World of Warcraft Shows Off New Plunderstorm Abilities and Features

Summary

Plunderstorm returns to World of Warcraft, boasting new features and rewards. Expect respawning enemies, fast travel horses, and handy zone threat indicators on the map. Players can now collect powerful offensive and utility spells like Aura of Zealotry and Void Tear.

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

World of Warcraft recently announced the return of Plunderstorm—the 60-player battle royale set in the Arathi Highlands—on January 14th. Following a brief delay, the pirate-themed PvP battle is now live, offering a thrilling diversion while players eagerly await Patch 11.1.

This iteration of Plunderstorm features significant enhancements. The battlefield itself has been refreshed with new points of interest and respawning non-elite enemies, providing a constant stream of plunder opportunities. Fast travel horses offer quick traversal across the map, allowing players to efficiently locate chests, elite enemies, and opponents. The in-game map now displays zone threat levels based on combat frequency, and players can even 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 featuring new and returning rewards
• Game mode access while on World of Warcraft: The War Within characters
• New abilities:
  • Offensive:
    • Aura of Zealotry – Passively increases allied movement speed. Casting consecrates the ground, periodically damaging enemies. Consecration grants enhanced movement speed and melee attack power.
    • 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 powerful winds.
    • Void Tear – Creates a Void mark. Recasting instantly returns the player to the mark, damaging and slowing enemies. The recast is instantaneous while casting any spell.
• 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 Plunderstorm iteration introduces several new spells for players to collect and upgrade. Aura of Zealotry offers a passive speed buff and a consecrated area for damage and allied buffs, while Celestial Barrage is a powerful, chargeable line attack. Utility spells include Call Galefeather, summoning an eagle to knock back enemies, and Void Tear, enabling teleportation to a marked point, slowing and damaging enemies upon arrival. Existing spell cooldowns have been adjusted, and a new UI facilitates easier ability swapping and acquisition.

A new Plunderstorm Practice Lobby allows players to experiment with abilities, adjust keybindings and transmogs, 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.

Noticeably absent this time is the three-person Trios mode. The reason for its omission remains unclear, but hopefully, Blizzard will reinstate it before Plunderstorm sets sail again.