Patch 12.2, Eclipse, is the last major content update Midnight gets, and it ends where the Worldsoul Saga has been heading all along. Xal'atath escaped through the Darkwell after the March on Quel'Danas, taking her Devouring Host with her, and her target is finally out in the open: Azeroth's Worldsoul, held at the center of the Worldcore. Eclipse follows her down. The route runs through a Titan zone called The Mantle Vault and into an 8-boss raid where she waits at the end.
The reward side is where most of the planning starts. Midnight's Edge is the first legendary weapon of the Worldsoul Saga, a caster dagger whose quest chain begins in that raid, and the Season 3 Mythic+ pool keeps none of the eight Season 2 dungeons. Three more races can roll a Paladin. Eclipse was announced at the BlizzCon 2026 Opening Ceremony on September 12, and the What's Next panel that afternoon added the dungeon bosses, the lair and the Season 3 reward rules.
Eclipse is due in early 2027, and Blizzard's 2026 / 2027 schedule puts Patch 12.2 in winter. There is no exact date yet. Season 3 starts shortly after the patch goes live, so the first days of Eclipse belong to the zone and the story before the competitive season opens.
Two more updates land before Eclipse. Patch 12.1.5 is already on the PTR with the Kith'ix campaign, a one-boss raid, Labyrinths and Aqir Invasions, and our Patch 12.1.5 overview covers all of it. After that comes 12.1.7, titled Echoes of the Worldcore. Talebound, a new action RPG mode, arrives with 12.1.7 and gets an early PTR preview in October.
The schedule Blizzard showed at BlizzCon replaces the January version, which stopped at 12.1.7. It now runs into summer 2027.
| Update | When | Content |
|---|---|---|
| 12.1.5 | Autumn | Labyrinths, Kith'ix campaign and mini raid, Aqir Invasions, Hallow's End updates, reputation warbandification |
| 12.1.7 Echoes of the Worldcore | Before Eclipse | Talebound, Lorewalking: Thrall, Turbulent Timeways, Winter Veil updates |
| 12.2 Eclipse | Winter | The Mantle Vault, Thraegar's Stand, The Gearhold, new Delves, The Worldcore, legendary caster blade, Undead, Night Elf and Troll Paladins, housing updates, Season 3 |
| Expansion reveal | Between 12.2 and 12.2.5 | The Last Titan |
| 12.2.5 | Spring | Soulstorms world event, transmog updates |
| 12.2.7 | Summer | Midnight recap, lorewalking, profession and Midsummer updates |
| Wrath of the Lich King Remix | Summer | A return to Northrend with the power of the Scourge |
Eclipse adds one zone, one lair, one dungeon, one raid and new Delves. The rest are systems, and Season 3 arrives right behind the patch.
| Feature | What it adds |
|---|---|
| The Mantle Vault | A new zone the Titans sealed away deep within Azeroth, with the Radiant Core renown track |
| The Gearhold | A new lair where Noctinaxx, an enormous azerite bat, waits on World, Normal, Heroic and flexible Mythic |
| Radiant Screams | Zone-wide events for flexible group sizes, tied to the Worldsoul's cries |
| The Worldcore | An 8-boss raid that ends with Xal'atath |
| Midnight's Edge | A legendary caster dagger whose quest chain begins in the Worldcore |
| Thraegar's Stand | A new 3-boss dungeon in the Season 3 Mythic+ pool |
| Season 3 Mythic+ | An eight-dungeon pool, a new top 5% reward, and top 1% and top 5% ranked per specialization |
| Delves Season 3 | Astalor Bloodsworn as the Nemesis, plus a higher level cap and new Curios for Valeera |
| Prey | New Prey and Torments in the Mantle Vault, with Agony Mode as the final difficulty |
| New Paladin races | Night Elf, Undead and Darkspear Troll characters can become Paladins |
| Housing | Showcase, mannequins, copy-paste and multi-select, decor re-buying, four new endeavors |
| Calibration Chamber | Target dummies for your whole group with cooldown resets and full raid buffs |
| PvP | A refreshed PvP Journey and a PvP season alongside Season 3 |
The Mantle Vault is an expansive zone the Titans hid eons ago, sealed off for thousands of years and located deep within the core of Azeroth. Its wildlife runs on stone and azerite: stone worms, crystalline elementals and the like. Rewards come through a new renown track with the Radiant Core. Three powers share the map.
