Final week, the third raid of World of Warcraft’s Midnight enlargement opened up: The March on Quel’Danas. My guild and I had been fairly proud to have completed off each its bosses on Regular problem over the weekend, thanks very a lot. However there’s at present an completely nuts race happening between the highest two World of Warcraft raiding guilds on the earth to be the primary to beat it on the best problem. Yesterday, one of many groups thought that they had gained, solely to encounter a secret, ultra-hard, Easter resurrection-themed ultimate boss section that completely nobody noticed coming.
Midnight’s first raiding “tier” contains three raids: the Voidspire, the Dreamrift, and March on Quel’Danas. The primary two raids launched a couple of weeks in the past, however Quel’Danas was held off for a bit each to stagger development considerably in addition to mitigate story spoilers.
March on Quel’Danas contains two bosses. One is in opposition to a really conflicted phoenix. The second is an encounter known as “Midnight Falls” that pits the celebration in opposition to the void-corrupted cosmic being, L’ura, that is been held inside one of many major characters, Alleria, for a number of expansions now. It is a dramatic three-phase encounter in opposition to a real cosmic horror of a foe, takes place within the darkened Sunwell (now known as the Darkwell), and contains all types of cool and difficult mechanics in various shades of purple and blue. It is a nice finale for the tier.
That is L’ura, for context. She’s having a nasty day. All of her days have been unhealthy for a very long time:
WoW’s prime guilds have been preventing to be the primary to defeat L’ura on Mythic problem, the toughest stage of problem WoW has to supply, because the raid opened on Tuesday final week. Yesterday, it regarded like one of many groups, US-based guild Liquid, had taken the win, bringing L’ura all the way down to 0% well being. However simply as they began to have fun, a large wave of injury hit the group, killing most of them.
After which… L’ura started casting a spell.
The reactions from the group are genuinely pleasant. Regardless of feeling victory slip from their grasp, everybody appeared to be in fairly good spirits about it. Greater than something, there appears to be a sense of actual pleasure from not simply the rivals, but additionally the group on the presence of a “secret” ultimate section. Particularly, a secret section that concerned L’ura dying and then “rising” from the grave… found on Easter Sunday, no much less.
The memes are fairly good:
L’ura: “Did not hear no bell.” pic.twitter.com/nr678ThxQz
— gabesales (@la_gabes_al) April 6, 2026
L’ura has been reborn on this Easter Sunday pic.twitter.com/xRX0PxDCwa
— Hopeful (@Hopefulqt) April 5, 2026
L’ura transferring like Jesus and resurrecting on easter is loopy pic.twitter.com/cSlGCbZUln
— Echo (@EchoGuild) April 5, 2026
This bonus section has allowed Liquid’s rival guild, the European-based Echo, to push previous them into first place. As I am penning this, Echo has truly gotten nearer to ending that ultimate section than Liquid has. Echo has gotten L’ura’s final section down to simply 11.8% well being after 420 makes an attempt, that means victory is in sight. In the meantime, Liquid simply logged again in and is coming on the battle recent, after pushing L’ura’s ultimate section all the way down to 44.7% yesterday, and then taking a wanted relaxation. Echo misplaced all three World First races to Liquid final enlargement, so if Echo can pull this off, it’s going to mark a big victory. It is also turning round some opinions on Midnight’s raiding scene on the whole, which has up so far largely been thought to be a bit too simple in comparison with previous expansions.
Blizzard has included secret phases current solely on Mythic problem for raid bosses up to now, with memorable ones together with Archimonde on the finish of Warlords of Draenor, the Jailor in Shadowlands, and my private favourite, Garrosh Hellscream, taking gamers to his warped dream of a demolished Stormwind on the tail finish of Mists of Pandaria.
However L’ura’s secret section is very notable. For one, whereas there have been different secret phases at totally different factors in boss fights in previous years, L’ura popping again up after hitting 0% is a shock that we’ve not actually seen since Cho’gall interrupted the Imperator Mar’gok battle in Warlords of Draenor and took over for a ultimate section.
Plus, nobody actually noticed this one coming. Normally, some data about secret phases might be datamined or discovered upfront by artful gamers who do their analysis. For L’ura, the one clue was an capability known as “Reintegrate” hooked up to her that did not appear to have a lot of a objective. Nobody actually knew what it was for or linked it to a resurrection mechanic like what was used right here.
The secrecy right here was possible fairly difficult for Blizzard to tug off, not simply when it comes to datamining but additionally when it comes to testing. Only a few individuals can play on the stage required to succeed at a battle this tough this quickly after a raid’s launch, with weaker gear and no prior data of mechanics. Meaning there is a very restricted pool of people that would have been capable of check this for Blizzard to verify it was purposeful, and even potential. And but, right here we’re.
If you wish to watch this unfold with me, Echo’s currently streaming right here at the time this piece went live, and Liquid’s right here. Echo looks as if they will pull this off any minute now, however the stage of precision required to make it by way of this lengthy and tough battle is such that they might probably proceed to wrestle lengthy sufficient for Liquid, fully-rested, to surpass them.
Good luck to each groups, who’re enjoying WoW at a stage I can’t personally fathom. I’ll merely be content material as soon as my Guild finishes the battle on Heroic problem in a couple of weeks.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Obtained a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.