Quick Facts

Series

1.	The Defilers' Ritual
2.	The Root of the Corruption

Screenshots

Videos

Comments

Comment by 168650

You have to kill an elite who summons 12-16 snake adds. Bring a friend, or be prepared to handle a large number of mobs at once.

Comment by 31022

The Elite NPC is Dark Ritualist Zakahn, and it's a very tough fight. It feels like this quest should have some way to de-Elite him for the fight.

Comment by malsis

Managed it as a 84 Spriest. The snakes are fearable.

I did die just after I killed him when the snakes came back, though.

Comment by 458559

Easypeasy as ret paladin @ lvl 83

Comment by Ridisi

They guy is in an underwater cave, and not in the village

Comment by Vakz

Very simple as an elemental shaman. Just get out your elemental of choice (I used Earth Elemental), and let it deal with the snakes while you kill the elite. It's helps to interrupt his casts as well, but hardly necessary.

Comment by 722445

Easy done with Prot pally 83...Snakes died from retro oura

Comment by Idyar

Cave entrance is UNDERWATER around 52,40

Comment by 72978

If somebody else is killing Zakahn, feel free to help -- you just have to be nearby for the completion to count.

Comment by 2952

Entrance to the underwater cave is located @ 52.1, 40.1

Comment by 723635

I don't know if it was just me but I stood behind Zakahn and he didn't attack me except for one shadow bolt volley

Comment by 411388

Didnt seem hard to me , my health didnt drop below 90% as prot pala 83 with 80lvl gear.
Snakes have about 10k hp easily killed.

Comment by 723842

Did solo this at lvl 84 .. mage ofc. Kill the two guardians. Make sure u have full mana and start nuking boss. When the snakes comes release your mirror images and move a bit. Nuke the boss - he dies fast. Freeze the snakes - using Ring of frost + Frost nova then Blizzard.. voila.

Comment by laughingnome

My level 84 mage also solo'd this quest and it was very easy. No health was lost, because the mirror images took the aggro from boss and the snakes. Flame Orb and Arcane power was also used, and helped a lot. To clean up the snakes (after boss dies), Blizzard does the trick.

Comment by 515391

As a 84 shaman i soled him i had to pop all cd and bl nuked him then used earthquake on snakes lived with 5k hp.
Fight is easy snake dps is not tho, you are not prepaired.

Comment by 197042

For those without coords, entrance to the cave is right off the southeast edge of Mar'at, a little ways out from the boat.

Comment by Snowy42

Was pretty easy, soloed as a sub rogue with 60k hp... was left with about 10-20k. Had to blow combat readiness and evasion, but otherwise wasn't too hard

Comment by 667443

Super easy!
Soloed him with a lvl 83 combat rogue 61k hp.
Killed him with 45k hp left.

Comment by kitten23kate

Solo'd this easily as a level 83 enhance shaman. Used strength of earth, fire ele, healing, and windfury totems; popped wolves and heroism at the start of the fight. He went down very quickly.

Should be an easy fight as long as you have something to AoE down the snake adds.

Comment by Teapo

Solo'd it as a 84 arc. mage using my cool downs i was able to kill him without much trouble

Comment by 536034

Tactics for a lvl83-85 combat rogue : Open up by killing the guards then transferring the CP's to the boss so its easier , *but you have to sap the boss first*
Then when the guards are both down you vanish/stealth.
Then you start with a cheap shot (5CP's if you transferred from start)
Spam sinister strike and eviscerate, Adrenaline rush on.
And you can handle the snakes with Blade Flurry + Killing Spree.
You can use Recuperate/Evasion/Cloak of Shadows if needed.

Thats the way i downed the boss pretty easily

*Edit WHY DOWNRATE MY ABSOLUTELY PERFECT COMMENT ?

Comment by Ashkir

For those with no cords, look on the lake, for a dog mask. Then go underwater. :)

Comment by Debillus

If you end up dying in the cave after the quest completes, just go to the village above to get your resurrection box. No need to dive back into the cave.

Comment by Aomknight

My strategy as a arcane mage was this:
kill the two ritual guardians seperately,
get back to full mana,
open with all damage cooldowns on the boss,
when the first wave of snakes come, use frost nova, walk away, and keep dpsing the boss,
when that wave of snakes break free, cast ring of frost on the ground around you, keep dpsing the boss, when you kill the boss, instant invisibilty to safety

Comment by ullrapollo

Solo'd as a 83 Hunter, just dropped an ice trap and was able to kite the adds over it to keep them off me.

