Warcraft Rumble

Warcraft Rumble
Developer(s)	Blizzard Entertainment; Incubation
Publisher(s)	Blizzard Entertainment
Director(s)	Tom Chilton
Engine	Unity
Platforms	Android, iOS, iPadOS
Release	November 3, 2023
Latest release	5.0.0 (April 10, 2024)
Genre(s)	Mobile action strategy, Tower Defense, Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

For information on the in-universe game, see Warcraft Rumble Machine.

"Rumble" redirects here. For the enchanted tiki, see Rumble (tiki). For the earth elemental, see Rumble (elemental).

Warcraft Rumble is a free-to-play mobile action strategy game announced by Blizzard Entertainment on 3 May 2022 as Warcraft Arclight Rumble,^[1]^[2] where players build armies with their heroes and villains from Warcraft and battle it out in scenarios designed to test their tactical wits.

Gameplay

Key art

Modes include the single player campaign, dungeons, and raids. Players can engage in these modes in co-op, and battle against other players in PvP.^[3] It is primarily a PvE game, and the game's campaign represents a number of locations from World of Warcraft, including Elwynn Forest, Duskwood, and Westfall. 70 PvE maps will be available at launch, each of which has a boss with a specific mechanic that players must find a way around.^[4] Certain modes only become available after the player has retrieved enough Onyxia Sigils.^[5]

The game also has a quest system, which involves playing old maps to gain experience for specific units.^[5] The game's dungeon mode is a 3-map gauntlet with a single army. For every map, the player gets to pick one new relic. The relic has various properties, and can provide a troop-wide buff, such as increasing certain units' speed or health. After each successful dungeon is cleared, the dungeon will level up. Dungeons will only be available for a certain amount of time. Dungeons are also the only means of obtaining Valor, which is an in-game resource used to upgrade leaders.^[5]

Warcraft Rumble has been compared to the tower defense genre, but in the words of the developers, it is more of a tower offense game.^[3]

A match will generally consist of the following aspects:

1: Deployment: Use gold reserves to deploy minis on the battlefield. The player gains gold passively over time.
- Extra gold can be gained by deploying a miner to harvest gold nodes, and by having minis attack treasure chests to open them.
2: Capture: Capture objectives such as guard towers and meeting stones, then use them to deploy minis closer to the objectives.
3: Conquer: The player's minis will march toward the enemy leader to take them down.

Monetization

Coin Packs

Warcraft Rumble uses a free-to-play model. It has been stated that it is not a "gacha game," and will not have loot boxes. Players will be able to purchase any unit they choose either with their own money or through in-game coins, known as Arclight Coins. The units can be bought in bundles.^[4] Levels are purchased using in-game coins.^[5] Coins can be earned through just by playing the game or can be purchased via the store tab or from the Battle.net Shop.

The game will not have NFTs.^[4]

Families

Warcraft Rumble minis have five families, each of whose leaders specialize in a certain area:

Alliance: Alliance leaders support defense, healing, and stealth tactics, as well as heavy use of spells.
Horde: Horde leaders encourage building momentum through earning additional gold, fast attacking troops, and enemy control with area of effect stuns.
Beast: Beast leaders can disable enemy defenses, helping the player's forces quickly overwhelm the enemy. Others specialize with using a flurry of fast troops to swarm the enemy.
Blackrock: Blackrock leaders reward the player for fielding heavy-hitting flying troops and searing elemental magic users.
Undead: Undead leaders use powerful necromancy on the battlefield, allowing them to summon endless armies.

The game does not force players to choose one family. Players can choose their leaders (and units) from all five to form a varied army.^[4]

Minis

Main article: Warcraft Minis

There are over 65 Warcraft minis to collect, including leaders, rank-and-file troop minis and spells. Different minis have different advantages in combat—flying troops are effective against infantry, siege troops deal additional damage to guard towers, etc. Each unit is classified as either ranged, melee, or flying, and the three form a rock-paper-scissors system.^[4] Generally, flying beats melee, melee beats range, and range beats flying.^[6]

Each season will introduce a brand new mini whether it is a leader mini, a troop mini or a spell mini. The seasons work on a 6 week cycle.

