WoW Forever Raids Guide

What Blizzard Has Said

Blizzard's December 9 roadmap card lists three planned raids: Barrow Deeps for 10 players, Hyjal Summit for 20 and Onyxia's Lair for 40.

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Blizzard's raid count doesn't match: the Opening Ceremony says two new raids, the roadmap lists three including Onyxia's Lair, and Blizzard has not said whether Onyxia's Lair is new or returning.

Share Image: WoW Forever 2026 to 2027 roadmap graphic with Beta, launch, raid unlock, Hardcore launch and later major updates from autumn to summer

Raid Schedule After December

For the wider release calendar, see the WoW Forever roadmap. Raid appearances unlock under the raid epic binding rule, and the leveling pacing notes cover the climb to the cap.

Barrow Deeps and Hyjal Summit, Boss for Boss

Hyjal Summit, the 20-player raid, has 13 bosses to Barrow Deeps' 8, so it is the larger of the two new ones by boss count. Blizzard's September 23 Legacy System article lists three raid challenges: "Defeat all 8 Barrow Deeps bosses," "Defeat all 13 Hyjal Summit bosses," and "Defeat Onyxia."Blizzard: Get to Know the World of Warcraft: Forever Legacy System.

The What's Next recap ties the raids to new tier sets and a legendary reward it has not revealed, and it doesn't say which raid holds which. The Barrow Deeps raid guide and Hyjal Summit raid guide cover the reported boss names, lore, and roster planning for each.

Reported Boss Names, Not an Official Roster

The boss names out so far are reported, not an official roster, and can change before December 9. Blizzard Watch and Warcraft Tavern read them from the Legacy Challenges menu, part of the BlizzCon demo build; the retained demo reports give menu names, not a Blizzard-published roster or kill order.

What the Beta Client Shows

A retained datamine from client build 1.60.1.70009 found no Barrow Deeps or Hyjal Summit map row in that sample. This is a dated datamine, not a current-build check. In the same build sample, the client has the same raid maps as Classic Era, including Onyxia's 40-player map entry. This remains reported datamine evidence.

Raid Rules Blizzard Has Confirmed

Raids launch at fixed sizes, with no cross-faction play and no GDKP gold-bid runs. At the September 17 Developer Q&A, developers laid out these rules before any boss reveal.

Dungeons and raids have a single difficulty, with no heroic mode; developers said the armor color variants players spotted are "just for offset pieces."Blizzard: World of Warcraft Developer Q&A, checked Sep 28, 2026.

The Q&A says Forever offers an in-game damage meter and cooldown manager, and that players don't "absolutely have to go download add-ons." Blizzard's October 8 notes say the Cooldown Manager now supports all classes, racial abilities and trinkets, with consumables in a later patch.Blizzard: Beta Development Notes, October 8 update, checked Oct 18, 2026. The October 8 Known Issues list still says "The Cooldown Manager is a work in progress.

Complete implementation varies from class to class."Blizzard: Beta Known Issues, October 8, checked Oct 18, 2026. Check current coverage before deciding that basic tracking no longer needs a third-party addon.

Onyxia Is the Launch 40-Player Raid

Onyxia's Lair is the launch 40-player raid, an extra beside the 10 and 20-player ecosystem, and a 40-player raid won't come every tier. Asked about 40-player raiding, a developer said Onyxia's Lair is the launch 40-player raid and added, "we aren't going to have a 40 player raid every single tier."Blizzard: World of Warcraft Developer Q&A, checked Sep 28, 2026. The developer also mentioned extra tier pieces from her.

Interview Reports No Attunement for the First New Raids

According to But Why Tho?'s interview with developers Ana Resendez and Clayton Stone, the first new raids will not require attunement. Resendez says difficulty will not adapt to your level, while Stone declined to say whether later raids will need attunement. The interview does not cover Onyxia's Lair.

Loot, Tier Sets, and Who Keeps an Appearance

In raids, only the player an epic drop binds to gets its appearance. Blizzard's Deep Dive recap sets one transmog rule for every raid: epic raid drops grant their appearance "only to the player the item binds to."Blizzard: Deep Dive recap. Dungeons work differently. A bind-on-pickup Uncommon or Rare dungeon drop grants its appearance to all eligible looters, so nobody rolls on an upgrade just for the look.

The raid rule leaves loot decisions to the raid group. The tier set names and the legendary aren't published, so treat any item name tied to Barrow Deeps or Hyjal Summit as unconfirmed.

Onyxia's Lair: The Classic Baseline

Onyxia's Lair is on the December 9 roadmap card at 40, beside Barrow Deeps at 10 and Hyjal Summit at 20, because that was its size in Classic Era. In Classic Era, Onyxia's Lair was a level 60, 40-player raid with a single boss, one of two raids available at the original 2004 release.Source: Warcraft Wiki: Onyxia's Lair, checked Sep 28, 2026.

Share Image: WoW Forever beta loading screen for Onyxia's Lair, a green-teal painting of a horned dragon facing a party of adventurers on a rock ledge

None of the sources we checked says whether Forever's Onyxia is the same fight or a revamp. Blizzard's Legacy list still gives her a raid challenge of her own, and the developer's pitch was to "call an extra guild" and raid her in Dustwallow Marsh.Blizzard: World of Warcraft Developer Q&A, checked Sep 28, 2026.

Getting Ready for the December 9 Unlock

You have five weeks between the November 4, 2026 launch and the raid unlock. If you're starting at level 1 on launch day, you have to level and gear inside that window. RestedXP says its Forever routes stop short of 60 at launch, so check the RestedXP route coverage before you count on it for the whole climb.

Gear from the way up still matters, because raids do not scale down. The itemization guide explains combined hit and critical chance and the caster weapon changes that shape pre-raid dungeon drops.

Legacy Perks That Touch Raiding

Two Resourcefulness perks reach into raids: Permanence makes raid buffs last longer, and The Quick and the Dead, Blizzard says, speeds up wipe recovery. The account-wide Legacy System counts raid challenges alongside dungeons, classes, and tradeskills. Permanence "increases the duration of party, raid, and camping buffs."Blizzard: Get to Know the World of Warcraft: Forever Legacy System. The Quick and the Dead speeds up corpse runs and makes party and raid buffs free after you resurrect, which Blizzard says speeds up wipe recovery.

Share Image: WoW Forever Legacy Challenges window showing 30 of 65 Legacy Points and six collapsed challenge categories

The same article caps what one character earns from dungeons and raids combined at 6 Legacy Points, out of 29 possible for a single character.

What Comes After the First Raid Tier

Later raid slots are planned for spring and summer 2027, and Blizzard has not published their names or sizes. The What's Next recap lists more raids after December 9, plus "a revamped iconic raid," but doesn't name it or give a date.Blizzard: World of Warcraft: Forever What's Next Panel Recap. Our 2027 roadmap breakdown shows those later raid slots.

Developers committed to a structure: every tier gets a 10-player and a 20-player raid, and a 40-player raid will not come every tier. Plan a guild around a 10 and a 20 roster, and treat 40-player nights as occasional.

What Players Say

Across 15 streamers, raid talk centered on guild structure, loot, and difficulty. Streamers said loot splits opinions and that stable groups help players plan. Opinions from live streams, not confirmed facts.