- Author: Nevermore
- Date: August 21, 2022
- Updated: August 21, 2022
- Expansion: WotLK Classic
Warriors can be any race in Wrath of the Lich King, except for Blood Elf. Just like most classes, when it comes to performance, each faction has one or two races that are vastly superior to the others when it comes to their racial effects.
Horde
Orc is by far the strongest race for Horde Arms Warriors. This is largely due to Axe Specialization, which provides 5 expertise when using axes and fist weapons — with Shadowmourne, the best weapon in the game, being an axe. Orcs also get Blood Fury, a powerful Attack Power boosting cooldown.
Generally considered the best race for Horde Arms Warriors in PvE, Orcs provide several powerful racial effects that make them extremely strong. Orcish warriors like Grom Hellscream have been iconic in the world of Warcraft, so it is no coincidence that Orc Warriors are very powerful.
- Axe Specialization increases your expertise by 5 when using axes or fist weapons. There are a lot of very powerful axes out there, including Shadowmourne, the strongest two-handed weapon in the game — thus, this racial is extremely powerful.
- Blood Fury is an on-use spell that increases your Attack Power and scales with your level. At level 80 it will provide +322 attack power for 15 seconds on a 2-minute cooldown. The fact that this is an on-use ability has big implications for burst phases / stacking your cooldowns.
- Hardiness provides you with resistance to crowd control effects, which is more useful in PvP scenarios but can also help you during certain PvE encounters.
- Command is a very powerful racial that unfortunately does not apply to Warriors (as they have no pets).
Trolls are not typically associated with the Warrior class, but they are very viable nonetheless, arguably being the 2nd strongest race for Horde Warriors.
- Berserking is an on-use spell that offers +20% increased attack speed for 10 seconds on a 3-minute cooldown. The fact that this is an on-use ability has big implications for burst phases / stacking your cooldowns.
- Beast Slaying increases your damage dealt to Beast-type enemies by 5%, which is very powerful. Unfortunately, there aren’t a whole lot of Beasts in Wrath of the Lich King, especially inside raids, making this racial not too impressive in practice.
- Da Voodoo Shuffle passively reduces the duration of movement slowing & immobilizing effects on you by 15%. Generally a PvP racial, but it can occasionally come in handy in PvE as well.
- Bow Specialization and Throwing Specialization increase your critical strike chance with bows & throwing weapons by 1%. A neat little bonus, but unlike Hunters, you only use your bow or thrown weapon occasionally, thus this racial is mostly negligible.
- Regeneration increases health regeneration by 10% and allows you to regenerate health during combat at 10% of your normal regeneration rate. This racial is generally only relevant while leveling or questing.
Taurens are an iconic race for Warriors, with their badass looks and multiple useful racials. However, their racials are unfortunately mostly tailored for tanking, making them a slightly inferior choice for Arms Warriors.
- Endurance increases base health by 5% — meaning your natural health at level 80, without your extra health or stamina from equipment, buffs, etc. This can help you survive slightly better than other Warrior races, but it’s generally not very noticeable.
- War Stomp gives you an on-use AoE stun with a 2-minute cooldown. While it’s mostly useful in PvP situations, it can also be used to provide a quick crowd control effect to aid your tank or your healer — but generally not too useful.
- Nature Resistance reduces the chance you will be hit by Nature spells by 2%. This is mostly a neglectable racial when it comes to PvE.
- Cultivation increases your initial Herbalism skill by 15. This doesn’t have a gameplay impact besides minor convenience.
Undead are generally not a very strong option for Warriors since Warriors already have the ability to break fear effects, making Will of the Forsaken, the most powerful Undead racial, partially redundant. For that reason, they’re not really recommended — though they undeniably look very cool.
- Will of the Forsaken removes charm, fear, and sleep effects. This will be the biggest beneficial racial for PvE as it will help mitigate certain raid mechanics.
- Cannibalize allows you to feast on the corpses of your slain enemies to restore your health. This does not have big implications for PvE content but does come in handy whilst doing solo content.
- Shadow Resistance reduces the chance you will be hit by Shadow spells by 2%. This is mostly a neglectable racial when it comes to PvE.
- Underwater Breathing helps you survive for a very long time underwater.
Alliance
Human is seen as the strongest option for Alliance Arms Warriors, though 
Dwarf is pretty close in power. Humans gain 3 Expertise when using swords and maces thanks to Sword Specialization and Mace Specialization respectively. This is lower than the 5 Expertise that other races get, but instead offers more versatility when it comes to picking weapons. Humans also have access to Every Man for Himself, which has some niche use in removing crowd-control effects.
Human is arguably the strongest race for Alliance Arms Warriors, thanks to the versatility offered by having 2 different weapon specializations. Many will pick Human for its powerful racial effects, particularly for PvP, but there’s no denying the coolness factor of Human Warriors dual-wielding two-handed weapons.
- Sword Specialization & Mace Specialization increase your Expertise by 3 when using swords or maces. This is lower than the 5 Expertise that other races get with equivalent racials, but you have more versatility in picking different weapon types, while other races are generally forced into 1 specific weapon type.
