Warcraft Wiki

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Welcome to the Warcraft Wiki!
The free Warcraft wiki encyclopedia with 326,553 pages that anyone can edit!
The Warcraft universe is a high-fantasy franchise developed by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the richly detailed world of Azeroth and beyond, the main storyline revolves around the conflicts between diverse races such as humans, orcs, elves, and the undead. The original game, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, released in 1994, pioneered the real-time strategy (RTS) genre. It was followed by sequels and expansions, including Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness and Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.

In 2004, the franchise expanded with World of Warcraft (WoW), an immensely popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that continues to receive new expansions, the latest being The War Within. The Warcraft universe also encompasses novels, comics, a feature film, and various licensed merchandise, further immersing fans into its epic tales of heroism, magic, and conflict.

Icon-terminal.svg For developers

World of Warcraft supports customization through community AddOns created with Lua and XML. Players can adjust gameplay using console variables, keybindings, and macros, offering flexible ways to tailor the experience.

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For Hearthstone gameplay and content information, see the wiki dedicated to the card game: Hearthstone Wiki

Scroll 128x128.png News [edit]

Jan 20, 2026: The Midnight pre-patch is live!
Prepare for Xal'atath's invasion with void elf demon hunters and the new Devourer spec!
Jan 13, 2026: Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary Edition pre-patch is live!
Create new blood elf or draenei characters and prepare to journey through the Dark Portal to Outland!
Dec 9, 2025: Mists of Pandaria Classic: Rise of the Thunder King is live!
Journey to the Isle of Thunder and confront the Thunder King, Lei Shen, within the Throne of Thunder!

Current and upcoming promotions:

Jan 20—Feb 17, 2026: Claim the  [Cuddly Green Grrgle] housing decor through Twitch drops!
Jan 6—7 May, 2026: Submit receipts for Pringles products to obtain the  [Crimson Bow Tie] cosmetic! (UK/EU only)

Upcoming Warcraft events and releases:

February 5, 2026: Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary Edition (expansion)
March 2, 2026: Midnight (expansion)

Icon-popular.svg Featured article [nominate]

A death knight in Warcraft II

The first death knights were created when Gul'dan placed the souls of slain orc warlocks of the Shadow Council in the corpses of human knights, creating spellcasting undead warriors that could counter the magic of human magi. Equipped with magical jeweled truncheons, wielding arsenals of necromantic and elemental spells, and mounted on skeletal horses, these soldiers of darkness served as the cavalry and vanguard of the Orcish Horde during the Second War. The first and foremost of their number was Teron Gorefiend.

When the Horde was defeated by the Alliance at the end of the Second War, the death knights returned to the orc homeworld of Draenor just prior to the destruction of the Dark Portal that linked that world to Azeroth. The death knights convinced the shaman Ner'zhul to reform the Horde and reopen the Dark Portal in order to steal several powerful artifacts from Azeroth and use them to open new portals to other worlds for the Horde to conquer. Ner'zhul ultimately used the artifacts to perform a spell that inadvertently tore Draenor apart, transforming it into Outland. Most of the death knights disappeared after Draenor's destruction; many of them escaped with Ner'zhul into the Twisting Nether, where they were captured by the Burning Legion and transformed into liches just as their liege was transformed into the first Lich King. The Lich King later created a new, unrelated breed of death knights, which are the death knights most commonly seen today.

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Temple of the Jade Serpent in the Jade Forest
Temple of the Jade Serpent in the Jade Forest

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Warcraft Wiki is an officially-recognized wiki dedicated to cataloging Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft universe (with a focus on World of Warcraft), covering the entire Warcraft series of games, strategy guides, novels, comics, reference books, and other sources.

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