Comment by elghinnarisa

it was actelly rather easy as a arcane mage.
the two guardians was already dead by someone who just left from there so i didnt have to deal with them.
i poped all cooldowns and dps'ed the boss till' he was dead. my mirror image "tanked" the adds while i was on the boss. then ust use ring of frost, a new mana shield and aoe them down, didnt go under 80% hp or 90% mana

Comment by 369648

Ezy solo as shadow priest. Just fear the snakes... kill elite... jump in to the water. As soon as you get out the cave they stop fallowing you

Comment by 731983

Lvl 84 Frost Mage, and I was able to solo. Here's how. I and my pet bombed him till he summoned his adds, I popped Mirror Image at this time and when adds got close I used Frost Nova. Continued to bomb him and when the Guardian attacked me I used Flame Orb and ran till I could use a freeze on him and by this time I could pop a new pet because was pretty well beaten up. Went back in the water to make it harder for him to keep up with me while the pet popped him and finally finished the quest. With good prep and use of skills it is a solo quest.

Comment by fatgraymatt

Easy as a Fury Warrior, just ignore the boss and take the adds out, I never got below 50% health.

Comment by omslemming

found this to be easy as anything as an 83 frost dk(dw) all I did was army of the dead and risen ghoul to handle the adds then just smacked away....had him down in about 15 seconds then just howling blasted the remaining adds and swam out.....easy quest

Comment by fordahord

Dag! Who keeps downrating the posts that indicate what class and what level can solo this? I find such information to be helpful.

Comment by fordahord

Okay, I killed the two guardians first. Then I went and stood behind the elite. I don't think he hit me at all.

I feared the snakes, but they took a chunk out of my butt when they came back. However, the snakes do not follow (very far...) into the water.

Comment by 735707

solo'd pretty easy as a 84 demon lock stayed behind the elite did normal dps'ing with felguard and reign of fire on snake adds took about 25-30 secs

Comment by Xarria

Really easy on my 84 Frost DK. Just pop army, and use Icebound Fortitude.

Comment by Felicitas66

Solo'd as an 84 SV hunter in crappy questing blues and greens.

Step 1: Kill the guards.
Step 2: Send pet in and MD to him.
Step 3: Put Serpent Sting on the boss
Step 4: Use Multi-Shot to make sure that SS gets on the snake adds via Serpent Spread
Step 5: Burn down the boss (he's actually fairly weak) while the snakes die from Serpent Sting

Comment by 633884

Soloed him as a lvl 84 frost mage, stuffed with quest stuff only.

First make sure your pet cooldown is up, pull with the pet. After 2-3 sec pop your trinkets, mirror images and icy veins and start dps.

The first wave of mobs will go on your pet.
The second wave you just have to froze them, he should be down quickly after that.

Comment by 19228

This fight is it's own mini-dps race with the longer you take to get him down, the more waves of snakes will spawn. If you take too long to deal with the snakes, you'll just get more of them, but you can't ignore them entirely. Being able to CC the adds makes a big difference.

Comment by JJR234

If you're a death knight, it helps to use Army of the Dead

Comment by 742563

disgustingly easy fight for an enhance shaman. pop wolves, bloodlust, and blood fury and went to town on him. never dropped under 95%. dead in under 15 secs

Comment by 480033

Did it as a 83 hunter. Just keep your tank pet on the adds (I used Scorpid), and i used traps to help the pet kill the adds. Then just down Neferset. Fairly simple.

Comment by Nekrotik

No problem for my 83 marksman hunter. I didn't even have to use traps. I just threw my pet a couple heals and feigned death when the adds came after me (Readiness ftw). Other than that, I just stood there and blasted away at the boss. I should mention I killed the two guards before pulling the boss. The snakes got my health down to 11%, but I would have been fine if another hunter hadn't come in and immediately restarted the fight before I could recover. His snakes headed straight for me and I died lol. Be warned, the snakes don't despawn when the boss dies.

Comment by Sangui

Super easy as an 84 prot pally. 92k health, seal of insight. Killed the two adds, then started attacking the boss, and whenever he summoned the adds i just used HotR to kill them. Didn't even have to word of glory.

Comment by Cobalt027

As a 63 Combat rogue, my tactic was this:
Sap the boss, and down the two guardians.
Take the boss down, use Evasion/Combat readiness and focus ONLY on the elite and hit her with your Kidney Shot as needed.
Vanish from the snakes and you're done.

Comment by 744739

Solo'd as an 84 ele shammy... easy stuffs... Thunderstorm and Fire Nova the snakes when they spawn... don't even have to untarget the guy for this one... no need to target the snakes and singly kill them.

Comment by Inumaru

The easiest way to find him is go to the West side of the lake, just before the South-most ship, and dive underwater. You'll see a sandy looking bit, which is the opening of the cave. He'll be in there with two Ritual Guardians.

I was able to DPS him down, second try, with my 83 Arcane Mage. Simply Frost Nova'd his snakes to the ground, and used Blizzard on them. Then popped Mirror Image and went all out on Zakahn. If your DPS is high enough he should have fairly low health before Mirror Image ends, so his second wave of snakes should be distracted with your copies (either way Frost Nova them again if you are able to).

Comment by 745648

Just did it on my Balance Druid lvl 83, nuked him as my Force of Nature (trees) agroed the snakes so i killed him an looted an left. Easy, Good Luck...

