How to upgrade spells in WoW Plunderstorm

Don't get used to a single ability rotation.

Two WoW players in dressed in pirate-themed clothing.
Image via Blizzard Entertainment

World of Warcraft has finally shown up to the battle royale table with the launch of the new limited-time pirate-themed Plunderstorm mode coming in the 10.2.6 update.

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In this mode, players take new ready-to-play characters to the Arathi Highlands and are challenged with surviving and plundering for as long as they can. While you can earn rewards that your modern WoW and WoW Classic characters can use, you can’t actually bring those characters into the Plunderstorm. So what spells can you use?

Like with any battle royale, the upgrades you need in WoW Plunderstorm are going to require some scouring, some searching, and some looting.

How can I upgrade spells in WoW Plunderstorm?

Players can acquire spells, abilities, and upgrades from lootable treasure chests and defeated enemies. When these items are picked up, they’re automatically added to your action bar, with offensive and utility skills taking up two slots instead of just one.

A WoW Plunderstorm player opening a large glowing chest.
Open up. Image via Blizzard Entertainment

To upgrade spells you’ve acquired, you’ll need to either find higher-quality versions of the spell or stack multiple versions of the spell you already have. Higher-quality chests can also be found across the map, which will have better odds at higher-quality spells. There are four spell rarity levels that should be familiar to most WoW players: Uncommon, Common, Rare, and Epic.

In a WoWCast explainer video, the developers who worked on the Plunderstorm mode said upgraded abilities spawn randomly, so there’s a chance you can get a powerful Rare or Epic ability very early in the match. Many of the spells featured in Plunderstorm will be new spells that weren’t designed with any specific class in mind.

WoW Plunderstorm is expected to go live on March 19 once the scheduled server maintenance for Patch 10.2.6 has concluded, which should happen around 5pm CT.

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Scott Robertson
VALORANT lead staff writer, also covering CS:GO, FPS games, other titles, and the wider esports industry. Watching and writing esports since 2014. Previously wrote for Dexerto, Upcomer, Splyce, and somehow MySpace. Jack of all games, master of none.