Dire Maul



Dire Maul is an ancient Highborne city now lying in ruins in central Feralas. It is inhabited by a tribe of ogres, but also holds remnants of the original Highborne population. Much of the ruins have fallen into the hands of forest creatures and undead spirits. The enemy level range is 54-61, making it one of the highest leveled pre-Outland instances, the other two being Scholomance and Stratholme. You must be at least level 45 to enter any of the three instances.

History

 * Built twelve thousand years ago by a covert sect of night elf sorcerers, the ancient city of Eldre'Thalas was used to protect Queen Azshara's most prized arcane secrets. Though it was ravaged by the Great Sundering of the world, much of the wondrous city still stands as the imposing Dire Maul. The ruins' three distinct districts have been overrun by all manner of creatures - especially the spectral highborne, foul satyr and brutish ogres. Only the most daring party of adventurers can enter this broken city and face the ancient evils locked within its ancient vaults.

With experience, and avoiding mobs, you can do each wing in about 1.5 hours. You can only take 5 members into Dire Maul (DM) and it cannot be raided. DM is a more recently designed instance.

Maps

 * wow.incgamers.com

Quests
Feathermoon Stronghold

Camp Mojache Feralas Dire Maul Moonglade Libram Quests - Lorekeeper Lydros will give you these quests if you have completed "Elven Legends" already
 * Stand alone quest given by Latronicus Moonspear, enters Dire Maul East
 * Given by Scholar Runethorn, enters Dire Maul North/West. Completion allows the conversion of a Libram into an Arcanum via quest
 * Stand alone quest given by Azj'Tordin at the Lariss Pavilion, enters Dire Maul East
 * (Warrior, Paladin only)
 * (Warrior, Paladin only)
 * (Warrior, Paladin only)
 * (Warrior, Paladin only)
 * (Warrior, Paladin only)
 * Given by Rabine Saturna in Nighthaven, takes you to Silithus
 * Again given by Rabine Saturna in Nighthaven, enters Dire Maul East

Class Quests - one, Arcane Refreshment, is the quest to get a mage's highest level of conjured water. The rest involve rare drops in Dire Maul of random class books, leading to each class' version of the Royal Seal of Eldre'Thalas.

Resources
Herbs
 * Ghost Mushroom

Ore
 * Rich Thorium Vein

Dungeon Denizens

 * Ancients
 * Banshees
 * Bears (one, at least)
 * Blood elves (one, at least)
 * Faerie dragons
 * Frogs
 * Ghosts
 * Highborne
 * Horses (one, at least)
 * Hyenas
 * Imps
 * Lashers
 * Mana surges
 * Ogres
 * Rats
 * Roaches
 * Satyr
 * Squirrels
 * Treants
 * Void terrors (one, at least)
 * Water elementals (one, at least)
 * Wisps
 * Wraiths

Dire Maul layout
Similar in construction to The Scarlet Monastery, Dire Maul is a winged instance. It contains 3 wings in 2 instances. The wings are known as Dire Maul East, West and North. (West and North are contained in a single instance, the Library connecting them). In addition, it contains in the plaza a special PvP arena. It is similar to Gurubashi Arena in Stranglethorn Vale in that it is Free for All PvP. Every six hours special mobs, such as The Razza will spawn, offering BoE blue drops.

Dire Maul East
Dire Maul East has been taken over by the nefarious Alzzin the Wildshaper, a Satyr that has corrupted the Fruit of Fertility tree. Now producing vile Felvine shards, Alzzin has attracted all sort of corrupted plant life, Satyrs, Mages and demons to his cause. The entire section is overgrown with crazed plant life. The East wing is the easiest and requires no key to enter via the main entrance. The Crescent Key, which opens the doors to the other two wings, is dropped by Pusillin, an Imp who leads you on a chase through the instance before finally being cornered. Once you have the key, you can re-enter DM East via a shortcut entrance at the Lariss Pavillion which is immediately north of the Feralas Horde base camp (Camp Mojache). A Rogue with 300 Lockpicking is able to open the doors to Dire Maul North and West as well.

Dire Maul West
Eldre'Thalas was once a fountain of Arcane energy and study. It used the power of the trapped demon Immol'thar, and to this day the west section includes the pylons that charge the demon's prison. It is also haunted by many Highborne ghosts, trapped forever inside the section by the force of the Prison. Tucked away inside west side one can also find the secret hideout, library and research center of Shen'dralar. Prince Tortheldrin, the leader of the enclave, will only turn hostile after Immol'thar is slain. Slaying Immol'thar is also linked to the warlock epic mount quest. Also the paladin epic mount (Quest:Ancient Equine Spirit) where you need to kill Tendris Warpwood is here.

Dire Maul North
The Northern section of Dire Maul is probably the hardest (or, at the very least, the most interesting and unique). It has been taken over by a force of Gordok Ogres, attracted to the great wealth of the ruins.

Parties that choose to adventure in north have a choice; they may decide to kill all the various bosses in the instance (several bosses, sages and the king of the tribe) for some guaranteed rare drops. Alternatively they can use a series of crafting, questing and sneaking tasks to perform a Tribute Run. In a tribute run the adventurers only kill King Gordok, while keeping the other bosses alive, and as a reward they may receive higher quality (if less overall in terms of quantity) rare drops from a tribute chest. They are proclaimed kings, which gives access to some very nice two hour buffs (especially before MC) and a new quest inside Dire Maul West.

Strategy guides
DM North: Dire Maul Tribute Run

DM West: Full DM West strategy guide. It also explains how Warlocks can get their epic mount (via quest).

Notable Loot NPC
From a combination of bosses, you can collect the majority of the pre-MC 'do-it-yourself' armor sets:
 * Priest Sets
 * Druid Sets
 * Mage Sets
 * Dusty Tome

Notes, Tips, & Additional Info

 * Also known as DM, which is an abbreviation shared with with the Deadmines. When in doubt, check the level of the person asking for a group.
 * Dire Maul is one of only three 5-man instances added to the game via patch, the other two being Maraudon and Magister's Terrace.