Skyborne Leveling Guide: Zephras Isle 1–12 and Beyond

The Skyborne are WoW Forever's new playable race. They start on Zephras Isle, a floating island in Skywall, the elemental plane of air, with its own levels 1–12 starting experience. This guide covers what you need to level one: which class to pick, which racials help you level faster, the island's quest hubs in order, and how each faction leaves the island for Azeroth.

This page covers leveling a Skyborne from Zephras Isle until you reach Azeroth. For the full 1–60 zone plan after that, see our WoW Forever leveling guide.

Scope and checking. Checked November 1, 2026. Race, classes and zone levels come from Blizzard. Hub order and quest names come from the beta (build 1.60.1.x) as documented by fan sites. Blizzard can still change quests at launch on November 4, and we note anything known only from the beta.

Before you start: access and faction

• Access: Playing a Skyborne requires the Skyborne Heroic Pack or a higher edition. A subscription or Game Time alone is not enough for this race.
• Faction is chosen at character creation. Horde Skyborne are the Windshapers, who keep the elemental ways. Alliance Skyborne are the High Order, scholars who want to relearn arcane magic.

	Windshaper (Horde)	High Order (Alliance)
Exclusive class	Shaman	Mage
Shared classes	Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Druid	Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Druid
Faction racial	Skysight (movement speed)	Read Leyline (health and mana regeneration)
Leaves the island to	Skywatcher Plateau, Mulgore (outside Thunder Bluff)	Dalaran, then Stormwind

Which Skyborne class levels fastest?

Skyborne can be six classes per faction. For solo leveling speed, beta-based tier lists rank them roughly like this (our best leveling class guide explains why):

Class	Leveling outlook	Skyborne note
Hunter	Top tier on every list. Pet tanks from level 10.	RestedXP's route includes the pet-taming quest on Zephras Isle
Mage (Alliance)	Fast but fragile	Read Leyline's regeneration pairs well with a mana-hungry caster
Druid	Wide spread of opinions, slow before forms	Skyborne get their own Druid forms; Bear Form quest is in the route
Shaman (Horde)	Solid, self-sufficient, mana-tight early	Windshaper-only; Fire Totem quest in the route
Rogue	Mid	Wind Blessed's Haste speeds up melee attacks
Warrior	Slowest solo	Best with a partner or healer

Our pick: a Hunter if you want the smoothest solo start. Pick a Windshaper Shaman or High Order Mage if you want the Skyborne's signature class.

Skyborne racials and how they help leveling

Every Forever race has two active and two passive racials. Values below are from Blizzard's final pre-launch tuning pass as reported by Wowhead, plus earlier beta development notes.

Racial	Type	Effect	Leveling use
Walk on Air	Active, both factions	Glide down through the air for 10 seconds, steering as you go (90-second cooldown, beta notes)	Jump off cliffs and ledges instead of taking the road down
Wind Blessed	Passive, both	2% Haste (reduced from 3% before launch)	Slightly faster kills for every class
Elemental Insight	Passive, both	5% more damage to Elementals (beta value)	Useful on Zephras Isle and in elemental-heavy zones
Skysight	Active, Horde	15% movement speed for 15 seconds. Used at an elemental convergence, it also grants Charged for 1 hour, raising the bonus to 30%. Charged persists through death.	Up to an hour of much faster running between quest hubs
Read Leyline	Active, Alliance	50% faster health and mana regeneration for 15 seconds. Used at a ley line, it grants Attuned for 1 hour, raising it to 100%. Attuned persists through death.	Up to an hour of much shorter eating and drinking

The leveling trick is in the one-hour buffs. Use Skysight at a convergence, or Read Leyline at a ley line, whenever you pass one. Blizzard's October 15 notes added more convergences and ley lines to most zones, so you'll pass them more often. Zephras Isle teaches both early. The beta quest list has a Walk on Air tutorial and a faction quest for each racial in the first hub, before level 5.

Zephras Isle hubs in order (levels 1–13)

Zephras Isle is a self-contained zone. The beta quest data has about 110 quests on the island, roughly 92 of which one character can do (the rest are faction- or class-specific). Quests are spread across 11 hubs. Taking them in this order keeps you close to the right level:

#	Hub	Levels (beta)	What happens
1	Thendal Grove	1–5	Starting area: racial tutorials, first kill and collect quests, first class quests
2	Shen'dar Village	6–9	The factions split: Windshaper and High Order storylines begin
3	West Pylon Watchtower	8	A short side stop
4	Falaath Village	8–11	The Al'Aketh cult's ruined village
5	Valanaar	8–13	The island's main hub (36 quests) and the departure point
6	Windfield Orchard	9	A farm quest cluster
7	Overlook Standing Stones	10	Windstone formations in the Shen'dar Highlands
8	East Pylon Watchtower	11	A short tower-defense chain
9	Shadowgale Forest	11–13	Darker forest, late-island quests
10	Shrine of Akir	12	The island's story climax
11	Windsong Lake	13	The final hub

Hub names follow the beta client. Some names shown at the BlizzCon demo were different (for example "Thendal Village"), so expect small changes.

