For those of you who read this blog regularly, you already know that I’m an Arms advocate. For those of you who are new, well, you know now.­ Arms was the spec I’ve enjoyed playing since Burning Crusade, and it literally broke my heart to shelve Lelissa throughout Wrath because her damage output wasn’t even close to competitive. That changed toward the end of the expansion, with Tier 10 providing better set bonuses and stats that were more Arms-viable than Fury-tuned, but at that point it was too little, too late. Arms was still way behind (9k vs. 13k+ on Fury), and there was little hope for improvements.

Finally, the announcements started trickling in for new abilities and talent changes. Abilities were nerfed in unusual ways to make room for damage buffs (Mortal Strike comes to mind). Talent trees were changed entirely (looking at you, Blood). Arms got the Million Dollar Man treatment, providing a major boost to utility and damage output.

In short, Cataclysm is a good time to be an Arms Warrior.

But how do you decide what race will work best for you? If you’re like me, it comes down to an aesthetic decision and whether or not the race fits the character (insert LOLRP joke here). However, if you’re more analytical about your approach, and you want to eke out every last available bit of potential based on your race, here’s a list of races (in alphabetical order), their abilities, and what my grade is for Arms PVE (group content, like raids or dungeons), PVP, and RP potential in terms of these abilities.

Blood Elf

Blood Elves are new to the Warrior scene in Cataclysm now that they’re no longer dependent on fel energies to survive. Like a recovering crack addict begins to regain strength and health, so too did the Blood Elves regain much of their physical strength by kicking their habit. Good for them. Blood Elves have three racial abilities:

• Arcane Torrent: Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds. Gain 15 Energy, 15 Runic Power, 15 Rage, 15 Focus, or 6% Mana. Two minute cooldown.
• Arcane Affinity: 10 point skill bonus to Enchanting.
• Arcane Resistance: Gain 1 point of Arcane Resistance per level (85 at level 85 – isn’t math fun?)

Honestly, these abilities are pretty terrible. Arcane Affinity is only great if you’re an enchanter, Arcane Resistance is situational, and Arcane Torrent functions as a lesser Battle/Commanding Shout to an extent. They’re far more PVP focused than anything, but even then, not by much.

• PVE Grade:   D
• PVP Grade:  C+
• RP Grade: F

Draenei

Draenei are the largest Alliance race, and interestingly versatile through their abilities. Some of them aren’t as great as they could be, though in one particular case, all we’re waiting for is the 4.0.6 patch in order to make it better. Lelissa, my Warrior, is 100% pure Draenei, and I couldn’t imagine myself playing another race for a Warrior. That’s a personal opinion, though. Draenei have four racial abilities:

• Gift of the Naaru: A heal-over-time effect that lasts 15 seconds. The amount of healing is adjusted by the Draenei’s attack power or spell power, whichever is higher. Three minute cooldown. (Expected to get a buff in 4.0.6 to be more useful at 85.)
• Heroic Presence: Increases the Draenei’s chance to hit with spells and attacks by 1%.
• Gemcutting: 5 point skill bonus to Jewelcrafting.
• Shadow Resistance: Gain 1 point of Shadow Resistance per level (85 at level 85).

Heroic Presence makes for a fantastic PVE and PVP ability, because any hit you don’t have to account for in your gear can easily be converted to something else you need, like crit, mastery, or expertise. Gift of the Naaru is pretty terrible right now, but as mentioned above, will be receiving a significant boost in the upcoming patch in order to make it very worthwhile. Still, it remains a heal-over-time, which, while every heal counts, makes it not so effective in PVP. In PVE, the ability is more effective, but finds its niche during downtime between pulls. Gemcutting is nice if you’re a Jewelcrafter (and I was, for a while), but the gems you can get through gemcutting aren’t going to be that much better than epic gems, so the rewards are awfully ‘meh.’ Lots of enemies, both PC and NPC, seem to be using shadow damage/abilities this time around, so Shadow Resistance is worth a little more than you might expect.

