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World of Warcraft: Legion demon invasion guide

Legion Demon Invasion Guide

It’s only fitting that the World of Warcraft: Legion expansion is heralded by, well, demon invasions. The Burning Legion has sent an endless force bent on nothing but destruction and utter annihilation, teeming from both green fel-fire portals and monstrous spaceships in the sky. Players will need to band together if they want to repel the incursion, and push the demons back to their base of operations on the Broken Shore.

Don’t get caught out – everything you want to get done now is in our Legion preperation guide.

While all of this is terrible news for many of the denizens of Azeroth, it’s good news for players: there’s rewards and achievements to be had! This handy guide will equip you with the knowledge on how best to defeat the demons, while getting your hands on every possible bit of shiny loot.

What zones are Legion invasions in?

The Legion have targeted a total of six key zones to stage their invasion across both Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms: Azshara, Dun Morogh, Hillsbrad Foothills, Northern Barrens, Tanaris and Westfall. The easiest way to see which area is being invaded is to break out your world map; not all invasions will be up at the same time, and they all expire after a certain duration.

Here’s the quickest way to each of the zones for both Alliance and Horde factions:

Azshara (Orgrimmar Rear Gate)

Alliance players will want to either grab the portal to Mount Hyjal from Stormwind and fly next door to Azshara, or fly from Darnassus if they haven’t unlocked the portal yet. Horde players can head directly north from Orgrimmar.

Dun Morogh (Kharanos)

Alliance players can access this invasion by heading outside from Ironforge. Horde players will want to take the portal to the Twilight Highlands from Orgrimmar and fly south-west.

Hillsbrad Foothills (Tarren Mill)

Alliance players can head to Tarren Mill from Ironforge, or from the portal to Twilight Highlands inside Stormwind. Horde can travel there from just outside the Undercity.

Northern Barrens (The Crossroads)

Alliance players can hop on a boat from Booty Bay to Ratchet. Horde players will just need to exit Orgrimmar and head south.

Tanaris (Gadgetzan)

Both factions can easily travel to Gadgetzan from either the portal to the Caverns of Time within Dalaran, or using the portal to Uldum found in both Stormwind and Orgrimmar, and flying. If you are a Gnomish Engineer, you can cheat by using the “Ultrasafe Transporter: Gadgetzan” to teleport directly there.

Westfall (Sentinel Hill)

Alliance players can head south of Stormwind. Horde players can either take the portal to the Blasted Lands from Orgrimmar, or the ship from Ratchet to Booty Bay.

The first time you successfully defend against a Legion invasion, you’ll be rewarded with the “Stand Against the Legion” achievement. Repelling the Legion in all six of the eligible zones will grant you the much grander “Defender of Azeroth: Legion Invasions” achievement. Both of these are exclusive to the pre-patch event, and will be unobtainable after it ends at the launch of Legion on August 30th.

Legion demon invasion stages

WoW Legion invasion

So you’ve picked a zone to defend – what’s next? When you enter a zone with an active invasion you’ll be entered into a scenario instance. These could be already in-progress, but you will be eligible for any rewards granted so long as you’re in the active zone when the invasion stages complete.

Each invasion is split up into multiple phases, requiring you to complete objectives to fill a progress bar to advance:

Stage 1

The initial invasion force is made up of many different demons, but they’re relatively weak on their own. You’ll need to kill as many as possible within the staging area to progress the bar and complete the objective.

Stage 2

After mopping up the cannon fodder, you’ll encounter your first real challenge. Two formidable Legion lieutenants will meet your resistance head on. Even after you’ve taken them both out, a demonic commander will spawn from a fel portal to try and wrest back control. These guys need to be treated like raid bosses: tanks need to face them away from the DPS and healers, while everyone needs to pay attention to what the commander casts – moving accordingly to dodge anything nasty.

Stage 3

Now it’s time to take the fight to the demons! You’ll notice your map light up with various demonic looking symbols, representing various different targets you’ll need to dispatch in order to progress the stage competition bar. Demons of varying strength — from trash to mini-bosses — roam the area protecting Legion structures that are acting as the invasions landing point.

Dispatching any demons protecting the structures will render the all important “Protected Fel Crystals” vulnerable to attack. Destroying these will cause the entire demonic structure to collapse, giving you a huge bonus to your progression bar. It’s best to take these on with a few friends; at minimum a five man team.

Stage 4

You’re at the final stage. A towering and fearsome boss has spawned, after being forced to take matters into their own hands. These demonic overlords are extremely deadly – if you’re not a tank, you’re going to die to a simple backhand. Many of them include unique abilities which are also certain death if not dealt with correctly. A rule of thumb is to attack these guys from the sides, never from behind or infront, and to interrupt any abilities that you can to prevent as much damage as possible.

If you do bite the dust, it’s best to run the short trip back, and only resurrect when the boss isn’t in the middle of a cast; don’t be afraid to retreat and lick your wounds before wading back into battle.

Legion demonic invasion rewards

As you’re vanquishing the Legion army, you’ll notice various rewards pop up as each stage of the invasion completes. Each stage awards an incremental amount of Nethershards – an event-exclusive currency used to purchase items from a specific vendor, which we’ll detail in a moment.

Completing stage two will award you with a “Small Legion Chest”. This contains 5 Nethershards, as well as a chance for a random piece of “Fel-Touched Gear”: item level 685 armour appropriate for your class and spec.

You’ll be rewarded with a more lucrative “Large Legion Chest” for successfully completing stage four. The large box contains 10 Nethershards, another chance at some Fel Touched Gear, but also a chance for an item level 700 weapon. These weapons can be upgraded with another possible reward, a piece of “Coalesced Fel”, which can be used on a weapon to boost its item level up to a maximum of 725. This will do you nicely until you get your grubby mitts on your godly artifact weapon in Legion.

If you take part in every stage of an invasion, you’ll bag yourself more than enough Nethershards for a few items from the “Captive Wyrmtongue” vendor present back in your faction’s capital, near the Demon Hunter quest giver.

Here you can trade your Nethershards for a variety of goods: a Felbat Pup minipet, the Coalesced Fel to upgrade your weapons, and a selection of item level 700 trinkets, jewelry and a cloak. You can also pick up four unique armour transmogs. These aren’t tangible pieces of gear, but instead unlock the respective appearances in your new Wardrobe collection. You just need to purchase these once to unlock them permanently on your account, with every Ensemble requiring at least eight completed invasions to purchase.

And that’s it! The rate at which the invasions occur will increase exponentially as we get closer to the launch of Legion on August 30. Make sure that you get as much out of the one-time event as possible, as you never know: this could be the last time the Burning Legion try and invade Azeroth; if we’re successful in Legion of course.