Corrupted item

Obtaining a corrupted item.

Corrupted items were gear corrupted by N'Zoth. During Battle for Azeroth Season 4, many items had a chance to be corrupted when received, which granted them a bonus effect and a certain amount of the corruption stat. As a character's total corruption increased, they suffered increasingly detrimental effects. Corruption also affected a character's appearance, gradually covering their body in a shimmering purple miasma. At a corruption level above 80, the miasma turned red.

Corruption effects

Every corrupted item had one of the following properties. The corruption effect on an item, along with its power level and associated corruption, was determined at random. MOTHER in the Chamber of Heart sold Preserved Contaminants on a rotating basis that could be used to give items specific corruption effects.

Certain weapons from Ny'alotha, the Waking City always received the same corruption effect every time they drop. Some of them have a unique effect that cannot be obtained on any other item; these are listed at the bottom of the table below.

Name	Description	Corruption	Appears on
Avoidant	Your Avoidance is increased by an amount equal to 8/12/16% of your Haste.	+8/+12/+16
Deadly Momentum	Your critical hits have a chance to increase your Critical Strike by 31/41/72 for 15 sec, stacking up to 5 times.	+15/+20/+35
Echoing Void	Your damaging abilities build the Echoing Void. Each time it builds, Echoing Void has a chance to collapse, dealing 0.40/0.60/1.00% of your Health as Shadow damage to all nearby enemies every 1 sec until no stacks remain.	+25/+35/+60	[Qwor N'lyeth]
Expedient	Increases the amount of Haste you gain from all sources by 6/9/12%.	+10/+15/+20
Glimpse of Clarity	Your spells and abilities have a chance to grant you a Glimpse of Clarity, reducing the cooldown of your next 1 spell cast by 3 sec.	+15
Gushing Wound	Your damaging spells and abilities have a chance to cause your target to ooze blood, dealing 91% of Attack or Spell power damage over 7 sec.	+15
Honed Mind	Your spells and abilities have a chance to increase your Mastery by 392/523/915 for 10 sec.	+15/+20/+35
Ineffable Truth	Your Spells and Abilities have a chance to show you the Ineffable Truth, increasing the rate your cooldowns recover by 30/50% for 10 sec.	+12/+30	[Eyestalk of Il'gynoth]
Infinite Stars	Your spells and abilities have a chance to strike a nearby enemy with an Infinite Star, dealing Arcane damage and increasing their damage taken from your Infinite Stars by 25%, stacking up to 10 times.	+20/+50/+75	[Shgla'yos, Astral Malignity]
Masterful	Increases the amount of Mastery you gain from all sources by 6/9/12%.	+10/+15/+20
Racing Pulse	Your spells and abilities have a chance to increase your Haste by 546/728/1275 for 4 sec.	+15/+20/+35
Severe	Increases the amount of Critical Strike you gain from all sources by 6/9/12%.	+10/+15/+20
Siphoner	Increases your Leech by 3/5/8%.	+17/+28/+45
Strikethrough	Increases the damage and healing you deal with Critical Strikes by 2/3/4%.	+10/+15/+20
Surging Vitality	Taking damage has a chance to increase your Versatility by 312/416/728 for 20 sec.	+15/+20/+35
Twilight Devastation	Your attacks have a chance to trigger a beam of Twilight Devastation, dealing damage equal to 6/12/18% of your health to all enemies in front of you.	+25/+50/+75	[Devastation's Hour]
Twisted Appendage	Your attacks have a chance to spawn a tentacle which Mind Flays your target for 53/185/349 Shadow damage every second for 10 sec.	+10/+35/+66	[Shard of the Black Empire]
Versatile	Increases the amount of Versatility you gain from all sources by 6/9/12%.	+10/+15/+20
Void Ritual	Gain Void Ritual, giving your spells and abilities a chance to increase all secondary stats by 14/34/64 every sec for 20 sec. This chance is increased if at least 2 nearby allies also have Void Ritual.	+15/+35/+66	[Vorzz Yoq'al]
Name	Description	Corruption	Unique to
Devour Vitality	Your autoattacks have a 25% chance to bite into the target's soul, dealing 2.00% of your health in damage and healing you for that amount.	+35	[An'zig Vra]
Flash of Insight	Your mind's true potential is unlocked, causing your spells to grant you flashes of insight. Gain between 1% and 8% Intellect at all times.	+20	[Mar'kowa, the Mindpiercer]
Lash of the Void	Your attacks have a chance to lash your target with a living tentacle, dealing 15863 Shadow damage and snaring them by 30% for 6 sec.	+25	[Unguent Caress]
Obsidian Skin	Gain Obsidian Skin, increasing your Armor by 5%. While in combat, explode with Obsidian Destruction every 30 sec, dealing Shadow damage equal to 700% of your Armor to all enemies within 20 yds.	+50	[Sk'shuul Vaz]
Searing Flames	Your damaging abilities build stacks of Searing Flames. When you exceed 30 stacks, exhale a Searing Breath, dealing damage equal to 5.00% of your health to all targets in front of you.	+30	[Faralos, Empire's Dream]
Whispered Truths	Your auto-shots reduce the remaining cooldown of a random Hunter ability by 2.0 sec.	+25	[Whispering Eldritch Bow]

Consequences

The Eye of Corruption.

