Burning Crusade Classic has some truly memorable raids but accessing them can be a bit of a pain. Most of the raids added in the expansion require you to complete a variety of attunement quests, many of which have requirements of their own. Some of these requirements can be a bit complicated but they’re worth doing regardless because the raids they unlock are amazing. It’s likely you already unlocked access to Karazhan by now so we figured we should take a look at the Serpentshrine Cavern attunement instead.

Before we get started make sure you have a level 70 character and a flying mount because you won’t be able to do some of the required quests without one. If you’re a fresh level 70 and can’t afford to train flying just yet it’s a good idea to just buy WoW TBC gold directly and save yourself some time. You’ll also need gold to buy a few of the items we’re going to discuss later. You can never have too much gold in WoW TBC Classic. 

Prerequisites

There are a few things you need to do before you can start the Serpentshrine Cavern attunement chain. First off, you need to already be attuned to Karazhan so make sure you get that sorted out before doing anything else. You’ll also need some decent gear since you’ll be tasked with completing a number of dungeons on Heroic difficulty. If you’re new to TBC Classic or World of Warcraft in general, Heroic is a modifier that makes dungeons significantly harder. In order to unlock Heroic difficulty, you need to reach Revered with certain factions and buy the needed keys from their quartermasters. In total you’re going to need five of these keys to access any Heroic you want.

· Flamewrought Key: Requires revered with Thrallmar (Horde) or Honor Hold (Alliance). Unlocks Heroic difficulty for Hellfire Citadel dungeons.

· Reservoir Key: Requires revered with Cenarion Expedition. Unlocks Heroic difficulty for Coilfang Reservoir dungeons.

· Auchenai Key: Requires revered with Lower City. Unlocks Heroic difficulty for Auchindoun dungeons.

· Warpforged Key: Requires revered with The Sha’tar. Unlocks Heroic difficulty for Tempest Keep dungeons.

· Key of Time: Requires revered with Keepers of Time. Unlocks Heroic difficulty for Caverns of Time dungeons.

The best way to reach revered with all these factions is to simply grind the associated dungeons on normal difficulty. Of course, completing quests and turning in certain items that award reputation, such as Uncatalogued Species for the Cenarion Expedition, will allow you to reach revered a lot faster.

Reputations aside, you’ll also need to complete a couple of prerequisite quests before you can start the Serpentshrine Cavern attunement chain. To kick things off, go to Shadowmoon Valley and kill an NPC called Smith Gorlunk, who can be found at around 67.6, 36.6 in front of the Black Temple. Loot his corpse for the Primed Key Mold (around 50% drop chance), an item that begins the quest Entry Into the Citadel.

Turn in this quest to either Rohok in Thrallmar or Dumphry in Honor Hold depending on your faction and pick up the follow ups. You’ll be asked to gather a number of crafting materials and then kill a Fel Reaver, a very difficult task that will require you to team up with other players. Upon completing the prerequisites, Rohok or Dumphry will give you the Shattered Halls Key and you can proceed to the next step.

Skar’this the Heretic

Your journey to unlocking the Serpenshrine Cavern attunement continues in The Slave Pens. Gather a party for the Heroic version of the dungeon and clear everything up to and including the first boss, Mennu the Betrayer. There’s a cage close to Mennu where you can find an NPC called Skar’this the Heretic. Speak to the NPC and pick up the quest The Cudgel of Kar’desh, which requires you to obtain two items – the Earthen Signet and the Blazing Signet. 

The Earthen Signet

Getting the Earthen Signet is pretty straightforward as the item drops from Gruul the Dragonkiller in Gruul’s Lair. The only problem is that the item doesn’t have a guaranteed drop chance so you may need to do the raid a few times. The good news is that there’s no attunement needed to enter Gruul’s Lair. The only requirement is having a level 70 character.

The Blazing Signet

This is where the Serpentshrine attunement chain takes a turn for the tedious. In order to obtain the Blazing Signet you’ll need to visit Karazhan and summon Nightbane. Just like the Earthen Signet, the Blazing Signet doesn’t have a guaranteed drop chance either, but that’s not the biggest problem. The main issue here is that you’re going to need an item called the Blackened Urn to summon Nightbane. If you’re lucky, you might be able to team up for the raid with other players that already have the item, which would save you quite a bit of time. If you want to obtain the item for yourself, however, prepare for more quests. 

The Blackened Urn

Your first order of business is to visit Archmage Alturus outside Karazhan and pick up a quest called Medivh’s Journal from him. Keep in mind that you’ll need to be Honored with The Violet Eye before you are eligible for the quest. Yes, I’m afraid you may need to grind yet another reputation to continue the Serpentshrine Cavern attunement. The only way to raise your reputation with The Violet Eye is to kill mobs and bosses inside Karazhan and complete Karazhan-related quests.

Assuming you already have the required reputation, gather a party for Karazhan and clear everything up to and including The Curator. In the room behind the boss you can find and NPC called Wravien. Turn in Medivh’s Journal to the NPC and pick up two new quests – In Good Hands and Kamsis. You’ll need to speak to a couple of other NPCs to complete these quests and, luckily, the one needed for In Good Hands happens to be in the same room as Wravien. Pretty convenient.

As far as Kamsis is concerned, she can be found close by in the Guardian’s Library. Speak to her to pick up a follow up quest called The Shade of Aran, which requires you to kill the titular boss, also found within Karazhan. Defeat the boss and grab Medivh’s Journal off his corpse before heading back to Kamsis and picking up yet another quest, The Master’s Terrance. This is a pretty easy one as all you need to do is visit the Master’s Terrace inside Karazhan and read Medivh’s Journal.

Once completed, head back outside and speak to Archmage Alturus to pick up the quest Digging Up the Past. This is a simple fetch quest that involves getting a Charred Bone Fragment, which can be found at around 44.78 in Deadwind Pass, close to the meeting stone. Keep in mind that you won’t be able to loot the item while you’re in a raid group. Once you retrieve the bone, Archmage Alturus will ask you to deliver it to Kalynna Lathred outside Area 52 in Netherstorm.

At this point it may feel like the Serpentshrine Cavern attunement chain is almost over but there’s actually a bit more to go. Upon speaking to Kalynna you will receive another quest that tasks you with retrieving two items – The Tome of Dusk and The Book of Forgotten Names. The Tome of Dusk drops from Darkweaver Syth in Sethekk Halls while The Book of Forgotten Names drops from Grand Warlock Nethekurse in The Shattered Halls. The good news is that Syth and Nethekurse are the first bosses of their respective dungeons. The bad news is that the dungeons need to be completed on Heroic. Good thing we got the key for Heroic Shattered Halls earlier, huh?

It’s worth noting that the two items you need have a very low drop chance so you’re more than likely going to need to run the dungeons several times until you can get your hands on them. Once you manage to obtain The Book of Forgotten Names and The Tome of Dusk, bring them to Kalynna in exchange for the Blackened Urn and the final quest in this chain, Nightbane. Now that you can finally summon Nightbane yourself, all you have to do is kill it until it drops the Blazing Signet.

The Mark of Vashj

As soon you have both the Blazing Signet and the Earthen Signet head back to The Slave Pens and talk to Skar’this the Heretic. Make sure you’re doing the Heroic version just like before. Turn in the two items and the NPC will cast a spell on you called The Mark of Vashj. Congratulations! Your Serpentshrine Cavern attunement is now complete and you can enter the raid whenever you want. It’s been quite a difficult journey but these types of attunement chains are one of the main reasons why TBC Classic is such a great expansion.