Maw

The Maw, Wasteland of the Damned, is one of the realms of the Shadowlands. This horrific place houses the most vile and irredeemable souls in existence. Ruled by the enigmatic Jailer, the Maw inspires nightmares and legends even among the denizens of the Shadowlands. No one has ever escaped this vile place, and any foolish enough to venture here are never heard from again. At its center lies Torghast, a cursed otherworldly prison where the most wicked souls in the universe are locked away. In recent years, the machinery of Death has been broken, and all souls who enter the Shadowlands are now condemned to torment in the Maw, no matter their deeds in life. This has caused the Maw to begin growing larger and more powerful while the rest of the Shadowlands wither from a lack of anima. The Maw is antithetical to Oribos.

The Maw is a max-level zone designed for exploration and (somewhat) open-ended play, without settlements or inns to let players catch their breath.

Patch 9.1 added new areas to the Maw with Korthia and Helgarde Keep.

Background
In the deepest depths of the Shadowlands lies the inescapable Maw. The wretched souls imprisoned in this hopeless realm are the unforgiven and irredeemable. They are imprisoned forever and suffer without end, until they are twisted into a mere shade of their former glory. It is then that the tormented willingly serve their tormentor.

Normally, few souls are sent directly here, as even the most evil and prideful beings in existence are given a last chance to atone for their sins in Revendreth. If they fail or refuse to seek redemption, they are condemned to an eternity in the Maw. Still, few souls would trickle from Oribos into the Maw, for souls the Arbiter found completely irredeemable.

The landmass within the Maw consists of pieces of land that have been ripped from a realm that was destroyed upon entering the Maw's atmosphere and whose pieces have become burned and desiccated. The Jailer pieced these together into a single landmass by throwing out chains in every direction within the Maw from Torghast and pulling them inwards. The Maw was sealed and made inescapable with the magic of the Heart of the Forest, with the goal of banishing The Jailer forever.

As the Jailer's dwelling, the Maw is a tumultuous, hopeless maze of torment chambers and endless despair. The laws that bind the Shadowlands are meaningless within the Jailer's realm. Reality is ever-changing within the Maw, which is continually altering itself to the whims of its singular master who resides in Torghast, Tower of the Damned.

The eye of Odyn had been brought to the Maw by Mueh'zala long ago.

Recent history
Around the time of the Burning Legion's third invasion of Azeroth, the machine of death was broken, causing all souls who enter the Shadowlands to pour directly into the Maw as part of the river of souls. As a result, the Maw grows larger and more powerful while other parts of the Shadowlands have become deprived of anima and have started withering. During this time, Mueh'zala brought Helya to the Jailer's side.

Sylvanas Windrunner has been working with the Jailer since her attempted suicide at Icecrown Citadel and has been perpetrating acts to bring about great amounts of death in the world of the living. As she has fed the Maw with new souls, both she and the Jailer have grown more powerful.

Thanks to their intimate connection to Azeroth's world-soul, adventurers are able to escape the Maw and further explore the Shadowlands, though some of their allies were left behind.

After Tyrande Whisperwind jumped into the Maw by herself, Shandris Feathermoon received visions of Tyrande in the Maw, including specific locations within the Maw of where she'd be able to find her.

Getting there
Players enter the Maw by jumping into the Soul Pillar from the second layer of Oribos.

Gameplay mechanics
The Maw is not a typical zone, and it has some unique mechanics to encourage players to drop by, gain some currencies by doing activities, and then leave. To start, players cannot mount up in the Maw, and will travel on foot in general to most locations.

The three currencies
The overall objective of the Maw is to gain Stygia and the reputation to use it with Ve'nari, but balanced against drawing the Eye of the Jailer. Additionally, the covenants would really like some more freed souls to power their way of life once a week.

Nearly everything in the zone affects some or all of the "currencies". Looting generic mobs will award a granule or two of Stygia. Freeing lost souls for the weekly covenant quest will award much more Stygia, but also advance the Eye of the Jailer progress. Rares and events will award more stygia, advance the Eye progress, and award reputation with Ve'nari. Completing quest objectives will advance Eye threat at that moment, while turning in will award the reputation and Stygia.

