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Comment by Rarehunter

The next instance, to be included in the second expansion, will be Stratholme several years in the past. You'll join Arthas in 'cleansing' the city of plagued villagers, one of the final acts in a series of personal changes that culminated in Arthas becoming a Death Knight of the Lich King. This was a level within Warcraft 3. Presumably, Uther will be seen in this instance briefly, as Arthas had a disagreement with his mentor before the culling of the people of Stratholme, and disbanded the group of paladins to which Uther belonged — the Order of the Silver Hand.

Source: Wowwiki

Comment by Revolter

Yeah,but where is point going into this instance,if you're Horde?Orc & Trolls (even Undead?) side by side with Arthas?Kinda not logical...(Sorry for mistakes...)

Comment by g0dslay3r

This is more than likely one of the most anticipated instances in the expansion. Stratholme was an incredible instance Pre-TBC, but now its about to get so much cooler.

Comment by MonkeyPower

Yeah,but where is point going into this instance,if you're Horde?Orc & Trolls (even Undead?) side by side with Arthas?Kinda not logical...(Sorry for mistakes...)

Well.. because if arthas had never became a Death Knight (next text lines are kinda WOULD spam..)

-There would not be battle of mount hyjal
-There would not be Forsaken (undead race)
-There would not be Same Alliance and Horde. Because there is no Blood Elfs so Zul' jin will joins the Horde, Because Zul' jin (Maeby horde later) needs help war againts High Elfs, Those many humans that did not die war againts arthas and there would not be the Forsaken to help the Horde.
-Alexandros Mograine (Highlord Mograine) would be alive and maeby destroys the rest of Scourge.
-Different future for illidian, because he didnt never consume powers from skull of guldan, so he maeby became Good guy (-.^)
-Dalaran is still in one piece.
-AND MANY OTHER THINGS THAT DOES NOT HAPPEND.

So thats the reason why hordes help arthas. Im sorry about that i dont remember many things why alliance should help arthas ;) And im sorry about my BAD Enklishg too.

Comment by 165547

wow this seems fun just like warcraft 3

Comment by 190543

-There would not be battle of mount hyjal
-Alexandros Mograine (Highlord Mograine) would be alive and maeby destroys the rest of Scourge.

Why would there not be a battle at mount hyjal?
and what do Arthas have to do with Alexandros Mograine death?

Comment by 190543

Well if Arthas would not have killed kel thuzad and rescurrected him to lich. kel thuzad would not have summoned archimonde.
And Kel thuzad (In lich form) corrupted Renault Mograine to pwn hes father (im not sure about this mograine thing but, im very sure about mount hyjal battle)

Think Warcraft 3 in the following text

Wasent Kel thuzad a lich befor he died?

Balnazzar faked his death when his brother Varimathras killed him (Lady Sylvanas order in Warcraft 3: Frozen throne)
After his "death" he possessed the body of Saidan Dathrohan. Final boss in the living side of Stratholme.
But Balnazzar and his 2 brothers (one is dead now) was agains Arthas and Kel Thuzad (he server the Arthas the soon to be Lich King)
Then why would Kel and Bal work together?

Comment by 190543

Without knowing more about the infinite dragonflight,

dragonflight?

Comment by 150104

Without knowing more about the infinite dragonflight,

dragonflight?

The infinite dragonflight is the evil force responsible for manipulating various historical events in the past such as Thralls escape from Durnholde keep and the battle for Mount Hyjal

Comment by 177673

Khajam, if you have been through one of the caverns of time instances, you would of noticed the "black dragons" that you have to fight. e.g. the Epoch Hunter. They are the infinite dragonflight.
If I am wrong please correct me.

Comment by ertqwe

You ready to change the past ? :)

Comment by 190543

yes I have notice them... any reason they want to change the past?

Comment by Discolando

There's an interesting item that drops in the new Stratholme instance... http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/news/2008/august/cotstrath_05.jpg

It looks really cool because it's white and longer than the average cloak or cape.

Comment by 31780

So... What exactly are the black Dragonflight doing? It was my assumption that the heroes help Arthas turn evil so that the history can continue. I believe all that is said about the Scourge and the Forsaken is correct. At the same time however, I can't help but think that later on when Arthas raids are happening, this will become a invaluable part of the battle... I don't know how exactly but maybe something along the lines of: We must retrieve X so that we can weaken Arthas!

Comment by 113855

To all the people who are saying this would stop the scourge, please PLEASE replay Warcraft 3.

The Scourge had already entered Lordaeron by the time Arthas got to Stratholme. That was the whole POINT of him going to Strat - to stop the scourge. Had he not done what he had there, the Scourge would have had an easier time pushing through Lordaeron. Beyond that, who is to say what would have happened? With the Order of the Silver Hand intact, maybe the Scourge would have been pushed back. Without their Death Knight and Lich to lead them, maybe they would still have simply swarmed over everything and destroyed further human lands.

The point isn't that they're going to change the past, the point is that by changing the past, they unravel all of history. "It's time to shatter this clockwork universe forever." Does that line sound familiar? Aeonus says it before he goes to try and kill Medivh. The 'incentives' the Infinite Dragonflight offer are meaningless - wars that never happen and a changed timeline are bait to lure the mortal races into the traps of the Infinite Flight. They are not trying to change history, but unravel reality by disrupting key events in the timeline.

Arthas's culling of Stratholme is a key event. If it's stopped and Arthas is killed, all of history will come apart. This is why you must preserve the timelines in the Caverns of Time and defeat the Infinite. Not because you want to stop what might have happened instead, but because you want history to continue to exist.

Now ride out dere, and bring me back some undead heads!

