Alterac Valley Guide for Retail WoW: How to Win the Epic BG

Alterac Valley in Retail

Alterac Valley is the oldest epic battleground in the game and still part of Retail's random Epic Battleground queue. Up to 40 players per side fight down a long valley, the Alliance from Dun Baldar and the Horde from Frostwolf territory, and each team starts with 700 reinforcements.

There are two ways to win. Kill the enemy General, Vanndar Stormpike for the Alliance or Drek'Thar for the Horde, or drain the enemy's reinforcements to zero. Everything else on the map exists to make that kill easier or to stop it.

How reinforcements are won and lost

Reinforcements are the score of Alterac Valley. Every objective on the map moves them:

The numbers explain the priorities. Burning all four enemy towers is worth 300, and the enemy captain another 100, so a team that takes its objectives cleanly has already removed more than half of the enemy's 700 before anyone reaches the General. Individual deaths barely register by comparison, which is why towers matter more than kills in Alterac Valley. The mines are the least important objective: a point every 45 seconds only matters in a long, stalled game.

Towers, bunkers and the General's guards

Each side has four defensive structures. The Alliance holds Dun Baldar North Bunker, Dun Baldar South Bunker, Icewing Bunker and Stonehearth Bunker; the Horde holds Iceblood Tower, Tower Point, East Frostwolf Tower and West Frostwolf Tower. Capturing one starts a four-minute burn before it is destroyed. The same four-minute timer applies to capturing graveyards, including Snowfall, the neutral graveyard in the middle of the valley.

Towers matter for a second reason. Each is linked to one of the four guards standing with the General, Marshals for the Alliance and Warmasters for the Horde, and destroying the tower kills its guard. Every living guard gives the General a stacking 25% bonus to health and damage, so a General with all four guards alive is a far harder fight than one standing alone. Burning towers before the final push pays off twice: fewer reinforcements and a weaker General.

The two captains, Captain Balinda Stonehearth for the Alliance and Captain Galvangar for the Horde, periodically give their own faction a 20% health buff while they live. Killing the enemy captain removes that buff, costs the other team 100 reinforcements and pays bonus Honor.

Rush or turtle

Two strategies have defined Alterac Valley for years. The rush is the standard Retail plan: leave only enough players to take and hold the first towers and kill the captain, and push everyone else toward the enemy General as fast as possible. It ends games quickly, and quick wins are the best Honor per hour the map offers. The turtle is the fallback when a rush fails: defend your own chokepoint, the bridge into Dun Baldar for the Alliance or the gap between the Frostwolf towers for the Horde, and win the long game on reinforcements.

Achievements and the weekly quest

Alterac Valley also feeds the epic battleground weekly, Enshrouded in War, which asks you to earn Honor in Epic Battlegrounds and pays Honor and 175 Conquest. A few quick Alterac Valley wins are an easy way to finish it.

Which Alterac Valley are you looking for?

Several games and events share the name, and most of what you will find online is not about Retail. Korrak's Revenge is a recreation of the original Alterac Valley that has returned during recent World of Warcraft anniversary events, most recently from November 16 to December 7, 2025; whether it returns for the anniversary in November 2026 depends on Blizzard's event announcement. Classic Alterac Valley runs on Classic's own rules. WoW Forever is a separate game again, and our WoW Forever PvP guide covers its battlegrounds and Honor ranks.

If the objective fighting is what keeps you in Alterac Valley and you want your battleground wins to count on a ladder, Battleground Blitz is the rated 8v8 battleground bracket, and its live activity shows how busy it is in your region:

Its rules and maps are in our Battleground Blitz guide.