• PVE Grade: A+
• PVP Grade:  B-
• RP Grade: D (Gift of the Naaru is about the only thing with a visible RP effect.)

Dwarf

Dwarves are an interesting anomaly. They have some of the best Alliance PVP and PVE racial abilities, but seem to be the rarest race. In all my dealings, Dwarves are few and far between, almost the red-headed stepchild of all races. Admittedly, they’re not terribly attractive (which is often a sticking point for many players), and they’re short (which is the reason why I just can’t play one – it gives me vertigo). Dwarves have five racial abilities:

• Stoneform: Removes poison, disease, and bleed effects. Also grants +10% additional armor. Lasts 8 seconds, with a 2 minute cooldown.
• Gun Specialization: Increases crit chance with guns by 1%.
• Mace Specialization: Increases expertise with all maces by 3.
• Frost Resistance: Gain 1 point of Frost Resistance per level (85 at level 85).
• Explorer: 15 point skill bonus to Archaeology, and faster surveying.

Stoneform is a phenomenal PVP ability against Rogues, Death Knights, Shadow Priests, Druids, and other Warriors. It also tends to hold its own in PVE, since many boss fights in the past had diseases and poisons flying in every direction, and one less person to cleanse makes the healers’ jobs easier. Gun Specialization is especially useless here, but Mace Specialization is very good, at least lowering the limit for Dwarves using maces to 23 rather than 26. On the other hand, it does pigeonhole you into a specific weapon type if you’re going to do it that way, although for PVP, a mace makes a good choice. Frost Resistance is another good one for PVP, countering Frost Mages and Death Knights. Explorer is good for the potential of finding that damned Zin’Rokh (no, I still don’t have mine either…  /rude Troll Artifacts), but other than faster surveying meaning you can get out of dig sites quicker, it’s pretty much fluff otherwise.

• PVE Grade: B+
• PVP Grade: A-
• RP Grade: A- (is for Archaeology!)

Forsaken

Every game always has at least one race that fell from grace, and the Forsaken are the original bad boys. The Forsaken are former humans of Lordaeron, now cursed to undeath and eager to spread that curse to everyone else. Why the Horde hasn’t slaughtered them all en masse is beyond me, but hey, maybe now that Thrall isn’t running the show, Garrosh will wise up and wipe them out. Our Forsaken friends have four racial abilities:

• Will of the Forsaken: Remove any charm, fear, and sleep effect.
• Cannibalize: Regenerates 7% of total health and mana every 2 seconds for 10 seconds.
• Underwater Breathing: Underwater breath lasts 233% longer than normal.
• Shadow Resistance: Gain 1 point of Shadow Resistance per level (85 at level 85).

Will of the Forsaken has great use in PVP, though PVE uses are fairly limited. Granted, as a Warrior, having a second way to break fear on a boss fight is handy, but you’ll find that you won’t need to use one that often anyway. Cannibalize has no use unless it’s following a fight, and Underwater Breathing would only work if you’re fighting a boss underwater… but I’d bet there would be some kind of mechanic that allowed you to breathe normally anyway. Like Draenei, Forsaken have Shadow Resistance, and it’s more valuable than you might otherwise expect.

• PVE Grade: C
• PVP Grade: B+
• RP Grade: C

Gnome

Gnomes are the butt of just about every joke that exists on the Alliance faction, and probably 90% of every Horde joke, too. They’re often given short shrift, thought little of, overlooked, underpaid, mistaken for footballs, furniture and/or children, underfoot, snack-sized, miniaturized, low on the totem pole, teeny, tiny, and short fused.

However, that also makes them underestimated; they’re not taken very seriously, and that opens up some fun windows for RP purposes.

Gnomes have five racial abilities:

• Escape Artist: Escapes the effect of any immobilization or movement speed reduction. Instant cast, 105 second cooldown.
• Expansive Mind: Increased Mana Pool.
• Arcane Resistance: Same as the Blood Elves.
• Engineering Specialist: 15 point skill bonus to Engineering.
• Shortblade (ha-ha) Specialization: Expertise with daggers and one-handed swords increased by 3.

