When is the next Race to World First?
The next Race to World First starts shortly after Eclipse. Eclipse is the final major Midnight update. It opens the Worldcore, an 8-boss 
raid that ends on Xal'atath, and Thraegar's Stand. Blizzard has not named a calendar day.
The Season 2 race on The Venomous Abyss is finished. Patch 12.1 Curse of Ula'tek opened with Midnight Season 2: 18 August NA, 19 August EU. Mythic opened the same week as Normal and Heroic. Liquid closed the race on 3 September 2026 with World First on Mythic Ula'tek after 311 pulls.
The older 8-week patch cadence (12.0.5 on 21 April, 12.0.7 on 16 June, 12.1 on 11 August) had pointed at late January 2027. The official line now leads: shortly after Eclipse. Watch the Eclipse PTR for the day. Season 2 runway: Season 2 guide.
The race is over. Your lockout is still this season.
Heroic AotC on Ula'tek, or a Mythic start, booked on the live Venomous Abyss lockout.
This raidWoW Retail Custom Order
Name Heroic AotC or a Mythic boss on Venomous Abyss. A PRO takes the lockout.
Season trackKeystone Master
The season track while you wait for Eclipse. ~2000 rating on the live pool.
2000+ rating
Mount & title
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S1 raidThe Voidspire Boost
Season 1's 1st raid, if your guild is still catching the previous tier.
What Is Race to World First?
Race to World First (RWF) is the unofficial world championship of Mythic raiding: the 1st guild to kill a new raid tier's final boss on Mythic claims the World First title. Blizzard runs no bracket, seeding or prize pool for it. It is a community race that became a multi-day livestream event, with org broadcasts, casters, pull trackers, and sponsor integrations.
World First kills have existed since early WoW, but the modern broadcast format took off when Method livestreamed the 2018 Uldir race on Twitch (Method cites ~263k live viewers for that breakthrough). Today 
Liquid, 
Echo, and Method (plus CN and other NA/EU guilds) race in parallel while fans follow every percent on Raider.IO and Warcraft Logs.
Background: Method. What is RWF?; Raider.IO / Warcraft Logs race hubs.
How an RWF Works (Heroic Week → Mythic)
Most modern tiers follow the same skeleton:
- Heroic week: Normal and Heroic open 1st. Guilds clear, learn fights, and start split runs. farming the same bosses on many characters to funnel loot onto the 20-player Mythic roster.
- Mythic week: Mythic has usually opened 1 week later. but not this tier: the Venomous Abyss schedule puts Mythic in the same week as Normal and Heroic. Early bosses often fall in hours; mid and end bosses become multi-day walls with hundreds of pulls.
- Hall of Fame: Blizzard has published the cap for this tier. the 1st 2 hundred guilds worldwide to defeat Ula'tek on Mythic earn the Hall of Fame feat of strength and the title “Famed Slayer of Ula'tek”. Still no cash prize; the recognition is the reward.
- Economics: Consumables, repairs, BoE buys, and
gold for crafts are a real race cost. There is no official Blizzard prize purse; top orgs run on sponsors (e.g. Alienware as Liquid's presenting partner for Midnight).
Midnight Season 1 was unusual: 3 launch raids (Voidspire, Dreamrift, March on Quel'Danas) with staggered Mythic opens, so the "race" was to 9/9 across the tier. A single 8-boss instance. Boss lists and loot bands are in our Midnight raid guide.
Midnight Season 1 results. Liquid's 4-Peat
Liquid defeated Midnight Falls (L'ura) on April 6, 2026 for World First, after a razor-close race with Echo. Liquid's own results cites 474 pulls on the final; the published board coverage rounds to 473. The defining storyline: Liquid "killed" the boss into a Mythic-only secret 4th phase (not on Heroic), handed Echo free intel overnight, then closed the race the next day on a near-perfect pull. Echo took World 2nd (~493 pulls on the final per a race desk; Warcraft Logs lists 494 on Midnight Falls); Method contested 3rd (~502 pulls on the final per WCL).
This was Liquid's 4th consecutive RWF after Nerub-ar Palace, Liberation of Undermine, and Manaforge Omega.
| Date (2026) | Milestone |
|---|---|
| Mar 17 | Heroic week. Voidspire, Dreamrift, March on Quel'Danas open on Normal/Heroic |
| Mar 24 | Mythic opens for Voidspire + Dreamrift; early WFs (e.g. Melee Mechanics on Averzian, Nurfed on Vorasius) |
| Mar 25, 27 | Liquid takes key WFs including Dreamrift's Chimaerus, then Voidspire end boss Crown of the Cosmos (Mar 27) |
| Mar 28, 30 | Gap week. splits, reclears, Heroic prep while waiting on Mythic Quel'Danas |
| Mar 31 | Mythic March on Quel'Danas opens |
| Apr 3 | Liquid World First Belo'ren (long wall; ~196 pulls. Blizzard Watch / WCL) |
| Apr 4, 5 | Midnight Falls wall + secret-phase discovery / fake 0% |
| Apr 6 | Liquid World First L'ura (~474 pulls). Midnight RWF over |
Background: Team Liquid (Apr 7, 2026); Raider.IO Tier 35 coverage; Warcraft Logs RWF; a race desk / Blizzard Watch day logs.
