How to play Azeroth Survivors

Quick start in 60 seconds

1. Press Play on our homepage, or open wow.aethus.pl, in Chrome, Edge or Safari (or run the official Windows build).
2. Pick a race, gender, class and zone. Only Elwynn Forest is open at first.
3. Press Enter or click Enter World.
4. Move with WASD. Your spells fire by themselves.
5. Walk over experience wisps. On level-up, pick one of three cards with 1 2 3 or a click.
6. Survive until the final boss arrives (16:00 in Elwynn Forest) and kill it to open the next zone for that class.

New player? Start with a Paladin, Warrior or Hunter. They forgive mistakes while you learn how the waves move. Not sure? Use the class finder.

Controls

Key layout follows the game's published controls; the build changes often, so check Options in game if something differs.

How a run works

Each zone is a fixed-length fight against a growing horde. The run clock counts toward the zone's final boss, and the length differs by zone: Elwynn Forest's final boss, Edwin VanCleef, arrives at 16:00, after Hogger (3:00), Mother Fang (6:00), Rhahk'Zor (9:00) and Mr. Smite (12:00). Enemies grow in number and toughness as the clock runs.

Bosses

Bosses arrive on a fixed schedule, so you always know what is coming next. Several can be alive at once if you are slow to kill them. Below 30% health a boss enrages and uses its abilities more often, so save your burst for that phase or finish it fast.

Guardians and lairs

Guardians are elites holding lairs around the map. They sleep until you get close. Killing them is optional, but guardians, elites and caches are where rings, trinkets and amulets come from.

The final boss and endless mode

Kill the final boss to win the zone and open the next one for that class. After that the run can continue in endless mode, where bosses return on a timer: a good way to test how far a build scales.

Level-ups and cards

Each level-up deals three cards. A card can teach a new class spell, raise the rank of one you have, or add a passive buff. The card colour follows WoW item quality, from common white through uncommon green and rare blue to epic purple and legendary orange, and each card shows exactly what changes.

• Rerolls (R): each run starts with a few free rerolls (perks add more); after that a reroll costs gold.
• Banish: a perk lets you banish a card so it never comes up again that run, and the hand is dealt again (up to three times a run with upgrades).
• Opening Hand: a perk that makes your first level-up of every run deal four cards.
• Extra lives: some picks return you to life at half health, holding a limited number of lives.

The rule that wins most runs: commit to one damage plan. Talent capstones push one spell or school very hard, so spreading picks across everything leaves you weak at minute 12. See builds for every class.

Gold, caches and magnets

• Gold drops from the horde. You spend it on rerolls and on opening caches.
• Caches on the battleground need gold to open; the price is shown on the cache. They offer rings, trinkets and amulets that bend your build, including legendary amulets that remake a spell.
• Magnets appear now and then. Look for the pillar of light: grab it to pull in the experience lying around.
• Companions (bought on the Rewards tab) follow you and fetch coins and experience wisps beyond your pickup range.

Talents and progression between runs

This is what turns a weak first run into a winning one. Every run pays talent experience to the class you played, based on time survived, kills, bosses, a win and how hard the zone was. Respecs are free, and a class that is behind your best one earns bonus experience, so alts catch up.

• Milestones are big mid-tree talents, like a wolf pet for Hunters or Imps for Warlocks.
• Capstones rebuild a class around one idea, often changing your starting spell. Mage, for example, can start with Pyroblast, Frostbolt or Arcane Missiles.
• Gear and looks are kept per class. Bosses drop pieces; the armory shows drop tables.
• Zones unlock per class. Beating Elwynn Forest with a Mage opens Duskwood for your Mages, not for your other classes.
• Difficulty: the Run Options make the horde harder (more of it, or tougher enemies, elites, guardians and bosses) for more talent experience and better odds of boss loot, up to a cap. Past the cap the run only gets harder.

Perks, companions and tabards: progress for every class

Talents and gear belong to one class, but everything on the Rewards tab belongs to the whole account: every hero of every class has it. The points come from achievements, and any hero earns them for the account. The tab sells three things:

• Perks: up to three more free rerolls every run, banishing a card (up to three times a run) and Opening Hand, which makes your first level-up deal four cards.
• Companions: a pet that follows you and fetches coins and experience wisps beyond your pickup range; upgrades extend how far it reaches.
• Tabards: looks for the tabard slot that add no power. Battleground tabards come with their zone's achievement.
• Resetting perks refunds the points to spend again (tabards are kept), but a save has a limited number of resets.

So the fastest early boost is often not a better run but an easy achievement: the lifetime counters below fill up just by playing.

Every Azeroth Survivors achievement

The game sorts its achievements into five groups. Names and conditions below are the game's own; each one adds account points for perks.

Easiest first: Regular (10 runs), Pocket Change (5,000 gold) and Exterminator (10,000 kills) come from normal play. Thrifty fits a run where you bank gold for rerolls instead of caches. Bare Knuckles is easiest with a class whose talents are already strong, since gear is off.

Saves and moving your progress

Your progress saves on its own as you play. In the browser it lives in that browser's site data; the Windows build keeps it in a Saves folder next to the game.

• What a save holds: your heroes, the zones each class has opened, gear, talents and the codex.
• Back it up: Options → Saves → Export Save. In the browser the file downloads; on Windows it goes to the Saves folder.
• Move it: on the other browser or computer, use Import Save. Importing replaces all progress there, so export that one first if it matters.
• Edited saves do not load. The game rejects a save file that was damaged or edited.

Playing here and on the official site? Browsers keep the game in our page and the game on wow.aethus.pl apart, so each has its own save. Export from one and import into the other to carry progress across.

Beginner tips that actually matter

1. Never stop moving. Walk in wide circles so the horde trails behind you in one clump.
2. Take one survival pick early. Max health, armor or regeneration before your third damage spell.
3. Grab pickup range. More wisps means more levels means more cards.
4. Save gold for caches. Rings and trinkets do more than late rerolls.
5. Watch the boss timer. Clear space before a boss spawns and burn it before it enrages.
6. Replay Elwynn Forest. Talent experience from easy wins is the fastest way to beat the next zone.
7. Pick a race on purpose. Racials like Blood Fury, Stoneform or Will of the Forsaken change how a class plays.

Watch: how to play

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How-to-play FAQ