WoW Forever Barrow Deeps Raid Guide: Entrances, Bosses, Prep

Barrow Deeps is the smallest of World of Warcraft: Forever's three launch raids and the one most groups of friends can fill without a big guild: ten players, eight bosses, deep under Mount Hyjal. It opens on 9 December 2026 with Hyjal Summit and Onyxia's Lair. This guide separates what Blizzard has confirmed from what comes from the wiki, and turns it into a plan: the three ways in, a ten-player roster, the gear and dungeons to farm first, and what to watch for before the doors open.

What's confirmed, what's wiki, what's missing

Raids open five weeks after launch, and Blizzard has kept most raid details back until then. The table of what we can say with confidence is short, so here it is in three columns before anything else:

• Blizzard confirmed

  • 10 players, 8 bosses
  • Beneath Kalimdor, inside Mount Hyjal — Illidan's former prison
  • Ways in: Mount Hyjal, Winterspring, Blackmaw Hold
  • Opens 9 Dec 2026, planned weekly reset
  • Legendary reward shared with Hyjal Summit

• Wiki / datamined

  • The eight boss names (wiki, rev. 7 Oct 2026)
  • "Ravus and Darlissa" as a two-boss council
  • A night-elf jailer faction, The Watchers, in the client files
  • Coordinates of the Blackmaw Hold tunnel (pre-launch guide)

• Not published yet

  • Boss abilities and a confirmed kill order
  • Loot table and loot method
  • Difficulty settings and the unlock hour
  • Whether any resistance matters here

One correction you may see elsewhere: the wiki's Barrow Deeps page said "20 players" in its body text at one point while its own infobox said ten. Blizzard says ten, and so do we.

Three ways in

Blizzard's raid overview gives Barrow Deeps something no other Forever raid has: three separate entrances. It says the raid can be reached through Mount Hyjal, through Winterspring and through Blackmaw Hold. Exact portal locations aren't published, so treat the routes below as directions to the right place rather than pins on a map.

Practically, that means a guild that farms Blackmaw Hold for gear in November already knows one of the roads into the raid. Forever has no automatic Dungeon Finder and no summoning stones — the meeting stones at entrances don't summon, so a Warlock's Ritual of Summoning is the only shortcut. Meet at whichever entrance is closest to your flight path rather than waiting for stragglers.

The eight bosses — names only

The wiki lists eight encounters for Barrow Deeps. It is a datamined/wiki list and the kill order is unconfirmed: we show it in the wiki's order, which may or may not match the route inside. Blizzard has published no abilities for any of them, so we won't guess at mechanics — what the names tell you is limited to who you'll meet, not how they fight.

1. Deepscar MatriarchFirst name on the wiki's list.
2. Khalith the DreadspinnerWiki list position 2 of 8.
3. AmethraxWiki list position 3 of 8.
4. Ravus and DarlissaListed as one encounter with two names — the wiki calls it a council.
5. Elder TangleclawWiki list position 5 of 8.
6. Well of SorrowWiki list position 6 of 8.
7. Del'lynar SongwoodWiki list position 7 of 8.
8. Sonya DarkhallowListed last — the wiki's end boss.

Killing all eight earns one account-wide Legacy Point in the Raids category of the Legacy system, so even a guild that only clears part of the raid in week one has a reason to come back. We'll add boss-by-boss notes when the encounters are live and documented by Blizzard or reliable logs.

Illidan's prison and who was left behind

Blizzard sets Barrow Deeps in the barrow dens beneath Mount Hyjal where Illidan Stormrage was imprisoned, and describes raiders descending to find out what became of those who were left behind there. That fits the client data the community has dug up: a datamined faction called The Watchers — night-elf jailers — appears in the reputation files with four level-60 signet rings. Nothing official ties it to Barrow Deeps yet, so treat the link as our inference, not a fact. If it does turn out to be the raid's reputation, those rings are worth starting on early.

A ten-player roster

Nobody — not Blizzard and not any reliable guide — has said how many tanks or healers Barrow Deeps wants. So the numbers below are BoostPirate's own starting point for a ten-player raid, based on how Forever changed the roles, not a published requirement:

Why two tanks. Eight bosses, a council among them, and trash between: a second tank covers swaps and adds. Forever also made tanking easier to hold together — Blizzard removed Blessing of Salvation and buffed tank threat instead (Defensive Stance, Bear Form, Righteous Fury and Defiance all got more threat in the 3 November development notes), and debuffs like Demoralizing Shout and Faerie Fire now generate threat. Our tank guide covers the details.

Why two or three healers. Blizzard says it raised the health of higher-level creatures to make room for class damage buffs, and that it doesn't plan big tuning before the raids open except for bugs and outliers. You don't know yet how hard the bosses hit, so bring the third healer for the first night and drop to two once you know. The healer guide covers mana and the new regen talents.

Buffs in a small raid. Ten players can't bring every class. Both factions now have Paladins and Shamans, which is why Blizzard lowered the attack power of Warrior Battle Shout — so look for a Paladin and a Shaman first, then fill with the strongest players you have. Groups only form within one ruleset and one faction, so recruit on your own realm type.

What to farm before 9 December

There are no published pre-raid lists for Forever yet — level-60 dungeon loot wasn't in the launch notes — but Blizzard has said where gear comes from. Here's the order we'd farm in for Barrow Deeps:

1. Most importantBlackmaw Hold (55–60)A large furbolg dungeon with several routes; it's also a way into the raid. Datamined client data lists Withermaw, Impaan the Imprisoner, Elder Shaman Bloodmane, Bonesnout the Unbroken, Varrox Bleakhoof, the Blackmaw Behemoth and the Unbound Spirit (some optional).
2. NextShaper's Terrace (58–60)The titan facility in northern Un'Goro; bring power crystals gathered in the crater for its consoles.
3. Fill the gapsThe classic level-60 dungeonsBlackrock Depths, Blackrock Spire, Scholomance, Stratholme and Dire Maul all return. Blizzard re-examined every dungeon drop: unique boss items are now blue and set bonuses improved.
4. AlongsideCrafted gear and enchantsForever adds more than 600 recipes, and some Blacksmithing and Leatherworking recipes drop in dungeons.
5. OptionalHonor and battleground reputationHonor buys a blue and an epic PvP set, and the Darkspear Islands reputations sell trinkets, rings, cloaks and weapons.

Our raid-ready checklist turns this into a tick-list with consumables and reputations, and the dungeons guide has every level range.

Loot, lockouts and the legendary

Blizzard hasn't published the Barrow Deeps loot table, and it hasn't said how loot is distributed (master loot, group loot or personal). What it has said:

Because it is a ten-player raid with its own lockout, Barrow Deeps sits well next to the bigger two. A forty-player guild can run several Barrow Deeps groups in the same week as its Hyjal Summit and Onyxia nights — and a small group of friends can treat it as its own weekly raid.

Opening night: do and don't

What to watch before 9 December

We expect Blizzard to say more in the run-up to the raids. These are the gaps we're tracking, and we'll update this guide as each is answered:

• The unlock hour on 9 December — Blizzard has given the date but not the time.
• Loot rules — the loot method and the full table for all eight bosses.
• Any difficulty settings — the overview mentions none.
• The legendary — what it is, and how Barrow Deeps and Hyjal Summit feed into it.
• Tuning — Blizzard's notes say no big class changes before raids, but "bugs and serious outliers" can still move.

For the other two raids, see the Hyjal Summit guide (20 players, 13 bosses) and the Onyxia's Lair guide (40 players, attunement), or the Forever raids overview.

A seat in the first lockout

If your group is short of players or gear, our Forever raid runs take pre-orders for Barrow Deeps on 9 December, with you on your own character. Dungeon runs cover Blackmaw Hold and Shaper's Terrace for the gear before it. Piloted orders mean sharing your login, which Blizzard's terms don't allow — the live prices are in the box above, and you pay only after you approve.