Kharins Quest

Ahn’kahet: Old Kingdom can be a challenging dungeon, especially to those new to it.  It has a number of interesting boss encounters and it is wise not to take the trash mobs too lightly.  This guide looks at its history, location, quests, bosses, achievements, dungeon map, position of the Ahn’kahet brazier, as well as suggested approach and strategies.

History: Ahn’kahet is the original location of Azjol-Nerub and home to the Nerubians.  While the upper kingdom was overun by the undead following the War of the Spider, the Nerubian rebels escaped to the Old Kingdom and its halls remained largely untouched by the scourge until recently.  However, in digging too deep they encounted at the subterrean heart of the Kingdom the hostile Faceless ones who are under the dominion of the imprisoned Old God, Yogg-Saron.  An earthquake then lilfted the Old Kingdom closer to the ground, exposing it to attacks from the Scourge.  Now old Nerubians, scourge and servants of the Old Gods fight for control of the Old Kingdom.

Location: Ahn’kahet Old Kingdom is located in the Pit of Narjun in eastern part of Dragonblight, just south of Icemist Village, north of alliance Star’s Rest (Alliance) and northwest of Agmar’s Hammer (Horde).  Either jump down into the pit or fight your way down the ramp.  The portal entry to Old Kingdom (OK) is to the left of the meeting stone through a long cavern.  The inner kingdom often simply referred to Azjol-Nerub is  immediately on the right of the meeting stone.

Level: 73-75 (Regular) though can enter at 70; 80 (Heroic)

Quests:
The Faceless Ones (kill Herald Volazj and three faceless ones; given by Kilix) Available from level 76
Funky Fungus (drop from ooze-covered fungus within A-OK) Available from level 76
All things in Good Time (place An’kahar Watcher’s Corpse on Ahn’kahet Brazier; given by Kilix the unraveler;  located behind Herald Volazj, see map)  Heroic Daliy available at level 80

Bosses:
Elder Nadox
Prince Taldaram
Jedoga Shadowseeker
Herald Volazj
Amanitar (Heroic only)

Achievements:
The five achievements are as follows -
Ahn’kahet: Old Kingdom – Defeat the bosses in Ahn’kahet: the Old Kingdom
Heroic: Ahn’kahet: Old Kingdom – Defeat the Ahn’kahet: the Old Kingdom bosses on heroic difficulty.
Respect Your Elders – Defeat Elder Nadox in Ahn’kahet on Heroic Difficulty without killing any Ahn’kahar Guardians
Volazj’s Quick Demise – Defeat Herald Volazj in Ahn’kahet on Heroic Difficulty in 2 minutes or less.
Volunteer Work – Defeat Jedoga Shadowseeker in Ahn’kahet on Heroic Difficulty without killing any Twilight Volunteers.

Map:

Run through:
First boss: Elder Nadox, a Nerubian vizier, and the trash mobs leading up to him are archanids in the service of the Lich King.
To get to this boss go straight at head.  The first two mobs (the watchers) on the first platform will drop Anh’kahet corpse (All things in good Time) with a 60 min timer – you will lose the corpse if you die and run back (but not if you are rezzed; the watchers do respawn with time). Go up the stairs to the next platform.  Once you have cleared a path, continue to your right and down the stairs staying as close to the right as you can. Once down the stairs pull mobs to the alcove to the right of the stairs.  Be careful not to take on more than one group at the time.  The Spell Flinger should be targeted first (warriors can spell reflect otherwise use any spell interupts as often as you can) and then the Webslingers.  Once area is cleared move to chamber to the left to face Elder Nadox.

Elder Nadox will hatch adds through out the fight – waves of smaller easy to deal with adds and also (as of patch 3.3.2) now only one Guardian.  The guardian should be taken down as soon as possible (unless going for the Respect Your Elders achievement) as it has an 80-yard aura that causes the Elder and the other adds to be immune to all attacks.  Also, adds will zerg the healer and it is very easy for the healer to be overwhelmed. So tank needs to taunt adds quickly.  Taunts must be non-damaged based while the Guardian is up and adds are immune to damage.  It may help to have the healer stationed close to the tank or next to a dps who can clear adds as soon as Guardian dies.

To get the achievement Respect Your Elders, the Guardian needs to be kited out of range from boss and adds so that they don’t remain immune.  The boss then needs to be taken out as quickly as possible. The method that relied on kiting the boss out of the room has been hotfixed as of patch 3.0.8 – Nadox will enrage to 500% quickly taking out the tank and leading to a wipe.