Comment by 168858

There was a line I read in a book long ago (and felt like posting it here). I went like : The results of our actions in the future are so complicated that it is impossible to predict the outcome. Thus trying to alter the past is not wise after all , as you never know what and how will actually change .

I hope I wasn't out of subject here ^^

Comment by 83214

Just like the toons you saw in Old Hillsbrad Foothills in the Burning Crusade, you will also find more familiar NPCs in this instance like Pamela Redpath, Gryan Stoutmantle, Hearthsinger Forresten, Fras Siabi, Magistrate Barthilas, and Joseph Redpath.

Comment by 104660

Does anyone know if this will give KOT rep?

Comment by 222855

At heroic difficulty there is a timed event (Undead Strat/ZA style), which requires you to clear the instance in 25 minutes. I think it is achievable with blue gear, but you need perfect timing. Having Arthas on your side tends to slow you down (fights after second boss are scripted, and you have to talk to Arthas after almost every pull), not that there is another option. Also do not wipe in the gauntlet: you don't have the time to run back. Also an issue is the spawning trash in the first part, which while no real danger, will disrupt your eating/drinking party members.

Comment by 31780

Got it, Arthas killed a vast number of undead in this instance, Black Dragonflight attempted to stop Arthas so...

There is no super powerful demi-god sitting on a icy throne.

Comment by Teemu

This isnt a raid?... Can u enter It even if u havent done other CoT´s?

Comment by Missingname

Anyone noticed that Chrono-Lord Epoch might be Epoch Hunter?

Comment by Zmic

Hmm.. what if.. just if it was possibly.. A blood elf in this instance had come to kill Arthas before he became a death knight, thereby, not killing Kel'Thusad, Thereby not needing to resurrect him in the sunwell, and thereby not corrupting it, and which makes the blood elf saves his own race from its separation from its magical source, not creating blood elves. But this would probable make that one blood elf fade from existence.. since.. he is a blood elf... But of course this is something that would never happen since blizzard doesn't make it possible.. and it would kinda recreate the whole game, which would also be virtually be impossible... at least in this century... It was just something I was thinking too much about. Somebody respond to fill in holes in my theory, please.

Comment by 137993

O.K, i know Arthas is Warcraft's "Bwah Ha Ha I'm Evil" bad guy, but is purging Strat really so bad?

I mean, they are infected with the Plague. and since there weren't any Argent Healers back back then, the only other cure for a Zombie Plague is death.
What would be the right thing to do? Let them become zombies and kill them only once they've turned?

Comment by 211686

the timed event stated above (in heroic mode) also introduces the bronze drake mount that is looted from a chest, its very much like the timed ZA event where u get the amani bear, but this time u get the bronze drake :)

its one of the few drakes that is not found in a raid (black and twilight are from one raid), the red drake is from rep (wrym something accord) and the albino coming from the 50 mount achievement

Comment by 240134

Maybe, and just maybe, it has something to do with the Burning Legion, as so all the other instances in CoT has

If Arthas hadnt purged the city he probably would have died there resulting in that Nerzhuls plan to make Arthas his champion failed.

The burning legion probably wouldnt be brought into the world to be defeated,
resulting in a larger burning legion that we know today. That also means that the mortal races wouldnt have banded together at Mount Hyjal

Maybe the Scourge would have been defeated but the burning legion would be much stronger, and the alliance and the horde would have been alot different than today

All that might result in the Burning Legion invading Azeroth in another way,
perhaps through Outland and start their slaughter in the south
There arent so many factions in the south at that moment
all action is in Lordaeron and Kalimdor

Considering all this may covince you to aid Arthas purging the city after all

Comment by 88726

A few of the NPCs in this instance are named after the GMs in the WoW Customer Service Forums:

Vrakthris- Brock Thriss <Blacksmith>
Auryk- Edward Orrick <Cook>
Syndri- Stephanie Sindree <Fruit and Fish Vendor>
Malkorix- Mal Corricks <Barkeep>
Belfaire- Michael Belfast <Cook>
Orlyia- Patricia O'reilly <Magistrate Assistant>
Reythur- Mechanical Greeter RY7R (shares the same model as Reythur's forum avatar)
Aredek- Brandon Eiredeck

Arguably, two more may exist:
Bartleby Battson could be named after Batta, and Olivia Zenith could be named after Zenlyth of the Spanish CSF.

Comment by 173707

You must be at least level 75 to enter this instance.

Comment by 240627

And lvl80 to do it on heroic. The timer isn't too easy to beat, you'll need good DPS and no AFKers, and most certainly no wipes. You get saved after you first talk to Arthas. I wouldn't try to PUG this one, it's a fast instance thanks partly to the 25 minute timer, but it could be unforgiving if you have AFKers, especially as the elite packs tend to patrol up and down quite a bit. Priests holy nova can pretty much 1-shot the zombies, they have almost no HP, but there's a lot of them and they respawn quickly.

Just about every single trash mob in this instance can be either shackled or feared. Don't worry about pulling extra mobs with the fear, as they come in waves like in Violet Hold. If your tank is well geared (full lvl80 blue gear fully enchanted, properly specced) you won't need to CC.

Drinking time here is minimal, like in Black Morass, but you'll find gaps out of combat.

Assuming you bring good enough DPS which are willing to hit cooldowns and use health pots, all bosses here can be treated as tank n spank as far as I could tell, with a little AoE damage but not much. The last boss uses a sleep ability, PvP trinket works to break this, but it doesn't last too long anyway, just keep the tank topped off.

