When is the Wrath Classic Phase 3 release date? We bet early summer!

The Wrath of the Lich King Classic Phase 2 is now in full swing, which means all of the content is now irrelevant and the anticipation of Wrath Classic Phase 3 can begin! Okay, that first part is a joke (mostly), as Phase 2 contains Titan Rune Dungeons, the Ulduar raid, and Argent Tournament Grounds, giving players quite few activities to complete along with new achievements, gear, and other rewards to earn.

But the top guilds have already cleared Ulduar, and soon enough we’ll all be done with Phase 2 content. And that means we can begin to wonder how long this Phase will last and when Phase 3 will arrive. We don’t yet have an official date for any future Phases, but I would put my gold on a Phase 3 release date in early summer 2023.

Let’s take a look at what we know about Phase 3, and why it will probably be several months before it launches.

Ulduar needs time to breathe

Phase 2 released on January 17, and it’ll be here for the next few months at least. Blizzard stated early on they wanted to give Ulduar “time to breathe” in order to keep it relevant longer and to prevent it from being immediately power crept in to oblivion when Trial of the Crusader arrives in Phase 3 — which is what happened in 2009 during Wrath’s original run. For comparison, patch 3.1 and Wrath Classic phase 1 lasted about the same number of days — 113 — and I can see Phase 2 lasting at least that long.

Once More unto the Forbidden Reach

There’s a chance that Classic won’t want to overlap retail WoW — at least not too much. While we don’t have all of the details about what’s coming to retail WoW over the next few months, thanks to the Dragonflight 2023 roadmap, we know that our return to the Forbidden Reach in patch 10.0.7 (coming this spring) will set up everything the next part of Dragonflight’s story, the new zone, and the new raid arriving Dragonflight patch 10.1 alongside Season 2, which we expect to launch in May 2023.

It’s hard to imagine that Phase 3 would be released at the same time as a new Dragonflight season and raid so I would bet those take precedence in terms of release priority. That lends to Phase 3 being over the summer.

What’s in Wrath Classic Phase 3?

Phase 3 will include:

• Trial of the Crusader, a new raid taking place in the finished Crusader’s Coliseum structure at the Argent Tournament Grounds
• Isle of Conquest, a new 40-player PVP battleground taking place at the titular Isle of Conquest off the coast of Northrend.

We don’t know for certain but we could potentially see adjustments to Phase 3 endgame content — and beyond based — on the reception and impact made by the changes to Ulduar gear drops and the Titan Rune Dungeons in Phase 2.

All of these things considered, the best window of time for Wrath Classic’s third phase to arrive is at the start of summer — after the release of Wrath Classic Phase 2 and Dragonflight patch 10.1 and Season 2. While there aren’t many details about the plan for Classic’s second Season of Mastery, we think will arrive this summer as well but it would come after Wrath Classic rolls out Phase 3. For now, we can all continue to enjoy Wrath Classic Phase 2 — at least until the Phase 3 PTR drops.