news

Greetings, Firestorm!

Let's start with a quick recap: Dornogal, our The War Within realm, launched on August 25 with most of the content. But now it's time to talk about Season 1, and this post will go over the details and specifics of the content being unlocked.

On Monday, September 1st, Season 1 of The War Within will start. This includes Mythic dungeons, rated PvP, and the release of the first raid, Nerub-ar Palace, in LFR, Normal, and Heroic difficulties, four new World Bosses and finally, a new battleground: Deephaul Ravine.
 

General Season 1 Features:

• WORLD BOSSES
  World Bosses are a good way to obtain more powerful gear, dropping item level 603 Champion gear. They will follow a weekly rotation, with only one boss available at a time. 
  Here's the World Boss list:
  • Kordac <Dormant Protector>
  • Aggregation of Horrors
  • Shurrai <Atrocity of the Undersea>
  • Orta <The Broken Mountain>
     
• GREAT VAULT
  The Great Vault has been available since launch. This means that all activities completed between August 25th and August 31st will count toward the September 1st Vault reset.
  One change has been introduced in the Vault: in the PvP section, the previous PvP slot has been replaced by World Activities, which now includes Delves and other open-world activities.

NERUB-AR PALACE

Located in Azj'kahet, the first raid of the expansion, Nerub-ar Palace, will finally open its doors this Monday, September 1st, and all eight bosses will be available to challenge!

Each boss will use different mechanics and will have unique complexities, making each boss encounter unique. While all of them will be available since the release of Season 1, the Mythic mode will not be implemented for now.

Here's a list of its bosses:

• Ulgrax the Devourer
• The Bloodbound Horror
• Sikran, Captain of the Sureki
• Rasha'nan
• Broodtwister Ovi'nax
• Nexus-Princess Ky'veza
• The Silken Court: Anub'arash and Skeinspinner Takazj
• Queen Ansurek

Item Level Raid Loot:

• Raid Finder Difficulty: Item Level 584-593;
• Normal Difficulty: Item Level 597-606;
• Heroic Difficulty: Item Level 610-619;
• Mythic Difficulty: Item Level 623-632.
   

Inside the raid, you can also pick up the quest Nerub-ar Palace: For Nerubian Eyes Only from Shadow Walker Tarvex.
To complete it, you must collect the following on the same difficulty:

• 3 Signet of the Thousand Scars from Anub'arash
• 3 Signet of the Skeinspiner from Skeinspiner Takazj

Once the quest is complete, you’ll still need to defeat Ulgrax and Bloodbound Horror in order to activate the skip. This skip only bypasses Silkran and Rasha’nan, giving you direct access to Broodtwister Obi’nax, Nexus-Princess Ky’veza, and The Silken Court.

All the remaining information about the raid (additional rewards, transmog sets, unique items) can be seen here: Nerub-ar Palace guide

MYTHIC DUNGEONS

Similar to what happens with the raids, the Mythic dungeons will not be available until Season 1 starts (on September 1st, 2025).
Following the same system, 4 dungeons will be from the current expansion, and the other 4 will be from the previous expansion:

• Ara-Kara, City of Echoes
• City of Threads
• The Stonevault
• The Dawnbreaker
• Mists of Tirna Scithe (Shadowlands)
• The Necrotic Wake (Shadowlands)
• Siege of Boralus (BfA)
• Grim Batol (Cataclysm)
   

During this first season, we will have some new additions regarding affixes:

• At Mythic Keystone level 2, players will see their first affix depending on the week:
  • Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant
  • Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound
  • Xal'atath's Bargain: Oblivion
  • Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour
• At Keystone Level 4, Tyrannical or Fortified become active, alternating each week.
• At Keystone Level 7, a new affix named Challenger's Peril becomes active.
• At Keystone Level 10, both Tyrannical and Fortified become active at the same time.
• At Keystone Level 12, Xal'atath removes her bargains, and Xal'atah's Bargain is replaced with Xal'atath's Guile.
   

Item-level loot table will be as follows:

During this season, the following achievements and rewards will be active:

• The War Within Keystone Explorer: Season One: Complete a Mythic dungeon within the time limit during The War Within Season One.
• The War Within Keystone Conqueror: Season One: Attain a Mythic Rating of at least 1500 during Dragonflight Season One.
  • Title reward: The Tempered.
• The War Within Keystone Master: Season One: Attain a Mythic Rating of at least 2000 during Dragonflight Season One.
  • Mount reward: Diamond Mechsuit.
• The War Within Season 1: Spelunker Supreme: Defeated Queen Ansurek on Heroic or Mythic difficulty
  • Token reward: Mark of the Spelunker Supreme
• The War Within Keystone Hero: Season One: Attain a Mythic Rating of at least 2500 during Dragonflight Season One.
  • Item reward: Luminous Nerubian Catalyst Stone
• Tempered Hero: The War Within Season 1
• You can also earn dungeon teleports by completing a timed Keystone Level 10 or higher run for that dungeon.

Check The War Within Season 1 Mythic Guide for more specific information about the Mythic dungeons this season (like detailed class guides and dungeon guides).

