[74-76] Residentevil’s Drak’Tharon Keep Instance Guide

Drak’Tharon is where Arthas remained while searching for the Runeblade, Frostmourne. Situated in the midst of the Grizzly Hills, it is also where Mal’ganis encountered and informed Arthas of his impending death. Since that time, it has been taken over by the Drakkari Undead Trolls, responsible for raids and attacks on the Grizzlemaw Furbolgs.

INDEX-

•   Pre-Quests, Quests, and Rewards
•   Instance Mobs
•   Instance Bosses
•     Trollgore
•     Novos the Summoner
•     King Dred
•     The Prophet Tharon’ja

Available from Level 74, and designed for five men (on normal or heroic), this is an instance that is both exciting and very challenging. The presence of countless dinosaurs, undead trolls and, to top it all, the Dinosaur King, means that this is a fine example of the quality of new instances introduced in the new expansion pack.

There are 2 quests in Drak’tharon Keep you want to do while you are there. Both factions are eligible for these – First – Search and Rescue (which has only one pre-quest) and Second – Cleansing Drak’Tharon (which is the last in a string of eight). I listed and linked both of the full chains below. On a side note, if you haven’t been to this location questing before there are quests you have to pick up and complete for these 2 strings to become available. They are the only 2 quests in the camp and they are fairly easy to knock out, unlike the drawn out second quest chain. If you are here around level 74 the rewards are nice upgrades to what you may have picked up from UK or Nexus and are worth the questing.

First Quest Chain:
*Starts with – Mack Fearsen in Granite Springs (16.7, 48.3)

Seared Scourge
Search and Rescue
Head Games

Second Quest Chain:
*Starts with – Drakuru in Granite Springs (16.5, 47.9)

Truce?
Vial of Visions
Subject to Interpretation
Sacrifices Must be Made
Hearts of the Ancients
My Heart is in your Hands
Voices from the Dust
Cleansing Drak’Tharon

Quest Rewards:
Rewards from: Search and Rescue

Kurzel’s Rage
Kurzel’s Angst
Kurzel’s Warband

Rewards from: Head Games

Shameful Cuffs
Scorned Bands
Accused Wristguards
Disavowed Bracers

Rewards from: Cleansing Drak’Tharon

Enticing Sabatons
Shoulders of the Seducer
Shackles of Dark Whispers
Shroud of Temptation

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Crystal Handler– Level 75-81 (Elite). HP 21,270 – 41,704. MP 7,981 – 8,979.
o Abilities – Flash of Darkness, Flash of Darkness(H)

Darkweb Hatchling– Level 74-80. HP 8,740 – 12,600.
o Abilities – Melee Only

Darkweb Recluse– Level 70-81 (Elite). HP 64,165 – 244,510.
o Abilities – Encasing Web, Poison Spit, Poison Spit(H)

Drakkari Bat– Level 75-80. HP 5,318 – 12,600.
o Abilities – Melee Only

Drakkari Commander– Level 75-81 (Elite). HP 42,540 – 65,165.
o Abilities – Battle Shout, Frenzy, Whirl Wind, Whirl Wind(H), Whirl Wind, Whirl Wind(H)

Drakkari Guardian– Level 75-81 (Elite). HP 42,540 – 65,165.
o Abilities – Chain Heal, Hamstring, Heal, Lightning Bolt, Shield Bash,

Drakkari Gutripper– Level 75-81 (Elite). HP 41,128 – 65,165.
o Abilities – Gut Rip

Drakkari Raptor Mount– Level 75-81. HP 15,952 – 26,066.
o Abilities – Melee Only

Drakkari Scytheclaw– Level 74-81 (Elite). HP 41,128 – 65,165.
o Abilities – Rend

Drakkari Shaman– Level 71-81 (Elite). HP 44,044 – 65,165. MP 12,243.
o Abilities – Chain Heal, Heal, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Bolt(H)