Comment by 246278

We even cleared Stratholme in Heroic mode and there's a timed event. You have 9 Minutes to defeat the Chrono Lord. We just killed him with 1 minute rest time, but the Time Guardian was killed. Does anyone know how that should work? It's impossible to kill Mal'ganis in 9 Minutes from the 2nd wave on. The "Scenes" with arthas where he talks and walks around are too long.

If you need to kill Mal'ganis in 9 Minutes from the 2nd wave on, you have to pull the 3rd boss with you, through the trash behind the Room and Ae them with Mal'ganis together. That's impossible (Arthas opens the door after the 3rd boss goes down).

So how should that work?

Comment by 250063

Does anyone know what the time limit is for in heroic dificulty?

Comment by 250063

Nevermind, found it. It gives you a chance on getting a mount and also another badge for anyone else who may have been wondering.

Comment by icemanjmw

Do you need to be 80 to do this one? We had a group with me (then 78 now 79), two 79 dps, a 76 dps, and 76 healer and we did Pinnacle no problems so would a similar group be able to handle this one?

Comment by 209390

If you go upstairs at the Inn where you start out, there's a Karl Malone reference, by the use of npc Postmaster Malown. Hilarious

Comment by Rakusu

Avoid pulling Risen Zombies into the town hall with Arthas after killing all the scourge waves otherwise the event will bug out and you can't continue, ran into a similar problem with Young Blanchy in OH.

Comment by Avalonia

We destroyed the place faster than the flags advanced and got to the third boss and waited about 4 minutes for Arthas. Arthas needs sped up imo or is there a way to make him move faster? Bosses all took about 30-45 seconds to drop.

Comment by 54840

silly question as a level 80 death knight i was wondering if i had to do any of the other caverns of times instances in order to unlock this, as pre wotlk u had to do battle of hillbred before any other.

Comment by 232493

What is needed to run this on Heroic? besides 80, any faction requriements?

Comment by 265255

Hey guys,

I made some videos about this instance. They are all high quality and hosted on Youtube. Check em out and tell me what you think!

Intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4qGRigDTVM

Videos on first wave as well as Arthas:
http://www.youtube.com/v/UlIN_McWFXA&hl=en
http://www.youtube.com/v/BPBcnh29KGU&hl=en
http://www.youtube.com/v/opRNWl2EprA&hl=en
http://www.youtube.com/v/VKIB72oYuTY&hl=en

Video on Culling of Stratholme: Meathook

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVW3MKL14-c

Video on Culling of Stratholme: Salramm the Fleshcrafter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgNnYGBo9BQ

Video on Culling of Stratholme: Chrono-Lord Epoch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDnXrZwsM3I

Video on Cullng of Stratholme: Mal'Ganis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDnXrZwsM3I

(edit, spelling :)

Comment by Interest

This instance is exceptionally helpful for those doing the To All The Squirrels I've Loved Before achievement, as Fawns, Deer, Cats, and Sheep exist in this instance.

Comment by 266727

What rep you got in Cos?

Comment by metalsyko

For anyone who may be wanting to know (as I don't see it posted anywhere) - you do NOT have to do the previous Caverns of Time instances to do this one. My rogue levelled up just as Wrath went live, so getting those late 60s-70s instances done was all but impossible as everyone's in Northrend. The attunement isn't needed either, you can just hop right into the portal.

TL;DR: Good news, everyone! You don't have to have done Durnholde or BM or be 'attuned to them' for Culling of Strat.

Comment by 269806

can anyone confirm wether the timed event on heroic mode rewards a extra emblem?

Comment by CrimsonTemplar

Anyone know what the reputation gain on Heroic would be for this instance?

Comment by 263482

I did this with a group of friends to get the timed drake and to try to save as much time as possible we talked to Chromie to start the QQ-fest between Arthas and Uther and ran into town. Five minutes after it ended we went back and Arthas was bugged and we had to restart the instance (doable on heroic, we just all left party and I reinvited). When we got back in we stayed near the NPCs until the end of the scene. The instance worked just fine after that.

TDLR: Stay near Arthas until he's done putting Uther down.

Comment by 166472

An interesting note for all the Jewelcrafters out there.

Of the 4 currentl level 80 instances, this one in particular is the only one that has not as yet been noted to drop a meta BoP pattern.

This can of course be due to the fact that no high level JC's have run this and uploaded dataz, or it could simply mean that there is no meta from this instance.

To date all other level 80 dungeons drop a meta pattern from the final boss, the list is as follows:

The Nexus: The Oculus

Boss: Eregos
Drops: Bracing Earthsiege Diamond

Ulduar: Halls of Lightning

Boss: Loken
Drops: Eternal Earthsiege Diamond

Utgarde Keep: Utgarde Pinacle

Boss: King Ymiron
Drops: Austere Earthsiege Diamond

Comment by Cityhunter0505

Heroic The Culling of Stratholme (& achievement).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB62gJfQ3Go

Run through the Culling of Stratholme, and achievement timer for the Bronze Drake. =)

Comment by 208445

too bad this is not a 25 man raid, Arthas is purge one big city and he need more army to do it, not just 5 people :D

if there is a scene that show the debate between Arthas, Jaina and Uther, before Arthas attack the City, it will be perfect.

Comment by 37753

Something fun for druids:-

For any female druids out there, using https://www.wowhead.com/cata/item=43499 while in normal form, will turn you into an iron dwarf - and shifting into tree form then will turn you into a male version of your race (and keep your tree form buffs). :)

Comment by 10620

The whole idea behind all of the Bronze/Infinite Dragonflight shenanigans is that regardless of what altruistic goals the Infinites APPEAR to have, messing up the timeline will result in the destruction of Azeroth. Basically, all of the awful crap that happened from the Dark Portal on is what led to the Alliance/Horde getting their ducks in a row and giving such a good fight back to the bad guys (the scourge, the elemental lords, Nefarian, Illidan, etc...which is all canon now if you read quest/NPC dialog. WotLK assumes you've cleared pretty much all of the raids before it). Even if you save Stratholme/close the Dark Portal/etc. The Legion still finds Azeroth and without the trials/heroes/coincidences of what "really" happened to toughen up the Alliance/Horde, successfully destroys it.

