World of Warcraft's Earthen Allied Race Explained

With almost everyWorld of Warcraftexpansion, Blizzard likes to give players a new class or a new race to mess around with. In recent years, that model has changed slightly with the release of Allied Races, which allowed Battle for Azeroth to almost double the number of playable races. Now, after two expansions that did nothing with the concept, The War Within promises to once again expandWorld of Warcraft’s Allied Race pool with the brand-new Earthen, the game’s first neutral Allied Race.

The Earthen are just one of the many new additions to The War Within, and they promise to be a major part of the expansion’s narrative. Forged by the titans, these beings existed to help shape the subterranean regions of Azeroth before they were hit with the curse of flesh. Since then, they have set up shop throughoutThe War Within’s many new regions, and it will be up to players to assist them with all sorts of different things. While much of their story is still being kept under wraps, they seem to be great additions to Azeroth’s growing roster of races thus far.

World of Warcraft Tag Page Cover Art

The Earthen Are a Great Addition to WoW’s Roster

How to Unlock the Earthen

Unlike past Allied Races, the Earthen will be available to everyone as it isWorld of Warcraft’s first neutral Allied Race. However, just like with every single one before it, players will not be able to immediately create one when The War Within launches later this year. Instead, they must complete a series of objectives before they can officially recruit them to the team. While that may sound daunting, the unlock process is extremely simple.

To unlock the Earthen, players will have to earn their associated achievement, which has been mostly shrouded in mystery. Yet, players have discovered some of the requirements. As of now, the entire leveling campaign, three side questlines, and the max level The War Within campaign all have to be completedbefore players can create an Earthen. It is unknown if there is also a recruitment scenario, but based on past Allied Races, there is a strong chance there will be one.

What Are the Earthen Known For?

Once players successfully unlock an Earthen, they will be able to jump in and explore the world as these dwarf-like beings. Right now, they can be practically every singleclass except for Evoker, Demon Hunter, and Druid. There is a chance that some of these classes will be unlocked later, but for now, players will just have to stick with the other 10 classes. While Blizzard has not officially revealed the starting level yet, every Allied Race starts at level 10, and there is seemingly no reason the Earthen would be any different.

Just like with every race before them, the Earthen also have a few racial traits for players to utilize during their journey. Their primary spell follows in the footsteps ofone of the Evoker’s defining features, the empowered spell system. This spell is known as Azerite Surge, and it unleashes the power of Azerite in a cone in front of the player, dealing fire damage to any enemy caught within. The longer players hold the attack, the more damage it can do, and it can also gain the ability to heal allies.

Alongside Azerite Surge, the Earthen also have a few passive bonuses that should be pretty useful. Hyper Productive increases their Finesse by 2%, Titan-Wrought Frame increases their armor by 10%, and Wide-Eyed Wonder increases their exploration experience gains by 100%. Additionally, because they cannot consume food, they must use Ingest Minerals to consume gems if they want the Well Fed bonuses. There may be a few other abilities that Blizzard has yet to share, but it feels like the Earthen have a pretty stacked arsenal already.

Outside of that, players should know what to expect with this new Allied Race. They will be given a Proto Ram mount,the race will have a Heritage Armor setupon hitting level 50, there will be dozens of new customization options, and they will probably have their own unique starting area. They will likely grow and evolve even further as the release date nears, but as of now, they seem like a nice addition toWoW’s roster, with some players likely rolling them as soon as the expansion drops.