Allied races are races that are not available on the character creation screen right away: their buttons stay grey until the race is unlocked on your account. Azeron has ten of them: the four Legion allied races, the Haranir and five races you may know from Battle for Azeroth. Once a race is unlocked, all your characters of its faction can use it, and a new hero starts at level 20.
All races and how to unlock them
| Race | Faction | How to unlock | Starting point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nightborne | Horde | recruitment chain; requires Insurrection and Exalted with the Nightfallen | Suramar |
| Highmountain Tauren | Horde | recruitment chain; requires Ain't No Mountain High Enough and Exalted with the Highmountain Tribe | Thunder Totem |
| Void Elves | Alliance | recruitment chain; requires You Are Now Prepared! and Exalted with the Argussian Reach | Telogrus Rift |
| Lightforged Draenei | Alliance | recruitment chain; requires You Are Now Prepared! and Exalted with the Army of the Light | the Vindicaar |
| Haranir | Horde | a level 110 character on the account | Orgrimmar embassy |
| Mag'har Orcs | Horde | a level 110 character on the account | Orgrimmar embassy |
| Vulpera | Horde | a level 110 character on the account | Orgrimmar embassy |
| Zandalari Trolls | Horde | a level 110 character on the account | Orgrimmar embassy |
| Dark Iron Dwarves | Alliance | a level 110 character on the account | Stormwind embassy |
| Kul Tirans | Alliance | a level 110 character on the account | Stormwind embassy |
Two ways to unlock a race
Legion allied races: recruitment
- You need a level 110 character of the race's faction: the Horde unlocks the Nightborne and Highmountain Tauren, the Alliance unlocks the Void Elves and Lightforged Draenei.
- First meet the race's requirements: a story achievement and Exalted with the matching faction (see the table above).
- Once you meet them, the quest "The Call for Allies" is offered when you enter Dalaran. It sends you to the embassy: to Anduin in Stormwind or to Sylvanas in Orgrimmar.
- There you choose an ally and complete its quest chain. At the end your account earns the "Allied Races: …" achievement and the race is unlocked, and the character receives a racial mount.
- The second ally of your faction is unlocked through the quest "A Second Ally For the Cause".
The chain step by step, plus the classes and abilities of each race, is covered in the Legion allied races guide.
Haranir and the Battle for Azeroth races: level 110
The Haranir, Mag'har, Vulpera, Zandalari, Dark Iron Dwarves and Kul Tirans need no quests or reputations. All it takes is the "Level 110" achievement on your account, meaning at least one of your characters of any race and faction has reached level 110. After that the race buttons become active. Details on every race are in the New races of Azeron guide.
What all allied races have in common
- They start at level 20, already wearing a level 20 set, with four bags and a Hearthstone.
- The embassy. Legion races start in their homeland and the quest "For the Horde" or "For the Alliance" sends them to their capital's embassy. The other races appear in the embassy right away.
- Classes. Each race has its own set of classes. Death Knights and Demon Hunters cannot be created as an allied race, and only Lightforged Draenei, Dark Iron Dwarves and Zandalari can be Paladins.
- Race change to an allied race is only possible if that race is already unlocked on your account.
- Racial abilities are on the racial tab of your spellbook, and the active one is already on your action bar.
Heritage armor and mounts
- Legion allied races. The recruitment chain rewards a racial mount. Heritage armor comes from the "Heritage of…" quest, which is offered when a character of an allied race reaches level 110 on their own, through normal leveling from level 20. A character boosted to level 100, created from a template or turned into an allied race by a race change does not get this quest.
- Haranir. When the first Haranir on your account reaches level 110, a letter arrives with the Rootstalker Grimlynx mount. The Haranir have no heritage armor.
- Mag'har, Vulpera, Zandalari, Dark Iron Dwarves and Kul Tirans have no heritage armor or racial mounts.
If you want to start a new race right now, the easiest choice is one of the level 110 races: they unlock immediately. Legion recruitment takes longer, but it rewards a mount and, if you level the hero yourself, heritage armor.