Well, assuming you can trust the Bronze Dragonflight, which is pretty notorious for not giving a %^&* about mortals as long as they don't muck with time.

Anyway, this instance should be a laugh for most groups on normal. A progression on NORMAL if you're packing a group where no one has done the instance (from a Prot Warrior’s perspective):
-

Everyone zones in and talks to Chromie in the basement of the inn. Get the quest and talk to Chromie until she gives you a disruptor.
Zap the glowing cases of grain that litter the area. After 5 are zapped, a crier will announce that everyone needs to go meet Arthas.
Go up towards Stratholme and meet Chromie again to get the next part of your quest. When you chat her up, Uther and Jaina show up. Lots of yakking ensues. After the drama is over talk to Arthas and start the event.
Now you’re in Stratholme. Mal’Ganis will introduce himself and the event will start. Arthas will tell you to go on ahead and kill his “minions” while he and his forces cull Stratholme (and by cull I mean just sit there at the entrance like a lump while you do all the work).
This is where you actually get to play! The whole town is covered in non-elite zombies that constantly respawn, but they die in a stiff breeze. A “wave” counter will pop up, and then a group of elite mobs will spawn at a random location in town, which will be marked on your map with a flag and called out by a crier. Go kill these groups, and as each one dies another will spawn in another location. And yeah, it’s random. You may be running all over the place if your luck stinks.
After 5 waves, Meathook shows up. He’s a pretty typical abomination: he hits hard, has a AoE disease fart, and frenzies. He does have one annoying ability that he’ll likely use on your healer over and over and over and that is constricting chains. It’ll stun the victim for 5 seconds and do damage over time. Annoying but easy boss.
5 more waves Salramm shows up. He’ll frequently "steal flesh" the tank, lowering the tank’s damage (and threat) and increase his own. He’ll also randomly shadowbolt people for a fair amount of damage (3-4k I think unresisted). More annoyingly however he’ll summon 2 ghouls regularly, which he’ll explode for around 4k. A decent healer can heal right through this, but if it’s a problem have the melee back off until they explode after the ghouls show up (or burn them down very quickly and get away). Even a warrior tank can easily AoE them down in short order.
The free-roaming part of the instance is now over. Arthas will go to the Town Hall and wait for you. After you talk to him he’ll lead you through the Town Hall and 4 waves of the Infinite Dragonflight. It’s to be noted though you get a good 2-4 seconds from the Infinites warping in to them attacking so it’s not nearly as jarring as Thrall’s suicidal rampage from Durnholde.
At the end of the town hall Chrono Lord Epoch shows up. He’s another pushover but out of all the bosses here I came the closest to dying here. He melees pretty hard, and delivers a mortal strike knockoff that lowers healing effectiveness. His two other abilities include a curse that raises ability costs by 100%, and “Time Warp” which is basically like Kargath’s Blade Dance without the cleave + a slow effect. After he’s dead, talk to Arthas again to keep moving.
Arthas will lead you through the now burning stratholme. There’s a handful of elite mobs along the way. When you reach Market Row Arthas will stop again. Talk to him when you want to go fight Mal’Ganis.
Mal’Ganis will attack almost right after he addresses Arthas, so be ready. TURN HIM AWAY FROM THE GROUP. He’ll cast a carrion swarm regularly which is a cone AoE that is easily healable if it’s only hitting the tank, randomly mind blast people (not interruptible or reflectable, because why would spell reflect be useful), and more annoyingly randomly sleep people (if by random you mean: always the healer). Free loot. He’ll stop fighting at 1%, lecture Arthas, and disappear. A chest will appear with 2 items like the chess event from Kara. You’re done!

Comment by saud

u know what would be cool if blizz makes a dungeon like the black morass that is making u join arthas and kel thuzad summonin archimonde

Comment by 152867

Some notes about CoS:

There is a direct portal to the Caverns of Time in Dalaran.
Edit: The portal is in the Violet Citadel, upstairs at 25, 50.
Since you don't technically "kill" Mal'Ganis, after you defeat him, *you do not get any rep!*, at least not in normal mode (someone who has done heroic please chime in here). I hope Blizzard fixes this.

Comment by 298533

I've tried to save the guardian on heroic mode, too hard for our group.

Apparently you'll need all of you to have at least 2-3K DPS or else you won't make it in time.
The location of the guardian is just before Mal'Ganis ( the last boss ) and odviously it's hard running the Culling heroic in 25 mins.

Also the boss at the guardian is a 100% drop rate mount, a proto-drake. Good luck if you try beat the clock and get to the boss :)

And also on the last comment.... no you get no rep for Mal'ganis on heroic either!
I only just realised lol

Comment by 271275

I've noticed that there are an awful lot of cats in Stratholme, and an awful lot of rats. The two seem to peacefully co-exist.

Rats are renowned plague spreaders, which can only lead me to one conclusion: Cats are agents of the Scourge.

It makes perfect sense, they seek to overthrow humans and take what they believe to be their rightful place at the top of the food chain, so rather than kill the furry death-bringers, they let them spread the plague they contract from the infected grain and turn the once fine city into a diseased time-bomb.

