The newest addition to the Warfront lineup in 8.1 is the Battle for Darkshore between the Night Elves and Forsaken. This Warfront plays out much like The Battle for Stromgarde but with a few minor additions or changes.
What is Different?
- The intro to the Warfront is notably longer. You kill your way to the center of the map and take on two different commanders as well as many troop camps before you actually begin the collect and capture part of the Warfront.
- Wood can now be collected from fallen enemies such as Ancients and catapults/glaive throwers.
- The names and models of the familiar buildings/vehicles now have Night Elf and Forsaken flair.
- Instead of a gate to break down before taking out the final commander, you must destroy 4 cannons on ships offshore. Your vehicles will do this as normal, but there are also two spear launchers on the shore that you can pilot to help out.
New Map
The Map is very similar to what you see in the Arathi Warfront.
Stage 1: Purge Camps and Defeat Commanders
You will spend a good portion of the beginning of the Warfront killing trash and defeating two commanders on your way to you main base. Both factions start on the coast and work through Auberdine before establishing a base at Bashal'aran.
Building your Base
Once you defeat the commander in Bashal'aran you begin to establish your base as normal, creating the Barracks, Altar of Storms, and Armory. Eventually you will work on upgrading to a Stronghold, and creating catapults/glaive throwers from the Plague Works/Glaive Works.
Mine and Lumber Mill
The mine and Lumber mill are still capturable, with the mine being just to the south and the lumber mill being to the northwest.
Acquiring Wood and Iron
Wood and Iron are looted much like they are in the Arathi Warfront, with the notable addition of being able to loot wood from fallen enemies such as Ancients and war glaives/catapults.
- Iron - Iron is the most important resource in a Warfront. It is used to build/upgrade buildings, get additional support, upgrade and recruit troops and vehicles, and also in getting buffs from your base's altar.
- Iron is accumulated passively once your team takes control of the nearby mine. Passive iron is collected at the main hall.
- Iron can also be collected by mine caches at the mine.
- Wood - Wood is not as useful as Iron, but is needed for certain aspects as well. It is used to upgrade troops, buildings, and for buffs from the altars.
- Wood does not generate passively. You must collect it by chopping down trees or from mobs.
- Peons will cut down trees or you can cut them down yourself.
Constructing Buildings
You construct buildings in the same manner as you do in the Arathi Warfront, by collecting Iron and Wood and spending it at the construction stations. While the buildings might have different names, the benefits that they provide remain unchanged.
Building Benefits
Buildings still provide the means of advancing a Warfront.
- Stronghold - This building is acquired automatically at the start of the fight once you take out the opposing commander and claim the initial base.
- Required to construct any other building.
- Can be upgraded twice.
- Upgrade 1 provides more peons, faster troop production, and commander troops.
- Upgrade 2 provides more peons, faster troop production, increased damage from certain vehicles and allows commander troops to use special abilities.
- Barracks - Barracks is the powerhouse of troop production. Once constructed, you are able to recruit troops that will defend the keep and attack enemies as they travel along paths. There are many different troops from basic grunts to healers, some of which requires areas on the map to be captured first. You can specifically recruit 2 bodyguard units at a time to follow you into combat.
- Armory - The Armory is utilized to upgrade the armor and weapons of your troops.
- Plague/Glaive Works - This building allows you to build vehicles, which are necessary to take the enemy base. There is a limit of three active vehicles at once.
- Shrine - Grants temporary buffs at the cost of Iron.
Capturing Bases
North of your main base are several bases that need to be captured to progress the Warfront. The three center line bases are required to allow your catapults/glaive throwers to advance towards the final capture point.
Base Benefits
Certain bases, such as Gloomtide Strand, will allow for more unique benefits to be acquired. Taking these bases will allow you to recruit a powerful abomination/ancient to fight for you or provide mounted combat for a brief time by spending resources.
Ending the Warfront
Much like the Arathi Basin Warfront, the way to win is to construct your base and then take the bases up to the final capture point, Lor'danel, which is capturable only by allowing your vehicles to bombard the two towers while you kill the commander. This plays out exactly like Arathi but with Night Elf and Forsaken ascetics. Once Lor'danel is yours, instead of a gate to break down you must destroy 4 cannons on ships offshore. Your vehicles will do this as normal, but there are also two spear launchers on the shore that you can pilot to help out. You then take a small flight to a base offshore and kill the final commander.
Changes to Darkshore
Darkshore has got a few changes with the addition of this Warfront. All of the changes from the prepatch are here, but a few additional locations have been added.
World Quests
Unlike Arathi Highlands, when your faction controls Darkshore you have access to a large amount of world quests as well as the typical rares and world boss.
Warfront Service Medal Vendor
8.1 also adds a new currency called 7th Legion Service Medal / Honorbound Service Medal. These are acquired from Warfronts as well as Incursion World quests and can be spent at a vendor near your Warfront table in your capital city.
https://www.mmo-champion.com/content/81 ... -Patch-8-1