Comment by 365842

83 spriest..nuke boss fear snakes when boss summ rest of snakes pop shadowfiend/on boss/ he will overagro snakes and keeping them till die..than fear snakes again,finish boss and start spaming holynova till snakes down..keep yourself in bubble all the time:) pisseazy

Comment by Deuff

Solo'd it as a affliction lock, wit the faithful Voidwalker doing the work. feared the snakes once and by the time the fear wore off i had the elite mob dead. then AoE'd the snakes down. no prob.

Comment by Leo154

Solo'd as a lvl83 DK, use Army of the dead!

Comment by 749074

As a prot pally this kill was very easy, even at level 83. Kill the two side guards first as mention before, then kill the Elite - the snakes are just a nuisance and die easily enough. Good luck!

Comment by akakiosdk

soloed this as a lvl 83 combat rogue found it to be not that much trouble just blade flurry/ killing spree when the snakes came and then AR to kill him fast.

Comment by chaple303

I didn't find it that challenging. My lv.84 survival hunter troll took it down quickly.

Comment by Straticus

Very easy. As an 83 Warlock I was a little paranoid after reading the other posts on here, though as am I rapidly discovering, the wrath babies time is over. This quest is extremely easy and took me all of 20 seconds to kill the 84 Elite, while barely taking any damage at all. The snakes that were mentioned died in 1 AOE attack and were no longer an issue. Anyone who has problems with this quest is in for a lot of pain and heart ache come raid time.

Comment by 672889

Soloable on an 83 hunter, just make sure you have a good tankin pet and maybe a health pot in case the snakes come for you. i just popped aspect of the fox and frost trap and kited 'em around with steady shot and multi shot

Comment by NAPALM

Super easy as a BM hunter with rapid fire and beastial wrath together and just continue to arcane shot him which brings him down to about 40% health fast and by the time he calls his little snake friends out he is ready for the kill shot too easy

Comment by wschlichtman

Soloed as 83 Rogue. Started behind him with Cheapshot, Mut, Rupture (5 points) then interrputed his casting when needed. Kept him dazed as often as possible and unable to call snakes. He finally called snakes with about 5% health left. Finished him off and vanished. Snakes hit me only for about 5-10%.

Comment by 752823

Fight was incredibly easy. Level 84 Shadow Priest.

1) Stand behind him.
2) Start to cast spells.. at first I thought I did something wrong because it didn't appear he was fighting back. It was true -- he wasn't fighting back, but he was losing health from my spells, so the battle was on. For the record, he never touched me, not even once. Definitely stand behind him.
3) He yells for his "children" to defend him -- these are the snakes. Cast "Mind Sear" on the main and all the snakes die in no time.
4) Keep fighting the main.
5) The snakes come back.. rinse and repeat: Mind Sear.

At the end, I killed him before the snakes died, so I casted a few vollies of Holy Nova to get rid of the rest because I was too lazy to re-target something new ;)

I left the battle with nearly full health, most of my mana, and minimal snake bites.

Nothing to it.

Comment by 726630

The minute I saw he was an elite, I was expecting something like the Pit of Scales quest where you need to rescue Tahet. But this is a surprisingly.... easy quest. Unless your up to it, there is two adds which you can pull seperately. They stand quite close together, so I reccomend using ranged attacks to pull them. Obv, not everyone has ranged attacks so you'll have to make use of what spells you have. He can soloed by pretty much any class, the reason he is so easy is because he carries on with the summoning ritual as your attacking him and throws a shadow bolt now and again - leaving you plenty of opportunities. He summons snakes but you can take them down in two basic hits. Simple as.

Comment by Trinket90

CONFIRMED that if you stand behind him to fight him, he will not turn around and you will not take damage from him. I did this with a badly geared 83 ret paladin and didn't take a single bit of damage from him. His snakes hit harder than I expected but they were easy with a couple AOE blows. MUCH simpler to fight him from BEHIND.

Comment by 65879

Solo'd as an 84 Elemental Sham. Use Earth Elemental Totem + Bloodlust / Heroism = Ownage! Easy.

Comment by november

I was not able to pull the adds alone at first; you have to stand to the side of them at the very edge of their range, otherwise the Elite will enter the fight.
In addition, I felt that the adds have a fairly short respawn time; the first one I downed rejoined the fight when the Dark Ritualist was at about 15% health in my first try.
Otherwise, the tactic to stand behind him and AE down the snakes worked perfectly for my Assassination Rogue. Just remember to interrupt the Ritualist's casts of shadowbolts, if you can.

Comment by 58869

I'm a 84 priest. The quest is a really easy one. Just kill those to who stands right before him. Then refill mana. What I did was just using my companion, Shadowfiend, and the just do as normal to attack him. When the snakes attack you, just aoe. They dont really take that much damage. And after killing the ones he spawn. Just finnish him off. It's not harder than any of the other elite, imo.