- Every Man for Himself is a crowd-control removal ability just like the Undead race, but this one has universal applicability. It is useful in PvE scenarios but has much more use in a PvP encounter, where Humans are typically considered the strongest race in the game.
- Perception passively increases your stealth detection level by a small amount. Since there aren’t a lot of stealthed mobs in PvE, this benefit is largely not too useful.
- Diplomacy increases the rate at which you gain reputation by 10%, a major boost for your reputation grind. Whilst a beneficial quality of life racial, it doesn’t impact actual gameplay.
- The Human Spirit increases your spirit by 3%. This is unfortunately nearly useless for Warriors.
Dwarf is commonly seen as the 2nd strongest Alliance race for Arms Warriors, providing two strong racial effects that have high implications in PvE. It is a well-known fact that there are few more terrifying sights than a Dwarven Juggernaut charging the front lines.
- Mace Specialization increases your Expertise by 5 when using maces. Most of the strongest weapons you could use tend to be axes and swords, making this racial better on paper than it is in practice. Regardless, it is incredibly powerful if you’re using maces.
- Stoneform is an on-use spell that gives you +10% increased armor for 8 seconds on a 2-minute cooldown. For most classes and specs, this would be a purely tanking-focused boost, but Arms Warriors also gain a little bit of extra Attack Power from this racial thanks to the Armored to the Teeth talent.
- Gun Specialization increases your Critical Strike chance with guns by 1%. A neat little bonus, but unlike Hunters, you only use your gun weapon occasionally, thus this talent is mostly negligible.
- Frost Resistance reduces the chance you will be hit by Frost spells by 2%. This is mostly a neglectable racial when it comes to PvE.
- Find Treasure is a very cool racial from a roleplay point of view, allowing you to see treasure on the minimap. This is very fun to use while questing and leveling up, but it unfortunately has zero relevance in raids.
Draenei are another powerful race for Alliance Arms Warriors. Introduced in The Burning Crusade, the Draenei quickly became a fan-favourite race for the Alliance, offering multiple powerful racials while looking extremely cool in the process.
- Heroic Presence increases the chance to hit with spells and physical attacks by 1% for you and all party members within 30 yards. Every single DPS group will want to have at least 1 Draenei for this powerful buff, though generally you will want your group’s Draenei to be a different class, not a Warrior.
- Gift of the Naaru places a heal-over-time effect on a single target that lasts 15 seconds, with a 3-minute cooldown. This can help save your life occasionally, and may even come in clutch with healing the tank during a high damage period, but it’s generally not a great racial for Warriors.
- Shadow Resistance reduces the chance you will be hit by Shadow spells by 2%. This is mostly a neglectable racial when it comes to PvE.
- Gemcutting increases your initial Jewelcrafting skill by 5. This doesn’t have a gameplay impact besides minor convenience.
The crafty little buggers known as gnomes are seen as a caster-focused race, having no real PvE-relevant racials for Warriors. As such, they’re seen as one of the 2 “useless” races for Alliance Warriors. There’s no denying that there’s something funny about playing a little but tough gnome warrior, though!
- Escape Artist instantly removes all movement slowing and immobilizing effects on a 1-minute cooldown. While this can occasionally be useful in PvE, it’s generally better in PvP (where Humans are far better anyway), so this is overall not amazing.
- Engineering Specialization increases your initial Engineering skill by 15. This is slightly more useful than other profession-boosting racials, as Engineering has guardian-type summoned pets, which scale with your Engineering skill. This racial makes your summoned pets level 83, which makes them a decent bit stronger, but as there aren’t many useful guardians, this racial isn’t really ground-breaking.
- Arcane Resistance reduces the chance you will be hit by Arcane spells by 2%. This is mostly a neglectable racial when it comes to PvE.
- Expansive Mind increases your total Intellect by 5%. Warriors are not exactly known to be intellectuals, and as such they probably shouldn’t be overthinking things, so this racial will unfortunately be completely useless for them.
Night Elves are more commonly associated with natural magic and agility, typically portrayed as druids, hunters and rogues. It’s no surprise then that they don’t make a very good race for Warriors — being the worst race from a PvE standpoint, and arguably the only completely “useless” race for Warriors, offering no useful racials whatsoever.
- Quickness reduces the chance you’ll be hit by melee and ranged attacks by 2%. While this racial is way better suited for tank-focused Warriors, it also happens to be the only PvE-relevant racial you get as a night elf, occasionally causing attacks to miss you, which is… something?
- Nature Resistance reduces the chance you will be hit by Nature spells by 2%. This is mostly a neglectable racial when it comes to PvE.
- Shadowmeld can be used in order to escape combat and become stealthed once every 2 minutes. It will also cause you to drop all threat on every target you’re currently engaged in combat with, but all threat will be restored the moment you leave stealth — which will happen the moment you move or take any action. Simply put, this racial is practically useless in PvE for Arms Warriors, though it can have some use in PvP.
- Elusiveness reduces the chance to be detected if you are stealthed. The only way to go stealth as a Warrior is through Shadowmeld, making this racial irrelevant in PvE content.
- Wisp Spirit increases your movement speed by 75% while dead. You generally don’t want to be dead.
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