Holy Priest PvP Best Races and Racials — The War Within (11.0.7)
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 Holy Priest PvP Guide.
Best Alliance Races for Holy Priest PvP
- Night Elf
- Gnome
Night Elf Racials
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.
Gnome Racials
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.
Best Horde Races for Holy Priest PvP
- Undead
- Pandaren
Undead Racials
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.
Pandaren
The Pandaren racial bonus ( Quaking Palm) is a 4-second
incapacitate that can be used on an enemy target in melee range. It has
a 2-minute cooldown and will break to any damage. This is a great racial
to help your team set up crowd control before it expires.
Changelog
- 15 Dec. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.7.
- 21 Oct. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.5.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Season 1.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within Pre-Patch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Season 4.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.7
- 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5
- 09 May 2023: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.1.
- 21 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 30 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 01 Aug. 2022: Reviewed for Shadowlands Season 4.
- 31 May 2022: Reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
- 01 Mar. 2022: Reviewed for Patch 9.2.
- 26 Nov. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.1.5.
- 02 Jul. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.1.
- 08 Mar. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 15 Oct. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands pre-patch (9.0.1)
Other PvP Guides
This guide has been written by Mysticall, a seasoned PvP player who has repeatedly achieved 3000 rating. You can watch his stream on Twitch, and you can also check out his YouTube channel.
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