The power level of playable races in Lore

[Racthoh]

1. all the races except for gnomes

2. dirt

3. gnomes

[Deleted]

Ok, power is a relative term, so let's order it based on Strenght, Agility, Magical Affinity, Technology and Numbers power:

Strenght
Tier 1 - Tauren, Worgen, Pandaren - Worgen are stated to be strong due to the sheer power of the wolf within. Pandaren are also strong, carrying 5 barrels filled with beer at times and there were other examples, there's a reason why the mogu used them as slaves.
Tier 2 -Orcs, Trolls, Dwarves - Stronger than anyone under them, but not as strong as the ones above them. It is stated that, when berserk, it would take 2 humans to stop an orc. Dwarves are stated to be at least as strong as orcs, even if short.
Tier 3 - Humans, Night elves, Goblins, Draenei -This is a sort of average strenght. Night elves have been living in the woods, but they became more agile, not as much stronger, so they're average. Goblins are stated to be stronger than they look. I would not put them to the same strenght at Orcs though, so here they are. Draenei seem strong, but it seems they use the Light to raise those huge hammers in battle, for example.
Tier 4 - Blood elves, forsaken and gnomes - both races had no need of physical strenght so they lost it. Blood elves used magic so much and their archers agility, there was no real need of physical strenght. Gnomes used machines and their intellect. Forsaken, while former humans... are dead. Their bones have become somewhat brittle, their muscles rotted. That's why they use abominations, because they themselves are weak.

Agility:
Tier 1 - Night elves, blood elves, Trolls - I mean, no doubt about it, these races mostly used agility to survive for a long time. While blood elves had decreased in the time they were high elves due to magic, the fact that they had to re-adapt to the harshness of life made them readapt to the wilds.
Tier 2 - Worgen, Gnomes - Worgen are wolf-men and have shown their agility and the ability to dodge blows and make quick movements in the blink of an eye. But gnomes? Yes, gnomes have shown it too. As a small race, they need to be quick or enemies might squash them. While technologically advanced, a rifle won't do much if you can't dodge the blow of an ogre, for example. Even in Gelbin's leader story it's shown how he dodges some blows artistically, and he's quite old already.
Tier 3 - Humans, Goblins, Orcs, Pandaren - The average tier. Goblins are fast, but not as fast as gnomes, for they have more physical strenght on their side. Orcs are also agile, shown by their blademasters, but their size and muscle makes them slower than some enemies, so as agility their average is... average. Pandaren have their own martial art masters, but again, their size proves problematic.
Tier 4 - Forsaken, Draenei - Forsaken have suffered in this aspect as well. They are not as agile as they were in life. They are quite close to humans, but there's a reason why they use so many poisons and concoctions. Draenei are slowed by their size and rely on their armour and magic to protect them more, but they can dodge a blow.
Tier 5 - Tauren and Dwarves - Tauren rely on their physical power, resilience and stamina more. They might be able to run fast, but not really move in the blink of an eye or even dodge most blows. Dwarves rely on their smaller size, their strenght, their resilience and their stronger skin and Earthern remnants like resistance from poison and such and armour.

Magical Affinity
Tier 1 - Draenei, Blood elves, Night elves - Erredar were selected by Sargeras for a reason and all the major problems spellwise come from kaldorei or their descendants for a reason. Take note, I'm not talking about arcane magic only, but also druidic, shamanistic etc.
Tier 2 - Humans, Forsaken - Have some extraordinary mages, able to learn other magic types easily and perform great and amazing feats. Most powerful magic users come from these races.
Tier 3 - Orcs, Gnomes - Average tier - Have shown that they have some great magic users. Orcs managed to have warlocks and shamans that can shatter mountains, gnomes having warlocks that can summon some of the most powerful demons and mages capable of strong feats.
Tier 4 - Dwarves, Trolls, Worgen, -Due to points in strenght, agility and technology (for dwarves) these races did not focus on the magical aspect as much. They do have strong magic as well and dwarves rune-forgers and mages and trolls voodoo doctors and shamans. However, more due to the Magic part not being so important culture-wise to them except for shamanism, their average drops. You might wonder why are worgen here, in the end, are they not humans? Yes, they are, but their feral nature and their transformation to beasts in battle make them lose some of the focus, which is extremely important in a mage. Sure, in-game worgen mage players are equal to human ones, but in the end their beastly nature would distract them, creating weaker spells.
Tier 5 - Tauren, Goblins, Pandaren - Goblins have technology more, they use some magic, but not as much. Pandaren have their martial arts, strenght and ok agility plus good resilience. Tauren rely too much on strenght, their only true magic that is practiced a lot being shamanism. This might change in the future, for the Grimtotem have mages too and regular tauren have learned druidism in recent years, alongside light-based stuff, but for now, it is most likely not widely spread.