I mean, for God's sake, there's even a cat in Naxxramas (https://www.wowhead.com/cata/npc=16998), no doubt spying on the entrance for Kel'thuzad!

STOP THE CATS! VICTORY FOR HUMANOIDS! LOK'TAR OGAR!

Comment by Ubran

Scroll, scroll, scroll, more of the same stuff from 15 posts ago, scroll scroll...

Can this all be condensed into one post, or maybe just have a video submitted of culling of Strat? I could make it.. :P Scrolling through all that just to see if anyone posted anything about the instance is kinda, ya know, aggravating.

Comment by relvap

stupid question probably.

does it (like Black Morass) requires you to do the previous CoT instances?
probably not, but want to check before i leave the lvl range

Comment by Menza

If you doesnt like the rep you get in instance get friendly with a WoTLK faction and buy a tabard, could be Kirin Tor. Tabard is buyed in Violet Citadel. Btw to get timed boss you should try not to wipe and kill as many waves as fast as you can. I tryed to fail with 1min, everything counts, hope it helps just a little.

Comment by Kathucka

Note that this instance and Gundrak have no jewelcrafting recipe drops. All the other heroic/80 dungeons do (The Oculus drops the recipe only in non-heroic).

Comment by 131361

the "back door" is here too but you cant get to it since its past the "wall" that stops you from going to far off. if it wasn't past that wall you could open it with the key or lock picking

Comment by 312360

Does anyone know what the required level is for entering this instance?

Comment by 256123

I didn't notice anyone say anything about this so I figure I'll put up a post:
On the path to the city, when you come to the fork in the road with a sign of the right, the sign pointing to the city has a typo in it. It reads "Strathholme" when it should be "Stratholme"

Comment by 309638

A really well done instance imo, blizz did a great job at recreating the event, as im sure anyone who's played WC3 would agree.

For people just hitting 80, this can be a challenging instance, especially the first boss. Meathook hits like a mac truck and stuns the healers to boot. This guide gives some good tips on how to deal with Meathook, and as well as Mal'Ganis' sleeps.

Comment by 159331

In WC3, in process of slaughtering Stratholme, the one thing that completely amused me, that Arthas, still, by habit when got clicked on him, kept saying "I'm here to help".
Lol, kinda odd.

Comment by 275211

guys what is the minimum level for this? is it 75 or 80? coz im 74 and I cant get in for the achievement = [

Comment by lolkitteh

In this dungeon, you will be turned into a human. Just a little note.

Comment by Stigmata

Remember the side entrance to strat in epl?

It's here too. It says if you have key to the city it can be unlocked. However the invisible wall of devs prevents you from getting to it.

Comment by d3xx

There is a portal from Dal to Tanaris. Its in the Violet Citadel.

Comment by Puchatek

i have a pretty sweet idea how Blizzard would have made Mal'ganis the hardest boss ever in WoW.. seriously.. it just requires placing trigger in front of him with.. hm, imagine.. you are going towards Mal'ganis.. slowly, in patience.. and suddenly.. leaping from behind the corner..

"TIMMMEH!"

pretty hard to defeat this encounter with patience and behaving with dignity, yay?

Comment by Sallara

On the timed run, it's basically a clone of Stratholme normal, because in the normal one, you have to kill Baron and save Ysida in 45 mins, in this one, you gotta kill Infinite Corrupter and save the guardian of time in 25 mins.

Comment by 158339

You know...Lorewise, if all these random adventurers (us) know about CoT, then surely the Argent Dawn/Sylvanas/Varian Wrynn might find out about it, take an army into the Culling, kick Arthas' royal rear end, and then...everything's okay-ish. No Scourge. No Blood Elves. No Blight. No Forsaken. No Archimonde (and technically no https://www.wowhead.com/cata/npc=17989). No big bad voodoo. And -especially- no OP DKs.

Think about it. You know it makes sense.

Comment by Roguesoldier

I don't think that this has been post yet, but:

If you don't start the event with Arthas, you can explore the instance. There are about 5 vendors who are within the buildings(Except for one).

- Repair vendor can be found in the building that is straight across the first road you walk down
- Fruit vendor can be found in the "couldisac" on the left side of the instance
- Flower vendor can be find in the "Market Square"(I believe that's what it's called) She sells the flowers that are sold in Dal, plus a flower called Stratholme Lily . 20g
- Across from there you can find the Ammunition vendor. Sells ammo

There is also a cook somewhere in the instance, didn't see him though but a friend told me about it

Also, there is a repairman on the road to where Arthas and his troops are camped out.

Comment by Contender019

I'm a little confused. I have a 76 NE fury warrior, what level do you need to be to enter this instance because I need that two hand sword that looks like a viking ship.

Comment by Contender019

lol i know a rarehunter- also calls himself hypnos

Comment by 237486

Most of you are forgetting that this was already planned out. In Warcraft3, the "master" had already seen this. So it can't be changed. One way or another. It would of still happened.

Comment by 237486

Most of you are forgetting that this was already planned out. In Warcraft3, the "master" had already seen this. So it can't be changed. One way or another. It would of still happened.

Comment by 258919

Yeah,but where is point going into this instance,if you're Horde?Orc & Trolls (even Undead?) side by side with Arthas?Kinda not logical...(Sorry for mistakes...)

Epic lewtz?

Comment by 281025

can anyone tell me what requires there are to a tank to be enable to do the the instance on heroic plzz? :)

Comment by Darthmrkew

Side note: If Arthas dies, you don't have to reset. Just run through city to town hall and walk behind the bookshelf.

Comment by 66957

You can obtain a total of 7 emblems of heroism when this is the daily heroic.

