Shapeshift into a quick and resilient beast form with the Worgen species from D&D: World of Warcraft.
Worgen are a shapeshifting playable species from D&D: World of Warcraft. They originated from the Night Elves who lost control of their shapeshifting, becoming wild in their bestial form. They have since gained control of this bestial nature, but are no longer Night Elves and have instead become permanently transformed into Worgen.
I’ve analysed this new species from D&D: World of Warcraft in my guide below. I’ve looked at how powerful Worgen are, provided some tactics and identified the best class matches.
Is a Worgen the right species for me?
Choose a Worgen if you want…
- Faster movement
- More resilience
- To use hit and run tactics
A Worgen might not be for you if…
- You don’t need much mobility
- Already have a source of temporary hit points
Worgen traits
| Creature Type | Humanoid |
| Size | Medium |
| Speed | 30ft |
| Traits | Darkflight, darkvision, instinctual shift |
| Resistances | Necrotic (while in bestial form) |
| Proficiencies | None |
| Darkvision | Yes |
| Innate spellcasting | None |
| Book found in | D&D: World of Warcraft |
Darkflight – 5/5
The entire species really hangs on this feature. +10ft movement speed is better than any other 5.5e species, necrotic resistance is solid and reactive movement could be quite good for classes that don’t want to get bogged down in close combat. The temporary hit points will help your durability too.
I think this is going to be best on hit and run builds that really need the extra speed and to evade enemies that do manage to get within reach of them. This means monks and rogues stand to benefit a lot. I think there’s a lot that’s great on any class. Everyone enjoys more resilience and speed can be useful for escaping foes if you’re a bit fragile or charging into the fray if you’re a martial. Even martials that want to be close to enemies, will sometimes need to move away to go for other targets too.
With reactive movement, just be aware that other creatures might get within 5ft of you before you get a turn. That might mean timing this carefully to get the most out of it but that can be tricky with enemies being unpredictable.
Darkvision – 3/5
Always a useful option for seeing in dark places.
Instinctual shift – 3/5
Darkflight ordinarily needs a bonus action to use, but this takes away that requirement when you roll initiative. I’d assume this is usually how you’d activate darkflight which helps for bonus action-demanding classes like monks, rogues and shamans.
How good is the Worgen?
There’s a lot wrapped up in their darkflight feature, but it provides something that’s good for pretty much anyone and really helpful on hit and run builds. Between resistances, temporary hit points, increased speed and reactively moving away from enemies, there’s a lot the Worgen can do to be mobile in combat and last a bit longer.
Score: 4/5
Choosing a class for your Worgen
Below I’ve scored how well each class works with a Worgen 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 – 5/5
Demon hunters definitely need the extra resilience. They also benefit a lot from being able to move quite quickly and readjust positioning in combat. They also make great scouts so darkvision is extra important for them.
Death knight – 2/5
More resilience is great, but by level 7, death knights will be getting necrotic resistance so it becomes a little wasted on them. Death knights with blood runeforging (which is arguably the better option) may also find they have quite a lot of temporary hit points coming their way which won’t stack with the ones gained from darkflight.
Mobility can be important for a death knight, but I think there are maybe too many clashes with existing features.
Druid – 3/5
Backline druids need mobility less than most, but reactive movement could still help them out of trouble. The extra resilience is welcome, but be aware that wild shape can conflict with the temporary hit points here, but that will likely only really affect moon druids.
Evoker – 3/5
Evokers really need ways to get out of trouble if someone gets into melee range and reactive movement can accomplish this. The resilience will help you last a bit longer though some extra speed is only sometimes helpful on a fairly low mobility class.
Hunter – 4/5
Better on a melee hunter who needs the mobility and resilience more, but still good on a ranged hunter though.
Mage – 3/5
As with evokers, reactive movement will help you escape tight spots and the resilience will help you last a little longer. Faster movement is sometimes useful, but not hugely important for a mage.
Monk – 5/5
This is all great on a hit and run specialist. Faster movement lets you dodge in and out of melee range more easily, reactive movement can help you duck away from enemies when needed and the extra resilience will help a fairly frail martial to survive a little longer.
Paladin – 4/5
Paladins can always benefit from a bit more resilience and the speed increase will help them close down enemies more quickly. Especially important on a build that’s poor at ranged combat. Reactive movement is probably less important on a paladin, but could sometimes be useful.
Priest – 4/5
Priests can get themselves in somewhat more vulnerable spaces than most full spellcasters so benefit from the extra resilience. That extra movement can come in handy when moving around with spirit guardians, as can some reactive movement when shifting out of reach of enemies.
Rogue – 5/5
Hit and run builds will do really well here with rogues needing to be highly mobile and the extra resilience will help them when they do get caught.
Shaman – 4/5
Shamans really rely on getting into melee range quickly so the extra movement speed is great for them. More resilience is also very welcome and the path of the elements doesn’t have necrotic resistance either. Reactive movement is probably less important for a barbarian that should often be soaking up hits and keeping enemies in their reach.
Warlock – 4/5
Bladelocks will do well here as this gives a method for jumping in and out of melee as bladelocks will often want to do. It will also give them a bit more resilience to last in melee. This is less useful on a ranged warlock, but still decent.
Warrior – 4/5
More resilience is great on a warrior and they tend to also need to close down their enemies quickly. Like the shaman, warriors have less use for reactive movement, but this is still a good species for them.
About Worgen
Originally a sect of Night Elf druids, these Night Elves succumbed to the bestial side of their wild shape form. To control their bestial rage, these druids were transformed into the first Worgen. They can now control themselves better in their bestial form, allowing them to transform more safely.
Worgen have the appearance of werewolves with a wolfish body that stand upright, with fur pointed teeth and sharp claws. This body grants them exceptionally fast movement and greater resilience.
