Weave through combat with lightning reflexes as World of Warcraft’s Pandaren species.
The Pandaren are a species exclusive to the World of Warcraft setting. They’re panda-like humanoids with some monk-ish capabilities which can be handy for monks and other melee classes. Primarily, you get a species that works really well for hit and run tactics and other melee approaches for some great manoeuvrability.
I’ve analysed this new species from D&D: World of Warcraft in my guide below. I’ve looked at how powerful Pandaren are, provided some tactics and advice including identifying the best class matches.
Is a Pandaren the right species for me?
Choose a Pandaren if you want…
- To be a hit and run specialist
- To make a lot of melee attacks
- A bit more resilience
A Pandaren might not be for you if…
- You’re a ranged build
- Don’t need extra manoeuvrability
Pandaren traits
| Creature Type | Humanoid |
| Size | Medium |
| Speed | 30ft |
| Traits | Bouncy, darkvision, inner peace, quaking palm |
| Resistances | Bludgeoning |
| Proficiencies | None |
| Darkvision | Yes |
| Innate spellcasting | None |
| Book found in | D&D: World of Warcraft |
Bouncy – 3/5
Solid damage resistance for a fairly common damage type will be best on melee builds who tend to be targeted more. Decent on anyone except barbarians though who already gets this when they rage.
Darkvision – 3/5
Always a useful option for seeing in dark places.
Inner peace – 2/5
A bit of extra healing on short rests. Is more helpful on longer adventuring days when it may save you a hit die here and there but I find in practice, most adventuring days, players aren’t getting through all their hit dice anyway. On those occasions, this means little and even when it is meaningful, it’s not huge.
Quaking palm – 5/5
Excellent on melee builds, especially hit and run specialists but also just for moving around the battlefield safely to new targets. The more attacks you have, the more enemies you can affect with this too. It might save a rogue or monk using their bonus action to disengage for example too. It also opens up hit and run tactics for some of the less resilient melee spellcasters like bladelocks, valor bards, battle smiths and armorers (not that 3 of those are available as standard in D&D: World of Warcraft, though DMs can rule otherwise).
I should note that this does allow for melee spell attacks, but it’s rare that casters are commonly using these and they tend to be limited to one attack per turn. It’s perhaps useful on something like a mystic arts monk or an eldritch knight who might weave melee cantrips into their attacks, but they already do well with this trait anyway.
How good is the Pandaren?
Quaking palm is the main attraction for a Pandaren and turns them into excellent hit and run specialists. This is a great trait on a lot of these types of species and is better than the speedy feat which attempts something worse (but with a movement speed increase).
Everything else about the species is just alright. A decent resistance, darkvision and a bit of a short rest boost.
Score: 4/5
Choosing a class for your Pandaren
Below I’ve scored how well each class works with a Pandaren and given some advice and explanation for how well the traits work with each class. I’ve used the renamed class reskins in D&D: World of Warcraft, but these change little mechanically from the typical classes in the Player’s Handbook so you can use the same guidance below with the original versions of these classes if you happen to not be playing in a Warcraft setting:
Demon hunter: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Death knight: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Druid: ⭐
Evoker: ⭐
Hunter: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Mage: ⭐
Monk: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Paladin: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Priest: ⭐⭐
Rogue: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Shaman: ⭐⭐⭐
Warlock: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Warrior: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
*Star ratings scored out of 5
Demon hunter – 4/5
Demon hunters like to weave into the middle of melee and make plenty of AoE and melee attacks. With the ranger base, they’re not the tankiest of martials so some evasiveness from quaking palm and resilience from bludgeoning resistance are both quite welcome.
Death knight – 4/5
Death knights tend to wade into the middle of melee and make a decent number of attacks. Quaking palm will let them safely maneuver where they need to be and bludgeoning resistance will also help them survive for longer.
Druid – 1/5
Druids make very few melee attacks unless they’re a moon druid, but species traits don’t work in wild shape so you get almost nothing from quaking palm. Bludgeoning resistance is decent enough and darkvision is alright, but not enough to make this your species.
Evoker – 1/5
You should never be making weapon attacks. Just misty step away from enemies instead. You also have magic to deal with darkness and while bludgeoning resistance is OK, you should be trying to avoid being the target of attacks as much as you can.
Hunter – 4/5
Like demon hunters, standard hunters use the ranger base class and melee rangers will be making plenty of melee attacks while wanting to move to avoid being overwhelmed. Hunter’s mark is a slight problem with quaking palm as rangers do best focusing attacks on one target so you sacrifice something if you need to spread attacks around to move away from multiple enemies, but it’s not incompatible. The extra resilience and darkvision are welcome too.
Mage – 1/5
Mages don’t make many melee attacks, can use magic to handle darkness and tend to get less from damage resistances due to positioning so not a great class here.
Monk – 5/5
An excellent option for a Pandaren. Monks are not only hit and run specialists, but they have loads of attacks to apply quaking palm to. They also really benefit from not having to use patient defense, allowing them to use their bonus action for flurry of blows instead.
A damage resistance is handy, as is darkvision, especially on a good scout class.
Paladin – 4/5
Same situation as the death knight. Paladins don’t generally engage in hit and run tactics, but may want to maneuver to the right parts of the battlefield safely. Their 2 attacks help here too. An extra damage resistance is good for them as well.
Priest – 2/5
War clerics are the only ones that should be making weapon attacks much at all. Even then, they don’t use them loads. Quaking palm could maybe sometimes help you if you’re using spirit guardians and need to weave through crowds a bit, but it still maybe not your best option.
Rogue – 5/5
The other hit and run specialist who benefits a lot from not having to use their bonus action on the disengage action. Instead, they can use it to dash, hide or make another attack if they have the dual wielder feat, for example. A resistance is alright for them too and darkvision is almost essential.
Shaman – 3/5
Similar to paladins and fighters, shamans make plenty of attacks and this will give them more freedom to move around the battlefield safely. The damage resistance isn’t particularly useful as rage grants this anyway.
Warlock – 4/5
Quaking palm is great on bladelocks who don’t naturally have a method to hit and run and who get quite a few attacks. The damage resistance is great for them too. Other warlocks will get less out of this.
Warrior – 4/5
One of the better options here as quaking palm can help them move around the battlefield more easily. Warriors have the 2nd most attacks of any class so can apply this more liberally. The damage resistance is quite useful for them too.
About Pandaren
Pandaren are panda-like humanoids who have a tradition in the monastic arts. This came about during their captivity when they were unable to wield weapons. Instead, the monks trained them in the arts of unarmed combat. Because of this tradition, Pandaren possess inherent capabilities of a monk, but can apply these powers to whatever class they specialise in.
Pandaren tend to be wise and peaceful, focusing on the disciplines of art, philosophy, farming and medicine.
