Alterac Valley

Alterac Valley (AV) is a battleground in the continuing war between the Horde and the Alliance. The two opposing sides are the Frostwolf Clan (led by General Drek'Thar) and the Stormpike Guard (also known as the Stormpike Expedition, led by General Vanndar Stormpike), both of whom lay claim to this secluded territory. Alongside the Generals are their two Captains, Captain Galvangar and Captain Balinda Stonehearth, respectively. Players can queue for Alterac Valley from level 45. It was originally launched with patch 1.5, but it has gone under many changes along World of Warcraft's history. Korrak's Revenge was a representation of this original version during the 15th anniversary event.

''Long ago, the warlock Gul'dan exiled a clan of orcs called the Frostwolves to a valley hidden deep in the heart of the Alterac Mountains. The Frostwolf Clan eked out a living until Thrall triumphantly united many of Azeroth’s orcs. The Frostwolves, however, chose to remain in the valley rather than joining Thrall in Orgrimmar – and their relative peace has since been challenged by the arrival of the dwarven Stormpike Expedition. The Stormpike Expedition’s desire to mine and plumb the underexplored caves for relics has invited conflict with the Frostwolf Clan, but opinions are divided on who struck first. Were the dwarves who arrived in the valley peaceful explorers who were massacred by the orcs, or did they plan to poach and conquer?''

''Hidden within the Alterac Mountains, Alterac Valley is the home of the Frostwolf clan. The Stormpike dwarves have established a foothold in the valley and seek to plumb its depths for riches and links to their ancestral past. A large-scale battleground, each side attempts to destroy each other's tower fortifications and slay the enemy General (Vanndar Stormpike or Drek'Thar).''

Besides its humanoid settlers, the valley is also home to frost wolves brought from Draenor, rams, goats and owls.

Long ago, before the First War, the warlock Gul'dan exiled a clan of orcs called the Frostwolf Clan (led by Durotan, father of Thrall) to a hidden valley deep in the heart of the Alterac Mountains for refusing to drink the blood of Mannoroth. It is here in the valley's southern reaches that the Frostwolves eked out a living until the rise of Thrall's new Horde.

After Thrall's triumphant uniting of the clans, the Frostwolves, now led by the orc shaman Drek'Thar, chose to remain in the valley they had for so long called their home. In recent times, however, the relative peace of the Frostwolves has been challenged by the arrival of the Dwarven Stormpike Expedition.

The Stormpike Expedition have set up residence in the valley to search for natural resources and ancient titan relics. It is likely that they did not know of the Frostwolf orcs' connection to the area when choosing to visit the valley. Despite their intentions, the dwarven presence has sparked heated conflict with the Frostwolf orcs to the south, who have vowed to drive the interlopers from their lands. The Stormpike dwarves sent in an initial expedition, the Stormpike Guard, to search for ancient relics of their past and mine for natural resources and were attacked (they felt) without provocation by the territorial Frostwolves.

Additionally, the Ironforge dwarves believe they have a right to the lands as well, and Magni Bronzebeard has issued a "sovereign imperialistic imperative" to the Stormpike Guard to take the land for the kingdom of Ironforge. Other connections to ancient dwarves (previously Earthen) are the troggs that are found in the northern part of the valley.

At this point in time both factions (possibly even the troll faction as well) believe they have historical connections to the valleys and want to take them back. Note that the Winterax gave up on the valley and went to look for greener pastures.

By the time the Lich King had been defeated, Drek'Thar was declared incapable of fighting any longer in Alterac Valley. The fighting in the Valley had been called to a temporary ceasefire in the aftermath of the Lich King's downfall as per a truce signed between the Horde and the Alliance.

The Stormpike clan mobilizes from Alterac Valley to assail the Horde forces in Hillsbrad Foothills, setting up in areas around the entry way into the valley. Vanndar Stormpike and Captain Balinda Stonehearth come out from Alterac Valley several times to meet and organize with Ivar Bloodfang, though they are ultimately forced to retreat back to the Valley after the Horde intervenes at their various outposts.

Drek'Thar is shown to be enfeebled by this time, having to be wheeled out of the valley by Captain Galvangar to meet with High Warlord Cromush at the Horde's entrance to the valley. There, he refuses to allow the Frostwolf clan to aid with, what he considers, the dishonorable tactics of the Forsaken in Hillsbrad; and is shown returning to the valley.

In terms of the battleground, Alterac Valley appears not to have been updated to reflect recent lore developments since the Shattering — most notably with Drek'Thar and Elerethe Renferal — and remains an active battleground.

As of the war against the Primalists, the valley has been peaceful and relatively quiet for several years.

Thrall, Aggralan, and their children visited Frostwolf Keep to meet with Drek'Thar and discuss Durak's future. At the same time, Eitrigg and an orc adventurer came to speak to Drek'Thar about bringing back the Kosh'harg festival. Aggra suggested the creation of a new rite, the om'gora, and after the adventurer proved themselves worthy of being the first to undergo the rite, they, Eitrigg, and Thrall's family returned to Kalimdor to prepare the Kosh'harg. Several of Alterac Valley's Frostwolves subsequently came to Durotar to attend the festival.

