World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth allied races guide

The latest expansion to World of Warcraft, Battle for Azeroth, is less than a month away. As is usually the case, a new expansion means a wealth of new content for players to explore, including new races. Here’s what you need to know about allied races, and how to obtain them.

Rather than add a single new race to each faction or a single neutral race, Blizzard has opted to create multiple allied races to join the Horde and Alliance. Appearance-wise, the majority of these races are re-skins of existing races, but Blizzard has added new textures, voice lines, and other customization options to help them stand out.

Each allied race can also earn a set of unique heritage armor. The armor is a transmog set which works for every class. To earn it, players will have to level an eligible character from 20 to 110 without using a character boost.

Allied races you can earn right now

As of right now, there are eight confirmed Allied Races, though Blizzard has said that they are open to the idea of adding new allied races in future content patches or expansions. The Horde will have access to the Nightborne, Highmountain Tauren, Mag’har orcs, and Zandalari trolls. The Alliance will be able to recruit Lightforged Draenei, Void Elves, Dark Iron dwarves, and humans of Kul’Tiras.

Currently, four of these races are available for players to unlock once they’ve purchased Battle for Azeroth. The Dark Iron dwarves and Mag’har orcs are expected to be unlocked upon the launch of Battle for Azeroth with Kul’Tiran humans and Zandalari trolls coming at a later date.

Nightborne

Formally known as the Shal’dorei, the Nightborne have spent the past 10,000 years of Azeroth’s history hiding under the domed city of Suramar. With the return of the Burning Legion, these formerly reclusive elves found themselves forced to take a more active role in the world, eventually allying themselves with the Horde.

Unlocking the Nightborne is a fairly straight-forward process and, if you’ve been playing Legion, you’ve probably done most of the work. For starters, you’ll need to complete the main Nightborne storyline in Legion in order to unlock the “Insurrection” achievement. Completing these quests will go a long way towards earning you the Exalted reputation you’ll need. If you’re not quite there, then you’ll need to grind out Surmar world quests, though it shouldn’t take too long.

From there, you’ll simply need to recruit them using a short quest chain which will explain why the Nightborn have chosen to join the Horde. This quest chain can be started in the Horde capital of Orgrimmar.

Playable classes:

• Hunter
• Mage
• Monk
• Priest
• Rogue
• Warlock
• Warrior

Highmountain Tauren

Unsurprisingly, the Tauren of Highmountain have chosen to join their cousins in the Horde. In order to unlock the Highmountain Tauren, you’ll need to have completed the main Highmountain storyline which, if you’ve leveled through Legion, is probably already finished. You’ll also need to earn exalted with the Highmountain Tauren. The majority of this reputation will come from completing the main storyline and the rest can be earned from doing world quests in Highmountain.

Once you’ve finished those two steps, it’s a simple matter of picking up the quest chain in Orgrimmar, which will see you recruiting the Highmountain into the Horde.

Playable classes:

• Druid
• Hunter
• Monk
• Shaman
• Warrior

Void Elves

Probably the closest we’ll ever come to seeing playable High Elves, the Void Elves are former Blood Elves who were exiled from Silvermoon for studying the magic of the Void. Upon being discovered by Alleria Windrunner, they pledged their allegiance to the Alliance.

Unfortunately, unlocking the Void Elves can be bit more time consuming than their Horde counterparts. For starters, you’ll need to complete the Argus storylines which will grant you the achievement “You Are Now Prepared.” By itself, that quest chain may only take an afternoon. Unfortunately, you’ll also need to earn exalted status with the Argussian Reach, which can take quite some time. The problem with this grind is that it is time-gated. You can only earn a certain amount per-day meaning it may take a couple of weeks to earn exalted.

Once you have finished those two requirements, you can pick up a quest in the Alliance capital of Stormwind, which will allow you to recruit the Void Elves.

Playable classes:

• Hunter
• Mage
• Monk
• Priest
• Rogue
• Warlock
• Warrior

Lightforged Dranei

WoW players are likely very familiar with the Dranei that crashed to Azeroth during the Burning Crusade expansion and, for years, we assumed that was the only sect of Eradar that had not joined the Burning Legion. However, Legion showed us a new group of Dranei known as the Lightforged. These holy warriors have spent the past 10,000 years batting the Buring Legion. Now, they’re taking the fight to the Horde.

Unlocking the Lightforged will require you to complete the aforementioned Argus storylines and earn the “You Are Now Prepared” achievement. In addition, you’ll have to earn exalted status with the Army of Light. As with the Argussian Reach, this one could take a couple of weeks, as it is time-gated. However, the main story quests should help you reach at least Friendly status with the Army of Light.

Once those requirements are met, the quest to recruit the Lightforged will be available in the Alliance capital of Stormwind.

Playable classes:

• Hunter
• Mage
• Paladin
• Priest
• Warrior