Technology
Tier 1 - Gnomes and Goblins - lasers and submarines, planes and robots, all engineered by them.
Tier 2 - Dwarves - build the siege tanks, cannons, rifles, planes etc. They are not as advanced as to build lasers though.
Tier 3 - Draenei - Draenei reverse-engineered some naaru tech, but they're still not so advanced in it yet, in the future they might go to tier 1, but for now they can't build a naaru ship for example.
Tier 4 - Humans, Forsaken, Worgen, Pandaren, Blood elves - Average tier. Basically those that build some machines of war and use rifles made by them. Blood elves have also made arcane constructs, but they are not at the draenei levels due to the constructs being part magic, part technology.
Tier 5 - Night elves, Orcs - both build some engines of war (glaive thrower and demolisher) but not much else besides that. Night elves rely more on their ancients, wisps and magic while orcs rely on goblins and power.
Tier 6 - Trolls and Tauren - The best technology the tauren invented is the elevator. It's not horrible, but not great either. The machines of war of both these races are primitive versions of those of other races. They sometimes use rifles, bot they are not manufactured by them most times.

Numbers Power
Tier 1 - Dwarves and Forsaken - Dwarves have united 3 clans, have not had major losses beyond what happened hundreads of years ago. Forsaken gain strenght by each human that dies, and they keep resurrecting everyone they get their hands on, even making experiments to get back special abominations and creatures. While originally low, they have grown in size a lot.
Tier 2 - Humans, Pandaren(all pandaren, even non-playable) - The manpower is that of humans. They are quite a few and are able to replace the losses easily. They also adapt easily and can train many fights fast. Pandaren, also have not had major conflicts until we arrived for quite some time and grew in numbers and training. But that force of Pandaren is not the one fighting together with the Horde and Alliance, that one will be treated later.
Tier 3 - Night elves - have suffered losses, particularly due to the Battle of Mount Hijal, Ragnaros and the conflict with the Horde, but they are still numerous. Before Warcraft 3 they dominated Northern Kalimdor, even with the current losses they hold much power in most of the zones. The problem night elves have is that they breed slow, so unless that changes, they will fall from this spot in time. Not with a bang, but with a whimper. Every night elf that dies might take 100 years to replace. Meanwhile orcs, for example, consider those as young as 12 adults and breed almost like humans.
Tier 4 - Orcs and Gilneans (not worgen alone, all Gilneans), Goblins (all goblins, not just Horde) - Average tier - Orcs seem to reproduce really fast, but they have had countless conflicts, so their numbers suffered A LOT. They have dropped in power constantly since they arrived on Azeroth the first time. Gilneans have a similar problem, but due to the whole Cataclysm and invasion, but a huge chunk of their population seems to have survived. The reason I say Gilneans is because not all Gilneans are worgen. In fact, only a small chunk are. Goblins breed like rabbits but also die quite easily, having situations where they use sappers that are basically suicide bombers.
Tier 5 - Tauren - Some big tribes united. Grimtotem left. Their numbers suffered, so they're still just "a few tribes" more or less, putting them above those in the following tiers, but they always had low numbers, putting them below those above.
Tier 6 - Goblins (Horde aligned), Draenei, Blood elves - Goblins might breed fast, but all Horde goblins were on aprox 5 ships. Draenei arrived on a huge ship, but it crashed and many died. Blood elves are 9% of the original High elf population. And they have had Kael and a few of them leave, the Sunwell re-attacked etc. There is a reason why they had issues holding their lands.
Tier 7 - Gnomes, Worgen, Trolls (all trolls Horde aligned) - Gnomes suffered a huge loss where most of their population died or was irradiated. They don't breed so fast so... yeah. They are basically a small village, at most. Worgen are those that were infected originally. They can infect others, but otherwise worgen themselves can't breed. Trolls have had many conflicts and problems, but remember that there were 3 tribes that joined the Horde: the Darkspear, the Shatterspear and the Raventusk. Considering the events occurring, I'd assume the Raventusk are the most numerous now. The Shatterspear had genocide performed on them more or less and I'll talk about the Darkspear next tier.
Tier 8 - Basically extinct -Pandaren (Alliance and Horde aligned), Trolls (Darkspear) - Not many Pandaren joined the Alliance and Horde, basically some mercenaries from the turtle. Some left after the whole Siege of Orgrimmar. More can join though, but for now Alliance and Horde aligned pandaren would be uncommon, to say the least.
As for the Darkspear... they were 1 tribe. They got attacked the human troops on their islands. They got wrecked by a naga sea witch. They were forced to abandon their homes and got invaded by Daelin and his forces. More than half of them got mind-controlled by Zalazane and killed. Also from those not mind-controlled some were killed by the mind-controlled ones. They were in Outland with an expedition force. Garrosh tried to exterminate them. They were on the front lines of the Siege of Orgrimmar. I once calculated that if their tribe had about 30k-45k members at start, going with small to average losses, by now at best we'd have 24 trolls left and at worst 3. Yes, you read that right, between 3 and 24 Darkspear Trolls left in a realistic setting. At these numbers they are basically extinct.

