World of Warcraft Zul'Aman Raid: TBC Anniversary Phase 3.5

Blizzard has opened Zul'Aman for Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary characters, dropping Phase 3.5's raid, a fresh hostage event, and a wave of catch-up changes onto live realms on October 22. The patch is free for anyone with an active WoW subscription or Game Time, and it is now playable on every Anniversary realm.

01Zul'Aman Opens in the Ghostlands

Zul'Aman sits in the eerie Ghostlands, just south of the ruined elven kingdom of Quel'Thalas, and it has stood for millennia as the seat of power for the Amani trolls. According to Blizzard's official patch post, the warlord Zul'jin has spent years inside its walls plotting vengeance against the Horde for admitting his hated enemies, the blood elves, into its ranks. He has now embraced a scheme from the witch doctor Malacrass to seal the power of the tribe's animal gods inside his strongest warriors, and it is up to raiding parties to storm the stronghold and stop him.

02What's Inside the Raid

Zul'Aman is a level-70, ten-player raid built for nine of your allies plus you, and Blizzard confirms no attunement is required to walk through its gates. The instance resets every three days. Six bosses stand between the entrance and Zul'jin himself: Nalorakk, Akil'zon, Jan'alai, Halazzi, Hex Lord Malacrass, and Zul'jin. Each of the first four is tied to one of the animal gods Zul'jin is trying to harness, which is also why the raid's hostage event runs in parallel with the boss order rather than after it.

03The Hostage Timer and the Amani War Bear

The moment a raid breaches Zul'Aman's gates, Zul'jin's lieutenants begin preparing to execute the hostages they are holding. Defeating a lieutenant and freeing their prisoner both grants extra loot and adds time to the clock, so the event rewards a fast, efficient clear over a cautious one. Rescue every hostage before the timer runs out and the whole raid earns the rare Amani War Bear, a battle mount that was one of the most sought-after rewards when this raid first launched on live servers.

04Catch-Up Changes Beyond the Raid

Phase 3.5 also eases the path into existing endgame content. The Battle for Mount Hyjal and Black Temple no longer require attunement to enter, the reputation needed to buy Heroic dungeon keys drops to Honored, and every Heroic dungeon moves to its final, reduced difficulty tuning. Doomlord Kazzak and Doomwalker also now drop Bind on Equip loot instead of Bind on Pickup, making their rewards tradeable within a raid for the first time this phase.

05Badges of Justice and Gear Updates

Blizzard is widening where Badges of Justice can drop: Doomlord Kazzak, Doomwalker, every boss in Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, and Magtheridon's Lair, all of Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep, and now every Zul'Aman boss as well. G'eras in Shattrath is stocking stronger gear for those badges, including the Nether Vortex crafting material. On the crafting side, Magtheridon's Black Sack of Gems and the Jewelcrafter's Brilliant Glass can now contain epic gems, though Blizzard notes that any copies already sitting unopened in a player's bags will not retroactively gain that chance. Primal Nether and Nether Vortex also stop being soulbound, and Outland faction vendors are adding Leatherworking recipes for Greater Drums, the Knothide Quiver, and the Knothide Ammo Pouch.

06What This Means for TBC Anniversary Characters

None of this touches World of Warcraft's modern Retail game or the upcoming Midnight expansion; it's scoped entirely to the Anniversary realms replaying The Burning Crusade. For guilds that cleared Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, and the Serpentshrine Cavern/Tempest Keep tier, Zul'Aman slots in as a smaller, faster-paced raid alongside that progression rather than above it, and the loosened attunements mean undergeared alts can catch up to Mount Hyjal and Black Temple content without running the full reputation grind first. Anyone still deciding whether TBC Anniversary is worth starting this late should also note that the original Burning Crusade expansion only ran a handful of content phases, so this is one of the last major raid drops before the storyline wraps.

Phase 3.5 also lands at a notable moment for the Anniversary realms. Blizzard has already confirmed that World of Warcraft: Forever, a separate progression track, launches November 4, barely two weeks after Zul'Aman's release, and that it will let players choose Normal, PvP, Roleplaying, or Hardcore rulesets at character creation instead of picking a realm. That doesn't change anything about how Zul'Aman works on existing TBC Anniversary servers today, but it does mean guilds weighing whether to push for the Amani War Bear and the new badge sources now, versus waiting to start fresh in a few weeks, have a real deadline to plan around.