Experience

Minis can gain experience (or XP) to level up, increasing their stats. Experience comes from a variety of sources:

Obtaining a mini will automatically grant it experience.
XP Boosts in the G.R.I.D., as well as on minis in daily offers and special offers, can grant bonus XP to purchased minis.
After each battle, one mini that participated will receive a small amount of XP. This happens whether the battle ended in victory or defeat.
The daily offers section of the shop can grant a small amount of XP to a random mini in your collection every four hours.
Tomes of Experience present a series of choices between two minis in your collection, each time allowing you to pick which one to give XP to.
Quests offer a choice between three minis in your collection. After a mini is picked, a battle begins against a random boss you've faced before. Achieving victory will grant XP to the chosen mini.
- Quest battles can additionally grant the usual post-battle XP to a mini that participated. This mini can be different from the one chosen to receive quest XP.

Increasing your collection level increases future XP gains from all sources.

Rarity

Minis come in common, uncommon, rare, epic, and legendary rarities. Higher rarity grants bonus levels and unlocks talents for a mini. Minis generally appear in the store at common rarity, but they can sometimes appear at a higher rarity for a higher price.

Additionally, minis can be upgraded after they're obtained. This requires specific resources:

Rarity	Star Points	Arc Energy	Cores
Common	1^{[note 1]}	-	-
Uncommon	3 (total 4)	500	-
Rare	10 (total 14)	2,000	Rare Core
Epic	25 (total 39)	8,000	Epic Core
Legendary	25 (total 64)	20,000	Legendary Core

Star Points are earned by acquiring duplicates of a mini. Star Points are not shared; each mini has its own count.
- Obtaining a higher-rarity duplicate of a mini will grant the total number of Star Points normally needed to reach that rarity. For example, acquiring a rare duplicate will grant 14 Star Points.
Arc Energy is earned by defeating dungeon bosses, as well as some campaign bosses. Star Points beyond 64 are also converted into Arc Energy: Troop Star Points convert to 225 Arc Energy, and leader Star Points convert to 300.
Rare Cores can be obtained from daily rewards or by completing heroic zones.

Note

^ This represents obtaining a mini at common rarity for the first time. It's essentially a single "copy" of the mini.

PvP

Ranks

Bright Spark (0-500)
Bronze Spark I (500-1000)
Bronze Spark II (1000-2000)
Bronze Spark III (2000-3000)
Silver Strategist I (3000-4000)
Silver Strategist II (4000-5000)
Silver Strategist III (5000-6000)
Golden General I (6000-7000)
Golden General II (7000-8000)
Golden General III (8000-9000)
Platinum Progidy I (9000-10000)
Platinum Progidy II (10000-11000)
Platinum Progidy III (11000-12000)
Dark Iron Overseer I (12000-13000)
Dark Iron Overseer II (13000-14000)
Dark Iron Overseer III (14000-15000)
Mithril Calcutron (15000-16000)
Truesilver Tactician (16000-17000)
Thorium Arcanosmith (17000-18000)
Elementium Electrolord (18000-19000)
Arcanite Reaper (19000-20000)
Arclight Mastermind (20000)

Maps

Duskwood key art

Dungeons and Raids

Dungeon/Raid		Bosses
Blackfathom Deeps	30	Grglmrgl Baron Aquanis, Aku'mai
Dire Maul	30	Stomper Kreeg, The Eyes of Immol'thar, King Gordok
Deadmines	30	Mr. Smite, Cookie, Sneed
Onyxia's Lair	100	Onyxia
Molten Core	100	Wing 1 Lucifron Magmadar Wing 2 Gehennas & Shazzrah Garr Wing 3 Baron Geddon Golemagg the Incinerator End Boss Ragnaros

