Guide: 45min Baron

[Skahr]

Over the past few months I have seen / heard of allot of people giving up at this stage in there Tier 0.5 quest line. I am making this guide to give you some pointers and tips so you can advance farther towards your whole set. No epics are needed for this to be completed. GUARANTEED!!

1) OMG WE NEED FULL T2 PEOPLE TO DO THIS!! ::Myth:: :shocked:

It’s all about Consumables. Now I am going to assume everyone is wearing good mid level dungeon blues. (lvl 53+blues and tier0) Let me first start out by saying that FLASKS of any kind are not needed. I would suggest getting the repeatable quest items from The Blasted Lands, to increase Stam/Int/Strength/Agility. They can be stacked with buffs and consumables which is very helpful. For your melee classes, get agility/ogre strength/mongoose and superior heal pots. Casters should down some Elixir of Sages, Arcane Elixir, and use mana oils. Make sure every class had 300 first aid and bandages when they can as well. These will all help give u an edge compared to the T2 groups doing this for a guildie.

HINT: If you consume the Mongoose pot FIRST, you can then consume the agility pot, and they WILL STACK.
HINT: If you really wanted to get sick with it, you could to a DM tribute run before you go, and get the 2hr buffs from that. (+200ap / +15% of overall HP / +3% to spell crit)
HINT: You only need to engage in combat with Baron within 45mins, NOT KILL HIM.

2) STOP PULLING OR I CANT DRINK!! ::Myth:::shocked:

As stated above, do not stop pulling. After the first gate pull the spider, and a gargoyle. Then a banshee and another gargoyle until you can clear the group of three to the right. Having a back up healer (Shammy / Pally / Druid) is nice, but not NEEDED. Make sure your healer (Preferably a Priest) has a decent amount of mana in its pool. Keep pulls coming strong. If you are the healing class, start to drink during the 5-7 secs in between pulls when you are out of combat. Let your drink run its course until party is at about 50-60% HP, then jump up for a heal. Switch this off with your Mage / Lock / Hunter or other mana needing class. Try and consume as much as possible without letting anyone die. The First boss should be pulled from the center, back out towards the gate in which you entered. Fight here. (I like a rogue for this pull because of sprint.) Make sure that whoever pulls goes straight back to the wall, then around the corner near the broken down carriage, but not to go too far or agro will be pulled on the set of two caster mobs at the corner. Go around the left side of the fountain in the middle when heading to The Second Boss. This Boss should be pulled into the corner left of the tower. It can be easily fought here without aggroing the group right of the tower. Easy fight imo. The Third Boss should be pulled like the second, only to the right side of the tower instead of the left. Before pulling this boss, to be safe I suggest pulling both the groups around the tower. (Left and Right side) Do not fight the mini boss that drops the strat key. You can bypass this and save some time. Pull the two ghouls by the big gate, and stand by the "Street Sign" at the corner, back up a bit and hug tight to the wall, down these two mobs fast. Now drink up and head to the gate. Pulling two abominations is not an auto wipe, shackle one and kill the other, simple as that. I would suggest pulling these and not letting them come to you actually, this will save allot of time. Clear this room as fast as possible, and drink / prepare for the 1k skellies to come. Clear the skellies, kill the 5 elites, and head into baron. Engage in combat and that’s it.

HINT: Shackle is key for this run.
HINT: At anytime possible collect the Strat Holy Water to help at the end, but do not go out of your way to get the crates.

3) OMG ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO CLEAR THE TOWERS IN TIME!! ::Myth:::shocked:

Send your mage or lock inside with the priest. AOE TIME KIDDIES!!! Mage or lock aoe + holy nova will do the trick. Make sure you have full mana before doing this or things could go very bad very fast. Go straight up the center of the stairs on the first tower to avoid agro, and go up the left railing of the second tower to avoid agro. Be very careful when coming back outside, as to not agro un-killed groups. If you have an off-healer, keep pulling what you can, if not then just wait / eat / drink / bandage / /silly until the tower clearing is done.

