The Best Raids in World of Warcraft

Not only are Raids the highest level of content in World of Warcraft, they’re often also a climax point in an area’s storyline, or even of a whole expansion. There have been a whole lot of Raids added over the game’s 10 expansions, but here are our picks for the best of the lot.

Ulduar (Wrath of the Lich King)

Beginning with a unique, vehicle-based assault on a mountaintop alien research facility, before ending with a showdown against an imprisoned chthonic deity, Ulduar was a wild swerve into WoW‘s more space-fantasy side. The raid and especially its special optional boss encounter also gave us some more information on the Titans, who may yet be less benevolent than first assumed. Oh, and there’s a chance to earn a flying mount shaped like a mechanical gnome’s head, and who wouldn’t love one of those?

The Temple of Ahn’Qiraj (Classic)

Grand, ambitious, and full of bugs in more ways than one, the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj were one of WoW‘s biggest early updates. After a lengthy quest chain and an enormous cross-faction event, players were finally able to delve into two new raids set in an underground city of Old God-aligned insects. While today the raid is massively outclassed in terms of design and graphics, at the time its size was unprecedented and frequently caused the game (and player’s internet connections) to buckle as they gathered for the 40-man raid.

Trial of the Crusader (Wrath of the Lich King)

Nowadays, Trial of the Crusader is mostly known as the origin of the highly meme’d upon Lord Jaraxxus, Eredar Lord of the Burning Legion and objectively Hearthstone‘s best card. But it was also a really creative series encounters with interesting mechanics, even without some of the narrative weight of other raids. One encounter even emulated a Player versus Player battle, pitting raiders against a team of NPC’s from their opposite faction!

The Eye (Burning Crusade)

Floating above the shattered remains of Outland, Tempest Keep is a series of dungeons culminating in a raid where players throw down with Kael’thas Sunstrider himself. It’s also set inside several enormous, crystalline space-ships like the ones the Draenei race use as a home city. To us, this era of space-fantasy technology fueled by neon crystals is as iconic as any of the more traditional faux-medieval aesthetics used in other expansions. Due to being portioned up, the raid itself is also not as much of a maze as some can be, instead being a short and sweet run of 4 bosses including a souped-up Fel Reaver and gauntlet of Kael’thas’ lieutenants.

Antorus, the Burning Throne (Legion)

Climax of the fondly remembered Legion expansion, Antorus was at once the highpoint of a decades-long plot line and another foray into WoW‘s space-fantasy side. Alongside classic Warcraft anti-hero Illidan Stormrage, players would assault a demonic space fortress and fight giant robots, demonic generals, and eventually the soul of an entire planet. It also has, for our money, some of the coolest armor sets available.

Castle Nathria (Shadowlands)

While Shadowlands is an expansion many players would rather forget, Castle Nathria really gave the people what they wanted: Vampires. Gothic architecture, macabre masquerades, and suitably vampy armor sets awaited players as they fought through a host of vampiric residents and misbegotten pets. One encounter even flips the usual dynamics and mechanics by having players heal and defend the soul of Kael’thas Sunstrider, who proved that each of his previous defeats were merely a setback.

Battle of Dazar’alor (Battle for Azeroth)

The Alliance must have felt pretty miffed when Battle for Azeroth gave them a British port town while the Horde got a gold-encrusted South American city full of dinosaurs, so they decided to invade it. Thus the Battle of Dazar’alor took place, set within the Horde’s capital city for the expansion and featuring a climactic final fight against Warcraft heavy-hitter Jaina Proudmoore.

While most raids tend to be fairly faction-neutral, Dazar’alor has both faction-specific bosses and sections where you get to play as a member of the opposing faction. It also served to show off some of the variety in each faction’s allied races like the Dark Iron Dwarves and Kul Tiran Humans, while taking place in the city where some players will have spent a lot of time gave the raid palpable stakes other areas struggle to match.

Siege of Orgrimmar (Mists of Pandaria)

Take what I said about thematic weight of setting a raid in a faction city, and but make it one player’s have known for several years instead of a single expansion. Beginning with an excursion in Pandaria, players must then join the Horde revolt on the beaches of Durotar and fight through the forces of Garrosh Hellscream’s loyalists, some of whom players will have been fighting alongside for much of the expansion!

So that’s our picks for some of the best Raids in World of Warcraft. Let us know which ones you think are best, or simply have fond memories of running, in the comments below!

World of Warcraft and The War Within expansion are immediately available on PC and Mac.