Back on top: Liquid win WoW Dragonflight Aberrus Race to World First after years-long drought

For the first time in nearly three years, Team Liquid have won the World of Warcraft Race to World First. The North American champions conquered Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible today before any other guild in the world, defeating the final boss Scalecommander Sarkareth in 114 pulls. 

Liquid had not won a Race to World First since 2020 when they took the title in the first raid of the Shadowlands expansion, Castle Nathria. In that race, the team was signed to the Complexity organization, meaning this race marks the guild’s first victory under the Liquid umbrella.

This win by Liquid snaps a streak of three consecutive victories by their closest rivals, Echo. The European favorites had won the final two races of Shadowlands, as well as the first race of Dragonflight to establish a temporary stranglehold over the WoW raiding scene. 

During the Aberrus race, Liquid did not begin progressing Mythic difficulty until over 48 hours after the raid’s release. After running an unruly amount of split raids to strengthen up before the Mythic portion of the race, Liquid breezed through the first portion of the raid, setting themselves up for a clean sweep through the back end of the Shadowed Crucible. The team claimed world-first kills on the final five bosses of the raid. 

Related: WoW Dragonflight Aberrus Race to World First live tracker

Liquid really started to gain steam during the second-to-last boss of the raid. They took down the Echo of Neltharion in fewer pulls than Echo and made their way onto Sarkareth with a clear advantage in momentum. But the biggest swing of the race came on its penultimate day, when Liquid made the gutsy decision to end their streams for the day and progress the boss offline in fear of giving any competitors an informational advantage. While offline, Liquid brought Sarkareth below 15 percent. The following day, they woke up three hours ahead of schedule (6am local time) and pushed through for a RWF victory.

Liquid will have the chance to defend their Race to World First title later this year when the third raid of Dragonflight releases in the autumn.