HINT: I have stunlocked and done dps while the hunter and warrior killed mobs until the healer and AOE’r returned. It is possible, but not mandatory.

4) OMG WE WIPED WE’RE DOOMED!! ::Myth:::shocked:

I have done this, and still completed it! The mage pulled the whole group to the right of the tower on the second boss. We wiped, and all instantly released and headed back in, if memory serves, we still completed with 2-3mins left. Do not let a wipe ruin the moral of the run, IT IS STILL POSSIBLE!!!

LOOT: I would suggest keeping it on group loot, and doing the standard rolling system. This time if you do not need it, pass. If you need it hit need, and have your DE’r roll greed on everything, and then hand out shards at the end.

Extra: Coming from my point of view as a rogue, use dual instant poison for most of the instance. Deadly on the bosses. If you use deadly during normal clear time, it is very easy to hit a shackled mob or mob that is going to be shackled, therefore breaking it. It is optional to use cripple on the 5elite skeletons at the end, for a bit of crowd control. If you have a hunter, ice traps can come in handy in certain situations, but again, not mandatory.
If you do happen to get an Epicd out warrior to tank for you, it is sometimes better for him/her to use a 2h or DW for maximum DPS.

I hope this will be of some help to those of you that are struggling at this point in there quest line.

-Skahr

[sacrengreus]

Very nice guide, competent and well written. I'll add just a couple of things. When we run these (mostly guild runs, like you said, in Dm blues/tier 0, maybe an epic here and there) we almost would never take a warrior and take a pally instead. A pally can hold aggro vs undead exceptionally well and serves as a backup healer/rezzer should things go south. 2 is even nicer as a pally can solo clear the Zigs with almost no problem allowing everyone to continue at full speed. Besides that, practice, practice, practice. Knowing the pulls is esential to keeping your timing right. This run can be done in 35 minutes or faster with just a little practice and knowing your group.

[Morollan]

Nice guide but I think it might be helpful if you name the bosses rather than giving them numbers. Groups do them in different orders so saying "The 2nd boss" is not necessarily the same for everyone.

Otherwise, good work.

[Trepidation]

Nice guide but I think it might be helpful if you name the bosses rather than giving them numbers. Groups do them in different orders so saying "The 2nd boss" is not necessarily the same for everyone.

Otherwise, good work.

On a 45 minute run, i'm pretty sure it is...the order that is. As for adding names...you are right, it can't hurt.

[Meowyn]

I believe Boss 1 is Baroness Anastari (Mind Control Lady)
I believe Boss 2 is Nerub'enkan (spider)
I believe Boss 3 is Maleki the Pallid (human looking one)

[Skahr]

I believe Boss 1 is Baroness Anastari (Mind Control Lady)
I believe Boss 2 is Nerub'enkan (spider)
I believe Boss 3 is Maleki the Pallid (human looking one)

It is too late for me to edit, but yes that is correct. :afro:

[kek]

Stickie!!!

[Wasabee]

It needs to be fixed before sticky. (Boss names and a little more info for the path to take.) Otherwise stick it! (I mean: "sticky it")

I've been to UD strat a bajillion times, and still forget the "exact" layout.

[Dallana]

Also Agility and Mongoose don't stack. They look like they do, but if you check the paper doll screen you'll see that you only get 25 additional AP for the 2.

[Skahr]

Meowyn has posted already the boss's, and like i said its too late for me to go back and edit :( Alot of the pulls in here are common sense, I gave my advise on some of the pulls that people have MOST problems with.

Dallana: I am 99% sure that the agility and mongoose will stack and full effect will take place. i have brought up my spell book to ensure i am getting the extra crit (Almost 4% with both pots) and the extra 50ap in my char screem.

[DrOsmius]

Disclaimer: I am not saying that Skahr's guide is not appreciated, but I do have disagreements based on my successful runs (no purples involved).

1. The most important item is knowing which mobs to pull and which to skip...fighting unnecessary mobs just wastes time.

2. Consumables are not necessary, they just give a cushion. As a priest, I used 1 mana pot, and almost never drank as I would often start the pull.

