A run is no longer a fifteen-minute clock. Kills call the bosses, the zone you pick changes the rules, the Lich King hunts the party that is too slow, and what you find opens new zones and run modifiers.

Bosses come from kills

Bosses are summoned by the party's kills: the first at 400, then 800, 1,400, 2,200, 3,300 and 4,600. Each extra player adds 12% to every number. A typical solo run meets its bosses at about 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 minutes.
Bosses 1 to 3 arrive on their own: a banner and a sound announce the boss, which walks in 10 seconds later.
Bosses 4 to 6 wait at an altar, a crystal that lights far from the start (minimap marker, screen-edge arrow and a ring on the ground). Stand inside the ring for 2 seconds to summon the boss; the next altar only lights once that boss is dead. Altar progress holds while nobody is inside.
The sixth boss's fall wins the run, at once. Surviving to 15:00 is no longer a win; regular enemies keep coming the whole run.
The run bar now reads "Boss 3 · 412 / 1400" with the kills to the next boss, "Altar lit" when one is waiting, and the clock stays small beside it. One banner shows at a time (about 3 seconds); boss and altar notices come first.
Caches, endgame discoveries and permanent rewards now depend on bosses defeated, not on the clock, so a quick clear is never denied its loot.
Endless has no Lich King: after the sixth boss the boss ladder starts over, and every cycle makes enemies 50% tougher and 25% harder-hitting.

The Lich King

If the sixth boss still stands at 15:00, the Lich King arrives and hunts the nearest hero. A minute before, the run bar turns blue and "Frostmourne stirs".
He runs faster than you and gains speed every 30 seconds, and his touch downs a hero outright. A downed hero can still be revived by the party.
Slows work on him down to half speed. Stuns, roots and fears hold him for 1 second at most, and a repeat within 10 seconds is shorter, then he shrugs it off. Nothing pulls or knocks him back.
No stalling: 60 seconds after he arrives he becomes Unstoppable, and 5 minutes after he arrives Frostmourne claims every hero. The run bar counts the doom clock down. Trash keeps spawning (at half rate), so a party that lights its last altar during the chase can still win.
On Normal he cannot be hurt: he is the way a too-slow run ends. On Heroic I and up he can be killed, though no single hit takes more than 1% of his health.
Slay him and the run is won as a Kingslayer: a guaranteed legendary roll for the party, the Kingslayer title on your hero card and a place on the new Kingslayers board.
The Frozen Throne has its own ending: the Lich King is its sixth boss, summoned at an altar, with no 15:00 chase. From Heroic I he carries the same hit limit and control limits and his fall counts as a Kingslayer kill; on Normal he is an ordinary boss.

Zone families

Every zone now belongs to a family with its own rules; the zone chooser shows the family beside the zone's name, and the Codex has a Families page.

Homelands (the old-world zones and Northrend's wilds): the base ladder, and where everyone begins. They also hold stage items, named rares and map events (see Homelands exploration below).
Arenas (Gurubashi, Nagrand Arena, Argent Tournament): bosses are rounds. Each boss round is announced by a horn and a crowd roar, and enemies only enter through the gates. A red ring marks the edge of the fight and costs 5% of your health a second while you stand outside it; from round 3 it closes in, down to 60% of the arena by round 6. There are no altars: each boss walks in through a gate after a 10-second warning. The Gladiator Master gives bounty contracts.
Warfronts (Dark Portal, Hellfire, Hyjal, Light's Hope, Bone Wastes, Shadowmoon, Fire Plume, Gates of AQ and others): waves pour out of two to four gates and march on the standard at the centre of the field. If its health runs out, the run ends in defeat ("The line is broken"). The standard now wears down slowly: at most six attackers count at once, a full unguarded assault takes about 12.5 minutes to break it, and a living hero inside its ring halves the damage (it used to fall in under 30 seconds). Stand in the brazier by a gate for 3 seconds to seal that gate for 60 seconds: half of that gate's waves are lost and the rest come through the open gates (owner-tunable). Bosses arrive as wave captains with a war-horn banner through any gate, and a captain that comes through a sealed gate breaks the seal. Captains come after fewer kills than elsewhere: every boss number is 40% of the usual (owner-tunable), so a party meets the sixth captain at about 11 to 13 minutes instead of after the Lich King. The Guard Captain gives defend and beacon contracts.
Raids (Naxxramas, Karazhan, Ulduar, Frozen Throne): thinner trash, but bosses come at the same pace. Altars light from the very first boss, and every boss drops a free cache. The Argent Crusader gives purge contracts.
Cities (Shattrath, Dalaran): four street levers. Pull one and get a free cache (50%), a swarm (35%) or a bag of gold (15%); it rearms after 60 seconds. A merchant stall holds the caches. The Kirin Tor Archmage gives supply contracts.
Battleground (Warsong Gulch): take the flag from the far end and carry it home to summon the next boss at once. The carrier moves 20% slower and cannot use class escapes; if the carrier falls the flag lies on the ground for 20 seconds, then returns. The kill ladder still works as a fallback.
Each family has its own contract giver and contract types.

