TERA Races Guide - Look at the Amazing Possibilities

Tera Online Races Guide

Race choice can be a crucial decision in an MMORPG. In some titles, it can be purely cosmetic (but still meaningful), while in others, it may have a tangible influence on the gameplay. The race can attach you to a specific side in an everlasting conflict, define your starting stats, provide racial skills, and even limit the potential class choices available to your character.

While a lot of Tera players pick their race based on the visual design, this choice actually has a significant impact on the gameplay. Certain classes in Tera are limited to specific races and genders. Moreover, they provide access to special passive and active skills. There are seven playable races in TERA – Aman, Baraka, Castanic, Elin, High Elf, Human, and Popori. Let's take a closer look at each one of them.

Aman

Amani are a dragon-like race that's known for their physical strength and will to fight. In the game's lore, they have been enslaved by the evil giants. Amani have only managed to reclaim their freedom soon before the events that take place in the game. This race is perfectly fitted for the role of a tank, thanks to the defensive racial abilities that it has access to.

There are two passives:

Blood of Dragon – reduces the amount of received damage-over-time.

No Stranger to Pain – decreases the amount of all damage that you take, when you're below 30% of your maximum HM.

Moreover, there's also an active skill

Last Aman Standing – provides temporary resistance to crowd control effects like knockdown and immobilization.

Baraka

Baraka are a race of wise scholars who want to gather as much knowledge about the world as they can. Lore-wise, they're calm and peaceful, but they can definitely stand their ground in combat. In terms of the gameplay, they're most often used in the support role, due to their racial abilities.    

The passives are:

Gather No Moss – improves the resistance to stuns

Indefatigable – ensures that your Stamina won't drop below 20% what has a positive effect on HP and MP regeneration.

They also have a handy active skill

Ancient Wellspring – instantly heals you to maximum HP. It has an extremely long, 2-hour cooldown.

Castanics

Castanics are a playful, hot-headed demonic race. In terms of the visual design, they're similar to humans, but they have horns and very characteristic eyes. Castanics have been betrayed by the vengeful gods, and they decided to take their fate in their own hands. Their racial skills make them most suited for the DPS role. Female Castanics can play the Valkyrie class.

They only have a single combat-related passive

Dirty Fighting – slightly increases the critical hit ratio when attacking the target from behind (+1%). While the bonus is minor, it's probably the most useful racial passive in the game, as it provides a somewhat reliable DPS increase.

Their active ability is somewhat synergistic with that

Skirmish Running – increases your movement speed in combat by 30%, but decreases your resistance to knockdowns.

Elin

Elins are a female-only gender-locked race that's characterized by their child-like appearance and demeanor. Many players refer to them as anime girls or lolis. They're divine, nature-loving creatures that can actually be thousands of years old. They also have animal ears and tails. They don't have any combat-related racial skills, but their passives allow them to run and swim faster. They also have an active skill called Soothing Presence that enables them to sneak around neutral monsters without getting attacked.

Elins have two race-locked classes – Reaper and Ninja. Moreover, along with Castanic females, they are the only characters that can play the Valkyrie class.

Popori

Poporis are another race that's extremely close to nature. They are animals that have been endowed with sentience. After that, they became bipedal and started using various items. In terms of gameplay, they're really similar to Elins. Poporis have identical passive and active racial skills. However, they don't have access to unique classes.  

High Elf

High Elves in TERA are pretty similar to the equivalents of this race known from other MMOs, movies, and books. They're the smart, noble, and intelligent race with a superiority complex. They have an extremely long tradition and impressive architecture. In terms of gameplay, they're most suited for the spell-casting classes that use a lot of Mana.

Their passive skill is called Resilience of Mind, and it provides extra MP after the resurrection. Their active racial ability is named Core Infusion, and it instantly restores 100% of their Mana bar.

Human

Last but not least, there's the most vanilla MMO races of all – the good old Humans. They're the race that's trying to unite the world and bring peace to the Exiled Realm of Arborea. Gameplay-wise, they have special racial skills that make them strong in PvP.

Indomitable Spirit reduces the damage that you take from other players when you're under 30% HP – it works similar to Aman's No Stranger to Pain, but it's PvP-only. Resilience of Body allows the Humans to quickly regenerate HP after they're resurrected. This race also has an active skill called Deft Footwork that increases your resistance to stuns and knockdowns inflicted by other players.

Other Racial Differences

While there are no base stats differences between the TERA online races, there's some minor stuff to consider besides the passives and access to locked classes.

First of all, TERA is a new generation MMORPG – the combat in this game is much more intense and skill-focused than in the older MMOs. You have to land your attacks and abilities in order to damage your opponent. Active blocks and dodges play an essential part too. Why do we bring it up in the TERA Online Races Guide? Well, some race models are bigger than the others, and it has a tangible effect on hitboxes. It's easier to hit a huge Baraka than a small Elin that's jumping around. Some players believe that it's optimal to create smaller characters for DPS and healing, and bigger ones to play as tanks. That being said, it won't make any difference at all in PvE, it can only matter when you're facing other players in PvP.

Moreover, each TERA race and class combination has unique animations. In theory, they all should have identical casting times et cetera, but there are some minor differences that can be exploited by the highest level players. The concept of animation canceling is present in many different games. When you're performing an attack, the damage often goes off before the animation is over. If you know the exact limits of your character, you can cancel the animation's obsolete part by moving or starting another attack. This results in a minor gain of DPS and/or mobility. For example, Elins have a few faster animations for Sorcerers and Lancers, while Castanics have outstanding ones for Warriors. In the end, the damage gain is relatively minor and really difficult to get consistently (if you clip your attack too early, you will cancel not only the animation but also the damage).

If you're devoted to optimizing your DPS for endgame group content and PvP, you might want to search around and take a closer look at this stuff. The best solution is to test multiple classes and check which one feels the best to play. If you're not that keen on chasing these small damage increases, just pick a race that you like the most.

TERA Online Race – Summary

In the end, racial skills, together with animation differences, don't play that big of a role in your character's performance. Amani get some nice defensive bonuses, but other races also can be effective as tanks. The same goes for the DPS characters and their extra stats (Castanics and their +1% Critical Chance while behind the target, being the most notable boost). If you don't want to play a race-locked class, we honestly recommend choosing whatever looks and feels best. If you're going to play a Ninja or a Reaper – the developers chose for you. That would be it about races, TERA Classes Guide can give you more information about creating the perfect character. 

FAQ

Does race choice matter in TERA?

The gameplay-related differences between classes are rather minor. That being said, certain classes are locked to race and gender in TERA.

How many races are there in TERA?

TERA features seven races: Human, High Elf, Castanic, Amani, Baraka, Elin, and Popori.

What is the best TERA race for PvP?

It's debatable, but Humans have some racial traits that give them extra power in PvP. Consider playing this race if you want to focus on PvP.