Can a Skyborne be a Rogue in Forever?

Yes. Blizzard's panel recap lists Rogue among the classes every Skyborne can play, whichever faction they choose.

Can a Tauren be a Rogue in Forever?

Not in Classic, and nothing says so for Forever. Blizzard says there are new race and class combinations and has confirmed three for existing races: Forsaken Paladin, Orc Mage and Dwarf Shaman. Tauren Rogue is not among them.

Are poisons and lockpicking still Rogue-only?

In Classic, yes: poisons come from a level 20 quest and lockpicking is a skill only Rogues train. Both are on our beta checklist.

Rogue in World of Warcraft: Forever

The short answer

The Rogue is Classic’s pure melee damage class: leather, stealth, an opener from behind, combo points spent on a finisher, and poisons on both weapons. It is strong from the first dungeon to the last raid and the class that skips the most fights on the way. Everything below describes the class as Classic shipped it, which Forever builds on; Blizzard has promised “meaningful trade-offs” Confirmed Blizzard in its class updates and has published no Rogue-specific detail. The beta opens September 17, and this page changes as we play.

Roles: Damage
Style: Melee
Races: 8 · 1 new in Forever

Who can play it

Alliance
- Human
- Dwarf
- Night Elf
- Gnome
Horde
- Orc
- Undead
- Troll
Skyborne
- Skyborne new Blizzard — What’s Next panel recap · Wowhead — Skyborne First Look

Classic's pairings per Wowhead — Classic races database and Warcraft Wiki — Playable race , checked 2026-09-13; Blizzard has not restated them for Forever and has not published the full list of additions. Pairings marked new are the ones Blizzard or its trailer has shown. Filter all nine classes in the class picker .

How it plays

Energy and combo points. Energy refills at a fixed rate whatever the gear, and every attack adds a combo point on the target; finishers such as Eviscerate, Slice and Dice and Kidney Shot spend them.
Stealth and openers. Stealth from level 1; Cheap Shot, Ambush and Garrote from it. Sap takes one enemy out of a pull, Vanish takes the Rogue out of a mistake.
Poisons from level 20. A class quest teaches them; from then on every weapon carries one, and Instant, Deadly and Crippling Poison are part of the kit.
Lockpicking. A Rogue-only skill that opens locked boxes and doors, trained by practice, and the reason every guild keeps one on call.
Weapons decide the spec. Daggers with Backstab and Ambush, or swords and maces with Sinister Strike; the talent trees follow the weapon.

Leveling

Fast and self-sufficient: stealth past what does not need killing, open from behind, finish, bandage. Rogues have no healing, so First Aid is not optional, and a weapon upgrade every few levels matters almost as much as it does for a Warrior.

What Forever changes

Combined hit and crit chances help Rogues improve the reliability of Poisons, in Blizzard’s words. Every class keeps Classic’s talent-tree structure with a new 16-point milestone talent.

Confirmed Blizzard — Deep Dive panel recap

Blizzard’s Deep Dive recap names six new race and class combinations: Gnome Priest, Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Orc Mage, Troll Warlock and Undead Paladin, “with more planned for future updates.”

Confirmed Blizzard — Deep Dive panel recap
Talent trees keep Classic’s structure: the same number of rows, milestone talents at 11, 21 and 31 points, and a new 16-point milestone. Some talents are unchanged from patch 1.12, some adjusted, and key class buffs (Divine Spirit, Blessing of Kings, Improved Mark of the Wild) are now baseline. Each race gets two active and two passive racial abilities, reworked to be stronger and more distinct.

Confirmed Blizzard — Deep Dive panel recap
Combat keeps Classic’s pace: an ordinary creature takes a solo player “roughly 10–15 seconds to defeat,” crowd control still matters in dungeons, and damage dealers still respect threat. Spell, melee and ranged hit chance are combined into one stat, as are the three crit chances. Paladins are the first class detailed; “more class and race details are planned through future videos and articles.”

Confirmed Blizzard — Deep Dive panel recap
Blizzard: class identity “remains central,” with “new abilities, new race and class combinations, and updates designed to preserve the feel of the original game.” The updates “focus on talents and abilities you notice, meaningful trade-offs, and reasons to value what each class brings.”

Confirmed Blizzard — What’s Next panel recap
The Battle.net Shop describes “updated class design” and “an expanded list of race and class options, including Dwarf Shaman and Forsaken Paladin.”

Confirmed Battle.net Shop — product page

What we will check in the beta

Whether energy regeneration, combo points and the poison quest are unchanged.
Any new abilities or talent changes in Assassination, Combat and Subtlety.
Lockpicking, and whether the new dungeons have locked doors and chests for it.
What a Skyborne Rogue starts with on Zephras Isle and which racial abilities it brings.
The Rogue’s place in Forever’s raid damage once the first raids open on December 9.