Fetid Troll Corpse– Level 74-80. HP 2,056 – 3,780.
o Abilities – Melee Only

Flesheating Ghoul– Level 70-81 (Elite). HP 42,540 – 65,165.
o Abilities – Frenzy, Pierce Armor

Ghoul Tormentor– Level 72-81 (Elite). HP 38,440 – 65,165.
o Abilities – Cleave, Flesh Rot, Flesh Rot(H)

Hulking Corpse– Level 74-81 (Elite). HP 12,338 – 26,066.
o Abilities – Melee Only

Risen Drakkari Bat Rider– Level 75-81 (Elite). HP 42,540 – 65,165.
o Abilities – Curse of Blood, Curse of Blood(H), Impale

Risen Drakkari Death Knight– Level 71-81 (Elite). HP 44,004 – 104,264. MP 3,643 – 4,081.
o Abilities – Deafening Roar, Deafening Roar(H), Fear, Icy Touch, Icy Touch(H)

Risen Drakkari Handler– Level 70-81 (Elite). HP 42,540 – 65,165.
o Abilities – Back Hand, Hooked Net, Shoot, Shoot(H)

Risen Drakkari Soul Mage– Level 74-81 (Elite). HP 41,128 – 65,165. MP 3,466 – 4081.
o Abilities – Blood Siphon, Blood Siphon(H), Heal, Knock Down, Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt(H), Shadow Void, Shadow Void(H)

Risen Drakkari Warrior– Level 69-81 (Elite). HP 41,128 – 65,165.
o Abilities – Crush Armor, Ghost Strike, Heal

Risen Shadowcaster– Level 74-81. HP 1,645 – 3,128. MP 7,809 – 8,979.
o Abilities – Shadow Bolt, Shadow Bolt(H)

Scourge Brute– Level 76-81 (Elite). HP 44,004 – 65,165.
o Abilities – Heal, Knock Down, Mortal Strike

Scourge Reanimator– Level 74-81 (Elite). HP 41,128 – 65,165. MP 3,466 – 4,081.
o Abilities – Cripple, Frost Bolt, Frost Bolt(H), Unholy Frenzy

Wretched Belcher– Level 74-81 (Elite). HP 51,410 – 130,330.
o Abilities – Bile Vomit, Bile Vomit(H), Cleave, Disease Cloud

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Trollgore

Level – 74 – 82 (Elite Boss)
HP – 244,510 – 431,392

Abilities:

• Consume – Shadow Damage
• Consume – (Heroic) Shadow Damage
• Corpse Explode – Nature Damage
• Corpse Explode – (Heroic) Nature Damage
• Crush – Physical Damage
• Infected Wound – Nature Damage

Strategy:

This is fairly up front when it comes to instance boss fights, The tank not only needs to hold the mob but at times in the fight he must be prepared to move the fight to another spot in order to minimize the AoE damage.

As you are engaging Trollgore waves of troll will converge on him, they will all die fairly quickly. After Trollgore finishes off the trolls, the tank needs to move the fight away from the troll corpses. If you don’t he has an AoE spell that will explode the corpses. This attack will cause Nature Damage to all in the 5 yard radius of the corpses when it explodes.

Another major part of Trollgore’s attack arsenal is the consume ability. This is another AoE that that will cause shadow damage to all affected. This particular attack will give him a damage buff and add 2% (5% in Heroic Mode) damage increase to the damage he is dealing. Bloodworms can cause this attack to stack up extremely fast so if you have any Death Knights in you group you may want to forego the use of them.

Nevertheless you can deal with consume a couples of ways. Your first option is to simply ignore it and burn down the mob as fast as possible. If you have good dps (mages preferably) he will go down quick and the consume effect will be a distant memory. The other option is to have anyone who is not directly involved in hand to hand combat to break line of sight before he casts consume. This should greatly reduce the stack rate.

On another note if you face Trollgore in the heroic mode the consume effect stack to 10 and as I said before the damage affects from 2% to 5% so if you have a Death Knight in the group, don’t let them use their bloodworms or they will end up giving Trollgore a 50% damage buff…..

