WoW: Forever
WoW: Forever class guides
Levelling guides for all nine classes in World of Warcraft: Forever — which relaunches the 1–60 game on 4 November 2026, with everyone starting from scratch on the same day.
WarriorTank · MeleePlate-armoured fighter. Tanks or deals damage, and heals nobody. Hard early, formidable late.
PaladinTank · Healer · MeleePlate hybrid that can do all three jobs. Very hard to kill, historically slow at killing.
HunterRangedRanged weapons and a pet that fights for you. The easiest class to level alone.
RogueMeleeStealth, daggers and burst damage. Kills fast, dies fast, and picks its fights.
PriestHealer · RangedThe archetypal healer — and a shadow caster if you would rather deal the damage.
ShamanHealer · Ranged · MeleeElemental hybrid built around totems: short-lived objects that buff everyone near them.
MageRangedThe highest burst damage and the thinnest body in the game. Conjures its own food and water.
WarlockRangedA demon fights beside you while curses kill slowly. Trades its own health for mana.
DruidTank · Healer · Ranged · MeleeThe shapeshifter — bear, cat and caster forms. The most flexible class in the game.Everyone is new on 4 November
There is no back catalogue to catch up on, nothing to unlock first and no established players with a head start. If you have never played WoW, this is the single best moment in twenty years to start.
Each class guide below is written for levelling from 1 to 60, opens with a short section for players new to that class, and says plainly where something is unknown rather than guessing.
The three roles
Group content is built around three jobs. You do not have to choose now, but the words come up constantly.
| Role | What you actually do | Per five-person group |
|---|---|---|
| Tank | Hold the monsters' attention so they hit you instead of everyone else, and survive it | One |
| Healer | Keep everyone alive, mostly by watching health bars rather than the fight | One |
| DPS | Deal damage and kill things | Three |
Some classes do only one of these. Some do all three, though never at once — you switch by respending talent points and changing gear.
Because groups need three DPS and only one of each other role, DPS is the most common thing to be and the hardest to get invited as. Tanks and healers get invited instantly. There is no automatic group finder in Forever, so grouping means asking.
Which class should you pick?
Honestly, the one whose fantasy appeals. Every class finishes the levelling game solo, and the differences below change how it feels far more than whether you succeed.
| If you want to… | Consider |
|---|---|
| Be hard to kill and hold the line | Warrior, Paladin, Druid |
| Keep people alive | Priest, Paladin, Shaman, Druid |
| Kill things from a distance | Mage, Warlock, Hunter, Shaman, Priest, Druid |
| Kill things up close | Rogue, Warrior, Paladin, Shaman, Druid |
| Level alone with the least friction | Hunter, Warlock |
| Be wanted for groups from day one | Priest, Paladin, Druid, Warrior |
| Have the most to learn | Druid, Shaman, Paladin, Warlock |
Three honest warnings. Warrior is the slowest and most frustrating class to level and only becomes strong with good gear — a superb tank and a rough first character. Hunter is by a distance the easiest to level and one of the hardest to play well in a group, because the pet covers your mistakes until it suddenly cannot. And Hunter is a ranged class for the whole levelling game — its melee specialisation sits deep in a talent tree you will not reach until the forties.
What is new in Forever
Beyond the new zones and dungeons, four changes affect how you level whatever you pick.
- Dungeon grinding is dead by design. Mob experience inside dungeons was cut hard while dungeon quest experience was raised sharply. Run each dungeon once for its quests rather than repeating it.
- Talent points can start at level 5. The new account-wide Legacy system has a perk, Talented, that hands you talent points from level 5 instead of 10. The 51-point total at 60 is unchanged — you simply get moving earlier.
- Six new race and class combinations: Gnome Priest, Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Orc Mage, Troll Warlock and Undead Paladin. Paladin and Shaman are no longer faction-locked.
- Weapon-specialisation racials became critical-strike racials, and they work off an equipped weapon rather than one you swing — so weapon type is now worth a thought even for casters.
The levelling pace itself is unchanged from Classic. Expect to walk a great deal before your mount, to drink after fights if you use mana, and for dying to cost time rather than progress.