3. Shackling is often a waste of time; only shackle if you get more than you intended or you want to pin a roaming flyer now (while fighting) & not have to wait for him later.

4. I prefer'd to have non-mana user(s) clear the insides of Ziggies...and they remaining 2-3 can run to the next pull and start it often after a quick drink.

I do agree about non-stop pulling, ignoring most loot, the excellence of pallies, and wiping not being certain failure. And again, the most important thing is for everyone to know what mobs are fought and what skipped, to stay together and stay focused. I was amazed at the difference that made going from a poor group (though lots of purples and fully loaded on every damn consumable possible) to a tight group that knew the plan.

Now Valthalak...hrmff...can't seem to lick him and getting a group to try is a pain....

[Pongle]

Shaman + Warrior in zerker with 2h is the horde's answer to paladins.

Crap answer isnt it.

[Skahr]

Disclaimer: I am not saying that Skahr's guide is not appreciated, but I do have disagreements based on my successful runs (no purples involved).

1. The most important item is knowing which mobs to pull and which to skip...fighting unnecessary mobs just wastes time.

2. Consumables are not necessary, they just give a cushion. As a priest, I used 1 mana pot, and almost never drank as I would often start the pull.

3. Shackling is often a waste of time; only shackle if you get more than you intended or you want to pin a roaming flyer now (while fighting) & not have to wait for him later.

4. I prefer'd to have non-mana user(s) clear the insides of Ziggies...and they remaining 2-3 can run to the next pull and start it often after a quick drink.

I do agree about non-stop pulling, ignoring most loot, the excellence of pallies, and wiping not being certain failure. And again, the most important thing is for everyone to know what mobs are fought and what skipped, to stay together and stay focused. I was amazed at the difference that made going from a poor group (though lots of purples and fully loaded on every damn consumable possible) to a tight group that knew the plan.

Now Valthalak...hrmff...can't seem to lick him and getting a group to try is a pain....

I downed Valthalak this weekend, and to say the least...HE IS NUTS! we needs to be nerfed for real. im not normally one to say this but, i had a grp of almost all Epicd people, that all know how to play there class well. Here is a little guide i followed when attempting him.

You need to summon Lord Valthalak in “The Beast's” Room in Upper Blackrock Spire. Valthalak has three phases that you need to be aware of.

Phase 1:

Valthalak has a caster type weak melee attack in phase 1. A slow, 400-500 damage to a warrior.

Shadow Wrath
A shadow-based, chain-lightning, life drain. Hits for 750 Shadow damage on the first target, and will jump to another target if anyone is close enough. Each time it jumps, it doubles in damage in the manner of Holy Wrath from High Priest Venoxis from Zul'Gurub. At the 4th jump, the damage will be 6k and lethal for most people. Being a life-drain, all damage dealt will heal Valthalak.

To counter: Burn his mana down. A Viper Sting from a Hunter is sufficient although as well as your mana drain would be helpful. Until his mana is down, keep everyone spread out and do not allow more than two people go near him. The Main Tank should fight Valthalak far away from the ranged DPS. You can also Kick Valthalak to interrupt the Shadow Wrath attack.

Spectral Assassins
These spawn two at a time throughout phase 1. They cast a Mind-flay like Defile ability (a purple vile beam) that cannot be dispelled and stuns its target. After 10 seconds, its target will automatically die regardless of health, and themselves turn into an additional stalker. The only way to end the effect is to kill the assassin, or stun/fear it.

To counter: Everyone must kill Spectral Assassins as soon as they appear. They can be hard to see and target, so hit 'v' to bring up the Mob Health panes and click on them, or use this macro: /target Spec. They are squishy targets, little or no armor or resistances, and only around 1,500 health. They can also be damaged by Area of Effect spells. If everyone helps out they will usually drop in just a couple seconds. Be very aware of any that spawn inside Valthalak and stun the MT.

Phase 2: Enrage

At 40% health, he will briefly stun all players, switch weapon and start hitting the Main Tank very hard. He stops spawning Spectral Assassins but still does Shadow Wrath if he has mana.

