Destruction Warlock PvP Best Races and Racials — The War Within (11.0.5)

Last updated on Oct 21, 2024 at 21:00 by Chanimal 7 comments

Racial bonuses can provide interesting PvP benefits. Here are the best races to choose for each faction. The races are sorted from highest impact in arena to lowest. However, all races below have their own unique ways of making an impact in a PvP match.

This page is part of our Destruction Warlock PvP Guide.

1.

Best Alliance Races for Destruction Warlock PvP

  1. Night Elf
  2. Dark Iron Dwarf
  3. Human
1.1.

Night Elf Racials

The Night Elf racial bonus (Shadowmeld Icon 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 Icon Polymorph on you, use Shadowmeld to avoid it. If you use Shadowmeld at the same time that a Priest uses their Psychic Scream Icon 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 Icon Quickness, which grants you 2% extra movement speed and 2% dodge chance, and Touch of Elune Icon Touch of Elune that increases either your Haste or Critical Strike by 1% depending on whether it is night or day.

1.2.

Dark Iron Dwarf Racials

The Dark Iron Dwarf racial bonus (Fireblood Icon Fireblood) removes all bleeds, poisons, magical, and curse debuffs and increases your primary stat by 750 and an additional 250 for each effect removed. This is a great racial to use defensively. However, you can use this to remove debuffs right before you use your burst rotation to increase your primary stat.

1.3.

Human Racials

The Human racial bonus (Will to Survive Icon 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 Icon Relentless. This will help increase your overall survivability. It is also important to note that Humans also have The Human Spirit Icon The Human Spirit. This increases your secondary stats (Haste, Critical Strike, Mastery, Versatility). This is another beneficial reason to play Human.

2.

Best Horde Races for Destruction Warlock PvP

  1. Orc
  2. Troll
  3. Undead
2.1.

Orc Racials

The Orc racial bonus (Hardiness Icon 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 Icon Blood Fury racial. This is off the global cooldown and should be used when you are using your burst rotation.

2.2.

Troll Racials

The Troll racial bonus (Berserking Icon 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 Icon Da Voodoo Shuffle. This significantly reduces the duration of slows on you and will help when kiting enemy players that are focusing you.

2.3.

Undead Racials

The Undead racial bonus (Will of the Forsaken Icon 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 Icon 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:

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

3.

Changelog

  • 21 Oct. 2024: Updated for TWW 11.0.5.
  • 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Season 1.
  • 21 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within Season 1.
  • 27 Jul. 2024: Reviewed for 11.0.
  • 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within Prepatch 11.0.
  • 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
  • 22 Apr. 2024: Updated for Dragonflight Season 4.
  • 19 Mar. 2024: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.2.6.
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.2.5.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.2.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.1.7.
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.1.5.
  • 09 May 2023: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.1.
  • 21 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
  • 16 Mar. 2023: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.0.7.
  • 30 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
  • 22 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
  • 30 Jul. 2022: Updated for Shadowlands Season 4.
  • 31 May 2022: Reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
  • 02 Mar. 2022: Updated for Shadowlands 9.2.
  • 17 Nov. 2021: Updated for Shadowlands Patch 9.1.5.
  • 10 Aug. 2021: Updated for Shadowlands Patch 9.1.
  • 08 Mar. 2021: No updates needed for Patch 9.0.5.
  • 20 Oct. 2020: This page was checked for patch 9.0.1 and no updates were necessary.
  • 20 Jan. 2020: This page was checked for Patch 8.3 and no update was deemed necessary.
  • 09 Dec. 2019: Page added.
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