Third Helix Entertainment

Do you like skulls on your armor? Do you enjoy spreading diseases? Did you root for Arthas in Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne? If so, you might enjoy playing a death knight. Death knights are World of Warcraft’s first hero class. That is to say, they start not at lvl 1 but at lvl 55. Death knights were an integral part of the story in Wrath of the Lich King, which sent our heroes of the Horde and Alliance into the snowy continent of Northrend to confront Arthas, finally bringing Warcraft’s most iconic villain into our crosshairs. While Arthas is easily the most iconic death knight in World of Warcraft, he is not the only one. Or even the first one. Initially, death knights were created by the Horde during the Second War. The Shadow Council, the warlocks who led the Horde alongside the Warchief, had been mostly slaughtered by Ogrim Doomhammer when he seized control of the Horde after the sacking of Stormwind. The Shadow Council’s leader, Gul’dan, saved his own hide by offering Doomhammer

Demon Hunters are the most recent class added to World of Warcraft. Like death knights, they are a hero class, starting at level 98 rather than 1. Demons are also unique in having only two specializations, Havoc for damage dealing and Vengeance for tanking. Despite only becoming playable in Legion, demon hunters have an important history in World of Warcraft, and it all begins with one iconic character, Illidan Stormrage. Illidan, the brother of the first night elf archdruid Malfurion Stormrage, was a Highborne night elf born in Suramar more than 10,000 years ago. Unlike most of the Highborne who stayed loyal to Azshara and worked with the Burning Legion, the brothers Malfurion were important figures in the rebellion against Azshara. Illidan at this point was a mage, ever seeking out new powers to use to thwart the demons. This need to stop the Legion and protect Azeroth would become an overriding obsession for Illidan. Time and time again he would put his and others’ lives in danger i

John Hight and Ion Hazzikostas just finished up their developer’s livestream on World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, and we’re here to give you a roundup of the points they discussed! Right off the bat they made clear that Shadowlands will still launch this fall. Of course, the ongoing Covid-19 issue has been a challenge, but they insist they can still get the expansion out this year. John Hight quickly went through the Collector’s Edition for Shadowland, and what the physical CE will have in addition to the digital rewards already in-game. The CE box will contain an artbook, a soundtrack of Shadowlands music, a mousepad, and collectible pins for each of the four covenants coming in Shadowlands.  Possibly the biggest piece of news is that the Shadowlands beta will begin next week, with a big wave of invites and more invites coming as the beta progresses through the summer. The level cap will increase to the new maximum of 60. With beta, the features will be complete, but not fully fleshed o

The latest playable race for the Horde are the vulpera. These diminutive fox people don’t have a history as a great empire or taking part in earth shattering events. They’ve mostly gone unnoticed by the great powers of Azeroth, until the Fourth War. The vulpera are one of the species that share the island of Zandalar with the Zandalari trolls. For generations, vulpera have been nomads and wanderers, living in the sandy wastes of Voldun. Here, much of their history has been dominated by the presence of another race, the snake-like sethrak. The sethrak kingdom split during a civil war, with the bulk of their people following the Faithless, the sethrak who turned their backs on their religions. Like many races, the sethrak had a loa, or wild god, that was their patron and creator. Sethraliss died saving the world by containing the C’Thraxxi warbringer Mythrax during the Troll and Aqir Wars 16,000 years ago, before the War of the Ancients sundered Azeroth. That battle, and her death, led t

And now we arrive at our final Alliance playable race; the mechagnomes. Last is certainly not least though, as the mechagnomes bring a unique identity to the table being cyborg gnomes. Just don’t name your mechagnome Skynet and everything will work out just fine. 400 years ago in Azeroth, the king of the gnomes, Mechagon, set out in search of a fabled land of Titan technology. He was set on reclaiming his peoples’ heritage as mechanical servitors of the Titans. And with that, Mechagon and his expedition faded into history and myth, with gnomekind believing their long lost king had never found what he was looking for. While Mechagon’s expedition remained a mystery to other gnomes until the Fourth War, Mechagon and his people would settle in Kul Tiras for a time, leaving behind a mechanical scrapyard and settlement. A drust stele monument detailing the wars the drust fought depicts the drust fighting a group of diminutive men, most likely gnomes from King Mechagon’s expedition. The disap

What’s not to love about the Zandalari trolls? They have ancient temple cities, history reaching back to the earliest days of Azeroth, really ornate armor, and most importantly (and I cannot stress this strongly enough), DINOSAURS. They have dinosaurs, people! Most of Zandalari history is shared with their cousins in the other tribes, and is mentioned in detail in our article on the Darkspear tribe. However, the Zandalari Empire itself became an important player in the Fourth War, after having been isolationist and inward-facing for most of its history. The rise of a dangerous cult outside the control of Zandalari authorities was long ignored by King Rastakhan and his advisory body, the Zanchuli Council. Eventually, these rogue cults, called blood trolls, would present an existential threat to the Zandalari Empire. Seeking aide, Princess Talanji, Rastakhan’s daughter, would go in search of help. She and her father’s advisor, the Prophet Zul, wound up arrested by the Alliance and impris