Good luck!

Comment by Vexikuri

Was easy. I was a so so geared 83 arcane mage.

There was an 84 DK that did this quest right before me. He killed the two guards and then the boss. The boss respawned fast. I got behind him and started the attack. He didn't turn around, Flame Orb and Mirror Image helped with the fight, Arcane Explosion for the snakes.

Comment by healingenzo

83 DK on frost with ghoul & good gear - doing 6K+ via HB. Kill him fast enough & nothing else matters. Snakes - I saw one just as he died. No problems. DPS fixes plenty.

Comment by 764985

Solo'd easily as an 84 Arms warrior.
Charge
Fear snakes
Rend, Overpower, Mortal strike rotation.
Zerker stance, recklessness, bladestorm kills all stakes and damages the next wave then just whirlwind to kill the rest.
Pretty easy. Pummel his spells. No problem.

Comment by Jolster

Just soloed this on a 83 BM hunter, I had a 51k HP pet who i MD too and healed before fight started then just nuked. dint have any real problems expect i had to feign death due to snakes attacking me that spawn.

Comment by 733583

Easily soloed as an 83 shaman. Bring up your earth pet and use your aoe when the first set of snakes attack you. Your pet should aggro the second wave of snakes.

Comment by 764265

As a Shadow Priest,

Pick off the guards (he wont aggro if you stay @ max distance) DOT pull
then mana/hp up
Burn him down
this is my rotation:
Mind Spike(3), Vamp Touch, Shadow Word: Pain, Mind blast (this works nice w/ the mind spike and VT :D ), Devouring Plague. @ 50% send in Shadowfiend.

oh and for everyone doing this quest besure to kill the snake(s) at the entrance to the cave before you go in.

last but not leaste Fear the snakes then run they wont follow you!

Comment by 765825

84 LVL shadow priest ilvl a bit over 300...

i dont know if it was bugged or what... but this guy just standed in place nuking shadowbolts at me...

just dotted him, mind seared snakes and tried to self heal me as much as posiible... after i did snakes, he was oom, so i had time to regenerate for a couple of greater heals and just dotted, dotted.. :D was pretty happy until at 2% he summoned snakes.. AGAIN! but he went down, psyhic scream and managed to run away... :)

Comment by 724759

Solo as 83 DK. Raised my ghoul, started the fight, popped army as soon as he called the snakes. Then I just stood behind him and went to town. Had to leave quick though, a few of the snakes finished off my army and came after me.

Comment by 758335

Go to 50 40 under water cave-take out 2 mobs on left and right- then the boss. If someone is also doing quest-help and you both get credit:):):) you don't have to be in party!

Comment by 762466

Early posts scared me a little. But maybe they've scaled him back some. 84 Ret Pally: Kill side mobs first. Get behind the big guy and attack. Ignore the snakes; your AoE is not going to do enough to kill them. Just keep hitting the target. He doesn't fight back, and he goes down pretty quickly. Grab the loot and head for the water. The snakes will follow for a while, but they'll break off soon enough. Once the snakes drop off, do NOT stop to put comments on WOWHEAD; you'll run out of breath. :)

Comment by minaiu

What I did as 84 combat rouge was stealthed to him, sapped him, killed the guardian, sapped him again, killed the other guardian. Then sapped, recovered my health. Then, i went behind him, used the cheap shot ability and used Backstabs, Sinister strikes and Eviscerate and always tried to kick him when he casts a spell.

When the snakes came I put Blade flurry up concentrating only on the snakes untill they were dead, then kept on attacking the ritualist.
The ritualist doesn't do much damage if you stay behind him and use spell cast interrupting abilities

Comment by 769067

I found this to be a pain with a hunter. No AoE and can only root one mob at once.

The way I did it is:

Kill the two guardians first.

Put pet on passive and attack elite, he will shadow bolt you but seems to have very little mnna so doesnt do much damage.

The snakes will come after you very soon, then attack snakes with pet and ranged shots, they die easily.

Then send pet after elite and keep hitting him with ranged shots til he dies. If you get behind him he doesnt attack you so much, and attack with pet from behind, and he doesnt attack pet much either.

Another method is to just get behind him and attack with pet, don't attack with ranged shots and the snakes don't come after you, keep healing pet and let it kill the elite, this takes a while but it works OK.

HS

Comment by 542362

Level 84 Moonkin

Take out the two adds. Taking out one does not agro the other. Go behind the elite boss root (probably not necessary as he doesn't actually move or even turn around to face you)

When the snakes appear use Starfall and continue casting at the boss. If more snakes appear use Hurricane and / or Typhoon and then continue casting at the boss.

At no time did the boss damage me. He was casting shadow bolts but not at me. He always faced forward. According to Recount the only damage I took was from the snakes and they did 64K dmg - so they do hit hard.

I didn't use a potion or cast any heals

Had very little health left and only just killed the remaining snakes in time. Another 2 seconds and I'd have been dead.

