WoW Wrath of the Lich King Classic phase 3 patch notes

Gather around and check out what's waiting for you in Phase three.

Horde base in WoW WOTLK Classic Phase four
Image via Blizzard Entertainment

After spending weeks and weeks farming Ulduar and Yogg-Saron, we’re bravely stepping into World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King Classic phase three. 

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Phase three, just like previous patches, isn’t bringing many balancing changes and instead focuses on freshening up Northrend with a new round of raids—Onyxia’s Lair, Trial of the Crusader, and Trial of the Grand Crusader. Elsewhere, Titan Rune dungeons have entered their beta iteration and now will reward the most skilled players with even better rewards—Sidereal Essence.

Here are the WoW Wrath Classic phase three patch notes.

What new features were added in Wrath Classic phase three?

WoW Wrath Classic phase three was released on June 20, introducing plenty of new features to the game. With the expansion’s third phase came new Titan Rune dungeons, the Trial of the Champion dungeon, a heavily expanded open-world edition of the Argent Tournament, and a new PvP season. Raiders are also being fed well in this phase, with Onyxia’s Lair, Trial of the Crusader, and Trial of the Grand Crusader all rolling out, as well.

WoW Wrath Classic Phase three patch notes

Trial of the Champion dungeon

Boss in Trial of the Champion in WoW WOTLK Classic
Get ready for a challenge with Trial of the Champion. Image via Blizzard Entertainment

Right at the Crusader’s Coliseum at the Argent Tournament, you’ll find the Trial of the Champion dungeon. The dungeon in total will feature three bosses and this dungeon will be also available on the Titan Rune difficulty with the Gladiator Rune affix. 

The Argent Tournament opens its doors to the most daring players

Argent Tournament in Icecrown Citadel
Argent Tournament is opening its doors in phase three. Image via Blizzard Entertainment

If you’re a completionist like me and you simply need to have all mounts and achievements available in each expansion, the Argent Dawn Tournament will be the place to be. It’s opening its grounds on June 20 and it will keep you busy with various regular and daily quests as you try to prove your worth to factions of Northrend. Don’t worry, there will be plenty of rewards to grab along the way. 

Trail of the Crusader and Trial of the Grand Crusader 

Anub'arak boss in Trial of the Crusader raid in WoW WOTLK Classic
Defeat Anub’arak and snag powerful loot. Image via Blizzard Entertainment

Trial of the Crusader and Trial of the Grand Crusader 10 and 25-player raids are coming to Northrend. There, we’ll once again meet Anub’arak and hopefully snag some neat loot. Remember, Trial of the Crusader and Trial of the Grand Crusader will share a lockout. 

Revisit Onyxia in her lair

WoW players fighting Onyxia, a giant dragon with pink wings, in her lair.
Onyxia’s Lair returns in phase three. Image via Blizzard Entertainment

Back in Dustwallow Marsh, Onyxia has woken up once again and she has some neat loot to share. During phase three, you’ll get a new version of this encounter, and of course, a new version of loot. Players can still farm the level 60 version of Onyxia’s Lair by speaking with Zidormi near the entrance to the raid and enabling an alternate version of Dustwallow Marsh.

Ulduar

A chamber in Ulduar raid in WoW WOTLK Classic
Ulduar will change in phase three. Image via Blizzard Entertainment
  • The Expedition Base Camp teleporter inside the entrance to Ulduar is now always active.
  • Players may now use the Expedition Base Camp teleporter to port directly to the Antechamber of Ulduar even if Flame Leviathan and XT-002 Deconstructor have not yet been defeated.
  • After defeating Kologarn, the door to General Vezax will unlock and Vezax and his trash will immediately spawn.
  • Yogg-Saron will now drop additional Fragments of Val’anyr depending on how many Titan Keepers are assisting your raid:
    • With zero Keepers assisting, Yogg-Saron will now always drop three Fragments of Val’anyr.
    • With one Keeper assisting, Yogg-Saron will now always drop two Fragments of Val’anyr.
    • With two or more Keepers assisting, Yogg-Saron will still drop one Fragment of Val’anyr as before.
  • The one hour timer for defeating Algalon the Observer has been removed.
  • Algalon the Observer will now always drop two Fragments of Val’anyr.

Vault of Archavon update: New boss added

Koralon the Flame Watcher is a new boss coming to the Vault of Archavon in Wrath Classic phase three. Image via Blizzard Entertainment

A fourth boss is coming to the Vault of Archavon raid in Wintergrasp: Koralon the Flame Watcher. Koralon will be added to the Vault of Archavon’s boss lineup shortly following the second weekly reset of phase three, during the week of June 27.

New and improved Titan Rune dungeons

Entrance to Utgarde Keep in WoW WOTLK Classic
New and improved Titan Rune dungeons are coming in phase three. Screenshot by Dot Esports

Although Titan Rune dungeons will still work in the same way, they will slightly change during phase three. First of all, bosses will have more effects that include damage and health increases. Then, the bosses will drop loot from the 10-player version of Ulduar and the new currency Sidereal Essence. This can be exchanged for gear from 10-player Hard Mode Ulduar gear at the Animated Constellation vendor in Dalaran.

