Cleaning up Black Temple for transmogrification tier gear
Heading back to pick up some awesome armor sets from vanilla WoW or that dazzling weapon that'll have your enemies cowering in fear? Transmogrification makes it possible -- and we'll show you how!
Trying to head through the Black Temple for transmogrification gear? Be sure to check out the previous two weeks of articles for the start of Black Temple. Illidan's stronghold holds a score of villains to fight your way through, but this week we'll be discussing the last three.
A lot of raiders mistakenly thought that Black Temple was the last raid of The Burning Crusade, until they heard news of the Sunwell patch and yet more raiding content. For many players, however, Black Temple was a disappointment, not because it lacked in stunning visual scenery or interesting boss mechanics but because despite the changes to raid size, Black Temple was still not really widely obtainable. For many players, the closest look they'd get at Illidan Stormrage was The Burning Crusade trailer -- a pity, to say the very least.
Nowadays, those players at level 85 can go back and experience that content -- and I suggest you do! The Black Temple contains a lot of interesting lore and events, and the Illidan fight, while ridiculously easy, does see the return of a familiar face from Warcraft III.
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So we're down to the final three bosses in the zone, and it's a hike to get to them. Head through the doorway that opened up, and you'll be treated to the best little house of ill repute in Outland, the Den of Mortal Delights. This area is chock full of concubines and manservants, all with the nasty capacity for Mind Control, so watch yourself as you gleefully mow down everything in sight. Keep heading up through the Den, and you'll eventually find yourself outside at the end of a long promenade. All the way down on the other end is the next boss in the instance.
Mother Shahraz
Mother Shahraz has an amazing model carrying amazing weapons and one amazingly annoying ability you'll want to watch out for. Every now and again, she will choose three random targets and teleport them to a random location for Fatal Attraction. As the name cleverly suggests, standing next to the people you are teleported with will result in a fairly quick demise. If you are teleported, you need to run away from the people you've been teleported with and stay away from anyone else in your group until the debuff drops off. Other than that ability, there's little to watch for with Shahraz, and you should have her down relatively quickly.
Tier drops Hey, we've finally got some tier! Mother Shahraz drops tier 6 shoulder tokens for all classes.
Other items of interest Shahraz has some other cool stuff, too. For cloth-wearing classes, the Leggings of Devastation are another piece of recolored priest tier 6. For leather classes, Shadowmaster's Boots are a recolored version of rogue tier 6. For plate-wearing classes, the Heartshatter Breastplate is a really cool chestpiece in red and gold, emblazoned with a demon's that face -- I'd definitely recommend checking it out because it's such a unique look. Lastly, those who wield swords, check out the Blade of Savagery. It's a one-handed sword that looks exactly like the ones Shahraz is toting around, and because it is a one-handed sword, you can use it to transmogrify both your main-hand and off-hand weapon, if you wish!
Just past Shahraz's corpse is the entrance to the next section of the Temple. Thankfully, this area isn't particularly huge; it just consists of a lot of stairs. When you are fighting the mechanical construct trash, make sure not to stand in any beams the constructs happen to be placing on the ground, because they can still kill you at 85 if you aren't careful. Fight your way through the constructs and a host of fel-touched elves, and you'll soon be at the entrance to the final fighting grounds in the Black Temple.
The Illidari Council
Waiting for you is the Illidari Council, a group of four blood elves -- a mage, a paladin, a priest, and a rogue -- each with different abilities. Thankfully, you don't have to kill each boss in succession as with High King Maulgar. Instead, all four of these elves have a shared health pool, so your group can simply focus on one elf out of the four and beat it into the ground. There are a few things you have to watch for and one main thing you should avoid at all costs with this fight:
Lady Malande is the priest. She will try to heal everyone for a substantial amount of HP. If you don't have the people to out-DPS her heals (and they are huge), put your DPS on her and have them interrupt every heal she tries to cast.
High Nethermancer Zerevor will cast an AoE anytime anyone gets too close to him. You are much better off having a ranged person take on the duty of tanking Zerevor and DPSing him down while everyone else concentrates on a single target they can get close to.
You can pretty much ignore Veras Darkshadow; he can't be tanked and he'll just randomly attack people.
Gathios the Shatterer should be properly tanked. As a reasonably geared rogue, I've done this before plenty of times. Simply kite him in a circle on the floor in front of the stage, and don't stand in his Concecration.
