- For lore about deserters, see Deserter. For information about the Dungeon debuff, see
[Dungeon Deserter]. For the historical scroll, see The Deserters.
- Deserter
- You left a battleground before it was complete and must wait before entering another one.
- Duration: 5-20 minutes
Deserter is a varying-duration debuff granted to players upon prematurely leaving or being removed from a battleground. The debuff prevents the player from queuing for or entering battlegrounds.
Leaving or being removed from a battleground at any time before its completion will earn the player the Deserter debuff. If the player acquires a fresh Deserter debuff within a 20-minute "rolling window" the debuff will be reapplied with an additional 5 minutes of duration, up to a maximum of 20 minutes.
The debuff exists to deter players from gaining 
[Honor] in a battleground by attending but not participating, since registering as AFK will cause the player to be removed from the battleground, as can being reported as such by other players. It also deters players from leaving a battleground due to an unfavorable match-up, and immediately queuing for another with the hope of a better match-up.
Patch changes[]
Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): Now has a consistent 15 minute duration when earned from leaving a battleground. Leaving an arena or rated battlegrounds will give a 1 minute debuff the first time, increasing to 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes if the debuff is repeatedly earned. - Hotfix (2014-06-24):
- Deserter debuff now lasts 5 minutes (down from 20 minutes). New applications of the Deserter debuff within a 20-minute rolling window extends its duration by 5 additional minutes each time, up to a maximum of 20 minutes.
- The Deserter debuff is applied under the following conditions:
- Arena or Rated Battlegrounds: Leaving the queue, ignoring the prompt to enter when the match is ready, or leaving the match before anyone has entered combat.
- Battlegrounds: Leaving before the match is over.
- Additional information on the change to the Deserter debuff can be found in the forum thread titled Upcoming Deserter Hotfixes for Rated PvP.
- Patch 1.9.0 (2006-01-03): Added.
