Wailing Caverns

The Wailing Caverns is probably the first major instanced dungeon (outside of a major city) that lower-level Horde players encounter. While the level of relative difficulty is fairly low, this instance is quite large and a minimum of 90 minutes should probably be set aside by players wishing to complete it.

It is a visually beautiful and deeply atmospheric area, with an unusually high level of detail. Another appealing element of this dungeon is the high number of item-yielding boss monsters, given the level of difficulty. A standard five man group of adventurers within the level 17-20 range will find themselves returning from here to the Crossroads with as much loot as they can carry, after having had a highly entertaining 1-3 hours.

This instance is also extremely conducive to solo play for characters of most classes after around level 35. Below level 40 will probably require very cautious pulling of mobs for the solo adventurer.

History



 * Recently, a night elf druid named Naralex discovered a network of underground caverns within the heart of the Barrens. Dubbed the 'Wailing Caverns', these natural caves were filled with steam fissures which produced long, mournful wails as they vented. Naralex believed he could use the caverns' underground springs to restore lushness and fertility to the Barrens - but to do so would require siphoning the energies of the fabled Emerald Dream. Once connected to the Dream however, the druid's vision somehow became a nightmare. Soon the Wailing Caverns began to change - the waters turned foul and the once-docile creatures inside metamorphosed into vicious, deadly predators. It is said that Naralex himself still resides somewhere inside the heart of the labyrinth, trapped beyond the edges of the Emerald Dream. Even his former acolytes have been corrupted by their master's waking nightmare - transformed into the wicked Druids of the Fang.

The path to instance
The primary reason to venture into Wailing Caverns is for the rewards from the Leaders of the Fang quest. Both of the rewards for that quest are blue weapons, which are likely better than anything you'll get until you're able to go to Shadowfang Keep. The Leaders of the Fang is a Horde-only quest, but Wailing Caverns is a good instance for Alliance to check out as well.

The part of the dungeon before entering the actual instance was filled with 14-17 raptors, oozes and such (before patch 2.3, they were elite). This part is easy just follow the path till you get to the instance. If you are doing, the NPC you are looking for (Mad Magglish) is located here. He can be hard to find as he is invisible (when you get close to him he attacks you and appears) and can be found in three different locations. Upon entering the cavern you will come to a the first intersection (T shaped) where you can go left toward the instance entrance or straight to a small drop off. To the right, at the intersection, will be a small nook and is the first location that Mad Magglish may be found. If he is not in the nook, proceed down the left passage toward the instance entrance. You will come upon a second intersection where you can go straight (to the instance entrance), go left or go right path. Both the left and right passages lead to a dead-end. You may find Mad Magglish in either the left or right passage.

Lady Anacondra & Lord Cobrahn
When you enter the instance, first talk to the Disciple of Naralex for a free druid buff. Continue to follow the path killing all in your way until you reach a large cavern area - Screaming Gully. Be warned - the raptors will call for help when almost dead. In this room is the one of the four Fanglords and the first boss, "Lady Anacondra". She will spawn in one of four different locations, as depicted in the map above. She is similar to the other druids in the Wailing Caverns but she does have higher hitpoints and typically has several deviate raptors with her. These can pose a severe risk if they all attack at once. Players should be cautious and pull these seperately if possible.
 * West area of the instance

Kill any mobs Lady Anacondra has with her, and then focus on her. She will cast Sleep fairly often, and the Druids of the Fang around her will cast it as well. If you have a shaman with you, Tremor Totems will help counteract her Sleep spells. Priests can use Dispel Magic to remove the effect on party members. Lady Anacondra is easy, just watch out for additional monsters.

Jump down into the water and head west. Somewhere along this river, you'll meet a turtle called Kresh. He wanders around in the waters that run through the dungeon. Kresh is a non-aggressive turtle and no tougher than any of the normal elite mobs. He drops a really nice blue shield (Kresh's Back, Worn Turtle Shell Shield) and if tamed, he knows a skill called Shell Shield that is unique to Kresh and Ghamoo-ra in Blackfathom Deeps.

After Lady Anacondra, you can either go to the east or west along the river. However, heading west to kill Lord Cobrahn is faster and more convenient. Once you have traveled down the path you will find yourself in a big room filled with random monsters. Just follow the path and clear the monsters. Most of them are easy to kill but be careful of additional monsters who wonder around. After slaughtering the monsters you will find "Lord Cobrahn", another one of the four Fanglords.

This guy is the easiest of the Fanglords. A mage can AoE the non-elite snakes and start beating Cobrahn down. When he gets low on health, he will turn into a rather large snake and his DPS will increase slightly. Just keep attacking him and he should drop fast. Like Lady Anacondra, with a decent group this fight is easily won.