The valleys of Alterac, in the context of where the Frostwolves were in Warcraft Adventures, were referred to as the "Frostwolf Settlement". The region was also known as the "Dwarf Highlands" in interviews, and as the "Northlands" in design docs.

The region was home to Frostwolf Town and featured wolves, owls, squirrels, foxes, vultures, snow beasts and wendigo. Some hot springs could also be found in a sealed cave containing the Axe of Durotan.

Alterac Valley has its own entrances in the game world, found in northern Hillsbrad Foothills. The Alliance entrance is due north of Southshore, while the Horde entrance is north-east of Tarren Mill. However, as with all battlegrounds, players can also queue for Alterac Valley through the PvP interface. Players can queue for Alterac Valley from level 45.

Vanndar Stormpike has been given orders from Ironforge against making peace with the orcs, and appears to agree with the orders. He dismisses the orcs as "savages trying to halt Ironforge's sovereign imperialistic imperative". He wants to slaughter all orcs including Drek'Thar, believing that when the General falls, the land will finally turn over to its rightful owner, "Ironforge". See also, Vanndar's book The Frostwolf Artichoke: Tales of Stormpike Glory.

Lieutenant Rotimer clarifies that the "sovereign imperative" originates from Ironforge, and was issued by King Magni Bronzebeard. He claims that they are fighting a brutal battle in the valleys of Alterac. The cannibalistic Winterax trolls attack them from one side and the savage Frostwolf Clan from the other. He believes both must be exterminated in the name of King Magni Bronzebeard. "The taking, culling, and turning of that land is a sovereign and territorial imperative to the kingdom of Ironforge."

Wing Commander Ichman, said he had spent three years in the hell hole. Three years as a prisoner of war to who he believed were "damnable Frostwolf Clan". He believes he was made to sit in their tower and listen to them endlessly whine about the bridge to Dun Baldar. About how "unfair" the war was... even if "War isn't fair!". This is a humorous reference to player complaints about how the Dun Baldar bridge is a 'choke point'.

The Alliance Brigadier Generals believe that the Horde was quite right when they said that Alterac Valley is Frostwolf Territory, it was never Ironforge territory. They claim that Stormpike Expedition arrived as peaceful visitors to the area in search of ore and relics. They believe that the Frostwolves reacted with the most brutal and uncivilized act of aggression the Alliance has experienced. They never want to forget the brave dwarves that perished in that "cowardly unannounced attack".

Prospect Stonehewer lets it slip that he recently plundered a few treasures. It is likely from the Frostwolf clan as they offer the same reward and the weapons all have an ice theme. It may also be from the Winterax trolls.

Drek'Thar sees the valley as Frostwolf territory and that the Stormpike Expedition has no right to take their land away. He has no intention of making peace with the Stormpike, instead wishing to execute them all to the last man (Vanndar himself) following the Rules of military conduct. He believes that the Stormpike have copied the Frostwolves' defense plans and knows exactly how the Frostwolves' own forces are set up, although Vanndar would claim otherwise (this is likely a reference to the gameplay balancing of the battleground). Drek'Thar wants players to ask Vanndar to surrender (likely knowing that he would refuse), and orders his forces execute him whatever the response.

The Horde Warbringers, claim that despite what others might have heard, that the truth is that "the Stormpike Expedition invaded Frostwolf Territory". They believe that the day the Horde allows the Alliance to invade Horde lands without a forceful response is the day they will hang up their axes and live the rest of their lives in shame.

Ravak Grimtotem was sent to the war-zone by the Elder Crone to research the other races. More specifically, he was to collect gnome samples. Magatha was primarily interested in their survivability. They believed, that the gnomes — while pitifully weak and minuscule — exuded great resilience both in and out of combat.

The Wing Commanders of the Frostwolf Clan wanted hundreds of pounds of flesh from the Stormpike soldiers, lieutenants, and others to feed to their fleet of War Riders. They wanted the riders to consume their enemy.

Commander Louis Philips believes his brother is undoubtedly the most dangerous of the four Stormpike commanders. He believes that, perhaps if he is slain, the Banshee Queen could make his brother what she made of him, and show him the error of his ways...

With up to 40 players on each team in this battleground, Alterac Valley is one of the largest battlegrounds available. Until the inclusion of Isle of Conquest, it was the only battleground to allow such large numbers of players.

The goal of Alterac Valley is to reduce the opposing faction's reinforcement count to 0. Each team starts with 700 reinforcements. There are a number of ways to reduce reinforcements, named below, but killing the enemy General does it instantly.

