WoW Forever: best Paladin race after the October racial changes

Quick answer

Human remains the flexible Alliance pick for Holy and Retribution; Dwarf is the defensive pick for Protection. On Horde, only Undead can be a Paladin.

Ruthless gives Human 2% crit on every spell and attack, so a two-handed mace or axe now gets the same benefit as a sword.

What the October 15 racial changes mean for Paladin

Values from Blizzard’s October 15 beta notes, checked against the Forever tooltips on Wowhead. Blizzard may still tune the game before launch on November 4.

Human — Ruthless

+2% critical strike chance with all spells and attacks. Replaces Sword Specialization: no sword required.

Dwarf — Earth Fury

+2% critical strike bonus to damage and healing. Replaces Mace Specialization. It raises the size of crits, not their chance.

Dwarf — Stoneform

Unchanged: removes and grants immunity to Bleed, Poison and Disease effects and reduces physical damage taken by 10% for 8 s, 3 min cooldown.

Undead — Touch of the Grave

Drains health up to 5% of maximum health: 30% proc chance for casters, 20% for Paladins, Rogues and Warriors, 25 s internal cooldown; no longer scales with Shadow bonuses. Will of the Forsaken cannot be used under Scatter Shot.

Alliance races for Paladin

Horde races for Paladin

By specialization, and what we cannot measure

Holy: Human’s Spirit and 2% crit both help; Dwarf’s Earth Fury enlarges critical heals instead. We have no healing logs to separate them, so Human stays the default for its two bonuses.

Undead Paladins have no race comparison on Horde. Touch of the Grave was retuned to trigger more consistently; Blizzard gives no damage value for it.