TBC Classic Pre-Patch Overview
Druid
For Druid, there really isn't a choice, as Night Elves are the only option for Alliance, and Tauren are the only option for Horde.
Druid Class Guide Overview
Night Elf Racial Traits:
Nature Resistance: Nature Resistance increased by 10.
Wisp Spirit: Transform into a wisp upon death, increasing movement speed by 50%.
Quickness: Dodge chance increased by 1%.
Shadowmeld: Activate to slip into the shadows, reducing the chance for enemies to detect your presence. Lasts until cancelled or upon moving. Night Elf Rogues and Druids with Shadowmeld are more difficult to detect while stealthed or prowling.
Tauren Racial Traits:
Cultivation: Herbalism skill increased by 15.
Endurance: Total Health increased by 5%.
Nature Resistance: Nature Resistance increased by 10.
War Stomp: Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yds for 2 sec.
Hunter
For Horde players, the choice is easy with Orc's Command and Blood Fury Racials. While Alliance players will benefit the most from either the Night Elf's high base Agility or the Draenei's Heroic Presence.
Hunter Class Guide Overview
Alliance
The best race for Alliance is a very close tie between Night Elf and Draenei. Night Elves have the highest base Agility, while Draenei have slightly lower base Agility but they make up for it with their racial ability Heroic Presence which affects all party members and pets. Having Heroic Presence in your hunter group also allows you to benefit from slightly different gearing options and help out when you are in a pinch for hit rating while gearing between phases.
Horde
Orc is the best race for Horde due to the racials Blood Fury and Command. Both of these racial abilities have a large direct impact on Hunter dps. Trolls on the other hand can technically be slightly better in certain situations with Berserking but it requires getting the full 30% affect to be pull ahead of Orc racials. Relying on your health being in the range you need it when you are ready to use Berserking is not a good metric to go off of in order to benefit form the full 30%.
Mage
For the Alliance, the choice is easy with Gnome's Expansive Mind passive. However, Horde players will need to decide whether they want to focus on PvE, with Troll's Berserking ability, or PvP with the Undead's Will of the Forsaken.
Mage Class Guide Overview
Alliance
The best race for Alliance Mages in Burning Crusade is Gnome. This comes down to the Expansive Mind passive, which provides an extra 5% intelligence. Considering Mage's are mana hungry, this comes as a massive boost as intelligence increases total mana pool, it also provides some extra crit chance, which is a direct increase to damage.
Gnome's also have access to Escape Artist, which is an amazing class skill that allows Mages to get out of sticky situations, and can be useful in both PvE and PvP.
Draenei are also a solid choice thanks to the very useful 1% hit buff given by Inspiring Presence -- although as this applies to the entire party, the ideal scenario is to play a Gnome Mage with a Draenei in your group.
Horde
For Horde, the best race is split into PvE and PvP. For PvE players, the best Horde Mage race is Troll. This is mainly because of the Berserking racial ability, which provides a very strong increase to casting speed. Although, in reality the other Mage races just don't give any useful bonuses for PvE.
When it comes to PvP, Undead take the cake. This time it's due to a very strong racial skill, Will of the Forsaken. WotF provides a very strong CC removing cooldown, which is especially important when playing against Warlocks, who are one of the better PvP classes in TBC.
Paladin
For Horde players, there is no choice, since the newest race, Blood Elves are the only option for Paladins. While the Alliance's newest members, the Dreanei, can also be Paladins, Humans are the best option, no matter which specialization you choose to play.
Paladin Class Guide Overview
Retribution
Humans are the best for your personal dps, providing an extra 5 expertise (1.25% dodge avoidance). This is a stat you cannot cap on until Sunwell Plateau so its very important to take advantage of this.
Draenei are an option as they provide a 1% melee hit aura for their party members, but they definitely will have lower personal dps.
Protection
Human are the recommended race for Alliance Protection Paladin tanks due to the +5 Expertise provided by Mace Specialization and Sword Specialization causing a slight decrease to the chance of your attacks being dodged and parried. This not only increases threat generation, but also slightly reduces enemy parry haste.
Holy
Human is considered the best Alliance race for Paladins. The increased reputation gained by Diplomacy is extremely helpful in TBC, where reaching Exalted with multiple factions yields a lot of rewards.
Horde
Blood Elves are the only race that can be Retribution Paladins, and are therefore your only option.
Priest
For the Alliance, all races are very close in terms of utility. Horde players will benefit the most from Blood Elves as PvE healers, and either Undead or Trolls for PvE DPS, with Undead gaining the biggest advantage in PvP.
Priest Class Guide Overview
Healing
Alliance
All races are very close to each other, depending varying kinds of utility. Should you decide on hybrid role playstyle, Night Elf racial Priest spell Starshards can amount to 20 or 30 DPS in Phase 1, making it the best race in terms of sheer damage output . Human gains an edge in itemization pace with Diplomacy racial, as well as a small mana regeneration via The Human Spirit. Both races get strong PvP toolkit, but Dwarf arguably offers the best utility with the powerful anti-melee combo of Desperate Prayer, Chastise and Stoneform. Draenei brings outstanding party-wide utility for PvE—spell hit enhancing Inspiring Presence and mana restoring Symbol of Hope.
Horde
Blood Elf has the best utility for a PvE healer—both Consume Magic and Arcane Torrent amount to increased mana efficiency. Undead has perhaps the most potent PvP toolkit of all races, although it contributes little to healing PvE content. Troll possesses a personal mini-bloodlust as Berserking, but both Hex of Weakness and Shadowguard better suit PvP activities. While most players consider Undead to be superior in PvP, Troll also has a solid share of fans and proponents due to Shadowguard.
