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WoW Forever Undead Paladin Guide, the Horde's First Classic Paladin
7 min read
Paladin has been an Alliance class in every Classic version of World of Warcraft. Classic Era, Season of Discovery, the Anniversary realms, all Alliance only, because the original 2004 world holds no Horde race that wields the Light. Retail solved this years ago through Blood Elves, Tauren and Zandalari, but none of them exist in Forever, which is built on vanilla Azeroth. Undead is the exclusive route to a Horde Paladin here, and it is the first time the faction has had one at all.
There's plenty more that arrives with our showrunner. There is a hub at Bandarion Keep, a class quest chain of its own, an order called Tyr’s Watch and an epic charger waiting at 60. The class underneath has changed as well. Judgement no longer consumes your Seal, Blessings now run for a full hour, and Protection has a real taunt for the first time.
The story: Garek Bandarion and Tyr’s Watch
The first Forsaken Paladin was Garek Bandarion. In life he was a human warrior in the Lordaeron City Guard serving under Captain Landen, who picked him as his successor before the kingdom fell. Garek killed Baron Rivendare, died of his wounds and rose as Scourge. When he regained his free will he had lost his memory, pledged himself to Sylvanas Windrunner and became the first Captain of the Deathguard and the first Forsaken to wield the Light. He died during the War of the Damned saving the Forsaken Kingdom from the Scourge.
His order is Tyr’s Watch. Their monastery in Tirisfal Glades carries his name.
You can play his story directly. Warcraft III: Reforged received its first new expansion in 23 years in Forsaken Kingdom, built around two RPG-style campaigns following Garek, and it ties straight into Forever. It comes bundled in the Warcraft Forever Collection.
The tension the class is built on is a good one. The only Paladins the Forsaken have ever met are the Scarlet Crusade, who exist to burn undead, so a Forsaken who channels the Light gets treated as a threat by their own people. The questing runs on acceptance rather than righteousness
Where you start
Bandarion Keep sits in the Whispering Wood, a corner of north-west Tirisfal Glades that was sealed off in Classic. Forsaken Paladins get pointed there around level 10 and collect most of their class quests from the keep.
The rest of your route is the ordinary Forsaken path. You level through Tirisfal, Silverpine and the rest of the Horde chain alongside every other Undead, and you come back to Bandarion Keep each time a class quest unlocks. At 60 the chain pays out in an epic charger of your own.
Undead racials on a Paladin
Undead carries four racials, the same as every race in Forever. Two actives, two passives.
| Racial | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Will of the Forsaken | Active | Instantly breaks all charm, fear and sleep effects, 2 minute cooldown |
| Cannibalize | Active | Consumes a nearby corpse to restore 35% health and mana over time |
| Touch of the Grave | Passive | Spells and attacks have a 5% chance to drain health, worth up to 5% of your maximum health |
| Underwater Breathing | Passive | Breathe roughly four times longer underwater |
Cannibalize is the one that matters. It now returns mana as well as health, which it never did in Classic. Paladin is a mana-hungry class in all three specs and no other Paladin race gets a free refill between pulls. On a solo levelling run, that racial alone removes a large slice of your drinking time.
Will of the Forsaken lost its safety net. It still breaks charm, fear and sleep on a 2 minute cooldown, but the brief immunity window that followed it in Classic is gone. You now have to use it reactively rather than pre-emptively, which makes it a harder button to play well. It still frees up a trinket slot on a plate tank or healer, and that is worth real stats.
Touch of the Grave is better than it reads. Your spells and attacks carry a 5% chance to drain health from the target, worth up to 5% of your maximum health, and it has no internal cooldown. The important word is spells. Holy Paladins proc this off their casts, not just their swings, which quietly makes it the only Undead racial that contributes to all three specs.
Underwater Breathing is filler. Enjoy Vashj’ir, which does not exist here.
Wowhead’s breakdown of the full racial rework is in Racials for Skyborne in Forever and Racial Changes to Existing Races.
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What changed for every Paladin
These apply whichever race you pick, and they are the reason Paladin jumped up everyone’s tier list.
- Holy Strike is now a baseline melee attack, with talents feeding it in all three trees
- Judgement no longer consumes your active Seal, so the recast loop is gone
- Blessings last 60 minutes instead of five, are all taught by trainers, and Blessing of Kings is no longer a talent
- Seal of Fury grants a taunt, making Judgement taunt for 4 seconds, with threat buffs attached
- Consecration is available to all three specs rather than gated behind talent points
That taunt is the headline. Protection Paladin has wanted one since 2004 and never had it.