Basic gear some blue, some green.

Comment by 779711

NO problem for my 83 Shaman. The Cords are spot on, Thank you!

Comment by 43516

Did that quest today 7-Feb, if your behind him you never get hit with his spells, the snakes eventually show up but he doesn't turn around. Was pretty easy.

Now when looking for him, the cave is about in the center of the lake, just fly to that spot, dive in and swim.. kill the adds first for sure, but then just get behind him and hack away if your a melee class. Not sure about any others.

Comment by 629016

Solo'd as an 84 Assassination Rogue with green gear - the summoned snakes missed me consistently while Evasion was activated - and it didn't take much longer than that to kill Zakahn.

Pop vanish when the deed is done and they'll disappear after a few seconds, then you can loot in peace.

Comment by KamekaziPunk

just did this as a feral druid...went bear and stood toe to toe with him the whole time, didn't drop below 90%, and didn't heal. when snakes come...swipe and thrash, otherwise just hit whatever's ready and enjoy. be sure to take out the first two guys first and its easymode

Comment by 795570

Soloed as Level 83 Shadow Priest - easy enough if you:
1. Kill the guards
2. Hit the elite with Pail
3. Kill snakes. Worked well with Holy Nova over and over again
4. Send in Shadow Fiend, then start hitting elite. Goes down pretty well.
5. He does send in a second volley of snakes, and by then you are really low on mana. Holy Nova a few times, then swim away - swim away quickly. They leave you as you exit cavern - just don't forget to shield. I survived with low health, but the key word is I survived. :-)

Comment by 40648

Not sure if I ran into a bug or got lucky but as a rogue I managed to kill him without losing any life. I took the two adds first with the elite sapped. Then (again) either it had been pure luck in the timing or a bug but every time he called for his minions to help him, it happened when he was kidney shoted and they actually never showed up.

Comment by Eilana

I just killed him today, 3/5/11, with my 84 combat rogue. Took out the adds first (no, elite did not join in, but I did pull back throwing a knife at them), then got behind him. Never once did he turn around to face me. Kicked his shadow bolt volleys to interrupt, so did not take any damage until the 5 snakes he summoned at the end ate away at me. It may be that I kept stunning and interrupting a snake cast or something, because all I got was the 1 set of 5 snakes. Easiest elite I've fought without use of any sort of "vehicle".

Comment by 764148

Pretty easy as an 83 arcane mage with quest blues and greens. Pulled the non elites one by one, then hit the boss twice before popping MI. Let them deal with the snakes while I hammered at the elite, and the others are right...he hits with the shadow spell only. Mana shield took care of most of the damage. Frost Nova'ed and Blizzard'ed the snakes that were left when the elite went down. Maybe they nerfed his damage somewhat, I was expecting a much harder solo fight!

Comment by 803556

really easy on my Blood DK as well blood shield helps a whoooole lot. that and having a minion out and runed weapon. Was able to pull each guard by themselves with my death grip and he never moved until I attacked him.

Comment by 806392

On my 84 Blood Dk i solod this, i killed the two guards next to the elite and then i attacked the elite.
the fight was simple for me, i took Bone Shield, Icebound Fortitude and summoned Army Of Dead.
my minions took the snakes and hell aggro on them meanwhile i were fighting the elite by myself, i kinda spammed Death Strike so i get Blood shield which absorbs like 14k physical damage so after the fight i had taken zero damage! easy fight :P Good Luck

Comment by 744225

83 Druid;
Take out adds, rejuv, got behind named, buff thorns...
Starfire, fairie fire, insect swarm, moonfire, wrath, starfall, typhoon, barkskin, lifeblood. wrath - use proc - to nuke him down asap.

I ignored snakes due to barkskin, lifeblood, starfall. Then ran to named when down, looted, ran into water.

Comment by SilverSpiritWolf

Did this as an 83 Beast hunter. Had to Feign Death twice because of the snake adds, but I did just fine. Was almost positive I was gonna die because of the other posts I read.

Comment by OhWhyNot

The behind the back of the boss works great with my llvl 83 death knight and I was able to kill him the first time after reading the above comments, thank you for contributing. I am playing unholy when i solo. Here is how i did it:

Kill the elites by going to one side and then the other
Go behind the boss and battle him with your pet
When the snakes come out use Army of the Dead to battle the snakes and you keep hitting the boss til he is dead
Kill any remaining snakes
Move quickly out of the cave. Since the two elites come back fast. If attacked let the pet fight them while you exit the cave

Hope this help death knights and others

Comment by 288207

Easily soloable as an 83 retadin. Keep concencrate up to handle the snake adds, and stunned him once, no bubble needed, just acouple quick heals.

Comment by 629499

If you're a warrior, and i'm sure you already do this, pull the other two, and when they die, you get a 20% heal :) makes it much easier.