• The enemy Captain can be killed. This will award your entire team bonus honor and reduce the enemy reinforcements by 100.
• The enemy towers/bunkers can be burned. This awards your team bonus honor, and reduces the enemy reinforcements by 75 per tower. There are four towers per side, for a total of 300 reinforcements. These structures are also important because, if they are lost, your team loses the respective Warmaster (H)/ Marshall (A).
• Enemy graveyards can be captured, giving your team another place to resurrect. Note that each team controls one uncapturable graveyard, their starting cave.
• Your three Wing Commanders (held in enemy territory) can be freed and sent running home. They award your team bonus honor and offer a turn-in quest once they reach your home base. - Note: "Secondary Objectives" on the in-game scoreboard refer to Wing Commanders and nothing else.
• The two mines can be captured by eliminating the enemy boss in the mine. A mine gives back one reinforcement every 45 seconds. - Note: this is merely a token gain, as reinforcements are usually lost at 10-20 times that rate.
• Collecting supplies to turn in. See: Battle Quests.
• Killing enemy players. This will reduce enemy reinforcement by one per player killed.

The primary bases are Dun Baldar for the Alliance and Frostwolf Village for the Horde.

For information relating to balance issues in Alterac Valley, please see Alterac Valley Tactical Overview.

Each side in the Valley has one General and one Captain.

The Generals, and, stay inside their faction fortresses at the far north and south ends of the map. When a General is killed, the match is over. Generals are tough, raid-level bosses; and typically require coordinated tanking and DPS to take down. If a General is drawn out of his fortress, his health will reset to full.

Generals are guarded by several Marshals (Alliance) or Warmasters (Horde), and they cannot be pulled separately. Each general starts with four, but each one is linked to one of the four towers and dies when the tower is destroyed. Each Warmaster and Marshall adds a stackable buff that increases damage and health by 25%, so the general begins with +144% health and +144% damage, which makes him very difficult to kill without any towers destroyed.

The Captains, and, stay inside the more central bunkers of Stonehearth Outpost and Iceblood Garrison. As long as these captains are alive, they will periodically grant a 20% health buff and a size increase to all members of their faction. They are fairly tough bosses that can be taken down by a skilled 5-man group.

In addition, both factions have a number of non-elite NPCs that assist their side. These NPCs spawn at all graveyards and towers, and a small number of road patrols. When a graveyard is captured by a faction, the NPC guards for the graveyard spawn immediately. NPC players in AV can be buffed, healed, bandaged, and many other spell effects apply to them, like paladin auras or the AoE buff of Battle Standards.

In patch 1.11, the number of NPCs was severely reduced. On some servers, this has led to a strategy that is known as "the race" or "the zerg". In this strategy, both sides bypass the main enemy group and rush the graveyard nearest the enemy base, quickly clear the two bunkers in the base, pull the Marshals, and then pull the General. Each side may also kill the opposing captain and claim a mine or easy Graveyard on the way, but the goal is still to rush the General without directly engaging players of the opposing faction. This leads to a faster-paced game which can be easily won or easily lost, providing more honor per hour than protracted games with the same win rate.

The safest route is to leave some defenders to at least slow the opposing team's attack, but to still maintain an overpowering offense; to give up some ground, but not too much. The way some do it is to run most of a faction as fast as possible to the enemy base and then some of the team will use their recall to go on the defense team and slow the progress of the enemy. This provides enough time to let one side win while the other is held up by the defense.

• Irondeep troggs (Found in Irondeep Mine.)
• Wildpaw gnolls (Found inside Wildpaw Cavern.)
• Snowblind harpies (Found inside Icewing Cavern.)
• Whitewhisker kobolds (Found in the Coldtooth Mine.)
• Rams (Found north of the Field of Strife.)
• Wolves (Found south of the Field of Strife.)

If you've just visited Alterac Valley (AV) a few times, and quickly want to know what's going on, here's a short and simple overview.

The goal in AV is to reduce the opposing faction's reinforcement count to 0. The most direct way to do this is to kill the enemy general, which will immediately drain all reinforcement points from the enemy and end the round. Other activities which reduce reinforcement points include killing enemy players, capturing towers/bunkers, and killing the enemy captain.

The two generals are raid-level bosses that can be found in their fortresses at the two ends of the map — Vanndar Stormpike ("Vann") for the Alliance north, Drek'Thar ("Drek") for the Horde south. A rather elaborate system of NPCs, fortifications and graveyards fills the map between the generals. The general is accompanied by guards, who will disappear as towers are destroyed. The General alone is relatively easy for 10 players, the General with one guard is much harder, with 2 guards is very difficult, and with 3 or 4 is nigh impossible even for a whole team.

Both sides can do quests to improve themselves and their NPCs, and spend quite some time capturing mines etc, but usually that's not done. It is far more efficient (considering reputation and honor gain) to just rush the enemy buildings and burn them ASAP, and then kill the enemy general.

