Hyjal Summit: WoW Forever Raid Guide

Hyjal Summit is the new 20-player raid on Mount Hyjal in World of Warcraft: Forever, opening on December 9, 2026. Here is what Blizzard has said about it, how it plays, what has been datamined and what is still unknown.

Written from Blizzard’s What’s Next panel and recap and developer interviews. Boss names from the BlizzCon demo and anything read out of the beta client are labeled as demo or datamined; both can change. Last reviewed: September 21, 2026.

Pine-covered mountain peaks under a violet sky on Mount Hyjal in World of Warcraft: Forever — Mount Hyjal, home of Hyjal Summit. Image: Blizzard Entertainment.

What Blizzard has said about Hyjal Summit

At the Battle of Mount Hyjal, Malfurion Stormrage gave up the power sustaining the night elves’ immortality for a chance to defeat Archimonde. In the What’s Next panel, Blizzard suggested some must have disagreed with that choice, and said someone or something is now draining the power from the land around Hyjal Summit.

The panel pictured snowy peaks, a raging river through ancient elven ruins and the whispering of ghosts from the Third War, and promised “legendary power”. Its advice: send 20 of your finest and you’d have a reasonable chance of surviving.

Blizzard called it “by far our largest raid in WoW Forever” without saying by what measure. It is built for 20 players, fewer than the 40 of Onyxia’s Lair, so “largest” isn’t about the head count.

Blizzard’s recap says Hyjal Summit brings 20-player raid encounters to one of Warcraft’s most important locations, and that it and the Barrow Deeps together set the stage for new tier sets and a legendary reward Blizzard will reveal in full later.

Where Hyjal Summit is

On Mount Hyjal. The panel introduced Mount Hyjal as the home of one of the launch raids, Hyjal Summit. The mountain is a new zone in Forever, where you can go for the first time: see Mount Hyjal in WoW Forever.
Next door to the Barrow Deeps. Mount Hyjal also holds one of the three entrances to the Barrow Deeps, the 10-player raid.
Getting the raid there. Meeting stones don’t summon, Blizzard’s designers told Kotaku, and you group only with your own ruleset and faction.

How Hyjal Summit plays

Size

A fixed 20-player raid

Raids won’t start with flex sizes, Blizzard said in the September 17 Live Q&A, where it also said every tier has both a 10-player and a 20-player raid.

Difficulty

One difficulty, no scaling

Raids have a single difficulty (Live Q&A). The developers told But Why Tho? that difficulty never scales with your level, so you can out-gear or out-level a raid, and that encounters will feel like Classic rather than start with complex mechanics.

Attunement

No attunement

In the same interview, the developers said the new raids at launch won’t need an attunement. They didn’t answer for later raids.

Loot

Hidden until it drops

The developers told MMORPG.com that no one sees an item’s stats until it has dropped for them or on their server, so no one knows the best gear in the first raid, and there is no Dungeon Journal. Every boss has a rare, very strong chase item, Blizzard told The Sun.

Transmog

Epics are the looter’s look

Blizzard’s Deep Dive recap says an epic raid drop grants its appearance only to the player it binds to.

Hyjal Summit bosses: the BlizzCon demo names

Blizzard hasn’t announced a boss list. The only names so far are the 13 Blizzard Watch read from the Hyjal Summit challenge in the BlizzCon demo’s Legacy Challenges window. These are demo names, not an official roster, and the community datamine maf2414 found no raid map or boss records for Hyjal Summit in the beta client tables it checked (build 1.60.1.69876).

Bandalar
Ancient of Decay
Time-Lost Battalion
Sylvestris Dusksong
Old Gloomlurker
Gharalis the Abyssal
Kathris the Haunted
Anara Chillwind
Elder Minderel
Tracker Stillwind
Council of Thorns
Nythus the Dreadmbound (sic)
The Wild King

Datamined, not announced: Wowhead found a Legacy achievement, “Conquerer of the Wilds” (spelled that way in the data), that asks you to defeat Hyjal Summit’s encounters and earns 1 Legacy point. See WoW Forever Legacy.

Tier sets, weapons and the legendary

Blizzard ties new tier sets and a legendary reward to the two new raids together, without saying what drops where. The panel promised “legendary power” at Hyjal Summit but hasn’t shown the legendary.

Datamined, not linked to a raid yet: the beta client holds 18 sets named “Tier 1”, 6 items each, with no stats or drop source. Wowhead expects them from the Hyjal raids because the armor models it found are tagged Hyjal, and it found more than forty new weapon models it links to the two Hyjal raids. The full set list by class is in the WoW Forever raids guide.

Hyjal Summit FAQ

How many players is Hyjal Summit?

20. Blizzard’s recap calls it 20-player raid encounters, and raids start with fixed sizes.

When does Hyjal Summit open?

December 9, 2026, 5 weeks after launch, together with the Barrow Deeps and Onyxia’s Lair. Blizzard hasn’t given a time of day.

Is Hyjal Summit the biggest raid in WoW Forever?

Blizzard called it “by far our largest raid in WoW Forever” without saying by what measure. By players it isn’t: it is for 20, Onyxia’s Lair for 40.

Does Hyjal Summit drop the legendary?

Blizzard hasn’t said. The panel promised “legendary power” at Hyjal Summit, and the recap ties a legendary reward to the two new raids together without saying where it drops.

Does Hyjal Summit need an attunement?

No. The developers told But Why Tho? that the new raids at launch won’t need one.

Not announced yet

What the legendary reward is and where it drops
What makes it Blizzard’s “largest” raid
Which tier pieces drop here
The official boss list and loot table
Raid lockouts and the reset schedule
The time of day the raids open

Sources

How we choose and check sources

The other WoW Forever raids: The Barrow Deeps · Onyxia’s Lair · All WoW Forever raids