The Skyborne race in WoW Forever: classes, racial traits and which variant to pick

Who are the Skyborne in WoW Forever?

The Skyborne, or shen'dorei, are the new playable race of WoW Forever: elves who live on Zephras Isle, a floating island whose protective wind spirits have vanished. They are the only race that can join either faction, chosen at character creation: High Order Skyborne for the Alliance, Windshaper Skyborne for the Horde. Their story starts on Zephras Isle, from level 1 to 12.

The game describes the two branches differently. The High Order descends from the Highborne scholars of Eldre'Thalas and wants to reclaim lost arcane knowledge so the shen'dorei no longer depend on the elements. The Windshapers descend from the first shen'dorei to receive the wind spirits' gift of skysight, and leave their home in Skywall to find out what became of their elemental mentors.

High Order or Windshapers: what is the difference?

The two Skyborne variants of WoW Forever differ in faction, one class and one racial. High Order Skyborne join the Alliance, can be mages and get Read Leyline, which doubles health and mana regeneration. Windshaper Skyborne join the Horde, can be shamans and get Skysight, a 10% movement speed bonus. Druid, hunter, rogue, warrior and the three other racials are the same.

Which classes can a Skyborne play?

A Skyborne can play five of WoW Forever's nine classes: druid, hunter, rogue and warrior in both factions, plus mage for the High Order (Alliance) or shaman for the Windshapers (Horde). Priest, paladin and warlock are not available to the race. Blizzard also created new druid forms specifically for the race, so a Skyborne druid looks different from the other races' druids.

Each class has its own page with its Classic basics: druid, hunter, mage, rogue, shaman and warrior.

What are the Skyborne racial traits?

Skyborne have three racial traits in both factions: Walk on Air, a 10-second glide with a 90-second cooldown; Wind Blessed, a passive +3% melee, ranged and spell Haste; and Elemental Insight, a passive +5% damage against elementals. The High Order adds Read Leyline, the Windshapers add Skysight, both with a 2-minute cooldown.

Every racial of both versions, with its exact text from the game files and what it is good for, is on the High Order Skyborne and Windshaper Skyborne pages, next to all the races of WoW Forever.

Where do the Skyborne start?

Every Skyborne starts on Zephras Isle, a new WoW Forever starting zone for levels 1 to 12 that mixes the look of Classic with elemental architecture, according to Blizzard. Its ancient structures are crumbling since the wind spirits disappeared. After level 12, the Skyborne continue their journey in Azeroth with their faction, like the other races.

The quest route from level 1 to 12, for the High Order and the Windshapers, is in our Zephras Isle walkthrough.

How do you unlock the Skyborne race?

WoW Forever itself is included with any World of Warcraft subscription or game time, but the Skyborne race and its Zephras Isle starting quests require the Skyborne Heroic Pack or a higher edition, according to Blizzard and the Battle.net shop. The three packs, Heroic, Epic and the Warcraft Forever Collection, all include the race; the Epic Pack adds beta access and 30 days of game time.

Early name reservation runs from October 27 to November 3, 2026 for pack owners, from 6 p.m. CET in Europe and 1 p.m. PDT in North America, for up to three characters across all rulesets; the beta ran from September 17 to October 23, 2026. Housing decor only works in the housing system of modern World of Warcraft, which needs World of Warcraft: Midnight.

High Order or Windshapers: which one should you pick?

For a mage, the choice is made: only the High Order (Alliance) can be a mage, and only the Windshapers (Horde) can be a shaman. For a druid, hunter, rogue or warrior, compare the faction racials: Read Leyline doubles health and mana regeneration, useful between fights, while Skysight adds 10% speed, useful while leveling and traveling. The other three racials are identical.

This is our reading of the traits' values, not a performance measurement: the right faction is above all the one your friends or your guild play.