WoW Midnight Aqir Invasions: Schedule, Unlock and Rewards

Aqir Invasions are public outdoor events in World of Warcraft: Midnight. They are live in patch 12.1.5, released October 13, 2026, during Season 2. This guide was checked October 24 against the official hotfix listing through October 23. These are the new events in Eversong Woods and Zul'Aman, with their own reputation and rewards.

The useful routine is simple: unlock the introduction, arrive before an hourly start, follow public objectives and join the final boss. Your first eligible weekly completion is the gear priority. Further invasions are useful for reputation and achievement criteria, rather than another guaranteed weekly cache every hour.

Unlock and find your first invasion

Start with a level 90 character and The Aqir Swarm in Silvermoon City. Look for Lor'themar Theron and the opening chapter of the 12.1.5 campaign. Complete the introductory sequence, which demonstrates the invasion in Eversong Woods. No separate Enclave reputation purchase is listed as an entry requirement.

An older pre-release guide says no introduction is required. The updated post-launch guide instead identifies The Aqir Swarm as the unlock, so use the quest route when the activity is missing. On an alt, check the campaign log and available skip before repeating it: an automatic account-wide introduction skip was not independently established.

Open the zone map and look for the scarab invasion marker. Its timer tells you whether the next run is pending or the event is underway. Eversong Woods and Zul'Aman alternate weekly; do not assume both host the Aqir event simultaneously. Check your own region's map after the weekly reset rather than following a permanent coordinate copied from another week. Sub-event locations move during a run.

Hourly schedule and boss window

Icy Veins corrected its event timers after launch and now lists a ten-minute boss window, ending by xx:20 if the boss survives. Older Wowhead and Method descriptions give five minutes. Plan around the updated ten-minute description, but treat the live event countdown as authoritative and never delay reaching the boss. A quick kill ends the run earlier; there is no guaranteed full twenty minutes of activity.

Hourly repetition is separate from weekly reward eligibility. No daily entry lockout is documented in the checked guides. This does not establish unlimited weekly satchels, tokens or every individual reward.

Follow the hourly public objective sequence before the final boss.

Objectives, hazards and the final boss

There are six possible scenario types: three combat and three non-combat. This is a pool of event types, not a requirement to finish exactly six stages in every run. Objectives appear one after another during the opening ten minutes. Read the active instructions, complete the relevant actions and relocate when the marker changes. Clearing unrelated enemies away from the objective can waste the short participation window.

Possible modifiers change how you approach the same objective. Void Protection can summon a Voidweaver shielding other aqir; deal with the protection source. Burrowers knock nearby players upward, moving Void Spheres can trap players, and Anguish Crystals damage adventurers as well as enemies. Other modifiers involve swarms, tougher enemies, infestation and webs. Avoid overlapping hazards rather than standing still to maximize damage.

At the ten-minute mark, switch to the final boss marker. Aqir Monstrosity is the general boss description used by the guides. An October 14 Blizzard hotfix corrected randomization among three boss types, so do not expect the same encounter every hour. No separate rare circuit or named rare-drop table was verified as necessary for completion. Prioritize the live objective and final boss instead of searching for an invented rare checklist.

This is open-world public participation, not an instance with a mandatory Group Finder queue. You can arrive alone and contribute alongside nearby players. A party makes coordination and a sparsely attended boss easier; it is not a verified entry requirement. No exact player-count scaling formula is established here.

Reputation: a short route to Exalted

Aqir Research Enclave is a subsidiary reputation associated with Silvermoon Court. It uses ordinary Neutral-to-Exalted standings with reduced thresholds, rather than a long Renown reward track.

The published base gains are 35 reputation for a completed sub-event, 100 for the final boss and 1 for flying through an airborne aqir above the invasion area. These are different actions; ordinary ground kills are not all worth 35 reputation. Your total depends on completed objectives and actual credit. No fixed reputation-per-hour promise is justified.

Further boss kills can award reputation after the weekly cache. Do not confuse the 5,000-point route to Exalted with a weekly currency cap. Event-specific Warband reputation behavior and repeat-credit rules on multiple characters were not sufficiently corroborated to promise a multiplied alt farm. Check the faction panel's account-wide label and actual gain before changing characters solely for reputation.

