Ahn’Qiraj War Effort Guide – WoW Classic & Season of Discovery

Ahn’Qiraj beckons, and the Horde and Alliance come together to prepare for an upcoming epic war against the Qiraji and Old Gods! The Ahn’Qiraj War Effort, dubbed The Gates of Ahn’Qiraj event, is segmented into three parts: The Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline, the War Effort Supplies Gathering, and the opening of the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj, marked by the 10-hour War.

The first parts of the event, The Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline and War Effort Supplies Gathering overlap during the War Effort event, with the former becoming available first and the latter briefly after. The last part, the 10-hour War, begins when players gain The Scepter of the Shifting Sands and the supplies are ready, commencing once the first player on the realm completes the Bang a Gong! quest.

In WoW Classic, the first parts of the Ahn’Qiraj War Effort event lasted a considerable amount of time before the gates opened and the raids became available. In the Season of Discovery, the event has a specific timeline, with a considerably shorter duration. While it may seem counterintuitive to shorten the duration of the event, the changes allow even more players to claim valuable prizes!

Season of Discovery Ahn’Qiraj War Effort Event Timeline:

• 12 November: Scepter of the Shifting Sands Questline Becomes Available
• 21 November: Ahn’Qiraj War Effort begins at 21:00 GMT globally.
• 29 November: The War Effort ends.
• 4 December: The war heralding the arrival of Anubisath and the Qiraji warriors begins.
• 6 December: Temple of Ahn’Qiraj, Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj, and Nightmare Grove Open.

Scepter of the Shifting Sands Questline

The Scepter of the Shifting Sands is an epic questline, made up of 32 quests leading up to the opening of the gates of Ahn’Qiraj and awarding the prestigious and extremely hard-to-get Scarab Lord title and Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal mount! The questline will have players venture into the most dangerous locations in Azeroth and face endless swarms of enemies and legendary creatures in the hopes of uncovering the coveted Scepter of the Shifting Sands!

If you wish to see the entire walkthrough for this epic journey, click on the button below!

War Effort Supplies Gathering

The War Effort Supplies Gathering phase starts after the Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline! This stage is constituted of both Horde and Alliance players receiving specific quests that require them to gather materials and deliver them to NPCs in Capital Cities. Each faction must contribute millions of materials, with both factions having War Effort Commanders that display the entirety of collected materials at any given moment.

The War Effort Commander for Alliance is Field Marshal Snowfall while the Horde War Effort Commander is Warlord Gorchuk!

Quests are given by various NPCs throughout Orgrimmar for Horde and Ironforge for Alliance, requiring players to gather materials that can be produced with the Mining, Fishing, Cooking, Herbalism, Skinning, Leatherworking, and First Aid professions! Upon completing the quests, players receive multiple Alliance Commendation Signets/Horde Commendation Signets, and Ahn’Qiraj War Effort Supplies.

WoW Classic Rewards

The rewards that are given to players are different based on the contributions they make! The first time a quest is completed, it will award a single Ahn’Qiraj War Effort Supplies box and 10 x Alliance Commendation Signets/Horde Commendation Signets. Afterward, every quest grants a different amount of Alliance Commendation Signets/Horde Commendation Signets and an Ahn’Qiraj War Effort Supplies box, based on the quest itself.

The Alliance Commendation Signets/Horde Commendation Signets are used to increase reputation with each different member of your faction! They can also be exchanged for Ahn’Qiraj War Effort Supplies boxes by talking to either Field Marshal Snowfall or Warlord Gorchuk. The Ahn’Qiraj War Effort Supplies offer players Scrolls and Bind-on-Equip Items. The reward’s level depends on the items that are contributed. Low-level items such as Copper Bars offer lower Item Level BoEs while higher-level items such as Thorium Bars give higher Item Level BoEs.

Contributing to the War Effort can be done by any player, no matter what level their character has! This allows players to easily contribute toward the War Effort by sending materials to their alts and permits players that haven’t yet reached level 60 to reap the rewards granted by the event without actually having to participate in the end-game content!

Season of Discovery Changes

In the Season of Discovery, players will no longer need to contribute materials toward the War Effort! The event starts on 21 November: Ahn’Qiraj War Effort begins at 21:00 GMT globally and automatically ends on 29 November. However, players can choose to contribute materials and complete quests to earn Alliance Commendation Signets/Horde Commendation Signets and receive multiple new rewards!

In addition, players will be able to continue contributing materials even after the war begins, allowing players to gain reputation and consumables! Furthermore, the Qiraji Crystals that spawn only during the opening of the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj event will now spawn in various other spots in Azeroth, allowing players to gain massive rewards by defeating the crystal’s guardians.

Season of Discovery Rewards

The rewards that can be acquired with the Alliance Commendation Signets/Horde Commendation Signets are different in the Season of Discovery! Players can still earn valuable Scrolls and BoE items just like in WoW Classic. However, they can now also use the commendations to increase their reputation with the following factions, besides the main members of their specific faction (Alliance/Horde):

• Timbermaw Hold
• Zandalar Tribe
• Steamwheedle Cartel
• Hydraxian Waterlords
• Thorium Brotherhood
• Cenarion Circle
• Argent Dawn

In addition, players can now also buy special consumables from those factions that can be used to assist against the invading forces of the Qiraji and special consumables that allow players to regain World Buffs after wipes!

This change is incredible as those consumables can be used to restore lost World Buffs from either Party or Raid members. You will no longer have to worry about undoing your Chronoboon Displacer at the wrong time!

Quests WoW Classic/Season of Discovery

Below we compiled a list of all the repeatable quests that players can complete to contribute toward the War Effort! All Alliance NPCs can be found in The Military Ward of Ironforge while all Horde NPCs can be found in the Valley of Spirits, in Orgrimmar.

The 10-hour War/48-hour War Event

The 10-hour War is the last phase of the Ahn’Qiraj War Effort event, culminating in a huge battle against the invading Qiraji & Anubisath forces before the very opening of the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj! During this event, players can fight epic monsters such as the Hive Colusses (Colossus of Ashi, Colossus of Regal, and Colossus of Zora) among other servitors of the old god, C’Thun! During the 10-hour War, factions can also battle each other and often choose to do so to fight over the tags of the epic monsters such as the Qiraji Colossi, resulting in massive Open World battles.

The 10-hour War is not only marked by the apparition of the invading forces but also represents the last opportunity for soon-to-become Scarab lords to turn in The Scepter of the Shifting Sands and gain the Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal!

In the Season of Discovery, this phase has been extended, no longer lasting only 10 hours! This last stage of the Ahn’Qiraj War Effort event now lasts 48 hours, gaining the 48-hour War moniker. This has been done to not only extend the possible reputation rewards gained by killing the invading forces but also to extend the time limit for any player who wishes to grab the Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal Mount and Scarab lord title!