Everything New in WoW Patch 12.1.5, From Kith'ix to the Labyrinth
WoW Patch 12.1.5 is the mid-Season 2 update of Midnight: a one-boss Kith'ix raid with loot up to 344, the first Labyrinth, hourly Aqir Invasions, Venomstones and a 5M-gold mount.
WoW Patch 12.1.5 goes by The Promise of Tomorrow. It drops halfway through Midnight Season 2, so no Season 3 yet, sorry. What's in the box: a story campaign, a raid with exactly one boss in it (that's Kith'ix, and his Mythic loot is item level 344), the first Labyrinth, hourly Aqir Invasions and an upgrade currency you can finally spend on your neck slot. It went to the PTR on September 3, and Blizzard has set the release: October 13, 2026 in the US, with Europe following at its Wednesday maintenance.
Smaller bits ride along with it: a 5,000,000 gold mount for the rich, Legion and Battle for Azeroth reputations getting shared by your whole warband, and some class tuning. Below we go through all of it, what you get out of each part, and which rewards quietly expire.
- Release: October 13, 2026 (US); Europe with its weekly maintenance on October 14.
- Raid: The Unbinding of Kith'ix, one boss, LFR to Mythic, item level 285 up to 344.
- Labyrinth: Kindo'jan is a long delve with 9 chambers and Tiers 1 to 11, played with Valeera Sanguinar.
- World event: Aqir Invasions show up for 10 minutes every hour in Eversong Woods or Zul'Aman.
- Gear: 10 Ascendant Venomstones push a maxed Season 2 weapon, trinket or neck a step higher.
- Mounts: two of them. One's bought with gold (a lot of it), the other one drops for soloing the Labyrinth.
When Does WoW Patch 12.1.5 Come Out?
WoW patch 12.1.5 lands on October 13, 2026. Blizzard confirmed it on September 29. US realms get it with the usual Tuesday maintenance. Europe follows one day later, on Wednesday, October 14. The final content update notes came out on October 1, so what you read below is what goes live.
The PTR had been up since September 3, and the Kith'ix fight opened for testing on September 16.
Not everything unlocks on patch day. In the week of October 13 the patch goes live together with the quest Ancient Depths, Ancient Venom. In the week of October 20 Ascendant Venomstones become available and the crest cap is lifted. Plan your first two weeks around that split.
What we can say for sure: 12.1.5 isn't a season change. Your Mythic+ keys, upgrade tracks and crests from Season 2 all carry on the way they work now. You won't lose rating, and you won't need to regear from scratch on patch day. Season 3 is tied to patch 12.2 Eclipse, which the roadmap places in winter, with a smaller 12.1.7 update, Echoes of the Worldcore, in between. Neither of those has a date yet.
What's New in Patch 12.1.5?
Seven things, more or less. A campaign, a raid with one boss, the first Labyrinth, an hourly world event, a new upgrade currency, a very pricey mount and warband-wide reputations for two old expansions. I'll spare you the patch notes. It's all in the table. Keep an eye on that last column, since a couple of these things go away after a while.
| Feature | What it is | Who it's for | Time limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Promise of Tomorrow | Campaign that wraps up the Quel'Thalas and Zul'Aman story | Everyone | None |
| The Unbinding of Kith'ix | One-boss raid, Raid Finder to Mythic | Raiders | None |
| Labyrinth of Kindo'jan | Long delve: 9 chambers, Tiers 1 to 11 | Solo and small-group delvers | Fabled title: until the first weekly reset |
| Aqir Invasions | 10-minute zone event every hour | Open-world players | None |
| Ascendant Venomstones | Extra item levels for maxed Season 2 weapon, trinket or neck | Anyone chasing gear | While Season 2 lasts |
| Sporebearer Fungal Strider | 5,000,000 gold mount with vendor NPCs | Collectors, gold farmers | Until the end of Midnight |
| Warband reputations | Legion and BfA reputations shared across your warband | Alt players | None |
Stuff you won't find in 12.1.5: a new season, fresh Mythic+ dungeons, a PvP season or tier sets. Hallow's End updates are announced for the patch as well.
The Promise of Tomorrow: the 12.1.5 Campaign
Ula'tek is dead, and that turns out to be the problem. Her defeat wakes something old underneath her vaults: Kith'ix, a C'Thraxxi general. Quel'Thalas and Zul'Aman have only just agreed to stand on the same side, and now that fragile peace gets its first real test. The campaign walks you from the first signs of the threat to the doors of the raid, where you end up fighting next to Lady Liadrin.
There are two chapters in the patch data, Sins of the Past and To the Faithful. Finish both and you complete the achievement The Promise of Tomorrow, which awards the title Light's Faithful. Those names come from the PTR; check them in game after October 13.