DELVES

Delves are a new type of short-form instanced content that you can run solo or in a group of 2-5 players, accompanied by an NPC companion, Brann Bronzebeard, who can take on the role of DPS or healer. Brann has both Combat Curios and Utility Curios and you can select 1 of each type to be active at any time. Like roles, Curios can only be swapped by clicking on the Explorers' League Supplies box and selecting "View Brann Bronzebeard's supplies". Curios drop from the treasure chests found in the Treasure Rooms at the successful conclusion of Delves.

Occasionally, Brann Bronzebeard at the Delver’s Headquarters offers a weekly quest rewarding 1 Pinnacle Cache, containing upgrade materials, gear, gold, and more. This quest rotates with other weekly quests and won't be available every week.
Completions will also count toward the Great Vault.

When you reach a Delve entrance, a special User Interface appears with essential information for your run. It displays the Delve's name, a dropdown to choose the Tier of difficulty, and a short description of your main objectives. For example, your task is to free miners from spider webs, kill Nerubians, and so forth. On the right side, the UI lists the rewards you will receive upon completing the Delve:
 

Players can access Delves while leveling, with the first tiers (1 to 3) available during zone progression. Tiers 4-11 unlock at level 80, once the campaign is complete and Season 1 starts. Each Delve features rotating story variants that change daily to keep the experience fresh. Sometimes, a Delve is marked as a Bountiful Delve, offering an extra chest at the end if you bring a Restored Coffer Key earned through world activities.

More info about Delves here: Delves Season 1 Guide for The War Within

PvP

Alongside the new raid and Mythic comes a brand-new PvP Season, Forged Gladiator: The War Within Season 1
Let's talk about PvP features:

WAR MODE
War Mode gets some changes too: Bloody Tokens are now the sole currency for open-world PvP.
Also, PvP gear scales up in arenas and battlegrounds as usual, but not in War Mode activities. For open-world combat, you can use valorstones and crests to upgrade your gear to the highest item level available outside instanced PvP.
 

PVP GEAR

• Honor Gear
  Honor gear can be purchased from Velerd located in the same room as Hotharn. In Season 1, Honor gear starts at Item Level 558 and the item level increases in BG or arena to 626. It follows the Explorer track, and you must spend Honor on the gear.
   
• Conquest Gear
  Conquest gear starts at item Level 597 (639 in PvP instances) and the Conquest Quartermaster is Lalandi.
   
• Crafted PvP Gear
  Competitor’s Recipes (crafted PvP gear plans) are sold by Hotharn, who also offers different PvP reagents. This gear has item Level 545, and in BG or Arenas, it increases to 606.
   
• Tier Set
  A brand-new PvP tier set is coming, and in this guide you'll find all the details you need to know about it, from what it offers to how you can get it:
  Tier Sets Guide – Nerub’ar Palace (Wowhead)
   

GREAT VAULT
PvP section of the Great Vault has been removed with the introduction of Delves. As a result, players will no longer be able to obtain PvP gear from the Great Vault moving forward.
 

WEEKLY CAP

• The Bloody Token cap starts at 1,350 and increases by 550 every week.
• The Conquest cap starts at 1,600 and increases by 600 every week.

SOLO RATED BATTLEGROUND BLITZ
Solo Rated Battleground Blitz is one of the main PvP features this season. It's a fast-paced 8v8 battleground mode where you queue alone or with a healer, climb the ranks, earn titles, and unlock seasonal rewards. Matches are objective-focused and packed with power-ups that keep the action moving.
 

RATING & DECAY
Regarding the rating, we will have a decay system as usual, where you will need to play at least 5 arenas per week to keep all rating.
Here the rating you will lose:

• First week: 25
• Second week: 50
• Until: 100
   

ARENA ROTATION
Finally, there will be a weekly arena rotation to ensure that players have a plan of what arenas they could encounter and strategies for them.
The rotation will be as follows:

SEASON 1 REWARDS
There will be rewards for the season's top players when Season 1 ends and we move to the next one. We cannot specify how many players for each tier will win, primarily since most achievements and rewards are obtained during the season and not at the end.

• New Gladiator title: Forged Gladiator (and achievement Forged Gladiator: The War Within Season 1). 
• New Solo Queue title: Forged Legend (and achievement Forged Legend: The War Within Season 1).
• New Gladiator mount: Forged Gladiator's Fel Bat.
• Special currency: Mark of the Spelunker Supreme (rewarded from achievement The War Within Season 1: Spelunker Supreme).
• New seasonal title: The Elite (rewarded from achievement Elite: The War Within Season 1).
• New armor effect: Luminous Nerubian Catalyst Stone (rewarded from avhievement Web-Wrapped in the Finest Silks).
• New Battleground Blitz title: Forged Warlord (rewarded from achievement Forged Warlord: The War Within Season 1)
• New Battleground Blitz title: Forged Marshal (rewarded from achievement Forged Marshal: The War Within Season 1
• New toy: Unbound Legend's Pennant
• New Gladiator Tabard: Forged Gladiator's Tabard.
• New Gladiator cloak: Forged Gladiator's Prestigious Cloak.
• New Vicious mounts: Vicious Skyflayer for alliance (Forged Combatant) and Vicious Skyflayer for horde (Forged Combatant).

More info about PvP here: The War Within PvP Season 1 Guide