All World of Warcraft Seasons: Complete List & Dates

World of Warcraft has run a modern PvE / Mythic+ season cadence since Battle for Azeroth Season 1 opened on September 4, 2018, and Blizzard has shipped 15 completed seasons across four expansions since — with Midnight Season 1 live now as the 16th cycle on the timeline. Modern seasons average 171 days, but durations have swung from a tight 84-day Shadowlands Season 4 bridge to a holiday-spanning 321-day Battle for Azeroth Season 4 that absorbed the Shadowlands launch delay. This is the complete record of every World of Warcraft season since the BfA era began, with exact start dates, end dates, and the cadence pattern most other lists skip.

Total Modern Seasons

16 (15 completed + 1 live)

Shortest

Shadowlands S4 · 84 days

Longest

Battle for Azeroth S4 · 321 days

Average Length

~171 days (15 completed seasons)

Current

Midnight Season 1 · live countdown →

The open Midnight interval is included in the timeline. Current end-date estimates and confirmation status are maintained on the World of Warcraft season timer.

How World of Warcraft Seasons Work

Blizzard structures every modern WoW season around a raid tier + Mythic+ Keystone rotation + PvP arena reset, all opening within the same week. Each season ships a new headline raid, a fresh eight-dungeon Mythic+ pool, a Vault and gear upgrade track tied to the season’s item-level ceiling, and PvP titles awarded at the cycle’s close. Mythic+ Keystone scores, PvP rating, and seasonal achievement progress all hard-reset at the season boundary; gear stays in your bags, but the season’s exclusive title, mount, and Keystone Master / Hall of Fame recognition lock in forever the moment the cycle ends.

The cadence has shifted twice in noticeable ways. Battle for Azeroth Season 4 ran an outlier 321 days because Shadowlands’ November 2020 launch slipped twice, leaving BfA’s PvP and Mythic+ rotations frozen in place until December 2020. Shadowlands Season 4 then went the other direction — a deliberate 84-day bridge that recycled three earlier Shadowlands raids on Fated difficulty to fill the runway before Dragonflight. From Dragonflight onward, Blizzard settled into a tighter ~140–190 day rhythm, with Season 4 typically functioning as a “bonus” cycle when the next expansion is more than a quarter away.

Unlike most live-service shooters, WoW does not display an in-game countdown to season end. Blizzard’s pattern is to publish the closing date on news.blizzard.com roughly 2–4 weeks out, then trigger the rotation with the weekly maintenance reset.

All World of Warcraft Seasons — Complete Timeline

Below is every WoW modern season from Battle for Azeroth Season 1 forward, sorted newest to oldest. Dates are the official launch and end timestamps published by Blizzard on the U.S. region (EU resets land roughly 24 hours later).

Live Season — Midnight (2026 – present)

Midnight Season 1 opened on March 17, 2026, two weeks after the Midnight expansion’s March 2 launch. Season 1 features two new raids — Voidspire, the void fortress looming above the Voidstorm, and Dreamrift, a fractured dreamscape inside the Rift of Aln — plus the March on Quel’Danas raid, PvP Season 1, Mythic+ Keystones, and the returning Bountiful Delves event. The end date has not been announced; based on the TWW pattern (154–175 days), Season 1 is on track to close between late August and late September 2026, with Season 2 expected alongside Patch 12.1.

The War Within (2024–2026)

TWW subtotal: 3 seasons across 497 days, average 165.7 days. TWW Season 1 anchored the Nerub-ar Palace raid and the eight-dungeon Mythic+ pool that introduced the new Delves solo-progression system. Season 2 launched alongside Patch 11.1 with Liberation of Undermine, and Season 3 closed the expansion with Manaforge Omega before Midnight’s March 2026 expansion launch.