Gear, currency and collection rewards

The first eligible weekly final-boss kill awards an Aqir Research Satchel. Current guides describe Champion equipment, Coffer Key Shards, Champion Mistcrests, Hero Mistcrests, Voidlight Marl and gold. The equipment slot is not a selectable guaranteed upgrade. A current numerical equipment item level and the exact roll amounts were not corroborated, so no launch/PTR value is presented as final. The container's own item level is not the level of the equipment inside.

Inspect the resulting equipment tooltip for its actual item level, upgrade rank and binding before investing resources. The satchel being Bind on Pickup does not establish that every contained item is Warbound. Do not plan to funnel the gear to an alt without checking it.

Voidlight Marl pays for the cosmetic vendor inventory. It is an existing Midnight resource, not a newly established exclusive invasion currency. Estelia Archtender sells cosmetics in Silvermoon, near 39.4, 80.3. Matildeux Osril nearby exchanges Aqir Research Tokens for catch-up reputation vouchers for other Midnight factions. Choose the faction you actually need; these vouchers are separate from Enclave reputation.

The updated live guide places token acquisition on a weekly cadence. A two-per-account rule and seven-day expiration appear in a PTR item record, but were not verified independently in the live record. Do not treat them as live guarantees, save tokens indefinitely, or assume each alt earns another. Read the live token tooltip and vendor offer before accepting or spending it. No invasion-specific Marl weekly cap or automatic seasonal reset was established.

Weekly equipment, reputation and collection rewards have separate conditions.

Current cosmetic shopping priorities

The following prices use the live column of the October 20 Icy Veins comparison, not its more expensive 12.1.7 PTR column. The vendor offer in the live client remains the final check when buying.

These are vendor purchases with reputation conditions, not random boss mount drops. If your goal is the mount, Revered plus the currency is the current shopping target; Exalted remains relevant for the trophy and achievement. Do not spend your reserved mount currency on duplicates of decor first.

Achievements and future availability

Aqir Research Associate requires Exalted. Driving Back the Swarm requires ten completed invasions. No Hives Left Standing requires all six scenario types at least once. Completing these three activities awards Bane of the Swarm and its title. Track missing scenario criteria rather than assuming that ten boss kills also completes every scenario type.

The October 20 report finds invasions absent on the 12.1.7 PTR and higher future vendor prices. This is a preview warning, not evidence that the live event has already ended. No final calendar removal date is established here. Collectors should prioritize event-only achievement criteria while the activity is live, then check official release notes before relying on future vendor availability or pricing.

A useful weekly plan, including alts

Complete the introduction on an eligible character, check the zone marker and arrive shortly before the hour. Follow objectives for the first ten minutes, then move immediately to the boss. Open the first weekly satchel and compare the actual equipment with your current gear. Spend or exchange eligible weekly tokens deliberately.

For repeat runs, choose a goal: the next reputation standing, missing scenario criteria or ten invasion completions. Stop once the reward you wanted is secured. Flying through airborne aqir is supplemental reputation; it should not make you miss a more valuable objective or boss.

On alts, verify the introduction/skip, weekly reward indicator and item binding individually. A shared cosmetic collection does not prove a separate weekly equipment entitlement on every character. Neither the checked sources nor conflicting player reports justify promising an unlimited character-by-character cache route.

Prioritize the first eligible weekly reward, then a specific repeatable goal.

The common mistakes are arriving after the boss dies, using an old five-minute timer as the only reference, waiting for a fixed six-stage sequence, treating every repeat as another weekly cache, and copying PTR prices into a live shopping list. Use the current map timer, achievement tracker and reward tooltips to resolve those decisions during play.

Frequently asked questions

What are Aqir Invasions in WoW: Midnight?

They are live public outdoor events added in 12.1.5, alternating weekly between Eversong Woods and Zul'Aman. Players complete timed objectives and fight a final boss for reputation, eligible weekly rewards and collection progress.

How do I unlock Aqir Invasions?

Use a level 90 character and complete The Aqir Swarm through the opening 12.1.5 campaign sequence in Silvermoon. If an alt has no marker, check its quest log and available campaign skip rather than assuming access is automatic.

What rewards can I get?

The first eligible weekly boss kill gives the research satchel with Champion-track gear and resources. Reputation and Voidlight Marl unlock vendor pets, decor, a toy and a mount; invasion achievements also award a title. Repeat runs do not guarantee another weekly gear cache.

How often do Aqir Invasions happen?

They start at the top of each hour in the week's active zone. Objectives last ten minutes, followed by the boss. The updated live guide gives a ten-minute boss window; follow the in-game countdown and move at xx:10 rather than waiting.