Overview
The “Battle for Darkshore” is a new Warfront in the “Battle for Azeroth” expansion, which was released with the latest patch “Tides of Vengeance”. Warfront brings us back to the very beginning of this particular war – the Burning of Teldrassil. This event, so to say, took place in the Pre-Patch and hasn’t had any plot development since. But the time has finally come and Alliance forces will strike back to recapture their territories.
Now there are two different Warfronts in game. While the “Arathi Highlands” Warfront reminds us more of a traditional “Orcs vs Humans” confrontation, “Battle for Darkshore”, at the same time, may look more like a call back to the fights between Night Elves and the Scourge at the times of the Lich King.
The purpose of releasing a new Warfront is to break the monotony of the very idea of Warfronts and add some new content into it.
Warfront Cycle and Content
The first thing players should remember is that the Cycles of both Warfronts are completely independent and are not connected to each other at all. The latest Patch 8.1 has brought some changes to the contribution phase as well. Earlier each player had eleven Quests which they could complete daily during this first phase, but now there are only three Quests available for each active Warfront, which means there are six Quests to complete at a maximum and only if the phases of both Warfronts match. One of the given Quests will require only gold or War Resources to complete it, which is made to lighten the work of gathering different rare profession materials. Unfortunately, the profession materials needed to fulfill contribution conditions differ for both Arathi Highlands and Darkshore Warfronts.
Storyline
The huge and rather important part of the plot of the new Expansion didn’t get any development since the Pre-Patch, where the Great Tree Teldrassil was burned by Lady Sylvanas Windrunner. A big part of it was described in the books, completely outside the game itself. There are two of them, recounting the War of the Thorns from both sides of the conflict: “Elegy” by Christie Golden (from the Alliance point of view) and “A Good War” by Robert Brooks (from the Horde’s side). That’s why players have dozens of questions left concerning the absence of Tyrande Whisperwind and the weak defense of Night Elves.
The Night Warrior
At long last, Tyrande Whisperwind is coming back in the “Tides of Vengeance” Patch. Now she is driven by righteous anger and a desire to discourage native shores from the enemy and so she is ready to perform a very dangerous Night Warrior ritual. The High Priestess of Elune will transform into the Night Warrior, who brings punishment above the heads of her foes and after that, she drives the Night Elves to the fight with the Forsaken.
Those Alliance players who manage to complete this storyline will get the In Teldrassil’s Shadow Achievement and new “Night Warrior” Night Elf Customization variants as a reward. This includes the new color of grey skin with dark blue eyes, so visit the nearest barbershop to change your appearance!
Winning the Warfront
You are familiar with general combat mechanics if you took part in Arathi Highlands Warfront battles – the only difference is that you have Night Elves and the Forsaken setting instead of Orcs and Humans.
The majority of combat takes place in the middle of a Warfront map, which makes it easier to protect your faction base camp by just controlling the central part of the map.
There is also an in-between faction difference in gathering resources. Night Elves obviously are not particularly fond of chopping Wood so they have got additional ways to obtain this currency and the passive influx is visibly increased as well. The Horde representatives don’t have such moral frameworks, so they can easily chop the needed amount of Wood even concerning the regular passive resource increasing.
Darkshore rewards
The location “Darkshore” has been also changed. Players are free to enjoy new World Quests and new rare foes, which may reward you with a certain number of interesting and unique items of all sorts.
Mounts
Five mounts are looted from rare mobs in the Darkshore Warfront:
Blackpaw from the Alliance and the Horde counterparts:
Drop: Agathe Wyrmwood / Blackpaw
Kaldorei Nightsaber from the Alliance and the Horde counterparts:
Kaldorei Nightsaber / Captured Kaldorei Nightsaber
Drop: Shadowclaw / Croz Bloodrage
Drop: Alash’anir
Drop: Frightened Kodo
Drop: Athil Dewfire / Moxo the Beheader
Battle Pets
Drop: Burninator Mark V / Athil Dewfire
Drop: Cyclarus
Drop: Conflagros
Drop: Hydrath
Drop: Soggoth the Slitherer
Drop: Twilight Prophet Graeme
Drop: Grimhorn
Toys
Echo of Elune – Peer into the night to view the White Lady at her zenith. Can only be cast in the evenings and has one-hour cooldown. Most probably is a reward for an Alliance Quest.
Dark Ranger’s Spare Cowl – changes your appearance to look like a Dark Ranger for ten minutes. Quest: Dark Ranger Round-Up
Brynja’s Beacon – Beseech Brynja from death to serve as your spirit healer for twenty-four hours. Quest: Aftermath
Narassin’s Soul Gem – traps the target’s soul inside Narassin’s Soul Gem. Only usable on dead targets. Drop: Athrikus Narassin
Detoxified Blight Grenade – throws a Detoxified Blight Grenade at the target, covering them in Detoxified Blight. Drop: Gren Tornfur
Twiddle Twirler: Sentinel’s Glaive – drops from Commander Ral’esh
Twiddle Twirler: Shredder Blade – drops from Sapper Odette / Burninator Mark V
Highborne Memento– allows you to be possessed by a Highborne spirit. Drop: Commander Drald / Thelar Moonstrike
Transmogrification Armor
There are two different Armor Sets available as a reward in the Darkshore Warfront. One of them is simpler, less detailed and has lower Item Level; the other one is, on the contrary, more garish, more detailed and has higher Item Level. Players will get the Tall, Dark, and Sinister Achievement after they fully collect one of these Armor Sets.
Warfront Normal Set: This is a basic Armor set. You can obtain items from this set by winning Warfronts and sometimes by killing rare mobs, but only once per Warfront cycle.
Warfront Mythic Set: This is more detailed Armor Set. You can get parts of this particular one by winning your first Darkshore Warfront per cycle, as loot in Warfronts Equipment Cache. Ivus the Forest Lord / Ivus the Decayed World Bosses also have two pieces of this Armor in their Loot Table.
Warfront Weapons: These are traditional Night Elf or the Forsaken weapons that may be obtained by winning the Warfront, may be found as a drop from rare mobs; you may find it in the Winner’s Chest after the first Warfront win.