The Thing From Beyond. Its appearance is a reflection of the player's.

Wearing corrupted items raises the level of base corruption, which can be offset by the resistance provided by equipping and upgrading  [Ashjra'kamas, Shroud of Resolve]. The resulting net total corruption causes harmful effects described in the table below.

Name	Begins at	Effect
Grasping Tendrils	1	Taking damage has a chance to reduce your movement speed for 5 sec. The magnitude of the snare increases with further Corruption.
Eye of Corruption	20	Your spells and abilities have a chance to summon an Eye of Corruption for 8 sec. The Eye inflicts increasing Shadow damage to you every 2 sec while you remain in range. Range and damage increase with further Corruption.
Grand Delusions	40	Taking damage has a chance to summon a Thing From Beyond, which pursues you for 8 sec. Its speed increases with further Corruption.
Cascading Disaster	60	If you are struck by the Thing From Beyond, you will be immediately afflicted by Grasping Tendrils and Eye of Corruption.
Inevitable Doom	80	All damage taken is magnified and healing received is reduced, increasing with further Corruption.
Inescapable Consequences	200	N'Zoth lays claim to your very essence, dealing 25% of your maximum health every 1 sec while you are in combat. The end is nigh.

• 

  A character with a corruption level of 1 to 39.

• 

  A character with a corruption level of 40 to 59.

• 

  A character with a corruption level of 60 to 79.

• 

  A character with a corruption level above 80.

• 

  A corruption level above 200 adds a screen filter.

Purification

MOTHER's purification UI.

Corrupted items could be purified by MOTHER, removing both benefit and corruption. Purification cost 5 and required completion of  [120] Curious Corruption, which started automatically upon obtaining a corrupted item for the first time. A corrupted item that had been purified could be re-corrupted by using a Preserved Contaminant purchased from MOTHER.

On the PTR

The subject of this section did not make it out of the PTR stages of patch 8.3.0.

On the patch 8.3.0 PTR, "corruptions" were found on rings sold by the Heartzertauren, as a way to test the effects. While Thing From Beyond made it to live as a consequence with minor changes and Last Grasp may have inspired Grasping Tendrils, all of the others were scrapped. These include:

Name	Effect
Face the Truth	An eldritch scroll spawns near you that you and others with this corruption can see. Each second you don't face it, it deals damage to you. If it deals damage to you 5 times, you are feared for 6 sec.
Masochistic	When you fall below 25% health, taunt all nearby enemies for 5 sec.
Mesmerizing	Your damaging spells and abilities against a repeated target reduce your movement speed by 5% for 6 sec, stacking up to 10 times.
Overconfident	When you receive overhealing, you refuse the next (Total health*1/4) Healing within 10 sec.
Revel in Violence	Your killing blows cause you to revel in violence, rooting you for 6 sec.
Spontaneous Fury	Periodically marks a random enemy, making them the target of your fury. While your fury persists, your damage against all other foes is reduced by 10%.

Notes and trivia

• The "Inescapable Consequences" penalty was added after a player named Rextroy won several 2v2 arena battles despite wearing 675 corruption. He completed this feat as a protection paladin, using immunities while waiting for 27 ranks of Infinite Stars to one shot most opponents.
• The Eye of Corruption can be obtained as a companion pet.
• The [Heart of Darkness] Azerite trait would only function if you had 25 or more corruption (prior to patch 9.0.1).

Patch changes

• Patch 9.0.1 (2020-10-13): Effects disabled.
  
• Hotfix (2020-07-09): Players with a Corruption level of 200 or higher will now receive an additional negative effect, Inescapable Consequences, which deals 25% of your maximum health in damage every second while you are in combat.
  

Developers' note: While Corruption's damage taken and healing received debuffs are substantial at high Corruption amounts, players possessed of particular ingenuity have constructed strategies allowing them to deal nearly infinite damage during brief windows when they themselves are immune to damage. It's important to us that players feel like they can play around with how much Corruption they can afford to wear, but we're setting a hard limit at 200 Corruption – going beyond that, N'Zoth's dark power will defeat you.

• Patch 8.3.0 (2020-01-14): Added.