Naxxramas
From WoWWiki
| Naxxramas | ||||
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| Nax, Naxx | ||||
 The Naxxramas loading graphic | ||||
| Location | Plaguewood, Eastern Plaguelands / Dragonblight, Northrend (WotLK)[1] | |||
| Race |   Scourge
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| End boss | Kel'Thuzad | |||
| Instance info | ||||
| Type | Raid | |||
| Advised level | 60-70 | |||
| Player limit | 40 | |||
| Key | The Dread Citadel - Naxxramas | |||
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Bosses
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| Other Raids | ||||
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Naxxramas is a 40-man raid instance floating above the Eastern Plaguelands. It has the shape of a necropolis and has the questionable honor to serve as the seat of one of the Lich King's most powerful officers, the dreaded lich Kel'Thuzad.
The instance was regarded as the most difficult before the release of Burning Crusade, and should not be attempted without at least 40 well-equipped (preferably Tier 2 or Tier 2.5 armor) players. Naxxramas is also the home of many of the pre-BC most powerful items, and 60+ quests with rewards such as [Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian] and all Tier 3 items available in the game. With the release of The Burning Crusade, finishing this instance still requires 20-30 well-equipped level 70 players. The dungeon was added in patch 1.11, making it the last non-expansion instance added to the core game as well as the last 40 man instance in non-expansion World of Warcraft.
Recently it was announced that with the release of the new Wrath of the Lich King expansion, Naxxramas will be moving back to Northrend, where it will be retuned to be the first raid dungeon where it, as well as all other raid dungeons will have a 10/25 man version. [2]
The move is not a retcon, but a progression of the storyline. Naxxramas was indeed in the Eastern Plaguelands, but after Kel'Thuzad's phylactery was given to the treacherous Father Inigo Montoy, the lich was able to revive himself and make the transition along with his fortress.
Contents |
History
An ancient Nerubian ziggurat, Naxxramas was torn free from the ground by agents of the Lich King to serve as Kel'Thuzad's base of operations as he spreads the plague throughout Lordaeron.
Due to Kel'Thuzad fighting a war against the Scarlet Crusade, the Argent Dawn, the Forsaken and the humans of the Alliance, as well as constant incursions of adventurers from every race and nation into the Scourge-controlled Plaguelands on a daily basis, his forces have been severely taxed to maintain the security of his necropolis. But now the gates of Naxxramas are open, Kel'Thuzad's new forces are rapidly sweeping away all opposition to the Scourge.There are also rumors about adding a questline for the cleansing of the Corrupted Ashbringer including Lord Tirion Fordring of the Silver Hand himself though ingame quest text says the cleansing of the Corrupted Ashbringer is impossible.
Road to damnation
Blizzard has posted a short back story for Naxxramas on the official site: Road to Damnation
Gaining entry
To enter Naxxramas, you must become attuned through the Argent Dawn by completing 
[60] The Dread Citadel - Naxxramas, whose cost varies based on reputation level.
Attunement costs
| Honored | Revered | Exalted |
|---|---|---|
| 5 [Arcane Crystal]
60 | 2 [Arcane Crystal]
30 | Free |
If you choose to become exalted with the Argent Dawn, you can complete the attunement for free; however, this requires a great deal of work. The reputation reward for the entrance quest is 500 rep for a character currently Revered.
For more information on the Naxxramas attunement quest or the Argent Dawn, see the following resources:
Teleport spire
The teleport spire in the middle of the Plaguewood [39, 26] is the only way into Naxxramas. After becoming attuned, one must step onto the runic circle in the center of the spire to teleport into Naxxramas' center chamber.
Dungeon information
Although glimpses of snowy terrain can be seen out the windows in each corner of Kel'thuzad's room, it is important to note that his chamber is still within Naxxramas. What you are seeing out those windows is Northrend, through portals from which Scourge emerge during the encounter.
Maps
- A map from BlizzCon how Naxxramas looks like: Necropolis Naxxramas instance (registration required with IGN)
- Map of Abomination Wing: Here
- Map of Plague Wing: Here
- Map of Deathknight Wing: Here
- Map of Spider Wing: Here
- Map of Frostwyrm Lair: Here
- Map for Atlas: Here
- Large size map: Here
- Tactical map (large): Here (.png)
- Tactical map (huge): Here (.tif)
- Map for Sapphiron and Kel'Thuzad: Here
Structure
Naxxramas is structured like a giant wheel. Players enter at the center of the Necropolis, and then choose 1 of 4 wings to progress through:
Abomination Wing
- This wing is filled with abominations, of course. It is likely to be the most physically intensive wings, as abominations are known to hit rather hard. The slimes there deal heavy nature damage too. The final boss is the "Frankenstein's Monster"-esque Thaddius.
Plague Wing
- In this wing players will have to deal with various diseases. Creatures known to populate this wing include bats, gargoyles, bog beasts, oozes, and ghouls. The final boss is Loatheb, some sort of fungal monster.
Spider Wing
- This wing contains loads of spiders, as well as Nerubians and few acolytes. The final boss is Maexxna, the giant spider.
