What Horde race is better for a priest?
I want to make a priest for healing. In PvP and PvE, which Horde race is better?
Short answer
It depends. Here's a quick sheet based on my experience if you'd rather not think too much about the options:
- If your goal is to PvP, it's pretty even between Goblin, Tauren, or Undead. Personally, I'd probably go Goblin.
- If you want to be an enchanter, roll a Blood Elf.
- If you want to be an alchemist, roll a Goblin.
- If you want to be an herbalist, roll a Tauren.
- If you don't want to be any of these professions, roll a Goblin.
Long Answer
Race differences are pretty negligible. Any race can be an effective priest. What it usually comes down to are the professions you want to roll and whether you are going to be a raider or a PvP player and how much fun you'll have playing the starting area or simply walking around looking like a member of that race.
That being said, you have 5 options as Horde. Here are their noteworthy abilities. I don't bother mentioning things like resistances or extra time underwater as they really aren't all that helpful overall. I already indicated my opinion above, but depending on your personal preference (maybe you really hate being feared and favor an Undead for their ability to break fear effects overall), the lists below may guide you in another direction.
Blood Elf
- Bonus to enchanting. Since tailoring/enchanting is a good profession combo for a priest, the bonus will help slightly in leveling your skill.
- Free silence/PvE Interrupt/mana restore.
Goblin
- Bonus to alchemy. Herbalism/alchemy is another good profession combo for a priest.
- Free "disengage" (blast away from enemies).
- The rest of their racials are worth mentioning when combined: cheaper vendor items, access to your bank from anywhere, and faster cast times.
Tauren
- Bonus to herbalism. Herbalism/alchemy is another good profession combo for a priest.
- Additional health.
- Free AoE stun.
Troll
- Temporary casting speed increase.
- Shorter snare effects.
- Slight health regeneration.
Undead
- Free quick heal after combat.
- Free "Charm/Fear/Sleep" effect interrupt.
PVE
- Trolls and Goblins make the best PVE Priests.
- Trolls have Berserking which increases attack speed and more importantly casting speed by 20% (as of 4.2) for 10 seconds making Trolls better at healing and attacking (especially useful in raids and dungeons) than Goblins and critical moments i.e. boss goes into rage.
- Goblins have a passive ability (Time is money) that increases casting speed by 1% constantly making them better over an entire dungeon/raid or when questing in a group.
PVP
- Taurens make the best PVP priests.
- Taurens have War stomp which stuns enemies in a radius of 8 yards for 2 seconds which can be a life saver in battlegrounds, They also have Endurance which increases their base health by 5% which (coupled with a priests superior healing) makes Tauren priests the hardest priest to kill and as an added bonus Nature spells are less likely to hit Tauren because of their resistance which is useful as a defence against Druids and Shamans.
- Undead priests are somewhat useful as they cannot be Charmed, Feared or put to Sleep however PVP trinkets can neutralise these effects anyway, however they do have a shadow resistance which is useful against pesky warlocks.
Overall
- Overall for both PVE and PVP I'd say a Troll would make the best priest regardless of spec because their Berserking helps deal intense healing and damage, Voodoo shuffle reduces movement impairing effects by 15% which is great for PVP and Regeneration regenerates a Troll's health by 10% of the normal rate in combat! as well as increasing the base rate by 10% when not in combat.
At one time, early on in the game the priests did have racial spells. For instance, only Dwarfs had fear ward, only Forsaken had Devouring Plague. When these spells were removed (I believe around 3.0) or given to priests of all races, only the basic racial skills came into focus.
In summary: PVP: Goblins for Rocket Jump, Undead for WotF
PVE: Goblins for haste, Trolls for Berserking
But I feel that only high level PvP will bring the racial differences into any sort of significant primacy.