World of Warcraft: Shadowlands' big Chains of Domination update goes live June 29

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We've been waiting a long time for the World of Warcraft: Shadowlands update Chains of Domination. "It sucks that World of Warcraft's next big update feels so far off," our resident Warcrafter said shortly after it was revealed in February. But it's not so far off now: Blizzard announced today that Chains of Domination will go live on June 29.

Chains of Domination will open up a new subzone in The Maw called Korthia, City of Secrets, and thanks to an invasion by the four Covenants, players will be able to use their mounts and (somehow) disable the Eye of the Jailer, granting them more time exploring the zone each day. There will be new story quests and a Covenant campaign to take on, a new eight-boss mega-dungeon, and a new raid, The Sanctum of Domination, with ten bosses including Sylvanas Windrunner.

The Sanctum of Domination raid will unlock at normal and heroic difficulties on July 6, one week after Chains of Domination goes live, and with subsequent unlocks following through August:

July 13 – Raid Finder Wing 1 and Mythic Difficulties (The Tarragrue, The Eye of the Jailer, The Nine)
July 27 – Raid Finder Wing 2 (Soulrender Dormazain, Remnant of Ner’zhul, and Painsmith Raznal)
August 10 – Raid Finder Wing 3 (Guardian of the First Ones, Fatescribe Roh-Kalo, and Kel’Thuzad)
August 24 – Raid Finder Wing 4 (Sylvanas Windrunner)

On top of the new content, there will also be smaller improvements and additions including Covenant Renown levels and rewards, improvements to Torghast to make it less punishing, and a new season for PvP and Mythic+ dungeons.

Players who want to jump straight into the new raid should probably check out the Sanctum of Domination preview of the bosses you'll face and rewards you'll pick up that Blizzard also shared today. For a broader look at the whole update, here's everything we know about Chains of Domination.

PRODUCTS

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.