Here’s the list of all Titan Rune dungeons-Defense Protocol Beta:

Name of the dungeonDefense Protocol Beta affixes
Utgarde KeepBeta Empowered: Frost Rune Damage increased by 40 percent. Health increased by 120 percent. Melee attacks have a chance to Glaciate and Fire Blast a random nearby target.
Utgarde PinnacleBeta Empowered: Frost Rune Damage increased by 40 percent. Health increased by 120 percent. Melee attacks have a chance to Glaciate and Fire Blast a random nearby target.
Azjol-NerubBeta Empowered: Shadow Rune Damage increased by 40 percent. Health increased by 120 percent. Attacks have a chance to Web Wrap a victim.
Ahn’kahet: The Old KingdomBeta Empowered: Shadow Rune Damage increased by 40 percent. Health increased by 120 percent. Attacks have a chance to Web Wrap a victim.
Drak’Tharon KeepBeta Empowered: Blood Rune Damage increased by 40 percent. Health increased by 180 percent.100 percent Lifesteal when standing in Blood of the Loa.
GundrakBeta Empowered: Blood Rune Damage increased by 40 percent. Health increased by 180 percent.100 percent Lifesteal when standing in Blood of the Loa.
Halls of StoneBeta Empowered: Titan Rune Damage increased by 40 percent. Health increased by 580 percent. Pulsing Purified Titan energy that increases player damage done by one percent per stack for 12 sec. Perhaps enough energy will grant assistance from the Keepers themselves.
Halls of LightningBeta Empowered: Titan Rune Damage increased by 40 percent. Health increased by 580 percent. Pulsing Purified Titan energy that increases player damage done by one percent per stack for 12 sec. Perhaps enough energy will grant assistance from the Keepers themselves.
The NexusBeta Empowered: Arcane Rune Damage increased by 40 percent. Health increased by 120 percent. Attacks have a chance to summon Mirror Images of the caster.
The OculusBeta Empowered: Arcane Rune Damage increased by 40 percent. Health increased by 120 percent. Attacks have a chance to summon Mirror Images of the caster.
The Violet HoldBeta Empowered: Arcane Rune Damage increased by 40 percent. Health increased by 120 percent. Attacks have a chance to summon Mirror Images of the caster.
The Culling of StratholmeBeta Empowered: Plague Rune Damage increased by 40 percent. Health increased by 120 percent Damaging attacks can infect victims with the You’re Infected.
Trial of the ChampionBeta Empowered: Gladiator Rune Damage increased by 40 percent. Health increased by 120 percent. Spectators look to be more fired up than usual.

PvP season seven is upon us

The new PvP season is officially starting with phase three. This means the Isle of Conquest 40-vs-40 epic battlegrounds will open and you can get back to grinding your new PvP rank.

Bug fixes and gameplay adjustments

Spells and abilities

  • The so-called “DoT Munching” behavior most readily noticeable in Deep Wounds and Ignite has been resolved.
  • Fixed an issue that caused spells with Equipped Item requirements to not be removed when the player no longer meets the requirements of the spell.
  • Meta Gems may no longer be swapped in combat.
  • Resolved an issue that allowed players to keep themselves and enemies in combat indefinitely by repeatedly casting buff effects on a player-controlled pet, even after the pet has gone into passive mode.
  • Shaman – Fixed an issue that caused the Earthgrab effect from the Shaman talent Storm, Earth, and Fire to not respect diminishing returns.
  • Mage – Fixed an issue causing the absorb effect from Sacred Shield to not be gained when gained by mages using the Spell Steal ability.
  • Mage – Fixed an issue causing Frostfire Bolt to always remove Fireball! if you have the mage tier 8 4-piece bonus.
  • Warlock – Fixed an issue causing Unstable Affliction to not be affected by Resilience.
  • Warlock – Fixed a visual issue with Rain of Fire.
  • Rogue – Resolved an issue that allowed Rogues to maintain combo points on a target after gaining them from Honor Among Thieves, and then swapping to a different spec that does not have Honor Among Thieves talented.
  • Rogue – Resolved an issue that caused Rogues to be knocked out of Stealth when using Slice and Dice with an enemy affected by Vigilance.
  • Druid – The previous adjustments specifically to Faerie Fire (Feral) and Omen of Clarity procs that were outlined here have been reverted. This implementation has been replaced with a new Glyph of Omen of Clarity major glyph which grants the same effect, causing Faerie Fire (Feral) to always proc Omen of Clarity
  • Death Knight – Fixed several issues with Dancing Rune Weapon:
    • Resolved an issue causing the version of Death Coil cast by Dancing Rune Weapon to do base damage and inherit no stats from the Death Knight.
    • Resolved an issue where Dancing Rune Weapon was not mimicking the Slow Effect of Chains of Ice.
    • Resolved an issue preventing the correct version of Death Knight abilities to be used by Dancing Rune Weapon.
    • Resolved an issue causing the melee damage done by Dancing Rune Weapon to be incorrect. The damage done will now be much closer to 50% of the Death Knight’s damage, with some variation due to exact gear configurations such as equipped weapon speed.

