Raids Overview

World of Warcraft: Forever launches on November 4, 2026, with the level cap at 60 (Blizzard: World of Warcraft: Forever). The first new raids open five weeks later. Two raids are confirmed by name and size; the rest of the raid roadmap is a general Blizzard commitment with dates supplied only by third-party outlets.

Blizzard has not published boss lists, loot or attunements. In build 1.60.1.69913 neither new raid has a map or encounter records yet; see In the beta build. Every raid in the build, Classic ones included, is listed on Raids.

Forever is set after Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom and before Molten Core, on the original continents, in a separate continuity from modern WoW (Blizzard: Carve a New Path). The new raids are therefore positioned ahead of the Classic raid tier in the story, not after it.

Mount Hyjal is one of the four new or expanded zones, alongside Shen’dralas, Riverglades and Zephras Isle (Blizzard: Found Photos Panel Recap). Hyjal Summit is the raid attached to it.

Two raids are confirmed by Blizzard (Blizzard: Deep Dive Panel Recap):

Barrow Deeps is described as a max-level 10-player raid. Hyjal Summit is described as a 20-player raid; its level requirement is not stated in the recap (Blizzard: Deep Dive Panel Recap).

Coming soon Raid maps, player counts and levels for Hyjal Summit and Barrow Deeps. Build 1.60.1.69913 has no map or encounter records for either raid.

Coming soon Raid loot. Drop tables are decided server-side and are not in the beta build.

Blizzard’s official roadmap states that “new raids unlock on December 9, followed by more raids, dungeons, PvP updates, world content,” plus a Hardcore mode and a revamped iconic raid later (Blizzard: What’s Next Panel Recap). Barrow Deeps and Hyjal Summit are the raids covered by that date.

According to the general community, the December 9 unlock also includes Onyxia’s Lair as a 40-player raid. The Onyxia detail does not appear in the official What’s Next recap reviewed for this page. Until Blizzard names it, treat the 40-player raid at December 9 as unconfirmed.

What build 1.60.1.69913 contains: Onyxia’s Lair is present as a 40-player raid map tuned to level 60 with one encounter (40 players and one encounter in Era 1.15.9.69722 as well), and a third raid challenge in the Legacy System, Conqueror of the Lair, has the single criterion Onyxia. Neither carries a date.

Blizzard commits to more raids after the December unlock and to “a revamped iconic raid,” without giving dates (Blizzard: What’s Next Panel Recap).

According to the general community, the schedule breaks down as follows:

The Spring/Summer 2027 dates and the raid counts per phase are the general community’s reading of the roadmap, not a Blizzard commitment. The general community also projects “4–6 phases with 2–4 months” between updates; that is their own extrapolation. Which raid is the “revamped iconic raid” has not been named by Blizzard.

The confirmed raids use 10-player and 20-player formats (Blizzard: Deep Dive Panel Recap). The general community’s Spring 2027 entry also lists 10-player and 20-player raids. The only 40-player raid mentioned anywhere is the Onyxia’s Lair entry above, which is unconfirmed. Whether the existing Classic 40-player raids keep their format in Forever has not been addressed in any source reviewed for this page. In build 1.60.1.69913 the Classic raid maps keep their Era player counts: 40 for Onyxia’s Lair, Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, Ahn’Qiraj Temple and Naxxramas, 20 for Zul’Gurub and Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj.

Blizzard has published nothing on boss counts, loot, attunement quests, lockouts or raid difficulty for either confirmed raid. The beta level cap is 20 at launch and 30 later in the test, so neither raid is testable in the beta as announced.