Comment by 197388

Sorry but I was hoping the comments would explain this instance :D Someone point in the right direction of that info? Don't get me wrong the lore/history is amazing :)

Comment by 110578

So far this only works on undead, but it seems upon eating a mgic eater and getting a transform debuff an undead can permanently lose the human illusion buff for the rest of the duration of your instance (or until you die of course).
So for those undead who hate how they look in human form or just loathe the humans all together fish up some magic eaters in the dalaran sewers and you can bounce around as your normal self.

Comment by 425361

sorry for the question, but can we do the culling of stratholme without doing old hillsbrad foothills, the black morass and the hyjal summit ?

Comment by Okacz

Well, if the Arthas would die:
1) Kel'Thuzad won't be ressurected
2) Therenas Menthril would be still alive
3) Sunwell would not be destroyed
4) No Forsaken
5) No Scourge
6) No DKs
7) No Archimonde
8) No Illidan (well, he wouldnt be so demonic)
9) And so on
So there would be NOTHING to do in WoW.
Nobody would play such a game.
By completing CoS, you are actually saving Blizzard from loosing all players:P

Comment by 389766

I really think they should have put more references to modern WoW like Old Hillsbrad did, but sadly, no.

Comment by TrollTrain

can 78s enter this instance? for the 2h sword

Comment by 318841

Next CoT instance will be in Northrend where Arthas gets Frostmourne and kills Mal'ganis like in last mission with humans in Wc3 RoC. I hope they will set it as raid instance and make some speed at walking :p

Comment by madarra

tested
a good group for this is 3 ret paly dps
1 prot paly tank
1 holy paly healer Holy Wrath rulz

Comment by hagelslag

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/5253/tallstriders.jpg

Take a look at that screenshot... Normally i just race past this point straight to Corruptor and then to Mal'ganis, but a party member DCed so we did some sightseeing...

There are dead tallstriders here, which are native to Kalimdor. The humans only set sail for Kalimdor after the culling of Stratholme took place... So how can these be here?

Comment by chinmi

Don't know if this is mentioned before. But if you're a druid and you're on The Culling Of Stratholme, we usually only see the human CoS model if we were on caster form. We still gonna be in bear form/cat form/tree form/moonkin form if we change to that form.

If u still want to be a human CoS model in bear form/cat form/tree form/moonkin form, before you change to that form. eat one Savory Deviate Delight to change into the pirate or ninja human model. and then when you're in that pirate/ninja model. change to any shapeshift form you like, either it's bear form/cat form/tree form/moonkin form. and you gonna be in normal CoS human model, but you're actually in a bear form/cat form/tree form/moonkin form.

I tried that on my druid in 3.2.2, and it works :)

Comment by 422049

KOREON REVIEWS: CoS.

Well, pretty cool for those lore fiends, those waves are kind of annoying and boring. Bosses are ok, nothing much.

Negatives: Arthas walks too slow, boring fights.

Positives: Easily attainable epic flight mount, great shield for starting tanks.

8/10 I guess.

Comment by Tren

With the Hallows End event currently ongoing, i noticed that even CoS has been decorated for the event. Lorewise, this doesnt go, the forsaken had yet to be liberated. Logically speaking, as we are still entering the same event in time, even if Hallows End existed, the decor would have remained the same as the past few times we entered the instance (pre Hallow's End).

Comment by 439436

I think this is the best Raid Instance ever.....because you Travel Trought the time.....but Blizzard should putted there Mal'Ganis

Comment by SpectraKitty

Guys, gals, there's nothing to do there except quests. It isn't hardly a dungeon at all. No active enemies to kill. IT'S A SAFE ZONE! ROTFL! I think Blizzard shut it down.

Comment by Fireroflmage

I like this instance because we finally get to see Human Shamans, Druids, and Hunters, pre-Cat

Comment by 242565

the final speech of Arthas befor the Mal'ganis encounter sounds funny. "...one on one..." he says. I was pretty sure that 6>1, but if Arthas says so...

Comment by Recipe

Add for Urggs comment.

If Arthas would never culled Stratholme, the Jaina Proudmoore would stay with him, she would die with him, humans would never get to kalimdor (+dwarfes, ofc) and in battle for mount hyjal...well elfs would have to do their own bussines

Comment by Merylyan

An odd fact is that Stratholme, at least in Warcraft II, is (was) a coastal city with a developed harbor, which was home to a number of oil refineries.

These refineries were destroyed by the Horde in this mission.

I find a little odd that Stratholme seems to never had reconstructed its harbor, or maybe it's Blizzard's laziness that we don't see it.

Comment by 528789

If you need to repar before the start of the event that starts the instance there is a blacksmith shop that you can repair at that i found pretty cool. Just a little note.

Comment by Dusklight

Outside the instance portal is a town. Everyone object in that town is frozen in time.

Except one.

Yes, a horse beats the mystical time powers of dragons. The horse (which is being ridden by a frozen guard) does all of the epic horse mount idle animations. I suppose that shows that horse > dragons.

Comment by Naturell

This instance is based on Stratholmes' past, about seven years ago. You will begin by talking to Chromie. She will hand you a device to help you purge the plague out of 5 crates. After this agonizing event, you will talk to Chromie again in front of Stratholme and wait for Arthas, Uther and Lady Jeina Proudmoore. Arthas talks to Uther and Jeina about purging Stratholme completely, becuase of the plague. After this painfully long talk, including inside Stratholme when Arthas talks to Mal'Ganis, you will finally get to kick some ass. You will have to destroy 10 waves of Scourge, including 2 bosses. After killing a few infinite dragonflight guys and their boss, you will soon be at Mal'Ganis himself. Defeat him and voila, you're done. On Heroic difficulty you can choose to do this dungeon on timed mode, wich means when you start you have to advance in 25 minutes until you save the Bronze Drake from another Infinite Dragonflight boss. If you do this, you will recieve a 280% speed flying mount. It is 100% drop rate, but only one in the group can have it.

