Priest Races

Last updated: 10/26/2010, patch 4.0.1

There are four different Alliance races that can be priests (Dwarves, Humans, Night Elves, and Draenei) and three different Horde races (Trolls, Blood Elves, and Undead). Previously priests (and paladins) also received 2 racial-specific spells but these spells have now been turned into regular spells, become unlocked via talents, or removed entirely. Below are the snapshots of the racial traits along with a call out of traits useful to priests.

Dwarves:

Racial Abilities:

Callout: Stoneform is very useful in the 75-80 level range in the harder instances. Frost Resistance can take a little of the edge off of soloing in Northrend and other dungeons where casters favor icy damage.


Humans:

Racial Abilities:

Callout: Human Spirit helps the priest boost their Spirit stat which increases our mana regen. Diplomacy can be a significant edge in reputation grinding in the 75-80 level range when trying to unlock the ability to buy advanced equipment and enchantments. Every Man for Himself lets the priest break out of a fear effect and immediately jump back into DPS or healing which may be the difference between living and a walk from the graveyard.



Night Elves:

Racial Abilities:

Callout: Nature Resistance and Quickness are the most combat useful traits here.



Draenei:

Racial Abilities:

Callout: Gift of the Naaru gives the priest another healing spell, which gains potency based on the amount of spell power you have. Heroic Presence increase hit chance for shadow priests, and is also very useful for your groups. Shadow Resistance is situational useful.



Trolls:

Racial Abilities:

Callout: Regeneration helps out with lowering your downtime and Da Voodoo Shuffle can come in handy when you are trying to escape from a bad situation.



Undead:

Racial Abilities:

Callout: Will of the Forsaken can drop you back into the fight and avoiding some nasty surprises. Cannibalize will help reduce your downtime in between fights and Shadow Resistance will help a bit with all the Shadow using mobs late in the game.



Blood Elves:

Racial Abilities:

Callout: Arcane Torrent can help stop you from running out of mana in a critical fight. Magic Resistance helps take the edge off every spell the game might throw at you.



Starting Stats

Each race starts with slightly different starting stats. These differences are insignificant in the bigger picture and are just listed for the sake of completeness and showing the new classes that will be joining the priest ranks in the upcoming Cataclysm expansion. They should probably not be considered when choosing a race for your priest.

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