Everything we know about The War Within’s Matrix Catalyst

It will probably not surprise World of Warcraft players to learn that The War Within will once again feature a new entry in the series of Catalysts — the machines left behind by cosmic forces that allow us to convert appropriate gear into tier sets, making obtaining them (whether for actual power gains during the season they’re relevant, or for transmog after the fact). If you’ve used the Revival Catalyst in Dragonflight or the Creation Catalyst during Shadowlands, a lot of this will be familiar to you; if not, then welcome to the latest iteration of one of the most well-received features of the last two expansions.

Just the facts about the Matrix Catalyst

The new Catalyst in The War Within is the Matrix Catalyst. Much like Dragonflight‘s Catalyst, the Matrix Catalyst is extremely conveniently located by where players will probably spend a lot of time — in fact, it’s actually within Dornogal, the capital city at the top of Khaz Algar. You’ll want to look for Custodian Khubon, an Earthen who hangs out next to it to tell people how to use it.

In the past, there has been a lot of confusion at times about what gear is eligible to be converted, mostly due to both Catalysts and gear “upgrade tracks” being things introduced partway through an expansion. In The War Within, however, this is very straightforward: any max-level gear on the Veteran upgrade track is eligible to be placed into the Matrix Catalyst.

You will still need a currency that auto-accumulates weekly to use it. TWW Season 1’s currency is Harmonized Silk. Don’t worry if you don’t use them up right away — you will accumulate one charge every two weeks, and they’ll wait around until you have gear to convert, just like before.

Lastly, for the sake of completing appearance sets, you still have the ability to convert pieces that don’t have a tier set bonus, but which will match the tier set in appearance — for example, Core of the Destroyer is a mail belt that matches the appearance of the Evoker Season 1 tier set, and either this piece or one that matches it would be required for an Evoker to complete the transmog achievement I’m Bringing Nerub-ack. These pieces include belts, bracers, cloaks, and boots. Sometimes these off-set pieces can be worth looking at even for people who aren’t hunting transmog, as the secondary stats on them are preset and do not necessarily match the piece you would put into the Catalyst to convert into them.

When will the Matrix Catalyst be available?

Blizzard has confirmed in an interview with Raider.IO and Icy Veins that the first Matrix Catalyst charge will be available to use on September 10th, alongside the first week of Heroic raiding!