Arcane Mage PvP Best Races and Racials — The War Within (Season 1)

1. Night Elf
2. Human
3. Void Elf
4. Gnome

The Night Elf racial bonus ( Shadowmeld) is always a strong choice. This race has a high skill cap, but using it to avoid crowd control can be very powerful. For example, if a Mage is casting Polymorph on you, use Shadowmeld to avoid it. If you use Shadowmeld at the same time that a Priest uses their Psychic Scream, you will not be feared. You can also use it to leave combat in case you need an emergency drink to replenish your Mana. Being a Night Elf also provides you with two noteworthy passive abilities: Quickness, which grants you 2% extra movement speed and 2% dodge chance, and Touch of Elune that increases either your Haste or Critical Strike by 1% depending on whether it is night or day.

The Human racial bonus ( Will to Survive) is a great way to get out of stuns. If you think you will be the focus target versus teams with multiple stuns, this race allows you to play Relentless. This will help increase your overall survivability. It is also important to note that Humans also have The Human Spirit. This increases your secondary stats (Haste, Critical Strike, Mastery, Versatility). This is another beneficial reason to play Human.

The most important part of being a Void Elf is the Preternatural Calm racial. This causes your spell casts to no longer be delayed when taking damage. This is great, because even when you are the primary target, you will still be able to deal maximum damage and cast crowd control. Spatial Rift can also be mentioned, because the teleport it provides gives you additional mobility and will help your survivability.

The Gnome racial bonus ( Escape Artist) removes any movement speed reduction effects on you. With only a 1-minute cooldown, this can be used both defensively or offensively. You can use this to help kite incoming damage or use it to remove slows on you while chasing down an enemy. Another racial that Gnome provides is Expansive Mind. This will increase your maximum Resource, which helps with not running out of resources.

1. Orc
2. Undead
3. Troll
4. Pandaren

The Orc racial bonus ( Hardiness) is great for reducing the duration of stuns on you. This is absolutely the best Horde racial to have if you are primarily focusing on PvP. In addition to Hardiness, Orcs also have the Blood Fury racial. This is off the global cooldown and should be used when you are using your burst rotation.

The Undead racial bonus ( Will of the Forsaken) removes any Charm, Fear, or Sleep effect from you. This is a great racial versus specializations that are able to fear you constantly throughout an arena match. It is important to note that this does share a 30-second cooldown with Gladiator's Medallion, so it is advised to only use it when you do not want to waste Gladiators Medallion. Here are a few examples of spells that Will of the Forsaken will remove from you:

• Sleep Walk from Preservation Evoker/ Devastation Evoker/Augmentation Evoker
• Fear from Demonology Warlock/ Destruction Warlock/Affliction Warlock
• Intimidating Shout from Arms Warrior/ Fury Warrior
• Psychic Scream from Holy Priest/ Shadow Priest/Discipline Priest

Being an Undead also grants you the passive abilities Shadow Resistance, reducing Shadow damage taken by 1%, and Touch of the Grave, sometimes dealing a small amount of Shadow damage to your target and healing you for the same amount.

The Troll racial bonus ( Berserking) grants you a large amount of Haste. You should activate this ability right before you are using important cooldowns or to cast crowd control faster. Another racial to note is Da Voodoo Shuffle. This significantly reduces the duration of slows on you and will help when kiting enemy players that are focusing you.