It varies
At every stage of its development, World of Warcraft has had frustrating random elements. It is an MMO after all, but many rare spawns have either been bugged, take forever to appear, or are claimed in seconds by another party who “tagged” them before things got a bit more lax in that department. Here’s how respawn timers work in WoW Dragonflight.
Respawn timers for rares vary, and can take hours
So there’s no exact science for many rare spawns in World of Warcraft, which extends to Dragonflight.
Some rare spawns, in our experience, take less than an hour to appear. Some of them take multiple hours. At any given point, it’s possible that one might be bugged.
One of the best tools in your arsenal for gauging when rares have recently spawned, or if they’re bugged, is in-game chat. If you’re so inclined, try and reach out to the zone to see the status of a rare spawn you’re hunting, and someone might tell you that you “just missed it,” or inform you that “it’s not working, try again tomorrow.”
There are also individual rare respawn timer add-ons for many mobs, so check out your favorite mod site if you’re looking for specific spawns.
Your loot chance resets each day
The good news is that your opportunity to loot items from rares can reset each day, depending on the spawn/rare.
You can find a great resource for exactly when timers reset daily (and weekly) here.