One thing we can't answer yet is pacing. Blizzard hasn't said whether chapters unlock week by week or all at once, or whether you need to have finished The Curse of Ula'tek first. If you'd rather skip the questing and just grab the title on an alt, there's a WoW campaign boost that covers Midnight's story chapters.
What Is The Unbinding of Kith'ix?
The raid sits beneath the Vaults of Ula'tek on the Coiled Isle, and it's one fight long. There's no trash wing to clear and no multi-week unlock through several bosses, just Kith'ix and a raid team with Lady Liadrin at its side. You can do it on Raid Finder, Normal, Heroic or Mythic, whatever your group is up for.
A raid with one boss in it sounds a bit thin, I know. People will still farm it hard, and the reason is loot: Kith'ix drops gear that goes straight on top of whatever you've built up this season.
Kith'ix Item Level by Difficulty
| Difficulty | Item level | Upgrade track |
|---|---|---|
| Raid Finder | 285 | Veteran 3 |
| Normal | 298 | Champion 3 |
| Heroic | 311 | Hero 3 |
| Mythic | 344 | Myth 9 |
Why is Mythic so far ahead of Heroic? It follows the 12.1 rule for final bosses. Ula'tek drops Myth 9 gear on Mythic, and Kith'ix copies that. Some PTR tooltips still show 334 by default, so if you spot that number somewhere, it's the tooltip, not the actual drop. Normal and Heroic land at rank 3 of their tracks, which means you'll still spend crests on them like on any other Season 2 piece.
What Kith'ix Drops
The loot table is compact, and it covers nearly every role:
- One armor piece for each armor type: cloth, leather, mail and plate
- A ring
- Swords: a 2H and a 1H
- Three trinkets, one each for tanks, healers and damage dealers
- A toy and a housing decor item
- Quest items
There's no mount on the list. Only four armor pieces? Right, so for most of you the real upgrades are the ring, the trinkets and the swords. The items got shuffled a few times on the PTR. Read this as a list of slots, then open the Adventure Guide after release to see the final pieces.
Achievements and Venomstone Credit
Killing it gets you an achievement per difficulty tier: Kith'ix, Heroic: Kith'ix, Mythic: Kith'ix. We couldn't find its own Ahead of the Curve or Cutting Edge in the PTR files, weirdly. More useful is this: Heroic and Mythic Kith'ix count as raid bosses for Ascendant Venomstones, so every kill on those difficulties feeds your upgrades. If your group can't clear it on its own, a Kith'ix boost on Normal, Heroic or Mythic puts a kill on your character.
What Are Labyrinths in WoW Midnight?
Labyrinths are delves, just way bigger, and Blizzard went with "mega-dungeons" to describe them. A run goes on for much longer than the delves you know, progress and rewards are tracked separately from them, and if real life calls halfway through you can log off and pick it back up later.
How Labyrinth Runs Work
The first one is Kindo'jan, an ancient Amani burial complex in Zul'Aman that stayed sealed for centuries. A full run takes you through 9 chambers, and difficulty goes from Tier 1 to Tier 11. Your companion this time is Valeera Sanguinar rather than the usual delve helper.
Labyrinth Rewards and the Delve Tier Unlock
People skip over this bit, and they shouldn't. Each tier has an achievement for clearing 3 chambers at that tier, and every one of those unlocks the next tier of regular Season 2 delves. Tier 1 in the Labyrinth opens Tier 2 delves, and the chain continues up to Tier 8. So the Labyrinth isn't a side activity you can ignore. It's a ladder for your whole delve progress.
The bigger rewards from the Labyrinth achievements:
- Whose Labyrinth? Clear all 9 chambers in one run on Tier 11 for the title Maze Runner.
- The First Hash'ey: kill Kindo'jan for the first time and you earn the title Loa-Blessed.
- My Labyrinth: a long grind of 100 chambers in total.
Blizzard hasn't published the item level of Labyrinth loot yet, and nobody knows whether runs have a weekly cap. We'll add both once they're confirmed.
Solo Challenges: Let Me Solo Him, Fabled and One-Champion Army
| Achievement | Requirement | Reward | Window |
|---|---|---|---|
| Let Me Solo Him: Kindo'jan | Beat Tier 11 solo | Loa-Blessed Wayfarer mount (account-wide) | Until Season 2 ends |
| Fabled Let Me Solo Him: Kindo'jan | Beat Tier 11 solo before the first weekly reset after the boss appears | Title, currently Fabled Vanquisher of The First Hash'ey | Less than 7 days |
| One-Champion Army | Clear all 9 chambers and the boss on Tier 11 solo without losing a life | Title Lone Raider | Until Season 2 ends |
The Fabled title is the only reward in 12.1.5 with a window measured in days, and its text already changed once during PTR testing. The mount and Lone Raider stay available until Season 2 ends. For help with any of these, look at our Labyrinth of Kindo'jan boost.
