Could have sworn it’s changed to “Veteran of the Fourth War” for allied races, no?
It is. Although their point about how core race Draenei DK’s having Vet of the third war makes no sense is valid.
Actually that raises a question. Because iirc the only classes that the new Allied race cannot be are DH’s, Druids and Evokers. So how do they become Death Knights? They cannot use the allied race / Pandaren starting “experience” since that was between BFA and Shadowlands. Although I’m sure Blizzard will think of something out of their arses. I mean they did that for Worgen and Goblin DK’s. Making the former an escape from Arugul before being killed and the latter being a remember of a different cartel.
Maybe an Earthen from Northrend? idk.
Anyway, IDK what to feel for the warrior ones. Colossus and Slayer leaves too much to the imagination. Mountain Thane could be either Dwarf or Vrykul.
Thanes are also Dwarf related. For example we have a lot of Dwarf characters named “Mountain Thane X”. For example Falstad has the title of Mountain Thane. As seen in the epitaph that he left on the statue of Kurdran in Stormwind
Kurdran Wildhammer
Renowned Dragon Fighter. Gryphon Master of the Aerie Peak. Commander of the Gryphon Rider Division attached to the Alliance Expedition that marched into the orc homeworld of Draenor. Presumed deceased.
We will hear Sky-Ree’s calls upon the winds. We will hear your hammer thunder across the mountaintops. Ride hard into the hereafter, brother. The halls of our ancestors await you.
- High Thane Falstad Wildhammer
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Kurdran_Wildhammer#Valley_of_Heroes_monument
And given that the War Within has a lot of Dwarf imagery (I mean the new playable race are Earthen), I will take a very wild guess and say that Mountain Thane for Warriors is referencing Dwarfs instead of Vrykul.
All the talents are throughput related. It remains to be seen how much they will change your abilities cosmetically.
Between Keeper of the Grove, Elune’s Chosen, Druid of the Claw, San’layn, Sentinel, Sunfury, and Dark Ranger, that’s a lot of elf coded hero specs. Remembering that Demon Hunter is an elf exclusive class, you could argue Aldrachi Reaver and Fel-Scarred bring us up to nine elf specs.
Zero troll rep though. I’ve been dreaming about playing as a Shadow Hunter for as WoW has existed. Hero specs is the perfect opportunity! Just replace Totemic, which is a weak concept, with Shadow Hunter and Shaman will be sitting pretty. Bonus if they make Spirit Walker the third spec.
If you bundle all the elves together besides their differences, they’re all troll specs by association as well. ![]()
I’m joking, tbh I know nothing of Troll lore to even know what some troll inspired hero specs we could have, Prelate?
Witch Doctor, Shadow Hunter, Hexxer, Wardruid, Loa Priest, Prelate, Warlord. I bet there are more but here are some that comes to mind. Where Witch Doctor is the most iconic across all the trolls.
We know they do to at least some extent, as the example they showed at Blizzcon was a warrior with lightning effects on some attacks after picking the Mountain Thane spec. That said I don’t expect the changes to be extensive.
We could add in Berserkers, Headhunters, and Dinomancers as well.
I’d take Headhunter name over Slayer any day… Jeesh Slayer… so corny.

There can be only one slayer anyway ![]()
I like the idea but I do find it somewhat funny, because the classes we have in WoW were created by mashing all the aligned hero classes together to make something more race neutral. Now almost 20 years later we’re back to splitting them up somewhat with hero points.
Yeah, I could drop Shadow Hunter if we were going all generic with the hybrid specs, but since we are calling them Hero Specs and they already name dropped a bunch of WC3 hero units, I want my Shadow Hunter.
Btw, I should say this before my sub is expires, but it’s ending in a couple hours, so when I ghost the forums, that’s why. Sucks that I can’t participate in the conversation unless I pay. I’m sure I’ll be back before long. Rush’kah and Kilt for Darkspear heritage armor!
I’ll join you in a month. I’m also lurking for Darkspear Heritage armor, perhaps the very last troll lore for incoming expansions. And I hope that it will be dropped within this expansion span.
Totemic - Enhancement (I don’t play the other specs so not sure what would actually benefit them… and this is just me having fun.)
Node 1 - Mastery of the crafting of totems has granted your’s exceptional power and endurance. Duration and benefits are increased by (modifier(s) of Mastery).
Node 2A - Healing Stream range and pulse rate increased.
Node 2B - Lightning Shield causes targets harmed by it to deal reduced damage and to attack less often.
Node 2C - Earth Shield increases armor while active.
Node 3A - Malstrom is generated passively during combat.
Node 3B
- Choice 1: Storm Strike replaced by Earth Storm changes to a lava (fire/physical) attack that causes aoe damage and further reduces enemy damage output against the Shaman.
- Choice 2: Wind Fury can be applied to off-hand and 2-handed weapons and enables 2-handed weapons to be used with Storm Strike.
Node 3C - All healing received increased.
Node 4A
- Choice 1: Stoneskin totem duration increased and reduces all damage taken by group.
- Choice 2: Windfury totem duration increased and increases all damage done by group.
Node 4B - Tremor Totem auto deploys when beneficial (even if under the effect(s)) and if already known grants an extra charge of the totem.
Node 4C - melee attack range increased by 5 yards and run speed increased as well.
Node 5 - Malstrom stacks go to 20.
I figure it’s just borrowed power and won’t really affect too much. People will math out the best one for every spec and gameplay type and that’s what people will play.
Is it suggested to be more meaningful than that?
It is supposed to be an evergreen system instead of a borrowed power system
I am not sure how impactful they will be. Will they be unbalanced borrowed power like Covenants? Will they be thematic somehow, almost like glyphs? I guess we will see.
I think it is neat that there are Deathstalkers and Dark Rangers, as well as Sentinels and Mountain Thanes. But most of the rest are underwhelming.
Spell Breakers would have been cool for Mages, Paladins, or even DHs. Shadow Hunters maybe for Shaman or Hunters. Necromancer for Warlocks or maybe even Mages.
The Warlock Hero specs are like…. what ever. Almost just about the same thing their 3 specs are already.
Maybe there will be more in the installments in this trilogy that we are getting.
Per one of the recent interviews they appear to be intentionally trying to prevent a meta choice from existing for hero talents. How they plan to do that I do not know.
Pretty sure Ion said they reason the hero talent trees are so small is so they can just expand them as more expansions come out. So in Midnight we’ll get new talents within the existing hero specs.
They have a terrible track record with balancing so yeah that’s not happening. But on the other hand swapping is as easy as swapping talent points, so it’s not like you’re locked in like covenants.
I don’t care for meta myself though, I’ll pick whichever ones gives me more black flight spells.