Dragonflight (2022–2024)

Dragonflight subtotal: 4 seasons across 578 days, average 144.5 days. Dragonflight Season 1 opened with the Vault of the Incarnates raid; Season 2 brought Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible; Season 3 ran Amirdrassil, the Dream’s Hope through the holiday window; and Season 4 was a bridge cycle that ran all three Dragonflight raids on Awakened (re-tuned) difficulty for a short 90-day runway before The War Within launched on August 26, 2024.

Shadowlands (2020–2022)

Shadowlands subtotal: 4 seasons across 670 days, average 167.5 days. Shadowlands Season 1 launched two weeks after the November 2020 expansion release and ran Castle Nathria. Season 2 added Sanctum of Domination and stretched to 231 days as Patch 9.2 slipped. Season 3 brought the expansion-closing Sepulcher of the First Ones raid, and Season 4 then introduced Fated raids — Nathria, Sanctum, and Sepulcher rotated weekly on Mythic difficulty — as the shortest WoW season on the modern record at just 84 days.

Battle for Azeroth (2018–2020)

Battle for Azeroth subtotal: 4 seasons across 822 days, average 205.5 days. BfA Season 1 opened with Uldir as the era’s first Azerite-armor raid. Season 2 introduced Battle of Dazar’alor, Season 3 ran the Crucible of Storms / Eternal Palace tier, and Season 4 spanned Ny’alotha, the Waking City plus the Corrupted Mementos system — and stretched to an unprecedented 321 days as Shadowlands’ launch slipped from October to November 2020, leaving Mythic+ and PvP rotations frozen until the new expansion shipped.

Records & Stats Across All WoW Seasons

Longest WoW seasons

1. Battle for Azeroth Season 4 — 321 days (Jan 21, 2020 → Dec 7, 2020)
2. Shadowlands Season 2 — 231 days (Jul 6, 2021 → Feb 22, 2022)
3. Shadowlands Season 1 — 202 days (Dec 8, 2020 → Jun 28, 2021)
4. Battle for Azeroth Season 3 — 195 days (Jul 9, 2019 → Jan 20, 2020)
5. Dragonflight Season 2 — 188 days (May 9, 2023 → Nov 13, 2023)

The top three all sit inside the 2020–2022 window, when launch slips on Shadowlands and Patch 9.2 stretched cycles well past Blizzard’s stated target. BfA S4 stands alone as the longest single season on the modern record — almost double the post-Shadowlands average.

Shortest WoW seasons

1. Shadowlands Season 4 — 84 days (Aug 2, 2022 → Oct 25, 2022)
2. Dragonflight Season 4 — 90 days (Apr 23, 2024 → Jul 22, 2024)
3. Battle for Azeroth Season 1 — 139 days (Sep 4, 2018 → Jan 21, 2019)
4. Dragonflight Season 1 — 140 days (Dec 13, 2022 → May 2, 2023)
5. The War Within Season 2 — 154 days (Mar 4, 2025 → Aug 5, 2025)

Both sub-100-day cycles are bridge seasons designed to fill the runway before the next expansion. Blizzard used Shadowlands S4 to recycle three Shadowlands raids on Fated difficulty for 84 days, and Dragonflight S4 to rerun all three Dragonflight raids on Awakened difficulty for 90 days. Neither pattern has carried into The War Within — Patch 11.3 closed TWW after Season 3 and rolled straight into Midnight’s pre-patch instead.

Average season length by expansion

Across the 15 completed modern seasons, the mean duration is 171.1 days — almost exactly the 24-week cycle Blizzard targets internally for a major raid tier. The trend is a slow tightening: BfA averaged 205.5 days, Shadowlands 167.5, Dragonflight 144.5. The War Within nudged the rhythm back up to 165.7 to align with Midnight’s March 2026 launch window, suggesting the cadence is settling near the 150–175 day band rather than continuing to compress.

Are WoW seasons getting shorter?

