I often get this question from new users that have just started and want to get a max level character as soon as possible.
What is the best / fastest / easiest Race & Class combo in for Leveling in World of Warcraft?
After years of playing and leveling dozen of characters and creating leveling guides, my answer will always be…
Night Elf, Hunter
The Night Elf racial ability provide the most important abilites…
Quickness provides 2% chance to dodge and 2% faster movement speed both extremely helpful and Night Elf is the only race with a movement speed bonus which will help a lot for leveling. In the latest expansion you can stack movement speed bonus from gears and enchants.
Shadowmeld. This is perhaps the best leveling ability because of a couple of reasons:
- It will instantly remove you from combat.
Don’t you hate it when you complete your quest and you just want to mount up and turn in your quest but you keep drawing agro from creatures in the area keeping you in combat until you kill them. With Shadowmeld you can simply use it and it will instantly remove you from combat, mount up and be on your way. - You can AFK safely anywhere in the game without logging out.
Don’t you hate going AFK for a moment only to come to a dead character because you got killed by a creature or worse, other players. With Shadowmeld creatures and players won’t be able to find you (hopefully) when you’re AFK.
If you die often. A Night Elf will become a Wisp Spirit which is extremely handy because you can run back to your corpse 75% faster. I found this surprisingly useful while leveling 90-100 in Warlords of Dreanor beta because leveling with the boosted level 90 gear is actually pretty hard to solo due to deadly creatures and group quests. I really think Blizzard intentionally made leveling more challenging for this expansion.
Hunter is the class of choice for leveling because it is very easy for new players to pick up. It is also easy to stay alive as a hunter because you’re able to attack from a distance and you have a pet that can tank for you which will allow you easily solo elites / rares and complete group quests on your own.
Feign Death is also great ability to avoid deaths, removing yourself from combat and it’s on a short cooldown.
A Warlock can also play similarly to a hunter because of their range attack and pet. But Warlocks are much more complicated to play and as a cloth armor class they are soft and can die quickly depending on the talent spec you choose.
See this screenshot that even Blizzard agree Hunters are good for Leveling and Soloing 🙂
That’s it! hope you enjoyed this newsletter and have safe travels in Azeroth
-Dugi
23 replies to "Best Race & Class Combo for Leveling in Warlords of Draenor"
Which is the best companion for a hunter to have to do good at tanking?
Enjoy your guides..learning …will roll a NE Hunter…thanks!!
I can confirm this through personal experience . . . but I’ve also noticed that some players look down upon hunters in general, and night elf hunters in particular . . . as if it makes things too easy, a cop out, etc.
State of art! Hopfully you will give more tips in the future. All the best from a +60 hunter player.
So happy to see this. As an over 50’s player who is not up to speed with too many button choices I find I can ONLY play as a hunter, and I agree a night elf is my choice also. I have tried all other combos over the last 5 years or so but always end up with my night elf hunter as my toon of choice. My first lvl 100 was a worgen dk which I love but just cant get to grips with the rotation to keep it simple enough for my geriatric brain.
I have practically all the Dugi guides and wont do much without them. Keep up the good work.
Thanks that really helped! 🙂
I can never stick with a character till 100, but i hope with this Night Elf Hunter i hope i can make it to level cap.
stupid spam
I just wanted to say don’t be afraid to play a Warlock even if it’s your first toon. I’ve played a Lock since I started in TBC and they have a LOT of survival abilities. Now more than ever… well slightly less than MoP, but still way more than in the past. Don’t believe in the theory that Cloth=squishy.
You have a tank pet, just like a hunter. You can beef him up with Grimoire of Supremacy. With this ability, I was able to solo the Mantid rares in Pandaria WHILE LEVELING. Their blade fury ability (which can still easily kill a geared lvl 90 non-tank) was like a massage to my Voidlord.
You and your pet can effectively share a health pool, making it that much harder to kill you through Soul Link. You can sac some of your pet’s health to create a shield for yourself via Sacrificial Pact. You can do this even if you go with Grimoire of Sacrifice and don’t use a pet (my prefered choice) AND you can use this shield every minute AND it lasts 20 seconds!
As Destruction, your class resource is Burning Embers and you can use these to cast Ember Tap and get a quick 5% health back. Glyph it and it turns it into a hot for 10%. Mortal Coil (another goto for me) gives you an 11% heal every 45 seconds (when it’s cast) Any of your level 15 talents are good at maintaining a steady source of healing though I tend to go with Soul Leech which a really a shield and not a direct heal.
I have every class at max level and when I need to bring a class that can give as good as it takes, I turn to my Lock every time.
All in all, it’s what class/spec you have fun with and play well. My GF started playing with a Balance Druid and struggled and felt she just wasn’t a good player until she made a Hunter. She plays the class well and is very competitive. I can’t do half of what she can do when I play my Hunter.
Experiment and have fun!
I meant to add that Destruction might be the best spec to start with. It has a very simple rotation. IMO, on par with a Beast Master Hunter.
if ur a new player i agree but ne hunters are played out just like ne rogues and i have one of those low levels. i have a dwarf hunter and love his gun buff but stoneform is horrible racial. and no wisp…still ne home is darnassus and starting out is lonely and boring, even more then usual if u solo. so i say go with what u want at first and reroll if u dont like it/ can’t succeed. there is much more to playing/leveling then any particular class. think mage: port to any major city which makes feats of str, dailies, and just about everything pve easier.
Changed to Nelf Hunter about 18 months ago and have not looked back. Have leveled 3 on Different zones to 90. Have a lot of keys to mash due to some complex rotations – being made easier in WoD apparently. As a 62 year old player, Hunters are my favorite. Bring it on WoD
How about the other faction … Horde?
Not as good as Night Elf but Troll is likely the best choice due to the new racial
Beast Slaying now increases XP earned from killing Beasts by 20% and their health regenarition bonus while out of combat is also handy.
Good to hear eventho I don’t play my hunter much anymore just pvp once in a while. she is an orc. My main IS a Mage followed by my druid. But we will see, still debating whether to continue wow or not been doing if for 9 years now
Good tip.
As nelf hunter i have saved my dungeon party from beeing wiped. When we were about to get wiped i simply shadowmeld, and waited for them to come back (note as max lvl in raids its faster to get wiped if lots of plr are dead)
Good tip and i totally agree.
How about addressing Healer in the same manner? That is best Race & Class Combo.
Also, have never tanked and would like the same info with you as a source.
Have been using your Guides for years and trust you. You know what a mess you receive when you google the same question.
Nelf is great on Alliance side, but on Horde, I say Troll for the beserking racial haste buff. Orcs are losing their range weapon perk in WoD but do have bloodlust which is more suited for melee in my opinion.
WoD notes not written in stone yet: Troll Berserking now increases Haste by 15% (down from 20%).
Beast Slaying now increases XP earned from killing Beasts by 20% instead of increasing damage dealt versus Beasts by 5%. Nice for leveling but no value as level 100.
Fantastic post. Probably have to make a race change to be ready for Dreanor.
I am thinking the same way with my decent Human L90 Hunter even though i still have those same Spells. It might be worth it for the quickness.
I like a lot these small advice, thxs and keep the good work!! (well now I have to level a hunter lol)
Great post. I was wondering if you have a suggestion for the Horde side? Blood Elf, Hunter?
“If you die often. A Night Elf will become a Shadowmeld which is extremely (…)”
I think you meant Wisp Spirit 😉 Great post anyway!
It does say Wisp – maybe it was changed but definitely says Wisp Spirit