Overall, based on these, in my opinion, the power per total would sit like this:
Tier 1 - Dwarves, Forsaken and Humans.
Tier 2 - Night elves.
Tier 3 - Orcs, Worgen - Average power.
Tier 4 - Blood elves, Gnomes, Goblins, Draenei.
Tier 5 - Tauren.
Tier 6 - Trolls and Pandaren (Alliance and Horde alligned) - both due to low numbers mostly, they would only be stronger in the tiers if they were titans.

[Aquamonkey]

In many books it's stated that dwarves are as strong as tauren, despite being short.

Which books?

Draenei have also shown extra strenght simply by weilding those huge weapons.

The Light does that.

He grinned as he grasped the enormous hammer, so large that for a brief moment he thought he wouldn’t be able to lift it, and swung it upward with a whoop. The Light, he realized, made the hammer seem to weigh less in his hands.
--Rise of the Lich King

[Deleted]

Which books?


The Light does that.

He grinned as he grasped the enormous hammer, so large that for a brief moment he thought he wouldn’t be able to lift it, and swung it upward with a whoop. The Light, he realized, made the hammer seem to weigh less in his hands.
--Rise of the Lich King

Ah, didn't know that part about draenei. That would explain many things. Then Draenei would drop to human-like levels?

As for the dwarf part, I think I read it in Day of the Dragon and I think there were many hints to that in the Shattering too, but I can't be sure. Of what I do remember is that their strenght was compared to orcs, and it was said that they were at least as strong as orcs, despite their small stature.
I could have put them in the orc tier too, but somehow due to their resilience and earthrn like skin, I decided to place them above.

Also, thanks for the info about draenei. I moved them to human tier and put dwarves to orc tier. Maybe "at least as strong as orcs" might be equal to orcs, not to tauren.

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Well, we always see Humans as the bulk of the Alliance military, and if they weren't so powerful, why would the Alliance proclaim the King of the Humans the High King of the Alliance? As for the horde, orcs, tauren and trolls are individually stronger, no doubt, but they've been gravely weakened of late from an army stand point - the only credible forces the Horde has is Blood Elves and Undead, and I believe both of those could be overcame.

Well...
Tyrande got a vision from Elune that Goldrinn supports Varian. Malfurion wasn't so sure, but Tyrande in the end had the final say.
The Council of the Three Hammers was thankful for Varian not creating a civil war while also not letting Moira rule. They had their own problems too.
Genn hunted with Varian and was impressed, but he was also a king without a kingdom, so he supported the human king as he's racist and Varian and Jaina are the only other human leaders.
Velen... was not so involved. Even in the Alliance Conference of Darnassus, when it was discussed if Gilneas should be re-admitted in the Alliance, the other Alliance leaders didn't even think Velen would even come.
Gelbin didn't care. He had quite a few other things on his head.

There you go. The Alliance proclaimed Varian as High King.

As for Anduin, despite him being High King on the warcraft site, he was never proclaimed as such directly in-game nor does any instance of him in-game have that title as far as I remember. Plus, unlike Varian, nobody even listens to his council. Tyrande went around looking for Malfurion. Genn attacked the Horde despite being specifically told not to. Jaina left. The Council of Three Hammers has not shown any support to Anduin force wise, honestly. Velen seems to support him. That's... about it.

[Ilikegreenfire]

The Curse of the Worgen comics only showed Ralaar and Arvell being able to survive the satyr warband by running away until other NElves came.

Also, the CotW3 says the current version of the worgen curse is diluted.

Even if it is diluted, Packform seems to be is the most powerful druid form, it imbues the user with shit loads of power and energy, the trade off is losing your mind. If the Tauren were linked to a bull or ancient or even Niuzao that was along time ago, and who ever it was doesn't seem to give a fuck anymore. Ya their super strong buff cows but that's just it.

