Karazhan (raid)

The Karazhan raid instance is located in the abandoned citadel (or castle) of the same name, which is located in southern Deadwind Pass in the Eastern Kingdoms. This raid was designed for level 70 characters and opened near the beginning of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

The raid is a single huge wing (containing seven stories and 17 map pages) containing both the lower guest complex and upper tower, with some shortcuts. It encompasses twelve boss encounters, some scripted with different possibilities per week from 22 different NPCs. While the layout is largely non-linear, there are four essential bosses: Moroes, the Opera Event, The Curator, and the Chess Event. These four must be defeated in order, but all other bosses are optional. The final boss is Prince Malchezzar, as the tower's last known occupant — Medivh's presence as the last Guardian of Tirisfal being somewhat absent due to his death. The tower has been sealed off from the rest of the world and is filled with spirits and demons, which are the main opponents in the instance.

Anyone above 80 will find Karazhan easily soloable, especially paladins, druids and death knights. At level 85 or greater all classes can do so. The Chess Event is not gear or level dependent and still relies on specific tactics in playing the encounter, along with a little luck and perseverance.

General information


Medivh's staff — — can provide quick transport to the tower. It will teleport players to the front gate of Karazhan.

The raid originally had three shortcuts to access the upper floors from the main entrance. While two are discussed below, the third shortcut was the Side Entrance of the upper Tower. As of Patch 7.0, while both function as entrances and exits, on entry you may be teleported to the other entrance inside, depending on your progress through the instance. In Patch 7.1, the side entrance was re-purposed for the Return to Karazhan dungeon. The portal is found when climbing the tower to the right of the main entrance (across the small creek), the stairs lead to a bridge and to a door which would be unlocked from the inside once the Opera Event has been cleared.

Vendors and repair

 * On the ground floor (in the stables near Attumen the Huntsman) will repair gear for players who are Honored with Violet Eye. He also sells some epic Blacksmithing recipes (frost resistance gear). Near him is Calliard who wanders around, babbling how evil Midnight and her owner are.
 * Near the end, outside of the Gamesman's Hall (before the Chess Event) is Ythyar. He is a reagent and The Consortium reputation reward vendor, who can repair gear. Note however that Ythyar has no faction attached to him, so no reputation discounts are available — whether this is a bug or intentional is unclear.

Instance layout


The following is a compilation of areas in Karazhan and the corresponding bosses of the apparent layout of Karazhan.

There are two shortcuts in the instance. First, Berthold the Doorman in the front entrance will later teleport you up to the private library. This teleport which activates after the Shade of Aran is killed. Secondly, the Servants' Entrance Door is in the Broken Stair, and links with the Ballroom. It is first found near the Master's Terrace by going down a small ramp, where the door can be unlocked from the back. Once open the upper floors can quickly be accessed from the Opera mezzanine above the ballroom, e.g. from the blacksmith to the Curator, or from Nightbane to Berthold (in order to get to Aran). This shortened path helps while running back despite not helping for the initial clear. The Side Entrance no longer works.


 * The main entrance
 * The Gatehouse – leads to A1, A2, A3
 * A1: The Livery Stable – Attumen the Huntsman, links to A1+
 * A1+: The Guardhouse and Scullery – links to B2
 * A2: The Servant's Quarters – one of three random animal bosses, leads to B1
 * A3: The Grand Ballroom – leads to B1, B2, and B3
 * B1: The Guest Chambers – the Maiden of Virtue stands watch here
 * B2: The Banquet Hall – Moroes
 * B3: The Opera House – the Opera Event, one of three random stage productions


 * All paths lead into the Broken Stair
 * AA: The Broken Stair – side entrance unlocked by opera event, leads to AA+, BA
 * AA+: The Master's Terrace – One may summon Nightbane should the need arise... (dead end)
 * BA: The Menagerie – The Curator, leads to CA, CB, CC, ??
 * CA: The Repository – Terestian Illhoof
 * CB: The Guardian's Library – Shade of Aran
 * CC: The Celestial Watch – Netherspite
 * ??: The Gamesman's Hall – Chess Event, a side event encounter of epic proportions
 * Medivh's Chambers – leads to D
 * D: The Topmost – onward to X
 * X: Netherspace – Prince Malchezaar lurks within


 * Random Servant's Quarters Bosses include three bosses that drop epic-level items that can be worse than virtually any level-70 blue. They follow the pattern of green drops (of the Owl, of the Whale). Useful drops are sparse, but they are epic (they can be disenchanted) and can be sold for a few gold, plus every mob gives normal reputation, which is much considering the low difficulty of that area. The bosses are:
 * Hyakiss the Lurker – spider boss
 * Rokad the Ravager – darkhound boss
 * Shadikith the Glider – bat boss

You do not have to clear the entire quarters for a boss to spawn. It appears that the boss will spawn after a certain number of kills occurs. Look for an emote, such as 'Hyakiss the Lurker emerges from...' The boss can also spawn multiple times if the quarters continue to get cleared. Killing the maiden does not prevent respawns in this room. NOTE: These bosses, if done previous to any real bosses in Karazhan, will not lock you with a raid ID to Karazhan. The main value of this area is that it helps a new raid group build confidence and quickly levels everyone's reputation to honored so that Koren can be used to repair (something you want the whole raid to be able to do).