Here's the key to beating this fight: Don't stand in anything. Seriously, nearly all damage is avoidable by simply moving out of the way. See a Consecration on the ground? Get out of it. See fire or frost raining from the sky? Don't stand there and stare at it; move out of it. This is a lengthy fight, much longer than the others in Black Temple by far, but avoiding damage and pumping out the DPS should have them all taking a dirt nap in no time.
Tier drops The Illidari Council drops tier 6 leg tokens for all classes.
Other items of interest Priests, the Belt of Divine Guidance is a match to your tier 6 set. Leather-wearing classes may like the look of the Veil of Turning Leaves; it's a recolor of the druid tier 6 set. The Forest Prowler's Helm is a recolor of hunter tier 6 that any mail-wearing class can use. And plate-wearing classes might like the blue and black Helm of the Illidari Shatterer, a recolor of warrior tier 6.
If you hadn't noticed while you were looting the bodies, Akama walks into the room after the Council is dead. Speak to him and follow him up the stairs, and watch the pretty light show as he opens the door leading to the peak of Black Temple and Illidan Stormrage.
Illidan Stormrage
For being one of the most difficult bosses in The Burning Crusade, Illidan is an absolute pushover these days -- far easier than the Reliquary of Souls or even the Illidari Council. You will, however, want to be aware of the various phases and what can happen in each before you speak to Akama and begin the fight.
Phase 1 A pretty straightforward tank and spank; simply move out of any fire that happens to land on the ground. You may also want to watch out for parasites. Illidan will occasionally cast cast it on players, and it will spawn a Parasitic Shadowfiend that should be killed immediately. Burn Illidan down to 60% health; this should take no time at all.
Phase 2 Illidan will leap into the air and throw his glaives to the ground on either side of the circular grate in the center of the room. Have all your players except two stand on the grate. A fire elemental will spawn from each glaive, leaving a trail of fire behind it. Move the elemental around the glaive, but don't pull it too far -- if you pull it too far from the glaive, it will enrage. Kill one, then the other. As with phase 1, this shouldn't take too long.
Phase 3 Illidan will land in the center of the grate and players will be able to attack him again. Ordinarily, there is a break in this stage when Illidan will assume demonic form. However, a solid group of players at level 85 will get Illidan to 30% in absolutely no time at all, triggering the final phase of the fight.
Phase 4 Illidan paralyzes everyone for a moment so that they can witness the entrance of Maiev Shadowsong and the subsequent dialogue between the two. Once they're done with their spat, you can safely attack Illidan again, and getting him from 30% to dead is easy. Watch Illidan's final moments, and then gather your loot. I hope you didn't forget to cross your fingers for a legendary drop before the fight!
Tier drops Illidan drops tier 6 chest pieces for all classes, which should complete your set. Good work!
Other items of interest Illidan's also got a lot of other fantastic loot for the taking. For cloth-wearing classes, there's the Cowl of the Illidari High Lord, a red and gold helm with spikes that look almost like they're made of bone. Leather-wearing classes, say hello to the Cursed Vision of Sargeras, the only blindfold model you will find in game at the moment. For plate-wearing classes, the Faceplate of the Impenetrable is another recolor of warrior tier 6. And for those who wear shields, the Bulwark of Azzinoth is a giant sheet of metal with spikes on it -- less like a shield and more like a chunk of fortress with a handle.
There are also a ton of weapons to be had from Illidan. Zhar'doom, Greatstaff of the Devourer is essentially a felhunter on a stick. The Crystal Spire of Karabor is a gorgeous main-hand mace with a blue glow. Hunters should check out the Black Bow of the Betrayer for another gorgeous ranged weapon option. And for dagger options, there's the Shard of Azzinoth, a bright green crystalline dagger that my guild used to call the consolation prize for not getting a warglaive.
Speaking of warglaives, Illidan has a small chance of dropping the Warglaives of Azzinoth. There are two of them, a main-hand and an off-hand, and it's random as to which one he drops. Before you get too excited, keep in mind these warglaives are only able to be wielded by death knights, rogues and warriors -- and it's wielding the blades that will give you the achievement for obtaining them. Then of course, there's the fact that you can't transmogrify legendaries on top of that, but hey, they're still amazing to have in your collection.
That's it for the Black Temple -- but we're not quite done with The Burning Crusade just yet. Come back next week, when we take the first few steps into the Sunwell and assure that the Blue Dragonflight will have a leader in a few years.
