The elements of the world have turned against us. Denizens of the Elemental Plane will attack players on Azeroth and Outland alike. The assault is still easy to hold off, but the elementals are growing in strength, and nobody knows if even if major cities in Azeroth will be a refuge…

The Elemental Invasion is a world event that heralds the Cataclysm. Every few hours, elementals attack Stormwind, Orgrimmar, Ironforge, and Thunder Bluff. If players can defeat these elementals and free trapped citizens within their entire city, they will be granted access to two special boss encounters. During the event, a player can venture out into the world to destroy rifts, which grant an achievement only obtainable during the elemental invasion: Tripping the Rifts.

Prelude

Random earthquakes have been reported in the major cities and zones of Azeroth. In response, the faction leaders of the Alliance and Horde have gathered in Stormwind and Orgrimmar respectively to deal with this turn of events.

Invasion preparation

Before every invasion event starts, a herald will yell, warning players and citizens about incoming danger. At this time, players are instructed to grab barricades/sandbags from stockpiles around their major city and place them in zones directed by a red arrow. Low-level players unable to participate in this event are instructed to evacuate to the nearest portal activated by several guards. When all barricades are placed or 5 minutes have elapsed, the battle against the invasion begins.

Cataclysm Elemental Invasion (Part I)
Elementals of all four types – earth, fire, water, and wind – are spawning in almost every zone of Azeroth and Outland. Rifts will spawn at specific locations in selected zones every hour (at **:00) and will begin summoning elementals of levels similar to the zone standard zone’s level range into the world. Every zone has a very specific type of elementals associated with it; this means that no matter how many times you go to, say, The Barrens, you will only the elementals you saw the first time you were there.

Every elemental rift has a limited amount of health, and defeating an elemental spawned by the rift reduces the rift’s health by 1. Get the rift to 0 health, and you close it. Closing a rift grants nearby players with a daily quest (deliver the Mysterious Object you found at the rift’s location to one of the Earthen Ring agents in your faction’s big cities), as well as a one-hour buff dependent on the type of rift that was closed:

• Earth: Earth Powered
• Fire: Fire Powered
• Water: Water Powered
• Wind: Wind Powered

There is a Feat of Strength associated with those rifts – Tripping the Rifts, so make sure you get it while it’s available!

Cataclysm Elemental Invasion (Part II)
The denizens of the Elemental Plane have finally mustered enough strength and courage to attack your capital cities. The Horde will have to defend Orgrimmar and Thunder Bluff, while the Alliance will need to take care of Ironforge and Stormwind. Every 2-3 hours NPCs in those cities will yell out, informing all players that an invasion is about to begin. This warning will start a 5-minute window, during which players will have to haul sandbags or barricades to locations indicated by red markers. Low-level players will be instructed to take one of the portals in the cities and escape to safety. After all the barricades have been placed, or after 5 minutes have expired (whichever one happens first), the elementals will being their attack.

Before you even being battling the invaders, talk to one of the Earthen Ring Defenders located throughout the cities, and get your Earthen Ring Unbinding Totem – you will need it. The objectives of the event are straight-forward:

• Free all citizens. At the beginning of the invasion, the elementals will trap a number of citizens in every district of the cities. You need to find them and use your Totem to free them. Your UI will indicate how many citizens remain trapped in each district.
• Defeat all elementals. Every rift will spawn exactly 32 elementals. YouR UI will show you how many rifts remain standing in each district. Make a good use of your Totem if a fellow player gets imprisoned.
• Beat the clock. You have one hour to complete all this.

If you succeed at closing at least one of the rifts, all players who participated in the defense will gain a buff appropriate to the type of elementals you just repelled. Also, every city will be attacked only by two types of elementals, so if you want to earn your Tripping the Rifts by defending your cities, you will need to defend each one at least twice.

• Earth: Attacks Ironforge & Orgrimmar. Buffs with Earth Powered on successful defense.
• Fire: Attacks Ironforge & Orgrimmar. Buffs with Fire Powered on successful defense.
• Water: Attacks Stormwind & Thunder Bluff. Buffs with Water Powered on successful defense.
• Wind: Attacks Stormwind & Thunder Bluff. Buffs with Wind Powered on successful defense.

And finally, successfully defending a city will allow you to take the fight to the enemy! A rift will open from the city you just defended to the hideout of a minor elemental lord. You will be able to queue for them through the Dungeon Finder just like you queue for seasonal bosses. All of the elemental bosses drop items of level 251, equivalent to ICC10 loot.

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