Top 10 Best Warcraft Cinematics!

“World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth” (2018)

It’s been decades -in game of course- of small, thinly-drawn pacts between the Horde and Alliance, as they stood together begrudgingly to protect the place they called home. With nearly every world-ending threat seemingly defeated and hatred spurring both sides, the two factions are back into an all-out war. Seeing the freshly picked new leaders of both sides lead massive armies across the battlefield is impressive, but it’s the battlecry that proves to be the most exhilarating. Whether you are for the Horde or the Alliance one thing’s for certain, this will be a war to remember.

“Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness” (1995)

Yeah yeah, we know, this ending isn’t canonical, but it was still pretty great. As the Horde continues its conquest across, it comes to the capital city Lordaeron, and in a brutal fashion, kills any and all of its denizens, no prisoners. According to the after-battle report, the Horde had successfully taken over Azeroth, laying waste to anyone who stood in their way and claiming it for themselves. It’s interesting, and a bit horrifying we’ll admit, to think about the Orcs slaughtering everyone in sight; but if they really did, then we wouldn’t be over five expansions into an MMO, now would we?

“World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor” (2014)

The time has finally come for Horde's greatest heroes and rivals to face off for the last time. And now, it's an all-out Mak’Gora. Knowing Garrosh couldn’t resist such a challenge, Thrall faced off against him and brought his hammer as his one weapon to the fight. It’s rough seeing these once friends at arms tear into each other, but knowing Garrosh and his crimes, it had to be done. Also, yeah we know, Thrall cheated by using the elements, but knowing Garrosh once nearly ended Azeroth, he couldn’t exactly be left to stand trial again

“Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos” (2003)

After years of war, all the humans and orcs know is fighting each other, until the burning legion came. The trailer for Warcraft 3 not only helped to set up what would be a great conclusion to the RTS franchise, but expand upon the world of Azeroth itself. While we wouldn’t see the other factions come to light until later, it was the words spoken by the narrator that helped to symbolically hit on how small of a world we were fighting in until now, and how much bigger the universe really is.

“World of Warcraft: Legion” (2016)

With yet another apocalyptic threat on the rise, the Horde and Alliance band together and assault the Broken Shore. Unfortunately, things look bleak, as both sides begin to suffer heavy casualties, leading the Horde to pull back. From the Alliance’s perspective, they look betrayed, leading them to issue their own retreat, but giving up a major player. Their escape prevented, Varian sacrifices himself to keep his Alliance brethren alive. Both sides have lost their leaders and gained new ones, both now with a heavy weight to carry on their shoulders.

“World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor” (2014)

Time is a funny thing, and in Warcraft’s case, it can be re-written. Where the Horde is now is because of the major event decades ago when Grommash drank the blood of the Demon Mannoroth, sealing him and his race’s fate forever. However, Garrosh has traveled back, and with his help, Grommash has not only rejected the demon, but killed him. The epic, but short-lived battle against Mannoroth is jaw-dropping, but the excitement is quickly changed to fear as now the new Iron Horde has found a new conquest in Azeroth.

“World of Warcraft: Legion” (2016)

This is cheating a bit, but we couldn’t ignore how fantastic Illidan’s cinematics were in Legion. Following a series of quests, the origins of Illidan are revealed to us, giving players a better idea of what the demon hunter is truly like, before we follow him into battle. From there, we see more cinematics of him - from his striking down of Gul’Dan with a poetic death, to the rejection of the Naaru’s gift of light, and the finale of Sargeras, it’s clear Illidan had chosen his path long ago. While we may never see him again, the world of Azeroth owes him a debt of gratitude.

“World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade” (2007)

Three years after the MMO giant debuted, we were treated to our first expansion, so of course it’d need an awesome cinematic with it too. The Burning Crusade intro showed off all the features the expansion would bring - from the alien Dranei, to the mana-hungry Blood Elves, along with the new areas and enemies -all while keeping in mind the balance between charming lightheartedness and dark, foreboding atmosphere leading up to the reveal of the demon hunter himself, Illidan Stormrage. Needless to say, fans’ reactions were… well, we’ll let Illidan explain.

“World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King” (2008)

It had been a long time since we last heard of Prince Arthas, who took the scourge for his own before disappearing into Northrend. Now he has reawakened, and with him this killer cinematic to show off what he has in store for the denizens of Azeroth. This was the first cinematic to toss aside the charming nature and focus solely on the darker aspects of the series, with massive armies of icy undead at the Lich’s command, we knew we had to stop him once and for all, and it wouldn’t be easy. Plus, the thought of our characters going up against the legendary Arthas got us all too hyped up.

Before we take a look at the number one cinematic, let’s take a quick look at some honorable mentions.

“Mists of Pandaria” Intro
“World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria” (2012)

“Legion” Intro
“World of Warcraft: Legion” (2016)

The Wrathgate
“World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King” (2008)

“Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos” (2003)

Who else but Arthas? By now, we all know the tragic story of Prince Arthas, and how his sense of justice became corrupted over time, before eventually becoming the Lich King. But before jumping ahead too far, it was this cinematic that truly cemented his inner dark side. Hailed as a hero by the citizens of Lordaeron after his campaign of war, he returns to his father -who he held so dear- kneeling before him one last time before striking the final blow. It was this act that shook not only Lordaeron, but Azeroth itself, as soon the Scourge would rise and spread.