To counter: Have a well-geared main tank. Keep Viper Sting up and use your mana drain if you see it rising too quickly. Focus your DPS on him, and he will drop quickly. Generally easier than Phase 1.

Phase 3: Shadowbolt Volley

At 15% health, he will begin to cast Shadowbolts on the entire raid in addition to the changes in phase 2.

To counter: Everyone should have some shadow resist buffs or potions by the time this phase occurs. Healers should burn mana consumables to keep everyone alive as long as possible. DPS should blow all their cooldowns to maximize damage on Valthalak, so he won't last long.

Once you have managed to kill Valthalak, use the amulet on his corpse which will summon his spirit. Speak to the spirit to get the quest that sends you back to Bodley.


Return to Bodley
Quest Objective: Return to Bodley inside Blackrock Mountain and give him the Brazier of Beckoning.

You get this quest after talking to the spirit of Lord Valthalak! A few people have left after killing him thinking that was enough, it’s not, you must talk to the spirit as he gives you the quest to return to Bodley.


Back to the Beginning
Quest Objective: Speak with Deliana at The High Seat in Ironforge / Mokvar at Grommash Hold in Orgrimmar's Valley of Wisdom.

I suppose that this is goodbye then, my friend. But, I'll always be here if you want to come back and talk with me from time to time. Probably while you're loitering around waiting for your buddies to join you for a raid on Blackrock Spire.

And that’s it… hand in your final remaining pieces to complete the quest series!

Note: On completion of the final step you gain access to all four of the summon's from step four (Kormok, Jarien and Sothos, Mor Grayhoof and Isalien) and the ability to summon Lord Valthalak again. You are also provided with a book that you can read in game for some background on and the locations of the summonable bosses.

[DrOsmius]

Thanks Skahr...that was pretty much the information I've had going in, and we focused on doing that. Viper sting, shadow protection & shadow prot potions too. And the problem seems to be mainly that no matter what group I've been in, including groups made entirely from near-full purpled MC/BWL raiders, just cannot kill the Spectrals fast enough.

Secondly, despite having viper sting on and all mana drained, he still seems to be healing himself. As healer, I was mainly watching Val and the MT...and I swear Val's health would rise, despite having no mana. And we had a rogue in there kicking whenever Val did some sort of casting animation too.

Combined...we just cannot get to stage 2...or if we do, we've lost 3-4 people and cannot bring him down.

I can't explain it really. It seems like there is just something we were not "getting". ::sigh:: I'll keep trying, though the hard part is getting a group to be willing to try...they say they do, but after Drak is dropped (which we do with only 8-9 occasionally), you always seem to get one person saying they can't...and then you wait for a replacement...by which time you then have respawn...bah.

But I will keep trying.

[Skahr]

We had the same problem at first too. The thing you have to understand is that it doesnt matter if he has 2mana or 500mana he WILL HEAL. His mana MUST be at zero at all times. Keep a Viper sting up, along with warlock chanel helps a bit too. We had a group like this:

2Warriors
2Rogues
1Lock
1Mage
1Pally
1Priest
1Hunter
1Druid

1Warrior and 1Rogue on boss at all times. EVERYONE ELSE kills shades. even healers. I would use gouge, ks,vanish+CS, blind, whatever i could to stop them from keeping targeted on a player.

After 40% its pretty much GG if the entire raid is up. if u lose 2 or more during phase 1...might as well wipe it.

[Xircon]

I downed Valthalak this weekend, and to say the least...HE IS NUTS! we needs to be nerfed for real. im not normally one to say this but, i had a grp of almost all Epicd people, that all know how to play there class well. Here is a little guide i followed when attempting him.

You need to summon Lord Valthalak in “The Beast's” Room in Upper Blackrock Spire. Valthalak has three phases that you need to be aware of.

I heard all these rumors that he was difficult, needed to be nerfed, blah blah blah, but when I went to do him, he went down first try and not difficult.