A "Rush" game is the most effective way of battling in Alterac Valley, because it ends the fight quickly, which means more bonus honor. It is however also one of the hardest to master. One of the main focus points in a rush game, is not to have any defense, but to push as many people possible to the last two graveyards, and thereby preparing for the vital takedown of Drek/Vann, while bunkers/towers are being captured simultaneously. The key to succeeding a “rush” game, is to proceed efficiently, only sending as many as necessary to capture and guard the first two towers and eliminate Balinda/Galvangar, while the rest rush forward to capture all objectives as quickly as possible.

In offensive games, a strong emphasis is put on offense. Usually at least 30 people will take part in the attack, and at most 10 will try to delay the enemy. The defense needs to be aware that they do fight a losing battle, nevertheless it's usually the quality of the defense which decides the final outcome of the battle.

The name given to a defensive game. A "turtle" can happen either because the team planned it, or because all of their forward graveyards were lost and their entire team resurrects on defense. If planned then the typical Horde strategy is to send defenders to Iceblood Tower and the small one-way chokepoint that provides access to Iceblood Graveyard which prevents any Alliance players from racing to the Frostwolf Relief Hut. If unplanned the horde tend to fall back to hold the towers at Frostwolf Relief Hut. The Alliance have effective chokepoints at Stonepike Graveyard and the bridge to Dun Baldar. The key to the defensive game is keeping your casualties to a minimum, allowing you to win the game by reinforcements. Defensive games take a long time and give minimal bonus honor in the event of a loss, making them an unpopular and usually last resort strategy.

Three graveyards are usually taken — Stonehearth, Stormpike and the Aid Station. Stonehearth GY is usually skipped by the players that rush to Dun Baldar, as Stormpike is important for those that want to stay on the offense.

Although it seems there's a narrow passage through which all Horde forces must pass to reach Stormpike, advanced players will know that there are several approaches to the graveyard flag. Horde can go up the mountain to the right when approaching the choke then circle around near the mine or come down the cliffs above the graveyard. Horde can also come under the Dun Baldar bridge. The Alliance defense usually focuses on Stormpike, and it is not an unknown occurrence that Horde completely fails to take it. If Stormpike GY has been taken, the Ally forces will defend the bridge next, which is a choke-point that supposedly cannot be bypassed. However, there are reports that some horde have discovered a way to climb the cliffs to the south of Dun Baldar and enter the base that way.

The main choke point for defense is the opening in the fence between the Frostwolf towers. A secondary choke point happens at the fence area between Iceblood and Tower Point. When Alliance tries to defend Iceblood GY, they'll position themselves between the flag and the fence. If Tower Point is destroyed or the Relief Hut has been captured, it is clearly a "turtle game" if the Horde continues to choke at this secondary point. Those on defense that want the extra PVP honor will fallback to the main choke point and avoid turtle games. Advanced defensive players will first position themselves in Iceblood Garrison and will fallback to the main choke point once Galvangar is down.

The Relief Hut is bit easier for the Alliance to capture than for the Horde to capture the Aid Station. The position of the Relief Hut makes it easier for the Alliance to avoid aggro on other Horde NPCs besides the flag guards. The Aid Station is more open and closer to nearby NPCs, which makes them within pull/train/pet range. It is better for the horde to fallback to the main choke early and defend the Relief Hut rather than the open area of Frostwolf Graveyard & flag.

Before the Horde entrance was moved south, it was common for the Horde to rush an offensive game with little to no defense and often win, the race. The movement of the entrance gave the Alliance an extra 10–20 seconds to maneuver uninterrupted on the field. so now the Horde barely gets in the door of Iceblood Garrison at the same time the Alliance shows up right outside it. At the same time, the offensive Horde players that went straight to Balinda have barely entered the field of strife and have another 10 seconds till they reach Stonehearth Outpost. Obviously, Horde will lose their Captain's buff faster than the Alliance if there is no defense at Iceblood. Offensive players that go straight to the Aid station are also at a disadvantage compared to Alliance that go straight to the Relief Hut. The Horde players have to traverse the narrow road with higher chance of being interrupted by the Alliance than the Alliance do while they run through the open area of Frostwolf fields. The Alliance can travel much straighter and more efficient route from the Frostwolf field to the Relief Hut, while the Horde has to run to Stormpike Graveyard, on one side of the map, and then across the map again to get to the Aid Station.

It is not uncommon to see players encourage no defense at all on the Horde side, which will make it quick for the Alliance to gain bonus honor. Those that encourage this say it is to avoid turtle games, but a turtle game can be easily avoided when the defense falls back early to the main choke-point where all Horde players on defense can easily pick up honor kills. Others that encourage no defense also claim that it is good game if all towers have been destroyed. Claiming that the honor gained is worth the loss to the offensive race. However, you may notice that the people who made the claim rush the Aid Station and will wait there while all towers get destroyed, there by gaining easy honor for doing very little. That is also a sure way to lose, as with no defense in the Horde base is a guarantees the Frostwolf towers to be quickly lost, which means a quicker win for Alliance. One can easily suspect that the people that encourage the no defense on Horde plays are there to help the Alliance win. If you see players encourage no defense, ask them "if the raid will run into no Alliance defenses when raid crosses the Dun Baldar Bridge." To compensate for the extra 10 second head-start the Alliance has on Galvangar, some may merely encourage no defense get extra people Balinda to get her down fast. If you do an all-out offensive start like this, be sure to have the extras immediately recall to base to defend main choke once Balinda is down.

