With the patch coming to World of Warcraft before Legion, the organizers of the Brawler’s Guild will be temporarily closing their doors and going on a much-needed vacation. This means that you only have a few more weeks to experience strutting into the ring and standing alone against some of the greatest challenges ever faced by the champions of Azeroth. This is your time submit your fight card and show the crowd what you’re made of. Plan out your best strategies. You’re going to need them.

If you’ve never experienced the Brawler’s Guild, read on for a complete introduction to this festival of fisticuffs, and then give it a shot!

Hidden away in the bowels of the Deeprun Tram and the dusty backstreets of Orgrimmar is the Brawler’s Guild, housed within the aptly named Bizmo’s Brawlpub on the Alliance and Brawl’gar Arena on the Horde. Being a member of this secret society can yield great rewards, underground fame, and even a burly mount with a majestic bruteness the likes of which few have ever seen. Getting in won’t be easy, and working your way up the ranks will be even harder, but we’re here to help with this introductory information and some upcoming boss guides. The challenge is to get to rank 10—think you can handle it?

There Are Rules?

Some of you may have already figured out how to get into the Brawler’s Guild, but for those who haven’t, you’re looking to get your mitts on a Blood-Soaked Invitation. These can be found on the Black Market Auction House, from current members of the Brawler’s Guild who are rank 7 or higher, or by defeating any number of rare enemies spread throughout Pandaria. Once you have one clutched in your unscarred fist, just /use it to gain access to the arena. That’s it, you’re in!

Setting the Stage

Bizmo’s Brawlpub and Brawl’gar Arena have very different interior-design philosophies, but both are dank, dark, and bloodstained. They also have the basics in common: an arena where the fisticuffs happen, areas to view the fights, NPCs who sell various items and rematch cards, and lots of shadowy figures who will turn on you in a whim.

Bizmo’s Brawlpub

Getting into Bizmo’s Brawlpub is fairly easy if you know where to go. Once you’ve entered the Deeprun Tram from Stormwind, just drop down into the gap the first tram glides through and look for an opening in the wall. Head down the ramp and check out the joint! Keep in mind you won’t be able to enter the Boom Room until you’re reached rank 8, but it’s pretty swanky up there, so it’s definitely worth the effort. If you have managed to reach rank 8, head on up and enjoy access to some exclusive brew that’ll get you tipsy and some fine grub to gnash.

Brawl’gar Arena

You’ll find the Brawl’gar Arena in the Valley of Honor in Orgrimmar, tucked away in the back corner of the area next to the ramp that leads up into Azshara. Those who dare to enter the guild will find the place to be cheerfully decorated with spikes, crates salvaged from the war, loads of Horde emblems, and a smattering of ruffians ready to laugh at your efforts. Slowly encircling the arena overhead you’ll find a zeppelin reserved for VIPs, named the Skybag. Rank 8 members should be wary of the brawling enthusiasts who are watching with you from your place in the air—they can get a little rowdy when they lose a bet.

Hot tip: As explained above, brawlers who have reached rank 8 gain access to their faction’s VIP lounge and to the NPCs that sell exclusive food and beverages. What some may not know, however, is that the drink vendor is constantly opening new and rare bottles, giving VIPs easy access to otherwise hard-to-find libations. So if you’re still working on completing achievements such as “It’s Happy Hour Somewhere” or “Drown Your Sorrows,” becoming a VIP can help. Also, for those of you with a finicky palette, the Luxury Food Vendor in the VIP lounge sells several kinds of delectable goodies you can stuff down your gullet. Emphasis on luxury.

Head First

Regardless of where your Brawler’s Guild is located, the first thing you’ll want to do when you become a member is dive head-first into the arena. For you Alliance fighters, speak to one of the Bizmo’s Brawlpub Bouncers to get on the list; for Horde members, you’ll want to speak to a Brawl’gar Arena Grunt. This will mark you as Rank 1 with the guild, and from this point on, you’ll face a long list of challenging bosses, each more difficult than the next. In each faction’s arena, you’ll find an NPC that sells Challenge Cards you can use to revisit encounters you’ve already defeated. There are also a handful of rare bosses that become available by doing different things in game such as fishing, dancing with an NPC, defeating one of the bosses via a Challenge Card, farming, and even by opening a Blingtron gift. You can find a handy list of all the optional bosses and how to get access to each one in Wowhead.com’s guide.

Hot tip: Tucked away inside each faction’s guild is a statistician who can help you gauge your chances of success. Alliance members will want to seek out “Numbers” Pfeiffer, while Horde members can speak to Skizz Skuzzjock. These two number-crunching nerds will be happy to share with you the win-loss ratio of each boss in each tier.* Keep in mind that their numbers show how well a specific boss has done against Brawler’s Guild members, not how well members have done against the bosses.

*Feelings of excess anxiety due to Hexos’ numbers are not the responsibility of Bizmo’s Brawlpub or Brawl’gar Arena employees.

What About the Lewtz?!

Aside from a variety of achievements, including one for simply joining the Brawler’s Guild and another for throwing rotten food at another member, there are also a bunch of items you can purchase as you progress in rank. Alliance members will need to seek out Quackenbush, while Horde can speak to Paul North to find what’s available. Each sells healing potions, strong stat potions to give that extra boost of power, an account-wide pet named Clock’em, an Item Level 476 fist weapon, new Heirloom fist weapons, and finally, the highly coveted Brawler’s Burly Mushan Beast mount. To be eligible to purchase these items, you’ll need to join the guild and rank up, but it’ll certainly be worth the effort.

Someone Call an Ambulance!

In the coming weeks, we’ll be going over each of the bosses you’ll face as you progress through each rank. You’ll encounter four in each tier, and while some of them are a straight-up DPS battle, there are others who will require you to be on your toes. Chances are, you’ll become very familiar with dying in the ring and being lambasted by the crowd, but hopefully these guides will help give you the edge you need to join the upper echelon of Brawler’s Guild champions. Until next time, and as the orcs would say: may your blades never dull!