The Drowned City is one of nine newly announced dungeons for World of Warcraft: Forever. Blizzard’s panel recap places it among the fresh adventures built into familiar Azeroth, while the BlizzCon presentation described a sunken troll city that has risen from the sea off Stranglethorn Vale. This guide separates those confirmed details from the encounter information that has not yet been released.
At a glance
- Game: World of Warcraft: Forever
- Location: off the coast of Stranglethorn Vale, according to the panel presentation
- Setting: sunken troll ruins that have recently risen from the ocean
- Reported level range: roughly 35–40; the on-stage wording was “at least around” these levels
- Reported inhabitants: trolls and naga, with a pirate ship said to have crashed into the site
- Group size, bosses, mechanics, entrance requirements, difficulty modes, and loot: not announced in the sources available as of September 14, 2026
Where is The Drowned City?
The panel placed the city off Stranglethorn Vale’s coast, in the waters near a region already known to players for its tropical shoreline and contested history. The new dungeon concept turns that coastline into a point of discovery: ancient structures that had been underwater have surfaced where adventurers can see them from land. Blizzard’s official recap identifies naga and pirates around The Drowned City as part of the new dungeon lineup’s story hooks, and confirms the broader goal of making long-discussed parts of the original world explorable.
The presentation did not identify a precise island, beach, flight path, map coordinate, or dungeon entrance. It also did not explain why the ruins rose. Those details matter for route planning, but they remain open questions rather than facts to infer from older maps or unrelated versions of WoW.
What the panel revealed
Lead software engineer Nora Mills described the site as sunken troll ruins that had suddenly emerged from the ocean. Trolls and naga have been reported there, and Mills mentioned a pirate ship that appeared to have crashed into the place. The combination points to a contested ruin with more than one group in the area, but Blizzard has not named a specific troll tribe, naga faction, pirate crew, leader, or reason for the conflict.
That is the useful boundary for readers right now: the broad setting and inhabitants are supported by the BlizzCon presentation, while a boss list or encounter plot is not. The official WoW Forever What’s Next recap also connects the dungeon’s wider theme with naga and pirates along the coast. It does not publish a dungeon journal, quest text, named characters, or a step-by-step story.
Level range, party size, and access
Mills directed players toward the BlizzCon demo and described the target as “at least around levels 35 to 40.” Treat that as a reported range from the presentation, not a final tuning promise: the phrase was approximate and the game is still in development. The panel did not specify whether the dungeon will support multiple difficulty modes, whether it scales, how many players should enter, or which classes and roles are required.
No attunement, key, quest chain, faction restriction, minimum item level, or travel requirement has been announced. The new dungeon was playable on the BlizzCon show floor on September 12, 2026, but that demo availability does not establish which beta build will include it or its exact launch-day release timing.
Availability and rewards
Blizzard has announced nine new dungeons for WoW Forever, but its overview does not give a separate unlock date for The Drowned City. The game’s announced global launch date is November 4, 2026, and the beta is scheduled to begin September 17; consult our WoW Forever roadmap and beta guide for those broader milestones. Do not read the raid unlock date as a dungeon schedule: it does not specify when this instance opens.
No item names, set bonuses, mounts, achievements, currencies, or drop rates have been revealed for The Drowned City. If Blizzard or beta testing establishes reward details, this page can be updated with the exact source and build. Until then, older loot lists from other versions of WoW should not be presented as Forever drops.
What remains to be confirmed
A complete guide will need verified information on the entrance, recommended level and group size, any access quest, the dungeon’s full story, named bosses, fight mechanics, trash hazards, difficulty options, completion time, and rewards. Beta reports may answer some of these questions, but each should be tied to a dated build because values and encounters can change during testing.
For the confirmed launch lineup, visit our WoW Forever Dungeons hub. For region context, see the WoW Forever zones guide. As new primary sources become available, this page will expand into a practical route and encounter guide without mixing speculation with confirmed details.
