World of Warcraft news » Rise of Azshara Content Update Notes: Season 3

Dungeon and Raid Updates

New Raid: Azshara’s Eternal Palace

Battle against Nazjatar’s worthiest champions, face down unfathomable monstrosities from the deep, and confront the legendary Queen Azshara herself in this sprawling 8-boss raid.

Azshara’s Eternal Palace Normal and Heroic difficulties are now live, while the first wing of Raid Finder—The Grand Reception—and Mythic will open next week on July 17.

Season 3 Begins

Season 3 brings a wave of new dungeon content, including the new Mythic-only difficulty dungeon Operation: Mechagon, a new seasonal affix, and higher item-level Azerite armor to acquire in exchange for Residuum.

New Dungeon: Operation: Mechagon

Level 120 players will unite with Prince Erazmin and the Rustbolt Resistance to help overthrow his deranged father and destroy his Mechoriginator doomsday device in this new Mythic-only 8-boss “mega-dungeon.” Great rewards await you in Mechagon, but bear in mind that gnome-crafted loot might have some surprising properties. . .

New Mythic Dungeon Affix: Beguiling

Queen Azshara’s agents have infiltrated dungeons to strike Azeroth’s champions when they least suspect it. Three different emissaries will bolster enemy ranks and prove to be deadly adversaries, making them priority targets that must be defeated. Visiting emissaries can change by week and can even disrupt patrolling units who stop to praise them.

• Void-Touched Emissary: Upon engaging this enemy, the Void-Touched Emissary will cast an uninterruptible spell over several seconds that will let loose a powerful 60-yard area-of-effect bolt of energy. Smite this foe before it completes the ritual, or hide from it to survive.

• Enchanted Emissary: This powerful foe uses your own might against you by enchanting its nearby allies with an aura that reflects a large percent of damage back at the attacker.

• Emissary of the Tides: This enemy applies an aura to nearby nemeses that cleanses and makes them immune to crowd-control effects.

Mythic Keystone Dungeon Updates

• Item levels of rewards from level 120 Normal, Heroic, and Mythic dungeons have been increased by 30. Baseline rewards are now item-level 370 from Normal, 385 from Heroic, and 400 from non-Keystone Mythic dungeons.

• Mythic Keystone rewards have been increased by 30 item levels. During the first week of Season 3, rewards from end-of-run chests will be capped at item-level 415 for Mythic Keystone at +6 difficulty, and the weekly cache will be a Season 2 reward.

• • Beginning the second week of Season 3, the weekly cache will not be affected by the cap and will reward Season 3 items at the higher item levels. Completing a Mythic Keystone at +10 difficulty during the first week will then provide the new highest item level in the weekly cache when it’s available in week 2.

• Enemy health and damage in Heroic dungeons increased by 25%.

• Health and damage of enemies in non-Keystone Mythic dungeons increased by 30%; Normal dungeons are unchanged.

• • Mythic Keystones have been reduced by an additional 3 levels, to account for this difficulty increase.

• The enemy health and damage bonuses in Mythic Keystone dungeons now increase by 10% per difficulty level (up from 8%).

Titan Residuum

• Increased Titan Residuum rewards earned in the weekly chest and from scrapping eligible Azerite armor.

• Spend your hard-earned Titan Residuum on new item-level 430 and 445 Azerite armor.

Essences Updates

• Eight new Essences are now available to earn in Azshara’s Eternal Palace, Operation: Mechagon, PvP, and Mythic Keystone Dungeons.

Azshara’s Eternal Palace Essences

• Defeat the new raid bosses in Azshara’s Eternal Palace to earn the following Essences: Azeroth’s Undying Gift (tank), Condensed Life Force (damage-dealer), and Vitality Conduit (healer).

Operation: Mechagon Essence

• Vision of Perfection – Drops off the final boss, King Mechagon.

Player versus Player Essences

• Conflict and Strife – Earn 500 Conquest to unlock this Essence in your next weekly PvP War Chest.

Mythic Keystone Dungeon Essences

• Clear a Mythic Keystone dungeon at level 4 or greater to receive the following Essences: Essence of the Focusing Iris (damage-dealer), Anima of Life and Death (tank), and Life-Binder’s Invocation (healer).

Player versus Player Updates

Welcome to Season 3: Notorious

Season 3 brings a wave of new player-versus-player content. Participants can earn two new Vicious Basilisk mounts, and the highest-rated players will unlock new Notorious Gladiator mounts.

Reward Updates

• Item levels of rewards earned from War Chests from all PvP tiers (Unranked, Combatant, Challenger, Rival, Duelist, and Gladiator) increased by 30.

• Item levels of end-of-match rewards for all PvP tiers increased by 30.

• During the first week of Season 3, end-of-match rewards will be capped at item-level 415. This will require Challenger rank to earn. Beginning in week 2, Challenger rank rewards will be item-level 420.

New Heroic Warfront

Battle for Stromgarde

An ancient enemy has drawn the Alliance and Horde to the high seas, but the Battle for Azeroth still escalates on land with a Heroic Battle for Stromgarde. In the expansion’s first Heroic Warfront, the enemy commander takes a more active role on the battlefield, and it’s up to your team to bury him in the dirt.

With an army at his back, the enemy commander will join the first wave of forces in an attempt to destroy your fledging base. Grouping up is key to surviving the onslaught—tactics and strategy will be required to turn the tides. To win, you’ll need to coordinate with your premade group of 10 to 20 players to outmaneuver the enemy. Those who can survive and drive back the enemy will be amply rewarded with an item-level 430 equipment piece once per Assault phase.

Interact with the War Table in Boralus or in the Port of Zuldazar with your raid group to join the fight. Note that the option to queue for Heroic Battle for Stromgarde will become available when the next time a certain faction commences an assault on Arathi Highlands in a given region. Regions that are already partway through a Battle of Stormgarde attack cycle will be able to access Heroic difficulty the next time Arathi Highlands comes under attack during Season 3.