Alot of what we see your generic Worgen doing is beyond the limit of what their bodies should biologically be able to do, tauren are strong as shit but most of their feats are biologically realistic.

[Friendlyimmolation]

Genn isn't racist? Why would he accept help from Night Elves if he were?

Because he was desperate. Gen hated other humans if they weren't gilnaen

[Friendlyimmolation]

Really? On what basis?

On the basis that it's quite clear you never actually read up on genn grey mane. Dude was textbook definition of racist power hungry king. Which was aquite refreshing change of pace from the normal alliance characters

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Even if it is diluted, Packform seems to be is the most powerful druid form, it imbues the user with shit loads of power and energy, the trade off is losing your mind. If the Tauren were linked to a bull or ancient or even Niuzao that was along time ago, and who ever it was doesn't seem to give a fuck anymore. Ya their super strong buff cows but that's just it.

Alot of what we see your generic Worgen doing is beyond the limit of what their bodies should biologically be able to do, tauren are strong as shit but most of their feats are biologically realistic.

Also strength means nothing if you have no control, caring was showing that to garrosh

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And @Snowraven, a blood elf mage lifted up a dwarf with one hand when the dwarf said something about his wife. So they are still strong, technology wise they should at least be Draenei level considering we see blood elves easily take and intergrate any tech they find useful

[Wildmoon]

Everyone vs everyone? Humans would end up killing each other like they used to.

That's basically what happened to almost every race.

[Friendlyimmolation]

@Friendlyimmolation

Saying I'm wrong doesn't make it so, I don't think Genn is racist

Really doesn't matter what you think, genn was asbout as intolerant and bigoted as it comes. Read wolf heart, or even read his wowpedia page. Hell do you even know why he built the wall in the first place?

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That's basically what happened to almost every race.

Humans and orcs are the most notorious for their infighting. I guess you can count gnomes but the Leper gnomes are more insane than just treacherous

[Wyrt]

Why? lets just talk about Alliance the humans would not win against the dwarfs now that there clans united under one banner.
And that is not even talking about any Horde races.

I assume he means because the humans are Blizzard's chosen mary sue race that is the best at everything and has endless population for no explicable reason.

[omeomorfismo]

Ok, power is a relative term, so let's order it based on Strenght, Agility, Magical Affinity, Technology and Numbers power:

Strenght
Tier 1 - Tauren, Worgen, Pandaren - Worgen are stated to be strong due to the sheer power of the wolf within. Pandaren are also strong, carrying 5 barrels filled with beer at times and there were other examples, there's a reason why the mogu used them as slaves.
Tier 2 -Orcs, Trolls, Dwarves - Stronger than anyone under them, but not as strong as the ones above them. It is stated that, when berserk, it would take 2 humans to stop an orc. Dwarves are stated to be at least as strong as orcs, even if short.
Tier 3 - Humans, Night elves, Goblins, Draenei -This is a sort of average strenght. Night elves have been living in the woods, but they became more agile, not as much stronger, so they're average. Goblins are stated to be stronger than they look. I would not put them to the same strenght at Orcs though, so here they are. Draenei seem strong, but it seems they use the Light to raise those huge hammers in battle, for example.
Tier 4 - Blood elves, forsaken and gnomes - both races had no need of physical strenght so they lost it. Blood elves used magic so much and their archers agility, there was no real need of physical strenght. Gnomes used machines and their intellect. Forsaken, while former humans... are dead. Their bones have become somewhat brittle, their muscles rotted. That's why they use abominations, because they themselves are weak.

aren't the undeads moved by shadow magic? and in the contrary they are sturdy as fuck, they can even survive massive mutilation without cares anything.
btw they use abominations as night elf uses ancients, they are basically (un)living siege machine

[Friendlyimmolation]

I read Wolfheart, and yes I know why the wall was built - and you can't say what someone thinks doesn't matter, and then put forward your opinion - why should anyone believe you if you're so dismissive of different views?

I'm really don't concern myself wether or not people agree or disagree with what I say to an extent. Genn was racist, genn was intolerant, genn was bigoted and power hungry. These are all facts and all of these would eventually bite him in the ass later.


You can say you don't think genn was racist, but to be frank it doesn't matter because it's wrong.

[Wyrt]

Tier 3 - Draenei - Draenei reverse-engineered some naaru tech, but they're still not so advanced in it yet, in the future they might go to tier 1, but for now they can't build a naaru ship for example.