Escape Artist is moderately good for PVP, because it’s kind of a one-off, and it doesn’t provide immunity for a short duration afterward like Hand of Freedom would. Expansive Mind is utterly useless, Arcane Resistance only slightly less so, though Engineering Specialization is pretty keen (hats are good things!). Shortblade Specialization, while a hilarious stealth pun, is crap. And if I find any of you up-and-coming Arms Warriors dual-wielding one-handed weapons, we’re gonna have a chat before I take your Arms Card away.

• PVE Grade: C
• PVP Grade:  B-
• RP Grade:  C (Escape Artist could be used as an excuse for escaping ropes or cuffs.)

Goblin

Great monkey Jesus, did Goblins ever get the pick of racial abilities for all of the categories. These green-skinned dynamos have been blessed with some of the most useful abilities for PVE, PVP, and RP that I’ve ever seen. Goblins have six racial abilities:

• Rocket Jump: Activate your rocket belt to jump forward. Two minute cooldown, shared with…
• Rocket Barrage: Launches belt rockets into your enemy, dealing an amount of fire damage equal to a very convoluted equation. I’m not a math professor, so it’s a little beyond me. Two minute cooldown, shared with Rocket Jump.
• Time is Money: 1% faster attacking speed.
• Best Deals Anywhere: Get the best discount regardless of faction (that’s 20%, folks).
• Pack Hobgoblin: Bank access from anywhere for 1 minute. 30 minute cooldown.
• Better Living Through Chemistry: 15 point skill bonus to Alchemy, and your potions (healing and mana) are granted a 25% bonus to their effect.

Man, where do I start? Rocket Barrage is a great PVE and PVP ability, where you’ll find that you could use a quick boost to your damage output. Now that Slam is affected by haste, Time is Money is a nice boost to lowering Slam’s cast time, and Better Living Through Chemistry just increases your survivability. Best Deals Anywhere means you can buy raw materials at a discount no matter where you go or who you deal with, so that’s a boost for PVE, PVP, and RP all around. The Pack Hobgoblin is a handy bit of RP flavor, but has its own uses for PVE as well (when would you have time to use it in PVP?).

• PVE Grade: A+
• PVP Grade: A
• RP Grade: A+ (Seriously, a personal banker that isn’t Jeeves?  Win.)

Human

Ah, the old standby. Humans are jacks of all trades, masters of none. In comparison to other races, they are brash and hotheaded, quick to fight, forgive, and forget. They can aspire to greatness and power beyond their wildest dreams, or they can live in anonymity, content to be unknown to the powers that roam the world. They represent the best and worst that any race has to offer. Why? In an RP sense, they’re the easiest to roleplay, because they are what we are. We cannot possibly know what it is like to see the turning of millennia. We’ll never know what it’s like to have the wisdom of eons like the Night Elves, Blood Elves, or Draenei. We’ll never know what it is to be in tune with nature such as a Druid or Shaman. We can guess, sure, and that’s part of the fun. But when it comes down to knowing your role? Humans are where it’s at. Unfortunately, while they do get some useful PVE and PVP racials, their roleplay racials are few. Humans have five abilities:

• Every Man for Himself: Removes all movement impairing effects and all effects which cause the loss of control of your character. Two minute cooldown, shared with other similar effects.
• Diplomacy: Reputation gains increased by 10%.
• The Human Spirit: Spirit increased by 3%.
• Mace Specialization: Expertise increased by 3 when using maces.
• Sword Specialization: Expertise increased by 3 when using swords.

Mace and Sword Specialization are pretty much the high point of PVE, when it comes to encounters, and certainly doesn’t hurt the PVP arena. Humans are more flexible than Dwarves for their weapon choices, so there are great opportunities there. Outside of encounters, Diplomacy allows you to obtain reputation rewards faster, which is eminently useful for PVE. Spirit does nothing for us, so that’s a wasted ability for Warriors. Every Man for Himself, however, is incredible – it’s a PVP trinket without having to take up a trinket slot, allowing for other trinkets to be used in its place.

