The War Guide
The shape of a war
An invasion overruns the zone around a capital city and the war has two active phases:
- ✦The Siege. For 5 days the invaders hold the zone outside the gates. Cut down 3,000 of them and strike down their warboss 5 times (he returns every 6 hours) before the clock runs out and the city is defended.
- ✦The Fall. Fail, and the invaders pour through the gates, 30% tougher and hitting 20% harder than they were outside. The city then remains fallen with no time limit. Every converted invader and the empowered Commander appears once and never respawns; kill them all to restore the city.
Contribution: earn your share
30 invader kills qualify you for the war payout, and kills by your party members within reward range count for everyone.The war is cross-faction: capitals of the Alliance and the Horde alike will come under siege, players of either faction can fight on any front, and the payout goes only to those who fought, whatever their banner.
- ✦Striking the warboss is still worth it: your first warboss strike of the war arms a one-time bonus that raises your gold and honor payout by 50%.
- ✦Rewards are earned, never handed out: once the war is decided, claim yours from the Invasion Herald within 7 days.
- ✦The Invasion Herald stands in the inn in Dalaran, neutral ground for both banners, and reads out the live state of the war.
War spoils
The payout scales with how the war ended. A clean defense pays in full; clearing a city after it falls pays half:
- ✦A defended city pays 100%: 2,500 gold, 20 [Demon Hearts], 20 [Emblems of Frost], 50,000 honor and 1 [Invasion Warseal].
- ✦A city cleared after falling pays 50% of the gold, hearts, emblems and honor. The Warseal is always a full seal at either reward tier.
- ✦The warboss bonus applies to gold and honor only: at full tier that is 3,750 gold and 75,000 honor.
- ✦The battlefield itself pays too: invaders drop coin with a 5% chance at an epic (item level up to 245), and warbosses drop item level 251 armor, extra Emblems of Frost and a rare chance at a mighty mammoth mount.
The Warseal economy
- ✦The Herald's quartermaster sells every Wrathful Gladiator (item level 277) armor piece for 1 Warseal plus 68,200 honor. This is the only place Wrathful armor is sold.
- ✦Not a PvP collector? The Herald exchanges 1 Warseal for 10 Demon Hearts instead.
Surviving the war zone
- ✦Graveyards are no-camp pockets: invaders keep their distance, so you will never be farmed at your own corpse.
- ✦A Refugee Courier lands in a besieged faction's starting zone, ready to fly new arrivals to a safer refuge while the fighting lasts.
- ✦The realm's wandering bot residents flee an invaded zone: this war belongs to the players. Your own party bots still fight at your side as usual.
- ✦Follow the war from anywhere: the home page shows the next invasion countdown, and once fighting starts, the live phase, remaining invaders and Commander progress.