Season of Discovery Phase 7 Now Live + Patch Notes

Are you afraid of the dark? In Season of Discovery Phase 7, you’ll need to face your fears and go boldly into an all-new dungeon— Karazhan Crypts. Journey to famed ziggurat, Naxxramas, visit the Rune Brokers to purchase runes and rune-related discovery items, and face the Scourge as they invade Azeroth once more.

Key Dates:

• January 28:
  • Karazhan Crypts Dungeon Opens
  • Scourge Invasions Begins
• February 6 at 1:00 pm PST worldwide:
  • Naxxramas Opens

---

Fear the Darkness within Karazhan Crypts

Beginning with maintenance the week of January 28, an all-new dungeon— Karazhan Crypts— will make its debut. Work with your party to navigate through the shadows and face the dangers that lurk within, investigate puzzles, and uncover the secrets deep in the halls and cavernous tunnels .

• Where: Begin your journey toward attunement for Karazhan Crypts by visiting the Lights Hope Chapel in Eastern Plaguelands to pick up the starting quest.
• What: Level 60, 5-Player Dungeon
• Lockout: 24 Hours

Designed to be a challenge for well-geared players, this dungeon will introduce a unique new “darkness” mechanic that will require players to group up and stay within the light if they want to avoid hidden hazards within . The rest is up to you to explore and discover.

---

Face the Scourge

The Scourge marches once more and the horrors which serve the Lich King have begun to seed the lands of Azeroth with the plague of undeath. Join with the Argent Dawn in this world event to put a stop to them. Unlike in previous iterations of the Scourge Invasion, there is no end in sight.

• Where: Eastern Plaguelands, Azshara, Blasted Lands, Burning Steppes, Tanaris, Winterspring, major cities, and select dungeons.

Level 60 players can speak with the Argent Recruiter within your capital city to receive the quest, Light’s Hope Chapel. These players can also undertake a variety of additional quests during this event that can be picked up in the major cities or from defeated Scourge invaders.

You’ll be tasked with investigating the Scourge activity within the major cities and thwarting invasions throughout Azeroth. Keep your eye on your map (M) to locate these hotspots of activity and put a stop to them.

In each invasion point, you’ll engage with rare undead who each have a chance to drop various helpful items. Additional foes can be found in the Dire Maul, Razorfen Downs, Scarlet Monastery, Scholomance, Shadowfang Keep, and Stratholme dungeons.

Along the way, you’ll collect Necrotic Runes, which can be used to purchase items during this event from Commander Thomas Helleran at Light’s Hope Chapel, including Blessed Wizard Oil, Consecrated Sharpening Stone, Major Healing and Major Mana Potions, and more.

---

Visit the Rune Brokers

Don’t forget to visit the Rune Brokers which can be found in each race’s starting zone and in every major city. You’ll be able to purchase all runes and rune-related discovery items for the low low price of one copper each! Please note that some runes for Druids, Paladins, and Shaman will continue to require players to equip a relic and perform certain actions before it can be created. The required relic is also available for purchase from the vendor.

---

Face the Terrors within Naxxramas February 6

Floating above the Plaguelands, the necropolis known as Naxxramas serves as the seat of one of the Lich King’s most powerful officers, the dreaded lich Kel’Thuzad. Horrors of the past and new terrors yet to be unleashed are gathering inside the necropolis as the Lich King’s servants prepare their assault.

Tuned for 20 players, you can venture into these hallowed halls with up to 40 players to take on the terrors within and reap the rewards with new mechanics and added “Empower” difficulty. You’ll discover Sanctified gear which can be improved with the new Seal of the Dawn trinket to take on the dangers in Naxxramas at the highest difficulty. Players will also receive more loot drops when a quarter is empowered, including new cosmetic items for your collection.

Within the Frostwyrm Lair, raid bosses Sapphiron and Kel’Thuzad have more secrets to uncover when all bosses are defeated at their highest difficulty.

---

We can’t wait to see you (or not) in the dark depths of the Karazhan Crypts, the halls of Naxxramas, and anywhere danger takes you in Azeroth!

 

Patch notes

Scourge Invasions

The Scourge Invasion event will begin after the 1.15.6 patch goes live with normal patch maintenance in each region. In Season of Discovery, the Scourge Invasion event will include differences from previous iterations of WoW Classic.

• As with previous iterations, zones currently under attack will be marked on your world map with a purple skull icon.
• Zones that are under attack will contain necropolis objects that siphon energy from nearby scourge pylons.
• Defeating scourge forces will weaken the pylons and eventually players will be able to summon a Shade of Doom, a boss monster that serves as a guardian of its scourge pylon.
• Defeating the Shade of doom will destroy the nearby pylon and do damage to one of the Necropolis within the zone.
• When the Necropolis in each zone is destroyed, the invasion will end in that zone but will return after a short cooldown.
• Defeating Invasions will award Necrotic Runes which can be used for a variety of purposes, including to summon Shades of Doom, as well as to purchase powerful consumables and equipment from Argent Dawn NPCs in Major Cities and at Light’s Hope Chapel.
• In Season of Discovery, the Scourge Invasion event will no longer automatically end when a certain number of Invasions are defeated. Instead, the Scourge Invasion event will run throughout the entirety of phase 7, and very likely beyond.
• The rewards for the Scourge Invasion have also been adjusted and there are now multiple variants of each armor type’s “Undead Slaying” sets to accommodate different roles.
• Additionally, the Undead Slaying sets are considered “Sanctified” gear and will allow you to unlock additional power inside of Naxxramas.
• Undead Slaying set items may be obtained in the following ways:
• Gloves – Purchasable from the Argent Dawn Quartermaster vendors at Light’s Hope Chapel and in major cities for Necrotic Runes that are obtained by participating in Invasions.
• Bracers – May drop from rare elite creatures that can appear at each invasion point. These Bracers are Bind on Equip and can be traded.
• Chests – May drop from the Shades of Doom final boss monsters summoned during Invasion events.

