I’d like a blues answer on the question since its not possible for any of us to answer this, so here it goes : Does physical strength makes any difference in world of warcraft? Do men and women have the same strength? Does size even matters?
Depend if the plots demands it. Im the current contract cinematic we saw how Sylvanas could parry Saurfangs heave attack without even falling back…
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Artwork show Gnome Warriors lifting impaled Orcs up on their swords with one hand, so who you are probably doesn’t matter much if at all.
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Depends on the race. My character could probably punt a male blood elf.
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Since gnome warriors exist, I don’t think physical strength or physics in general are that well established.
But if you don’t want to go into details and rather want a more general explanation, there are a number of spells and potions that are meant to enhance strength and other physical attributes.
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She was able to block saurfang attacks because she has become stronger somehow more insight to this is when some of the leaders were questioning her new power and where it came from.
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Mekkatorque in that cinematic with the Zandalari gets blasted by a ballista and while severely wounded lifts up a big ol’ hunk of metal bigger than himself, so yeah, my boy Gelbin lifts.
My personal headcanon on this however is that gnomes being descended from robots have stupid Chimp strength and have a denser muscle mass.
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This is something that has been driving me crazy for a while now, and my only conclusion is that Blizzard are no more consistent with the physics of their world than they are with their writing… they either worf the crap out of something to make who they want to be perceived as cool or heroic stand out, or they just do this “smash weapons together” flynning-type trope for sheer rule of cool…
In short: rule of cool. Also they seem to substitute this for much of any interesting choreography.
I hate this and it really makes me wonder what the hell point there is to even have various races with different strengths and weaknesses when they all simply act and fight the same… It’s boring.
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i would say that physical strength in fantasy is largely irrelevant with so many ways to magically empower your self let’s not forget death knights for example have unholy strength that puts them above whatever strength they have in life
The duel between Sylvanas and Saurfang is irrelevant since she got a power up from somewhere. In the Novel Warcrimes Sylvanas states that Baine could snap her neck with his fingers…The Orcs,Tauren,Kultirans,Draenei, and Dwarves are the strongest physically. The Elves are the most agile and swift (Night Elves being the best ofc).
Genders do play a role indeed, a female Orc is probably as strong as a male Blood elf 
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heck the mecha gnomes are most likely stronger then a male orc
Kul Tirans are just normal humans. The ingame models have nothing to do with their actual anatomy.
I think that was intentional. That entire cinematic was aimed at showing off Sylvanas’ mysterious newfound dark power. It wouldn’t surprise me if she could parry a downward smash from even Baine or Genn.
(I’m pretty sire the old Sylvanas would have gotten pancaked in such situations, but the point they’re trying to make is that she’s suddenly acquired serious power imo)
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That’s the single most realistic thing in the cinematic.
Strength is good yes, but not (much) if you’re using weapons. Then the game is a lot different.
Edit: You really don’t need more strength as your opponent to parry a blade. Sure with Orcs etc. it will get different at some point.
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I think I read somewhere that for gameplay reasons all races are equally strong, but canonically for example a tauren would be much stronger than a human because they’re so much larger.
Obviously for story reasons it depends where the writers want to go and as such an undead elf can easily defend against a giant orc.
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Fixed that for ya
Fairly sure female orcs are stronger than male Belfs, I’d say they’re closer to, maybe a little below, Troll male.
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hehe, sure but I feel that Trolls are more of a combination of strength and agility.
I will also like to add the base stats of all races, as in regardless of class just so people get more info,these will influence your gameplay for the first 20 levels or so.
lhttps://wowwiki.fandom.com/wiki/Race
The Tauren and Dwarves have the highest strength in game which is 25, the average for a stat is 20, and I forgot the Worgen they are pretty powerful physically.
Ah, ok I see what you were going for, with races who specialize in strength primarily… yeah that makes sense, my mistake.
Yes, Worgen and Trolls are more of a combo of strength and agility.
Yeah I’ve been basing myself off of the original starting stats as well, though it’s weird because while the Dwarves’ starting stat is indeed the same as a Tauren, iirc the booklet/manual puts it at 22 
I speculate that the reason they perhaps upped the Dwarf strength in-game was for balance reasons? So that the Alliance had one race with equal strength to the tauren, and Dwarves, at the time, was the only race which boasted greater strength lorewise.
If that was the surprise twist they were going for, they failed. They shouldn’t have included Thrall saying ‘OMG there is NO way you have even the SLIGHTEST chance’ then. If Thrall hadn’t said that, they could have gone with the impression that everybody was thinking Saurfang might have a chance to 1v1 Sylvanas (and why wouldn’t he, just look at him, it was a melee duel not an archery contest), the eventual reveal of how easily Sylvanas bests him would have come as an ominous shock to everyone and underscored how she got mysterously powerful. So tbh they failed to show that in the cinematic, if that was their purpose.
She didn’t parry it, she fully blocked it to a standstill (with a limp-wristed dagger no less), then shoved his weapon away. That requires a force equal to, or greater than the incoming blow.
We saw Saurfang’s physical strength in several cinematics, he knocks down Anduin in full plate armor so he flies off and lands on his back, and he slams a Forsaken to land meters away from him (so it’s not just ‘Undead are more powerful’). Sylvanas should not have been able to block Saurfang, especially when he was using both hands on a two-handed weapon.
Blizzard may have been going for the ‘yeah, obviously the thin undead elf shouldn’t have the strength to armwrestle an orc, that was the point, she powerful, tho!’ but then they ruined it with the Thrall line of Saurfang not standing a chance. 
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Yeah I don’t think Thrall meant Sylvanas’ physical strength when he said that. More her lack of honor. Saurfang may be physically stronger than Sylvanas (or should be at least by looks) but Sylvanas is stronger when it comes to magic. And magic is not strictly forbidden in mak’gora. Sylvanas would probably never agree to have mak’gora with Saurfang without magic, and if she did she would most definitely use magic anyway.
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