World of Warcraft: Forever unlocks six race/class combinations that never existed in Classic Era: Undead Paladin, Gnome Priest, Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Orc Mage, and Troll Warlock. All six are free — they come with the base subscription starting November 4, 2026, with no pack purchase required, unlike the Skyborne race. As of beta build 1.60.1.69893, character-creation preview data already confirms five of the six by name.
Blizzard has not said whether any of these six combinations use a different starting experience than the race's existing Classic Era starting zone. Undead Paladins, for example, could plausibly start in the standard Undead starting zone and simply gain access to Paladin trainers and quests there, or Blizzard could route them through something new — that detail is not yet announced, and beta build 1.60.1.69893 does not yet expose a way to confirm it from the database alone.
Undead Paladin
Undead Paladin is the headline addition: it gives the Horde its first Paladin option, a class that was Alliance-exclusive (Human and Dwarf) throughout Classic Era. Warcraft Tavern's coverage of the reveal notes that Blizzard showed a dedicated cinematic for this combination at BlizzCon, calling it a "long-requested" addition. The beta build already contains a matching character-creation preview entry, Undead Paladin, confirming the combination is implemented rather than just announced.
Gnome Priest
Gnomes could previously play Warrior, Rogue, Mage, or Warlock, but not Priest — every other Alliance race except Night Elf-adjacent lore aside had a Priest option, and Gnome was the odd one out. Gnome Priest closes that gap. The beta build includes a matching preview entry, Gnome Priest.
Human Hunter
Humans were the only Alliance race without Hunter in Classic Era (Dwarf and Night Elf both had it). Human Hunter fills that hole and is confirmed in the beta build through Human Hunter.
Dwarf Shaman
This is the first time any Alliance race has had access to Shaman at all — in Classic Era, Shaman was Horde-exclusive (Orc, Tauren, Troll). Dwarf Shaman is the combination that actually breaks the faction lock rather than just filling a per-race gap, and it is confirmed in the build via Dwarf Shaman.
Orc Mage
Orcs previously had Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Warlock, and Shaman, but not Mage — the Horde already had Mage through Undead and Troll, so this combination extends Mage to a third Horde race rather than breaking a faction lock. It is confirmed in the build via Orc Mage.
Troll Warlock
Trolls had Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Priest, Mage, and Shaman in Classic Era, but not Warlock. Troll Warlock rounds out the Troll class list and is confirmed in the build via Troll Warlock.
Full race and class matrix
The table below reconstructs the full race/class matrix by combining established Classic Era availability (carried over from Classic Era) with the six additions above and the Skyborne's announced class list. Checkmarks in bold mark the six new-for-Forever combinations; Skyborne availability follows the faction rules covered on the Skyborne race guide.
| Race | Warrior | Paladin | Hunter | Rogue | Priest | Shaman | Mage | Warlock | Druid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Human | Yes | Yes | New | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Dwarf | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | New | No | No | No |
| Gnome | Yes | No | No | Yes | New | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Night Elf | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Orc | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | New | Yes | No |
| Troll | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | New | No |
| Undead | Yes | New | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Tauren | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Skyborne (pack purchase) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes* | No | Horde only | Alliance only | No | Yes |
* Skyborne Rogue is announced by Blizzard but does not yet have a matching preview entry in beta build 1.60.1.69893, so treat it as not yet in the beta data even though it is listed as an available class.
All six character-creation preview entries confirmed above (Undead Paladin, Gnome Priest, Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Orc Mage, and Troll Warlock) sit in the same external ID range as the Skyborne class previews covered on the Skyborne race guide, which suggests all of this content — the six free combinations and the paid Skyborne classes — was added to the character-creation system in the same development pass, even though only the Skyborne race itself requires a purchase.
Among the six free combinations alone, Horde gains its first Paladin option (Undead) and Alliance gains its first Shaman option (Dwarf) — both classes were fully locked to the other faction throughout Classic Era. Horde still has no free Druid option; the only way to play a Horde-side Druid is the paid Skyborne race, since none of the six new combinations touch Druid. Paladin also remains Horde-exclusive to Undead, and Shaman remains Alliance-exclusive to Dwarf, so the matrix is closer to balanced than before but not fully symmetric. Whether Blizzard plans further race/class additions beyond these six and the Skyborne has not been announced.