The four important graveyards are Snowfall, Iceblood, Frostwolf and the Relief Hut. The Alliance often does not defend Stonehearth and so the Alliance caps Snowfall at about the same time as the Horde caps Stonehearth. A danger of this strategy is that if the Horde assault Snowfall before the Alliance has capped it, the Alliance have only Stormpike to resurrect in. When the Horde assault Snowfall while they also hold Stonehearth the Alliance is often forced into a turtle at Stormpike. The best way to counter this is by camping Balinda the next round or try to predict if the Horde will do it and just camp Balinda until either the Horde get tired of being ganked at Balinda's or they will give up Snowfall Graveyard. If either one of these happen you can contiune without holding Balinda. However holding Balinda gives you 150 honor to the alliance at level 80 and another 150 honor per each blue tower at the end of battle. However, often Alliance does not cap Frost Wolf Graveyard in order to force Horde players running back to defend to respawn farther away from the assaulting force. Additionally, Alliance usually does not defend Stonehearth Graveyard because it forces the Horde to respawn in an offensive position if they are not closer to a more southern graveyard, forcing the Horde respawns to travel back in order to defend (or AV-hearth from trinket).

About half of the Alliance raid will ride to Galvangar (Iceblood Garrison) while the remaining half of the group will break off and ride directly to the Relief Hut and capture the Relief Hut graveyard and then work on the Relief Hut towers. After Galvangar is killed, the raid continues and captures Iceblood Tower, Iceblood Graveyard and Tower Point. If the Horde are defending the choke point just before Iceblood Graveyard, the Alliance will stay mounted and ride past them to either Frostwolf Graveyard or the Relief Hut. The danger of fighting at the choke point is that the Alliance do not yet control a forward Graveyard, so if you die you will end up back at Stormpike Graveyard. A common mistake that groups will make is fighting the Horde defense at each successive Graveyard. If they are defending Iceblood and you fight them and capture the Graveyard, then the Horde defense is at Frostwolf Graveyard and you'll have to fight them again. It is important to capture the Relief Hut first to avoid having to fight a moving wave of Horde defense.

On the final assault on Frostwolf Keep, the Alliance captures the Frostwolf Relief Hut and 2 more towers. They normally wait until the Relief Hut is fully captured and the 4 towers are burned before attacking Drek'Thar. Note: Drek is worth 83 honor and each tower is worth 62 honor. '''But, always keep an eye on the Batttleground map and look at your Defense back up at Dun Baldar. If your defense is gone along with your towers and graveyards you can bet that the Horde are already attacking Vanndar. Waiting for towers to cap while not keeping an eye on what is going on up North will cost you a win and give you less honor.'''

If any mob near Drek is pulled, all mobs and Drek come along. All of the mobs in Drek's room are linked, which means if any of them are kited or feared outside then Drek will reset to 100% health. Then, Drek'Thar is finally attacked. Due to the proximity of the AV entrance cave for Horde, Iceblood graveyard and Frostwolf graveyard are both often recaptured.

An effective strategy is to send one or more Alliance directly to the Frostwolf camp or Relief hut (stealth classes excel in "ninjaing" these graveyards as long as they can take down the guards, usually with Area-of-Effect attacks), bypassing all other objectives. This advance team prepares the way for the main offensive by capturing the East and West Frostwolf Towers and the Frostwolf Relief Hut. Speed is an essential quality to a winning strategy. It takes 4 minutes to capture a Graveyard or burn a Tower, so it is best to do as many of these things in parallel as possible, but it is important to balance this with defending each of the Towers.

The Alliance can also use priests to defend the Dun Baldar Bridge, by Mind Controlling any Horde that attack and running them off the bridge.

When the Horde are playing a defensive game, it is common for Alliance players to try to rush south, but doing this often gets them killed. Instead, Alliance players should defend Stonehearth or push Iceblood Graveyard, kill the Horde healers, and try to ninja the Iceblood Graveyard flag while the Horde are fighting at the chokepoint.

For horde, a typical base defense strategy is for hunters to place freezing traps on the ramp by the Frostwolf towers to slow the Alliance and while the NPC archers and horde AOE and ranged attacks cut them down as they come up the steep ramp. Horde also often kite Alliance pets or players into Drek's keep to aggro warmasters and Drek's wolves into the battle. Horde can also try to aggro the wing commanders into the battle as they stand nearby. Horde often run into Drek's keep for cover and to heal.