Shadow
Alliance
All races are very close to each other, depending varying kinds of utility. Night Elf racial Priest spell Starshards can amount to 30 or 40 DPS in Phase 1 making it the best race in terms of sheer damage output. Human gains an edge in itemization pace with Diplomacy racial. Both races get strong PvP toolkit, but Dwarf arguably offers the best utility with a powerful combo of Desperate Prayer, Chastise and Stoneform, even if both spells need you to drop Shadowform in order to use. Draenei provide their raid group with Symbol of Hope, which virtually doubles Vampiric Touch mana regeneration for 15 seconds. Inspiring Presence is a valuable boost for fellow casters should you happen to land in a group with them.
Horde
Undead and Troll are roughly on par, offering PvE output increase via Devouring Plague and Berserking respectively. Both can access strong PvP utility, although Will of the Forsaken is a classic, effectively countering a number of unpleasant PvP crowd control effects. Blood Elf has the best mana efficiency utility—Consume Magic and Arcane Torrent directly affect your mana capacity throughout the fight. Sadly, Blood Elf falls behind in PvE content, having racials that are unlikely to be used.
Rogue
For the Alliance, Human is the best choice, offering both Sword Specialization for PvE and Perception for PvP. Horde players, on the other hand, may have a few things to consider when creating their Rogue character, as Troll's Berserking is most likely the best option for PvE, while the Undead's Will of the Forsaken is the best overall racial ability in PvP.
Rogue Class Guide Overview
Alliance
Human is the only race on Alliance that offers a reliable damage boost in PvE from their racial abilities, and it is a quite strong one. Sword Specialization while using a sword reduces the chance your attacks will be dodged or parried by an enemy by 1.25%, which is very good. Human is also considered the best race for PvP arenas due to the powerful Perception ability. Human is an easy choice for an Alliance rogue.
Horde
For Horde, the choice is not so obvious. Three races have racial abilities that meaningfully enhance your PvE damage ouput: Blood Elf, Orc, and Troll. The Troll racial ability Berserking has variable power based on if you can lower your health to get higher attack speed. This isn't always possible and puts you at risk of dying from area damage effects when you do manage to lower your health. If you can reliably get 20% enhanced attack speed from Berserking you will be on par with an Orc's Blood Fury. If you can reliably get more than 20% enhanced attack speed from Berserking, it is definitely the most powerful racial ability for damage output.
The absolute best parses will likely come from Trolls who take risks and get lots of haste from their Berserking ability. I think more consistent performance will come from Orcs with Blood Fury that requires much less setup to make it good. Any of these three races will perform well, even Blood Elves with Arcane Torrent are not far behind the other choices in theoretical damage output.
Undead get an honorable mention here for their exceptionally powerful PvP ability Will of the Forsaken. This spell is only useful in a handful of PvE encounters that involve a fear, charm, or sleep effect. In most PvE situations, Undead will perform worse than the other Horde race options for a rogue.
Shaman
For the Alliance, the newest Draenei race is the only option for Shamans. While Horde players have several options to choose from, Orcs are the best choice for Enhancement with their Axe Specialization and Blood Fury racials, while Trolls are the best PvE Elemental and Restoration options.
Shaman Class Guide Overview
Enhancement
Horde
Orc is the best race for Enhancement Shaman DPS on Horde: They get Axe Specialization which is a very strong racial if you're able to use axes and take advantage of it, and Blood Fury is a 2 minute cooldown that increases your attack power. For PVE there really isn't another race close for Horde in terms of DPS.
Elemental & Restoration
Horde
Troll is the best race for PvE, Orc is the best race for PvP and second best for PvE, making it the best all-rounder and Tauren is a close second for PvP.
Alliance
There is only one option, the newly crash landed Draenei.
Warlock
For Warlocks, the choice is easy with Gnomes taking the lead with Expansive Mind, and Orcs benefitting from Blood Fury and Command if they decide to play Demonology.
Warlock Class Guide Overview
Alliance
Gnomes have a very minor edge on humans for DPS thanks to Expansive Mind. Alliance players enjoy an extra 1% hit chance when in a party with Inspiring Presence provided by a Draenei.
Horde
Orc is the clear overall winner for Warlock DPS. Blood Fury is about a 1% DPS gain over all the other races, the exception being a gnome in a group with a Inspiring Presence provided by a Draenei. A Demonology warlock will even see bigger gains thanks to Command.
Warrior
For the Alliance, Human is the best choice allaround, for their racial weapon specializations. For Horde players, you may want to consider your role and specialization when creating a new Warrior, as Orcs are the best option for DPS, while Tauren are best for Tanking.
Warrior Class Guide Overview
Alliance
The best race for Alliance in PVE is human: it's really hard to beat out the dual weapon specializations that they get (5 increased expertise when using maces or swords) especially when many of the good weapons happen to be swords and maces: Dragonstrike, Cataclysm's Edge, Warglaive of Azzinoth, etc.
It's worth mentioning that Draenei are actually a close second for Alliance because of their racial Heroic Presence which gives your party 1% melee hit. This racial is very valuable when looked at as a party buff, as it can enable different gear options due to reducing the hit from gear needed to all melee users in your party.
DPS
Horde
Orc is the best race for DPS Warriors on Horde: While Axe Specialization becomes slightly less useful due to the rarity of strong axes available past the Pre Raid stage, Blood Fury receives a major increase to the attack power it gives, roughly equating to an extra trinket slot in the power it provides you.
Tank
Horde
Tauren (female) is the best race for Protection Warrior Tanks in TBCC: Endurance provides a hefty boost to your total health pool and War Stomp is a nice AoE stun racial that is underrated for PVE.
