Raiding in World of Warcraft has been a mainstay of the MMO’s end-game since the very beginning. It’s long been a way to continue playing the game at max-level without losing a sense of progression, and the addition of the public raid finder known as Looking For Raid (LFR) opened up this content to more casual players.

While raiding can be done by just about anybody nowadays at the regular difficulty level, raiding at Mythic difficulty is an entirely different story. When it comes to WoW best guilds that are dedicated to pushing boundaries and making a name for themselves, raiding isn’t a side quest to casually pick up some better loot – It’s a lifestyle.

Updated August 31, 2022 by Erik Petrovich: Determining the best guilds in World of Warcraft’s now two-year-old expansion becomes clearer the closer the game comes to the final hours of Shadowlands into the release of the next expansion: Dragonflight. In this time, a huge number of well-known guilds have disappeared or joined with other teams, like Liquid. Though their track record is impressive, it’s hard to say they are one of the best guilds in Shadowlands as the guild split up halfway through. Instead, these five best WoW guilds proved their mettle through the entire expansion, placing high on the rankings throughout all three Raids and staying together along the way.

5 Aversion (EU - DE - Blackhand)

  • Placement in Sepulcher of the First Ones: Tenth
  • Placement in Sanctum of Domination: Sixth
  • Placement in Castle Nathria: Ninth

Aversion is one of the best guilds in the EU, and likely the top raiding guild based in Germany. They have regularly placed top 10 in Mythic raids since the beginning of Battle for Azeroth and in Castle Nathria were only the ninth guild in the world to down Denathrius.

Later on, they impressively placed sixth for the world rankings of the Sanctum of Domination, and tenth in the Sepulcher of the First Ones. After a recent server change to Blackhand, the guild is stronger than ever and has its sights on improving its placement in the world and recognition as the top raiding guild in Germany.

4 BDGG (NA - Illidan)

  • Placement in Sepulcher of the First Ones: Fifth
  • Placement in Sanctum of Domination: Fourth
  • Placement in Castle Nathria: Seventh

BDGG, or Big Dumb Gaming Golden Guardians, is a guild formed from two former guilds Big Dumb Gaming and the Golden Guardians. Big Dumb Gaming and the Golden Guardians were both top North American guilds before the merger, and afterward became the number two guild in the NA region.

The guild has placed in the top ten for each Shadowlands raid thusfar, including seventh place in Nathria, fourth place in the Sanctum, and fifth in the Sepulcher. The guild is a community-oriented one, hosting multiple events in-game and on-stream and offering guides and content to its members, and has its sights on the number one spot in North America.

3 FatSharkYes (EU - Kazzak)

  • Placement in Sepulcher of the First Ones: Sixth
  • Placement in Sanctum of Domination: Eighth
  • Placement in Castle Nathria: Fourth

FatSharkYes is a guild with a silly name whose ambitions are anything but. Proudly proclaiming themselves “the undisputed world number four ranked guild,” FatSharkYes has multiple placements in the top 5 of Mythic raids dating back to Legion and has been around since 2013.

FatSharkYes placed fourth in Nathria, eighth in the Sanctum of Domination, and sixth in the Sepulcher. At this rate, the guild is looking to break into the top 3 in the next wave of raids - though it is worth noting that each of these placements is significantly higher when only taking the EU into account.

2 Method (EU - Twisting Nether)

  • Placement in Sepulcher of the First Ones: Second
  • Placement in Sanctum of Domination: Fifth
  • Placement in Castle Nathria: Fifth

Method is a guild that once had to find a way to survive in the wake of major controversy. After a member of its upper leadership was accused of multiple sexual crimes the guild split, with many members forming a new guild and the Method guild leaders instating new policies to prevent something like this from ever happening again.

In the past Method was one of the best guilds in wow, with multiple world firsts under its belt over its 15-year existence. In Shadowlands, Method placed number five in the world in Castle Nathria, number five in the Sanctum, and took the silver for Sepulcher of the First Ones as well, perhaps signaling a hopeful future for a guild wanting to rid itself of its negative associations.

1 Echo (EU - Tarren Mill)

  • Placement in Sepulcher of the First Ones: First
  • Placement in Sanctum of Domination: First
  • Placement in Castle Nathria: Second

After Method split into two groups, the members who decided to leave the infamous guild formed a new group: Echo. As the name implies, the leadership of Echo is made up of former Method elites who refused to continue under the former leadership, instead choosing to create an Echo of their former team.

Echo has seen success as its own entity in ways the members couldn’t have foreseen. The combination of decades of experience, incredibly knowledgable leaders, and a dedication to the game and guild community unlike any other secured Echo first place for both the Sanctum of Domination and the Sepulcher of the Old Ones, as well as a second place in Castle Nathria.

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is available on PC.