Serpentshrine Cavern

Template:Coilfang Reservoir Template:Raid Dungeons

Serpentshrine Cavern is the raid wing of Coilfang Reservoir, where Lady Vashj has made her lair. It is a 25-man raid instance with six bosses, culminating with Lady Vashj herself. There is no longer an attunement to zone into this instance. (See Attunement Notes.)

For most raids, Serpentshrine Cavern will come only after the raid has been farming Karazhan as well as Gruul's Lair. This instance is considered to be the stepping stone to Magtheridon's Lair in Hellfire Citadel, where Magtheridon resides. The progression between bosses in the instance is not completely linear as in Gruul's Lair.

General

• Location: Zangarmarsh
• # of Players: 25
• Level: 70
• Final boss: Lady Vashj
• Abbreviation: SSC
• Key : [The Mark of Vashj]
• Released: added in the Burning Crusade

Bosses

• 6 bosses:
  • Hydross the Unstable <Duke of Currents>
  • The Lurker Below
  • Leotheras the Blind
  • Fathom-Lord Karathress
  • Morogrim Tidewalker
  • Lady Vashj <Coilfang Matron>

• Although the order above might seem to be the most 'natural' path from the zone-in to Lady Vashj, it is not the only route. The main 'cavern' is composed of a collection of large bridges and platforms above water. There are brutal fish that will tear people to shreds, but they are inside the water. By using waterwalking you can start pretty much anywhere. Creative mechanics will be needed to begin waterwalking so you don't break the water when you jump down onto it (paladin-bubbles, Slow Fall, etc...). Once on the water you can have a warlock and two others go to a convenient spot to begin clearing trash.

• An effective strategy for Lurker involves killing the trash mobs and 'boiling' the water. The water will no long have the brutal fish, it will instead do a more manageable 500 dmg every 3 seconds. The Tidewalker fight will have people randomly encased in a water sphere, and if the water has been boiled (within 2 hours) then the 'watery grave' people will take an additional ~1500 from boiling water on top of ~6k from the grave. For this reason I recommend killing Tidewalker before Lurker (unless you plan to do them on seperate days).

• I would suggest that any guild starting in SSC skip Hydross and have their first kill be either Lurker, Tidewalker, or Fathom-Lord. All three of those fights are significantly easier then Hydross. A good order for progression would be Tidewalker -> Fathom-Lord -> Lurker -> Hydross -> Leotheras -> Vashj.
  • As of 2.1, Hydross has been nerfed so he is a candidate for the first boss to go for in SSC.

Trash mobs (Not all verified )

Respawn timer on all trash seems to be 2 hours.

Pack type 1: This is the first type of pack you'll encounter as you enter, there are about 3 of these packs before hydross.

• 1x Coilfang Beast-Tamer
• 2x Coilfang Hate-Screamer
• 2x Serpentshrine Sporebat

Pack type 2: These occur on the bridge to the left after Hydross.

• 1x Vashj'ir Honor Guard
  • Has intimidating shout, and enrages.
• 2x Coilfang Priestess
  • Can be polymorphed, cast powerful heals and use Shadow Word: Pain.
• 4x Greyheart Technician
• 2x Coilfang Shatterer
  • Hit pretty hard on tanks, and they have a "Shatter Armor" ability which gives one target a 50% armor debuff. Warriors can spell reflect shatter armor if they time it right (has a 3 second cast time or so, but isn't interruptable).
  • They don't seem to be vulnerable to any forms CC.