• PVE Grade: B-
• PVP Grade: A-
• RP Grade: F

Night Elf

Night Elves. Purple, pointy-eared, and probably perpetually prosaic (isn’t alliteration fun?). At least I’ve always thought so. When World of Warcraft was initially released, Night Elves were a dime a dozen. You couldn’t turn a corner anywhere without running into at least five milling around. Nowadays, the races are split a little better, and you don’t find a Night Elf Convention every time you land in Ironforge. Night Elves have five racial abilities:

• Shadowmeld: Slip into the shadows, reducing your enemies’ chance to detect you. Lasts until cancelled or until you move. 2 minute cooldown.
• Quickness: Reduces the chance that melee and ranged attackers will hit you by 2%.
• Wisp Spirit: Transform into a wisp upon death, increasing your speed by 75%.
• Elusiveness: Reduces the chance enemies have to detect you while Shadowmelded.
• Nature Resistance: Gain 1 point of Nature Resistance per level (85 at level 85).

Given the number of Nature-damage bosses out there right now, that Nature Resistance is going to come in handy. Shadowmeld isn’t as useful in raids as it sounds, since you don’t want to be the survivor who can’t rez anyone, and that renders Elusiveness pretty useless. On the PVP side, though, it could work, maybe, and I’m sure it has its RP uses. Quickness is good in PVP, but not as great in PVE unless you’re a tank. Wisp Spirit is the most pointless racial I can even imagine. You can get to your corpse faster. Isn’t that great?

• PVE Grade: C
• PVP Grade: B-
• RP Grade: B-

Orc

I’ll probably get roasted alive for saying this, but Orcs are essentially green-skinned Humans for the Horde. They represent the potential of the Horde much as the Humans do for the Alliance, and in many ways are a mirror of the race they’ve been at war with since the original Warcraft RTS game. Like Humans, Orcs also have four racial abilities:

• Blood Fury: Activate to increase Attack Power for 15 seconds. 2 minute cooldown.
• Hardiness: Reduce duration of stun effects by 15%.
• Command: Damage done by pets increased by 5%.
• Axe Specialization: Expertise with Fist Weapons, One and Two Handed Axes increased by 3.

Blood Fury makes PVE pretty easy, essentially being a free DPS trinket. Axe Specialization functions well for both PVE and PVP, and Hardiness contributes greatly to both areas as well – not being stunned for as much time means you can get back in to the fight quicker. Command… well, we’re not a pet class, so that goes in the circular file.

• PVE Grade: B+
• PVP Grade: A-
• RP Grade: C (Blood Fury makes angry orcs look angry.)

Tauren

Ah, Tauren. Noble. In tune with nature. Immovable (ha ha, I kill myself). Known among Alliance players as Steaks on Legs or Meals on Wheels, thanks to motorcycles and goblin mounts, Tauren are the largest race to roam Azeroth in terms of bulk (Trolls are actually taller, go figure). Tauren have four racial abilities, plus one (sort of) hidden one:

• War Stomp: Stun five opponents within 8 yards for 2 seconds. Two minute cooldown.
• Endurance: Base health increased by 5%.
• Cultivation: 15 point skill bonus to herbalism, and you can pick flowers faster.
• Nature Resistance: Same as Night Elves.
• Really Long Arms (special!): Extended reach (1yd) with melee weapons.

War Stomp is pretty handy in both PVE and PVP, given the amount of crowd control that’s necessary, and any healer wouldn’t mind a bit of a breather at times. Endurance sounds great at first glance, but the reality is that you’re looking at a boost to base health, and not overall health. At level 85, and I’m guessing here, I’d say it’s maybe 4 or 5k health, tops. Nature Resistance goes back into the “good” category, with Cultivation being more aesthetic than anything. The last one is the “hidden” ability I was talking about above – since Vanilla, and I haven’t seen anything that changed it, Tauren have always had extended reach with melee weapons. It made Tauren Warriors in PVP pretty fearsome, since a really good one could stay at maximum melee range (for them) and kill you while you couldn’t do anything.

