This post is part of the Complete idiot’s guide to Karazhan for Protection Paladins and skims through bosses, layout and lore to get your Protection Paladin started with tanking Karazhan. Be sure to read my other guides for your Tankadin on the Guides page. Interesting reads indeed!
I don’t know about you, but when I go to and tank new content, I first try and find as much as I can about 3 main things: bosses, layout and lore. Let’s see what Karazhan has to offer, shall we?
Bosses
Karazhan is huge, scripted, and non-winged, containing twelve boss encounters, with 22 different NPCs. To get inside the instance, you need to get past the door right after the instance gate. In order to open this door, at least one person in the raid must have The Master’s Key which is obtained through an attunement process. The door is also able to be lock picked by rogues.
Getting attuned
Even though now it’s not necessary for you to get attuned to be able to enter Karazhan (this attunement was required for all raid members a while back), I strongly recommend you to do it because you will get a lot of Keepers of Time reputation in the process which will save you many BM runs for getting Revered. Getting attuned requires you to complete these steps:
- Complete the quests Restless Activity and Arcane Disturbances given by Archmage Alturus outside Karazhan.
- You must then visit Dalaran and talk to Archmage Cedric who will send you to Khadgar in Shattrath City.
- Khadgar will give you a quest to retrieve the First Key Fragment from a Arcane Container in Shadow Labyrinth. It is located in the room of the last boss Murmur.
- Next you need to retrieve two more key fragments from The Steamvault and The Arcatraz. The Steamvaults fragment is found just before the first boss in the water. The Arcatraz fragment is found in the corner of the blue room after the first boss.
- Khadgar will now ask you to visit Medivh in The Black Morass and give him the key. You will need to complete the encounter before Medivh will talk to you.
- Return to Khadgar in Shattrath and he will give you The Master’s Key.
As I was saying earlier, Karazhan is the home of 12 bosses (yes, twelve, yielding 22 Badges if you do a full clear). Five of them are required (Moroes, Opera Event — one of three random encounters: Wizard of Oz, Big Bad Wolf or Romulo and Julianne, The Curator, Chess Event and Prince Malchezaar), seven optional (Attumen the Huntsman & Midnight, Maiden of Virtue, Shade of Aran, Terestian Illhoof, Netherspite, Nightbane and 1 random animal boss which nobody does because he drops crap loot).
Layout
Karazhan is not very friendly to new comers. First of all, it’s very big and has at least 2 ways to get to a point. This makes it hard for new players to get around. Hell, I even know a few people that despite doing it many times before they still get lost.
Back to the layout. The best method I found to get around is to take each boss and learn the ways to get to him. Study the maps, read guides and when you first go and face the situation, it will be much easier.
Don’t get discouraged if it all seems overwhelming at first. Be patient, things will fall into place after some time. Wowwiki is a great place to read about Karazhan, so if you have the patience, please do so.
Shortcuts
- Killing the Shade of Aran makes a teleport to his room available from Berthold the Doorman.
- Karazhan has a side entrance. When climbing the tower to the right of the main entrance (across the small creek), the stairs lead to a bridge and to a door which unlocks after the Opera Event has been cleared. Some trash can be bypassed by using the side entrance right after the Opera Event.
Vendors and Repairs
- Koren <The Blacksmith>, next to Attumen the Huntsman, will repair gear for players who are Honored with Violet Eye. He also sells some epic Blacksmithing recipes (frost resistance gear). Near him is Calliard who wanders around, babbling how evil Midnight and her owner are.
- Outside of the Gamesman’s Hall (before the Chess Event) is Ythyar, a reagent and The Consortium rep reward vendor, who can repair gear (however it is worthy to note that Ythyar has no faction attached to him, so no rep discounts are available — whether this is a bug or intentional is unclear).
Lore
Nobody knows lore like wowwiki so here’s a quote straight from there:
Karazhan is located in Deadwind Pass on the sub-continent of Azeroth in the Eastern Kingdoms. Existing long before Medivh inhabited it, it is unknown who originally built Karazhan or who now resides within its walls. The land it sits on “was similar in shape to a human skull. Many had noted it over the years, though only a few had been sufficiently brave, or powerful, or tactless to mention it to the property’s owner”.LG 2
Karazhan’s history begins with an explosion that carved out Deadwind Pass and weakened the fabric of reality in the region.LG 89 Someone then built the tower, probably to take advantage of this weakened reality and heightened magic. Medivh eventually took up residence there, but mused that the explosion and the construction only happened because he would eventually arrive.LG 91, 92
During the First War, the tower was inhabited by Medivh, his steward Moroes, his cook Cook, and his then-apprentice Khadgar. Garona also resided here as an emissary in the same time of Khadgar’s apprenticeship. Sargeras allowed Medivh to freely explore Karazhan. As a result of the region’s weakened reality, many strange and disturbing visions lurked within the tower, and Moroes was known for wearing blinders to avoid seeing them. The visions were ultimately ended when most of Karazhan’s ambient magical power was absorbed by the resurrected Medivh, reducing it to “a pile of stone in the remote reaches”, its power taken to serve the Prophet.LG 306-308
Much of the story from this era is presented in the novel The Last Guardian.
Recently, despite Medivh’s absence and the draining of magic, a new power seems to have made its home in Karazhan. The Black Riders of Deadwind Pass, though rarely seen, have a connection to Karazhan. However, no one knows who their master is. One recent sighting is cause for concern — the Black Riders seek the Scythe of Elune, a powerful artifact with the ability to summon the vile Worgen into this world.
It is believed that all ley lines on Azeroth lead to a location under Karazhan.
Worldofwarcraft.com says the following about Karazhan:
The decrepit tower of Karazhan once housed one of the greatest powers Azeroth has ever known: the sorcerer Medivh. Since his death, a terrible curse has pervaded the tower and the surrounding lands. The spirits of nobles from nearby Darkshire reportedly walk its halls, suffering a fate worse than death for their curiosity. More dangerous spirits wait within Medivh’s study, for it was there that he summoned demonic entities to do his bidding. However, the brave and foolish are still relentlessly drawn to Karazhan, tempted by rumors of unspeakable secrets and powerful treasures. Forge a group of ten stalwart heroes, and journey to the tower in Deadwind Pass — but be warned that only those who have achieved level 70 should dare enter.
This concludes today’s part of the Complete idiot’s guide to Karazhan for Protection Paladins. Stay tuned for the next part, when we cover the spoils of war, aka the sweet loot.
Tepisor on September 15, 2008
Recent comments