Second Boss: Prince Taldaram, a servant of the Lich King
Now go out of the chamber and down to the stairs to the right (watch out for patrol) to the lower platform.  This area has three types of groups of mobs – 1) Frostfinger with Eye of Taldaram; 2) Bonegrinder (hits hard) and 3) groups of Geists (aoe).  Clear area so the group can go up the two high platfroms on the right that are reached by webwalkways.  These need to be cleared and the orbs clicked to lower the shield around the second boss.  Each platfrom has four mobs including The Eye of Taldaram that cast Eyes in the Dark (gives Dark counterspell debuff as well as damage) which casting and healing difficult.
Now the shield is down move to the Prince Taldaram.  During the encounter he will cast Flame Sphere which causes moderate fire damage that can be avoided by moving out of range of the orbs (2 in regular, 3 in heroic).  The prince will vanish and reappear next to a radom player who he will stun and drain life from (aprox 1500 Shadow damage every 2 secs; in Heroic mode healing is also reduced on stunned player by 100%) – this effect is broken once 35-40k damage is dealt to the boss.

Prince Taldaram drops the Bouquet of Ebon Roses (necessary for My Love is a Red, Red Rose achievement) druing the Love is in the Air seasonal event.

Behind Prince Taldaram is a tunnel which leads down to the lower area were the final two bosses (and the optional heroic boss) are.  From the platfrom in front of the tunnel exit, the Fungoid Amanitar (heroic only) is in the bog area to the left, Jedoga Shadowseeker is on the raised platform straight ahead (with access steps to left and right) and Herald Volazj and the three faceless ones is in the area to the right.

Care must be taken in this area as it is easy for the group to be overwhelmed if a couple of groups are engaged.  The safest course is the pull mobs, one group at a time, up onto the platform.  The Twilight Apostle should always be targeted first as this shaman not only causes significant damage but also casts healing waves.

Optional Heroic Only Boss: Amanitar
This boss casts a debuff Mini which reduces damage done by 75% & reduces defense by 500, causing chains of crits on the tank.  It can’t be removed by decurse, but can be shielded by Anti-Magic Shell (DKs) and removed by Divine Shield.  Both Poisonous and Healthy Mushrooms will spawn throughout the fight.  Poisonous mushorooms deal 3238 to 3762 damage every 2 seconds, while killing a healthy mushroom without the “mini” debuff will give you & those near a potent fungus buff (increases damage by 100%).

It is in the bog area that Funky Fungi quest is completed.

Thrid boss: Jedoga Shadowseeker is a fremal orc,  leader of the Twilight Hammer and the servant of the Old God, Yogg-Saron.
Once you reach the platfrom opposite the tunnel exit, aoe the twilight volunteers to clear the area and bring Jedoga down, thus starting the encounter.  As she descends she will summon new (unattackable) volunteers.  During the encounter she will go immune, ascend once again and call on a volunteer to sacrifice themselves to her – giving Jedoga their health as well as the Gift of the Herald buff (increases damage by 200%).  Since patch 3.3.2 this only happens once during the encounter.  Unless attempting the achievement Volunteer Work, it is prudent for the whole group to burn down the volunteer before s/he reaches the boss.  The volunteer is immune to crowd control.

For the achievement Volunteer Work, the tank should kite the boss while she has the debuff to spare the rest of the group.  Other group members should, if possible, taunt the boss off the tank if his/her health is getting to low.

Jedoga drops the Red Winter hat during the Winer Veil seasonal event.   This boss can be skipped. [Edit note: in 2010 Winter Veil the hat now only drops on Heroic mode.]

Final boss: Herald Volazj, a faceless one and servant of the imprisoned Old God, Yogg-Saron, is the last boss of Ahn’kahet: Old Kingdom.  Move down Jedoga’s platform and to the left clearing remaining mobs in the way.  In the area before the final boss are three faceless ones who have psychic scream and and shadow crash (fires a shadow mortar at ranged dps which you can move away from if you see it coming).

Once they are dealt with engage the boss.  He will use mindflay on the tank which warriors can spell reflect.  During the fight he will periodically become immune and cast an insanity buff which surrounds each player with a group evil clones that will attack the player (and hide friendly players from view).  Target the healer first, then damage clones, and last of all the tank clone.  Use AoE if clones are grouped together.  Once you have destroyed the clones attacking you, you can see and assit other players with their evil clones.  Healers and Tanks first priority is to stay alive during the this part of the encounter.

Strategies for Volazj’s Quick Demise basically involves burning down the boss and illusions as quickly as possible – this is helped by a highly geared group and/or by having a protection warrior tank (who can use spell reflect to cause good effect) and/or a Death Knight summmoning Army of the Dead during the insanity cast as the army will continue to attack Volazj.  Presummably DoT just before the 2 insanity casts would also contine to damage Volazj.

Killing Volazj and the 3 faceless ones completes the Faceless Ones quest while the Ahn’kahet brazier necessary for All Things in Good Time can be found down a hallway behind where Volazj stands.

Links:

http://www.wowwiki.com/Ahn%27kahet:_The_Old_Kingdom
http://wow.gamepressure.com/map.asp?ID=117
http://www.wowhead.com/?zone=4494
http://thottbot.com/z4494