Naxxramas (Classic)

Naxxramas was originally a 40-man raid instance floating above the Eastern Plaguelands. It was a massive necropolis and had the unquestionable honor of serving as the seat of one of the Lich King's most powerful officers, the dreaded lich Kel'Thuzad.

The instance was regarded as the most difficult before the release of The Burning Crusade, and should not have been attempted at level 60 without at least 40 well-equipped (preferably Tier 2 or Tier 2.5 armor) players. Naxxramas was also the home of many of the most powerful items of the pre-BC era, and 60+ quests with rewards such as and all Tier 3 items available in the game. With the release of The Burning Crusade, finishing this instance still required 25-30 well-equipped level 70 players. The dungeon was added in patch 1.11, making it the last non-expansion instance added to the core game as well as the last 40 man instance.

In the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion, Naxxramas was moved to Northrend and retuned to be the introductory level 80 raid dungeon. Like all other Wrath raid dungeons, Naxxramas has both 10-man and 25-man versions.

The move is claimed by some to not be a retcon, but a progression of the storyline. Naxxramas was indeed in the Eastern Plaguelands, but after Kel'Thuzad's phylactery was given to the treacherous Father Inigo Montoy, the lich was able to revive himself and make the transition along with his fortress. While at least one boss does not return in the new Naxxramas, there is no explanation yet as to how the other bosses "survived" destruction during the original campaign led by the Argent Dawn.

Gaining entry
To enter Naxxramas, you had to be attuned through the Argent Dawn by completing The Dread Citadel - Naxxramas, whose cost varied based on reputation level.

Attunement costs
If you chose to become exalted with the Argent Dawn, you could complete the attunement for free; however, this required a great deal of work. The reputation reward for the entrance quest was 1000 rep for a character that was Honored or Revered at the time of completion.

For more information on the Naxxramas attunement quest or the Argent Dawn, see the following resources:
 * Argent Dawn Reputation Grinds

Teleport spire
The teleport spire in the middle of the Plaguewood was the only way into Naxxramas. After becoming attuned, one had to step onto the runic circle in the center of the spire to teleport into Naxxramas' center chamber. In Patch 3.0.2, the entire structure was moved directly underground, with another Plague cauldron added to its place.

Original entryway
Just like Molten Core was originally entered from Blackrock Depths, Naxxramas was once intended to have its raid instance portal in Stratholme, outside the Slaughter Square. Carefully using a flying mount to approach Stratholme from the outside shows that an old version of the necropolis is still flying near Slaughter Square, beyond a raid portal. The tunnel leads to an abandoned place where an invisible necropolis is, which can be seen with a model viewer.

The minimap file for Naxxramas is also called "Stratholme Raid".

Structure and layout
Naxxramas is structured like a giant wheel divided into four quarters (or wings), with each quarter connected by the Outer Ring. Players enter the raid at the center of the necropolis, and may clear each of the four wings in any desired order. This allows for non-linear progression. Defeating the final boss of a wing unlocks a teleporter that places players back at the entrance of the raid. Clearing all four wings will unlock access to the Frostwyrm Lair.

Naxxramas is noted as being the only raid with no exit. Once inside, the only ways out are through a hearthstone, use of a portal or teleport spell, or by resurrection via spirit healer. Additionally, the Frostwyrm Lair also has no exit, sealing players off from re-accessing any other part of Naxxramas once inside.

Abomination Wing (Construct Quarter)

 * The Abomination Wing houses various nightmarish abominations stitched together from the once-living. A steady stream of toxic slime flows through this wing of Naxxramas; though it doesn't pose a threat to the undead constructs that shamble about within, the viscous ooze is deadly to those who still enjoy doing things like breathing and having a pulse.
 * This wing is filled with abominations, of course. It is likely to be the most physically intensive wing, as abominations are known to hit rather hard. The slimes here deal heavy nature damage.
 * The final encounter of this wing is the "Frankenstein's Monster"-esque Thaddius.

Plague Wing (Plague Quarter)

 * Rife with monstrosities twisted by the plague, the Plague Wing produces and refines the plague into highly efficient weapons, bent on destroying all of humanity as a part of Kel'Thuzad's undead army.
 * In this wing players will have to deal with various poisons and diseases. Creatures known to populate this wing include bats, gargoyles, bog beasts, oozes, and ghouls.
 * The final encounter is Loatheb, some sort of fungal monster.

Spider Wing (Arachnid Quarter)

 * The Spider Wing houses undead nerubians, an ancient race of intelligent arachnoid beings. Normally highly reclusive and suspicious of outsiders, living nerubians fought valiantly against the undead Scourge but were overwhelmed by their numbers. While living nerubians were immune to the undead plague, nothing could prevent the Lich King from bringing back the fallen to join the Scourge in undeath.
 * In addition to the nerubians and a seemingly endless amount of spiders, this wing also contains acolytes and cultists.
 * The final encounter is Maexxna, the giant spider.

Deathknight Wing (Military Quarter)

 * Many of the humans and their loyal mounts who were once soldiers in Lordaeron's army now find their martial talents put to use in Naxxramas's Deathknight Wing. Here, in service to Kel'Thuzad and the Lich King, they hone their skills far past what they could have accomplished in life. Leaders, trainers, and military coordinators—all use their talents to coordinate the Scourge into a powerful fighting force rather than a mindless horde. Many Deathknights begin their training within this quarter under the direction of its powerful lieutenants.
 * The death knights are known for their combination of powerful shadow magic and raw melee skills, as well as their command over their summoned minions.
 * The final bosses are the Four Horsemen. One of the Four Horsemen is Highlord Mograine, who has an important role in the Ashbringer storyline. The Four Horsemen are considered to be the hardest encounter in the instance prior to Kel'Thuzad.

Frostwyrm Lair

 * At the pinnacle of Naxxramas awaits Kel'Thuzad himself, who is protected by the ancient skeletal frostwyrm Sapphiron.
 * Once the final bosses of the four wings are defeated, players will gain access to a fifth "wing" of Naxxramas, in which they will encounter the frost wyrm Sapphiron, and the lich Kel'Thuzad.
 * Although glimpses of snowy terrain can be seen through the windows in each corner of Kel'Thuzad's Chamber, it is important to note that this chamber is still within Naxxramas. What can be seen is meant to be Northrend, through portals from which scourge emerge during the encounter.
 * Where the Frostwyrm Lair is meant to be placed within Naxxramas is unknown.

Outer Ring

 * Though not a quarter itself, the Outer Ring is the area that connects each of the four quarters, and is shared across them.
 * Each wing's final encounter is accessed in their specific boss room on the outside wall of the Outer Ring. Certain wings require extensive clearing of their Outer Ring segment in order to reach that wing's final boss.
 * Rather than having wing-specific mobs, the Outer Ring features mobs from all four quarters of Naxxramas.
 * These mobs are unique to the Outer Ring, but are nearly identical to their wing-specific counterparts. Some mobs however can only be found in the Outer Ring.
 * While it is possible to swim through the slime tunnels to access another wing, doing so offers no advantage. The final encounter room of each wing is locked and inaccessible unless the wing's prior bosses have been defeated. Access back into the wing is also locked off unless the boss prior to the Outer Ring is also defeated.

Encounters and bosses
Below is the full list of bosses (in parentheses are the Tier 3 armor part the boss drops quest item for).

There are fifteen boss encounters in Naxxramas. First full Naxx clear was done by the Horde guild Nihilum on Magtheridon (EU) on September 7, 2006 (two and one-half months after Naxx came out on June 20, 2006).

The easiest wing is the Spider Wing, Instructor Razuvious being the easiest boss (arguably comparable to Grobbulus, but Grobbulus sits behind a major gear check: Patchwerk). The Plague Wing bosses Noth and Heigan are on a similar level of difficulty of Anub'Rekhan, but in different aspects (Heigan is VERY difficult in the individual coordination aspect). Abomination wing bosses are in the middle (with the exception of very easy Grobbulus), Patchwerk is commonly conceived as a hard gear check and healer's fight. The most difficult bosses, in order of rising difficulty, are Thaddius, Loatheb, Gothik the Harvester and the Four Horsemen. (Thus, the wings below are listed in rising order of difficulty to fully clear.)

Nature
The beginning parts of 3 of the 4 wings (Plague, Spider, and Abomination) are rich in Nature damage. This is good news for players who built up their nature resistance gear in Ahn'Qiraj.

Frost
Players will need a lot of frost resistance to fight the final bosses in Naxxramas. Kel'Thuzad is a lich, but does not require a lot of frost resistance to defeat him. The Sapphiron encounter requires a very significant amount of Frost Resistance (150-200), but is NOT frost-based like Ragnaros is fire-based. Frost resistance gear has proven to be rather scarce thus far, luckily, the Argent Dawn has made available several armor patterns that provide considerable frost resistance and bosses in Naxxramas drop very high-quality epic frost resistance pieces.

Shadow
Shadow is the third major resistance required. Death Knights and Necromancers use powerful shadow magic, and Kel'Thuzad has a few shadow spells as well. The final boss in the Plague wing,, uses shadow based damage also. Shadow resist gear can be found scattered throughout various instances, so this shouldn't be a problem.

Fire
Certain boss encounters need some fire resistance, like and the.

Loot
Naxxramas loot included the Tier 3 raid set.

For more details, see Naxxramas (Classic) loot.