The Thraegar are your new allies here, an ancient race of crystalline, dwarflike creatures making a stand against the Devouring Host alongside you. The Deepskar Empire is the third party. It sits apart from both Light and Void, a coalition of subterranean lowlifes that is not very hospitable to our presence: kobolds, troggs and drogbar, with the niffen as their leaders.
The Gearhold is the patch's new lair. It belongs to Noctinaxx, an enormous azerite bat that Blizzard counts among Eclipse's new raid bosses, and four difficulties are listed for him — World, Normal, Heroic and flexible Mythic.
Radiant Screams are the zone's outdoor feature, tied to the Worldsoul's cries. As Xal'atath closes in on her goal, they trigger zone-wide events built for flexible group sizes, and they carry rewards of their own.
The journey toward the Worldcore brings you closer to the Worldsoul than ever, and her visions are growing stronger. As her cries echo through the vault, players get called out to the disturbances taking shape around them.
The Worldcore is an 8-boss raid. The roster covers void enemies, Titan constructs, living Azerite and Xal'atath herself, and the path runs through her most powerful lieutenants and the Worldcore's own defenses before she is in reach. That makes her the last boss of Midnight's final raid. Her kill is also where the legendary chain starts.
The Worldcore raid entrance
Titan towers in the Worldcore zone
Worldcore creatures
Midnight's Edge is a caster dagger, the first legendary of Midnight and of the whole Worldsoul Saga, and it comes out of the Worldcore raid. The quest chain begins with conquering the raid. Clearing it is one step of many.
It is not the Blade of the Black Empire; Blizzard said so in as many words. The last legendary weapons before it were Dragonflight's Fyr'alath the Dreamrender and Nasz'uro, the Unbound Legacy — The War Within went the whole expansion without one.
Season 3 swaps out the entire Season 2 rotation, and none of its eight dungeons return. Magisters' Terrace and Maisara Caverns come back from Season 1 with changes and touch-ups, and five legacy dungeons from five different expansions join them in updated form. Six have never been Midnight keystones.
| Dungeon | Expansion | Season 3 status |
|---|---|---|
| Thraegar's Stand | Midnight | New in 12.2 |
| Magisters' Terrace | Midnight | Returns from Season 1 |
| Maisara Caverns | Midnight | Returns from Season 1 |
| The Underrot | Battle for Azeroth | New to Midnight keystones |
| Iron Docks | Warlords of Draenor | New to Midnight keystones |
| Sanguine Depths | Shadowlands | New to Midnight keystones |
| The Stonecore | Cataclysm | New to Midnight keystones |
| Uldaman: Legacy of Tyr | Dragonflight | New to Midnight keystones |
Honestly, anyone who spent the summer drilling Murder Row and Altar of Fangs routes starts over — every Season 2 dungeon leaves the rotation, including the three legacy picks from Battle for Azeroth and Dragonflight.
Thraegar's Stand is a 3-boss dungeon with updated gear rewards, and it is part of the Season 3 Mythic+ rotation. Four foes share those three encounters:
The dungeon carries the name of the Thraegar, the crystalline allies of the Mantle Vault.
Season 3 adds a new seasonal reward for players who finish the season in the top 5% of Mythic+ ratings, on top of the rewards that already exist. Blizzard pitches it as a way for more high-performing dungeon runners to show off what they did each season. The bigger change is how the percentiles are measured: from Season 3, top 1% and top 5% rewards are ranked within your specialization instead of across every Mythic+ player.
In practice, a Protection Warrior's eligibility depends on how their rating compares with other Protection Warriors, and the same rule covers every specialization that takes part in Mythic+ during the season. Only the top 1% and top 5% rewards change. Blizzard's stated hope is more spec diversity, with players pushing keys on whatever they want to play. Frankly, for off-meta specs this is the first season where the top-percentile chase is fair: a spec nobody brings to high keys still has its own top 1%.
