Every unique and updated Priest racial ability in WoW: Forever

One of the most distinguishing features of the Priest class in vanilla (and Classic) WoW has been its race-specific abilities. Unlike almost all the other classes in the game, Priests originally received one ability at level 10 and another at level 20 that were, by and large, completely unique from race to race — for instance, Dwarf Priests were originally the only race/class combo to have Fear Ward, which helped many Alliance guilds through the Onyxia fight in vanilla WoW.

WoW: Forever doesn’t just keep this unique Priestly feature alive: it embraces it with updates to several Priest racial abilities that bring more balance and variety… and mean no one has to play a Dwarf Priest just to get Fear Ward. While some values like cooldown and duration may be in flux while Forever is in beta, let’s take a look at which Priest racial spells have (or have not) been re-evaluated as well as a few brand-new Priest spells being introduced in Forever.

Here are the changes to Priest racial abilities in World of Warcraft: Forever.

Priest abilities that are no longer race-specific in WoW: Forever

Both Fear Ward and Devouring Plague — originally exclusive to Dwarf and Undead Priests, respectively — are now available to all Priests at level 20, regardless of race.

• Fear Ward (Level 20): Wards the friendly target against Fear. The next Fear effect used against the target will fail, using up the ward.
  • Updates: Duration decreased from 10 minutes to 3 minutes; cooldown increased from 30 seconds to 3 minutes.
• Devouring Plague (Level 20): Afflicts the target with a disease that causes Shadow damage over 24 sec. Damage caused by the Devouring Plague heals the caster.
  • Updates: Cooldown reduced from 3 minutes to 1 minute.

In addition to the above racial abilities, Divine Spirit is a baseline ability for all Priests at Level 30, while Shadow Word: Death (originally introduced in The Burning Crusade) joins the Priest toolkit at Level 32.

Undead Priest abilities in WoW: Forever

• Touch of Weakness (Level 10): The next melee attack against the caster will cause Shadow damage and reduce the attacker’s melee attack power for 2 min.
  • Unchanged.
• Dark Sacrifice (Level 20): Cannibalize your own health to gain Mana over time. Mana gain increased by Spirit.
  • Brand-new spell for Undead Priests in Forever.

Troll Priest abilities in WoW: Forever

• Hex of Weakness (Level 10): Weakens the target enemy, reducing melee attack power and reducing the effectiveness of any healing by 20%. Lasts 2 min.
  • Unchanged.
• Shadowguard (Level 20): The caster is surrounded by shadows. When a spell, melee or ranged attack hits the caster, the attacker will be struck for Shadow damage. Attackers can only be damaged once every few seconds. This damage causes no threat. 3 charges. Lasts 10 min.
  • Unchanged.

Gnome Priest abilities in WoW: Forever

• Confounding Flash (Level 10): Confuses up to 5 nearby enemies for 3 seconds. Effect broken by taking damage. 0.5 second cast time. 2-minute cooldown.
  • Brand-new spell for Gnome Priests in Forever.
• Contingency Plan (Level 20): Places a ward on a friendly target for 30 seconds. If that target’s health drops below 35%, the target is instantly protected by a damage absorb shield and gains a heal-over-time effect. These two effects can be stacked with Renew and Power Word: Shield. 5-minute cooldown. Instant cast.
  • Brand-new spell for Gnome Priests in Forever, though it functions similarly to Angelic Bulwark.

Night Elf Priest abilities in WoW: Forever

• Starshards (Level 10): Rains starshards down on the enemy target’s head, causing 162 Arcane damage over 6 seconds.
  • Updates: Damage increased substantially but now has a 30-second cooldown.
• Elune’s Grace (Level 20): Now reduces the chance for melee and ranged attacks to hit the Priest by 50% for 15 seconds or until 3 attacks have missed. 5-minute cooldown.
  • Updates: Previously reduced ranged damage taken and increased your chance to dodge.

Human Priest abilities in WoW: Forever

• Divine Grace (Level 10): Instantly heals a friendly target below 50% health and removes Weakened Soul from that target. Cannot be cast on self. 5-minute cooldown.
  • Brand-new spell for Human Priests in Forever.
• Feedback  (Level 20): The Priest becomes surrounded with anti-magic energy. Any successful spell cast against the priest will burn the attacker’s Mana, causing Shadow damage for each point of Mana burned. Lasts 15 sec.
  • Unchanged.

Dwarf Priest abilities in WoW: Forever

• Desperate Prayer (Level 10): Instantly heals the caster for a large amount. 10 minute cooldown.
  • Unchanged.
• Chastise (Level 20): Damages and immobilizes a target for 2 seconds. Only useable on Humanoids. Instant cast, 2-minute cooldown.
  • Brand-new spell for Dwarf Priests in Forever; though technically also another ability from The Burning Crusade that snuck its way into Forever.

At the end of the day, whatever race/class combination you choose, it’s unlikely that the Priest racial abilities will make or break your entire experience. But for those looking to min/max or simply get more in-character, the unique Priest racial abilities add a fun element to the class that you won’t find with other classes.