As World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade celebrates its anniversary, players are once again diving back into Outland — min-maxing, parsing, and theorycrafting like it’s 2007 all over again. In this TBC Classic Anniversary Tier List, we break down the best specs for PvE and PvP, ranking them by pure performance, synergy, and meta relevance.

WoW TBC Anniversary PvE Tier List

Ranking the best race for each class based purely on PvE performance, racial synergy, and party benefits. No PvP bias here — just raids, dungeons, and parsing glory.

Warrior

Best Alliance Race: Draenei
Best Horde Race: Orc

Draenei: 1% Hit Chance Aura for your entire party (Heroic Presence) — absolutely massive for raid DPS optimization. Works for melee and ranged depending on gender/spec.

Orc: Blood Fury gives attack power or spell power (depending on class type), and Axe Specialization adds free weapon skill — great for Fury or Arms.

Warlock

Best Alliance Race: Gnome
Best Horde Race: Orc

Gnome: +5% Intellect and Expansive Mind = more mana and spell crit potential.

Orc: Command (+5% pet damage) and Blood Fury (spell power boost) make orcs the clear winners for PvE Warlocks.

Mage

Best Alliance Race: Gnome
Best Horde Race: Troll

Gnome: Same story — 5% Intellect and Escape Artist for PvE safety.

Troll: Berserking (10–30% Haste depending on HP) is massive for Fire or Arcane Mages in burst windows.

Shaman

Best Alliance Race: Draenei
Best Horde Race: Orc

Draenei: Only available to Alliance in TBC; Gift of the Naaru adds a free HoT and Inspiring Presence (Hit Aura) gives your raid bonus hit chance — perfect synergy for caster groups.

Orc: Blood Fury works on both healers and DPS specs, giving a strong burst option for Elemental or Enhancement.

Priest

Best Alliance Race: Night Elf (Shadow) / Draenei (Holy/Disc)
Best Horde Race: Troll

Night Elf: Shadow priests benefit from Starshards (a DoT spell, unique to NEs early in TBC) — solid personal DPS gain.

Draenei: Holy/Disc priests benefit from Inspiring Presence hit aura and Gift of the Naaru for utility.

Troll: Berserking haste helps both healing throughput and Shadow DPS uptime.

Druid

Best Alliance Race: Night Elf
Best Horde Race: Tauren

Night Elf: Shadowmeld can occasionally save you from threat wipes; also fits the lore perfectly.

Tauren: War Stomp (instant AoE stun) is clutch for tanks, and 5% extra health gives survivability for Bears.

Rogue

Best Alliance Race: Human
Best Horde Race: Troll

Human: Sword & Mace Expertise (+5 skill) and Perception make them unmatched in melee PvE.

Troll: Berserking gives a strong burst window that stacks with cooldowns like Blade Flurry and Adrenaline Rush.

Hunter

Best Alliance Race: Draenei
Best Horde Race: Orc

Draenei: Again, the Heroic Presence aura makes them invaluable in physical DPS groups.

Orc: Command boosts pet damage by 5%, which is a huge multiplier for Beast Mastery (top TBC spec).

Paladin

Best Alliance Race: Dwarf (Tank) / Draenei (Ret/Heal)
Best Horde Race: Blood Elf

Dwarf: Stoneform is situational but lifesaving in raids for tanks.

Draenei: Hit Aura helps Ret/Prot groups and Gift of the Naaru adds a free heal.

Blood Elf: Arcane Torrent restores mana and silences enemies — incredible for both Holy and Ret.

TBC Classic Anniversary PvE Ranking

WoW TVBC Anniversary PvP Tier List

Welcome to the real deal — the PvP edition. Forget your spreadsheets and auction house gold talk — this is about arena clutch saves, outplays, and who wins the duel at 1 HP.

Warrior

Best Alliance Race: Human
Best Horde Race: Orc

Human: Perception = the anti-rogue radar. You pop it, the rogue cries. Combined with Every Man for Himself (well, not in TBC yet, but Perception alone carried Season 1/2 duels).

Orc: Hardiness = 25% stun resist. The best PvP racial in the entire expansion. Stuns are everywhere — Rogues, Paladins, Warlocks — and resisting just one can flip a match.
Orc is S+. Every Warrior who wanted to live in arenas went Orc. Humans second-best for perception duels.

Warlock

Best Alliance Race: Human
Best Horde Race: Undead

Human: Bonus Spirit and Perception make them solid, especially for early gear farming, but nothing flashy.

Undead: Will of the Forsaken is god-tier in PvP. Breaks fear, charm, and sleep — all Warlock counters. And the Shadow Resistance helps in mirror matches.

Shaman

Best Alliance Race: Draenei
Best Horde Race: Orc

Draenei: They exist, but let’s be honest — PvP-wise, Gift of the Naaru isn’t saving you.

Orc: Hardiness and Blood Fury are disgusting on both Enhance and Elemental. Resist that rogue opener, pop Fury, delete someone.

Mage

Best Alliance Race: Human
Best Horde Race: Undead / Troll

Human: Perception again dominates rogue matchups. One detection and you start with the opener.

Undead: Will of the Forsaken saves you from fears and charms (Warlocks, Priests). Huge in control-heavy metas.

Troll: Berserking can stack with Icy Veins for nasty one-shots.

Priest

Best Alliance Race: Dwarf
Best Horde Race: Undead

Dwarf: Stoneform clears poisons and bleeds — rogue counter 101. Also helps against Warrior pressure.

Undead: Will of the Forsaken again. Every healer loves a free trinket.

Druid

Best Alliance Race: Night Elf
Best Horde Race: Tauren

Night Elf: Shadowmeld into Drink reset wins games. Feral or Resto — it’s your vanish.

Tauren: War Stomp into Cyclone is a classic combo — instant crowd control chain.

Rogue

Best Alliance Race: Human
Best Horde Race: Undead / Blood Elf

Human: Perception wins stealth wars — 90% of rogue PvP is about who opens first.

Undead: Will of the Forsaken breaks fears and seduces, amazing in Priest/Lock matchups.

Blood Elf: Arcane Torrent silences for 2 sec and gives energy back — game-changing in fast fights.

Hunter

Best Alliance Race: Dwarf / Night Elf

Best Horde Race: Orc / Tauren

Dwarf: Stoneform removes Viper Sting and poisons. Also, Dwarves look built for rifles.

Night Elf: Shadowmeld trap setups are tricky but rewarding.

Orc: Command boosts pet damage, Hardiness makes them brick walls vs stun chains.

Paladin

Best Alliance Race: Human / Dwarf
Best Horde Race: Blood Elf

Human: Weapon skill and Perception = great duelist.

Dwarf: Stoneform again wins for anti-rogue plays.

Blood Elf: Arcane Torrent silences casters and restores mana — this racial alone defines the TBC-era Blood Elf Paladin.
If you played Ret or Holy in TBC, you had to be a Blood Elf — it’s not optional.

TBC Classic Anniversary PvP Ranking