Guild Wars 3 Playable Species: Humans, Asura, Kodan, and the Fourth Mystery

Confirmed: Guild Wars 3 is set to launch with four playable species: humans, Asura, Kodan, and one species that has not been named. The official Kodan and Asura spotlights now add their paths into ancient Orr to the confirmed record.

Confirmed: ArenaNet's approach post calls them playable species and states that species choice creates no statistical or mechanical difference. The four choices express identity and story context rather than a combat advantage.

Humans: newcomers to a god-run world

Confirmed: The Human spotlight presents humans in this era as curious, driven, and resourceful people who came from beyond the Mists with their Six Gods. Human communities already have roots in Cantha, Elona, and Ascalon before the game begins.

Confirmed: The launch story places every player character under the Vaelwarden banner. The Vaelwardens are tied to the Order of the Vael, described as the oldest guild in Orr.

Kodan: the first-timer

Confirmed: The Kodan follow Koda the Creator, whom they believe shaped Tyria and its natural and magical life. A chosen minority called Voices is attuned to Koda's thoughts and will, and treats that connection as a duty to guard the world's natural balance.

Confirmed: Janthir is the exception to that pattern. Its Kodan descend from a Voice who rejected Koda and abandoned the calling, leaving later generations to live outside the faith shared by most Kodan communities.

Confirmed: Some Janthir Kodan later felt a renewed call toward Orr. The calamity in Orr's Tughra Basin convinced them to answer it publicly, beginning a second migration that formed the first roots of the Orrian Kodan settlement and the ancestry of a Kodan player character.

Confirmed: The first southbound Kodan reached Orr more than a century before the game begins and sensed that the land was ill. They established their first permanent settlement in northwestern Orr after discovering the Vael and reading that encounter as a sign that Koda had sent them to protect the land.

Confirmed: The Vaelwardens initially refused to admit Kodan and other outsiders, and the two groups clashed over the Kodan's presence and methods. Shared commitments to protection eventually grew into a deep alliance. When the Order of the Vael opens recruitment, Kodan are among the first to answer and a Kodan player joins the Vaelwardens as an expression of Koda's will.

Confirmed: The Kodan spotlight adds narrative context while leaving the equal-stat and equal-mechanics rule unchanged. It gives the species a guardian history and a reason to join the launch guild without creating a species-specific combat benefit.

Asura: the returning fan favorite

Confirmed: The Orrian Asura belong to an early period more than a millennium before Primordus stirs. They remain fossorial, but they travel above ground for work, pleasure, and curiosity. Compared with later descendants, they are rougher around the edges, somewhat taller while still shorter than humans, and slightly furrier.

Confirmed: Their route to Orr took decades of attempts from the Maguuma Jungle through the Shiverpeak Mountains and onward to Orr. The first attempts began before the gift of magic, so Asura relied on mechanical tools and physical labor to dig their way toward the peninsula.

Confirmed: Coastal tunnels flooded, later underwater works were shaken by tremors beneath the abyssal plain, and repeated approaches collapsed. Zouelle the Archengineer kept the search alive, then emerged with her granddaughter Niommi near the top of Criterion Canyon and witnessed an incandescent eruption that showed how powerful Orr's magic could be.

Confirmed: Zouelle and Niommi founded Rata Pten at Criterion Canyon as the base for a larger expedition. Niommi later formed the Rata Pten Expeditionary Krewe, took the title the Trailblazer, and continued after Zouelle died on the night before the expedition began.

Confirmed: The expedition crossed the route toward Orr through heat sickness, supply shortages, wildlife encounters, and the loss of half the krewe. Its reward was the discovery of the Vael. The Asura's investigations then brought them into conflict with the Vaelwardens, who viewed them as reckless intruders while the Asura saw the order as hostile to progress.

Confirmed: After the Vaelwardens opened membership more widely, some Asura learned to bind several signets to one weapon. The technique connects Asuran craft to the Vaelwarden tradition and produces versatile arms, but signet binding does not create a species combat advantage because the equal-stat and equal-mechanics rule still applies.

The fourth species: unrevealed (and one door closed)

Confirmed: The fourth species remains unnamed. ArenaNet describes it as new, deeply tied to Orr's past, and lost to history. The approach post says players will have to wait to find out more. A reveal date has not been named.

Confirmed: The approach post excludes the Forgotten from the launch foundations because their four-armed, serpentine silhouette does not fit the stated armor, clothing, and animation foundations.

FAQ

What species are in Guild Wars 3?

Confirmed: Four playable species are planned for launch: humans, Asura, Kodan, and one new species whose name has not been revealed.

Do species have different stats or mechanics in Guild Wars 3?

Confirmed: No. ArenaNet's approach post says that playable species have equal statistics and equal mechanics, so species choice does not grant a combat advantage.

What did the Kodan spotlight reveal?

Confirmed: It explains Koda and the Voices, the Janthir exception, the second migration to Orr after the Tughra Basin calamity, the first northwestern settlement, the Kodan relationship with the Vaelwardens, and the recruitment path for a Kodan player character.

What did the Asura spotlight reveal?

Confirmed: It describes the Orrian Asura's appearance, their Maguuma Jungle to Shiverpeak Mountains to Orr route, pre-magic tunnel attempts, Zouelle and Niommi, Criterion Canyon, Rata Pten, the expedition, the Vael discovery, the Vaelwarden conflict, and signet binding.

Is the fourth species known?

Confirmed: Its identity remains unknown. ArenaNet has described it as a new species deeply tied to Orr's past, lost to history, and has not named a reveal date.

Are the Forgotten playable in Guild Wars 3?

Confirmed: The approach post rules the Forgotten out of the launch foundations because their four-armed, serpentine body shape does not fit the armor, clothing, and animation foundations described for launch species.