To direct players' efforts, there are several high-level activities that players are encouraged to complete daily and weekly:

The Eye of the Jailer
To keep players from grinding Ve'nari reputation and Stygia all day, the daily Eye of the Jailer comes into play until the launch of patch 9.1. This mechanic gently encourages players to not idle in the zone and, after a while, less-than-gently encourages players to leave the zone as more advanced threats are unleashed. Eventually, the Jailer will have had enough and starts rapidly eroding the player's life force, killing the Maw Walker outright.

The Eye of the Jailer threat level resets daily, alongside daily quests.

None Soulseekers attack you on sight Towers bombard your location, dealing damage and slowing you Assassins are sent to kill you Winged Abductors hunt you from above The Jailer rapidly erodes your life force 

At tier three and above, the Jailer will send Assasins to harry the player as they enter combat. Defeat it to survive. Defeat 100 to earn the achievement Who Sent You?.

At tier four, with no warning at all, a Stygian Abductor will snag the player from the ground and fly up high, winding up a long cast that will likely throw them off the edge of the zone.

At tier five, players lose 10% incoming healing every 20 seconds. Once all incoming healing is gone, players lose 3% of their max health every tick. Thus, once players hit the maximum for the day, they have 200 seconds (3 minutes, 20 seconds) to exit the Maw or make it to Ve'nari's Refuge.

During this tier, players are ineligible to loot any additional Stygia or gain reputation with Ve'nari. However, should they desire to run Torghast, they have enough time between landing in the Maw and running down hill to the refuge to make it to her Torghast portal.

During the Chains of Domination campaign, players will permanently fend off the Eye (so it can become a boss in the Sanctum of Domination) during the quest Focusing the Eye. Once that quest is complete, the Eye mechanic is removed for that player, allowing them to stay in the Maw indefinitely.

Ve'nari and her refuge


On the southeastern part of the mainland is Ve'nari's Refuge, home to the broker Ve'nari. At the refuge, players are immune to the Eye of the Jailer, have easy access to Torghast, and slowly build out a portal network to other points in the zone. Ve'nari trades in Stygia, acquired from various sources in the Maw.

However, Ve'nari is not a trusting character, and the Maw Walker will need to gain standing with her over time to purchase more of her wares. Such standing comes from completing her daily and weekly quests, killing notable foes, and taking part in other events in the zone. Additionally, two subzones, Perdition Hold and the Beastwarrens, are gated behind her reputation standing, and will award the achievements Prepare for Trouble! and Make it Double! when unlocked.

Stygia


Completing objectives in the Maw (freeing souls, daily quests, bonus objectives, etc...) will award some Stygia. Ve'nari will trade the player's gathered Stygia for various upgrades, like a portal network, or quality-of-life improvements in Torghast, like the ability to always see at least two Anima power choices when interacting with Anima hoards.

Should players die in the Maw, they will drop roughly 20% their Stygia, but they can loot their corpse to recover it. Players respawn instantly at a graveyard with the Edict of the Eternal Ones buff and will need to run back to their corpse while alive. However, if players die again before looting their first corpse, the Stygia on that corpse will be lost permanently. Should players fall off the edge of the Maw, the lost Stygia is gone permanently.

Use stygia to unlock permanent rewards and earn the achievements To 'Ghast, Two Curios and 'Ghast Five.

Souls


Occasionally, players will find Soul Cages in the zone. Free the Caged Soul inside to gain progress on the weekly quest Return Lost Souls, which requires saving between five and twenty, but players will advance their progress on the Eye of the Jailer. Additionally, Wailing Souls serve the same purpose.

Free 200 (over the course of several months!) to earn the achievement Soulkeeper's Burden.

Rares and events
The minimap keeps track of both rare mobs (marked with a star), and Maw events (marked with a skull). Events respawn quickly (roughly every 5 minutes), while rares can take hours.

Killing rares or marked events will award a decent amount of Stygia, advance the Eye of the Jailer and award some standing with Ve'nari. The rares are also tracked in achievements It's About Sending a Message and Better to Be Lucky Than Dead.

 
 * Rares


 * Events

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 * Patch 9.1 rares

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Chaotic Riftstones and Animaflow Teleporter


Once unlocked with Encased Riftwalker Essence, purchased from Ve'nari with Stygia, players can use Chaotic Riftstones to more quickly get around the Maw. Each Riftstone will send the player to it's pair.