Take at minimum:
1 tank
1 rogue
3-4 hunters
2 healers
1 Lock

Put one rogue and one tank on him, keep everyone else at distance. It is nice if the rogue can tank him for a few seconds just in case one of the minions gets on the tank (when a minion is on you, you cannot attack).

Have everyone else at range. Have a lock and hunter mana drain to zero and once at zero, a hunter's viper string is more than enough to keep him at zero. Valthalak only has 2800 mana if my memory serves me correct.

I suggest lots of hunters, like 4 if you can. If they use multishot, the minions won't last long.

[KingFKA]

Very nice guide! To all of you! A few members of my guild are ready for 45 min baron run, so we can get thr next parts of .5 set, then it will be off to Val.. Definately feel, that we will be at an advantage, thanks too these guides :grin:!
-King

[Dekashi]

After attempting many times (24 to by exact) to complete the Impossible 45min Baron run with PUG's, I was almost ready to give up on my quest for the Darkmantle armor set :( Each attempt ended with players fighting over who was not doing their job, who's is going to pay for their armor repair, and people just leaving half way through (most runs took about 1 ½ hrs). Due to the hours I work and having a wife & kids, the hours I have to play WOW are what you would call off peak at best, and my guildies are normally not on. For that reason I have no choice but to find a PUG wanting to go, because I am not going to Pay some "Epic'd out" players to run me through with no guarantee of completion. So every night I was on I gritted my teeth and prayed for a miracle hoping to find a group that clicked. Well the night before last I joined a group who and a Vent server up and OMG these guys were great, everyone followed directions and knew their role, but unfortunately we fell 10 seconds short of the finish line due to the Elite’s before the baron took about 20 seconds to finally come out and play after we killed the Skelly’s. Even though we didn’t complete the run I felt a renewed faith knowing it could be done with a PUG.

So last night I got on looking for the guys I teamed up with the night before hoping for a second attempt with them. To no avail they weren’t on & I couldn’t find a group to go to UD Strat let alone for a 45min run the first 3hrs. Well then I noticed a LFM UD Strat on the LFG channel so I joined a group that consisted of a 1 Pally, 1Mage & 2 Rogues (one being me). Two of the players were guild mates (with some Tier 1 gear) & the other and I were pick ups (mostly blues with one or two epics). After about 20min of looking for a Tank with no luck, the leader said lets just do it us 4 without a tank. I though he was crazy, no Tank, only 1 healer & no Vent. But I though what the hell better than grinding Argent Dawn rep.

What followed was the best run of my life in terms of organized chaos. To sum it up we killed the Baron in 35min (quest complete), my Shadowcraft Pants & The Black Baron Cape dropped, my armor was at 92% and no one ever died & all this happened with a “FOUR MAN PUG”. I swear words can not explain how I felt, the WOW Gods heard my prayers. After that I know with a PUG anything (almost anything) is possible as long as you all have the same goal, want it just as bad, & learn quickly how to work together. You need to have one Leader who knows what he is doing & everyone else just needs to trust him and each other. I just had to share my story and to all of the players still climbing this mountain known as the 45min Baron run keep your head up & good luck!!!

[LordXeper]

For all you Hunters out there. Mongoose and Agility do NOT stack (just tried it).

Don't waste your gold.

On topic. We did it today in 29 minutes (all full tier gear) 1 mage, 1 rogue, 1 priest, 1 hunter, 1 tank.

Not bad for AD rep grinding.

[Falchan]

Class balance is very important for this run. You'll need a tank (duh), a priest (for heals and shackles), an AOEer for completing the Baron's waves of healing skellies (mage or lock), and 2 other DPSers, preferably one of them a hunter for pulling and possibly a 2nd rezzer in case the priest get's ganked (ie DPS driud or the tanking pally).

I cannot imagine pulling this off in a pug - it requires too much co-ordination. Ventrillo/Teamspeak is a huge asset. Pulls should never stop... sit an drink when you get the chance. Too many and too long a pause in the action will likely result in a 46 minute run. Expect it to take several runs before you get it down.

