Journey through never-before-seen subterranean worlds filled with hidden wonders and lurking perils, down to the dark depths of the nerub...
World of Warcraft: The War Within is the tenth expansion for Blizzard's MMORPG, released on August 26, 2024. It takes players underground for the first time, descending into Khaz Algar, a vast subterranean continent beneath the surface of Azeroth, where ancient civilizations, titan-forged creatures, and a lurking Void threat await discovery.
The expansion introduced the Earthen, a new playable allied race of titan-forged stone dwarves, and debuted two major systems: Hero Talents, which add a third layer of specialization to existing talent trees, and Delves, a scalable solo and small-group PvE system built into the open world.
The War Within spans four main zones, each occupying a distinct level of the underground continent. The Isle of Dorn serves as the surface entry point, a stormy island home to the Earthen strongholds. Below it, The Ringing Deeps is an industrial underground region of forge networks and mechanical walkers.
Deeper still, Hallowfall is a vast underground cavern lit by a permanent falling comet that sustains an ancient holy society. At the lowest depth, Azj-Kahet is the nerubian empire, a crystalline city of spiders ruled by the Arathi Nerubian Queen, where the central conflict of the expansion unfolds.
Hero Talent trees sit above the existing class and specialization talent trees. Each specialization has two hero talent paths to choose from, adding new active and passive abilities that reshape how a spec plays without replacing its core identity. Examples include the Warlock Diabolist, the Paladin Herald of the Sun, and the Death Knight Rider of the Apocalypse.
Delves are self-contained underground instances scattered across Khaz Algar. They scale from solo to eight-player difficulty tiers, with higher tiers rewarding competitive endgame gear. Brann Bronzebeard accompanies players as an AI companion who can be equipped with abilities to fill support, healer, or damage roles depending on group composition.
Season 1 launched alongside the expansion with the Nerubar Palace raid and a new Mythic-plus dungeon pool. Season 2, titled Undermine(d), launched on February 25, 2025 and introduced the Liberation of Undermine raid set in the Goblin capital city, along with a refreshed dungeon pool and the Zekvir boss encounters.
Season 3 continued the expansion content into 2026, with further patches updating class balance, world content, and the Delves reward structure. The War Within is the first chapter in a planned trilogy of WoW expansions, with Midnight as the second expansion expected to follow.
No. Purchasing The War Within includes access to all previous retail WoW content up to Dragonflight at no additional cost. Only The War Within expansion itself needs to be purchased alongside the subscription.
WoW offers a starter edition that allows free play up to level 20 with restrictions. The full game requires an active subscription, and The War Within expansion must be purchased separately.
Delves are small underground instances scattered across Khaz Algar, designed for one to eight players. Tier 8 and above Delves award Heroic-quality raid gear, making them one of the best solo progression systems WoW has ever introduced.
Players who enjoy The War Within's underground exploration and class depth may also find World of Warcraft retail and WoW Classic worth exploring for different takes on the same universe.