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Announced early in September and fully revealed on May 20, 2025,World of Warcraft: Season of DiscoveryPhase Fiveis finally on the way. Afterreaching max level in Phase 4and taking on Molten Core, players will be able to take on new max-level challenges like two new Raids, a new World Boss, and of course new Runes and other changes – including PvP updates and other Discoveries waiting to be made.
Phase 5 may seem like it’s lackingcontent compared to previous Phases, which all raised the Level Cap and included leveling zones for content. But with two revamped Raids to take down, revamped Gear to acquire, new reasons to take on PvP Battlegrounds, and plenty of quality-of-life updates that encourage players to start Alts, there’s no lack of things to do in Phase 5 as theSoDendgame continues to evolve.
Two New Raids & A World Boss
Blackwing Lair and Zul’Gurub Are Coming In SoD P5
One of the biggest new features inWoW: Season of DiscoveryPhase 5 is the addition of two newly revamped Raids from ClassicWoW: Blackwing Lair and Zul’Gurub. The rewards from the loot tables of these two Raids will be overhauled with SoD-appropriate gear and items, along with retooled bosses with new mechanics and strategies needed to take them down.
Blackwing Lair, for example, will feature a Difficulty system much like Molten Core’s Heat system, which will introduce additional mechanics to the already-revamped boss fights. In Zul’Gurub, the Hakkar boss fight has been redesigned with new encounter mechanics, and players are able to choose which boss they fight in the Edge of Madness portion of the Raid.
With the release ofSoD P5on September 26, players have a little bit more time to get attuned to BWL andget an Onyxia Scale Cloak, which must be equipped to survive one of Neltharion’s boss mechanics. You don’t need to do anything special to get into Zul’Gurub, though the new mechanic will force players to re-think how they route through the Raid for an optimal balance of loot vs difficulty.
There are rumors of new 5-man Dungeons being added to SoD in P5, but these two Raids are all that have actually been confirmed in terms of new endgame PvE content. Blizzard has teased “more surprises ahead” including a new boss in Demon Fall Canyon, so there is a chance these new 5-man Dungeons could be part of this “surprise” content.
New World Boss: Thunderaan
In Phase 4 players were able to take on two World Bosses, Azuregos in Azshara andLord Kazzak in the Blasted Lands, each in a brand-new instanced area in their original locations. Phase 5 will also add a new World Boss: Prince Thunderaan. You don’t need to be on the Thunderfury questline to fight Thunderaan, who will drop pre-BiS gear for every class, but the new World Boss will be tied to theSoDversion of Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker, which has been improved forSoD.
The fight will be tuned for 20 players, but you can bring a group of up to 40 players to this World Boss to make things a bit easier.
New Runes & Easier Rune Acquisition
More Runes In P5 & A New Rune Currency
With every phase comes a suite of new Runes for every class to try out. InSoD Phase 4Ring Runes were added, which granted certain specialization bonuses to all characters regardless of Racials. In Phase 5, it looks like we are getting more of these multi-class Utility Runes as well as more Runes that can be acquired in endgame Phase 5 content.
Two new Ring Runes for the Healing spec have been datamined: one increases Mana regeneration, and one boosts Healing output. Some Runes will likely be swapped to new equipment slots, too, to give classes better choices to empower their characters. Until the SoD P5 launch we won’t know which new Runes will be available in Phase 5.
A New Currency For Certain Runes
Another interesting change coming with Phase 5 forSoDis a new currencythat can be used to purchase Runes. You will be able to get these bind-on-account Rune tokens from Pix Xizzix, the Booty Bay SoD gear vendor, which can then be traded to a new vendor in both capital cities for Runes that would normally be difficult to acquire. These include Runes from the Dark Rider questline, the Wild Gods vendor, the Ley Lines Runes, and more.
This will help players just starting out in SoD to catch up to everyone else who has been steadily collecting new Runes with each new Phase for almost a year now, and will help endgame players finish collecting Runes they didn’t bother going out of the way for while leveling.
Revamped Classic Tier 1.5 & Tier 2 Armor Sets
New Set Bonuses & Itemization For Tier Sets
Like in previous level-up Raids and Molten Core, all Tier Sets coming inSeason of DiscoveryPhase 5 have beenupdated to meet the power levels ofSoD. Tier 2 pieces can be acquired in the Blackwing Lair Raid, while Tier 1.5 will drop from Zul’Gurub.
Pix Xizzix will also sell a token for Tier 2 Bracers that every class can get as soon as Phase 5 launches, which will give you a head start on Phase 5 gearing.
Details on these new sets have not been confirmed quite yet, but we do know that the classic set bonuses are “expanding to include multiple variations for different talent specializations and playstyles.” This means gear will be more targeted towards your current spec, perhaps shaking up theSoDclass rankings and performance a bit as some more niche specializations get some much-needed spec-specific upgrades.
Refreshed PvP Battlegrounds
Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin Honor Will Be Boosted
One big complaint in thePvP community inSoDPhase 4is that nobody does Battlegrounds except for Alterac Valley. It offers the best honor-per-hour if your teams just rush objectives, but because everyone wants to play AV, other well-liked battlegrounds are languishing in popularity.
But, with Phase 5, PvP updates will improve the amount of Honor you earn from Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin. This will improve the endgame PvP experience a lot as we get more variety in our Battleground options and get to participate in a Battleground that incentivizes PvP instead of focusing on enemy NPCs.
Additionally, like in previous Phases, the max PvP Rank will be raised to 10 and up, finally allowing PvP enthusiasts to raise their PvP Rank to the classic maximum and have a shot at making Rank 14.
