The Tauren

If you’re a believer in the “go big or go home” mentality, then the tauren in World of Warcraft might just be your thing. Initially by far the largest playable race in the game, tauren are essentially minotaurs, or bull-men. While you might think a massive race of bull-men would be warlike and go crashing through life like a bull in a china shop, in fact, the tauren are one of the more spiritual, level-headed races in the Warcraft storyline.

Spending most of their history as disparate wandering nomad tribes, the tauren roamed across southern Kalimdor. They lived this way even before the Great Sundering shattered the original landmass of Azeroth, with tauren living on Kalimdor, taunka living in Northrend, the yaungol living in Pandaria, and the Highmountain tauren living in the Broken Isles.

The Demigod Cenarius, the patron of both Night Elf and Tauren druidism, walked among the tauren and taught them the ways of nature. Between Cenarius’ teaching and the tauren’s belief in the guidance of their Earth Mother, tauren culture places a great emphasis on balance with nature and embracing the world in its natural state. Tauren camps, cities, and settlements tend to not have the level of development and waste you might see in orcish encampments and towns, or especially goblin settlements. And tauren technology is not as sophisticated as what the goblins, gnomes, dwarves and others use, but they make up for it with mastery of natural magics or raw, unyielding strength and convictions.

Millenia living as nomads could have been the perfect way of life for the tauren, but through it all there was one aspect of life on the move that made tauren life painful; the centaur. The centaurs were warlike, savage nomads who lived in Kalimdor. They would constantly war on the tauren, making any attempt at creating a homeland or anything permanent out of the tauren’s reach. SO the tauren lived for generations wandering the plains, communing with the spirits and the Earth Mother, and trying to avoid or keep away centaur raiding parties.

That would all change eventually when the tauren Bloodhoof tribe, on the run from centaurs, was happened upon by Thrall’s band of orcs, having just arrived on Kalimdor after fleeing the internment camps in Lordaeron. The tauren offered to help guide the orcs through this strange, new land if the orcs would help the Cairne Bloodhoof (chieftain of the tribe) defeat the centaurs. Even without the demon’s fury coursing through their veins, the martial, warlike orcs easily adapted to centaur tactics and with the help of the tauren soundly defeated them. As the orcs helped the tauren migrate to a land they believed they could defend, and thus build a homeland, they forged a bond that would become the core of Thrall’s New Horde. The tauren offered a calm, spiritual balance to the burning hot passions and aggression of the orcish people.

When the tauren and orcs arrived in this verdant rolling valley, the orcs saw why the tauren wanted to settle there. The land was good and green, and best of all, there was only one entrance into the valley, meaning it could easily be defending against marauding centaurs. Here the Tauren could put down roots, build permanent settlements, and make a home for all tauren. Over time, many of the disparate tribes migrated to this homeland, called Mulgore, unifying under the Bloodhoof tribe. High up in the bluffs, the Tauren built their great capital, Thunder Bluff, accessible only via flying or the great wooden lifts. 

The tauren would prove to be steadfast allies for the orcs. As the orcs continued their migration and settled in the dry, cracked land of Durotar, the tauren helped them as they built their great city of Orgrimmar. The tauren would have a district of their own within Orgrimmar, in the Valley of Wisdom. Cairne would ever be a friend and advisor to Thrall as he maneuvered the pitfalls of leading an orcish horde and dealing with the consequences of the previous horde’s actions of Azeroth.

During all this, one tribe of tauren refused to settle in Mulgore or work with the Horde and Bloodhoof tribe. The Grimtotems, led by the ever-devious Magatha Grimtotem. The Grimtotems reject the peaceful spiritualism of other Tauren, believing that they must purge the other races of Kalimdor and retake the tauren birthright by force. This rivalry would lead to a number of altercations between the tauren and their Horde allies, and the Grimtotems.

Tauren have a wide array of classes to choose from. They can be warriors, death knights, paladins, hunters, shamans, druids, monks, and priests.

Tauren racial bonuses are based on their hardiness and connection with nature. 

1. War Stomp. Every two minutes, a tauren can stomp on the ground with such force that they stun up to five enemies within eight yards for two seconds.

2. Endurance. Tauren are, well, beefy. They get more stamina than other races. The amount of stamina they get scales with their level.

3. Brawn. Tauren hit hard. Very hard. Their critical strike damage bonus is increased by 2%, same as their healing critical bonus.

4. Cultivation. The nomadic, natural lifestyle of the tauren has made them adept at identifying and picking useful herbs from their surroundings. Their herbalism skill, if chosen, starts at 15 rather than 1, and they pick herbs faster than other races.

5. Nature Resistance. Living in the wilds and communing with nature has left the tauren with more resilience to the wear and tear of the natural world. As a result, the damage they take from nature-based attacks is reduced by 1%.

The tauren are a great choice to play if you want to explore the more spiritual, peaceful side of the Horde. They are also a great choice if you just want to play a giant bull-man smashing the enemies of his people into pieces. Whichever path you choose, may the Earth Mother watch over you!