What is Hordes of Azeroth?
Hordes of Azeroth is an open-source, survivors-style action roguelike game mode built atop the foundation of World of Warcraft 1.12.1 (build 5875). Inspired by the addictive gameplay loops of titles like Vampire Survivors, it reimagines the world, classes, spells, and enemies of vanilla Warcraft into a fast-paced single-player challenge.
Unlike traditional multiplayer WoW private servers, Hordes of Azeroth is designed from the ground up to be played completely solo on a private server running locally on your PC. There is no server latency, no griefing, and no subscription fee.
Fan Project Disclaimer
Hordes of Azeroth is an unofficial fan project and is NOT affiliated with, authorized, or endorsed by Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. Nothing in this project contains proprietary Blizzard assets (models, textures, audio, or game maps). All data is processed locally from a game client you legally own.
How It Works: Technical Architecture
Hordes of Azeroth combines modern game engine technology with classic server emulation:
- Modern Client (Benilla): The game runs on a custom fork of benilla, written in Rust utilizing the Bevy engine and wgpu for modern Vulkan and DirectX 12 rendering. It reads models, textures, and sounds directly from your local 1.12.1 client data.
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Local High-Performance Server: The server is built on an optimized fork of VMaNGOS (hordes-of-azeroth-server). It runs locally in the background, communicating over
127.0.0.1with portable MariaDB. - Dynamic Monster Pathfinding: The launcher extracts navigation meshes (mmaps) directly from your game client during the first install, enabling hundreds of monsters to path smoothly across Azeroth's complex terrain toward the player without stuttering.
- Custom Lua UI & Telegraphing: All interface cards, damage meters, floor progress bars, and ground telegraph decals are implemented specifically for this project in Lua and custom shaders.
System Requirements
| Component | Minimum Specification | Recommended Specification |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit) | Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit), Linux / Steam Deck |
| Processor (CPU) | Dual-Core 2.5 GHz | Quad-Core 3.2 GHz or higher |
| Memory (RAM) | 4 GB RAM | 8 GB RAM or more |
| Graphics (GPU) | DirectX 11 / Vulkan capable GPU | DirectX 12 or Vulkan with modern drivers |
| Storage | 3 GB free space next to game | SSD storage recommended |
| Game Client | Legitimate World of Warcraft 1.12.1 (build 5875, enUS) | |
Open Source Philosophy
Hordes of Azeroth is committed to free software and transparent development. The project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0). You are welcome to inspect the source code, compile your own builds, submit pull requests, or fork the project.
For developers wishing to contribute or build from source, check out the developer guide on our repository: