| Core races | |||
| Allied races | |||
 Tauren | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Character classes | Death knight, Druid, Hunter, Shaman, Warrior |
| Main language | Taur-ahe |
| Secondary language | Orcish |
| Starting zone | Red Cloud Mesa, Mulgore |
| Racial leader | Cairne Bloodhoof |
| Capital | Thunder Bluff, Mulgore |
| Racial mount | File:IconSmall Kodo Small.gif Kodo |
The tauren of Thunder Bluff is a faction of tauren that start in the Red Cloud Mesa, an area of rolling plains atop the high cliffs in southern Mulgore. They are the Horde tauren player race.
- For the Horde, the druid class is exclusive to the tauren, though after the Cataclysm Expansion, trolls will also be able to fulfill the role.
Background
For countless generations, the bestial tauren roamed the plains of the Barrens, hunted the mighty kodos, and sought the wisdom of their eternal goddess, the Earth Mother. Scattered across the land, the wandering tribes were united only by a common hatred for their sworn enemy, the marauding centaur. Seeking aid against the centaur, the chieftain, Cairne Bloodhoof, befriended Warchief Thrall and the other orcs, who had recently journeyed to Kalimdor.
With the orcs’ help, Cairne and his Bloodhoof tribe were able to drive back the centaur and claim the grasslands of Mulgore for their own. For the first time in hundreds of years, the tauren had a land to call their own. Upon the windswept mesa of Thunder Bluff, Cairne built a refuge for his people, where tauren of every tribe is welcome. Over time, the scattered tauren tribes united under Cairne’s rule. There are a few tribes who disagree about the direction their new nation should take, but all agree that Cairne is the wisest and best suited to lead them towards the future.
Though the noble tauren are peaceful in nature, the rites of the Great Hunt are venerated as the heart of their spiritual culture. Every tauren, warrior or otherwise, seeks identity both as a hunter and as a child of the Earth Mother. Having reached the age of maturity, you must test your skills in the wild and prove yourself in the Great Hunt.Template:Cite
Character
Starting attributes
| Base | Druid | Hunter | Shaman | Warrior | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strength | 25 | 26 | 25 | 26 | 28 |
| Agility | 15 | 15 | 18 | 15 | 15 |
| Stamina | 22 | 22 | 23 | 23 | 24 |
| Intellect | 15 | 17 | 15 | 16 | 15 |
| Spirit | 22 | 24 | 23 | 24 | 22 |
Racial traits
 [War Stomp] - active - 0.5 sec cast - 2 min cooldown
| |
|---|---|
| Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds. | |
| Endurance - passive | |
| Base Health increased by 5%. | |
| Cultivation - passive | |
| Herbalism skill increased by 15. | |
| Nature Resistance - passive | |
| Reduces the chance you will be hit by Nature spells by 2%. |
Reasons for racial traits
The tauren are some of the most physically imposing creatures to ever walk the earth. Their natural body structure grants them not only great strength, but an incredible 
[Endurance] to damage. Their immune system is compounded with a deep connection to the natural world, thus they have a passive Natural Resistance to everything from poisons and acids to the weather. Being great huntsmen and natural wanderers with a certain natural affinity, the tauren developed a deep knowledge of the botanical life of Azeroth, using it in various shamanistic rituals, as well as for medical treatment. Because of this the tauren are natural herbalists. Hunting the kodo and wandering the wilds has not been easy for the tauren, and facing the centaur has made it no easier. All tauren are born with the ability to communicate with the spirits in times of need, beseeching them to shake the earth and stun their enemies. This ability has been nicknamed the War Stomp by the tauren's enemies.
Female tauren healer
Character size
The tauren character model is large. The beginning tauren character will not notice this; everything is tauren sized, and is scaled to the tauren point of view. Later, when the character interacts with other races, the difference is evident. Occasionally, tight quarters will hamper a tauren character's movement.
Mounts
Because of their size, tauren used to have the most restricted selection of mounts of any race. Among the racial mount vendors, the tauren could only use the their own kodo and the orc's dire wolf. From the racial PvP mounts, they could also select the troll's raptor. Mounts beyond these must be hardier, because the ones available to the Horde can all bear a tauren. Oddly, the tauren have no restrictions on flying mounts.
However, these restrictions were lifted in patch 3.0.8.
Classes
Tauren characters may play as a druid, hunter, shaman, warrior, death knight and, when the Cataclysm expansion arrives, paladin and priest.
They are the only Horde race that can play as a druid, though after the Cataclysm Expansion, so will the troll (playable) race, (together with the night elves and worgen of the Alliance) and they are the only Horde race that cannot have characters of the rogue class (although tauren druids function much like rogues when in Cat Form). Even if a tauren rogue is a common joke among Horde players.
For the tauren, the rogue profession is an alien concept and therefore rare (if not non-existent) among its peoples.Template:Cite Renegade Grimtotems possess the rogue and sorcerer class.
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