Aqir Invasions in Eversong Woods and Zul'Aman
Once an hour, for 10 minutes, the Aqir break into either Eversong Woods or Zul'Aman. The two zones take turns. An invasion is a chain of public events that ends in a boss fight, so it pays to show up at the start instead of arriving for the last two minutes.
There are six scenario types. Three are combat and three aren't. Each combat scenario rolls one of eight affixes:
| # | Affix |
|---|---|
| 1 | Void Protection |
| 2 | Aqir Burrower |
| 3 | Void Sphere |
| 4 | Astalor's Anguish |
| 5 | Swarms! |
| 6 | Aqir Elites |
| 7 | Void Infestation |
| 8 | Web Weavers |
Rewards scale with how many objectives the group completes. That's about all we know right now: the PTR data has no named mount, title or achievement for invasions yet.
How Do Ascendant Venomstones Work?
Same idea as Ascendant Voidcores, which they replace once 12.1.5 goes live. Collect 10 stones and you can raise the item level of a fully upgraded Season 2 Hero or Myth item, or your best Tidal Crafted piece. What's new is the slot list: a weapon, a trinket or a neck. Necks couldn't be pushed like this before.
First you have to unlock the system. Pick up the quest Ancient Depths, Ancient Venom from Orin Straylight next to the Catalyst in Silvermoon. It's a patch-day job: grab it before you start running content, so your first stones actually count.
| Source | Detail |
|---|---|
| Heroic raid bosses | Includes Heroic Kith'ix |
| Mythic raid bosses | Includes Mythic Kith'ix |
| Mythic+ dungeons | Keystone level +10 and higher |
| Bountiful Delves | Tier 11 only |
| Nightmare Prey Hunts | Champion chests |
Two things are still open: how many item levels one upgrade adds, and whether there's a weekly cap on stones. There are no numbers for either in Blizzard's notes yet, so we're leaving those blank rather than inventing them.
New Mounts Coming With Patch 12.1.5
Two mounts, and they couldn't be further apart. One you buy with an absurd pile of gold. The other you earn by soloing the Labyrinth on its hardest tier.
Sporebearer Fungal Strider
Got a fat bank? Here's where it goes. A vendor in Harandar sells the Sporebearer Fungal Strider for 5,000,000 gold, and out of the box it has a mailbox and a repair guy on board. Extra NPCs cost extra, of course: 1,500,000 on top for an auctioneer and 500,000 for someone to handle transmog. Only two NPCs ride along at once (you change them in Harandar). Buy everything and you're down 7,000,000 gold, with the Fungal Not Frugal achievement to show for it.
No rush, though. The Strider is only on sale until World of Warcraft: Midnight ends, and any NPC upgrades you've bought stay with you afterwards. You don't need to empty your bank on day one, but don't wait for the next expansion either. The Sporebearer Fungal Strider mount service covers it if you'd rather not farm the gold yourself.
Loa-Blessed Wayfarer
The second new mount comes from the Labyrinth. Beat Kindo'jan solo on Tier 11 during Season 2 and you get the Loa-Blessed Wayfarer for your whole account.
Reputation Warbandification and Other Quality-of-Life Changes
Not all of 12.1.5 is new content. A bunch of smaller fixes make alts, Prey, housing and the interface a little nicer to live with.
Warband Reputations for Legion and Battle for Azeroth
The roadmap listed "reputation warbandification" for 12.1.5, and the patch notes confirm what that means: Legion and Battle for Azeroth reputations become shared across your warband. For anyone farming old mounts, recipes or transmog on several characters, that's a lot less repetition. There's no full faction list from Blizzard yet. Before you build a farm around one faction, open your reputation panel after launch and look.
Prey Catch-Up
If you fell behind on Prey, there's a catch-up. Below rank 3 each hunt gives 4,000 Journey. From rank 3 to rank 8, your first four hunts every week give 2,000 each.
Housing and UI
Housing picks up a few handy fixes. You can switch floors in edit mode with Page Up and Page Down, there's a shortcut to your blueprint collection, and Public Neighborhoods stop giving you the same Endeavor twice in a row. The UI now has optional coordinates under the minimap (whole numbers or decimals), dispel indicators on raid frames, macro pings that respect #showtooltip, and a "Pulse Your Health" audio alert. Achievement hunters will like one more change: Snake Eyes, Snake Eater and Good Night, Sweet Prince no longer count toward Glory of the Wartorn Hero.
12.1.5 Class Changes
Eight classes get changes in the patch notes. None of it is a rework, and hotfixes after October 13 can still move these values, so check the in-game tooltip.
