Do you think blood elves were stronger than night elves? Who would have won in a war?

[OwenBurton]

The blood elves and the night elves don't seem to have directly clashed often even after Quel'Thalas officially joined the Horde. Obviously the blood elves right now are likely considerably stronger than the night elves, given what happened at Teldrassil and their additional losses in the Battle for Darkshore, the Fourth War, etc.

And yet, I wonder, hypothetically, if they both fought each other at some point in the past (perhaps just before Battle for Azeroth, for example), and there was absolutely no external interference or assistance, which side would most likely have emerged victorious.

There are five points to consider:
- The blood elves successfully fended off night elf spies in Quel'Thalas in the past, killing several of their best rogues.

- Lady Liadrin noted that, "Tyrande is a Sentinel. She knows little of war on this type of battlefield. While her scouting is useful she should recuse the Kal'dorei from the main assault. My blood knights are the only ones prepared to carry the weight of this conflict.

- The blood elf rogues such as Lorash were extremely effective in killing night elf Sentinels and druids - he was able to swiftly kill Anaris Windwood, the leader of the Sentinels in Ashenvale, and then easily killed nearly an entire group of druids in Ashenvale (their home terrain) despite their best efforts to subdue him.

- The blood elves have access to the blood golems and the full power of the restored Sunwell; their mages seem to be far more advanced and proficient than those of the kaldorei, even with the Highborne backing the latter. They are also the most experienced Horde race regarding paladins, and Quel'Thalas had Silver Hand members even before blood elves existed. The night elves have not really used the Well of Eternity, except maybe in their restorative moonwells, nor do the Wild Gods / Cenarius seem interested in directly assisting them any longer.

- Tyrande and Malfurion are indeed far stronger than Lor'themar, Halduron and Rommath, individually and possibly even together; however, the blood elves are probably cunning enough to disable them somehow if they put all their efforts to the task (Tyrande was nearly slain by several Horde archers in Wolfheart, and Malfurion was defeated by an axe thrown by Saurfang at Darkshore).

[Combatbutler]

The blood elves? No chance.

Quel'thalas on its peak might have been able to defend itself, but winning? Doubtful.

[Varodoc]

The Night elves we speak of are the original rebels who overthrew the corrupt Highborne government and saved the world from destruction. In the modern age, they alone were able to make a worthy stand against the entire might of the Horde unleashed upon their lands.

The Blood elves are weaklings who cannot even reclaim the Ghostlands.

Malfurion alone can most likely annihilate an entire Sin'dorei army all by himself, by using the wisp wall ability that he used to stall the much larger Horde army for weeks.

The Night elves easily win.

[Terrorthatflapsinthenight]

No the Blood Elves, nor the High Elves when Quel'Thalas was healthy, have never been as strong, even less stronger, than the Kaldorei both in terms of numerical numbers and military power, as well as in terms of strongest individuals with no High/Blood Elf being comparable to Tyrande Whisperwind or the Stormrage twins, even less Azshara when she was still a NE.

[rated]

its hard to say

if we just forget current state of affairs and just put all their forces on a field against each other I feel like the blood elves would win. All those mages/paladins I feel would be hard to counter vs a race full of mostly druids and priests

Then again you look at malfurion/tyrande/Shandris Feathermoon/Jarod Shadowsong, they've over come the war of the ancients and all that stuff they did in wc3. They know how to win regardless if the deck is stacked against them

Blood elf leaders get defeated(wc3), killed(wc3), corrupted by fel magic(BC). They couldn't even defeat the trolls while at their strongest during the first orc wars and had to teach a bunch of humans magic to help them defeat the trolls.ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc

[Rustedsaint]

Depends on the context, blood elves were survivors of the scourge attack on quel requiring the horde/forsaken to keep them safe from the dead/trolls.
Prior to the attack of the scourge they might have stood a chance since they fell mostly due to being betrayed.
At the moment the blood elves probably would win since the night elves forces were extremely depleted in bfa.