User Interface

  • The Target of Target frame is now properly showing debuffs.
  • Fixed an issue where items unequipped using the equipment manager have multiple incorrect interactions when a Quiver container is not in the final bag slot.
  • Fixed a bug where targets that were automatically acquired after the player is attacked are dropped when the player moves out of melee range of the attacking enemy target.
  • Fixed an issue where pets that are resurrected in a raid group show up with a solid black health bar in the default raid frames.

Art and environment

  • The goblins responsible for the theft of the water in The Battle for Wintergrasp epic battleground have been apprehended and the missing water has been replaced.
  • The minimap on the top level of Drak’tharon Keep is no longer displaying grey, untextured boxes where the exterior terrain should be.
  • Resolved an issue preventing pets from pathing into certain areas of the Ruins of Lordaeron arena map.

Raids and dungeons

  • Noth the Plaguebringer no longer takes his loot with him to the Twisting Nether when he is killed at the same moment he teleports to his balcony for the intermission add phase.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the Yogg-Saron encounter to become stuck in Phase 1 if players touch a cloud too quickly after defeating General Vezax.
  • Fixed an issue where XT-002 Deconstructor could become unlootable if the boss is killed while a Life Spark is evading.
  • Fixed an issue where the Frost Orb spell impact animation would persist after Hodir’s Fury is used during the Flame Leviathan encounter.

Quests

  • Fixed an issue causing Orgrimmar guards to attack the Summoned Incubus during the Warlock quest “The Binding”, which made the quest to be very difficult to complete.

Items and rewards

  • The Sons of Hodir have upped their fashion game and there is now a Sons of Hodir tabard available from Lillehoff in Dun Niffelem, Storm Peaks.
  • A new vendor has been added to Dalaran; the Animated Constellation. This vendor will exchange items from Ulduar 10-player Hard Mode for a new Sidereal Essence currency.
  • With the release of Trial of the Crusader, Ulduar item drops will be adjusted:
    • Ulduar 10 Normal Mode items now drop from Defense Protocol Beta bosses in Titan Rune Dungeons
    • Ulduar 25 Normal Mode items now drop from Ulduar 10.
    • Ulduar 10 Hard Mode items still drop from Ulduar 10 Hard Modes.
    • Ulduar 25 Hard Mode items still only drop from Ulduar 25 Hard Modes.

Known issues

The Argent Crusade fights back the scourge in WoW Wrath Classic. Pictured are three Argent Crusaders in Stormwind City.
Argent Crusaders stand tall in Stormwind City. Image via Blizzard Entertainment

Raid and Dungeons

  • Swapping been Normal and Heroic difficulties in Trial of the Crusader may cause enemy health bars to appear as if the enemy does not have full health.
    • Note: This is a visual issue only and the enemies’ health is correct.
  • The visual for Anub’arak’s Leeching Swarm is missing on player targets.
  • When the difficulty is set to Heroic, the raid portal for Trial of the Grand Crusader is missing the 3d Skull Spell visual.
  • A Tribute to Immortality can currently be earned even after killing a boss in normal during that same lockout.
  • When standing in the middle of the Crusader’s Coliseum arena in Trial of the Crusader/Grand Crusader the minimap will turn green and the zone name changes to the Icy Depths.
  • You may not get a notification that you are saved to Trial of the Crusader or Trial of the Grand Crusader when you kill your first boss in the lockout.
    • Note: This is a visual issue only and you will still be saved to that lockout.
  • You are unable to enter the 10 and 25 player versions of Onyxia’s lair if you are already locked to the 40 player, level 60 version.

User Interface

  • You may experience a game crash when checking and unchecking the “Low Level Quests” minimap tracking option while in Dalaran.
  • Your own player name and targeting circle may turn yellow when an enemy targets you if you have the Raid Self Highlight menu option enabled.
  • The Mac Version of Wrath of the Lich King Classic is currently experiencing multiple Lua errors.
  • Note: We are aware of most of these, but please still feel free to report any errors you encounter here in the PTR forum. Thank you!

Classes

  • There are visual issues with the animation for the Hunter ability Flare.
Author
Image of Izabela Tomakic
Izabela Tomakic
Staff Writer & World of Warcraft lead. Izabela has a long history with writing and games like World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Fortnite, and The Sims. Before finding her home at Dot Esports in 2021, Izabela was an English teacher and a freelancer at Hotspawn, GGRecon, and Gameranx. In her free time, you’ll find her writing novels, wandering Azeroth, or inting on Summoner’s Rift.
Author
Image of Michael Kelly
Michael Kelly
Staff Writer covering World of Warcraft and League of Legends, among others. Mike's been with Dot since 2020, and has been covering esports since 2018.