Acheivement – Consumption Junction The goal of this acheivement is to kill Trollgore before his consmue builds a 10 stack. The best way to do this is to pay attention to group placement and LoS (Line of Sight) as well as keeping up what stack number you are on. If you break LoS then it will go down if you stay in his LoS it will continue to build up. Here are some positions to put people during the fight. We used the pillar down and to the left of the stairs right up beside the wall of the stairs. Have your tank keep him in there, put your heals in the center of the room in the LoS of the Tank but out of LoS of the boss. You will need to put at least one DPS on adds. If your other 2 DPS are a melee, they will need to attack in 10 second bursts then run behind the pillar to keep Consume from stacking up. When we did this Acheivemnt we used Ventrillo to communicate but one of the guild mates found this macro on a message board and it is a good substitute if you don’t have Ventrillo. All the tank has to do is hit this macro right after The comsume debuff goes up by one this will giive the DPS 10 secs of attack and then tell them to get out of LoS.

/sw 10
/script Stopwatch_Play();
/rw === Cast consume, safe for 10 secs! ===
/in 10 /rw === Back out now! ===

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Novos the Summoner

Level – 75 – 82 (Elite Boss)
HP – 244,510 – 404,430
MP – 4,169

Abilities:

• Arcane Blast – Arcane Damage
• Arcane Blast – (Heroic) Arcane Damage
• Arcane Field – Arcane Damage; 1,665-1,935 every 1 second.
• Blizzard – Frost Damage
• Blizzard – (Heroic) Frost Damage
• Frostbolt – Frost Damage; 2,313-2,687
• Frostbolt – (Heroic) Frost Damage; 4,625-5,375
• Summon Minions – Shadow Damage
• Wrath of Misery – Shadow Damage; 1,619-1,881 every 2 seconds.
• Wrath of Misery – (Heroic) Shadow Damage; 2,590-3,010 every 2 seconds.

Strategy:

Right from the jump Novos the Summoner bubbles up with an invincibility shield that protects him from all damage so don’t bother going at him. The group also needs to stay clear of Novos because he will cast a void area on the ground around him so if anyone step in the zone they will receive nominal damage. While protected under the shield he summons adds. Most of the adds are non-elites but periodically he will summon elite adds. The group can burn down the non-elites with out having the tank initiate the fight with each one and that will give tank a chance to jump on the elite adds as soon as they appear. Priests can cast Shackle undead to help to control this onslaught of adds.

There a random amount of non-elites and there are four elite adds. Once the adds are dead Novos will drop the bubble and the void area will dissipate. Then he is fair game for the whole group to fire at will. Novos has NO aggro list so it is a free for all for the dps classes.

During the fight with him he has a few things to look for. First, he spawns some undead that have small amounts of hp and will die quickly with most AoE spells. Second, pay attention to where he spawns the blizzards in the room and stay clear of them. There is no pattern to watch for, they are totally random placements. Lastly he will cast frost bolts that will target different party members in the group so healers need to keep an eye on the casters HP too.

Achievement – Oh Novos! This achievement is kind of simple to get the goal is to kill all the adds without letting them off the steps. So the best approach I have found is to position the off tank and dps at the top of the steps, Heals in the middle and the main tank and other dps at the bottom and kill them as the come. If you didn’t let any touch the area off the steps and you kill him without dying you will get it.

Additional Notes:

Make sure to use Kurzel’s Blouse Cloth that you got from the quest Head Games after you kill Novos the Summoner. Use it on his corpse and you will get Ichor-Stained Cloth and a complete message. Otherwise, his corpse will disappear and you’ll have to wait until next time you run the instance to complete the quest.