Other

• Coilfang Serpentguard
  • Not CC'able, spell reflect regularly, Cleaves.
  • Corrupt Devotion Aura: reduces armor by 25%. Doesn't stack, so it works best to tank all the serpentguards in one area so that tanks on other mobs don't get the aura as well (just make sure they aren't going to cleave multiple tanks)
  • They don't hit tanks particuarly hard, so double tanking these is possible.
• Fathom Sporebat
• Coilfang Fathom-Witch
  • Use Shadow Nova which is an knockback for around 3k shadow damage, similar to the Prince's Shadow Nova in Karazhan. Single target shadowbolt raid members. They mind control one target at a time. Not CCable
  • Respawn time:
  • Avg Melee:
• Coilfang Frenzy
  • These fish spawn around anyone who enters the water and basically function the same way as lava did in MC, to prevent skipping of encounters or pulls. The longer you are in the water, the more spawn. They will despawn once you are out of the water
  • Respawn time:
  • Avg Melee:
• Coilfang Guardian
• Coilfang Strider
• Enchanted Elemental
• Fathom Lurker
• Greyheart Nether-Mage
  • As mage you can spellsteal these mobs to get a extra 350 fire dmg for 30 minutes. All Greyhearts may be polymorphed.
• Greyheart Shield-Bearer
• Greyheart Skulker
• Greyheart Spellbinder
• Greyheart Tidecaller
  • These are vulnerable to polymorph and fear. They also seem to be tauntable.
  • They have a poison shield they'll put up from time to time (similar to lightning shield) which can proc virulent poison on anyone who damages them. Virulent Poison ticks for about 7.5k, so poison shield needs to be removed asap and the poison needs to come off quickly as well.
  • They have a chain lightning which silences everyone it hits but doesn't hit particularly hard.
  • They drop water elemental totems, which have around 5k health and spawn elite water elementals. The elementals can be CC'd normally and despawn with the totem is killed.
• Serpentshrine Lurker
  • Similar to the first boss of Underbog that spawns mushrooms you have to stay away from.
  • Dont stand close to the mushrooms when they are exploding.
• Serpentshrine Parasite
• Serpentshrine Tidecaller
• Tidewalker Depth-Seer
  • These drop a hefty HoT on things which needs to be dispelled.
  • At lower health they'll chaincast an uninterruptible tranquility that people need to DPS through.
  • They don't seem to be CC'able.
  • Melee's on plate for ~1500-2k
• Tidewalker Harpooner
  • These will net the tank they're on (immobilize) and drop aggro (permanent aggro drop, tanks need to taunt it back).
  • They're not CC'able.
• Tidewalker Hydromancer
  • Mainly melee's
  • Frostbolts for 2600
  • These will AoE Frost Nova players in place which does ~1700 frost damage.
  • Frost shock hits for 2300 Frost damage
• Tidewalker Lurker
• Tidewalker Shaman
• Tidewalker Warrior
  • Can be sheeped and disarmed.
  • Tauntable.
  • Cleaves (frontal only)
  • Bloodthirst for 2600
  • Melee's on plate for 1000-2500
  • Gains frenzy from time to time for around 10 seconds (you'll know because they grow to about twice their size for the duration). This can be countered with a hunter's Tranquilizing shot.
  • Randomly drops aggro and jumps on someone else.
• Underbog Mushroom
• Water Walker Elemental

• Underbog Colossus
• Colossus Lurker
• Colossus Rager
  • 10-15 of these have a chance to spawn after killing a Underbog Colussus.

Attunement

As of Patch 2.1.2, Serpentshrine Cavern no longer has a required attunement to enter. The attunement quest chain remains in-game, and can be completed if desired.

1. Enter the Slave Pens in Heroic Mode.
2. Find Skar'this the Heretic captive in a cage after the first boss.
3. Complete his quest  [70] The Cudgel of Kar'desh.
   • Retrieve the  [Earthen Signet] from Gruul the Dragonkiller.
   • Retrieve the  [Blazing Signet] from Nightbane in Karazhan.
4. Return to Skar'this and he will cast [The Mark of Vashj] on you which allows the wearer to enter Serpentshrine Cavern.

Notes

See also: [[The Burning Crusade: Guild Progression for the world first kills]]

Patches and Hotfixes

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External links

gsDKP Loot table

RealmHistory Guild Progression

Method