When is WoW Classic Season of Discovery Phase 5? Probably late September

World of Warcraft Classic‘s Season of Discovery Phase 5 has no official release date at this moment but the arrival of the PTR last week hints that it’s set to arrive soon, and we think it’ll launch on September 26, 2024. This phase has extra guesswork involved since the WoW Classic 2024 roadmap doesn’t specifically have Phase 5 on the roadmap, rather there’s a marker for “End Game Updates” scheduled to release around the same time as Cataclysm Classic Phase 3.

This roadmap was also released before the delay of Season of Discovery Phase 4 so it’s unsure what any impact could have had on Phase 5’s release. Phase 4 was also the first Season of Discovery phase to have a PTR which lasted around 4 weeks. If we apply a similar timeline to Phase 5’s testing, that puts Phase 5’s release at the end of September. Again, this is all guesswork but we’ve seen Blizzard adhere to a consistent release structure.

As we wait for news about Phase 5’s release, let’s peek at what content it will bring to Season of Discovery!

What’s in Season of Discovery Phase 5?

• Blackwing Lair
• Zul’Gurub
• New Ring runes

The PTR testing focus confirmed that the Blackwing Lair and Zul’Gurub raids will be coming in Phase 5 in different capacities — Blackwing Lair as a 20-40 player raid and Zul’Gurub as a 10-20 player raid. Blackwing Lair also has four difficulty modifiers named after the various dragonflights are available in Blackwing Lair and function similar to the Heat levels in Molten Core by introducing unique mechanics. Three new Ring runes targeted for Hunters and casters are also immediately available for testing, though once Phase 5 officially launches they’ll need to be discovered like any other rune:

• Ranged Specialization rune — Increases changes for Beast pets to hit by 2%
• Healing Specialization rune — Increases healing by up to 26
• Meditation Specialization rune — Increases Mana regenerated for 5 seconds by 5.

There has also been quite a bit of datamined content from the PTR, so if you’d rather not be spoiled this is your warning to stop here! If you continue, just remember that datamined content could come any time during Phase 5 or not at all. Up to three new dungeons were datamined from the PTR and since Phase 4 also added a new dungeon, this isn’t totally unexplored territory. Some new and updated weapon models were also found in the PTR files, including some Ahn’Qiraj themed weaponry, hinting at the Ahn’Qiraj war effort event arriving sometime during Phase 5.

We expect to hear an official Phase 5 announcement in the coming weeks and once we do, we’ll keep you updated!