Warfronts Guide - Battle for Azeroth

Warfronts Guide - Battle for Azeroth
Warfronts are a new major addition to the game in Battle for Azeroth. Essentially they are large 20 player PvE queable instances that are supposed to recreate the epic RTS roots of Warcraft 3. All 20 players must work together to gather resources, build familiar Warcraft structures, gain tactical advantages, and recruit/upgrade troops in order to assault the opposite faction's base and take control of the strategic environment. Currently there is no PvP aspect to Warfronts. The enemy that you face is World of Warcraft's new smart AI.

• The Battle of Stromgarde in Arathi Highlands is the first and only Warfront available soon after launch in the coming weeks.
• The enemy AI is much more tactical than normal mob AI. It will behave strategically and act much in the way that a player character would, such as attacking healers first and using crowd control.
• Each faction will periodically take control of Arathi Highlands by doing a Warfront.
• The faction who doesn't control Arathi Highlands contributes resources to open up the ability to queue for their own Warfront to take the territory back.
• Having control of Arathi Highlands gives you access to rares and a world boss.
• Gear and Azerite are some of the rewards for completing a Warfront.

Warfronts Weekly Cycle
Blizzard has stated that a normal week of Warfronts will cycle between the following:

How a Faction Contributes to Launching a Warfront
In order to cycle the Warfront territory between each faction, the faction that is currently not in control must contribute enough resources to launch their Warfront. This process has a similar method as the Broken Shore and is region wide. You can see the progress percentage at any time by opening up the map of your faction's hub. The faction in control of Arathi Highlands can check their Warfronts board to see how close the opposite faction is to regaining control.

• There are daily profession quests that allow turning in your profession materials to contribute.
• You can contribute 100 gold a day to help progress the bar as well.
• If you do not have the gold or professions available, you can repeatedly turn in 100 war resources as many times as you like.
• Each contribution rewards 500 Artifact Power, which is not a small amount!
• You also receive 150 reputation with either the 7th Legion or Honorbound depending on your faction.

Where to Queue for Warfronts
When your faction is within the window of launching a Warfront, you need only to head to the Warfront table to queue up! It is important to note that the faction who launches a Warfront will always win. This is to make sure that control actively fluctuates between both factions.



Alliance Base: Stromgarde Keep
Stromgarde Keep is where the Alliance's base of operations is held.



Horde Base: Az'Gorok
The Horde now have their own base of operations in Arathi Highlands called Az'Gorok. It is situated slightly Northeast of Stromgarde.



The Flow of a Warfront
The very first thing that happens in a Warfront is you and your teammates floating in and taking back your Great Hall/Town Hall from the enemy. This happens by slaying a named opposite faction NPC that is holding the building.

Next players split into two groups and retake the mine, lumber gathering area, and defend the main base as needed. Retaking these areas involves killing an elite named NPC and claiming the flag.

After retaking the resource generating points, groups pushing forward with troops and retaking enemy strongholds all the way across the map to the enemy keep should be the main objective. In order to do so, you will need vehicles from the workshop to destroy the towers/gates. During all of this, you will need to defend against incoming attacks and continue gathering resources.



Warfront Map
You can use your Warfront Map to see icons displaying controlled bases, how far along constructions are, locations of teammates and enemies, and locations of troops.



Warfront Resources
After you regain control of your main building, the next step (and most important) is to start collecting resources to upgrade buildings, train troops, and create other buildings. There are only three different resources in a Warfront to collect.

• Iron - Iron is the most important resource in a Warfront. It is used to build/upgrade buildings, get additional support, upgrade and recruit troops and vehicles, and also in getting buffs from your base's altar.
  
  • Iron is accumulated passively once your team takes control of the nearby mine. Passive iron is collected at the main hall.
  • Iron can also be collected by mine carts at the mine.
  • Miners can mine iron from nodes.
• Wood - Wood is not as useful as Iron, but is needed for certain aspects as well. It is used to upgrade troops, buildings, and for buffs from the altars.
  
  • Wood does not generate passively. You must collect it in the fields north of Stromgarde by chopping down trees.
  • Peons will cut down trees or you can cut them down yourself.
• Essence of Storms - This is a very rare currency that can be looted from rare NPC opponents. They are needed to provide the Call of the Storm from your altar for 5 minutes.

Warfront Buildings
The general flow of a Warfront involves collecting enough resources to construct and upgrade a plethora of different buildings that help achieve the ultimate goal of storming the opponent's keep and taking out their leader.

• Great Hall/Town Hall - This building is acquired automatically at the start of the fight once you take out the opposing commander.
  
  • Required to construct any other building.
  • Can be upgraded twice.
  • Upgrade 1 provides more peons, faster troop production, and commander troops.
  • Upgrade 2 provides more peons, faster troop production, increased damage from certain vehicles and allows commander troops to use special abilities.
• Barracks - Barracks is the powerhouse of troop production. Once constructed, you are able to recruit troops that will defend the keep and attack enemies as they travel along paths. There are many different troops from basic grunts to healers, some of which requires areas on the map to be captured first.
  
• Armory/War Mill - The Armory/War Mill is utilized to upgrade the armor and weapons of your troops.
  
  
  
  
  
• Altar/Shrine - After building the Barracks, players can turn in resources to acquire Bristling Power or use their Essence of Storms for Call of the Storm from your altar for 5 minutes.