Lord Pythas & Lord Serpentis
Jump of the cliff, you'll return to the main room and go right. After a lot of killing and slaughtering you will find "Lord Pythas", another one of the 4 Fanglords. Pythas is the toughest of the Leaders of the Fang. He puts out a lot of melee damage, and he has a lot of hitpoints. A 5 person level 30+ group has been observed to wipe due to Pythas before, if that gives any idea of his potential level of difficulty. (Said group was 8+ levels above Pythas)
 * East area of the instance

The single main reason why Pythas often causes wipes is because he has two elite Druids and at least one elite Shambler with him. These additional mobs in themselves are not the problem; the problem is that because there are so many mobs present, players generally will not have any idea what to attack first. While players are standing still, trying to decide which mob to attack first, Pythas and the other mobs thus surround the players and exterminate them fairly quickly.

The most straightforward way of dealing with Pythas requires a mage. Have the mage polymorph (sheep) Pythas and keep re-applying polymorph for as long as is necessary, while the rest of the group can then carefully kill the surrounding mobs. Once the surrounding mobs are dead, the players can then deal with Pythas on his own.

If you don't have a mage with you, things can be a little more tricky. If your group has either a hunter or a warlock, (A group with two hunters is not an unusual group configuration for this instance) have these characters send their pets to keep Pythas occupied while the group gets rid of the surrounding mobs, and so can then target Pythas on his own.

The next boss along the path is "Skum", a big old thunder lizard. Skum generally won't cause you any serious problems himself, but in addition to the two druids guarding his pen, there are usually a number of other druids, dreadfangs, and oozes nearby, which you may want to remove before killing Skum himself. Skum drops a semi-good dagger, so if you have any rogues you may as well drop him. Skum's just an elite thunder lizard.

As you progress through the dungeon you must increasingly watch out and make sure not to pull too many of the large amounts of elites.



Eventually you will find a big room with "Verdan the Everliving" and "Lord Serpentis". Serpentis is a very standard melee fighter for the most part, with less hit points than Pythas. Kill any of the random mobs around Serpentis first, don't let him get past your tank(s), and you should be fine.

Verdan the Everliving on the other hand is a very different story. You will probably want the entire group to be at least level 19-20, and a healer is a must. Keep Verdan focused on your warrior, although pets can also help share the load if you have them. The healer needs to keep an eye on the warrior constantly. Mages/other DPS classes can also pitch in, but they will need to attack carefully to make sure they do not pull Verdan's attention away from the tank.

If Verdan is the last boss that you need to kill on the East side of the instance, you can quickly return to the central chamber by running to the back of the room where Verdan was and jump down the hole. You'll land in a deep pool of water just off the main chamber.

Awaken Naralex
After you've killed all four Leaders of the Fang and Verdan the Everliving, make sure you go back to the entrance and speak with the tauren druid Disciple of Naralex to start the Naralex event.
 * Naralex event

You'll have to escort the Disciple through a path of mobs to wake up Naralex. When you reach Naralex, the Disciple will begin to wake him. The first part is just a few waves of monsters that can be easily dispatched, then comes the big murloc boss "Mutanus the Devourer". He doesn't do anything special, but if he catches you off-guard, he could potentially wipe out your group. Make sure you eat and drink before he spawns, and you shouldn't have any problem dispatching him. Mutanus can be tough depending on who you have in your party. However, if you could take Verdan then Mutanus should be a bit easier.

After Mutanus is slain, congratulations! You beat the Wailing Caverns! Wailing Caverns is a rather large instance, so don't commit to it with a group unless you know you'll have at least 2-3 hours to play. Don't be that player who wastes hours of everyone else's time in the group by leaving halfway through the instance.

Caution:
The Gap on the Walkway Leading to Lord Serpentis: After you kill the other three Fanglords, you’ll need to move up a long walkway to get to Serpentis. WATCH YOUR STEP! Someone at Blizzard decided it would be funny to put a gap in the walkway that will drop you to your death at the bottom of the instance. Make sure you warn everyone in your party about the drop ahead of time, and just run and jump across it when you get to it.

Escorting the Disciple: After you've killed all four Fanglords, you can run back to the beginning of the instance to escort the Disciple of Naralex to Naralex’s chamber. However, you don't have to run all the way back! If you fight Verdan the Everliving, you can jump into a pit that will drop you close to the entrance. If you choose not to fight Verdan the Everliving, you'll have to walk all the way back to the entrance. If all of your party is at least level 19, you might be able to hug the walls and go around Verdan the Everliving and jump down the pit. Either side is far enough from Verdan not to aggro him as long as you stay on the walls.

Tactics:
Since it is a fairly long instance to run through, and there are various quests and special mobs to kill, it is obvious that there are certain tactics that need to be followed in order to succeed in the Wailing Caverns.

The mobs in WC range from 15-20 elite and are generally found in groups of 3, with the occasional group of 4 or 5. Some of the enemies (the Druids of the Fang ) will flee when brought low enough, which can be deadly to a group if there is another enemy group nearby.

