If you’ve played through the WoW Dragonflight Dracthyr class starting zone, you’ll have learned that the MMORPG‘s newest race of bipedal dragons have some pretty nasty beef with Neltharion, the former leader of the black Dragonflight who eventually etched himself into history as Deathwing the Destroyer. Turns out that if you go up against his son Nefarian in Blackwing Lair while playing Dracthyr there’s a new voice line that well, isn’t exactly very nice.
If you haven’t played the Dragonflight starting zone, I suggest looking away now, as there are some spoilers coming up to provide context for this all-new voice line.
Nelrathion (before he became Deathwing) was the leader of the Black Dragonflight. In an attempt to bolster his armies as other dragonkin simply weren’t up to the mental task of coordinating and controlling the battlefield, he created the Dracthyr. Embodying all of the five aspects, the Dracthyr were renowned for their intellectual and physical prowess, which very quickly painted a target upon their scaly hides.
Following a battle with the primal Raszageth, the relic Nelrathion used to control the Dracthyr was destroyed, leading the Earth-Warder to lock his creations away in their creches for fear of revolt. This spurs on the events of the starting zone, where your draconic alter ego awakens from their magical slumber (courtesy of blue dragon Malygos) to venture out into Azeroth.
Given their intrinsic link to Nelrathion, it’s no surprise that Blizzard has added a new unique voice line for his son Nefarian in the Blackwing Lair dungeon. One quick-fingered, eagle-eyed fan caught the exchange in a screenshot mid-clear, and it’s pretty damning.
“Evokers,” he rumbles. “Nothing more than pitiful whelps. No wonder my father abandoned your experiment.” Dracthyr also appear to receive a debuff in the wake of Nelrathion’s statement called ‘Pitiful Whelp,’ which decreases all damage and healing done by 99.9% repeating. It is described as “inflicting the target with magic, making them a pitiful expression of what a real dragon is.”
While this is a little sassy of Nefarian, it’s the silly little things like this that make WoW so great. Given Shadowlands’ rather chaotic story and general lack of attention to detail, it’s very cool to see that Blizzard still care about ensuring the game’s lore is cohesive.
Ahead of Dragonflight, we caught up with production director Pat Dawson, who confirmed that there won’t be a Dracthyr warrior class added to the game anytime soon. Sure, this may be disappointing, but the Evoker is still a pretty awesome class. You can read more about their abilities, and the general World of Warcraft Dragonflight talents system in our handy guide.