A sanctuary is an area where PvP combat is disabled, and turning on your PvP flag will have no effect until you leave the sanctuary. Sanctuaries were introduced in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. Places like Nighthaven and Booty Bay are not sanctuaries; PvP combat is still possible there. Just because PvP combat is disabled, that does not mean that a sanctuary is a safe haven; for example, the monsters on the Stair of Destiny are not PvP NPCs and will attack players if aggroed.
Entering a santuary differs from the effect of manually turning off one's PvP flag, (or, on PvP servers, entering a friendly territory) in that PvP combat is immediately disabled; there is no five minute wait. Because of this, it is possible to evade PvP combat by entering a sanctuary.
Known sanctuaries
- The Stair of Destiny, Hellfire Peninsula
- Shattrath City, Terokkar Forest
- Acherus: The Ebon Hold, Eastern Plaguelands
- Dalaran, Crystalsong Forest
- The Underbelly, Crystalsong Forest
- Argent Tournament Grounds, Icecrown
- The Frozen Halls, Icecrown Citadel, Icecrown
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