Amirdrassil Race to World First: Day 3 Recap
Day 3 of the Amirdrassil Race to World First: the first six Mythic bosses fell fast, then a Smolderon orb bug and Private Auras stalled Team Liquid.
By:
John Langan
Amirdrassil Race to World First: The Day 3 Recap
By the third day of the November 2023 Race to World First for Amirdrassil, the Dream's Hope, the top guilds had swapped to Mythic difficulty and torn through the opening bosses, only to run headfirst into a buggy Smolderon. This recap covers what happened over the first three days: the fast early kills, the Smolderon bug that stalled Team Liquid, and the Private Auras technology that reshaped how guilds handled the fight. Dratnos and Tettles chronicled it all in their daily recap videos.
The race is long over, so this is a look back rather than a live feed. It picks up the moment the leaders committed to Mythic and the encounter design started fighting back.
Key Takeaways
- By Day 3 of the November 2023 Amirdrassil race, the top guilds had cleared the first six Mythic bosses and stalled on Smolderon, the raid's seventh encounter.
- The Smolderon bug that halted Team Liquid was Seeking Inferno orbs detonating twice; the second blast wiped the raid, and Blizzard later confirmed it.
- While waiting on a fix, guilds detoured into Mythic+ dungeons, costing Liquid roughly three hours of progress.
- Smolderon's soak assignment used Private Auras, a patch 10.2 system that blocked WeakAuras from auto-assigning the orb soaks.
- Guilds worked around it with a macro that fed a manual WeakAuras list when a player was targeted.
- Instant Dollars, a North American guild, led the early Americas race with several first kills before Echo and Liquid overtook the field.
- Echo went on to take the overall World First on November 26, with Liquid finishing World Second.
Here is how those first three days built toward the Smolderon wall.
Into Mythic: The First Six Bosses Fall
After clearing Normal and Heroic to prepare, Team Liquid and Echo committed to Mythic difficulty and moved quickly. Instant Dollars, a North American guild, actually led the early race, banking several first kills and a clean Volcoross pull before the European heavyweights caught up. The first six bosses, Gnarlroot, Igira the Cruel, Volcoross, Council of Dreams, Larodar, and Nymue, fell fast enough that commentators felt the need to add context.
On the daily recap, Dratnos and Tettles relayed points from Jet and Tagzz about the speed of those early kills. Their takeaway was that quick starts are normal for a new raid, and that the first six bosses tumbling in short order is not the alarm signal it can look like. The real difficulty spike was waiting at boss seven.
The Smolderon Bug and the Mythic+ Detour
Smolderon halted Liquid's run, but not because of a tuning wall. The encounter had a bug in which its orbs detonated twice, and the unexpected second explosion wiped the raid. It was intermittent, so it did not happen every pull, which made it especially frustrating to plan around. Blizzard later confirmed the issue, but the interruption cost Liquid roughly three hours of progress.
Rather than burn attempts against a broken encounter, the leading guilds shifted their focus to Mythic+ dungeons while they waited for Blizzard to respond. It was a pragmatic detour: keep the roster busy and rested instead of feeding pulls into a fight that could wipe the group through no fault of their own.
Private Auras versus WeakAuras
The more interesting storyline was technological. Smolderon's Seeking Inferno sent an orb after random non-tank players, and a group of players had to take turns soaking it on a short timer. To stop guilds from fully automating the assignment, Blizzard built the mechanic on Private Auras, a system introduced with patch 10.2 that converted eight Amirdrassil raid abilities so WeakAuras could not read them and auto-assign responses.
Guilds adapted anyway. Instead of a fully automatic assignment, players pressed a macro when they were targeted, which fed a manual WeakAuras list that tracked the soak order. It was more fiddly than the old automation, but it kept the raid coordinated, and it became a talking point for how far Blizzard could push the design against add-on automation. The full mechanic breakdown lived on the Smolderon strategy guide.
How the Race Ended
The Day 3 stall was a speed bump, not the finish. Once the Smolderon issue was sorted, the race pushed on through Tindral Sageswift and into Fyrakk the Blazing, where Echo and Liquid traded wipes under 2 percent health for hours. Echo landed the World First kill on November 26, 2023, with Liquid a day behind in World Second. Players who want to run the raid today can Get carried through Mythic raids as legacy content.
FAQ
What was the Smolderon bug in the Amirdrassil race?
Smolderon's orbs detonated twice instead of once, and the second, unexpected explosion wiped the raid. The bug was intermittent and Blizzard later confirmed it. It cost Team Liquid roughly three hours before they stepped away to Mythic+.
What are Private Auras in World of Warcraft?
Private Auras are a mechanic system introduced in patch 10.2 that hides certain debuffs from add-ons. On Smolderon, they stopped WeakAuras from automatically assigning the Seeking Inferno orb soaks, so guilds had to feed a manual list with a macro instead.
Which bosses were down by Day 3?
The top guilds had cleared the first six Mythic bosses: Gnarlroot, Igira the Cruel, Volcoross, Council of Dreams, Larodar, and Nymue. They were stalled on Smolderon, the seventh of the raid's nine bosses.
Who led the Amirdrassil race early on?
Instant Dollars, a North American guild, led the early race with several first kills before Echo and Team Liquid, both European powerhouses, pulled ahead as the race moved deeper into Mythic.
Why did guilds swap to Mythic+ during the race?
The Smolderon bug made progression pulls unreliable, so the leading guilds ran Mythic+ dungeons to stay active and rested while they waited for Blizzard to address the issue. It avoided wasting attempts on a broken encounter.
Who won the Amirdrassil Race to World First?
Echo won, killing Fyrakk the Blazing for the World First on November 26, 2023. Team Liquid finished World Second the next day, capping one of the closest races in the game's history.
Last reviewed 2026-07-01 against Patch 10.2 Guardians of the Dream — Maintained by WowCarry's WoW team. This is a historical recap of Day 3 of the November 2023 Race to World First; Amirdrassil is now legacy content.