In addition to the outdoor Scourge Invasion activities, the following dungeons also have an additional boss that can appear and drop new loot that is unique to the Scourge Invasion event:

• Stratholme Main Entrance (Level 58-60)
• Scholomance (Level 57-60)
• Dire Maul (Level 57-60)
• Razorfen Downs (Level 37-42)
• Scarlet Monastery Graveyard (Level 30-35)
• Shadowfang Keep (Level 20-25)

Karazhan Crypts

New to Season of Discovery, the foreboding tombs of Karazhan Crypts is available as a five-player dungeon, with a 24-hour lockout, in Deadwind Pass.

• To enter Karazhan Crypts, brave adventurers will need to complete a short attunement quest chain that starts with a wanted poster in Light’s Hope chapel.
• This new dungeon experience is tuned to be a challenge for well-geared characters and will require a higher level of communication and coordination than most other dungeon content in Season of Discovery.
• Karazhan Crypts is afflicted with a malign and oppressive darkness that will require players to use a special enchanted torch object to be able to see in the darkness and discover the mysteries within. Wander too far from the light and your allies may lose track of you. Lingering too long in the dark could prove deadly.
• In order to fully explore Karazhan Crypts, players will need to keep their eyes peeled for details within the environment that can lead not only to advantages that can be exploited to more safely traverse the dungeon but also expose new dangers that may need to be overcome in order to claim powerful rewards.
• Multiple visits may be required to discover all of the secrets of Karazhan Crypts. Good luck, adventurers!

Developers’ notes: This content is unique among small group content in WoW Classic, and some players may find their expectations of how dungeons work in World of Warcraft to be challenged by the structure and pace of the dungeon. It’s inspired by old-school tabletop game dungeon crawls and early first-person roleplaying computer games, and much like many things in Season of Discovery, it’s somewhat experimental.

The remainder of this section of the patch notes are spoilers for Karazhan Crypts. If you wish to maintain the surprise of discovering the dungeon’s secrets, skip reading this section!

• The darkness in Karazhan Crypts will prevent you from targeting or seeing allied players and targeting most creatures outside of the radius of a light source. There are multiple different types of light sources within the dungeon other than the enchanted firebrand torch that your party carries.
• Attempting to charge into a new area blindly, pull large groups of enemies, or ignore environmental and creature mechanics will likely lead to a very fast defeat.
• When the player carrying the torch is defeated, it will linger for a short while before teleporting itself back to the entrance of the dungeon. Surviving party members may be able to quickly retrieve it to prevent this and save the party from a wipe.
• There is some content such as boss encounters, puzzles, and other secrets that may not be immediately obvious and may require careful exploration and keen observation to unearth.
• Voice chat, text to speech, speech to text, or some other form of more rapid communication will enable better coordination and help alleviate frustration your groups may encounter.
• Most of the content is non-linear, meaning there are multiple different routes available for players to take when they enter. There is no first or final boss.

Some players may be more comfortable waiting for others to begin to understand the dungeon and emerge to share what they have discovered, before attempting to tackle this content.

Naxxramas

The dread citadel, Naxxramas is coming to Season of Discovery on February 6, 2025.Naxxramas is now tuned for 20 players, and the zone will allow up to 40 players into the raid.

• At the entrance of Naxxramas, players who wish to take on an additional challenge will encounter special pylon objects. These can be channeled by 5 or more players to empower one or more of the quarters of Naxxramas.
• Once empowered, a quarter will feature new mechanics that players will need to overcome to succeed, and the health and damage of all creatures in all areas of Naxxramas will be greatly enhanced.
• Activating multiple pylons empowers multiple quarters, each time adding new mechanics to each quarter, greatly increasing the challenge of the entire raid, and offering additional chances at the raid’s powerful rewards.
• Most new epic items found in Phase 7 of Season of Discovery have been Sanctified. These Sanctified items are the key to securing an advantage in the newly empowered Naxxramas.
• Initially, it will be difficult to engage more than one empowered quarter without being overwhelmed. To help players survive the onslaught, the Argent Dawn will offer a powerful Seal of the Dawn item. When used, the Seal of the Dawn will provide a massive power boost, based on the number of Sanctified items you have equipped, up to a total of 8 items at once.
• Initially, the Seal of the Dawn’s additional power is strong, but nominal. Each week players will have the opportunity to spend a special currency found in Naxxramas to upgrade their Seal of the Dawn. Each rank your Seal of the Dawn gains will provide a massive increase in the potential benefit that the item could provide.
• With fewer quarters empowered, the maximum power of your Seal of the Dawn will be constrained and the maximum amount of power you can gain from your Sanctified gear will be capped. As you empower more quarters and increase the difficulty further, the full power of your Seal of the Dawn can be unleashed.
• Players brave and powerful enough to clear all four quarters while empowered will unlock the ability to challenge Sapphiron and Kel’thuzad at their most deadly and will encounter a few special surprises awaiting them in the final wing of Naxxramas, the Frostwyrm Lair.