Deathknight Wing
- This wing is loaded with Deathknights, known for their combination of powerful shadow magic and raw melee skills. The final bosses are the Four Horsemen. One of the Four Horsemen is Highlord Mograine, who has an important role in the Ashbringer quest, which should be obtainable after you acquire the Corrupted Ashbringer from Mograine. The Four Horsemen are considered the hardest bosses in the instance until Kel'Thuzad.
Frostwyrm Lair
- Once the final bosses of the four wings are defeated, players will gain access to the final "wing" of Naxxramas, in which they will encounter the Frost Wyrm Sapphiron, and the lich Kel'Thuzad.
Progress
Each boss drops a different quest token for Tier 3 sets. Each boss and its drops are listed in the boss section below.
On the wall of each boss chamber and various places are some Frozen Rune objects, which requires a Word of Thawing (a tradeable drop from trash mobs) to defrost. Defrosting a Frozen Rune yields a number (4-6) of tradeable blue "Frozen Rune" items that are used in crafting frost resistance gear. Frozen Runes are also consumables, behaving like Greater Fire Protection potions (1500-2500 fire damage absorbed for 1 hour). Due to the high quality and projected need as reagents for the craftable Frost Resist recipes, it is not advisable to use these runes as consumables.
You have to beat the last boss in each wing to progress. Once you beat all four wings, you get a chance to fight Sapphiron. After you beat Sapphiron you may challenge Kel'Thuzad.
Encounters and bosses
Below is the full list of bosses (in parentheses are the Tier 3 armor part the boss drops quest item for).
There are fifteen boss encounters in Naxxramas. First full Naxx clear was done by the Horde guild Nihilum on Magtheridon (EU) on September 7, 2006 (2 and 1/2 months after Naxx came out on June 20th 2006).
The easiest wing is the Spider Wing, Instructor Razuvious being the easiest boss (arguably comparable to Grobbulus, but Grobbulus sits behind a major gear check: Patchwerk). The Plague Wing bosses Noth and Heigan are on a similar level of difficulty of Anub'Rekhan, but in different aspects (Heigan is VERY difficult in the individual coordination aspect). Abomination wing bosses are in the middle (with the exception of very easy Grobbulus), Patchwerk is commonly conceived as a hard gear check and healer's fight. The most difficult bosses, in order of rising difficulty, are Thaddius, Loatheb, Gothik the Harvester and Four Horsemen. (Thus, the wings below are listed in rising order of difficulty to fully clear.)
| Bosses | Monsters |
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Resistances
Nature
The beginning parts of 3 of the 4 wings (Plague, Spider, and Abomination) are rich in Nature damage. This is good news for players who built up their nature resistance gear in Ahn'Qiraj.
Frost
Players will need a lot of frost resistance to fight the final bosses in Naxxramas. Kel'Thuzad is a lich, but does not require a lot of frost resistance to defeat him. The Sapphiron encounter requires a very significant amount of Frost Resistance (150-200), but is NOT frost based like Ragnaros is fire based. Frost resistance gear has proven to be rather scarce thus far, luckily, the Argent Dawn has made available several armor patterns that provide considerable frost resistance and bosses in Naxxramas drop very high quality epic frost resistance pieces.
Shadow
Shadow is the third major resistance required. Death Knights and Necromancers use powerful shadow magic, and Kel'Thuzad has a few shadow spells as well. The final boss in the Plague wing, Loatheb, uses shadow based damage also. Shadow resist gear can be found scattered throughout various instances, so this shouldn't be a problem.
Fire
Certain bosses encounters need some fire resistance, like Grand Widow Faerlina and the Four Horsemen.
Loot
Naxxramas loot includes the Tier 3 raid set.
| Class | Armor Set | Class | Armor Set | Class | Armor Set |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Druid | Dreamwalker Raiment |  Hunter | Cryptstalker Armor |  Mage | Frostfire Regalia |
 Paladin | Redemption Armor |  Priest | Vestments of Faith |  Rogue | Bonescythe Armor |
 Shaman | The Earthshatterer |  Warlock | Plagueheart Raiment |  Warrior | Dreadnaught's Battlegear |
For more details, see Naxxramas Loot.
Wrath of the Lich King
Naxxramas will be moving from its location in the skies above the Eastern Plaguelands and returning to the continent of Northrend. [3] As seen in the zone trailer video and confirmed by Jeff Kaplan, Naxxramas' new location is outside of Wintergarde Keep, the main Alliance base in the Dragonblight, where Scourge forces control half of the tiered fortress.
In the third BlizzCast episode, Kaplan indicated that several boss encounters, such as Gothik the Harvester, Gluth and Kel'Thuzad, will be seriously reworked to allow for the smaller raid groups, and that these reworkings will present a challenge as these bosses were originally made for a 40-man raid. [4]
It has been confirmed that the new Naxxramas will reuse the Tier 3 models:
We don't have any details to share yet regarding the stats or bonuses on items in Wrath of the Lich King. We know that we want to use the fantastic T3 armor models, but that is all we know right now[5]
References
- ^ Boubouille (2008-06-05). Blizzcast Episode 3 is out !. Retrieved on 2008-06-06.
- ^ http://www.egames.de/?ren=news_detail&news_id=65631
- ^ http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=4464646741&sid=1&pageNo=3#40
- ^ Boubouille
- ^ Bornakk (2008-02-05). So when you bring Naxx back... Retrieved on 2008-04-17.
External links
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