Skyborne racials revealed, and Gnomes, Orcs and Tauren get changes

Both Skyborne variants glide with Walk on Air and share a 1 percent Haste passive; the Alliance High Order get a regeneration ley line, the Horde Windshapers a 10 percent run-speed blessing. Four existing racials change.

Confirmed Published September 12, 2026 Updated September 12, 2026 How we tag claims

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The Skyborne come in two flavors, and the racials differ by one ability. The Alliance variant is the High Order Skyborne, the Horde variant the Windshaper Skyborne.

Shared by both: Walk on Air, a ten-second downward glide; Wind Blessed, a passive 1 percent increase to melee, ranged and spell Haste; and Elemental Insight, a passive 5 percent more damage against Elementals. High Order Skyborne get Read Ley Line, which activates a ley line for 100 percent increased Health and Mana regeneration. Windshaper Skyborne instead get Skysight, an Elemental Blessing that raises run speed by 10 percent.

Existing races are touched too. Tauren Cultivation now grows bonus herbs that can be gathered without Herbalism. Orc Axe Specialization now increases Critical Chance. Gnome Expansive Mind now raises maximum resource, and Gnomes gain a new racial, Eureka!, which reduces the cost of and adds 10 percent damage or healing to the next three spells or abilities.

Why it matters: a downward glide is the first mobility racial in vanilla’s world, and a regeneration ley line on a Mage-capable race will get theorycrafted before the beta even opens.

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