WoW Patch 11.1.5 Arriving Soon

The next major content update for World of Warcraft: The War Within, known as Patch 11.1.5, will be upon us soon. I’ve prepared a brief rundown of what players can expect once this update reaches live servers. As usual, I’ll include links to further reading (where appropriate) for those who want more details. First, Patch 11.1.5 is scheduled to reach live servers sometime on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025 in North America. I’d expect WoW to be down for maintenance on patch day for at least a few hours, but only time will tell how that will play out.

Three parts of Patch 11.1.5’s updated content will be live alongside the patch itself. All of the following will be available starting April 22nd: The (repeatable) public Nightfall scenario in Hallowfall, a new, optional “cooldown manager” UI element, and the “Winds of Mysterious Fortune” buff. The rest of this update’s content, namely the “Horrific Visions Revisited” and limited-time “Dastardly Duos” events, will begin to roll out between the weeks of May 20th to June 3rd. Let’s get into a bit of info about each of these aspects in this particular order, starting with the new Nightfall scenario.

The combined might of the player factions may have defeated the corrupted Queen Ansurek of Azj-Kahet, but the remaining military forces loyal to her still threaten the Hallowfall Arathi. To extinguish the Sureki threat once and for all, players will fight alongside a new faction known as the Flame’s Radiance. As is the case with every faction introduced since Dragonflight, players will be able to gain multiple levels of Renown with the Flame’s Radiance and get access to rewards for doing so. A few of the rewards are new armor sets and a tabard that visually updates with each gained Renown level.

Once Patch 11.1.5 is live, players will find a new Cooldown Manager UI element within the Advanced Game Options menu. It’s turned off by default but is easily toggled on if you want to use it. To quote Blizzard directly, the Cooldown Manager will allow you to “view important cooldowns and buffs in separate customizable HUD elements for the selected specialization.” You can customize how the Cooldown Manager looks via Edit Mode. You’ll be able to save different customized versions of the Cooldown Manager for all your different classes and specializations, as you can with all other UI elements in Edit Mode.

That brings me to the aspect of Patch 11.1.5 that I’m most excited about. From April 22nd to May 20th, 2025, the “Winds of Mysterious Fortune” buff will be active. This buff passively grants all characters between levels 10-79 a 20% boost to all experience gained. Additionally, this buff provides a +200% increase to Renown gains with all Dragonflight factions and a +100% buff to Renown gains with all The War Within factions except those within Undermine. You don’t need to use an item or do anything to get this buff once it begins, and its effects persist through death.

As another twist on top of that, Blizzard announced the following: “During this period, while in Dragonflight and The War Within [z]ones, players below level 80 will also have a chance to gain Mysterious Satchels while looting creatures or as a bonus reward from quests. These satchels contain a variety of fun and useful items that can grant temporary stat boosts or visual alterations. These satchels can sometimes also include bonus gear appropriate to your level and specialization and two-hour 10% experience potions that stack with the 20% experience buff to a maximum of 30%. “

Blizzard went on to add: “Experience potions are a Warbound-bound [sic] item and can be consumed during the event or saved until after the event is over to be used on characters from level 10-79. Any stat potion effects or elemental potion effects will not work in Mythic+ Raids, or rated PvP content.” To make that first bit sound less clunky: You can store these experience potions in your Warband Bank so that all your characters, regardless of their server, level, class, or faction, can easily withdraw and consume them.

I believe Blizzard meant to say either “Warbound” or “Warband-bound” there, but regardless, you get the gist. Notably, Blizzard only mentions that any bonuses or buffs you get during this event don’t work in Mythic+ raids or rated PvP content. That suggests that these extra bonuses will work in non-Mythic+ raids (and dungeons) and unrated PvP content like Random Battlegrounds. If that does turn out to be the case, I can easily imagine tons of players taking advantage of this event for more than just the easier leveling and Renown gains. I know I’ll certainly be doing a heck of a lot of that.

Starting the week of May 20th, 2025, the “Horrific Visions” scenarios from Battle for Azeroth will be making a return. I can almost hear the cheers and groans that announcement elicited from everyone who regularly played WoW back then. In these scenarios, players venture into alternate versions of Stormwind and Orgrimmar that have been corrupted by the Old God, N’Zoth. You’ll have to defeat the horrors found within while ensuring you stay sane in the process. Players will be able to earn a new currency called Displaced Corrupted Mementos by participating in Horrific Visions.

You can spend Displaced Corrupted Mementos on “new and returning rewards in Horrific Visions such as mounts, toys, transmogs, weapon enchantments, and more,” according to Blizzard. That brings me to the “Dastardly Duos” event that will go live during the week of June 3rd, 2025. This event will last for six weeks and will see players step up to take on ‘animatronic’ versions of past bosses, gain power-ups, and strive for higher and higher scores for bragging rights. You and your party will fight two (or more) bosses at a time to rack up your highest score,” explained Blizzard.

“In week one, there will be four bosses available to fight and each week thereafter additional bosses will be added up to a total of ten total bosses to face,” Blizzard added. Players can visit Wodin, the ‘Troll-Servant,’ who serves as a vendor during the Dastardly Duos event. Wodin will grant players access to additional power-ups that will help them while fighting all the pairs of bosses. With that, I’ve just about covered all the major parts of Patch 11.1.5, folks! I hope to see you in Azeroth on patch day, provided the servers aren’t down too long.