And my order for bosses went Spider, Banshee, Paladin, Baron. When my team downed the Baron, we still had about 3 minutes left on the clock.

But the adrenaline rush went on for days :)

[wickedangel]

From my experience the most important thing is to have a good puller, who knows which mobs to pull and knows the right moment to do so (that is, he is not afraid to pull even if not all party members are ready, but on the other hand knows how to pull and not wipe the whole party). We never stopped once to drink mana or eat food as a group, who needed to drink just sat down and drank, the rest still went on. Good pulls and not stopping are the trick behind a successful 45 min Baron run.

Consumables and not dieing are actually secondary issues, when my paladin alt completed the 45 min Baron run a coupla months ago, nobody in the party used consumables and we wiped once due to an unfortunate add pull on one of the tower bosses.

I can't recall the exact group we had, but the healer and puller was a resto druid, I was on my rare/green holy paladin (not really much help to the party at all, was a real noob with the pala at the time ;)), we also had an arms dps warrior who tanked with his 2h sword, I think he only used a shield on the Baron himself. The other two members I can't quite recall but I think it was a mage and one more dps class. Except my pala, who like I mentioned was in greens/rares, the party had some assorted rares, MC and a tiny bit of BWL stuff, nothing terribly fancy.

[Stigg]

Update to the guide:

Step 1:Get to level 70.
Step 2: Bring a friend.
Step 3: Destroy everything
Step 4: Realize you can do it 3 more times by resetting the instance before the 45 minutes was up.

:P

[Kerosene]

Update to the guide:

Step 1:Get to level 70.
Step 2: Bring a friend.
Step 3: Destroy everything
Step 4: Realize you can do it 3 more times by resetting the instance before the 45 minutes was up.

:P

i was waiting for a post like this on a few of the stickies :laugh:

[ocellaris]

Why is thread still here?

[rgirty]

People want to do the quest at the appropriate level?

A challenge?

[ocellaris]

This thread was decent when the 45 minute baron run was valuable. Now its just a joke...

[xDarkDrifterx]

Old content that hasn't been run by alot of us is still interesting.

@ 70 now w/ several alts and the last instance I ran in Azeroth was Maradune . . . lol

[moopy]

Ok, so guides for various classes doing this solo in 45 mins please? :)

[Aerath]

1) Roll Druid
2) Barge in
3) Kill stuff

Done ? =)

[moopy]

Give it a go, would be fun to hear about it if you pulled it off. Note the "for various classes" bit though- I'm wise to your shape-shifting nonsense :)

[Stigg]

1) Roll Class
2) Barge in
3) Kill stuff

Done ? =)

[moopy]

I don't know, that's why I am asking :)

[swaldman]

May try this tonight..... :-)

[Aerath]

I didn't bother really - I'm not a disenchanter, so won't get any LBS.

Know guildies of mine solo it, though the Baron is a pain in the fuzzy. Not 100% sure how easy the Baroness would be as her MC would end combat I'd think.

[moopy]

That's the one I am wondering about, the Baroness. Probably easier for a pet-using class (or an engineer) than otherwise.

It's not for the LBS, stuff like this has no point. It's just morbid curiousity :)

A few old-world encounters are still useful. Luckily, I don't have to talk my guild into AQ40 anymore though, as I found someone who can do the subtlety enchant on cloak, at last (yay!).

[Justinledwards]

She won't MC if you are solo. Hunters learnt they had to put their pet away for this fight. What I remember reading anyway.

[Farq]

took my mage and a 70 priest with Kara loot (my mage only in crafted spellfire and quest blues etc.

35 min baron run ftw

[Aerath]

She won't MC if you are solo. Hunters learnt they had to put their pet away for this fight. What I remember reading anyway.

Odd. I know Eranikus in ST still banishes you if solo, which resets combat.

[moopy]

She won't MC if you are solo. Hunters learnt they had to put their pet away for this fight. What I remember reading anyway.

Enough hearsay, tempted to give this a whirl myself, if I get time :)

(between farming honour for more PvP gear, heroics, raids and helping someone out that a promised to give a tonne of instance help..)