Last year Blizzard officially announced Warcraft Rumble, a strategy/tower offense game based on the Warcraft universe coming to Android and iOS devices. This game wasn’t a complete surprise thanks to a few rumors. But up until the official reveal in May of 2022 many elements were still unknown. The name, basic gameplay features, and much more were a mystery until now.
We’ll break down everything there is to know so far about the upcoming title. Basically, this guide will serve as your go-to collective of information about Warcraft Rumble. Laying out all the important details about Blizzard’s first Warcraft game for mobile devices.
What is Warcraft Rumble?
As mentioned above, Warcraft Rumble is a strategy game for mobile devices. It’s set in the Warcraft universe and is described by Blizzard as a tower offense game. At first glance, this might look like just another Clash Royale clone. But there is far more that Warcraft Rumble offers than just competitive PvP.
In the game, you’ll build armies of familiar Warcraft characters, defend your base, and attempt to take out your opponent’s base to claim victory. That’s the gist of it. Luckily Blizzard seems to have baked a ton of content into the game. And that bodes well for players (like myself), who aren’t as big on PvP tower offense games. In fact, Warcraft Rumble will feature both PvE and PvP game modes. This means you’ll have something to dive into even if you’re not a huge fan of competitive gameplay.
With over 65 characters to collect and each character having their own unique skills, there will be tons of ways to build up your strategy to achieve your goal.
When is Warcraft Rumble Releasing?
Blizzard officially announced back on October 3 that Warcraft Rumble will be released on November 3. This will coincide with this year’s BlizzCon event taking place that same week. That means there’s not long of a wait now before everyone around the world can play the game.
Update November 14, 2024:
Warcraft Rumble has been available in a full launch status since November of 2023. It is now in its 10th season with new features, including Split Leaders, new miniatures, and more.
Update December 16, 2024:
Warcraft Rumble is now available on PC via the open PC beta. The beta began on December 10, 2024. Players will need to download the Battle.net client and install the PC beta of Warcraft Rumble from there. Blizzard is also offering login rewards for the people who login daily. These rewards can include Tomes, Coins, Tinker Gems, a PC player avatar, and even copies of each new split leader. Plus, Blizzard says there are even more rewards for these daily logins.
Will there be any gameplay tests?
Yes. In fact, Blizzard is planning to hold some upcoming regional closed beta tests in the near future. It hasn’t said when these tests would begin though. Or what regions would be included. For Diablo Immortal, Blizzard kept the regional tests to Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Southeast Asia. Keep that in mind as Blizzard could be looking to extend the tests to those same regions.
Update October 24, 2023:
Blizzard has held a few different gameplay tests for Warcraft Rumble since the game’s announcement in 2022. There will be no more tests from this point forward as the game will be released globally in just a couple of weeks.
What platforms is Warcraft Rumble available on?
Warcraft Rumble was initially launched for mobile devices in 2023. It can be played on Android and iOS devices, including smartphones and tablets for both mobile platforms. Blizzard also just recently announced that Warcraft Rumble will be coming to PC, and will be available to play through the Battle.net launcher alongside its other games that you can find there.
Blizzard has not announced a launch date for the PC version as of now. However, it has been confirmed that there will be a beta test for the PC version beginning December 10. At that time, you will be able to download and install the beta version of the game and play it on your desktop or laptop.
How many game modes will there be?
Blizzard doesn’t say exactly how many game modes there will be in total. But there are multiple modes. Including a single-player campaign, PvP battles, co-op play, and more.
Co-op play will include dungeons and raids, too. Allowing those looking for more of a challenge to take on harder content that requires working together with other players. Blizzard also says that there will be varied content to do every single week. With new weekly dungeons, likely new weekly raids and more.
Single-player missions will have “bite-sized strategic puzzles to solve” giving just a bit of challenge to solo players. As of now Blizzard has confirmed Conquest, Dungeons, Raids, Co-Op, and PvP modes. There’s also a Heroic campaign for anyone who wants to access harder content.
How many characters will there be and who are they?
In Warcraft Rumble, characters are presented in the form of tabletop miniatures. There are more than 65 different miniatures to collect comprised of both heroes and villains from the Warcraft universe. This also includes leaders like Jaina Proudmoore, Tyrion Fordring, Maiev Shadowsong and others. All of the leaders that have been announced so far are listed below, separated by the five families. Which include the Alliance, the Horde, the Undead, Beasts, and Blackrock.
Chances are Blizzard will add more leaders as time goes on. But the ones below are what players should expect at launch. Complete with brief descriptions of their abilities. Note that ability descriptions are not entirely specific at this time due to limited information.
Alliance Leaders
- Tirion Fordring – Defensive tactics to bolster ranks
- Maiev Shadowsong – Stealth tactics to quietly take out the enemy and/or provide units with stealth for easy movement
- Jaina Proudmoore – Healing and magic tactics to keep units alive and deal massive damage
Horde Leaders
- Grommash Hellscream – Sends out fast attacking troops to overwhelm the battlefield
- Sneed – Siege units grab extra gold
- Cairne Bloodhoof – Uses area of effect stuns to control enemies
Beasts
- Charlga Razorflank – Disables enemy defenses to help beast allies stampede and overwhelm the enemy
- Hogger – Deploys fast-attacking units
Blackrock Leaders
- Rend Blackhand – Flying units become one gold cheaper for faster deployment
- General Drakkisath – Deploys searing elemental magic users to burn opponents to a crisp
Undead Leaders
- Bloodmage Thalnos – Casts spells and grows stronger with every cast
- Baron Rivendare – Summons endless armies of the undead to haunt the battlefield
Additional leaders that were added
- Anub’arak
- Onu, Ancient of Lore
- Cenarius
- Ragnaros
- Emperor Thaurissan
- Orgrim Doomhammer
- Ysera the Dreamer
What are the zones and maps?
