Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj

Template:AQ20 Template:Raid Dungeons

Map of the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj

General

Level: 60+
# of Players: 20
Location: Southern Silithus, Kalimdor
Released: Patch 1.9
Final Boss: Ossirian the Unscarred
Abbreviation: AQ20 or RAQ

The Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj is an outdoor 20-player raid instance. It uses a similar loot system to Zul'Gurub, via tokens dropped from bosses which are used to complete quests that give item rewards. Additionally, the quests can only be completed once a certain reputation has been reached with the Cenarion Circle. The rewards are class-specific: a ring at honoured, a cloak at revered and a weapon at exalted. There is a set bonus for all three.

The entrance to the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, which is a 40-man raid instance intended to be the step after Blackwing Lair, is via a separate portal following the right path from the Scarab Wall gate.

Most of the area is mountable, however, the bug mounts from the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj do not work here.

If any member of your party is in combat then your entire party is in combat no matter where they are in the instance. However, it is possible for hunters to use Feign Death to briefly leave combat, just long enough to begin eating/drinking during a boss fight.

The trash mobs prior to killed bosses do not respawn, with the exception of the non-elite, non-aggressive scarab beetles and the elite Flesh Hunter mobs.

History

Deep within the deserts of Silithus lies an ancient and powerful race of beings known as the Qiraji. One thousand years ago, the Night Elves and Bronze Dragonflight combined their considerable powers to seal the Qiraji behind the scarab wall with the help of the children of some of the aspects. This is remembered as the "War of the Shifting Sands".

Recently it was discovered that some of the Qiraji were finding ways past the wall. Anachranos, the bronze dragon, helped the adventurers of Azeroth open the Scarab Wall to prevent more incursions. The mortal races have now banded together to confront the evil Qiraji in their own land. A champion has opened the gate and the Horde and Alliance have driven the armies of the Qiraji back into the ruins in retreat. It now falls to heros to delve into the lair of the Qiraji and put an end to their masters once and for all.Template:Cite

For further history and lore details, see Ahn'Qiraj.

Sub-Regions

Preparation

Many of the mobs in the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj use poison or nature-based attacks, so nature resistance gear would be ideal. However, nature resistance in Ahn'Qiraj seems not to be near as crucial as fire resistance to Molten Core.

Guilds who attempt the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj should not be required to be decked out in epic-quality equipment. A 20-man raid can be managed with mostly blues, and even some greens.

Likewise to nature resistance gear, Greater Nature Protection potions have some potential use in Ahn'Qiraj. However, the formula for these potions is known to sell for more than Greater Fire Protection potions.

Since the progression for the instances of this size is to go from Blackrock Spire to Zul'Gurub to the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, the type of gear to have would be ZG-level or above. Those wearing Tier 1 gear and above will find this instance a lot simpler.

Inside the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj there are two portals. The one on the left side is the portal to the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj. The one on the right is the portal to the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj.

Having at least 1 druid on your raid is not only a good idea, but essential. Entangling Roots, although unreliable, is the only form of Crowd Control that will work in AQ20. A balance Druid will shine in AQ20.

Encounters

Bosses

One of the nice things about AQ20 is that you don't need to kill all the bosses to finish it. The only ones you need to kill to progress are Kurinnaxx and General Rajaxx, and then you can head straight to Ossirian if you like.

Trash Mobs

Loot

The loot in AQ20 comes from:

killing bosses.
killing mobs.
coffer chests in the instance containing scarabs and idols, requiring coffer keys that drop off of mobs. The keys are not soulbound and as of 1.10 no longer disappear when you leave the zone. If you only recieve one (1) key it is recommended you use it on the chest near Ossirian.
If you're in an aq20 group and your group downs at least the second boss then all the mobs up to him do not respawn after a soft reset, aka 30 minutes. But, the scarab coffers do respawn along with the level 55 non-elite scarabs. So spam around and buy as many Scarab Coffer Keys as you can and then when you go on your aq20 run stay after the run is called and after 30 minutes of no one being inside the instance the scarab coffers respawn. You take your key and take them all for yourself. Typically you get one idol and 11-15 scarabs. Source
After killing Ossirian the Unscarred, his head will drop and that will start the quest the The Fall of Ossirian, which rewards the player with an epic neck piece.

For more details see: Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj Loot

Loot-quest System

AQ20 loot-quests require scarabs and idols which drop from trash mobs and Qiraji items which drop from bosses, combined with a certain level of faction with the Cenarion Circle. (Zul'Gurub used to use a similar system, but as of Patch 1.11 requires only a Hakkari item and reputation).

Players must collect ten scarab items of two certain types (two lots of five), two stone idols of a certain type, and a single Qiraji item. When a player has the appropriate collection for a particular item and a certain level of reputation with the Cenarion Circle, they can turn them in for the item.

See : Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj Quest Loot for a full list.

Quests

[60R] The Fall of Ossirian Starts with the quest item [Head of Ossirian the Unscarred]
[60R] The Perfect Poison Given by Dirk Thunderwood at Cenarion Hold in Silithus, collect the quest item [Kurinnaxx's Venom Sac] from Kurinnaxx as well as a similar item from Zul'Gurub

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