Valeera Sanguinar carries on into Season 3 with a higher level cap and new Curios to find, while existing Delves pick up new variations and Blizzard's 12.2 schedule adds new Delves. The new Nemesis is familiar.
All through Midnight, Astalor Bloodsworn has been handing out assignments through the Prey system and wielding the anguish of his targets as a source of power. The anguish has clouded his mind. He is the Season 3 Delve Nemesis, and he brings optional challenges with him.
Xal'atath's attempts to claim the Worldsoul have stirred deep anguish beneath Azeroth's surface, and your investigations alongside Astalor lead into the Mantle Vault, where new Prey and new Torments wait. Prey also gets Agony Mode — the final Prey difficulty.
Eclipse lets three more races become Paladins: Night Elves, Undead and Darkspear Trolls. Zandalari Trolls already had the class. The Troll addition is the Darkspear side of the family.
| Race | Paladin status |
|---|---|
| Human | Paladin today |
| Dwarf | Paladin today |
| Draenei | Paladin today |
| Lightforged Draenei | Paladin today |
| Dark Iron Dwarf | Paladin today |
| Earthen | Paladin today |
| Blood Elf | Paladin today |
| Tauren | Paladin today |
| Zandalari Troll | Paladin today |
| Night Elf | New in 12.2 |
| Undead | New in 12.2 |
| Troll (Darkspear) | New in 12.2 |
That takes the class from nine races to twelve — and Kul Tirans and Worgen are not among the three, which will sting for a lot of Alliance players.
One mount concept is already out. Blizzard's Eclipse concept art includes a Night Elf Paladin mount: a pale sabercat in white-and-gold barding under a winged golden helm, with golden Light burning around its paws and the tip of its tail.
Housing Showcase
Mannequins
Housing gets a mode for showing homes off and a handful of tools that make decorating less fiddly:
The Calibration Chamber is a new testing ground where you and your party or raid can run your rotation against varied target dummies. Cooldowns reset; raid buffs come included. For what it's worth, for raid teams that is the most useful quality-of-life addition in the patch, because a whole group can rehearse its opener with every raid buff active and reset its cooldowns between attempts.
PvP progression gets refreshed with a new Journey that hands out PvP rewards, and Season 3 brings a PvP season with it.
Starting with content update 12.2.5, gear can be transmogged across armor types without restriction, so a Priest can wear plate appearances and a Warrior can wear cloth. Cross-armor transmog waits for 12.2.5, not Eclipse.
Look, for collectors this is the headline of the weekend. 12.2.5, the spring update, also brings the Soulstorms world event; summer holds 12.2.7, with a Midnight recap plus lorewalking and profession updates, and then the Wrath of the Lich King Remix.
Eclipse is scheduled for early 2027, in the winter slot of Blizzard's 2026 / 2027 schedule, and Season 3 begins shortly after the patch goes live. No exact date has been given.
The Worldcore, an 8-boss raid of void enemies, Titan constructs and living Azerite that ends with Xal'atath. The Gearhold adds a single lair boss, Noctinaxx, on top of it.
Through a legendary quest chain that begins with conquering the Worldcore raid; clearing the raid is only one of several steps. The weapon is a caster dagger.
Thraegar's Stand, Magisters' Terrace, Maisara Caverns, The Underrot, Iron Docks, Sanguine Depths, The Stonecore and Uldaman: Legacy of Tyr. None of the Season 2 dungeons stay.
Night Elves, Undead and Darkspear Trolls join Humans, Dwarves, Draenei, Lightforged Draenei, Dark Iron Dwarves, Earthen, Blood Elves, Tauren and Zandalari Trolls, twelve races in total.
Astalor Bloodsworn, the Prey system's quest-giver, his mind clouded by the anguish he gathered from his targets. He comes with optional challenges.
No, it arrives in 12.2.5, the spring update after Eclipse. From then on, gear can be transmogged across armor types without restriction.
It is the last major content update. After it come The Last Titan reveal and two smaller updates on Blizzard's schedule, 12.2.5 in spring and 12.2.7 in summer, with the Wrath of the Lich King Remix placed in summer as well, after 12.2.7.