Zones

	Zone		Boss
0	Elwynn Forest	0	Goldtooth
		1	Mother Fang
		2	The Dockmaster
		3	Morgan the Collector
		4	Hogger
5	Westfall	5	Vultros
		6	Old Murk-Eye
		7	Marshal Redpaw
		8	Foe Reaper 4000
		9	The Dreadnaught
10	Duskwood	10	Ghoulia
		11	Mor'Ladim
		12	Morbent Fel
		13	Blind Mary
		14	Abercrombie
15	Stranglethorn Vale	15	Jin'do the Hexxer
		16	King Mukla
		17	King Bangalash
		18	Jin'rokh the Breaker
		19	Baron Revilgaz Fleet Master Seahorn
20	The Barrens	20	Gazlowe
		20	Charlga Razorflank
		20	Geaulieu
		20	Hezrul Bloodmark
		21	Grommash Hellscream
24	Ashenvale	24	Draaka
		24	Tideress
		24	Branch Snapper
		24	Maiev Shadowsong
		26	Raene Wolfrunner
29	Darkshore	29	Murkdeep
		29	Lunaclaw
		29	Onu, Ancient of Lore
		29	Shadowclaw
		31	Lady Vespira
34	Thousand Needles	34	Na'shala the Sandweaver
		34	Rok'Alim the Pounder
		34	Grenka Bloodscreech
		34	Magatha Grimtotem
		36	Cairne Bloodhoof

	Zone		Boss
39	Lordaeron	39	Chef Audrey
		39	Son of Arugal
		39	Bloodmage Thalnos
		39	Herod
		41	Inquisitor Whitemane
44	Hinterlands	44	Vilebranch Hexx
		44	The Reak
		44	Grimungous
		44	Elder Torntusk
		46	Falstad
49	Dustwallow Marsh	49	Goreclaw the Ravenous
		49	Tabetha
		49	Darkmist Broodqueen
		49	Jaina Proudmoore
		51	Emberstrife
54	Un'Goro Crater	54	Tar Tyrant
		54	Uhk'loc U'cha
		54	Blazerunner
		54	The Crystal Shaper
		56	Devilsaur Queen
59	Winterspring	59	Ursius
		59	Kashoch the Reaver
		59	Shy-Rotam
		59	Azurous
		61	General Colbatann
64	Plaguelands	64	Gish the Unmoving
		64	Araj the Summoner
		64	Tirion Fordring
		64	Ramstein the Gorger
		66	Baron Rivendare
69	Blackrock Mountain	69	Volchan
		69	Omnotron
		69	Emperor Thaurissan
		69	Rend Blackhand
		71	General Drakkisath

Development

When making Arclight Rumble, the developers took inspiration from tower defense games.^[3] The game's unit roster was decided on the need to make the characters to stand out on small phone screens. As such, each model needed an identifiable silhouette, as well as a color-coded palette. The developers consciously chose factions outside the Alliance and Horde, as they wanted representation from across the Warcraft universe.^[4]

The game entered internal alpha in mid-2021.^[7] As of May 2022, there are no apparent plans to port the game to consoles, or to develop an e-sports scene.^[4]

Notes and trivia

The in-universe conceit for Arclight Rumble is that in taverns across Azeroth, a mysterious machine has been found, powered by gnomish technology and "arclight." The machine depicts (in)famous battlegrounds where animated figures do battle for the users' entertainment.^[3]
- In the game's cinematic trailer, the users in question appear to be patrons of the Hearthstone inn, including Velaris, Urk, and a much older Ava.
The game's original title formed the acronym "WAR" which could have been a reference to the franchise as a whole. Since the rename in August 2023, the title forms the "WR" acronym.
Comparisons have been made between Arclight Rumble and Clash Royale. The developers have played a lot of the latter, but have stressed the differences of the former (elevation, leaders, and families).^[4]
The families themselves are relatively fast and loose with their definitions. The Alliance family encompasses basically any unit that comes from an alliance race, which leads to one of their leader units being Tirion Fordring; who is not part of the Alliance. Likewise, this leads to the Horde having Sneed, who was a member of the Defias. The Blackrock family doesn't exclusively refer to the clan, but instead the literal mountain, causing the Dark Iron clan, Blackrock clan, the fire elementals, and black dragonflight to all be working together; an exceptional irony considering most of these groups hate each other.
On 8 August 2023, the game was rebranded to just Warcraft Rumble, dropping Arclight from the name.^[2]

Speculation

This article or section includes speculation, observations or opinions possibly supported by lore or by Blizzard officials. It should not be taken as representing official lore.

A Burning Legion icon can be found in the files among the icons for the known unit families. The Legion may have been cut during development, or it may be a planned family for a future update.