The War Within – Best Earthen Classes, Ranked

Earthen are the newest Allied Race in WoW: The War Within, and after unlocking them by completing a series of quests and the max-level campaign, you will be faced with a choice: which Earthen class should I choose?

Though every class is perfectly playable as an Earthen, their Racial bonuses benefit Tank classes more than other roles, and some classes just make more sense for the Earthen than others in terms of lore. Two classes in particular stand out as they don’t really fit in with what the Earthen are established to be, but that isn’t to say they are necessarily bad choices.

Updated December 3, 2024 by Erik Petrovich: When choosing one of these best classes for Earthen, World of Warcraft players have two things to consider: the power of the class with the Earthen racial abilities, and how much the class fits with established Earthen lore. The latter of these is not quite as important, all things considered, but it does feel a bit odd to summon Demons from the Twisting Nether as an Earthen Warlock, or stealth around as a stony Earthen Rogue. This guide has been updated to include more details for each class Earthen WoW characters can choose, particularly the Warrior, Paladin, Rogue, and Warlock. This guide has also been updated to provide a bit more information regarding all Earthen classes and the four that are not available to this new The War Within race.

All Available Earthen Classes In The War Within

Though there are thirteen playable classes in World of Warcraft, only nine are available to the Earthen. These include the Hunter class, the Monk class, the Mage class, the Priest class, the Paladin class, the Rogue class, the Shaman class, the Warlock class, and the Warrior class.

The Warrior, Priest, Monk, and Mage classes can be selected by any race in
World of Warcraft
, Earthen included.

The missing classes (Death Knights, Demon Hunters, Druids, and Evokers) aren’t available for lore reasons, while each of the above classes has some in-game reason why the Earthen could pick them up. Paladins and Priests, for example, could have come from the Earthen who becomes interested in the Light from an Arathi in the Isle of Dorn, while a Mage Earthen makes sense considering their origins.

S-Tier Earthen Classes

Paladin, Warrior

The Earthen racial abilities are, for the most part, not impactful for most endgame activities. The recently-boosted Well Fed bonus from Ingest Materials and the Titan-Wrought Frame racial are the most relevant, and Tanks benefit the most from the latter. It boosts your base Armor value by 10%, which is about as much as a single cast of Ironfur for Guardian Druids.

10% isn’t going to make or break your dungeon run, and while leveling in WoW you will notice this bonus even less. But though the Ingest Materials buff can be beneficial for all Classes, Earthen Tanks will be popular because of the Titan-Wrought Frame racial.

• Paladin Earthen: In the Isle of Dorn, we see a character named Lief become interested in The Light and eventually become a Lamplighter. Lamplighters are essentially Paladins fuelled by The Sacred Flame, and because at least one Earthen seems to have taken up such a mantle, it makes sense that others would too. Paladin Earthen make for excellent Tanks alongside Warriors.
• Warrior Earthen: There is little lore justification needed for Earthen Warriors to exist. All races in World of Warcraft are able to become Warriors, and judging by the number of Earthen Guards and Soldiers wandering around Dornogal, it’s safe to say the Earthen have plenty of room for Warrior-archetypes in their society.

Best Non-Tank Earthen Classes

Mage, Shaman, Hunter, Priest, Monk

When it comes to the rest of the classes available to Earthen, it’s harder to sort them from best to worst as the differences are relatively negligible. Instead, the A-Tier Earthen classes are the classes that make the most sense for Earthen to be.

• Mage Earthen: Arcane magic comes from the Well of Eternity, which is essentially a font of Azeroth’s Power – and Azeroth’s Worldsoul is imbued into the Earthen. The Earthen are about as Arcane-powered as the spells Mages cast.
• Shaman Earthen: Earthen are essentially a kind of Elemental, infused with the Arcane power of Azerite. It makes sense because they are themselves connected to Azeroth and its elemental forces, even if they might not commune with the Elemental Lords like other Shaman.
• Hunter Earthen: In the Isle of Dorn, players can follow a quest that sees a new generation of Earthen learn to tame and bond with Storm Gryphons. It’s easy to see how this could lead to more exploration of bonds between Earthen and beasts.
• Priest Earthen: In a quest in Isle of Dorn, players see an Earthen inquire about the Arathi faith, and perhaps in their wide-eyed exploration of the world’s possibilities, other Earthen followed in his steps. This also works for Paladin Earthen – though Earthen would be far from the only Titanforged to call upon the Light.
• Monk Earthen: In Dornogal we can see a group of Earthen training under a Monk, which is really enough to warrant their inclusion as a class. Besides that, though, the only Monk spec that doesn’t feel perfectly at home with the Earthen is the Mistweaver – they even make their own Mead, fitting with the Brewmaster spec, which will benefit from the 10% Armor buff.

Earthen Classes That Don’t Quite Fit

Rogue, Warlock

Generally, you can make up any reason for an Earthen to be a particular class. They were once bound to tradition and their Edicts, and now forge their own paths, so there’s no reason you couldn’t be an Earthen Rogue or Warlock.

Of these two, Warlocks arguably make the least sense as they are tied to the Burning Legion, which as far as we know has had no impact on the Earthen.

You could argue that they became tempted by the Void, which seems ever-present in Khaz Algar in TWW, but this is still technically different than the Twisting Nether-fueled powers of the Warlock class. If anything, the presence of Void powers in The War Within is a lore reason for Earthen Shadow Priests to exist, not Warlocks.

Earthen Rogues are, like Tauren Rogues, just an odd combination of Race and Class. You can’t exactly sneak around if you’re completely made of stone, stomping around in the shadows is a surefire way to get caught. But there are some Smugglers you can come across in The War Within, and other Rogueish types of characters, so they aren’t without precedent. It’s just a bit odd to think about, and a bit of an odd match with the Earthen racial bonuses.

Rogues also happen to be one of the least-played classes in the game right now for a few reasons, though, so there’s reason beyond flavor to avoid rolling a Rogue Earthen. But if you really want to break the mold and choose a class/race combination that makes little to no sense, then Rogue Earthen might just be what you’re looking for.