The pocket guide to Zul'Farrak

Zul'Farrak is an instance for players in their late 40s. It's located at the NW corner of Tanaris. The nearest alliance gryphon point is at Gadgetzan.

WoW wiki entry
large map
small map
in-game map from Atlas

Quests

Zul'Farrak quest list.

You can pick these up just before going in, or by sharing:

Gahz'rilla / Shimmering Flats Raceway / Wizzle Brassbolts
Tiara of the Deep / Dustwallow Marsh / Tabetha
The prophecy of Mosh'aru / Steamwheedle Port / Yeh'kinya
Divin-o-matic rod / Gadgetzan / Chief Engineer Bilgewhizzle
Scarab Shells / Gadgetzan / Tran'rek
Troll Temper / Gadgetzan / Trenton Lighthammer

Tabetha is a bit hard to find since she's in a hut deep in the marsh. You might send one or two members of your group off to get that quest while somebody else collects the Gahz'rilla quest.

The two quests you won't want to miss are Gahz'rilla (for Carrot on a Stick) and The prophecy of Mosh'aru. The prophecy is a long quest series that continues in Sunken Temple. The end reward is pretty nice.

Quest chains

The "rescuing the gryphon child" quest is a long chain. You should start the chain early and advance it to the Zul'Farrak step before going into the instance. Or try advancing through it as a group to prepare for the instance.

Witherbark cages / Aerie Peak / Gryphon Master Talonaxe

This quest also takes you to the spot where you can find the Mallet of Zul'Farrak. One person in your group needs to have the mallet so you can summon Gahz'rilla. To get the basic mallet, kill and loot the named mob at the top of the Altar of Zul. Then you need to convert the mallet by going to the top of Jintha'alor, also in the Hinterlands. Kill Vile Priestess Hexx and use the mallet on the altar.

You might do this in two stages: go through Zul'Farrak once to get the medallion and advance the gryphon child quest. Then finish the gryphon child quest (killing Hexx and looting her key) and convert the mallet. Then return to Zul'Farrak to knock off Gahz'rilla.

Tactics

Zul'Farrak is mostly populated by trolls. There are a ton of yellow scarab beetles around. (Don't worry about finishing the scarab shell quest. The east side has more beetles than you dreamed of.) The trolls are grouped in twos and threes. Break up the groups using sap or sheep. Priest mind-control can also come in handy. Some of the trolls will hex you, turning you into a frog. You can be killed in frog form. Ribbit.

Advance down the entrance path, killing everything in your way. You don't really have to clear everything out here unless you want to. At the fork, go left around to where Gahz'rilla is. Watch for patrols (basilisk & a couple of trolls). Clear out all the mobs around Gahzrilla before summoning him. All of them! He tosses you into the air and you don't want to land on something unfriendly. Keep Gahz'rilla on land during the fight. He'll heal if he enters the water.

Velratha is in this area. She has the tiara and one of the two tablets for Yeh'kinya's quest.

Continue north to a very long staircase. Clear out all the mobs within reach of the bottom of that staircase. Might as well clear the whole area while you're at it. Head up the staircase. Fight the executioner at the top. One of the group will get a key from him. Drink up, buff up, and get ready for a very long fight. When you're ready, unlock the cages and release a bunch of friendly NPCs. They'll arrange themselves at the top of the steps ... and then some trolls will spawn. And then a few more trolls. And after that, some trolls will spawn. And then some more trolls. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the trolls. And when that's finished, more trolls.

Kill the trolls.

The NPCs will slowly advance down the steps as you finish with troll waves. (There are a few trolls that spawn during this phase.) At the bottom, you'll face a couple of named mobs. One will drop the Divinomatic item, and another will drop the medallion for the gryphon series. And then the NPCs will go all unfriendly on you, and you'll have to kill them too.

The one NPC that stays friendly unlocks the door to the main boss of the instance, Chief Sandscalp. He's in that central section of the map. You'll need to kill some basilisks and sandfury guardians to get at him. He & his minion are immune to stun. Some nice plate loot can drop here.

Continue around clockwise. Zum'rah is in the next section. He isn't a quest target, but might drop some nice stuff. He'll drop a totem that summons zombies; take out the totem to keep the fight manageable. Restrain your urge to click on the sand mounds in his area. They spawn zombies that aren't really worth the time it takes to kill them.

Continue SE. The next section is full of beetles. Kill as many as you need to get everybody scarab shells. They'll group if they are right next to a fight, but they're pretty easy to handle even en masse. Theka the Martyr is in this area. He has one of the two tablets.

You can now continue down a cul-de-sac to the east to kill Antu'sul. He drops a totem that summons basiliks. Put somebody on totem duty to keep this fight manageable. The totem can be hard to see through the masses of mobs, so have your tank do AoE aggro and move the mass aside. Antu'sul isn't a quest target, but he can drop some nice stuff.

After that, you're done. Clear the rest of the way around, back to the entrance passage. Head out to Gadgetzan to turn in your quests.

Description of the troll staircase is copyright 2005 Callec.

HorzaSe : Fri, 06 May 2005 08:00:36 PDT

ceej : Fri, 06 May 2005 09:00:19 PDT