Being a level 15-20 instance, with the mobs being 15-20 elite you will HAVE to work together as a team, especially if you are at the low end of the level scale. Most players in the correct level range will not be able to handle an elite mob of their level or higher on their own. The best tactic to deal with this is to designate a single player to pull mobs (the tank) and be careful to not pull anything other than what is planned. If you are the puller always plan the pull carefully. This means, watching for patrols, movement of mobs, and party health and mana. If you do these things even a party of all 15-18 characters stands an excellent chance at finishing the instance.

There are several key tactical issues to keep in mind for this specific instance.

The Druids of the Fang deserve a special mention, they'll engage first with lightning bolts, and then shapeshift into Cobras to engage in melee. When heavily damaged, they'll morph back to heal themselves. Each Druid of the Fang is also capable of putting a party member to sleep. If you have a shaman, tell him/her to use a Tremor Totem whenever someone's asleep, and use Earth Shock to disrupt a druid's initial lightning bolt to force them to charge. Also save a kick, shock, or counterspell for their final heal. The same technique can be used to fight each of the Leaders of the Fang. Deviate Shamblers later can cast regeneration on themselves, purge utterly counters this.

In WC it is critical to control mobs from fleeing combat. The Druids of the Fang all flee combat at roughly 1/5th heath. Allowing them to flee when another mob is nearby can be a quick death sentence for your group. A safe fight can quickly turn into being outnumbered if a mob pulls in two to 3 additional mobs.

The other key is to make sure that you are able to deal with all the Fanglords present in the instance. Aside from the quest which involves collecting their gems, once all of the Fanglords are killed you will be able to do a final boss in the instance which will lead you to a new quest line. The order of their deaths does not matter, only that they all die.

Other Guide
Also see:
 * A good walkthrough from The Lurker Lounge
 * Another walkthrough from from Infoceptor.
 * allakhazam's guide to The Wailing Caverns

Deviate Hides and Deviate Eradication
These two quests are available from NPCs in a cave above the entrance to Wailing Caverns. Looking towards the entrance, the cave is above it and to the left. (The cave entrance resembles a skull - the NPCs are in the "right eye socket".)

To reach this cave, you must climb the hill behind the cavern entrance and drop onto a small ledge on the right. It is a small, narrow ledge so you will be best served walking almost parallel to the ledge when dropping (walking rather than running will help with this). It may take several tries. Once you're on the ledge, head into the cave. There are two quest NPCs along with a leatherworking trainer and leatherworking vendor. That vendor sells the and  recipes with a limited supply.

End of Dungeon Event
After all the Leaders of the Fang have been killed, if you speak to the Tauren Disciple at the entrance, he will start an escort quest. If you follow him to the end, you fight Mutanus the Devourer which will drop a Glowing Shard that starts The Glowing Shard.

In prior patches, after Naralexx is awakened by the Disciple (i.e., Mutanus is defeated), Naralexx would turn into an owl and fly away. Amusingly, the Disciple would not transform, but would float away as a standing Tauren in the same spiraling flight path as his boss. This earned the Disciple the nickname "Hovercow." Sadly, this has been addressed, and the flight of the Hovercow is part of the Dreaming.

During the final event, part of your job is to protect the Tauren as he awakens Naralexx. A glitch may occur that will allow the Tauren to die but continue the event as normal. It is unknown whether or not this has been fixed.

You usually get enough time to eat and drink between waves of mobs, if everyone stays on the island and deals with the current wave quickly enough. Mutanus sometimes comes up rather quickly, but you should be able to get everyone's health and mana restored.

Resources

 * Herbs
 * Earthroot
 * Mageroyal
 * Bruiseweed
 * Kingsblood
 * Liferoot


 * Leather
 * Deviate Scale (Skinning and looting level 15-22 beasts))
 * Perfect Deviate Scale (Skinning and looting level 15-22 beasts)


 * Ore Veins
 * Copper Vein
 * Tin Vein
 * Silver Vein

Dungeon Denizens

 * Bog beasts
 * Crocolisks
 * Faerie dragons (one, at least)
 * Goblins (one, at least)
 * Hydras (one, at least)
 * Lashers
 * Murlocs (one, at least)
 * Night elves
 * Oozes
 * Raptors
 * Serpents
 * Snakes
 * Tauren (one, at least)
 * Threshadons
 * Thunder lizards (one, at least)
 * Turtles (one, at least)
 * Toads
 * Wind serpents

Dungeon Bosses with Notable Loot
Verdan the Everliving Lady Anacondra 

 Lord Cobrahn  Lord Pythas  Lord Serpentis  Skum

Kresh Trigore the Lasher (Rare)
 * Rare Spawns

Deviate Faerie Dragon (Rare) Mutanus the Devourer

Notes, Tips, & Additional Info

 * Also known as: WC (not to be confused with Quest:Warlord's Command, a high level quest with the same abbreviation)
 * Found in: The Barrens, to the South of Crossroads, on the North side of the Lushwater Oasis.
 * Enemy Level Range:
 * Outside Instance: 11-17
 * Inside Instance: 18-20 (Elite)
 * Must be at least level 10 to enter the instance.