Tauren (playable)

The tauren (shu'halo in their native tongue) of Thunder Bluff are one of the playable Horde races in World of Warcraft. Originally consisting of numerous scattered tribes, the tauren people came together under the banner of the Bloodhoof tribe and, after receiving their aid against the marauding centaur, found fast friends in the newly arrived orcs.

Tauren begin their journeys in the Red Cloud Mesa, an area of rolling plains atop the high cliffs in southern Mulgore. Their adventures through the zone will eventually lead them to Thunder Bluff, which is also their capital city. The mount of choice for tauren is the kodo. They speak Taur-ahe as a main language, and Orcish as a second.

For the Horde, tauren were the only race capable of being druids until trolls gained access to the class in Cataclysm.

Creation screen description
''Always the tauren strive to preserve the balance of nature and heed the will of their goddess, the Earth Mother. Recently attacked by murderous centaur, the tauren would have been wiped out, save for a chance encounter with the orcs, who helped defeat the interlopers. To honor this blood-debt, the tauren joined the Horde, solidifying the two races' friendship.''


 * Always the tauren strive to preserve the balance of nature and heed the will of their goddess, the Earth Mother. Many of the nomadic wandering tribes of tauren have gathered together under a single banner to settle in the fertile plains of Mulgore. Were it not for the timely intervention of the orcs, the whole race may have been wiped out by marauding centaur. The tauren honor their blood-debt to this day, fighting alongside the Horde to protect their land.

Classic guide
''The spiritual and peaceful Tauren cultivate a kinship with the natural world around them in the name of their goddess, the Earth Mother. They live honorable lives and value peace over the warmongering ways of their allies.''

Classic opening cutscene
''Once a nomadic people, the tauren roamed the endless plains of the Barrens, hunting the mighty kodo. Scattered across the land, the wandering tribes were united only by their common hatred for their sworn enemy, the marauding centaur. Seeking aid against the centaur, the great chieftain, Cairne Bloodhoof, befriended the savage orcs, who had recently journeyed to Kalimdor. With the orcs’ help, Cairne and his tribe were able to drive back the centaur and claim the grasslands of Mulgore for their own. Upon the windswept mesa of Thunder Bluff, Cairne built a refuge for his people. Over time, the scattered tribes united under a single banner. Though the noble tauren are peaceful in nature, the rites of the Great Hunt are venerated as the heart of their spiritual culture. As a tribesman of Mulgore, you must test your skills in the wild and prove yourself in the Great Hunt.''

Cataclysm opening cutscene
''Great tragedy has rocked the tauren tribes and shaken their once-stalwart devotion to the Horde. A disagreement between the new orc Warchief, Garrosh Hellscream, and the beloved tauren chieftain, Cairne Bloodhoof, led to a duel that ended in Cairne's death. With his loss, the vile matriarch Magatha Grimtotem launched a murderous attack, attempting to seize control of Thunder Bluff for herself. However, Cairne's brave son, Baine Bloodhoof, successfully repelled the attack and banished the surviving Grimtotem to the farthest reaches of the land. Under Baine's hopeful leadership, the tauren people seek to heal their wounds and restore the balance between the various factions of the Horde. To this end, a new generation of tauren "Sunwalkers" has arisen to lead their people into the Light of a new dawn and the promise of rebirth. As a proud tribesman of Mulgore, you must uphold the honor of your people and safeguard the lands of your ancestors.''

History
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.

Starting attributes

 * Death Knight class is available since the release of the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion.
 * Paladin and Priest classes are available since the release of the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion.
 * Monk class is available since the release of the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria expansion.

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.



Character size
The tauren character model is large. In the beginning, tauren player characters 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 becomes apparent. Occasionally, tight quarters will hamper the tauren player character's movement, especially when mounted and/or having any size-increasing buffs. Any tauren experiencing such problems can use items that decrease one's size or alter their appearance in certain ways (such as Noggenfogger Elixir or Savory Deviate Delight) as a workaround.

Classes
Tauren can play as any class except mages, warlocks and rogues.

Tauren are the only race that has access to all five tanking classes (warrior, druid, paladin, death knight, and monk) and all five healing classes (paladin, druid, priest, shaman, and monk). Additionally they are the only race with access to all three hybrid classes (paladin, druid, and monk). Conversely, they are the only race that cannot play as a mage, and are the only race besides the draenei that cannot play as a rogue. Along with trolls, they are the only Horde races that can play as a druid.

The hypothetical 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. The same holds true for the arcane-wielding mage. The renegade Grimtotem tribe however possesses the rogue and sorcerer class.

Prior to Cataclysm, the tauren were the only Horde race able to play as druids, mirroring the Alliance's night elves. Cataclysm also made the tauren the second Horde race able to play as paladins.

Trivia

 * The tauren were the third playable race announced for World of Warcraft, before they were even formally introduced in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.
 * At one point during development, tauren were planned to have a "bull rush" attack as a racial ability. In the beta, tauren did not have mounts, but instead had a racial skill called Plainsrunning to move fast over distances.
 * Prior to Patch 3.0.8, tauren's great size led to them having the most restricted selection of mounts of any race. Among the racial mount vendors, the tauren could only use 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 needed to be hardier, because the ones available to the Horde can all bear a tauren. Oddly, the tauren had no restrictions on flying mounts.
 * Tauren are the first race that produces the proper sound effects when you use the  emote, with their mountain-dwelling kin being the second.
 * The male tauren are voiced by Steve Blum.
 * The female Tauren are possibly voiced by Lani Minella.