest race spells, is checked against the beta client (build 1.60.1.70450). Last reviewed: .
Night Elf racials in WoW Forever vs Classic
| Racial | Forever (beta client) | Classic | What it changes |
|---|---|---|---|
Elune's Light Elune's Light +10% critical strike chance with all spells and attacks for 15 sec; 3 min cooldown | +10% critical strike chance with all spells and attacks for 15 sec; 3 min cooldown | — | The first offensive cooldown Night Elves have had. |
Shadowmeld Shadowmeld Stealth until you move or cancel it; used in combat, it discourages enemies from attacking you and the cooldown rises from 10 sec to 2 min | Stealth until you move or cancel it; used in combat, it discourages enemies from attacking you and the cooldown rises from 10 sec to 2 min | Stealth until you move; Night Elf Rogues and Druids were also harder to detect | A way to drop out of a fight. The stealth bonus for Rogues and Druids moved to Quickness. |
Quickness Quickness +1% Dodge and +2% movement speed; Night Elf Rogues and Druids are harder to detect in Stealth, as if 1 level higher | +1% Dodge and +2% movement speed; Night Elf Rogues and Druids are harder to detect in Stealth, as if 1 level higher | +1% Dodge | Adds a small run speed bonus and takes over the stealth bonus Shadowmeld gave in Classic. Since the October 15 beta build the speed bonus stacks with other movement speed increases (Blizzard’s notes). |
Wisp Spirit Wisp Spirit +75% movement speed as a wisp after death | +75% movement speed as a wisp after death | +50% | Faster corpse runs. |
Elune's Grace Priest Elune's Grace For 15 sec, melee and ranged attacks are 50% less likely to hit you (ends after 3 misses); 5 min cooldown | For 15 sec, melee and ranged attacks are 50% less likely to hit you (ends after 3 misses); 5 min cooldown | Night Elf Priest spell: less ranged damage taken and +10% Dodge for 15 sec | A defensive cooldown against melee as well as ranged attacks, now one rank learned at level 20. |
Starshards Priest Starshards Arcane damage to an enemy over 6 sec; 30 sec cooldown | Arcane damage to an enemy over 6 sec; 30 sec cooldown | Night Elf Priest spell; 936 damage at the top rank | Still a Night Elf Priest spell, and the top rank (level 58) now deals 1800 damage, nearly twice as much. |
Nature Resistance Nature Resistance +10 | Not in the beta client | +10 | No longer a racial. |
How these values were checked: every racial, its effect and its cooldown come from the Forever beta client's spell tables (build 1.60.1.70450), and the Classic column from the Classic Era client. Priest spell numbers are the top rank's. Beta values can still change. Classes and the new race and class combinations come from Blizzard's panel recaps. How the data is checked
Classes Night Elves can play in Forever
Each card opens what changes for that class in Forever. The icons are the Night Elf racials that apply to the class.
+10% critical strike chance with all spells and attacks for 15 sec; 3 min cooldown
+1% Dodge and +2% movement speed; Night Elf Rogues and Druids are harder to detect in Stealth, as if 1 level higher
Elune's Light; Quickness adds 1% Dodge. Warrior class changes → Hunter+10% critical strike chance with all spells and attacks for 15 sec; 3 min cooldown
Stealth until you move or cancel it; used in combat, it discourages enemies from attacking you and the cooldown rises from 10 sec to 2 min
Elune's Light; Shadowmeld. Hunter class changes → RogueStealth until you move or cancel it; used in combat, it discourages enemies from attacking you and the cooldown rises from 10 sec to 2 min
+10% critical strike chance with all spells and attacks for 15 sec; 3 min cooldown
Shadowmeld; Elune's Light. Rogue class changes → PriestFor 15 sec, melee and ranged attacks are 50% less likely to hit you (ends after 3 misses); 5 min cooldown
Arcane damage to an enemy over 6 sec; 30 sec cooldown
Elune's Grace and Starshards. Priest class changes → Druid+10% critical strike chance with all spells and attacks for 15 sec; 3 min cooldown
Stealth until you move or cancel it; used in combat, it discourages enemies from attacking you and the cooldown rises from 10 sec to 2 min
Elune's Light; Shadowmeld. Druid class changes →Night Elf in Forever's new content
Mount Hyjal
Expanded zone and raid
Closed to players in Classic, Hyjal becomes a zone for characters near max level, set after Archimonde's defeat. It includes Darkwhisper Gorge, new factions to ally with and the 20-player raid Hyjal Summit.
Shen'dralas
New zone
Named for the Shen'dralar, the night elves who stayed behind in Dire Maul (Eldre'Thalas). You reach it through the Valley of Bones in southern Desolace, and its story also covers a war between centaur tribes.
Barrow Deeps
Raid, 10 players
A prison where night elves hold dangerous captives, one of them a famous figure Blizzard teased players might not be ready to face. One of its three entrances is on Mount Hyjal.
Night Elf FAQ
What is Elune's Light?
A new Night Elf racial: +10% critical strike chance with all spells and attacks for 15 seconds, on a 3 minute cooldown.
Does Shadowmeld still work in Forever?
Yes, it still stealths you until you move. Used in combat, it discourages enemies from attacking you, and its cooldown then rises from 10 seconds to 2 minutes.
Which classes can Night Elves play in Forever?
Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Priest and Druid, the same five as in Classic.
Still unconfirmed
- Whether the beta values hold at launch
Sources
- Forever beta client, build 1.60.1.70450: SkillLineAbility table (wago.tools), the racials and Priest race spells
- Blizzard: WoW Forever Beta Development Notes – Updated October 26 (racial changes)
- Blizzard: WoW Forever Beta Development Notes – Updated October 15 (racial changes)
- Blizzard: WoW Forever Beta Development Notes – Updated September 24 (racial changes)
- Wowhead: Gnome racial heavily nerfed in the latest WoW Forever beta build (old and new Eureka! values)
- Blizzard: Create the Hero You Want to Be in World of Warcraft: Forever (September 23, 2026 — every race, its classes and its racial traits)
- Blizzard: WoW: Forever — Meet the New Skyborne (September 23, 2026)
- Blizzard: World of Warcraft: Forever What's Next panel recap
- Blizzard: World of Warcraft: Forever Deep Dive panel recap
- Blizzard: World of Warcraft: Forever Found Photos panel recap
- Wowhead: Racials for Skyborne in Forever and racial changes
- BlizzCon 2026 demo footage (Twitch VOD)
Other races: Human · Dwarf · Gnome · Orc · Undead · Tauren · Troll · Skyborne · All races