World of Warcraft Reveals 2026 12-Month Subscription Rewards With New Astral Aurochs and Sha-Scarred Drake Mounts

Blizzard Entertainment has announced a new rotation for World of Warcraft’s 12-month subscription offer, revealing the lineup of exclusive rewards for 2025–2026. Players who commit to a year-long recurring subscription will receive three new mounts: the Astral Aurochs and Grandiose Grrloc for modern World of Warcraft, and the Sha-scarred Drake for Mists of Pandaria Classic.

The announcement follows the annual tradition of Blizzard’s long-term subscription incentive, first introduced in November 2022. The system rewards players who opt into a 12-month plan with exclusive collectables spanning both modern and Classic versions of the MMORPG. These items often include thematic mounts and pets tied to upcoming expansions or in-game events.

Subscribers on an existing annual plan will automatically receive the new mounts once they become available. According to Blizzard’s distribution policy, players may need to claim their items manually through the Battle.net app’s Gifts section if they do not appear automatically in-game.

The latest offer aligns with the upcoming content roadmap for World of Warcraft: The War Within and World of Warcraft: Midnight, both set to define the game’s next chapter through 2026. The Astral Aurochs serves as the new Skyriding mount, while the Grandiose Grrloc adds another variant to the Grrloc family of collectible creatures. For Classic players, the Sha-scarred Drake continues the trend of pairing unique dragon-themed mounts with the current Mists of Pandaria Classic release.

From Blizzard’s official preview, the 12-month subscription for the upcoming year includes the following items across both versions:

World of Warcraft: The War Within/ Midnight

• Astral Aurochs (Skyriding mount)
• Grandiose Grrloc
• Herald of Sa’bak (current 6-month subscription reward)
• Upcoming Lunar New Year Mount (arriving January 2026)
• Upcoming Summer Mount (arriving July 2026)

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Classic

• Sha-scarred Drake
• Sa’bak’s Favored Pet (current 6-month subscription reward)
• Upcoming Lunar New Year Pet (arriving January 2026)
• Upcoming Summer Pet (arriving July 2026)

Players who hold a 12-month subscription are automatically eligible to receive all 6-month rewards as they release throughout the year. Currently, this includes the Herald of Sa’bak for retail WoW and the Sa’bak’s Favored companion for Classic. In January and July 2026, two more sets of rewards will be added as part of the Lunar New Year and summer promotional cycles.

Blizzard’s preview also provided a silhouette of the next Lunar New Year rewards, which appear to match the 2026 Chinese Zodiac — the Year of the Fire Horse. The studio has traditionally tied each year’s themed reward to the relevant zodiac element and creature, continuing a consistent pattern of releases dating back to 2022’s celestial-themed sets.

While full details on the July 2026 reward remain undisclosed, the Lunar New Year lineup is expected to feature a fiery, equine-inspired mount and a matching Classic pet, following the design trends established by 2024’s Auspicious Arborwyrm and 2025’s Timbered Sky Snake.

The 12-month subscription remains the highest-value plan available for World of Warcraft players. It provides a discount of $2 per month — a total annual saving of $24 — while simultaneously unlocking the full cycle of mounts and pets otherwise reserved for shorter-term subscription tiers.

Compared to the previous 2024–2025 annual offer, which introduced the Startouched Furline and Lava Drake, the new 2025–2026 rotation reflects Blizzard’s ongoing shift toward thematically tied collectible sets across its game versions.

In October 2024, 12-month subscription rewards:

World of Warcraft: The War Within

• Startouched Furline (Skyriding Mount)
• Gigantic Grrloc (ground mount)
• Charming Courier (current 6-month reward)
• Upcoming Lunar New Year Mount (January 2025)

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Classic

• Lava Drake (flying mount)
• Swoopy (current 6-month pet)
• Upcoming Lunar New Year Pet (January 2025)

The 2024–2025 rotation coincided with Cataclysm Classic’s “Rage of the Firelands” update and emphasized elemental and nocturnal themes, such as the molten Lava Drake and night-touched Furline. The following year’s subscription cycle transitions the focus to the cosmic and spiritual aesthetics of The War Within and Midnight, as well as the return of Pandaria-themed visuals for Classic.

Each year’s 12-month subscription refresh typically coincides with Blizzard’s autumn update schedule. The rotation introduces two new mounts and one new Classic mount or pet, alongside six-month bonus rewards. These bonuses refresh twice annually — once in January and again in July — and often align with either in-game seasonal events or real-world holidays.

Since its introduction in 2022, the long-term subscription offer has become a fixture of Blizzard’s monetization model for World of Warcraft. The promotion incentivizes retention while rewarding players who continue their subscriptions year-round. The offer’s rotation also provides a predictable timeline for collectors seeking exclusive mounts or pets unavailable through standard gameplay or store purchases.

Blizzard’s approach to rewarding loyalty through aesthetic collectibles has remained consistent across all subscription models. Annual subscribers benefit from both financial savings and automatic access to exclusive content, creating a layered incentive that ties into the ongoing expansion roadmap.

As World of Warcraft: Midnight prepares for its 2026 release window, the Astral Aurochs and Sha-scarred Drake represent early thematic previews of what Blizzard plans to explore in its next phase. The mounts’ visual designs appear closely linked to Midnight’s cosmic motifs and Pandaria Classic’s Sha-corruption themes, reinforcing the company’s strategy of aligning subscription rewards with major narrative settings.

Players interested in joining or upgrading to a 12-month subscription can do so through the official Battle.net account management page. Those who already maintain a recurring annual plan will see the new rewards distributed automatically, ensuring uninterrupted access to upcoming items through July 2026.

The 12-month subscription renewal underscores Blizzard’s ongoing effort to integrate cross-version engagement across The War Within, Midnight, and Mists of Pandaria Classic. By connecting long-term play incentives with the game’s expansion cycle, the studio continues to reinforce the bridge between modern and legacy experiences in the evolving World of Warcraft ecosystem.