For alliance, the strategy is similar in that hunter freezing traps and AOE and ranged attacks on the Dun Baldar bridge are effective. The NPC archers in the bunkers aid greatly in the fight. However, the horde often send a stealthed rogue or druid into the bunkers to kill or despawn the archers ahead of the main horde offense. Due to a bug, the archers often despawn when the bunker is assaulted. To protect the archers, a hunter can keep freezing traps and flares on the bridge to prevent stealthers from getting in the base ahead of the horde offense. Kiting horde pets or players back to the druids up the path by the North bunker may draw the druids into the battle. Fleeing to the druids may also serve as a sanctuary for Alliance players to heal. The several NPCs in Dun Baldar help to slow the horde advance.

There are a number of quests that can be completed in Alterac Valley for reputation and rewards. They are broadly identical for Horde and Alliance, so they will be described in general terms here. These quests provide rewards, such as gold, to a character, but the rewards will not affect the outcome of a battle and are taken from, and turned in to, quest-givers located outside the instance. Other "Battle Quests" are available from quest-givers located inside the instance and formerly would have been part of viable strategies for winning the battle. Those quests are described near the end of this article and are of only historical interest now.

• Alterac Valley Trinket quests: Initially, a quest-giver outside the instance gives a quest, Proving Grounds (quest), to retrieve a banner from a cave. The caves are located in the far north and south ends of the valley. The reward for this quest is a trinket that provides a small amount of frost resistance and the ability to portal back to your faction's fortress from anywhere in the Valley. Subsequent quests offered by the same quest-giver allow the trinket to be upgraded for free you gain reputation with your Alterac Valley faction, ultimately reaching epic status and carrying additional effects such as health regeneration and chance to dodge attacks. "Trinketing back to base" or 'recalling' is a standard last-ditch defensive strategy, and you will be expected to have completed this quest and be carrying your trinket. In addition to this the trinket is also useful to quickly return to your faction's fortress in order to turn in armor scraps and various other turns in. The rewards from the initial quests are Stormpike Insignia Rank 1 / Frostwolf Insignia Rank 1.

• The Battle for Alterac / The Battle of Alterac: A quest-giver outside the instance gives a quest that is completed by winning a match. You must have the quest and be inside the instance when the enemy General is killed to complete the quest. The rewards for this quest are quite desirable blues, including the Ice Barbed Spear, Cold Forged Hammer, Wand of Biting Cold and Bloodseeker.

• Capture a Mine (quest) quest: A quest-giver outside the instance gives a quest to capture a mine. This quest was probably intended largely to teach the players the locations of the mines.

• Towers and Bunkers (quest) quest: A quest-giver outside the instance gives a quest to capture a tower. You do not have to be the one who personally clicked the flag, nor does the tower have to burn for the quest to be completed. You simply have to be in the vicinity of the tower when someone in the raid captures the flag in the tower.

• The Graveyards of Alterac / Alterac Valley Graveyards quest: A quest-giver outside the instance gives a quest to capture a graveyard. You do not have to be the one who personally clicked the flag, nor does the graveyard have to be successfully captured for the quest to be completed. Like capturing a tower, you simply have to be in the vicinity of the graveyard when someone in the raid captures it.

As you fight in Alterac Valley, you earn reputation with either the Frostwolf Clan for Horde or the Stormpike Guard for Alliance. There are two vendors for each faction; one inside Alterac Valley and one outside in Alterac Mountains. For the Alliance, the NPC within the battleground that sells vendor rewards is in the Dun Baldar South Bunker.

Note that in Alterac Valley all reputation with the Frostwolf Clan and the Stormpike is shared amongst all combatants, whether or not they are partied with you. However some turn-ins will give reputation with one of the four main primary factions. This faction reputation is not shared.

Stormpike/Frostwolf reputation is gained in the following ways:

• Killing Enemy General (389 Rep)
• Killing Enemy Captain (125 rep)
• Killing an Enemy Air Master (5 rep)
• Killing any Enemy Guard (5 rep) *NOTE: This is capped through honored and does not give rep in revered*
• Killing an Enemy Player(+1 Rep+HK+CP).
• Killing Ivus the Forest Lord or Lokholar the Ice Lord (125 rep)
• Destroying an Enemy Tower (64 rep)
• 1-time quests (first turn in of each repeatable, capture a tower/mine/graveyard, etc) (~100 rep each, varies) —

Repeatable reputation quests

• Alterac Ram Hide/Frostwolf Hide (2 rep each)
• Bringing a Frost Wolf/Ram to your stable (1 - 3 rep each)
• Armor Scraps (1 rep for 20 plus 10 Orgrimmar/Ironforge plus 5 rep of the other factions(for every 2 turn ins)for the character)
• Storm Crystal/Stormpike Soldier's Blood (1 rep for 1 plus 10 Orgrimmar/Ironforge plus 5 rep of the other factions(for every 2 turn ins); 5 rep for 5 plus 50 Orgrimmar/Ironforge for the character)
• Wing Commanders
• Slidore/Guse (1 rep)
• Vipore/Jeztor (2 rep)
• Ichman/Mulverick (5 rep)

At the end of the game, extra rep is gained for each of the following conditions:

• Enemy Captain Killed (36 rep)
• Allied Captain Still Alive (125 rep)
• Enemy Towers Destroyed (24 rep each)
• Controlled Intact Tower (12 rep each)
• Controlled Graveyards (12 rep each)
• Controlled Mines (12 rep each)

Alterac Valley items are available by spending honor. Though some of the Frostwolf and Stormpike factions items have different names and artwork, their bonuses and equip effects are identical. Unlike those from Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin, Alterac Valley rewards are not available for upgrades. Most rewards require level 55 or 60.