- Demon Hunter (Devourer): the biggest batch. Collapsing Star gains range after the cast starts and loses its 5-second cooldown on cancel. Soulforged Blades: 18% crit, was 15%. Monster Rising trades some Intellect (10% now, 15% before) for a fatter Collapsing Star bonus, 20% up from 15%. On the Void-Scarred side, Demonic Intensity resets The Hunt, and Violent Transformation does the same for Soul Immolation.
- Druid (Restoration): new Nature's Bounty. Regrowth splashes 15% healing onto up to 3 allies sitting on Rejuvenation.
- Evoker (Preservation): Merithra's Blessing, 30 seconds instead of 60.
- Hunter (Marksmanship): the new talent Blood Fletching makes Aimed Shot crits cause bleeding, and Unload is removed.
- Mage: Arcane gets a change to Spell Density, and Frost, Frostfire and Spellslinger get bug fixes.
- Priest: Discipline's Master the Darkness moves to 30 seconds, while Holy Celerity and Ultimate Serenity trade places in the Holy tree.
- Rogue: Outlaw's Deft Maneuvers grants 5 Energy per target hit, capped at 30. Subtlety gets fixes for its Shadow bonuses.
- Warrior (Protection): Execute no longer spends extra Rage but hits 100% harder, plus another 30%. If you play Colossus, Practiced Strikes now makes Execute and Revenge 10 Rage cheaper.
You won't find a PvP or Mythic+ heading anywhere in these notes. Same dungeons, same arena season as before the patch.
Your First Week in 12.1.5: What Closes and When
Most of the patch will be around for months. A few things won't. Here's a first-week order that keeps the short windows in view:
- Day one, before anything else: visit Orin Straylight in Silvermoon and take Ancient Depths, Ancient Venom so you are ready when Venomstones start dropping in the week of October 20.
- Play the campaign. It sets up the raid and gives you the Light's Faithful title along the way.
- Start the Labyrinth ladder. Every tier you clear there opens the next tier of regular delves, so it saves time later.
- Decide on Fabled early. Only go for it if your character can already solo Tier 11. You have until the first weekly reset after Kindo'jan appears, and that's it.
- Farm Venomstones from the week of October 20. Heroic or Mythic Kith'ix and +10 keys are the sources most groups will lean on.
- Save for the Fungal Strider. It's on sale until the end of Midnight, so buy it when the gold is there, not in a panic.
Only one window here is really short, the Fabled title. The Season 2 rewards, like Loa-Blessed Wayfarer and Lone Raider, run until the season ends, and Blizzard hasn't dated that yet either. If you want to see the whole patch lineup in one place, from raid kills to Labyrinth runs and mounts, we keep every 12.1.5 service in one list.
wow patch 12.1.5 FAQ
When is the WoW patch 12.1.5 release date?
Tuesday, October 13, 2026, with the US maintenance. Europe gets it a day later, on Wednesday, October 14. Blizzard locked the date on September 29. Don't expect everything at once, though: Ascendant Venomstones and the lifted crest cap only show up in the week of October 20.
Does patch 12.1.5 start a new season?
No. 12.1.5 is a mid-season update, so Midnight Season 2 carries on. Your keys, rating, crests and upgrade tracks stay the same, and there's no new dungeon rotation or PvP season. Season 3 is tied to patch 12.2 Eclipse, which the roadmap puts in winter, with a smaller 12.1.7 update in between.
What item level does Kith'ix drop?
Kith'ix is the only boss of the new raid, and his loot depends on difficulty. LFR gives 285, Normal 298, Heroic 311. Mythic jumps to 344, Myth 9, because it follows the 12.1 final-boss rule, just like Ula'tek. Spotted 334 on a PTR tooltip? That's the default tooltip value, not the real drop.
What are Labyrinths in WoW Midnight?
Think of a delve, only much bigger, with its own progress and rewards. The first is Kindo'jan in Zul'Aman: 9 chambers, Tiers 1 to 11, Valeera Sanguinar at your side. You can log out halfway and come back. Clearing 3 chambers on a tier opens the next tier of regular delves, up to Tier 8.
How do Ascendant Venomstones work in 12.1.5?
Get 10 and you push a fully upgraded Season 2 Hero or Myth weapon, trinket or neck higher, or your best Tidal Crafted item. First grab the quest from Orin Straylight in Silvermoon. Stones drop from Heroic and Mythic raid bosses, +10 keys, Tier 11 Bountiful Delves and Prey Hunt Champion chests.
How much does the Sporebearer Fungal Strider cost?
Five million gold at the Harandar vendor, and that already includes a mailbox and a repair NPC. The auctioneer is 1,500,000 more, the transmogrifier another 500,000. So the full set costs 7,000,000. You have until Midnight ends to buy it, and any NPCs you've paid for stay with you after that.