Those pluses on your gear will take you a long ways when you’re running around at endgame, but there is definitely a point where knowing the ins and outs of your character and knowing what other races are capable of comes in handy.

Some races are better for PvP, some are better doing PvE, and others are suitable for either playstyle. If you know you’re going to get serious about endgame, you need to consider each race’s abilities for your characters.

Human

Humans are probably the best PvP race in TERA, at least from a racial skill standpoint. The Deft Footwork active and Indomitable Spirit passive are both geared towards fighting other players, and both end up being useful.

Deft Footwork (Active): Decreases the chance of being stunned or knocked down by other players for 3 minutes. 1 hour cooldown. Velik’s Horn (Active): Teleport to Velika. Indomitable Spirit (Passive): Take 10% less damage from other players when your HP is below 30%. Nomadic Crafter (Passive): Increases light armor crafting speed by 10%. Resilience of Body (Passive): Restores your HP continuously for a small amount after being resurrected.

High Elf

High Elves are easily one of the better race options for a Sorcerer, Priest, or Mystic between their MP-replenishing Core Infusion and Resilience of Mind. High Elves are good for both PvE and PvP.

Core Infusion (Active): Restore 100% of your MP. 2-hour cooldown. Core’s Resonance (Active): Teleport to Allemantheia. Coalescence (Passive): Increases essence gathering speed. Resilience of Mind (Passive): Restores your MP continuously for a small amount after being resurrected.

Castanic

Castanics make great Archers and Sorcerers, and fit well with Priests and Mystics as well. Skirmish Running is useful in both PvE and PvP, and has one of the lowest cooldowns out of every racial active. Dirty Fighting is fantastic for any DPS, but is especially useful for Archers.

Skirmish Running (Active): Increases your combat movement speed by 30, but your knockdown resistance is reduced by 20% for 3 minutes or until you are knocked down. 30-minute cooldown. Kaiator’s Drums (Active): Teleport to Kaiator. Dirty Fighting (Passive): Increases your critical hit rate by 1% when attacking a target from behind. Light Landing (Passive): Decreases falling damage by 50%. Weaponforger (Passive): Increases metallic weapon crafting speed by 10%.

Elin and Popori

Both Elin and Popori share the same racial skills, and those skills are not actually all that great. The real benefit to these two races is how small they are – their hitboxes are significantly smaller than the other races, which is a sizable advantage in PvP. The trade-off is neither race is especially PvE-oriented.

Soothing Presence (Active): Prevents monsters from making preemptive attacks but decreases your movement speed by 40% for 1 minute. Effect ends if you use a skill or item, or are attacked. Horizon Run (Active): Increases your movement speed outside of combat by 20 for 3 minutes. Velik’s Horn (Active): Teleport to Velika. Friendly Current (Passive): Increases your swimming speed. Botanist (Passive): Increases your plant gathering speed.

Aman

Aman’s racial bonuses essentially boil down to PvE-applicable versions of the Human racial skills. Last Aman Standing and No Stranger to Pain are both very similar to the Humans’ Deft Footwork and Indomitable Spirit, but they can be used in PvE situations.

Last Aman Standing (Active): Greatly increases your resistance to immobilization and knockdown for 30 seconds. Casts instantly. 1-hour cooldown. Kaiator’s Drums (Active): Teleport to Kaiator. Blood of Dragons (Passive): Increases periodic damage resistance by 10. No Stranger to Pain (Passive): Decreases received damage by 10% when your HP is below 30%. Prospector (Passive): Increases your ore gathering speed.

Baraka

Baraka only have four racial skills as the old Stamina system has been removed from TERA, but the two combat-oriented skills are quite nice. Ancient Wellspring is a fantastic “Oh crap!” button even with its long cooldown, and having additional stun resistance is very nice.

Ancient Wellspring (Active): Restore all of your HP. 2-hour cooldown. Core’s Resonance (Active): Teleport to Allemantheia. Gather No Moss (Passive): Increases your stun resistance by 10. Time-Lost Techniques (Passive): Increases your magic weapon crafting speed by 10%.

TERA recently launched on PS4 and Xbox One. Surprise! Check out my review if you’re not quite sure whether to jump in, or take a gander at my handy dandy tips guide.