WoW Forever: best Warrior race after the October racial changes

Quick answer

For Arms and Fury, pick Human on Alliance and Orc on Horde. To tank, Dwarf (Stoneform) and Tauren (health, War Stomp) stay the defensive choices.

Why Human now: Ruthless is a permanent 2% crit that no longer needs a sword, while Elune’s Light gives 10% for only 15 s every 3 min.

What the October 15 racial changes mean for Warrior

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.

Orc — Savage, Blood Fury

Savage: +1% critical strike chance with all spells and abilities, replacing Axe Specialization. Blood Fury: +10% attack and spell power for 15 s, cooldown raised to 3 min (was 2).

Tauren — Endurance, War Stomp

Endurance: +5% total health and +2% critical strike bonus to damage and healing; the 1% hit chance is gone. War Stomp: 90 s cooldown (was 2 min).

Dwarf — Earth Fury

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

Skyborne — Wind Blessed

Permanent melee, ranged and spellcasting haste raised to 3% (was 1%).

Alliance races for Warrior

Horde races for Warrior

By specialization, and what we cannot measure

Weapon choice no longer affects the race pick: the sword, axe and mace specializations are gone. Between Orc and Windshaper Skyborne, we cannot say whether 1% crit plus Blood Fury beats 3% haste without measured logs.

Protection: the Tauren lost the 1% hit chance we cited before; health and War Stomp remain the reasons to pick it.