Comment by 91284

So no love for the waiting in this dungeon? Hate the waiting. Or were is simply omitted in the patchnotes?
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/#3.3.2

Comment by 212003

from 3.3.3 patch notes:

The Culling of Stratholme
Players may now skip the initial introduction dialog to this dungeon once they have completed it at least once.

Rejoice!

Comment by Sincloud

With the addition of Patch 3.3.3, you will be able to skip the introductory dialogue that takes forever to do.

I started the event once, fell asleep at my keyboard for a bit, and then came back and still was doing good.

Comment by 177124

As of the latest patch 3.3.3, you can no longer use orb of the sindorei in here, possible because it bugs out the human disguise. This has removed my favourite pass time of ingame sex change- drink pygmy oil till you shirnk to gnome and get the sex change ( for some reason) then use orb of sindorei, cue sex and race change, when the orb wears off you will be the opposite sex :P

Why blizz have to fix little things that are so much fun is beyond me ....it affects gameplay in no way shap or form...

Comment by 43225

Culling by definition is remove certain members of a group based on desired characteristics. It is a term used in breeding or livestock.

Also, culling is a term used for 3d graphics, where its determined which face of a polygon is to be drawn.

Comment by 423556

Has anyone noticed that there is now a group of NPC townfolks in front of the Town Hall? I swear they weren't there when the last time I did Culling of Stratholme a couple months ago.

Comment by 630737

I once found a glitch in here. I play an 80 shadow priest, and I had the Iron Boot Flask.
I somewhat forget how this goes but it's something like you put on the Iron Boot Flask, then use Dispersion. And then after it's over I think it removes the Iron Dwarf look.
BUT, it also swaps your gender. I got freaked out when I discovered that little bug ;)
EDIT:
Why downrate? All I did was post a true story that happened to me.
Is it because you can't use the Iron Boot Flask in CoS anymore? That happened MONTHS before they did that.

Comment by Jesterzzn

Footman 1: All these damn toonbacks coming from the future and killing all these infected people for us.

Footman 2: Dey took rrrrrrr jobs!

Comment by 181960

Blood Elves DO have self control, in fact one of the first things the BE questgivers from the starting area recommend the player is to learn controlling one's hunger for magic, to avoid becoming one of the Wretched.

If there is only one lesson you deign to remember from your time on Sunstrider Isle, let it be this - control your thirst for magic. It is a thirst unending, <name> - what you absorb must be controlled and released via Arcane Torrent. Failure is to become one of the Wretched... hopelessly addicted and insane.

As for the "propaganda", well, if you've played WC3 expansion (The Frozen Throne) you can pretty see why the Blood Elves hold grudge against the Humans. Kael'thas and his men were more than willing to put aside the fact that the guy who wiped out the high-elven kingdom used to be the prince of a nearby human kingdom, and offered to help what little remained of Lordaeron forces against the Scourge; unfortunately, the human commander in charge back then was sort of racist human-supremacist and repeatedly refused the help of Kael'thas' elves, forcing the elven prince into the alliance with Illidan and his Naga.

Which is the reason behind the corruption of Kael'thas and his later betrayal towards his Blood Elves and the Horde as a whole.

The Blood Elves have green eyes following the consumption of fel magic, which they resorted to do in order to quell their hunger - this doesn't mean they got corrupted by it, as much as a warlock doesn't automatically get corrupted even though he or she meddles with fel energies.

Another big difference is that they abandoned their faith in the Holy Light, and now use its powers pretty much like the Forsaken do - that is, by bending it with their will.

Comment by 726251

hi guys i need a way to find the dungeon locations
pls...................

Comment by 435573

To those who didn't do it and have now leveled past it: it's easy to solo even as low as 82. BUT: I did that on a prot pala, so your mileage may be different for other classes. Was using the CoT portal as an easy way to get to dig sites and thought: "why not?" and did solo 3 of the CoT dungeons there just for the achieve. Not a single death, but a word of advice on this one:
- If you're soloing this you'll take your time but Arthas won't! Make sure to tank Malganis so that Arthas is behind him or he may die form Malganis' cone-like AoE... Malganis was like at 2/3 of HP and Arthas was already below 50% when I looked at his HP and remembered to turn Malganis around.

Edit: BTW, some more info for Pala's looking to solo this, especially if trying b4 85: 1/3 of my self-healing came from Seal of Insight, and the remaining 2/3 from Word of Glory; only threw in a few Divine Light. As for damage, 1/3 from Hammer of the Righteous, 25% from Avenger's Shield and the rest from Melee, Judgement, Holy Wrath (despite being only 6% it helps to spam when available as most mobs are stunned for a few secs, giving you a welcome rest from incoming dmg) and finally Hammer of Wrath and Consecration, which only accounted for 4% of the dmg even when I made sure to keep that up as much as possible. I did all this in quest greens and only w/ a +20 stats elixir and no enchants. So if you're there, give it a try and focus on keeping HP up. At first I didn't even catch up with the waves of mobs, which meant that, in one particular situation, I had to deal with 2 such groups on one spot. That's the sole time I had to use Divine Shield to throw a couple Divine Light at me. Other than that, focus on keeping your HP high as you may get a couple stuns, especially from some bosses. I also used Resistance Aura, only replacing with Retribution Aura when fighting melee only mobs. In total, 5,3 M dmg done and 1,7 M dmg taken, with 1.9 M healing done (difference goes to the dmg absorved from the protective shield from overhealing with Word of Glory).

