Holy Priest PvP Best Races and Racials — The War Within (11.2)

1. Night Elf
2. Gnome

The Night Elf racial bonus ( Shadowmeld) is always a strong choice. This race has a high skill cap, but using it to avoid crowd control can be very powerful. For example, if a Mage is casting Polymorph on you, use Shadowmeld to avoid it. If you use Shadowmeld at the same time that a Priest uses their Psychic Scream, you will not be feared. You can also use it to leave combat in case you need an emergency drink to replenish your Mana. Being a Night Elf also provides you with two noteworthy passive abilities: Quickness, which grants you 2% extra movement speed and 2% dodge chance, and Touch of Elune that increases either your Haste or Critical Strike by 1% depending on whether it is night or day.

The Gnome racial bonus ( Escape Artist) removes any movement speed reduction effects on you. With only a 1-minute cooldown, this can be used both defensively or offensively. You can use this to help kite incoming damage or use it to remove slows on you while chasing down an enemy. Another racial that Gnome provides is Expansive Mind. This will increase your maximum Resource, which helps with not running out of resources.

1. Undead
2. Pandaren

The Undead racial bonus ( Will of the Forsaken) removes any Charm, Fear, or Sleep effect from you. This is a great racial versus specializations that are able to fear you constantly throughout an arena match. It is important to note that this does share a 30-second cooldown with Gladiator's Medallion, so it is advised to only use it when you do not want to waste Gladiators Medallion. Here are a few examples of spells that Will of the Forsaken will remove from you:

• Sleep Walk from Preservation Evoker/ Devastation Evoker/Augmentation Evoker
• Fear from Demonology Warlock/ Destruction Warlock/Affliction Warlock
• Intimidating Shout from Arms Warrior/ Fury Warrior
• Psychic Scream from Holy Priest/ Shadow Priest/Discipline Priest

Being an Undead also grants you the passive abilities Shadow Resistance, reducing Shadow damage taken by 1%, and Touch of the Grave, sometimes dealing a small amount of Shadow damage to your target and healing you for the same amount.

The Pandaren racial bonus ( Quaking Palm) is a 4-second incapacitate that can be used on an enemy target in melee range. It has a 2-minute cooldown and will break to any damage. This is a great racial to help your team set up crowd control before it expires.