TenTonHammer's Guide to The Blackfathom Deeps


The Blackfathom Deeps

The Blackfathom Deeps are an instance that is accessed by a stairway and shaft through and underwater area along the coast of Ashenvale. The instance is an ancient temple dedicated to the Old Gods and now occupied by the Twilight Hammer cult. The cult has joined forces with the naga and corrupted satyr in the area to occupy the temple and protect and worship the creature Aku'mai.

The Blackfathom Deeps (BFD) are meant for characters level 20-30ish. You can continue to make loot and experience runs through BFD to about level 32, but by that point the experience gains are hardly worth the effort.

The MOBs in Blackfathom Deeps range from 18 elite to 26 elite. The quest MOBs are up to 28 elite.

Location and Timing

The Blackfathom Deeps (BFD) are located in the north-west corner of Ashenvale Forest, just south of Darkshore along the coast. It is a medium sized instance for both Alliance and Horde players.

The Blackfathom Deeps take approximately 90 minutes to 2 hours, depending on party level and skill.

Maps and Gallery

We have put together a map that shows the layout of the Blackfathom Deeps and marks the location of all the key named MOBs and the key locations. The map can be found here.

We have a gallery for screen shots from the Blackfathom Deeps that can be found here.

Quests

There are 4 quests for each faction in the Blackfathom Deeps and 1 quest that is accessible for both factions.

Alliance Faction Quests

In Search of Thaelrid - Find the Argent Guard Thaelrid in Blackfathom Deeps.

Thaelrid is located just off the large round room in BFD where Ghamoo-ra is found. The chamber that he is in is accessible through a short underwater cave.

Knowledge in the Deeps - Search BFD for the Lorgalis Manuscript and return it to Gerrig Bonegrip.

The manuscript can be found in one of the coves off of the round room that houses Ghamoo-ra. It is in a chest guarded by 2-3 nagas.

Researching the Corruption - Bring 6 corrupted brain stems to Gershala Nightwhisper.

The corrupted brain stems drop from the various nagas found in BFD. They can be found in the instance or in the cavern leading to the instance. If this is your only quest in the area it is easier to wander the caverns before the instance portal to collect them.

Twilight Falls - Bring 10 Twilight Pendants to Manados.

The Twilight Pendants drop from the Twilight acolytes in the temple in BFD.

Horde Faction Quests

Allegiance to the Old Gods - Bring the Damp Note to Je'neu Sancrea in Ashenvale

The Damp note drops from a random Blackfathom Tide Priestess somewhere in BFD before the instance portal.

Allegiance to the Old Gods - Part 2
- Return to the Blackfathom Deeps, find and kill Lorgus Jett.

Lorgus Jett is located near the end of the BFD instance.

Trouble in the Deeps - Visit Je'neu Sancrea in Ashenvale, he is in need of aid in the BFD.

While not a quest in BFD, this quest leads you to BFD as a Horde player and is a prerequisite for The Essence of Aku'Mai quest.

The Essence of Aku'Mai - Bring 20 sapphires of Aku'Mai to Je'nea Sancrea

The sapphires can be found in large clusters along the caverns of BFD before the instance portal.

Dual Faction Quests

Blackfathome Villainy - Kill the Twilight Lord Kelris and take his head to the correct faction NPC listed above.

Twilight Lord Kelris is located near the end of the BFDs.

Tactics

The Entrance

Being the last low level instance group tactics start to come into play. It is very important to start practicing good team work at this stage so higher level (and more difficult) instances play easier and you get a good reputation for team play.

The MOBs in BFD range from 23-26 elite and are generally found in groups of 2, with the occasional group of 3 or 4. As well as placed MOBs there are patrols that wander BFD that you need to be careful of. A fairly normal fight against 2 MOBs can quickly turn ugly if a patrol wanders by and you are unprepared.

Being a level 20-30 instance, with the MOBs being 23-28 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 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 24-26 characters stands an excellent chance at finishing the instance.

The main tactical issue to keep in mind for BFD is that it is critical to control MOBs from fleeing combat. The Nagas, Murlocs and Acolytes 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.

Boss Fights

Aku'mai

Being a very early level instance there are no real tricks to any of the bosses. They are all fairly straightforward fights that just require tanking and aggro management by the group.

The biggest issues in the Deeps is to ensure that you get the Blessing of the Deeps from the alter found in the caverns just before the temple. This is especially important when trying to complete the Blackfathom Villainy quest fighting the Twilight Lord Kelris. Before fighting him it is critical that everyone in the party is still protected with the blessing. If any member of the party is not protected they will become mind controlled and rush forward to light all 4 fires and set free a large group of water elementals and crab like creatures. NOT a pleasant thing to fight while trying to handle Lord Kelris!

Once Kelris is dead someone in the party should light the candles one at a time. As each one is lit, a large group of water elemental elites will spawn. After you clear all the MOBs light another candle and repeat until all the candles have been lit. At this point the door to Aku'mai will open.

Aku'mai is a fairly straightforward fight, but she does have a ton of health and hits very hard. Her only other main attack is a poison DOT. As long as you keep the tank healed and holding aggro you should be fine. If she gets loose from the tank though, she hits hard enough to one-shot many cloth wearers, especially those at a low level for the instance.

Loot found in the Blackfathom Deeps

We now get to probably the main reason you are in the instance, the loot. There are several good items that you will want to try to obtain (depending on your class) while in the instance. They are as follows:

Ghamoo-ra
Lady Sarevess

Tortoise Armor
Mail chest

311 AC

Naga Battle Gloves
Leather Gloves
61AC
+7 Spirit
+4 Stamina
+4 Strength

Gelihast
Old Serra'kis
Twilight Lord Kelris

Algae Fists
Mail gloves
132 AC
+10 Strength
+4 Stamina

Bite of Serra'kis
Dagger
1.3 speed
17.7 dps
Chance on Hit: 40 nature damage over 20 seconds

Rod of the Sleepwalker
Staff
2.8speed
23.7 dps
+11 Intelligence
+10 Spirit

Aku'mai

Leech Pants
Cloth Legs

42 AC
+1 Stamina
+5 Intellegence
+15 Spirit

Moss Cinch

Leather Belt
59 AC
+5 Stamina

+11 Intelligence

Strike of the Hydra

2-Handed Sword
3.3 speed

25.6 dps
Chance on Hit: 70 Nature damage and -50 AC over 30 secs



Comments or questions? Email me, Byron Mudry at [email protected] or post on our forums!


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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Byron has been playing and writing about World of Warcraft for the past ten years. He also plays pretty much ever other Blizzard game, currently focusing on Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone, while still finding time to jump into Diablo III with his son.

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