Comment by Sevenos

Feral Druids, get behind him, make him bleed and start spamming Shred, when you see snakes spawn spam Swipe they'll die easily,

Comment by 815573

handled him easily as lvl 83 warrior.

Comment by 815972

Solo'd way easy as a 83 Shadow Priest in one try.
Just used Mind Spikex3 +Mind Blast on elite, waited for all of the snakes to come out, feared them, finished killing the elite and brought out my Shadowfiend so I could regain some mana, then just one shot each one of the snakes with Mind Spike.

Comment by 817415

I have soloedthis as a 83 spriest and just now ass a blood dk without going below 95% health- Easy @#$%!

Comment by 818328

very easy with a 83 Death knight blood didn't lose that much life and, yeah very very easy :D

Comment by 818694

It´s not so hard. i did it on my lvl 83 shammy. just use healing totem and magma totem( snakes-uhh)and earth elemental totem. when it dies then use fire elemental totem. used gift of naaru and healing surge. if you do like I did, its not so hard. have made it on all my char . Hunter BM, mage, lock- not hard, paladin-too easy. I did it on all lvl 83 char.
Good luck :)

Comment by konradutterback

extremely easy as a balance druid, you should be in an eclipe by the time you pull him, so just burn him down, pop starfall on the first set of vipers, then just nuke and he should be dead by the 2nd set

Comment by 717646

No "(Group)" tag for this quest, yet the guy you gotta kill is an Elite.
Being a crappy-geared Level 84 Combat Rogue, I started by taking the guy on the right, not knowing this will cause the elite to attack. Vanish is on CD, so I couldn't run away.
Managed to kill the guy, then ran for the Elite with failing health thinking he might be weak, since there's no Group tag. Other guy aggroed so I ran. Got away.

Came back, sapped the non-elite and started working on the boss, Shiving and Kidney Shotting him alot. Used Blade Flurry for the snakes. I couldn't use Killing Spree because I was worried I would attack the sapped non-elite.

With him nearly dead, the other guy gets unsapped and aggros again, but I manage to kill the boss. Tried to run away. Couldn't, but I got the quest credit.

Went back to my corpse, and they're all respawned like I didn't do a damn thing.

Comment by 93686

Soloed as a prot paladin, of course, but just stood behind him ;)

Comment by 655818

I was able to down him from behind without any of his shots hitting me, and only two rounds of snakes. I finished with about half my health. Combat rogues should definitely use the above rotation.

Comment by raywilcox99

I am an 84 Prot Pally .. just did the quest ... YAWN ! ... Just made sure to have my Resistance aura on. When he spawn the snakes, I used Inquisition, Holy Wrath, Hammer of Justice, then let em Burn with Consecration. 2 more Hammer of Justice and snakes are dead. Then repeat until dead. Took like 1 or 2 minutes and walk out full life and mana :)

Comment by Grukam

It took a few tries to figure this out but I beat the mofo as a lvl 83 prot warrior. I learned on an earlier attempt he will not turn when you get behind him. I took out his two guards and then hit him from his left side with heroic throw, then charge, then everything in the book to get my rage up. Still had a good bit left from the last guard which helped. He can't be kited but you can put a lot of damage to him from behind. Still have those serpent adds but I just ignored them and did as much collateral damage to them as I could with cleave and thunderclap. Shockwave helped stun them also which reduced their damage, using pummel to reflect his spells also put a hurt to them, they give no victory rush so had to rely on enraged regeneration as my HP got low but his was dropping as low as mine. The money makers were cleave with thunderclap, rend, heroic strike and shield slam with devastate. It was real close and I did die but he died first. He can be soloed by a prot warrior. No blues or purples all hard obsidium crafted armor.

Comment by 748117

I soloed it as a 83 Balance druid, it is pretty simple to be honest. Kill the adds first, then summon treants and pop starfall and nuke, that should do it :)

Comment by 842679

I have to admit after reading all the posts I was a little worried, but just finished the fight with 83 unholy dk and owned him. Actually ended with 100% Health. Pet was about 50 % Just kill adds first and do your dps madness

Comment by 718694

great tip to stand behind him. Soloed 84 boomy okish gear. Stick force of nature on him & DoTs, and hurricane when he summons the snakes... was a pretty quick and easy fight.

Comment by 624042

I did this on my lvl 83 mage by myself, it's not that hard

Comment by 146544

I did this with my level 85 DK-Unholy. I kill the 2 NPC's that guard an approach to the Big Z".Then moved way around behind Big "Z". I hit Big "Z" first, then my pet took over, kept up the spells. Big "Z" dropped about 1minute , 30 seconds, or so into the fight. But REZed, like 2 seconds after Big "Z" was dead. Left my pet and got out of there! Quest was called complete, once Big "Z" dropped. Level up!

