Echo take down Jailer, win second consecutive WoW Race to World First

After a grueling event that lasted nearly three full weeks, Echo have become the first World of Warcraft guild in the world to clear the final raid of the Shadowlands expansion, the Sepulcher of the First Ones. 

With their victory over the Jailer, Echo have won their second consecutive Race to World First event. Echo claimed victory over Team Liquid (then Complexity Limit) during last summer’s Sanctum of Domination race, and the team won two of the three races of the Shadowlands expansion after officially forming just four months before the release of the expansion. 

The Sepulcher made for one of the longest Race to World First events in the history of modern WoW. The Jailer stayed alive for 19 days, tied with the Tomb of Sargeras’ Kil’Jaeden for the most by any WoW boss since 2010. Eventually, Echo defeated the Jailer after 277 pulls. In total, it took Echo 1,121 pulls across all 11 of the raid’s bosses before winning the race, according to WoW stats site WarcraftLogs.  

Throughout the first two weeks of the race, it appeared as though Liquid were controlling the event with a vice grip, earning World First kills on seven of the raid’s first eight bosses. However, the final trio of the Sepulcher belonged to Echo. The European guild swept the Lords of Dread, Rygelon, and the Jailer en route to their victory. 

Earlier today, Liquid captain Maximum announced that his team would be halting their day-raiding schedule, mentioning the team’s mental fatigue during the back-end of the race. Liquid, who sit in second place in the race, will resume raiding on Monday, March 28. 

Echo will look to return to the next World First race when WoW’s next expansion launches. Blizzard Entertainment has set April 19 as the date for the game’s next expansion reveal.