The War Within Season 2 - What You Need to Do First on Patch Day
March 4th marks the release of World of Warcraft: The War Within Season 2. It can seem like there can be too much that needs to get done and not enough time to do it all. We'll break down what route you should head in when the season begins so you are fully prepared to play whatever version of endgame you prefer.
Patch 11.1 brings with it an entirely new zone that players will be able to progress through, further advancing the story of The War Within. The new zone also brings with it an entirely new dungeon that will be a part of the Mythic+ rotation, as well as a new raid tier.
This also means that every version of World of Warcraft esports starts over as of today. Whether you follow The Great Push, the Arena World Championship, or the Race to World First, these are the steps every competitive player should take to get ready for the next phase of WoW competition.
When Does WoW: The War Within Season 2 Start?
Blizzard has revealed the official timeline for the start of the new season. Servers will go down at 7am ET on Tuesday, March 4, and maintenance is expected to end at 11am. This means, assuming nothing goes wrong, players will be able to start their Season 2 grind before lunch.
For European servers, downtime is expected to be shorter with maintenance lasting from 3am to 5am CET on Wednesday, March 5.
What You Need to do When Season 2 Starts
Get to the Undermine
When the patch goes live, players will be granted a quest titled "When Opportunity Explodes" which will start them on the main storyline for Patch 11.1 and eventually lead them to The Undermine zone. If you don't see this quest popping up, you may need to finish the required content from the launch of The War Within to unlock the new season's storyline.
This quest-line will lead you through The Undermine showing you which areas you will be navigating throughout this season. You will be brought to The Intercontinental Hotel which is the main city for this zone. This area will provide you with many important dailies and storyline points so it is important to become familiar with the area.
Siding with the Cartel
Another important part to this season is the new Renown trees that operate around the four cartels that are introduced in Patch 11.1. These Renown tracks bring players a variety of impactful rewards ranging from Valorstones to tabards and even special mounts.
This table shows a breakdown directly from Blizzard's Update Notes of each cartel the player has the choice to side with:
Cartel | Description |
|---|---|
Bilgewater | Led by Monte Gazlowe, this cartel is home to some of the brightest goblins, including inventors and explosive geniuses. Their base is located in Bilgewater Flats near Demolition Dome. |
Steamwheedle | Under the leadership of Marin Noggenfogger, this cartel is the oldest and largest in Undermine, focusing on premium-grade alchemy. They can be found in The Vatworks area. |
Blackwater | Headed Trade Prince Revilgaz, this newer cartel excels in shipping and luxury vacations. Their operations are based out of Blackwater Marina. |
Venture Co. | Known for its resource acquisition methods, Venture Co. operates in The Heaps. Grimla Fizzlecrank manages their operations in the absence of a top goblin. |
Each week, players get to choose which cartel they would like to side with and will be tasked with completing weekly quests granting cartel-specific rewards. Each cartel will grant players with different D.R.I.V.E. mount customizations that can be earned through these weekly quests, so you can revamp your ride if you can't stand looking at your rusty-looking car much longer.
New Delves to Explore
Two new Delves will be available for players to progress through in Patch 11.1. In addition, Brann can now run through your Delves as a Tank which will provide much more variety in the ways you can strategize and push through a run.
Excavation Site 9 takes players through a Black Blood dig-site where you must work your way through enemies, defend drilling machines and fight Craggle Fritzbrains, the end boss.
Side Street Sluice makes players traverse through thick slime to take down goblin thugs in the area. This Delve has three different variants and each provides a different boss fight. These three versions are:
- All That Glitters
- Mr. DELVER
- Teleporter Tantrums
Season 2 brings new and improved rewards for completing these Delves on the hardest difficulties, however they have also increased in difficulty for tiers 4 and above. If you prefer playing solo and want to still challenge yourself and gear up in endgame, you definitely need to check out these new Delves.
Push Keys with a New Mythic+ Rotation and a New Dungeon
The Undermine brings a brand new dungeon along with it that will provide a fresh experience for Mythic+ in Season 2. All players will have their keys reset to a +2 level when the Season officially begins, putting everyone on an even playing field.