Comment by Catoria

I think it's been nerfed. I solo'd cat form, 83

Comment by crossbow30

I want to thank all of you for your helpful comments. I just finished the quest with my 83 unholy death knight and thanks to ya'll it was a snap. I pulled each of the two guards separately without a problem. Then went behind the boss and let my ghoul nibble away at him and when the snakes came used "Death & Decay" on them...snakes died...boss died...one guard respawned...he died and I left. Thanks again guys for great hints. Cave entrance coordinates were right on at 52.1, 40.1. Now back to that muther of a Q "The Pit of Scales".

Comment by RonWyren

I just ran this as an 83 Arcane Mage. It can be done solo.
Took out one of his guards.
Polymorphed the other.
Started attack on Zakhan, hit mirror image.
Dropped my girls and open all hell on them.
They lose I win.
Done and out.

Comment by noobisafroob

Very easy as paladin
since he casts his shadowbolt volley very slow, you can rebuke it every time he casts
and when the snakes come, stun him, kill 2 snakes, wait 2-3 secs till he start casting shadowbolt volley again, rebuke, kill 2 snakes again, wait 2-3 secs till he casts again than kill last 2 snakes.
if you do it right you only go to like 80% hp just because the snakes ;p

Comment by 261995

solo'd as 83 DK popped army sent pets in and used gargoyle when ready, finish w/ 50% health, self buffed, easy fight.

edit: after reading the post above, I didnt even bother with any adds, just killed the elite, then AOE'd what was left.

Comment by Karl5008

Just did this by myself as a protection paladin. The entrance is underwater, just by the docks. There's a serpent outside, so finish him off quickly. Go inside, and move to the left/right side of the cave. Pull one of the guards on the same side of the one you moved to, and you're pretty much guaranteed to pull the other one by accident. Use consecration, hammer of the righteous, divine protection, ardent defender, holy shield and holy wrath. Smack the judgement down a few times incase your mana gets low, and that'll grant you charges of holy power, alongside HoR. If your HP is safe, then wait until you get 3 charges, and use shield of the righteous. If you need HP, use word of glory. Only use consecration when the snake adds spawn, and other than that it's pretty much a smooth quest. I managed to finish it in about 1 minute, got outside and nothing had respawned, even the serpent that you had to kill when going into the cave. Quest is extremely easy and doable as a protadin.

Comment by Grukam

Just did this as a lvl 84 TG Fury warrior. Popped a couple elixers and a food buff but really didn't need them. Went to left side and first guard didn't even need to be pulled came right to me. Still had a Victory Rush from killing a slitherer on the way into the cave. Ran around to my right side and same with other guard came right to me. Dropped it and went behind boss as suggested in other posts. Never turned around at all, hit like an old lady. He called first group of adds 2 or 3 ignored them and kept burning on the boss, the adds don't hit for all that much either. The adds dropped from AoE Thunder Clap and War stomp stunned them while Rend and Cleave took them out as I used these on the boss mob. Boss at about 1/2 health called another group of 6 snake adds. Same strat stayed on boss until he was dropped then finished off adds. HP never dropped below 95%. I actually took more damage from the slitherer on the way in from this whole encounter.

Comment by Drudatz

Another Quest that proves the lack of Activisions caring for the Players
a) this quest is completly $%^&-tuned
b) you need the quest to continue the quest chain in uldum

so do not do this alone when u level
completly not correctly tuned to the level you are when you have the level...

Comment by 873627

Just did this on my destro-lock and I had no issues. I don't think you really have to wait for 85 to do this quest, tbh. Just did my regular rotation and hit rain of fire for snakes. Alternately, seed of corruption should work as well. Your voidwalker would be a good choice, as it can keep the elite off of you while you deal with whatever snakes the vw doesn't tank.

Also, he doesn't hit very hard.

On my rogue, I'm probably just going to stun when the snakes spawn if evasion has already dropped, spam fan of knives or ignore the snakes entirely.

Please don't let the comments on this page worry you. The quest is easy.

Comment by Trixibell

Arcane Mage lvl 83
swam to each side and killed mobs seperate... full mana and health, Mirror Image. spammed arcane blast. Boss spawned snake adds, frost nova, move to the side, spam arcane blast.. boss dead. Invisibility to despawn snake adds. Done!

Comment by 880727

Easy to solo at 83 as an Assassination Rogue by sapping one guard, taking out the other, and then opening the fight on the elite with cheap shot. Make sure you use kidney shot every few seconds after that and he will never get to summon the snakes.

Comment by FarseerLolotea

Soloed on an 83 elem shammy.

Kill the guards first. Drop a Healing Stream totem, plus others at your discretion. Wind Shear the boss when he starts casting his shadow bolt volley; AoE the hell out of the snakes; heal when necessary, but keep your mana up (Water Shield is your friend).