Recent World First Winners
Hardest-difficulty final-boss World Firsts from Sepulcher through Midnight. Guild colors + icons: Liquid, Echo, Method (historical Method wins predate this table window).
| Raid | Year | Winner | Runner-up | Duration / notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sepulcher (2022) | 2022 | Echo WF | Liquid | Long modern race (Jailer) |
| Vault of the Incarnates | 2022 | Echo WF | Liquid | 11-day race; 258 pulls on Raszageth (Method results) |
| Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible | 2023 | Liquid WF | . | Liquid's modern streak begins |
| Amirdrassil, the Dream's Hope | 2023 | Echo WF | Liquid | Tight Echo win |
| Nerub-ar Palace | 2024 | Liquid WF | . | TWW S1. 4-peat starts here |
| Liberation of Undermine | 2025 | Liquid WF | . | TWW S2 |
| Manaforge Omega | 2025 | Liquid WF | Echo (close) | Dimensius WF |
| Midnight S1 (VS / DR / MQD) | 2026 | Liquid WF | Echo | ~2 Mythic weeks; ~474 pulls on L'ura |
For the live Midnight DPS meta that these races shaped, see the Midnight tier list.
How to Watch and Track RWF
When a race is live, you do not need a ticket. you need tabs:
- Org streams: Twitch/YouTube for Team Liquid, Echo, and Method (player POVs + desk commentary).
- Progress trackers: Raider.IO global coverage (day blogs, pull counts) and the Warcraft Logs RWF tracker (top guilds, live standings, region/boss filters).
- Between races: VODs (Liquid Day 1, N archives, Method recaps) and community threads on r/CompetitiveWoW.
Between tiers, the same skill ceiling shows up in keys. our Mythic+ guide covers how the broader player base gears toward raid readiness.
Why Races Take 7, 14 Days
Viewers often ask why the best players in the world need 2 weeks. Short answer: Mythic end bosses are designed as research projects, and the soft costs compound.
- Splits before and during Mythic burn calendar time so mains sit in better gear than a single lockout allows.
- Pull count walls (100, 500+ on a final) mean days of learning. Midnight's secret phase literally added a full unknown fight mid-race.
- Gold and consumables: flasks, potions, food, enchants, repairs, and BoE snipes across a 20-man roster for 12, 16 hour days are expensive even for sponsored guilds.
- Sleep / region offset: NA and EU trade the lead overnight; 1 region's "morning" is the other's progress window (exactly how Echo used Liquid's secret-phase discovery).
- Hotfixes and exploits: Blizzard can invalidate strategies mid-race; guilds plan comps with backup specs ready.
That is why clean kills look "easy" on the final pull. the 2 weeks before are the real product.
Season 2 Result: Liquid Took Mythic Ula'tek
The Race to World First on The Venomous Abyss is closed. Patch 12.1 Curse of Ula'tek opened with Midnight Season 2 on 18 August NA / 19 August EU. Mythic opened the same week as Normal and Heroic.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 24 Aug ~17:45 BST | Method World First Mythic Vashnik the Malignant |
| 25 Aug ~11:52 BST | Method World First Mythic Sszorak |
| 30 Aug 05:50 BST | Liquid World First Mythic The Coiled Altar after 310 pulls |
| 3 Sep 20:03 BST | Liquid World First Mythic Ula'tek after 311 pulls. Kill duration 10m 2s. |
| 3 Sep 20:29 BST | Echo World 2nd after 334 pulls, 26 minutes behind. |
| 4 Sep 15:21 BST | Method World 3rd after 409 pulls. |
| 13 Sep | Top 10 locked. Live race desks closed until Patch 12.2. |
Hall of Fame fills from there. 中洲队 took World 4th on 6 September after 372 pulls. Identity World 5th on 10 September after 546 pulls. FatSharkYes World 6th the same day after 270 pulls.
The 8 bosses
The raid sits on The Coiled Isle, inside the Vaults of Atal'Utek.
- Nek'zali the Soulcoiler
- Entombed Sentinels · The Lost Explorers (wings)
- Vashnik the Malignant · Sszorak · The Twin Fangs
- The Coiled Altar
- Ula'tek · the World First kill and Hall of Fame boss (1st 200 worldwide)
Mythic Ula'tek drops the Primeval Skyfriend 
mount. Full Season 2 picture: Midnight Season 2 guide.
When Is the Next RWF After Venomous Abyss?
Shortly after Eclipse. The next Race to World First is the Mythic race on the raid that Patch 12.2 / Midnight Season 3 opens: the Worldcore, an 8-boss raid that ends on Xal'atath. Blizzard has not named a calendar day.
The older 8-week patch cadence (12.0.5 April 21, 12.0.7 June 16, 12.1 August 11) pointed at late January 2027. That is a community estimate. The official line now leads: shortly after Eclipse. The 1st hard signal will be the Eclipse PTR.
Until then, this page answers “when is the next RWF” with: this race is over, and the one after it travels with Season 3. Season 2 runway and the Season 3 watch: Season 2 guide.
From the source
Official“Season 3 starts shortly after Eclipse, the final major Midnight update. Blizzard has not named a calendar day.”
Report“Liquid World First Mythic Ula'tek 3 Sep 2026 20:04 BST. Echo World 2nd 20:29. Method World 3rd 4 Sep 409 pulls. Coverage finished 13 Sep. Next race Patch 12.2. Comparison table: Liquid 311 / Echo 334 / Method 409.”
Report“Liquid WF Mythic Ula'tek 3 Sep 2026 7:03 PM UTC after 311 pulls, kill 10m 2s. Echo 7:29 PM UTC / 334 pulls. Method 4 Sep 2:21 PM UTC / 409 pulls.”
Official“Liquid first-party VOD of the World First Mythic Ula'tek kill. Fifth consecutive Race to World First.”
FAQ
- Season 2 race closed. Liquid World First Mythic Ula'tek 3 Sep 20:03 BST, 311 pulls. Echo 2nd. Method 3rd. Next race still shortly after Eclipse.
- Lead is the official Eclipse window for the next race.