[Magical Mudcrab]

There are three points to consider:
- The blood elves successfully fended off night elf spies in Quel'Thalas in the past, killing several of their best rogues.

Spies are not explicitly meant to wage wars, nor are they trained to; spies are trained for espionage and while espionage may be used in conflict, that does not mean spies are trained to fight in direct or open conflict.

- Lady Liadrin noted that, "Tyrande is a Sentinel. She knows little of war on this type of battlefield. While her scouting is useful she should recuse the Kal'dorei from the main assault. My blood knights are the only ones prepared to carry the weight of this conflict.

If that is Liadrin's assessment, she's either incompetent or naïve. Tyrande and Malfurion took on leadership roles during the War of the Ancients and were more than capable of leading the Kal'dorei and coordinating with the Wild Gods and Ancients. At the current time, Tyrande has thousands of years of battlefield experience and has taken a leadership role in every major conflict from the War of the Ancients to the Battle for Mount Hyjal. Comparatively, what has Liadrin done throughout her entire life? Her major accomplishments have been torturing M'uru with her Blood Knights and kinda just being around. There is her wielding of Ashbringer which may be canonical, although many of the character-weapon pairings at the end of Legion don't make much sense.

- The blood elf rogues such as Lorash were extremely effective in killing night elf Sentinels and druids - he was able to swiftly kill Anaris Windwood, the ruler of the Sentinels in Ashenvale, and then easily killed nearly an entire group of druids in Ashenvale (their home terrain) despite their best efforts to subdue him.

Unless I'm mistaken, the simultaneous attacks on Ashenvale outposts signaled the start of the unannounced war. This isn't a matter of "Lorash and Rifen were so experienced they could take on a hundred elves" this was a matter of "the war with the Legion just ended and now the Kaldorei are back to patrolling the forest and making sure the Warsong don't kill ancients for no reason, better take advantage of this". They were not at high alert and this should not be taken as how sentinels would act during war.

- The blood elves have access to the blood golems and the full power of the restored Sunwell; their mages seem to be far more advanced and proficient than those of the kaldorei, even with the Highborne backing the latter. They are also the most experienced Horde race regarding paladins, and Quel'Thalas had Silver Hand members even before blood elves existed. The night elves have not really used the Well of Eternity, except maybe in their restorative moonwells, nor do the Wild Gods / Cenarius seem interested in directly assisting them any longer.

Whereas Night Elves have the Ancients, Treants, and Wild Gods (if they chose to act, the lazy bastards). Moreover, the Sunwell really doesn't help them in this instance unless they've found a way to move Quel'danas. Even regarding sorcery, the remnants of the Highborne rejoined the Kaldorei in Cataclysm, and they were the upper-caste of Kaldorei who actively used the powers of the Well of Eternity. Combined with their deep understanding of druidism, unless the Sin'dorei are able to move the Sunwell or are capable of using some magical MacGuffin to project its energies across the planet with no loss in potency, the Kaldorei win on the magic front.

- Tyrande and Malfurion are indeed far stronger than Lor'themar, Halduron and Rommath, individually and possibly even together; however, the blood elves are probably cunning enough to disable them somehow if they put all their efforts to the task (Tyrande was nearly slain by several Horde archers in Wolfheart, and Malfurion was defeated by an axe thrown by Saurfang at Darkshore).

The strength of the leaders isn't entirely relevant unless we're assuming this war is just a straight-up brawl. Even in the War of Thorns, leaders only fought at pivotal moments; it was the exception, not the rule for the conflict. Moreover, this assumption that characters like Malfurion, whose singular major failure in the last decade has been getting sneak attacked by Saurfang as he was fighting with the jailer-empowered Sylvanas (after having easily beaten Saurfang in direct combat), is somehow weak or incompetent is absurd. It should also be said that in the War of Thorns, the Kaldorei were canonically outnumbered 8-to-1 in A Good War, yet the Horde casualties vastly outnumbered the Kaldorei casualties.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

Blood elfs wouldn’t stand a chance they are out numbered by a high margin and have far less experience only fighting the trolls until WC3 while the night elf’s dealt with the Statr’s and shifting sands.