 * Zovaal's Cauldron &harr; Calcis
 * Crucible of the Damned &harr; Tremaculum

Additionally, players can unlock the Animaflow Teleporter with the Animaflow Stabilizer, which provides one-way trips to the Tremaculum and the Beastwarrens:
 * Tremaculum:
 * Beastwarrens:

Covenant assaults
After completing Good News, Everyone! during the Chains of Domination campaign in patch 9.1, covenant assaults unlock. Twice a week, one of the four covenants will take charge on an assault of one of the hubs in the Maw:
 * Kyrian Assault (Zovaal's Cauldron)
 * Necrolord Assault (Perdition Hold, Undying Darkhound's Harness)
 * Night Fae Assault (Crucible of the Damned, Legsplitter War Harness)
 * Venthyr Assault (Tremaculum, Harvester's Dredwing Saddle)

The assaults are a great source of reputation with the Death's Advance and the covenant factions taking part in the assault, and have a number of achievements associated with them, including:
 * On the Offensive (achievement)
 * Breaking Their Hold
 * Rooting Out the Evil
 * Taking the Tremaculum
 * Wings Against the Flames

Additionally, assaults will award an Emblem of Renown for players who are catching up.

Tormentors of Torghast
In patch 9.1, Kel'Thuzad sends out one of the Tormentors of Torghast to attack an area in the Maw. Take out the minions and lieutenants to fill the bar, then defeat the Tormentor of Torghast for 10% progress in Shaping Fate, a Tormentor's Cache, and likely an item drop or two.

Once a week, players can complete the Phantasmagoria quest, which starts from the Warped Phantasma found inside the Tormentor's Cache.

Defeat all of the bosses to earn the achievement Minions of the Cold Dark.

Quests
Players visit the Maw a few times during the level-up campaign, then at max level have access to a few storylines regarding Ve'nari and Torghast, Tower of the Damned.

During the Shadowlands intro experience, players crash-land in the Maw, fight their way through new enemies, catch up with the kidnapped leaders, and then activate the Eroded Waystone and leave the leaders behind.

Late in the Maldraxxus storyline, the Maw Walker is tasked to return to the Maw to retrieve a Baron of Maldraxxus.

Near the end of the Revendreth storyline, players are asked to return to the Maw again to retrieve Prince Renathal, which ends up sending players into Torghast for the first time.

At max level, midway through the first chapter of their covenant campaign, players are sent to the Maw to recover souls to power their covenant sanctum. While working on Ve'nari's tasks, adventurers see Baine get captured and sent to Torghast!

After completing the first chapter of the covenant campaign, Bolvar Fordrgaon asks players to return to Torghast to save Baine. In the process, they will recover a key that leads to the Runecarver, crafter of artifacts (and legendaries).

After freeing Baine, the rest of the Ve'nari storyline plays out -- which is gated behind her reputation.

Collectables
A great number of mounts, pets, and toys can be acquired from completing tasks in the Maw.

Achievements

 * Rares
 * Deadly Serious
 * Better to Be Lucky Than Dead
 * Conquering Korthia
 * Events
 * Handling His Henchmen
 * It's About Sending a Message
 * Areas
 * Prepare for Trouble!
 * Make it Double!
 * Explore The Maw
 * Upgrades
 * To 'Ghast, Two Curios
 * 'Ghast Five
 * Other
 * Deciphering Death's Intentions
 * Grand Theft Shadehound
 * Guarmageddon
 * Hunting Party (achievement)
 * Into the Maw (achievement)
 * Minions of the Cold Dark
 * Soulkeeper's Burden
 * Treasures of Korthia
 * Who Sent You?
 * Assaults
 * Breaking the Chains (meta)
 * On the Offensive (achievement) (meta)
 * United Front (achievement)
 * Breaking Their Hold
 * This Army
 * Up For Grabs
 * Rooting Out the Evil
 * Jailer's Personal Stash
 * Krrprripripkraak's Heroes
 * Taking the Tremaculum
 * Hoarder of Torghast
 * Tea for the Troubled
 * Wings Against the Flames
 * A Sly Fox
 * The Zovaal Shuffle

