Shadowlands patch history
9.0.1 — 9.2.7
Covenants made a character's progression branch four ways at once, and Torghast made a procedural instance a weekly routine. Both are unusual things for a core to hold.
Patch timeline
First to last · summarized for operators- 9.0.113 Oct 2020
Shadowlands pre-patch
- Level squish takes the cap from 120 down to 60, rescaling the entire levelling path.
- New player experience opens on Exile's Reach, replacing the old starting zones for new accounts.
- The expansion launches on 23 November.
What this means for a buildThe level squish rewrites levels, stats, and rewards across every zone. Set MaxPlayerLevel to 60, not 120. - 9.0.223 Nov 2020
Launch
- Four covenants each provide their own campaign, abilities, and soulbind trees.
- Torghast opens as a procedurally assembled solo and group instance.
- Castle Nathria opens as the first raid tier.
What this means for a buildTorghast layer generation needs a seeded generator so a run is reproducible after a disconnect. - 9.0.59 Mar 2021
Systems pass
- Covenant switching penalties relaxed, and conduit energy costs reduced.
- Valor currency returns for Mythic Plus gear upgrades.
What this means for a buildItem upgrade currencies change item levels after the fact. Upgrade paths must be stored, not derived. - 9.1.029 Jun 2021
Chains of Domination
- Korthia opens as a new zone with a daily hub and its own reputation.
- Sanctum of Domination raid arrives with ten encounters.
- Adds the Tazavesh mega-dungeon and Shards of Domination gear.
What this means for a buildShards are yet another socketed stat layer. The stat pipeline in this expansion is deep. - 9.1.52 Nov 2021
Quality of life
- Covenant switching restrictions largely removed.
- Adds account-wide progress for several unlocks and legacy loot changes.
What this means for a buildFree covenant switching means the covenant state changes far more often. Transaction safety matters here. - 9.2.022 Feb 2022
Eternity's End
- Zereth Mortis opens as the final zone, with its own progression system.
- Sepulcher of the First Ones closes the expansion across eleven encounters.
- Adds a cinematic conclusion to a story arc running since the original game.
- 9.2.7 is the final build of the expansion.
What this means for a build9.2.7 is the standard build target. Zereth Mortis progression is per-character and gates flight.