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Trying to figure out which race to go with for your mage, either when you roll your new one or race change in the near future? Have you decided looks aren’t a big factor, because mage always looks cool? Then this guide is the place for you. We’ll talk about the benefits each race brings to the table, and figure out the best PvP and PvE races among them.

First up for discussion is Undead. Will of the Forsaken is/was possibly the best PvP racial in the game until Patch 3.3, where it will be nerfed to share a 45 second cooldown with PvP trinket effects. This means that the only thing that Undead is best at now is looking cool while they cast. And while this doesn’t effect the use of WotF in PvE, it’s not like WotF is really a big deal for PvE anyways. Skip undead if you want the best.

Blood elves are the second race we will talk about. Arcane Torrent is the primary racial of note here. For PvP applications, it is one of the better ones around; an extra silence is always a great thing to have. For PvE, the mana regen from Arcane Torrent is great while you are leveling, but at max level you shouldn’t be having mana issues anyways, making it mostly useless.

The last Horde race is the always unpopular Troll. For their big racials they have Da Voodoo Shuffle, a PvP racial that reduces movement impairing effects by 15%, and Berserking. Berserking is probably the best mage racial in the game right now. For PvE, it is the biggest DPS increase you can get from a racial, and for PvP an extra damage cooldown can help you get in that last-second gib before the heals land.

Horde racials are pretty clear-cut once you look at them. Undead is nerfed into ‘mehness’ come 3.3, and was never good for PvE to begin with. Blood elf is decent for leveling and PvP, but lacks PvE oomph. And Troll has a racial that is enormously valuable in both PvP and PvE. So, for the first time in WoW, I can say Troll is the best choice.

To conclude, I’ll mention that you should only make your choice on racials if looks absolutely don’t matter to you. The benefits of any given race are minor in the long run, especially with Blizzard slowly working to further marginalize the differences between races. The nerf bat has been hitting every strong racial, and those that are still OP are living on borrowed time.

Like this article? Check out my site about everything related to World of Warcraft gold at http://World of Warcraftgoldspot.blogspot.com. And for more about mages in particular, check out my guide to Mage Gold!