Summary

Plunderstorm, World of Warcraft's pirate-themed battle royale, has returned with exciting new features and rewards! Expect respawning enemies, fast travel via horses, and helpful zone threat indicators on the map. Players can now also collect powerful offensive and utility spells, including Aura of Zealotry and Void Tear.

Plunderstorm has officially returned to World of Warcraft, bringing a revamped battle royale experience with enhanced features and quality-of-life improvements. While an official end date remains unannounced, players can anticipate enjoying this pirate-themed PvP mode for at least a month.

Initially announced for January 14th, Plunderstorm's return marks a significant update. The Arathi Highlands battlefield boasts new points of interest and respawning non-elite enemies, offering a constant stream of plunder. Fast travel horses provide rapid battlefield traversal, while the map now displays zone threat levels based on combat frequency, even allowing players to select their starting deployment zone.

New World of Warcraft: Plunderstorm Features

• New points of interest
• Respawning non-elite enemies
• Fast travel horses
• Zone threat indicators on the map
• Selectable deployment zones
• Practice Lobby
• Plunderstore with new and returning rewards
• Game mode access while on World of Warcraft: The War Within characters
• New abilities:
  • Offensive:
    • Aura of Zealotry – Passively boosts ally movement speed. Casting consecrates the ground, periodically damaging enemies and granting enhanced movement speed and melee attack buffs.
    • Celestial Barrage – Summons a barrage of moonbeams, damaging enemies. This spell can be empowered for increased range.
  • Utility:
    • Call Galefeather – Summons Galefeather to knock back enemies with strong winds.
    • Void Tear – Creates a Void mark. Recasting instantly returns the player to the mark, damaging and slowing enemies. The recast is instant during any spell cast.
• Ability balance changes:
  • Earthbreaker – Cooldown reduced by 2 seconds at all ranks.
  • Slicing Winds – Cooldown increased by 2 seconds at all ranks.
  • Star Bomb – Cooldown reduced by 2 seconds at all ranks.
  • Storm Archon – Cooldown reduced by 2 seconds at all ranks.
  • Toxic Smackerel – Cooldown increased by 1.5 seconds at all ranks.

This iteration of Plunderstorm introduces new spells for players to collect and upgrade. Aura of Zealotry offers a passive speed buff and a consecrated area for damage and ally buffs. Celestial Barrage is a powerful, chargeable line attack. Utility spells include Call Galefeather, summoning an eagle for crowd control, and Void Tear, enabling instant teleportation with damage and slow effects. Existing spell cooldowns have been adjusted, and a new UI facilitates ability selection.

A new Practice Lobby allows players to experiment with abilities, adjust keybindings, customize appearances, and socialize. Players can queue for matches or access the Plunderstore (where Plunderstorm rewards are obtained) from the Practice Lobby, login screen, or even within retail WoW via the PvP interface.

Notably absent is the three-person Trios mode from the previous iteration. The reason for its omission remains unclear, but hopefully, Blizzard will reinstate it before Plunderstorm's departure.