WoW guild Progress breaks all-time speedrun record for Naxxramas raid

An all-time WoW: Classic speedrunning record has been broken. Progress, a guild on the Firemaw server, cleared Naxxramas in a stunning time of just 45 minutes and 18 seconds earlier today.

The previous record of 47 minutes and 57 seconds was held by None of the Above, another guild on the Firemaw server. The major difference-maker in Progress’ run, though, was the guild’s usage of the Polarity Shift buff that players acquire during the Thaddius boss fight. The buff, which lasts for just one minute, provides the group with a 190-percent increase to all damage dealt. But the buff does persist through the end of the boss fight. 

Progress correctly timed Thaddius’ cast of Polarity Shift and immediately took him down, keeping enough time on the group’s damage buff to immediately sprint over to Sapphiron and kill two bosses for the price of one buff. 

In total, the group took down Sapphiron, the second-to-last boss, in just 24 seconds. This strategy cut nearly two minutes off of Progress’ total run time and was the major factor in the group’s world-record-breaking run. 

Additionally, Progress used the damage output of 22 Warriors in its 40-player raid group. During the final boss fight of the raid, 18 of the group’s top-20 damage dealers were all Warriors. 

And although Progress has certainly innovated the Naxxramas speedrunning game with this strategy, it’s only a matter of time until some of the other top guilds in WoW: Classic find a way to gain ground through the use of this approach as well.