Draenei tech is not naaru tech. They are different things.

[Friendlyimmolation]

aren't the undeads moved by shadow magic? and in the contrary they are sturdy as fuck, they can even survive massive mutilation without cares anything.
btw they use abominations as night elf uses ancients, they are basically (un)living siege machine

Yea undead are moved by shadow magic, as dead muscle can't be moved by dead nerves. It's why the light hurts so much, because it threatens the shadow magic keeping them together

[omeomorfismo]

Yea undead are moved by shadow magic, as dead muscle can't be moved by dead nerves. It's why the light hurts so much, because it threatens the shadow magic keeping them together

actually was a rethoric question, btw @Snowraven forsaken technology advanced as the human one? maybe their engineering isnt at a goblin level, but their alchemy and chemistry definitely yes, maybe even the best in azeroth (maybe not counting the scourge one that is basically of demonic derivation)

[Friendlyimmolation]

I know he wasn't racist, and I know you're wrong - do you see how that works champ?

Except you know , if you actually paid any attention to genn you would know he was. No need to be upset about this. Unless you somehow made a connection that if genn isn't racist that ithis somehow makes worgen the strongest race

[Clone]

They lept like 50+ feet in an downward ark, and climb vertical walls being 8 boot tall 300+ pound werewolves. Requiring massive physical strength.

So they jumped forward from a high place, that's not a feat of strength, that's called gravity. Climbing walls also doesn't require massive physical strength. Kids climb walls all the time, it just require strength relative to body weight. Worgens are also not 8 foot tall.

I don't think anyone is arguing that Worgen have more raw strength than Tauren. At the very least I'm not. I think that Worgen's impressive raw strength combined with by far the best speed and agility out of all the playable races gives them the physical edge over Tauren.

Ilikegreenfire seems to be arguing that worgens have more raw strength than taurens.

Or a Wolf vs a Cow.

That comparison is purposely skewing the argument to the worgens' favor and you know it. If you wanna play like then why not do bull vs dog? We all know neither taurens nor worgens are based off of domesticated animals.

Make the wolf equal size to the bull and ya lets see.

Wild bulls have been known to kill lions in one on one, and even injuring some against a pride. Even then, worgens and taurens aren't the same size. This statement admits that worgens are at a physical disadvantage because they have to be made the same size.

As for the dwarf part, I think I read it in Day of the Dragon and I think there were many hints to that in the Shattering too, but I can't be sure. Of what I do remember is that their strenght was compared to orcs, and it was said that they were at least as strong as orcs, despite their small stature.

Day of the Dragon was released a year before WC3, where taurens were first introduced. I'd like to know which book stated that taurens and dwarves are equal in strength.

Alot of what we see your generic Worgen doing is beyond the limit of what their bodies should biologically be able to do, tauren are strong as shit but most of their feats are biologically realistic.

This is complete conjecture. The taurens' physical feats outclass the worgens in every instance with the exception of agility.

[Triggered Fridgekin]

If Tauren are the strongest I'd hate to wonder how strong those Quilboar are!

[Zulkhan]

I don't think anyone is arguing that Worgen have more raw strength than Tauren. At the very least I'm not. I think that Worgen's impressive raw strength combined with by far the best speed and agility out of all the playable races gives them the physical edge over Tauren.

The only thing giving an edge to a Worgen against a Tauren is not the agility or the speed but the natural weapons (claws and fangs) and that only if the Tauren would be foolish enough to fight one unarmed.

Give a tree trunk to a Tauren and I'm afraid those sharp edges will not achieve much.

I'm really don't concern myself wether or not people agree or disagree with what I say to an extent. Genn was racist, genn was intolerant, genn was bigoted and power hungry. These are all facts and all of these would eventually bite him in the ass later.


You can say you don't think genn was racist, but to be frank it doesn't matter because it's wrong.

I mean, he was pretty much the Tywin Lannister of Warcraft, there's no denying that.

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If Tauren are the strongest I'd hate to wonder how strong those Quilboar are!

Quillboar are known for being rather numerous, much like Centaur. And unless you're dealing with a particularly organized and disciplined army, numbers matter more than individual power.

[Wildmoon]

The only thing giving an edge to a Worgen against a Tauren is not the agility or the speed but the natural weapons (claws and fangs) and that only if the Tauren would be foolish enough to fight one unarmed.

Give a tree trunk to a Tauren and I'm afraid those sharp edges will not achieve much.

Giving any side anything defeats the entire point. You give a human magic and he can beat a tauren then you give a tauren magic too then you wil never know who wins.