Comment by Mydge

I tried to solo this as an 85 feral druid.

One of the mobs gives you a poison debuff that ticks for 15% of your total health every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Makes it a difficult solo as the mobs just reapply it when you dispel.

Comment by George14

Can this be soloed with an 85 Arcane Mage? reply fast plz

Comment by Esploratore

@George14: I don't know, I've never played a mage.

@Midge: the one who does this debuff is the tomb spider, or something like that, however the spider between those, he damaged me for 16.000 every time, so I tried to kill spiders first.

Soloed this at normal as a level 85 arms warrior with about 320 item level, mal'ganis was quite challenging, as I survived with 20.000 hp; then today I soloed it at heroic with 337 item level; previously I had had problems with the infinite troops, because arthas has only 63.000 hp and they killed him before I could kill them.

This time I tried to time right challenging shout, bladestorm, and other abilities used to force the enemies to attack me instead of arthas, or to damage them more quickly, and I made it.

The other bosses were ridicolous as a warrior, just dps and it's done, I'm even bad geared, actually.

Victory rush also helps a lot clearing the non-boss waves, especially with glyph of victory rush it healed me for over 43.000 each time.

Mal'ganis was quite easy with this little gear improvement, he mostly attacked me, but his area of effect damaged arthas till under 20.000, but I killed it in time.

Couldn't get the achievements "culling of time" and "zombiefest", though: for the first one there wasn't enough time, as for the second one zombies hit for over 500 and if you stockpile too many of them it's hard to survive as a warrior, even with blood craze and field dressing.

I'll most probably retry both, anyway, "culling of time" isn't going to be hard.

Comment by Infiniti

To anybody trying to solo this, kill the Tomb Stalkers first! They have an ability that takes off 15% your health per tick. Apart from that, this place is cake.

Comment by TheRealLink

Just tried this last night as my 83 Fury Warrior (Nightelf). It took awhile to guide Arthas along and figure out to kill the main bosses of each wave but it did go successfully (normal mode solo). The further in you go though, you do need to keep up! As others said, Arthas wastes no time from fight to fight and by the end I was worried he'd be pummeled to death before I could get there (and loot the previous fight). Thankfully, he was fine.

Arthas was on my side taking the AoE from the final boss as well and while the attack did damage Arthas greatly (less than half HP remained at the end), he did live while I took the boss down. "What remains..." by the way in that crowded courtyard is a large tomb casket by the stairs behind where the boss appeard, in case you were wondering.

Definitely this seems like one of the best instances so far. The music, quality, sheer amount of voice acting, and that whole "let's kill this town" feeling of sadness made it all fantastic to experience.

Comment by 819797

Stratholme has brewfest banners.

Comment by 752995

Easily soloable as 85 Protection warrior. Glyph victory rush for a little extra healing. Make the Tomb Stalkers (spider guys) your number one kill priority - use stuns and interrupts. Their debuff can kill you if you don't notice it ticking on you.

For transmorgrification an excellent unique model shield drops off the last boss Royal Crest of Lordaeron

Comment by Adamsm

Well we know why the Infinites wanted Arthas dead now: To stop one of their top leaders from being killed in the far off future, since if the Third War were to never happen, Thrall wouldn't be around to go into the Future to help us kill him.

Comment by Neepz

This is an awesome instance if you're grinding rep using tabards. After you beat the first 10 waves and fight through the Town Hall you can leave Arthras at the back door to the hall and just keep killing everything along the last section before Mal'Ganis.

They repop super fast so just stay there til you're bored or capped on rep.

Comment by Lawliet

If you've previously completed the instance, the following option appears when first talking to Chromie in the basement:

Chromie, you and I both know what's going to happen in this time stream. We've seen this all before. Can you just skip us ahead to all the real action?

Chromie will then offer to teleport you directly to Stratholme, to which you can reply with a big yes, please!

This will drop you right behind Arthas and his line of defenders at the start of Scourge wave 1.

Comment by Shankney

Level 85 Arcane Mage with somewhat decent gear had trouble doing this. All was well till Wave 5, then I kept dying. No matter how many times I Time Warped and Mirror Imaged I could only wipe him 50% then I would die..

It probably is solo to majority of tanks/leather/plate/mail but if you are a clothy I think you need a friend with you, unless you have amazing gear and can crit very high.

Comment by George14

I don't know if this is a bug, but Arthas doesn't have to make it to Mal'Ganis(through the alley) alive for Infinite Corruptor to spawn. Hunters, druids and rogues will have an easy time here.

If you think about it, Arthas is only needed to spawn Mal'Ganis. People going for the mount just need to get to the Corruptor. You just need patience.

Comment by LorB

Not hard to solo (heroic) on a feral druid. Stay in cat form for the first part, then go bear to escort Arthas.

Comment by Quesac

I went back through with this to grind some rep for titles and such. Chromie made me do the beginning quest all over, AND he made me sit through that little drama theater with Arthas and Uther. I know I've run this many times back in the day, I even showed up to the entrance on the Bronze Drake . I don't know if it's a bug, or if it was reset intentional with Cata. Be prepared if you haven't done this in a while.

Comment by Kaeldraa

What level do I have to be to enter this instance?

Links

The Culling of Stratholme

Caverns of TimeOld Hillsbrad FoothillsThe Black MorassHyjal SummitStratholme PastMeathookSalramm the FleshcrafterChrono-Lord EpochMal'GanisInfinite CorruptorTanarisCaverns of TimeBrood of NozdormuThe Culling of Stratholme

The Culling of Stratholme

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