Warcraft Rumble has a wide range of maps available to play through and these span across the different zones of Azeroth. These will be familiar to anyone who has played World of Warcraft or is simply familiar with the Warcraft and World of Warcraft lore. Zones include Elwynn Forest, Westfall, Duskwood, Stranglethorn Vale, Blackrock Mountains, Hinterlands, Plaguelands, and Lordaeron. These are just the zones in The Eastern Kingdoms, however.
There will also be several zones in Kalimdor including The Barrens, Winterspring, Dustwallow Marsh, Thousand Needles, Un’Goro Crater, Ashenvale, Darkshore, Moonglade, and Onyxia’s Lair. Nearly all of these zones will also have a collection of maps to play through. Giving you plenty of places to visit during your time in Warcraft Rumble.
Does Warcraft Rumble have any social features?
Blizzard has designed Warcraft Rumble to include quite a few different social features and benefits. You can play co-op missions with friends, but you can also create and join guilds to gain a number of benefits. Such as taking on raids and earning progress toward weekly and daily rewards.
You can also chat with your guild friends in-game if you feel like taking a breather and just having a conversation. With guilds in play, expect large-scale challenges and battles between guilds for even more ways to enjoy all the chaos.
What is gameplay progression like?
As you progress through the game you’ll encounter tougher and tougher battles and even tougher challenges. Whether you win battles or lose, you’ll gain a certain amount of XP so your characters can all level up. This will not only make each of your army units stronger, but they’ll also gain more health and their abilities will become stronger too.
Augment your strategy with character talents
Leveling up characters also unlocks talents. Like Maiev Shadowsong’s Cloak Of Shadows, which causes her to cast smoke bomb to stealth all surrounding allied units, allowing them to move undetected around the map. Another talent is the S.A.F.E. Pilot’s Comin’ In Hot!, which ignites the battlefield with a barrage of deployed rockets to damage enemies in the nearby area.
If you play with the Warsong Raider, you can use talents like Saboteur. This talent will cripple towers that you attack which reduces the tower’s damage dealt by 50% for 3 seconds. There’s also Single-Minded Fury which turns the Warsong Raider into a siege unit to ignore enemy units.
As you can see, there’s going to be a lot of variety here in how you can win. So mix and match your units and try out different talents to see what works best for you.
What are Split Leaders?
Split Leaders is a new feature being added to the game that went live on November 13, 2024, following Blizzard’s announcement of an upcoming PC version of the game. Split Leaders will be available across all platforms as well. You can use Split Leaders in both PvE and PvP modes of the game, however, using them in PvP mode will not impact progress or reward anything unique.
Using a Split Leader in a PvE mode will change things a bit. Here’s the breakdown. If you use a Split Leader in PvE and complete a mission with that Split Leader, you will gain additional progress toward your Sigial and the Family Tome for both Families. If you use a Split Leader to complete an Arclight Surge, you won’t get more progress, but the progress will be split between both families at a 50/50 rate. So it could be a good way to increase both families at the same pace if that’s what you’re going for.
This same sort of split progression applies to Dungeon Relics. Blizzard says that Dungeon Relics and other effects that impact specific families will apply to either family, or both families. The first playable Split Leader will be Sylvanas Windrunner, who will be part of the Horde and Undead families.
Tips to help with a strategic win
With so many different playable heroes and villains, there’s going to be a lot of different strategies for you to employ that can help you achieve victory. But there are a few main objectives you’ll want to focus on.
Defend your base
When you launch the battle, you’ll start by deploying units from your base. If the enemy destroys your base it’s game over. So don’t let them destroy your base. Beyond that, there are other strategic points and elements to pay attention to.
Control the meeting stones
These are strategic points of control on the map. Whoever controls the meeting stone can deploy units from that point. These appear to be located in the middle of the map, so they make for a great starting point for future deployed units as you’ll be closer to the boss and the enemy base. It doesn’t necessarily have to be your first objective to control the meeting stones. But they should be high up on your list.
Capture the guard towers
The guard towers are like that extra little bit of oomph that can help turn the tide of battle. Capture these, and you’ll “have a forward position on the map to assault the boss directly.”
Gather “shinies”
Throughout the map, you may notice valuable points of interest like gold nodes and treasure chests. You’ll want to place at least some focus on gathering these nodes as they can reward you with more gold and useful items. Gold of course is the main in-game currency used to buy and deploy more units. So it’s better for you to have these than the enemy.
Synergize your units
Each set of units has their own strengths and weaknesses. So it would benefit you to get to know the units you’re thinking of taking with you into battle. For example, flying units are strong against melee units. Siege units do more damage to guard towers. Ranged units do more damage to flying units. And magic units are strong against infantry. Familiarize yourself with these details and you just might have an easier time in the battle.
Check out the trailers
Blizzard has put out a few trailers worth a watch, including a dev insight video that explains an overview of the game. There’s also a cinematic and a gameplay reveal trailer. You can watch all of those below.