All battlegrounds award experience when the team completes objectives. Experience gains are percentages based on the total experience needed to level for a player. The following figures assume you wear all possible heirlooms that give experience bonus (chest and shoulders).

• Destroying a tower or bunker awards roughly 0.91% of a level.
• Defeating Galvangar or Balinda awards roughly 0.91% of a level.
• Winning the match awards roughly 1.21% of a level.
• Players are awarded an extra 0.60% for every remaining tower or bunker their team still has when the match is over, regardless of win or loss.
• Successfully rescuing a Wing Commander awards 0.30% of a level.

It is thus possible to gain 5.76% of a level from one match just by winning, up to 8.16% for a win with all towers still up and 9.06% for additionally rescuing all the wing commanders. It will take 18 wins to complete a level, or 22 losses, assuming your team destroys the four towers, and loses your four towers and kills Galvangar or Balinda.

A relatively small amount of XP is also earnt by killing mobs in AV, modified depending on the distance of other same-faction players. Closer leads to less XP gain, farther leads to greater.

• Alliance wins
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• Aggro
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• Moving to the summoning place
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• Killing a player
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• Horde Base reached
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• Horde wins
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• Moving to the summoning place
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• Summoning complete
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• Intro
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• Killing a player
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• Alliance Base reached
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• Aggro
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In addition to the personal quests mentioned earlier, there are a number of "battle" quests associated with the instance. Unlike the "personal" quests mentioned earlier, these quests are accepted and completed while within the instance and, except for some initial quests, these quests are infinitely repeatable. In addition to the reputation provided, these "battle" quests were often worth completing in the past because NPCs can be upgraded or additional NPCs can be summoned once enough players complete these "battle" quests suffient numbers of times. The NPCs involved often were enough to turn the tide of a battle. However, since it is time consuming to complete the quests, the quests were worth completing only when the battles would last several hours or even days, as was originally the case. It is very unusual for anyone to bother with these quests anymore.

You can complete a collection quest to upgrade some of your stationary troops. Players, officers, and roaming, mine and tower units are exempt from this bonus. Upgrading troops through armor scrap turn-ins will also result in your team's General enabling a periodic buff to your melee and spell damage. This buff scales from 10% at the Seasoned unit level, 20% at the Veteran unit level, and 30% at the Champion unit level.

Both Alliance and Horde players gather armor scraps from the corpses of enemy players and guards. As armor is gathered, boxes of supplies visibly build up next to the forge. Once enough supplies are gathered, a person with high reputation can instruct the smith to upgrade units to the next level. The friendly troops will now be much more powerful.

To start a ground assault you must gather supplies. In order to retrieve the supplies, you must gain control of the mine either Irondeep Mine (north) or Coldtooth Mine (south). To gain control of the mine, a player must defeat the boss residing in that mine (all mobs are non-elite and are aprox lvl 52/62/72 respectively).

Once you have control over a mine the miners will start generating supplies for you to return to your base. You must have the respective quest in order to pick up Coldtooth Supplies or Irondeep Supplies. If you speak with the Quartermaster, you'll be informed of the number of supplies needed for the ground assault to begin; as more supplies are collected, the pile nearby the Quartermaster will grow.

After all the materials are gathered, a player with or higher reputation can direct the Quartermaster to launch a ground assault - which will spawn a group of elite NPCs that will move forward through the zone attacking enemy players and NPCs. Additional commands must be given (by clicking on them, provided your reputation is high enough) to send them further in to attack. After the attack is over, there is a period of waiting before you can order another charge.

You can create and command cavalry provided you complete the requisite quests found in your base's stables. Initially, players must capture rams or wolves by taming them using the tools they are given by the Stable Master ( Stormpike Training Collar or Frostwolf Muzzle). These tools are fragile and will break after one attempted use (successful or unsuccessful), after dying or when leaving the battleground. After the stables are full, a message will be broadcast across the valley. Players must also collect pelts from the opposing side's wild mounts: Horde must slay Alterac Rams and the Alliance must hunt the Frost Wolves.

After all the necessary components have been gathered, a player with high or higher reputation must give the command for the cavalry to ride. Additional commands must be given (by clicking on them, provided your reputation is high enough) to send them further in to attack. After the attack is over, there is a period of waiting before you can order another charge.

and, located inside the faction fortresses, will accept Storm Crystals or Stormpike Soldier's Blood, which are dropped by fallen characters of the opposite faction. When enough of these items are turned in, the Druid or Primalist will move through the valley, accompanied by a group of elite guards, until they reach the Field of Strife. Primalist will go to the area south of Snowfall Graveyard and north of Iceblood Garrison, and Archdruid Renferal will go to the area west of Stonehearth Bunker and east of Stonehearth Outpost.