Unlocks, relics and modifiers

Zones open in a chain, per account: Homelands from the start; Arenas after your first victory; Warfronts after a Heroic I or higher victory; Raids after a Mythic victory (a keystone victory counts); Cities and the Battleground after any Warfront victory; The Frozen Throne after killing the Lich King. Victories before this update do not count. A locked zone stays in the list and tells you what opens it.
In a party, the leader's unlocks decide the room; members ride along. Guests see the Homelands only.
Each family hides one relic at a fixed far spot in its zones (a question mark on the minimap): Hearthstone of the Wanderer, Gladiator's Medallion, Horn of the Alliance, Splinter of Atiesh, Kirin Tor Signet and Silverwing Banner. Touch it once to keep it for your account; a banner and a sound confirm it.
Relics unlock run modifiers in the Difficulty dialog:
- Hurry: the clock runs twice as fast (the Lich King comes at 7:30) and you earn 25% more experience.
- Hyper: everyone, enemies included, moves 50% faster; 50% more gold and 30% more enemies.
- Bone Zone: no gear drops and no caches, gold only; enemies gain 15% health and 2.5% speed every minute, without limit.
- Boss Rush: bosses come four times as often, with half the trash, and twelve bosses must fall to win.
- Inverse: triple gold, enemies with double health that grows 10% every minute.
- The Silverwing Banner is recorded for your account; it opens no modifier yet.
The Kingslayer title shows under your hero's name on the main screen.
Runs with modifiers are recorded with them and stay off the main boards. Companion bot runs do not count towards Season 0 or the Kingslayers.

Hall of Champions

Top Runs now ranks victories by clear time, and a new Kingslayers board lists runs where the Lich King fell, fastest first. Every record from before the overhaul is kept in a Season 0 tab.

Results screen and My runs

The results screen opens with your final build: your spells, upgrades and run items in ranked order, then your own combat report. Direct damage and the extra damage your buffs and amplifiers added are shown separately. Earned gear is tucked below, and party rows follow your report.
A new My runs page (account menu, between Options and Logout) lists your own past runs, including heroes you have since archived, with a compact report for each: highlights first, charts, and the full numbers under Advanced. Only you can see your history.
The live damage meter now disappears the moment you leave a run.

Rewards and loot

Level-up and cache rewards in a party with other players now appear in a compact panel on the right, and you can keep moving, targeting and fighting while you choose. A spell replacement is picked in the same panel. Solo runs and runs with companion bots keep the full-screen choice.
Every two boss kills (the second, fourth, sixth and so on) grant each player one more reroll. Companion bots do not earn rerolls.
Cache offers never show two run items with the same effect, such as two spell-power items, in one choice.
Earned caches, such as the final Raid boss's, can be claimed from the results screen, even by a winner who is downed or far away.
Keep Current Build (the full-slots replacement dialog) now says which permanent buff you get before you click, and a notice confirms it afterwards ("Kept your build: +3% maximum health for the rest of the run"). Press X to keep your build while the dialog is open.
Reward cards show a spell's rank once, and a rank badge now sits on active spells on the action bar, as passives already had. Spell tooltips say "Rank r / max". Rarity labels read "Epic spell", not "Epic rare spell".