Which spec to commit to
Protection is the strongest home for an Undead Paladin. Seal of Fury solves the taunt problem, Templar’s Bulwark is a heavy absorb cooldown on the level of a real defensive, and Iron Creed turns Holy Strike into threat plus damage reduction. Mana, the thing that always broke Prot Paladin, now has answers: Shield Specialization gives blocks a 100% chance to return mana on a 3 second internal cooldown, and Improved Seal of Fury refunds mana when the absorb expires. Add Cannibalize between pulls and Will of the Forsaken freeing a trinket slot and the Undead version of this tank is well served.
Retribution got the deepest rework. Holy Strike anchors a real rotation, and the tree splits into two archetypes. Twist of Light rewards Seal twisting by making your next auto-attack fire the Seal you just replaced. Drop it instead, push 21 points into Holy for Holy Shock and you get the Shockadin build people have been trying to make work for two decades. Sacred Arbiter raises Holy Strike damage by 10% and refreshes every Judgement effect on the target, including other Paladins’. Crusade gives 1% damage per point and another 1% against Demons and Undead, which an Undead Paladin will be cashing in constantly across Scholomance, Stratholme and the Plaguelands.
Holy is the spec where being Undead costs you. Light’s Vigil is the new capstone, replacing Holy Shock, which moves up the tree. Voice of Truth grants 6 seconds of silence and interrupt immunity. Reverence lets a percentage of your mana regeneration continue while casting. The problem is that Reverence pairs beautifully with the Human racial The Human Spirit, which adds 5% Spirit, and Undead has no equivalent. Your compensation is Cannibalize between pulls and Touch of the Grave proccing off your heals, since it fires from spells as well as swings.
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Undead against Human and Dwarf
Three races can play Paladin at launch and only one of them is Horde, so for most readers this comparison is academic. It still tells you what you are trading.
Undead has no weapon specialisation racial. Human gets 2% melee and spell critical strike chance with a sword equipped, and that applies to two-handers, so an Alliance Retribution Paladin swinging a two-handed sword carries a flat 2% crit advantage you cannot match. Dwarf gets 1% from Mace Specialization plus Stoneform, which is a genuine mitigation cooldown for tanking.
So Undead is the sustain Paladin and Human is the throughput Paladin. Undead wins on downtime, mana recovery and a free trinket slot. Human wins on raw output. Dwarf wins on physical mitigation.
None of which changes the Horde answer. There is one Paladin on your faction and this is it.
Getting there
Forever has no character boost, no WoW Token and nothing transfers in from Classic Era. A level 60 Undead Paladin is a full levelling run, and a second one is a second full run.
The clock matters here. Forever launches on November 4 with no raids in it at all. Barrow Deeps, Hyjal Summit and Onyxia’s Lair all open together on December 9, which gives you five weeks to reach 60, gear up in the new dungeons and find a roster. If you want to be tanking Barrow Deeps in week one rather than still working through Hillsbrad, our WoW Forever levelling service starts on launch day and you keep the character and the spec you picked.
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FAQ
CAN THE HORDE PLAY PALADIN IN WOW FOREVER?
Yes, through the Undead. It is the only Horde Paladin in the game, because Forever has no Blood Elves. Human and Dwarf remain the Alliance options, which makes three Paladin races at launch. The Skyborne cannot be Paladins regardless of which faction you put them on.
DO I NEED TO BUY ANYTHING TO PLAY AN UNDEAD PALADIN?
No. Undead Paladin comes with a standard World of Warcraft subscription. The only paid race in Forever is the Skyborne, which requires the Skyborne Heroic Pack or higher, and the Skyborne cannot play Paladin anyway. Wowhead’s Skyborne Race Overview covers that race in full.
WHERE DOES THE FORSAKEN PALADIN QUESTLINE START?
Bandarion Keep, in the Whispering Wood of north-west Tirisfal Glades, an area that was inaccessible in Classic. You are directed there around level 10 and most of your class quests come from the keep. The order is called Tyr’s Watch and the keep is named after Garek Bandarion, the first Forsaken Paladin. At level 60 the chain awards your own epic charger.
WHAT IS THE BEST SPEC FOR AN UNDEAD PALADIN?
Protection has the cleanest case. Seal of Fury finally gives the spec a taunt, Templar’s Bulwark is a serious absorb cooldown and the new mana talents fix the old sustain problem. Undead racials stack well on top, since Will of the Forsaken frees a trinket slot and Cannibalize refills you between pulls. Retribution got the biggest rework if you prefer damage, with both a Seal-twisting build and a Shockadin build available.
Every other Forever guide is indexed in Wowhead’s Forever Guide Compendium.
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