Quests worth knowing about

These quests come up in Blizzard's own development notes or Wowhead coverage, so they are likely to stay:

• "The Anchors of Zephras" (Thendal Grove): use Halaan's Gift to view an anchor pylon. Blizzard fixed a bug with it on October 15.
• "Meddlesome Mages" (Shen'dar Village, Horde only): rewards include the Idol of Shifting Tides, an early Druid idol that cuts the mana cost of shapeshifting. Druids especially should take it.
• "A Firm Response" (Horde, toward the Shrine of Akir): its event was hotfixed on September 21. If it ever stalls again, check for a known-issues post before abandoning it.
• "Catching Wind" (High Order): redesigned in the September 24 update. It sends you to the Overlook Standing Stones.
• "Confront Lorthuna" (the finale, around level 12): High Priestess Lorthuna leads the Al'Aketh cult. You reach her through the Sanctum of Storms portal into the Rohashi Spires, alongside Elaadrin and Ayessa, the two lodge leaders. Turning it in opens "The Fate of Zephras" (Talaanis, in Valanaar's council tower) and "What Comes Next" (level 13), which sends you to your own faction's lodge for the exit quest (Wowdee and Hearthproof, beta).

Leveling tips for the island

1. Do the racial quests early. They teach Walk on Air and your faction racial, and the one-hour buffs speed up the rest of the island.
2. Glide, don't walk. The island has cliffs and towers. Walk on Air turns a long path down into a short glide.
3. Collect the class quests. RestedXP's route includes Hunter pet taming, Druid Bear Form and the Shaman Fire Totem on the island, so you don't need to go back to a capital for them. RestedXP's 3 November update changed some of these steps: Horde Hunters now pick the two-handed sword after "Foul Matriarch", and Horde Druid routing after level 10 is different. On the Alliance side, the route now pins the tornadoes on the map and warns you about dangerous enemies' abilities. If you own the guide, re-import it after updating.
4. Valanaar is your base. It is the busiest hub from level 8 and where you leave from. Set your hearthstone there.
5. You can leave early. Method notes you can leave the island at any level. Group with friends in other starting zones if you prefer, but questing on the island is the efficient route to 12.

Leaving Zephras Isle

From Valanaar, skycutters depart from the docks on the island's south side. Your faction decides where they go:

Faction	Exit quest	Arrival	Then
Horde (Windshaper)	"The Earthen Ring"	Skywatcher Plateau, a mountainside in north-western Mulgore just outside Thunder Bluff	No portal. "Welcome to Azeroth" sends you to Thrall: take the Thunder Bluff flight master to Orgrimmar.
Alliance (High Order)	"The Magical City of Dalaran"	Dalaran (Alterac Mountains), at the Sky Enclave	"Welcome to Azeroth": take the Skyborne-only portal to Stormwind and report to Bolvar Fordragon.

Where exactly do Horde Skyborne land? An earlier version of this guide placed Skywatcher Plateau on the Mulgore–Desolace border. Wowhead's Zephras Isle overview, Hearthproof and Wowdee all place it in north-western Mulgore, just outside Thunder Bluff, and Wowhead puts the skyboat on the cliffs just south of the plateau (/way 34.3 25.8). We now follow that version. Both skycutters run both ways, so you can fly back to the isle for a missed quest.

After "Welcome to Azeroth", a capital tour quest ("Exploring the Horde" or "Exploring the Alliance", per Wowhead's quest data) takes you to meet the faction leaders in each capital.

Where to level next: RestedXP's routes send Alliance Skyborne on to Westfall and Horde Skyborne to Silverpine Forest or The Barrens. Horde Skyborne also have quests at Skywatcher Plateau itself (RestedXP counted five new ones). Our leveling guide has a zone order for each faction after that.

Skyborne mounts and visuals

• Galestriders: Beta item data has crane-like Galestrider racial mounts in four colors at level 40, plus swift versions at 60. They need a Galestrider Riding skill. Where you learn it and buy them has not been documented yet.
• Cerulean Prideclaw: the Heroic Pack mount still needs the riding skill bought in game.
• HD only for now: Skyborne use HD models even with Standard Definition enabled. Blizzard plans SD Skyborne models and Druid forms for early 2027.

Frequently asked questions

Do you need to pay to play Skyborne in WoW Forever?

Yes. The Skyborne race and the Zephras Isle starting zone need the Skyborne Heroic Pack or a higher edition, on top of a subscription or Game Time.

What level range is Zephras Isle?

Blizzard describes Zephras Isle as a levels 1–12 starting experience. Beta quests run up to level 13, and RestedXP's routes leave the island at 12 for Horde and 14 for Alliance.

What classes can Skyborne be?

Warrior, Hunter, Rogue and Druid on either faction, plus Shaman for Horde Windshapers or Mage for the Alliance High Order.

How do Skyborne leave Zephras Isle?

Take the skycutter from Valanaar after the finale. Horde Skyborne arrive at Skywatcher Plateau in north-western Mulgore, just outside Thunder Bluff, then fly to Orgrimmar. Alliance Skyborne arrive in Dalaran and take a Skyborne-only portal to Stormwind.

What is the best Skyborne class for leveling?

Hunter is the safest and fastest solo choice, as on every beta-based tier list. If you want a Skyborne-exclusive class, Windshaper Shaman (Horde) and High Order Mage (Alliance) both level well.

What do Skysight and Read Leyline do?

Skysight (Horde) gives 15% movement speed, or 30% for an hour after you use it at an elemental convergence. Read Leyline (Alliance) increases health and mana regeneration by 50%, or 100% for an hour after you use it at a ley line.