[Seratox]

At least the Blood Elves didn't have their capital burned down by a few flaming catapults on a whim because one night elf said the wrong thing to the wrong person.

[Villager720]

I think Quel’thalas could have stymied and defeated a Kaldorei siege of their lands.
But in a hypothetical throw down between their two offensive armies : I’d really have to give it to the night elves.
The WC3 night elves were fighting the Legion and the Scourge by themselves for awhile - that is not something I can see the high elves managing; even without the betrayal of Dar’Khan.

[Nathreim]

Blood Elves are only 10% of their High Elf power not a fair comparison at all.

That said the Night Elves really cant win anything without the Dragons or demigods helping them. They historically don't do well launching any kind of attack outside of their lands like most elves they are defensive not offensive.

The High Elves have a better track record of offensive campaigns (slightly) and their shield was impenetrable without help from the inside so their defenses are better than the Night Elves. If the night elves attacked they would lose just as the Horde, dragons, and Amani before them.


Its a draw honestly with a slight advantage to High Elves because of they have more experience in the wide world. Elves in wow just want to be left alone and their military strategies reflect that.

[Ardenaso]

Blood Elves are only 10% of their High Elf power not a fair comparison at all.

That said the Night Elves really cant win anything without the Dragons or demigods helping them. They historically don't do well launching any kind of attack outside of their lands like most elves they are defensive not offensive.

The High Elves have a better track record of offensive campaigns (slightly) and their shield was impenetrable without help from the inside so their defenses are better than the Night Elves. If the night elves attacked they would lose just as the Horde, dragons, and Amani before them.


Its a draw honestly with a slight advantage to High Elves because of they have more experience in the wide world.

the Night Elves were also less than half of their population back in WC3 in Vanilla, obviously going further down per expansion

[Dead Moose Fandango]

I mean, obviously the blood elves win. But that's mainly because blizzard actively shits on the night elves. Logically, the night elves would win hands-down.

[Maljinwo]

Both are inferior trolls

[Combatbutler]

Just pointing out a few things,doesn't really change the outcome of the night elves winning though. At least pre BFA, after all we don't know for sure how many of them are left after Sylvanas was done with them.

Spies are not explicitly meant to wage wars, nor are they trained to; spies are trained for espionage and while espionage may be used in conflict, that does not mean spies are trained to fight in direct or open conflict.

Those weren't really spies, but sentinels, who were spying.

If that is Liadrin's assessment, she's either incompetent or naïve. Tyrande and Malfurion took on leadership roles during the War of the Ancients and were more than capable of leading the Kal'dorei and coordinating with the Wild Gods and Ancients. At the current time, Tyrande has thousands of years of battlefield experience and has taken a leadership role in every major conflict from the War of the Ancients to the Battle for Mount Hyjal. Comparatively, what has Liadrin done throughout her entire life? Her major accomplishments have been torturing M'uru with her Blood Knights and kinda just being around. There is her wielding of Ashbringer which may be canonical, although many of the character-weapon pairings at the end of Legion don't make much sense.

While her assessment should be wrong, unfortunately it wasn't after all Tyrande had to be schooled in basic military matters by Varian in MoP

Unless I'm mistaken, the simultaneous attacks on Ashenvale outposts signaled the start of the unannounced war. This isn't a matter of "Lorash and Rifen were so experienced they could take on a hundred elves" this was a matter of "the war with the Legion just ended and now the Kaldorei are back to patrolling the forest and making sure the Warsong don't kill ancients for no reason, better take advantage of this". They were not at high alert and this should not be taken as how sentinels would act during war.

This isn't really about hundreds of elves, Lorash did quite effortlessly kill quite a few druids and sentinels after the night elves were well aware of the attack being under way.