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King Dred

Level – 76 – 82 (Elite Boss)
HP – 220,020 – 431,392

Abilities:

• Bellowing Roar – Physical Damage
• Fearsom Roar – Physical Damage
• Fearsome Roar – (Heroic) Physical Damage
• Greivous Bite – Physical Damage; 8,000 to start then 1,050-1,250 every 2 seconds.
• Mangling Slash – Physical Damage
• Piercing Slash – Physical Damage
• Raptor Call – Physical Damage

Strategy:

King Dred is a giant devilsaur. He is a bull devilsaur that watches over a pen full of raptors. Before the boss fight starts you need to clear the other raptors in the pen.

King Dred on the regular mode is fairly simple if your healer keeps the tanks health topped off because All of King Dred’s abilities are single target damage to the tank also It will be a help if all of the trash is cleared before the boss fight starts, if not when you are feared you will be sent running into more adds.

King Dred has two different roars he’ll use occasionally during the fight. Fearsome Roar will debuff players and reduce the damage they deal. Bellowing Roar is an AoE fear effect. Using anti-fear method to keep the tank from getting feared is helpful.

Watch him closely and when King Dred “raises his claw menacingly!” the tank is about to get hit by three attacks in a row and will be hit with three different debuffs which stacked together are almost always fatal. Have your tank use some cooldowns to reduce the damage done. If King Dred uses Grievous bite the target will keep getting bleed damage until the victim is healed to full health and if you don’t top them off to stop the bleed King Dred will drop Mangling slash which increases bleed damage suffered by 175%. Another attack in his arsenal is Piercing slash which reduces armor by 75%.

I have done this one 4 times now and can’t help but notice that having a death knight using army of the dead makes this a very easy encounter.

Achievement – Better Off Dred If you are in the heroic mode of the instance than you can try for the achievement for killing 6 out of the 7 raptors while fighting King Dred. The easiest way to do it is to pull the first raptor, burn him down, heal and mana up then pull the 3 pack of them and when their health is down pull King Dred and finish off that 3 pack and single pull the last 3. Good Luck it is an intense fight.

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The Prophet Tharon’ja

Level – 76 – 82 (Elite Boss)
HP – 275,025 – 512,278
MP – 3,643 – 4,169

Abilities:

• Curse of Life – Shadow Damage; 709–791 every 3 seconds
• Curse of Life – (Heroic) Shadow Damage; 2,363-2637 every 3 seconds.
• Decay Flesh – Shadow Damage
• Eye Beam – Nature Damage
• Eye Beam – (Heroic) Nature Damage
• Lightning Breath – Nature Damage; 1,388-1,612
• Lightning Breath – (Heroic) Nature Damage; 2,775-3,225
• Poison Cloud – Nature Damage (AoE)
• Poison Cloud – (Heroic) Nature Damage (AoE)
• Rain of Fire – Fire Damage (AoE)
• Rain of Fire – (Heroic) Fire Damage (AoE)
• Return Flesh – Shadow Damage
• Shadow Volley – Shadow Damage; 1,665 to 1,935 (AoE)
• Shadow Volley – (Heroic) Shadow Damage; 3,885-4,515 (AoE)

Strategy:

The final boss of DTK is a skeletal wind serpent named Tharon’ja. The first thing to remember about this fight is obviously that the group members stay out of the poison clouds or raining fire.

Tharon’ja will occasionally hit the party with decay flesh. This will turn all the players into skeletons while restoring the flesh to Tharon’ja. At this point, players loose their normal abilities and are given four abilities to use.

• Slaying Strike
• Taunt
• Bone Armor
• Touch of Life

From this point the fight is fairly simple. Players for the most part just click these four buttons and come out fine even on heroic. Use bone armor and touch of life to keep your health high since the healer won’t be able to heal during this time. Spam slaying strike to inflict damage and generally ignore taunt to let the tank keep aggro. Use taunt only if it’s really needed.

Tharon’ja will eventually decide to return flesh to the players. The fight will continue with players alternating between normal and decayed states. Make sure everyone is using Touch of Life and bone Armor every time their cooldown is up while in the decayed state and business as usual in the flesh state until he is dead.

This if my first guide so I hope someone found it useful……

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