Everything we know about dungeons and raids in Dragonflight

With World of Warcraft’s Dragonflight expansion launching on November 28, we now have details on the dungeons and raids that will be available at launch. Dragonflight includes eight new dungeons, all of which will be available on day one, as well as one raid — Vault of the Incarnates — that will open on December 13. Mythic+ dungeons will also be making a return, with a Shadowlands Season 4-style rotation that may help keep Mythic Seasons more interesting over the course of the expansion. Season 1 of Mythic+ will start on December 13 as well.

That’s not very long to wait — or very long to prepare — for the next big content drop. So if you want to know about Dragonflight’s group content, you’re in the right place. Here’s what we know about all of Dragonflight’s dungeons and raids so far.

Dungeons in Dragonflight

Dragonflight will have four leveling dungeons that you can run as you progress  through the Dragon Isles and four max level dungeons that you’ll only be able to run at max level. Here’s what we know about the eight dungeons in Dragonflight:

• Ruby Life Pools — This dungeon is in the Waking Shores. At present we know that it consists of three boss encounters, the last of which appears to be a two boss council fight. Based on the text of the three boss encounters, the Primalists are invading the Ruby Life Pools to steal Dragon eggs and destroy the site as they consider the Titans, and the Dragons changed by them into the Dragonflights, to be a perversion of what Azeroth was meant to be.
• Brackenhide Hollow — This is the largest and most powerful Gnoll settlement in the Dragon Isles, but its power is based on the cursed decay magics discovered by the Gnoll leader Decatriarch Wratheye. She’s teaching the magic of rot she learned to her people and preparing an onslaught on the Tuskarr that will wipe them out if heroes fail to stop her.
• The Nokhud Offensive — Found on the Ohn’ahran Plains, the Nokhud Offensive is the site of a major conflict between the Centaur of the Plains, with the Nokhud tribe having successfully captured the spirit Ohn’ahra — the goddess of the Centraur tribes and protector of the Plains. Balakar, Khan of the Nokhud, intends to sacrifice Ohn’ahra and steal her power and the heroes have to join with the enraged Centaur tribes in stopping this madness once and for all.
• Uldaman: Legacy of Tyr — Tyr left behind more than the Discs of Norgannon once guarded by Archedas. Within the deeper passages of the ancient Titan facility, the Dragonqueen Alexstrasza has discovered that a disc containing the memories of Tyr lies undisturbed. She sends mortal heroes to find and retrieve the Disc, but they must battle their way past Lost Dwarves, giant Troggs, a former servant of Tyr who is Titan-forged to resemble the Dragons, and a sinister hint of a old foe returned.
• Max level: Algeth’ar Academy — A magic academy run by Dragons. Honestly, what more do you need? It’s been unfortunately somewhat the worse for wear due to that pesky being abandoned for over 10,000 years allowing the magic to degrade and spells to go awry aspect of the whole business, which is of course unfortunate. But with the help of heroes like you, I’m sure it can all be fixed up in no time. There’s not a lot of detail about what the deal is with the Algeth’ar Academy, but still, sounds like a good time to me.
• Max level: The Azure Vault — Malygos’ consort Sindragosa — I’ll give you a moment to recover from the Your magic betraaaaaaaaaays you flashback — once used these vaults as a place to study and catalog various unusual discoveries by her mate the Aspect of Magic and other members of the Blue Dragonflight. Now some very angry Primalists are invading the vaults, while at the same time ancient magical aberrations are making a push to escape.
• Max level: Halls of Infusion — The official preview is clear enough that the Halls of Infusion were created by Tyr, but we don’t actually know their purpose as of yet. However, there are strange creatures infused with the magic of the Halls and angry Primalists seeking to destroy the whole facility and overthrow the rule of the Titans, restoring Azeroth to a state of wild primal nature. It would probably be bad to blow up a Titan facility, and so, once again mortals have to fix things.
• Max level: Neltharus — Invaded the mysterious rivals of the Dragons, the Djaradin, these strange elemental half giants and foes of Dragonkind found the sanctum of Neltharion in the Dragon Isles unexpectedly deserted and abansoned. Now the Djaradin prepare to use the resources of the fallen Earth Warder to strike the Obsidian Citadel and claim all the secrets of the Black Dragonflight.

Mythic+ dungeons in Dragonflight

Mythic+ will be following the Shadowlands Season 4 formula, with four Dragonflight dungeons and four older dungeons in the initial M+ rotation for Dragonflight Season 1. Shadowlands Season 4 was an experiment that’s had its troubles: the old dungeons brought into rotation had significant balance issues, and rotating dungeons in and out of the M+ rotation could mean best-in-slot loot became unobtainable. Blizzard is working on this, and has specifically commented about “missable” best-in-slot items, saying the plan is to balance loot so you won’t feel like you have to carry around something from last Season because it has a powerful effect.

The Dragonflight Season 1 Mythic+ rotation includes:

• Ruby Life Pools
• The Nokhud Offensive
• The Azure Vault
• Algeth’ar Academy
• Halls of Valor (Legion)
• Court of Stars (Legion)
• Shadowmoon Burial Grounds (Warlords)
• Temple of the Jade Serpent (Warlords)

Raids in Dragonflight

We only know about one raid so far: Vault of the Incarnates, an eight-boss raid culminating in a fight with Raszageth the Storm-Eater. If you don’t know who that is, you shouldn’t feel like you’re missing out: the character is a brand new antagonist, who we’ll meet as we quest through the Dragon Isles. The raid’s full boss list includes Eranog, Terros, The Primalist Council, Sennarth, Dathea, Kurog Grimtotem, Broodkeeper Diurna, and our new friend/enemy Raszageth.

Blizzard describes the raid thusly:

The Primalists breached the Titan prison used to hold the Incarnates for millennia. Within, Raszageth performs a foul ritual to unleash her siblings so together they can purge the world of the Titans’ influence. The champions of Azeroth must assault this impregnable fortress and break their defenses to end this threat. While many could fall, defeat condemns all the realms to the Incarnates’ reign of fire and blood.

As to loot, we know tier sets will be available in Dragonflight, and the concept artwork looks pretty cool. Lead Character Artist Kelvin Tan commented that these sets were created to look like a pairing of the elements with the classes wearing them — fitting, for an ancient prison of the Primordials.

Blizzard is trying something new with Vault: Normal, Heroic, and Mythic difficulties will open on the same day, December 13. Cross-faction Mythic raiding will be available from day one, which could make a big difference for Mythic groups who struggle.  LFR will continue to lag behind, with LFR wings released on December 19, January 2, and January 16.

So what other raids might we see? I expect more from the Djaradin that we see in the Neltharus dungeon. Will they be a raid tier as well, or will we see them in another dungeon down the road, or both? Hard to say right now, but the presence of molten magma inside the tower in the Dragonflight cinematic points to their involvement in keeping the Dragons away from their ancestral home.

As the Dragonflight beta continues and we get ever closer to launch day, we’ll learn more about the raids and dungeons coming in the expansion. We’ll update this post as soon as we find out more.

Originally published April 22, 2022; updated September 29, 2022