They will then start a summoning ritual, which requires ten players to click on their summoning circle. When this summoning is complete, Ivus the Forest Lord or Lokholar the Ice Lord will be summoned. These are tough raid-level bosses. They will spend some time on the Field of Strife killing whatever they see, and will then start to move towards the enemy base. These bosses are, unfortunately, plagued by evade bugs and are fairly simple to train into areas where they can easily be killed. The standard Horde strategy is to train Ivus to the entry tunnel and to kill him there. But if they are guarded carefully, they can easily turn the battle and end the match.

Through rescuing lost Wing Commanders and completing a series of quests, you can gain the ability to summon aerial units that patrol from your base to the center of the valley. Alliance and Horde players gather three different items. Each item can be turned-in to a specific Wing Commander once they have been rescued. After you have brought the requisite number of the particular items needed, players of or higher faction reputation can receive a beacon to place on the map. The beacon, once placed, orders an air strike that lasts for a time. If the wing commanders are not rescued, you will be unable to turn in the items needed. These particular items will disappear if you leave the battleground.

Once you have rescued the appropriate Wing Commanders and turned in the required number of medals or amount of meat, you have two options for each flight (assuming you have the required Stormpike Guard or Frostwolf Clan reputation level.)

You can request a beacon from any of the Wing Commanders that must then be planted on the battleground. (All beacons share a 30 minute cooldown before you can deploy another. If you want to have multiple beacons deployed, other players must deploy them.) The beacon takes 60 seconds to arm, during which it can be disabled by the opposing faction. When the beacon arms, it will summon an Aerie Gryphon or War Rider to patrol the Field of Strife and alert nearby ground troops there when they spot the enemy.

This will launch the Wing Commander by air to assault the enemy's base. Each Wing Commander will leave to patrol a specific area of the enemy base, and support ground troops there. Since the wing commander leaves the base to lead the attack when you order a strike, you can not pickup a beacon afterwards (if you have not already done so).

Note: Once you order a strike, you will not be able to pick up that wingman's beacon - it's best to pick up the beacon 1st before ordering an aerial strike.

Alterace Valley was one of the first two battlegrounds to be added to the game, along with Warsong Gulch, with patch 1.5.0 in June 2005.

Alterac Valley was originally conceived as a persistent non-instanced zone. Quests and NPCs were added in order to give players things to do when no players from the opposite faction were around. When the battleground became instanced, the original design persisted, including quests that took players away from the main battle and NPCs with a good chance of killing players.

Over time, many of the non-PvP focused elements have been scaled down or removed altogether. Other changes include adjustments to the zone's starting areas and bases to even balance between factions, and the introduction of the reinforcements resource mechanic, turning the matches from unlimited battles that often raged for hours or days at a time, to far shorter and more manageable matches.

is a three-lane battleground in Heroes of the Storm where the Alliance and the Horde fight for control of the territory.

• Main article:

• The s are generals Vanndar Stormpike and Drek'Thar.
• s consist of gnolls, and boss camps are ice giants.
• When the on map Prison Camp objective is completed cavalry units spawn in the form of for the Alliance dwarf ram riders and for the Horde orc raiders.
• When a keep is destroyed, the enemy team will begin to spawn melee gnoll Reaver minions instead of catapults like on other maps.
• Alliance waves are composed of Footmen, Riflemen and Druids, while the Horde's are Grunts, Headhunters and Mages.
• s are depicted as traditional Alliance keeps and Northrend-style Horde strongholds, with added cannon towers.
• s are depicted as Northrend-style Alliance barracks and traditional Horde great halls.
• s are depicted as moonwells and tauren totems.
• Many hallmark buildings of the original battleground can be seen, such as dwarven bunkers.
• Ballistae and catapults can be found across the map.
• Spirit Healers can be found in the respawning areas.
• Orc peons can be seen on the side of the map.

• Avenger Turley canonically fought in the battleground.
• Members of the Alliance managed to capture and domesticate some of the frost wolves of the valley.
• After Elerethe Renferal's second death, Malfurion Stormrage vowed to tend to Alterac Valley in her name.

• Terrain outside of Frostwolf Keep has been modified to prevent players from jumping over the walls.

• Alterac Valley NPCs
• Alterac Valley buildings
• Alterac Valley tactical overview
• Alterac Valley (Fields of Honor), TCG card

• Alterac Valley Map with Locations, NPCs and Quests (2006-05-27)
• WoWInsider (2007-11-24)
• Proud Aardvark's Alterac Valley Guide
• WoW Archivist: The evolution of Alterac Valley (History) (2014-02-21)

Vallée d'Altérac