Partially. BfA averaged 205.5 days but carried the outlier 321-day S4 driven by Shadowlands’ launch slip. Strip that single outlier and the BfA average drops to 167 days — almost identical to Shadowlands (167.5) and TWW (165.7). The genuine compression sat inside Dragonflight (144.5), when Blizzard tried a tighter 4-season-per-expansion cadence. Since then, the rhythm has loosened back toward the historical norm. The 24-week target appears to be Blizzard’s stable plan, with bridge seasons inserted when a content gap to the next expansion exceeds a quarter.

What Happens When a WoW Season Ends

Four things reset at every WoW season transition, and they matter for raiders, Mythic+ pushers, and PvP players alike.

Mythic+ Keystone score reset. Your seasonal Mythic+ rating drops to zero the moment the new season’s reset hits. The previous season’s Keystone Master, Keystone Hero, and Title/Mount achievements lock in permanently — but you cannot earn them retroactively. Once a season closes, those specific seasonal achievements become unobtainable.

PvP Season titles and rewards. Gladiator, Elite, and Rival titles are awarded at the season cutoff based on the highest rating you reached during the cycle. Conquest currency caps reset, gear vendor tracks reset, and the next season’s PvP ladder restarts at placement matches.

Raid Hall of Fame closes. The Mythic Hall of Fame — recognizing the first 100 guilds (50 Horde + 50 Alliance) to clear the season’s headline raid — closes permanently when the next season opens. Cutting Edge achievements remain obtainable through the rest of the expansion but become unobtainable once the next expansion ships.

Gear stays, currencies don’t. Anything you’ve earned in your bags or transmog collection persists. Valor, Honor caps, Conquest caps, and any season-specific currency (Crests, Catalyst charges, Bullion-equivalent tokens) reset at the season boundary, so spend before the cutoff or lose them.

For the live transition timer, see the Midnight Season 1 countdown. For comparable seasonal-loot cadence stories, the Diablo 4 season list tracks Blizzard’s tighter ARPG rhythm, and the Destiny 2 season history shows Bungie’s expansion-plus-season approach. The Path of Exile 2 league list covers Grinding Gear Games’ comparable league cycle. More breakdowns live on the SeasonTimer blog.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many World of Warcraft seasons have there been?

World of Warcraft has run 15 completed modern seasons since Battle for Azeroth Season 1 opened on September 4, 2018 — four BfA seasons, four Shadowlands seasons, four Dragonflight seasons, and three The War Within seasons. Midnight Season 1 is currently live as the 16th modern season. PvP arena seasons existed before BfA (running back to 2007), but the PvE + Mythic+ “Season” structure that the modern cadence uses began with BfA S1.

How long do WoW seasons usually last?

Modern WoW seasons average 171 days across the 15 completed cycles, or roughly 24 weeks. The realistic band is 140–200 days once outliers are removed. Two outliers sit outside that range: Battle for Azeroth Season 4 stretched to 321 days waiting for Shadowlands to launch, and Shadowlands Season 4 ran a deliberately short 84-day Fated bridge.

What was the longest WoW season ever?

Battle for Azeroth Season 4 at 321 days (January 21, 2020 → December 7, 2020). Patch 8.3 carried Ny’alotha, the Waking City and the Corrupted Mementos system; the season then stretched the better part of a year because Shadowlands’ launch slipped from October to November 2020, leaving Mythic+ and PvP rotations frozen until Dec 8, 2020.

What was the shortest WoW season?

Shadowlands Season 4 at 84 days (August 2, 2022 → October 25, 2022). Blizzard deliberately compressed the cycle to bridge the runway to Dragonflight’s November 2022 launch, recycling Castle Nathria, Sanctum of Domination, and Sepulcher of the First Ones on weekly-rotating Fated difficulty.

Does Mythic+ score carry between WoW seasons?

No. Mythic+ rating and seasonal Keystone achievements reset at every season boundary. The previous season’s Keystone Master and Keystone Hero achievements lock in permanently the moment the cycle closes — they cannot be earned retroactively in a later season.

Data sourced from Blizzard Entertainment’s official season announcements at news.blizzard.com, cross-referenced with our season records. Last updated July 12, 2026.