WoW Unveils New Plunderstorm Abilities and Features

Plunderstorm has made a thrilling return to World of Warcraft, bringing with it a host of new features and rewards for players to dive into. This pirate-themed battle royale mode, where 60 players drop into the Arathi Highlands to fight for supremacy and loot, is back after a brief delay and is now live. While there's no official end date announced yet, fans can expect to enjoy Plunderstorm for at least a month as they await the arrival of Patch 11.1.

This second run of Plunderstorm introduces several exciting updates. The battlefield has been revamped with new points of interest and mobs, and all non-elite enemies now respawn after a short time, ensuring a constant supply of plunder until the Storm engulfs them. Players can also utilize fast travel horses scattered across the map to quickly navigate the battlefield, seeking out chests, elites, and opponents. Additionally, the in-game map now features zone threat indicators, showing where fights are most frequent, and allows players to choose their starting deployment zones.

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 increase movement speed for your allies. Cast to consecrate the ground, damaging enemies periodically. While in consecration, gain enhanced movement speed and melee attacks.
    • Celestial Barrage – Call down a barrage of moonbeams, damaging enemies. This spell can be empowered to greatly increase its range.
  • Utility
    • Call Galefeather – Call forth Galefeather to knock enemies back with heavy winds for a short duration.
    • Void Tear – Tear into the Void, placing a Void mark. Recast Void Tear to instantly return to the mark, damaging and slowing enemies. The recast can be performed instantly while casting any spell without interruption.
• Ability balance changes
  • Earthbreaker – Cooldown decreased by 2 seconds at all ranks.
  • Slicing Winds – Cooldown increased by 2 seconds at all ranks.
  • Star Bomb – Cooldown decreased by 2 seconds at all ranks.
  • Storm Archon – Cooldown decreased by 2 seconds at all ranks.
  • Toxic Smackerel – Cooldown increased by 1.5 seconds at all ranks.

Players can now collect and upgrade several new spells in Plunderstorm. For offensive capabilities, Aura of Zealotry offers a passive speed boost to the character and their team, and allows casting Consecrate to create a damaging area that also buffs allies. Celestial Barrage, on the other hand, is a long, chargeable line attack. On the utility front, Call Galefeather summons an eagle to knock back enemies, while Void Tear enables teleportation to a marked point, damaging and slowing enemies in the process. Cooldown adjustments for existing spells and a new UI for swapping and picking up abilities keep the gameplay fresh and engaging.

A new Plunderstorm Practice Lobby has been introduced, where players can experiment with abilities, adjust keybindings and transmogs, and socialize with others. From the Practice Lobby, players can queue for games or access the Plunderstore, the new hub for obtaining Plunderstorm rewards. This can also be accessed from the login screen and even within retail WoW via the PvP interface.

Notably absent from this iteration of Plunderstorm is the three-person Trios mode. It's unclear why Blizzard chose to omit this mode, but fans are hopeful it will be reintroduced before Plunderstorm sets sail once more.