WoW Forever Skyborne guide: factions, classes and racials
The Skyborne are WoW Forever’s new playable race: elves who start on Zephras Isle (levels 1 to 12) and choose the Horde or the Alliance when you create the character. Horde Skyborne are Windshaper and can be Shamans; Alliance Skyborne are High Order and can be Mages. Both can play Druid, Hunter, Rogue and Warrior. The race and its starting zone come with the Skyborne Heroic Pack and the bigger upgrade packs.
Who are the Skyborne?
The Skyborne descend from Highborne exiles who made a pact with elemental wind spirits and built a home in the Skywall, an elemental plane. When your story starts, that home is in crisis: the air spirits that protected Zephras Isle have vanished, structures are failing and the Skyborne disagree about what to do next. That split is why the race exists on both sides:
- Windshaper Skyborne (Horde) descend from the first shen’dorei to receive the wind spirits’ gift of elemental skysight. They return to Azeroth to find their missing mentors.
- High Order Skyborne (Alliance) descend from the Highborne scholars of Eldre’Thalas. They want to recover lost arcane knowledge so their people can survive without elemental patrons.
Which classes can Skyborne play?
Five classes each, four of them shared.
| Class | Windshaper (Horde) | High Order (Alliance) |
|---|---|---|
| Druid | Yes | Yes |
| Hunter | Yes | Yes |
| Rogue | Yes | Yes |
| Warrior | Yes | Yes |
| Shaman | Yes | No |
| Mage | No | Yes |
Skyborne Druids get their own druid forms, made for the race.
What are the Skyborne racial abilities?
Both sides share three racials and differ in one.
Shared by both:
- Walk on Air: glide downward for 10 seconds.
- Wind Blessed (passive): +1% melee, ranged and spellcasting Haste.
- Elemental Insight (passive): +5% damage to Elementals.
The one that differs:
- Windshaper, Skysight: gain an Elemental Blessing that increases your run speed by 10%.
- High Order, Read Ley Line: activating a ley line gives 100% increased Health and Mana regeneration.
Windshaper or High Order: which should you pick?
Pick your faction and class first; the racials are close enough that they should not decide it for you. The shared Haste and the glide are the same on both sides, so the choice comes down to:
- Your class. Want a Skyborne Shaman, choose Windshaper. Want a Skyborne Mage, choose High Order.
- Your friends and guild. On PvP rulesets your characters are limited to one faction, and you can only raid with players of your own ruleset and faction.
- The one different racial. Skysight gives run speed, which helps any class while traveling; Read Ley Line gives Health and Mana regeneration when you activate a ley line.
How do you start as a Skyborne?
Create a Skyborne character, pick Horde or Alliance, and you begin on Zephras Isle. The island covers levels 1 to 12 before you head to the main continents. From there you follow the same 1 to 60 journey as every other race. See what is new in WoW Forever for the zones, the Legacy System and the rulesets.
What do Skyborne look like?
Skyborne have two body types with options for face, skin, hair, eyes, ears and eyebrows, in thousands of combinations. There are nine skin shades from sky blue to light peach and darker tones, feather colors for the hair, tattoos and jewelry. You can change your look later at a barber shop in the cities, for a fee. Skyborne also have their own /dance and emotes.
Standard-definition Skyborne characters, including standard-definition Druid forms, are in development and planned for early 2027.
Get the items
A new Skyborne character needs gold for class training, professions and the riding skill. ItemGG sells WoW Forever gold for every US and EU ruleset, Alliance and Horde.
FAQ
Yes. You choose the faction when you create the character: Windshaper Skyborne are Horde and High Order Skyborne are Alliance.
Yes, but not both. Horde (Windshaper) Skyborne can be Shamans and Alliance (High Order) Skyborne can be Mages.
On Zephras Isle, which covers levels 1 to 12.
The Skyborne race and the Zephras Isle start come with the Skyborne Heroic Pack, and with the Skyborne Epic Pack and Warcraft Forever Collection that include it.
Not yet. Standard-definition Skyborne characters and Druid forms are planned for early 2027.