Whereas Night Elves have the Ancients, Treants, and Wild Gods (if they chose to act, the lazy bastards). Moreover, the Sunwell really doesn't help them in this instance unless they've found a way to move Quel'danas. Even regarding sorcery, the remnants of the Highborne rejoined the Kaldorei in Cataclysm, and they were the upper-caste of Kaldorei who actively used the powers of the Well of Eternity. Combined with their deep understanding of druidism, unless the Sin'dorei are able to move the Sunwell or are capable of using some magical MacGuffin to project its energies across the planet with no loss in potency, the Kaldorei win on the magic front.

The sunwell reaches them across the entire planet, heck it reached them on alternate draenor. Whenever night elf mages confronted blood elf ones they were soundly beaten.

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Blood elfs wouldn’t stand a chance they are out numbered by a high margin and have far less experience only fighting the trolls until WC3 while the night elf’s dealt with the Statr’s and shifting sands.

I wouldn't really count those a good conflicts, since the night elves barely won both, with the high elves actually still being part of the Night elves during the war of the satyr and the night elves getting the ever living daylight beaten out of them against the aqir, until the dragons bailed them out.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I wouldn't really count those a good conflicts, since the night elves barely won both, with the high elves actually still being part of the Night elves during the war of the satyr and the night elves getting the ever living daylight beaten out of them against the aqir, until the dragons bailed them out.

The high elves were part of the war of the Satyr but the blood elfs were not as they lost there immortality and had multiple generations pass in the time between.

And even barely winning both wars is far more experience then just the latest generation of blood elf’s who only fought trolls.

[saintminya]

Blood Elves win hands down, even after Night Elves began to begrudgingly re-accept practitioners of the Arcane into their ranks. Aside from the blood elves' uninterrupted prowess and progression in arcane arts, they're a more battle-hardened people with low/no cultural aversion to conflict/warfare. Plus they have golems and paladins.

[Mestalis]

I know that Blizz is fast and loose with population numbers, but from my understanding the Night Elves always far outnumbered the Blood Elves, even now. The High Elves descended from only a very small sub-set of Night Elf society, and many of them ended up as Naga.

Not to mention that the Night Elves have so many resources to call upon, even if you completely discount the Alliance. They have the Ancients, multiple Demi-gods and their various offspring, Dryads, Keepers, all of the beasts associated with the various Druid forms, the power of Light and Void direct from Elune herself; even their dead remain as wisps to continue to defend them.

I know the Blood Elves have their racial allies as well, but their primary source of power is arcane magic from the Sun Well, while the Kaldorei could raise armies of literal forces of nature.

[Kithelle]

At least the Blood Elves didn't have their capital burned down by a few flaming catapults on a whim because one night elf said the wrong thing to the wrong person.

Yeah, I mean it's not like they can't take back any of their land that is basically just occupied by ghouls or spitits....oh wait

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Blood Elves win hands down, even after Night Elves began to begrudgingly re-accept practitioners of the Arcane into their ranks. Aside from the blood elves' uninterrupted prowess and progression in arcane arts, they're a more battle-hardened people with low/no cultural aversion to conflict/warfare. Plus they have golems and paladins.

Because The Night Elves basically repelled the might of the Horde and the Blood Elves can't even clear out a few ghouls or a fallen Troll empire

[saintminya]

So I'd say that it is imperative to mention how the Sin'dorei have allies that are more than willing to assist them in most if not every scenario, such as the Nightborne who are magically superior to every playable race if not every extant race period. The so-called comrades of the Kal'dorei hardly ever assist them in any endeavour, only enlisting them as farmhands after the torching of their capital treehouse.
'
Also, you can't compare corporeal entities to non-corporeal ones like ghosts. The whole of the Horde was decisively not engaged in the Battle for Darkshore, so who knows what the outcome would be if that faction went all in. Ghostlands is stuck in the last decade or so, so while ghouls and ghosts still roam that cursed region there aren't anywhere near as abundant as they were in BC.