To push for Keystone Master and above, this first week will be crucial as it will set a foundation for the coming weeks and allow you to greatly upgrade your gear through the Vault. Before the season officially begins, you can run through Operation: Floodgate on Normal difficulty to get an idea for what your ideal route may be.
The team at Wowhead has data-mined the Keystone Master Mount for Season 2, the Crimson Shreddertank. This will be your reward for achieving an M+ rating of 2000+ in Season 2.
They have also data-mined the mount for Keystone Legend mount, the Enterprising Shreddertank. This will be your reward if you obtain a M+ rating of 3000+ in Season 2. Both of these mounts will require incredible optimization and teamwork to obtain, so getting a jumpstart on preparation for the season is a must.
Obtain your D.R.I.V.E. Mount
As you begin completing The Undermine storyline, you will have the opportunity to unlock the D.R.I.V.E. mount which will help you traverse through the Undermine at incredible speeds. The Mechanic's shop as well as the weekly Cartel Quests will allow you to customize your D.R.I.V.E. mount to your liking and distinguish you from other players.
You can obtain extra rewards by participating in the various D.R.I.V.E. mount races scattered around The Undermine. When formatted as a world quest, they can offer solid rewards that require a very small time investment (as long as you can control your car).
New Raiding Tier: The Liberation of Undermine
Back? We never left.
— Liquid Guild (@LiquidGuild) February 19, 2025
Race to World First begins 3.04.25
📺 Watch:
Twitch: https://t.co/HpEDkeXkfX
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Normal, Heroic, and Mythic difficulties of the new raid tier will become available on March 4 when the Season goes live. If you prefer raiding to all other forms of end-game content, you'll want to have your raid preparations in order to start the season off strong. Pushing through Mythic keys would also be a great way to gear out your character so you can adequetly clear bosses in the first few weeks.
For those interested in utilizing the Raid Finder tool to advance through the encounters for the first time, here is a wing-release schedule put out by Blizzard on their Updates page.
Week of: | Wing Being Released |
|---|---|
Week of March 4 | Raid Finder Wing 1: Shock and Awesome (Cauldron of Carnage; Rik Reverb), Normal, Heroic, Mythic Difficulty |
Week of March 11: | Raid Finder Wing 2: Maniacal Machinist (Sprocketmonger Lockenstock; Stix Bunkjunker), Story Mode |
Week of March 18 | Raid Finder Wing 3: Two Heads Are Better (Vexie and the Geargrinders; One-Armed Bandit; Mug’Zee) |
Week of March 25: | Raid Finder Wing 4: The Chrome King (Chrome King Gallywix) |
Get Ahead of the Competition in the New PvP Arena: Cage of Carnage
Season 2 offers lots of new opportunities to progress and climb to the highest ranks of PvP. The new PvP arena: Cage of Carnage will put players into a confined and crowded area which is perfect for close-range fighting.
The Prized Gladiator's Fel Bat is this season's reward for reaching Gladiator. Its design has been met with a lot of skepticism but that won't change the respect you command when you walk around the server with a gladiator mount. If you are pushing for Gladiator in 11.1, you must achieve a 2400 rating in 3v3 arenas and then win 50 games at the 2400 rating. Finding a solid team will be crucial to battle in this new arena and exalt yourself in PvP history.
Regardless of how you typically traverse the endgame in World of Warcraft, Season 2 has tons of new content to ensure you will enjoy your time progressing. A detailed look at Blizzard's 11.1 Patch Notes can be found here.
Taven is a recent graduate from the University of Oregon's Sports Business program. During his time post-grad, he has developed his own website where he has covered the Call of Duty League as well as college football. He competed semi-professionally in the CDL Challengers Circuit for three years as well as for The University of Oregon's CCL team, which made playoffs and placed T48 each of Taven's three years. Taven still enjoys playing Call of Duty in his spare time, as well as World of Warcraft and any game he is obsessing over at the time.