The Skyborne are the new playable race introduced in World of Warcraft: Forever, a lighter-skinned offshoot of the Highborne who fled ancient Eldre'Thalas and now live on a floating island in the Elemental Plane of Air. Unlike the six new race/class combinations, the Skyborne are not included with a standard subscription: you need one of the pre-order packs to unlock them. Here is what Blizzard and Warcraft Wiki have confirmed about the race so far, and where the beta build still leaves gaps.
Who the Skyborne are
According to Warcraft Wiki, the Skyborne descend from a group of Highborne who fled persecution by Prince Tortheldrin during the fall of Eldre'Thalas. In exile, they struck a pact with wind spirits, who lifted an entire landmass into the sky and anchored it in Skywall, the Elemental Plane of Air. That landmass became Zephras Isle, where the Skyborne (also referred to on the wiki as the "shen'dorei" or "hidden people") have lived for millennia.
The pact has started to fail. The wind spirits that anchor Zephras Isle have vanished, and the pylons holding the island aloft are breaking down — this is the backdrop for the Skyborne starting experience on Zephras Isle, covered in detail on the Zephras Isle zone guide. Beta build 1.60.1.69893 contains two sub-zones named West Pylon Watchtower and East Pylon Watchtower on Zephras Isle, which lines up directly with this failing-pylon premise even though Blizzard has not published the questline that resolves it.
Elemental exposure also changed the Skyborne physically: Warcraft Wiki notes it altered "their hair color, eye color, as well as skin tone," leaving them "lighter and more agile than their kaldorei ancestors." That framing places the Skyborne alongside other Highborne-descended groups in Warcraft's established lore, such as the blood elves and void elves, each shaped by a different magical exposure after leaving Kalimdor — the Skyborne's version of that split is wind and air magic rather than fel or void energy. Blizzard has not said whether Skyborne player characters are meant to be read as a long-hidden population only now being revealed, or as a small group newly touched by the pact's failure; that narrative framing is not yet announced.
Available classes: Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Druid, Shaman (Horde), Mage (Alliance)
The Skyborne can play six classes, but two of them are faction-locked:
| Class | Available to |
|---|---|
| Warrior | Both factions |
| Hunter | Both factions |
| Rogue | Both factions |
| Druid | Both factions |
| Shaman | Horde only |
| Mage | Alliance only |
As of beta build 1.60.1.69893, the character-creation preview data confirms five of these six combinations by name: Skyborne Warrior Alliance (Warrior, Alliance), Skyborne Hunter (Hunter), Skyborne Shaman (Shaman), Skyborne Mage Alliance (Mage, Alliance), and Skyborne Druid (Druid). A matching preview entry for the Rogue is not yet in the beta data, so treat Skyborne Rogue as announced but not yet directly verifiable in the build.
Blizzard's panel recap frames the Mage/Shaman split as mirroring the Skyborne's elemental origins: the Alliance-aligned Skyborne lean on an "arcane legacy," while the Horde-aligned Skyborne draw on "elemental traditions." The Druid class also gets race-specific forms for the Skyborne according to the panel recap, though Blizzard has not published what those forms look like.
Choosing a faction
Faction is chosen at character creation and determines both your class options (Mage vs. Shaman, as above) and which in-universe Skyborne society you represent:
- Alliance Skyborne belong to the High Order.
- Horde Skyborne belong to the Windshapers.
- A third group, the Al'Aketh, is a neutral cult that worships Al'Akir the Windlord. Warcraft Wiki lists the Al'Aketh as a faction within Skyborne society, not a playable faction choice — you cannot select it at character creation, but it is part of the race's internal lore and, based on Zephras Isle's outline, likely to appear as an antagonist or storyline faction during leveling.
Items already present in the build reference both playable factions: High Order Pendant is tagged for the High Order, and both Windshaper Pendant and Windshaper Ritual Dagger are tagged for the Windshapers, which at minimum confirms both faction names are implemented as more than just marketing copy. Unlike the six free race/class combinations covered elsewhere on this site, faction choice for the Skyborne is purely cosmetic and social in terms of which class you unlock — it swaps Mage for Shaman and nothing else that Blizzard has confirmed. It does not appear to change your starting location, since Zephras Isle is shared by both factions as the single Skyborne starting zone.
Racial traits
Blizzard has not announced named racial abilities for the Skyborne, and the beta build does not yet expose a clean racial trait list the way it does for existing races. What is confirmed is cosmetic and thematic: Warcraft Wiki describes the elemental transformation affecting hair, eye, and skin color, and the race's whole identity is built around wind and air magic, given their home in Skywall. Whether that translates into an actual gliding, feather-fall, or wind-themed active ability is not yet announced — do not assume a specific racial spell exists until Blizzard confirms it or it shows up in a future build.
How to unlock the Skyborne
The Skyborne are the one piece of Forever content that a plain subscription does not grant. You need to buy one of three packs before or at launch:
- Skyborne Heroic Pack ($29.99) — grants the Skyborne race and the Zephras Isle starting experience, along with the Cerulean Prideclaw mount and the Shen'dorei Windwell toy, name reservation, and one Invite-a-Friend code. It does not include beta access.
- Skyborne Epic Pack ($59.99) — includes everything in the Heroic Pack plus beta access and 30 days of game time.
- Warcraft Forever Collection ($79.99) — includes everything in the Epic Pack plus Warcraft III: Reforged and its Forsaken Kingdom content.
Full pricing and pack comparisons live on the release date and beta guide. Blizzard has not said whether the Skyborne will ever be unlockable without a purchase, so treat any future free-unlock path as not yet announced.