Gear sheet

Selecting a slot on the Gear sheet opens its comparison directly beneath that slot instead of covering the overview. Escape returns to the compact view. The sheet fits small laptop screens: slots sit in a horizontal row, set bonuses show in full on hover or focus.

Classes and spells

Rogue: Deadly Throw is a new ranged interrupt: an axe thrown up to 20 yards that cuts off a cast for 3 seconds, every 10 seconds. It goes to your focused boss even when adds are nearer, and does not move you.
Shadowstep now teleports behind your focused target when you have one, and to the densest group only when you have none.
Banner of Valor is no longer offered to Warriors as an Epic discovery. A Warrior who already owns it keeps it at its current rank. The Warrior's Epic discovery pool is empty until its replacement arrives.

Homelands exploration

Three stage items are hidden 60 to 140 yards from the start in every Homelands zone; walk over one to use it:
- the Shrine gives you one extra reward pick, offered after any cards you already have open;
- the Cache is a free personal cache;
- the Coffin only shows up within 25 yards. Whoever finds it gains Spirit of the Zone: +10% experience from everything you collect, for the rest of the run, even through a death. Companion bots do not trigger them. A Bone Zone run seeds no Cache.
Two named rares roam each Homelands run, one arriving between about 2:30 and 5:00 and one between about 7:00 and 10:00: a zone creature called "<name> the Wanderer", twice the size with 8 times the health. Each drops a free cache where it falls, and every hero who helped can claim it.
Two map events hit Homelands zones once or twice a run:
- Stampede: a lane freezes on the ground and gold chevrons mark it for 5 seconds, then 12 beasts charge across it. A beast takes 15% of your maximum health and throws you 7 yards; they respect the walls, and killing them gives nothing.
- Ghost wall: after a 3-second warning, a 3-yard-thick ring closes in from the edge of the arena to 40 yards over 40 seconds. Touching it costs 8% of your maximum health every second.
Inverse now really turns the world: every seeded spot (stage items, the relic, altars, contract givers, the cache ring, rares and stampede lanes) sits 180 degrees from where it would normally be, and you start facing the other way. Walls, gates, braziers, levers, the merchant, flags and other measured props stay where they are.

Spells, talents and items

No two items, spells or talents do the same thing any more. A run that was saved before this update keeps the old item rules end to end; every new run uses the new ones.

