Everything You Need To Know About WoW: Shadowlands’ Upcoming ‘Chains of Domination’ Update

February 24, 2021 Papa Dom

At BlizzCon last week, Blizzard and the World of Warcraft team announced Chains of Domination, the Shadowlands expansion’s first major patch update.

Before we get to all the goodies and updates coming with 9.1, here’s the beautiful announcement cinematic in all its glory.

Anduin has become bound to Sylvanas and the Jailer’s new weapon – Kingsmourne – a weapon forged by the same powers that created the Lich King’s Frostmourne. Ironically, the latter blade is the exact tool that made Sylvanas into the banshee queen that she is.

Is this irony? Is it a plot hole? Does it make sense for Sylvanas to even be working with the Jailer anymore? I’m sure we’ll get more explanation on all this soon enough, but in the meantime – on to the updates. In addition to the typical swaths of new mounts, pets, armor, transmog pieces, storylines, and world quests – here’s all the big stuff coming to the Shadowlands in Chains of Domination.

If you prefer the video format, here’s the full teardown from BlizzCon 2021.

FLYING IN THE SHADOWLANDS! Via your Covenant, players will finally be able to fly in the Shadowlands. Blizzard has said this reward will be administered through your Covenant, so keep grinding that Renown.
New Zone: Korthia, City of Secrets will be a new subzone in The Maw. This will probably serve as the game’s catch-up zone (much like Timeless Isle and Isle of Thunder before it), but we don’t know for sure just yet.
New Raid: The Sanctum of Domination is an all-new 10-boss raid, featuring Kel’Thuzad, the Terragrue (Torghast’s bouncer), the Eye of the Jailer itself, and finally – the instigator of the game’s last two expansions’ major conflicts – Sylvanas Windrunner. Raid looting is being overhauled as well to give players more rewards, so that’s great to hear.
New Mega-Dungeon: Tazavesh, the Veiled Market is a new eight-boss “mega-dungeon” that’ll take us to the home of the Brokers that we’ve seen floating around the Shadowlands. Blizzard says this is a “heist-themed” dungeon, and I cannot wait.
Mounts in The Maw: With all four of the expansion’s Covenants back at full strength, they’ll be helping to establish a foothold in The Maw, which will lead to a number of benefits. The most welcome of all, for me anyway, is the ability to finally use your mount.
Blinding the Eye of the Jailer: The Eye of the Jailer (The Maw’s ‘wanted level’) is going away in some fashion, so players can quest in the zone for as long as they want.
New Covenant Campaigns: Self explanatory here, new Covenant stuff most likely related to the new footholds in The Maw. 40 more Renown Levels are being added as well as new soulbinds, companions, conduits, and rewards.
Torghast Updates: Along with a new wing to traverse, Torghast is getting new loot that you can still collect even if you don’t complete your run. The death counter is also being removed (since we’re killing the Terragrue in the new raid).

Tons of new content to enjoy, loot to hunt, and raid pickup groups to disappoint. Where will I find the time?

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands’ 9.1 update, Chains of Domination does not have a launch date or window, but a smaller patch (9.0.5) is slated to arrive next month.