• PVE Grade: A
• PVP Grade: A
• RP Grade: C

Troll

Trolls are the most widespread race in Azeroth, and if all the lore and theories are true, they’re the ancestors of the Night Elves, Blood Elves, Naga, and Satyr. You can find them on multiple continents, in nearly every location, and in more dungeons than you’d care to count. They’d probably be even more widespread, but an old practice of cannibalism kept the population down. Trolls have six racial abilities:

• Berserking: Activate to increase attack and casting speed by 20% for 10 seconds.
• Regeneration: Increase health regeneration bonus by 10%; also allows 10% of normal health regeneration during combat.
• Beast Slaying: 5% damage bonus when fighting beasts.
• Throwing Specialization: 1% increased crit chance with throwing weapons.
• Bow Specialization: 1% increased crit chance with bows.
• Da Voodoo Shuffle: Reduces duration of movement impairing effects by 15%.

Unfortunately, the majority of Troll racials aren’t great for PVE. Berserking is okay for solo play, though not necessarily raids. That burst of haste isn’t really that appreciable in terms of DPS, especially with a long cooldown and that short duration time. Regeneration is another ability which has higher value in solo play. Beast slaying could be great if enough raid bosses are actually beasts, but unless I miss my guess, they’re classified as “Boss” to prevent anything like this from happening. Throwing and Bow Specializations are useless for Arms, and Da Voodoo Shuffle could be useful in PVE if more bosses had more movement impairing effects, but we’ll slot that as a PVP ability.

• PVE Grade: D-
• PVP Grade: C+
• RP Grade: D

Worgen

Those funny, furry Gilneans. Shut themselves behind a wall, then found themselves cursed with the Worgen form, and a madness that was difficult to control. The moral of the story? Isolationism is never a good policy. Anyway, the Worgen have six racial abilities:

• Darkflight: Increase movement speed by 40% for 10 seconds.
• Viciousness: Increase critical strike chance by 1%.
• Aberration: Increase Shadow and Nature Resistance by .75 per level (64 at level 85).
• Flayer: Skinning skill increased by 15 and increases skinning speed.
• Two Forms: Switch to your currently inactive form.
• Running Wild: Drop to all fours and run. Serves as the Worgen racial mount.

Worgen get a nice little hodgepodge of abilities. Darkflight is handy for getting out of a sticky situation, though the long cooldown means you might not get that much use out of it in boss fights. Viciousness is good, though critical strike isn’t as valuable in Cataclysm as it has been in previous expansions. Aberration gives a nice mix of resistances, and while I haven’t seen anything dealing Nature damage yet, rumor has it that we’ll probably end up fighting Fandral Staghelm, and Druids are all about Nature damage. Finally, Flayer, Two Forms, and Running Wild are more valuable tools for RP than anything else, and have no effect on your damage output or survival.

• PVE Grade: B+
• PVP Grade: B+
• RP Grade: A

The Wrap-Up

So which races are the best for Arms? Depending on the arena you choose to play in the most, it varies, so I’ll choose the best two for each faction and for each area.

• Alliance PVE: Draenei, Worgen
• Alliance PVP: Dwarf, Human
• Alliance RP: Worgen, Dwarf

• Horde PVE: Goblin, Tauren
• Horde PVP: Goblin, Tauren
• Horde RP: Goblin, 3-way tie between Forsaken, Tauren, and Orc.

The Alliance is fairly well balanced, with 4 of 6 races represented across all categories. On the Horde side, Goblin hax take the cake (that’s why it’s a lie – thieving Goblins…) for all three categories, with Tauren coming up roses as a backup.

Now, before anyone turns on the burners to start flaming, I’d like to reiterate that these grades are all based upon my perception of each race’s abilities and their uses in each area. Your values might be entirely different, but if you weren’t sure before, at the very least you have a baseline to go by.

The bottom line, really? Play what you want. Unless you’re the kind of player who is playing the game to exploit every advantage, no matter how miniscule, then forcing yourself to play a race that you can’t associate with somehow will only make you miserable.

So pick a race, and get ready! New leveling guides coming up!