Every run item has its own effect. Ten items changed (values are per rank):
- Earthstrike: each kill adds +1 point of cast haste, up to 5 stacks, gone 4 seconds after your last kill.
- Blackhand's Breadth: +2% critical strike chance.
- Drake Fang Talisman: +10% spell power once you have stood still for 1 second, until you move.
- Don Julio's Band: +1% spell power for every 25 gold you hold, up to +8%; spending gold on caches lowers it.
- Quick Strike Ring: using your class escape gives +6 points of cast haste for 6 seconds.
- Carrot on a Stick: +8% movement speed after 3 seconds without melee contact, lost when you are hit.
- Medallion of Grand Marshal Morris: 6% less damage taken while above 70% health.
- Rune of the Guard Captain: +0.25 armor for each living enemy within 5 yards, up to 6.
- Hand of Justice: every 6th spell hit strikes the same target again for 8 damage.
- Zandalarian Hero Charm: every 60 seconds you gain 10 charges of +1.5% spell power; each spell you cast spends one, and unspent charges fade after 10 seconds.
Renewal now heals twice as fast, but only after 3 seconds without being hit.
Three new spells replace duplicates. Shaman Bloodlust, Hunter Aspect of the Cheetah and the Warlock's Soul Harvest are no longer offered in new runs (a saved build that owns one keeps it). In their place: Stoneskin Totem (allies take 20% less damage), Rapid Fire (your cooldowns recover 40% faster for 12 seconds) and Soul Fire (a bolt that does double damage to feared enemies). Each has its own look. Curse of Agony now also weakens its targets.
The two gear lines that lengthened Bloodlust and Aspect of the Cheetah now lengthen Stoneskin Totem and Rapid Fire, and Felheart Raiment's 3-piece bonus gives Death Coil and Doom Ritual +15% drain healing and Soul Fire +15% damage.
Every duplicate talent is distinct. Changed talents (names and art stay):
- Warrior: Shield Specialization returns damage to attackers (+1.0 per rank); Improved Shield Block gives armor per nearby enemy (+0.15 per enemy within 5 yards, up to 6); Last Stand no longer heals on kills.
- Paladin: Spiritual Focus regenerates 0.3% of maximum health a second per rank after 3 seconds without contact.
- Hunter: Survivalist gives the nearby-enemy armor (+0.15 per enemy per rank).
- Rogue: Master of Deception regenerates after 3 seconds without contact; Elusiveness gives your escape 0.15 seconds of protection per rank; Heightened Senses gives +0.6 armor per rank; Preparation gives +15% cast haste for 6 seconds after your escape.
- Priest: Holy Reach no longer widens Holy Nova.
- Shaman: Thundering Strikes returns damage to attackers; Tidal Mastery regenerates after 3 seconds without contact.
- Warlock: Demonic Sacrifice gives +2% critical chance per rank instead of leech.
- Druid: Improved Mark of the Wild regenerates after 3 seconds without contact.
One free respec. On your first login after this update every trained talent point is refunded at exactly what it cost, once, on every one of your characters, so you can retrain. A notice under the Play card says "Talents were reworked: your points were refunded, retrain in the Armory".
A weaker slow or weaken no longer overwrites a stronger one already on an enemy; an equal one refreshes to the longer duration.
Overcharge is no longer offered once another rank would add no haste.
Bone Zone never offers Scavenger, since Bone Zone has no caches to scavenge.
Cache rules read "after N bosses defeated" everywhere (How to play, Drop Tables and the cache hint), never minutes.

Rooms and owner console

A room that restarted into Recovering and then sat with everyone away for 30 minutes is retired: its pending rewards and relics are settled, the run is recorded as interrupted and the party cannot resume that run. Account progress is untouched.
The owner's runs view now shows each run's family, modifiers and clear time, and the live rooms view can retire a Recovering room on request. /admin accepts more than one admin account.

Codex and How to play

A What's new button in the corner bar opens How to play on "What changed in the run overhaul": ten short points that link to the detailed sections. It opens by itself the first time you open How to play after this update.
How to play has new sections for caches, zone families and relics, boss altars and the Lich King. The Codex has family cards with their rules and guides for the Lich King and for relics and modifiers.

Companion bots

Companion bots play the new runs: they stand in altars to call the next boss, dodge the Stampede and the Ghost Wall, guard the Warfront standard's inner ring, work their zone's objectives and keep away from the Lich King, and they call out boss warnings, map events and the Lich King in party chat. A bot counts like a person toward the kill ladder and boss health, but never takes a relic, a free cache, a placed item or a title.
On a Warfront one companion slips out to light the brazier of the gate with the most enemies coming through it while the standard is safe (few attackers, most of its health left), comes back once the gate is sealed and heads out again just before the seal runs out. Alone, a bot no longer leaves its standard to a swarm for a brazier.

Still to come

Cosmetic unlocks: family lobby music, the pause-menu zone map, Music selection and the Bestiary (the unlocks are recorded today; the features follow).
Bigger play areas in open zones: the groundwork is in and every zone keeps its current size until its measurements are done.
Polish: the Lich King sting, boss names on warning banners, banner stacking in cities.