The Skyborne: a neutral elven race that picks its own side
Forever's new race starts on a floating island, chooses Alliance or Horde at character creation, and gets a different class list depending on which you pick.
The Skyborne are World of Warcraft: Forever's new playable race. They descend from Highborne exiles who struck a pact with the elemental wind spirits of Skywall, and they belong to neither faction by origin.
Choosing a side changes your options
Skyborne players pick Alliance or Horde during character creation. That changes:
- The branch name. Alliance Skyborne are the High Order; Horde Skyborne are the Windshapers.
- One racial ability.
- One available class.
The shared class list is Warrior, Hunter, Rogue and Druid. On top of that, Horde Skyborne can be Shaman and Alliance Skyborne can be Mage — so the faction choice decides which of those two classes you can play.
Racial abilities
| Racial | Type | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Walk on Air | Active | Glide downward through the air for 10 seconds |
| Wind Blessed | Passive | +2% melee, ranged and spellcasting haste |
| Elemental Insight | Passive | +5% damage dealt to elementals |
Wind Blessed is now 2% haste, following the October 26 tuning pass. Skysight and Read Leyline also changed; see our latest racial changes for the faction abilities and their world buffs.
Walk on Air lets you glide downward for 10 seconds. Handy for getting off a ledge, though you'll still need to watch where you're landing.
Zephras Isle and the Druid forms
Skyborne start on Zephras Isle, a newly discovered floating island that serves as their 1–12 experience before they continue into Azeroth proper. It is visually built on the Skywall palette, which fits the wind-pact lore.
Skyborne Druids get shapeshift forms modelled specifically for the race rather than reskins. Bear, Cat, Travel and Moonkin forms were all shown at BlizzCon.
Do you need to buy a pack?
Playing Skyborne requires the Skyborne Heroic Pack or a higher upgrade. A WoW subscription gives you access to Forever, but doesn't unlock this race.
Our edition guide covers what's in each pack.
Why another elf?
It is a fair complaint, and Blizzard has been asked directly. The short version from the developers is the one you would expect: elves are the most-played model family in the game, and the Highborne-exile thread was already sitting unused in vanilla lore.
Sources
- Blizzard — Meet the New Skyborne
- Blizzard — October 26 racial tuning
- Blizzard — New Player's Starter Guide
- Wowhead — Skyborne First Look: New Neutral Race in World of Warcraft: Forever
- Wowhead — Racials for Skyborne in Forever & Racial Changes to Existing Races
- Icy Veins — Meet WoW Forever's New Race: Everything We Know About the Skyborne
- Windows Central — Why is World of Warcraft Forever adding another elf race?
Screenshots from the official Blizzard Press Center World of Warcraft: Forever reveal kit. Images © Blizzard Entertainment.