Notes and trivia

 * During development, the Deciphering Death's Intentions items had flavor text per item alluding to details otherwise not mentioned in the storytelling. Most flavor text was moved as descriptions of the corresponding quest, but the following were removed:
 * It was implied that there was a time "before the Maw was called the Maw."
 * A night elf Maw Walker had been tortured through physical abuse, gnomish tavern jigs (which led to guards abandoning their duties), and had their soul finally break after 115 repeats of the burning of Teldrassil.
 * There used to be some form of currency in what is now the Maw.
 * The attribution of Words of the Warden to Warden Korrath.
 * All the Korrath's Grimoires were readable; sadly, no player during development wrote down what the books said to the knowledge of the editors.
 * The Indecipherable Map (Maw) used to have the Waystone to Oribos and other locations of the Maw circled; on live the map is "covered in scribles" and "hint[s] at realms unknown".
 * The Discarded Torments mentioned the Mawsworn use time-based punishments.
 * It was previously stated that the Arbiter sends some souls directly to the Maw, but this is not affirmed in-game, where souls are instead always given a last chance at redemption in Revendreth. However, Steve Danuser later confirmed the Arbiter did send irredeemable souls to the Maw, a "trickle".
 * Bwonsamdi has been using his powers to prevent troll souls from falling into the Maw, to the point of grabbing Zekhan from it and shoving the soul back into his body.
 * Art director Ely Cannon has described the level design of the Maw as being a "very difficult" process, as the artists had to create a zone that was very desolate without being a typical desert landscape. The artists tried to take a few of the themes included elsewhere in the Shadowlands and include them in the Maw, but in a way that was only vaguely reminiscent as opposed to specific parts from other zones. According to Cannon, the pieces of land that make up the Maw are probably not taken from the primary Shadowlands zones players can visit, such as Bastion or Revendreth, but rather from the millions of other possible afterlives that exist; the artists wanted the Maw to showcase something different from the other playable zones while still having elements that would allow players to understand that "this was a place but it's obviously not what it was before".
 * Flying will never be added to the Maw.

Inspirations

 * The Maw could be seen as the Warcraft equivalent of, though the region draws inspiration from many different depictions of various torturous realms of death, such as the of Greek mythology and other s, real or fictional.
 * For Zovaal's cultural inspiration, see The Jailer.
 * The soul river Gorgoa is similar in concept to the rivers that flow through the Greek underworld, but named for the, and the subzone Cocyrus and the Stygia currency are respectively named after two of said rivers: and.
 * The flowing molten stygia gestures to the river of fire named.
 * Furthering this comparison, many of the inhabitants of the Shadowlands use the Maw in a style reminiscent of mortal and real-life expletives involving Hell. e. g. "The Maw take you!"
 * The fact Zovaal was banished here after doing something such that the Eternal Ones felt forced to do so is likewise comparable to the way is dealt with in multiple Abrahamic traditions. Specifically, the ice-like nature of Stygia and the cold themes of Desmotaeron are parallel to how the last circle of Hell in  is frozen over.
 * The term "Maw" itself used for this hell-like realm could be a reference to the medieval Anglo-Saxon depiction of what the entrance of Hell looks like, the, in the West derived from Roman depictions of.
 * The Ancient Elethium Coin holds several references.
 * The inscription reads "Vala Mortalis", the latter word being Latin for "death" or "mortality". "Vala Mortalis" is also a reference to the phrase Valar morghulis (meaning "All men must die") from the  novels; a phrase that has also been associated with special coins.
 * The name "elethium" is likely derived from the River.
 * Elements of both the Maw and Torghast resemble Oblivion, such as Coldharbour in comparison to the Coldheart Interstitia both in appearance and the name, from Elder Scrolls.
 * The capture of Korthia resembles the Dark Anchors of Coldharbour.
 * The way Odyn's eye was given to Mueh'zala and then given to Zovaal in the Maw gestures to how gave his eye to the.
 * The race of giants sent to the Maw long ago that were later punished by Zovaal due to his feeling threatened by them are likely a reference to the from Greek myth. One of the giants name is "Bahmeht", likely referring to  or.