Comment by foxonstilts

Solo'ed as a level 84 rogue. Just be sure to use Recuperate when you can and pop all of your cooldowns. Otherwise, it's fairly easy and only took me two times to kill him. Evasion is your best friend~

Comment by Clousy

Soloed as an 83 Holy Paladin - 62K HP, 56K mana (too lazy to re-gear - Holy leveling, REPRESENT (It's very very slooow o-o )

Anyhoo, killed the guards, and ran behind him to negate his damage. Exo-spam, Judge on CD, Holy Shock on CD. At 3 HP, pop Inq. When the snakes spawn, Consecration, Holy Wrath, and Exo-spam them down. By the time two waves passed, the mob was dead. No CDs used.

Comment by Pryzk

I solo'd this as an 83 Assasination Rogue using the following strategy:

Stealthed in and went behind rocks to the right first. Pulled guard with multiple throws of poisoned knife and finished him off leaving 5CP behind. Recuperate, stealth and moved to left side and repeated process. Recuperate, bandaged, stealthed & came up behind elite. Ambushed, hit with mutilate, left CP up to 5, evasion, backed off and spammed fan of knives until all snakes were dead, ran back to elite's back and spammed backstab & Envenom until he died, snakes respawned so I vanished to despawn them then looted his body and stealthed to get back out.

Comment by 908925

Just soloed this as an 83 prot pld. No clue if quest was bugged for me, but if you get behind him he doesn't turn around. He still summons the snakes but none of his spells (the ones i didn't interrupt) hit me because he as facing away. Very easy kill. Hope this helps.

Comment by 913503

absolutely simple. just pull guards one by one then wipe out the elite. dont worry about the snakes. took next to no life from me. demonology warlock lvl 83

Comment by 786723

This quest is EASY soloable, just did on an 83 blood dk never lost more than 5k health really.

Comment by MsPhelix

Straightforward quest:
Find Murkdeep Cavern (see the screenshots);
It's a simple underwater tunnel to an above water chamber with 2 guards and the target bad guy;
Kill them all ! (evil cackles - opps I forgot: I'm a Paladin and shouldn't glory in death)
The snakes are no big deal.

Comment by 966011

Must have been nerfed. I read these posts and thought it would be hard so I sskipped this quest when leveling my Druid. Popped all cool downs and it was over in 10 seconds on my 83 DK.

Comment by 124788

For cave entrance = coords: 52.3 / 40.1

Comment by 243011

Basically I think this fight is about showing that you know how to use your "OP" powers effectively. In my case it was army of the dead on my death knight.

Learn how to protect yourself and do a quick burn and most classes will be able to do this solo.

if you just go in and try without long time CDs however, i think you will fail.

Comment by Farzeer

Elemental shaman = Easy.

Before the fight:
1. Flametongue weapon
2. Lightning shield

Assistants:
1. Pull one of the assistants with lightning bolt
2. Flame shock
3. Lava burst
4. Spam lightning bolt and use lava burst when it's not in cooldown
5. Repeat for the other one.

Boss:
1. Put down your totems (preferably one of your elementals, or both not required tho)
2. Start the fight with lightning bolt. If you have enough distance, you'll be able to shoot another one at him before the first one hits him.
3. Use the same rotation that you used for assistants
4. When the snakes comes and if you have one of the elementals, they'll aggro the elemental instead of you. If you don't have one tho, use earthquake. That should kill all of them without you having to worry about them more than that.
5. Spam chain lightning instead of lightning bolt when the snakes are around.

OR

1. Kill the assistants
2. Sneak behind the boss
3. Drop down BOTH elementals
4. Use lightning bolt on the boss
5. /dance

Comment by 994077

83 Ele Shaman. Super easy. Hug the walls and single pull the guards. Drop haste & heal totems, called earth and flame elementals who took the snakes. At 35 yards (using RangeFinder AddOn), I rotated Wind Sheer on his nukes, and burned him down with Lava and Lightning. Fast, no fuss. Underwelming. Coulda done at 82, probably lower.

Comment by 994077

Comment by 1004769

As a arcane mage (lvl 83) I had trouble with this quest. However after reading some of these comments i found out that i should go behind zakahn but naturally you should kill the assistants before you try to kill zakahn. Well that worked out well untuil he summonded the snakes. At that point i cast mirror image which now provided me with 3 more of myself to...

A) give me some extra Dps

B) give me a tank

This strategy payed off on the first try which is more than i can say for some of the othere strategies that i tried. Good luck to all that try this quest.

Links

The Defilers' Ritual

Stop the Neferset Ritual at the Murkdeep Cavern.

	Neferset Ritual stopped (1)

Description

Ah, I can already see more clearly, <name>.

We are right to be wary of the evil Neferset. I can already sense that they're behind the forces that corrupt the river.

Go underwater once more and find the Murkdeep Cavern. You will find the Neferset are performing a foul ritual of corruption.

Stop them so the river is cleansed once again.

Rewards

You will receive:

Gains

Upon completion of this quest you will gain:

250 reputation with Ramkahen

See if you've already completed this by typing:

/run print(C_QuestLog.IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(28611))

The Defilers' Ritual

Description

Rewards

Gains

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