• Workshop - This building allows you to build vehicles, which are necessary to take the enemy base. There is a limit of three active vehicles at once.

Other Objectives
During the course of the battle you will have to also send troops and players to attack and control different bases around the map. This is done by taking out enemies and their commander and then capping the flag in the area. Controlling bases opens up more options in upgrades. The opposite faction can reclaim these bases so they must be defended. During this time random elements, such as rare boss mobs and enemies, can attack as optional objectives.



How to Win Warfronts
The main objective of a Warfront is to muster a strong enough force to attack the enemy base and take out the commander.

• Your team will always win, however, you can make sure this happens faster by playing the Warfront strategically.
• You can be rewarded randomly with a piece of gear that has the aspirant Warfront appearance at the end of the match
• Another Warfront appearance can be acquired from killing rares or the world bosses in Arathi Highlands for gear when you control the area.
• The rarest Warfront gear appearance can come from the weekly quest chest from doing Warfront: The Battle for Stromgarde or Warfront: The Battle for Stromgarde

Arathi Highlands Warfront Rewards
Controlling Arathi Highlands gives you access to your War Machine world boss which can reward item level 370 loot!



Mounts
There are several rare mounts that can be obtained from killing rares around Arathi Highlands.

• Broken Highland Mustang - Drop from Knight-Captain Aldrin.
• Highland Mustang - Drop from Doomrider Helgrim.
• Lil' Donkey - Drop from Overseer Krix.
• Skullripper - Drop from Skullripper.
• Swift Albino Raptor - Drop from Beastrider Kama.
• Witherbark Direwing - Drop from Nimar the Slayer.

Pets
Several rare pets can also be obtained from killing rares around Arathi Highlands.

• Aldrusian Sproutling - Drop from Branchlord Aldrus.
• Plagued Egg - Drop from Plaguefeather.
• Shard of Fozruk - Drop from Fozruk.
• Fuzzy Creepling - Drop from Venomarus.
• Angry Egg - Drop from Ragebeak.
• Scabby - Drop from Yogursa.
• Mana-Warped Egg - Drop from Man-Hunter Rog.
• Teeny Titan Orb - Drop from Echo of Myzrael.
• Tiny Grimoire - Drop from Darbel Montrose.

Toys
A variety of different toys are also obtainable from rares in Arathi Highlands.

• Brazier Cap - Drop from Geomancer Flintdagger.
• Coldrage's Cooler - Drop from Kor'gresh Coldrage.
• Foul Belly - Drop from Foulbelly.
• Kovork Kostume - Drop from Kovork.
• Magic Fun Rock - Drop from Ruul Onestone.
• Molok Morion - Drop from Molok the Crusher.
• Spectral Visage - Drop from Horrific Apparition.
• Syndicate Mask - Drop from Singer.
• Witherbark Gong - Drop from Zalas Witherbark.

Miscellaneous Drops
There are a few items that can also drop from elemental rares in Arathi Highlands that calls forth npc minions to fight with you in Arathi Highlands.

• Burning Essence - Drop from Burning Goliath.
• Cresting Essence - Drop from Cresting Goliath.
• Rumbling Essence - Drop from Rumbling Goliath.
• Thundering Essence - Drop from Thundering Goliath.

Warfront Quests
While your faction controls Arathi Highlands you also have access to several quests that vary in rewards.

• The League Will Lose / Death to The Defilers - Warfronts Equipment Cache / Warfronts Equipment Cache (item level 340 warfront gear piece)
• Executing Exorcisms / Executing Exorcisms - 300 Azerite Power
• Boulderfist Beatdown, Sins of the Syndicate, Twice-Exiled, and Wiping Out the Witherbark - 200 War Resources Each.

Warfront Achievements

Name	Side	Points
An Eventful BattleComplete the following random events in the Battle for Stromgarde:		10
The Dirty FiveRaise 5 War Campaign Champions to Epic Level.		10
Azeroth at War: After LordaeronComplete the following missions listed below:	Horde	10
Azeroth at War: Kalimdor on FireComplete the following missions listed below:	Horde	10
Azeroth at War: The BarrensComplete the following missions listed below:	Horde	10
Leader of TroopsRecruit one of every troop type in the Battle for Stromgarde.	Horde	10
Strike FastCapture every location in the Battle for Stromgarde.	Horde	10
Strike HardCapture a location in the Battle for Stromgarde.	Horde	10
Tour of WarDefeat the following enemy commanders in the Battle for Stromgarde:	Horde	10
War is HellComplete the Battle for Stromgarde.	Horde	10
Azeroth at War: After LordaeronComplete the following missions listed below:	Alliance	10
Azeroth at War: Kalimdor on FireComplete the following missions listed below:	Alliance	10
Azeroth at War: The BarrensComplete the following missions listed below:	Alliance	10
Leader of TroopsRecruit one of every troop type in the Battle for Stromgarde.	Alliance	10
Strike FastCapture every location in the Battle for Stromgarde.	Alliance	10
Strike HardCapture a location in the Battle for Stromgarde.	Alliance	10
Tour of WarDefeat the following enemy commanders in the Battle for Stromgarde:	Alliance	10
War is HellComplete the Battle for Stromgarde.	Alliance	10