Best Race for Warlocks in WoW Forever

What is the best race for Warlocks in WoW Forever? On October 26 Blizzard took Orc's 1% crit away and gave it back Command, the old racial that makes Warlock and Hunter pets hit 5% harder. Humans lost half their crit bonus too. We re-ran every Warlock spec in every race with the new racials, and Orc is still the best race for Warlocks: first for Affliction (483.7 DPS) and Demonology (566.5) in raid gear.

Best race for Warlocks in WoW Forever: the short answer

Affliction: Orc (483.7 DPS in raid gear), well ahead of Troll (476.4) and Human (474.9).
Demonology: Orc (566.5), then Troll (564.4) and Human (562.4).
Destruction: Gnome (554.7) in our raid sim - for a mana reason explained below - with Orc second (543.3).
Levelling: Troll is the best race for all three Warlock specs at level 30.
Warlock races in WoW Forever: Human, Gnome, Orc, Undead and Troll.

The October 26 racial changes for Warlocks

Blizzard's October 26 development notes roll back some generic racials in favour of "racial identity". Two changes hit Warlocks:

Orc: Savage (1% crit) is removed, and Command is re-added: Warlock and Hunter pets deal 5% more damage. Blood Fury stays.
Human: Ruthless goes from 2% to 1% crit, and The Human Spirit from 5% to 10% Spirit.

Gnome, Undead and Troll are unchanged.

How we tested every Warlock race

Every number comes from our own sim engine - the same one behind our rotation simulator and spec rankings - with the October 26 racial changes put in. Each spec wears its own BiS List gear (Raid List or Dungeon List) at level 60, or our standard level 30 gear, uses our default talents and fights a boss three levels higher for 60 seconds, 1,000 times per race. We also ran every spec with no racials at all, so each race's bonus can be measured on its own. Command adds 5% to the damage of your Imp or Succubus.

Bar chart of DPS gained from racials for Affliction, Demonology and Destruction Warlock in each WoW Forever race: Orc, Troll, Human, Gnome, Undead — How much each race adds to each Warlock spec, over the same Warlock with no racials.

Did Command make up for losing Savage?

Almost. Warlock pets do a modest share of the damage in our sims - the Imp's Firebolt is 10.5% of an Affliction Warlock's damage, and the Succubus's melee 4.6% of a Demonology Warlock's - so 5% more pet damage is worth less than the 1% crit Orcs lost. Affliction goes from 484.7 to 483.7 DPS, Demonology from 570.7 to 566.5, and Destruction from 545.0 to 543.3. Orc stays on top because Blood Fury - 10% more spell power for 15 seconds - is still the strongest Warlock racial.

Best race for Affliction Warlock

Orc leads clearly: +2.6% over no racials, against +1.0% for Troll and +0.7% for Human.

Level 60, Raid List gear: Orc 483.7, Troll 476.4, Human 474.9, Gnome 471.5, Undead 471.5
Level 60, Dungeon List gear: Orc 280.5, Troll 278.2, Human 276.8, Gnome 274.8, Undead 274.8
Level 30: Troll 70.8, Orc 70.7, Human 69.7, Gnome 69.4, Undead 69.4

Best race for Demonology Warlock

Orc again (+1.8%), with Troll (+1.4%) and Human (+1.1%) close. In dungeon gear, Human and Orc tie at 326.1 DPS.

Level 60, Raid List gear: Orc 566.5, Troll 564.4, Human 562.4, Gnome 560.3, Undead 556.4
Level 60, Dungeon List gear: Human 326.1, Orc 326.1, Troll 324.3, Gnome 323.0, Undead 321.1
Level 30: Troll 58.9, Orc 58.3, Human 58.0, Gnome 57.7, Undead 57.7

Best race for Destruction Warlock

Destruction is the odd one out. In raid gear, Gnome comes first (554.7 DPS, +3.7%), ahead of Orc (543.3). The reason is mana: in a 60-second fight, Gnome's 5% extra mana saves our Destruction Warlock one Life Tap, and that global cooldown goes into damage instead. For the same reason, Troll's Berserking adds nothing in raid gear - the extra casts would need mana the Warlock doesn't have.

That's an effect of a short fight with a tight mana budget, so treat it with care: in dungeon gear Orc is first (326.2), and at level 30 Troll is (72.2).

Level 60, Raid List gear: Gnome 554.7, Orc 543.3, Human 539.0, Undead 535.0, Troll 535.0
Level 60, Dungeon List gear: Orc 326.2, Human 324.4, Gnome 322.5, Troll 322.2, Undead 321.9
Level 30: Troll 72.2, Orc 71.9, Human 71.4, Undead 70.8, Gnome 69.9

What our sims don't show

Not simulated: Gnome's Eureka! (8 seconds of +10% damage and -10% cost every 2 minutes) and Undead's Touch of the Dead, whose damage Blizzard hasn't published. Gnome and Undead may be a little better than these numbers show.
Cooldowns are used on the pull. In a 60-second fight, a 3-minute racial like Berserking, Blood Fury or Elune's Light is used once and covers a large share of the fight. In longer boss fights, cooldowns count for less and passives for more.
Pets: Command adds 5% to the Imp and the Succubus. Other pets, such as the Felhunter or Voidwalker, aren't in our default builds.

Our take: Orc is still the best race for Warlocks in WoW Forever. Command doesn't fully replace Savage in our numbers, but it puts a Warlock flavour back into the Orc racials, which is exactly what Blizzard said it was aiming for. If you're Alliance, Human is the best all-round choice (Gnome for Destruction); if you're levelling Horde, Troll is the strongest at 30. The gaps are 1-3% - play the race you like.

Sim your own Warlock: paste your armory link or addon export into the rotation simulator and compare races under Options.

Sources

WoW: Forever Beta Development Notes - Racial Abilities and Traits Tuning (Blizzard, via MMO-Champion, October 26, 2026)
Forever Upgrades sim engine: every Warlock spec in every allowed race, with and without racials, WoW: Forever build 1.60.1.70532 data, 1,000 fights of 60 seconds (October 27, 2026)
Our October 17 racials article