 * Random Opera House Bosses include:
 * Dorothee, Tito, Roar, Strawman, Tinhead, & The Crone
 * Romulo & Julianne
 * The Big Bad Wolf

You must kill Moroes before Barnes will allow you to try the Opera Event. To check the week's event without making a real attempt, start it with Barnes, then with one or more people on stage (to die) leave the rest of the raid in the pit below. If it's the Big Bad Wolf, the person(s) on stage will need to talk to Grandmother to actually initiate the encounter, without this person the event can sometimes lock up the doorway and the GMs will not help you. The other two events will engage straight away and the person on stage will die or alternatively a Hunter's Feign Death can be used.

Be aware that the conversations between the stagehands do not contain hints about the upcoming event. They will say "need more paint for the Oz set", even if R&J or Wolf is up for the week.

The Broken Stair is after the stairs leading from the Opera event. The terrace is notable for the summonable boss Nightbane and just by the terrace door, the Servant's Entrance to the upper tower.


 * Kings for each side of the Chess Event are King Llane piece and Warchief Blackhand piece.


 * How to reach Chess Event: After having defeated the Curator, head to the Library, clean your way up the upper part of library until you arrive at Shade door, and continue your way and go down on the first crossroad you encounter.

Built-in zone maps
Karazhan's map was added in patch 4.1.0. It, far and away, has the most floors of any instance with seventeen floors (The next highest is Icecrown Citadel with eight, and a few others with seven).

Dungeon denizens

 * Arcane guardians
 * Banshees
 * Bats
 * Blue dragon (one, Arcanagos)
 * Bone golems
 * Darkhounds
 * Death knight (one, Attumen the Huntsman)
 * Doomguards
 * Dreadsteed (one, Midnight)
 * Emberwyrm (one, Nightbane)
 * Eredar (one, Prince Malchezaar)
 * Ethereals
 * Fleshbeasts
 * Forsaken
 * Ghosts
 * Grells
 * Harvest golems (one, Strawman)
 * Horses
 * Humans
 * Medivh
 * Imps
 * Arcane wraiths
 * Mana surges
 * Mana wyrms
 * Nether dragon (one, Netherspite)
 * Orcs
 * Rats (critters)
 * Satyrs (one, Terestian Illhoof)
 * Skeletal gryphons
 * Skeletal horses
 * Skeletons
 * Skeletal mages
 * Sparks
 * Spiders
 * Succubi
 * Titanic watcher (one, Maiden of Virtue)
 * Trolls (one, The Crone)
 * Water elementals
 * Wolves
 * Worgen (one, The Big Bad Wolf)
 * Wraiths

Related quests
For a description of the entire Karazhan quest chain see: Karazhan Quest Progression

Getting opens the following follow-up quests:

(Must be Honored with the Violet Eye)

For the old Serpentshrine Cavern attunement:
 * The Cudgel of Kar'desh

Tier 4
Tier 4 parts dropped by The Curator (Glove tokens):
 * Gloves of the Fallen Champion
 * Gloves of the Fallen Hero
 * Gloves of the Fallen Defender

Tier 4 parts dropped by Prince Malchezaar (Helm tokens):
 * Helm of the Fallen Champion
 * Helm of the Fallen Defender
 * Helm of the Fallen Hero

Badges
The bosses of Karazhan used to drop Badge of Justice in addition to their normal loot. In Karazhan, all bosses dropped two Badges each, except for the animal bosses (zero), Attumen the Huntsman (one) and Prince Malchezaar (three). Since the chest at the Chess Event also contained two badges, a total of 22 Badges could be obtained from clearing the entire instance. From Patch 4.0.1 until Patch 6.0.2 all bosses instead awarded Justice Points.

Achievements

 * Fiery Warhorse's Reins (achievement)
 * Karazhan (achievement)
 * Karazhan Guild Run

Trivia

 * There was some discussion as to who is the final boss of Karazhan, Prince Malchezaar or Nightbane. The Prince drops higher level loot (125 vs. 115) and yields three heroic tokens, the most in the entire instance. On the other hand, Nightbane drops the SSC attunement quest item. The difficulty of the two fights is very similar. With the release of the achievements system, Prince Malchezaar is listed as the boss required for the Karazhan achievement, which is evidence that Blizzard considers him the final boss of the raid instance.
 * In the Opera House, certain mobs will have a spotlight effect, increasing your damage while in the spotlight (for friend and foe) by 20%. On these mobs, it's considered a good strategy for tanks to move the mob out, and run into the spotlight. "stealing the spotlight"
 * In the Opera House, you will meet Barnes  on the stage, addressing his ghostly audience. Barnes will then announce the night's presentation. One of three boss presentations will appear, each based on famous stories or tales. "Tonight, things are not what they seem, for tonight, your eyes may not be trusted."
 * Little Red Riding Hood - Starring the hungry Big Bad Wolf himself.
 * The Wizard of Oz - Starring Dorothee and her dog Tito, Tinhead, Strawman, the lion Roar, and the evil Crone that tries to stop them on their way home!
 * Romulo and Julianne - A tale of forbidden love...
 * In the first room in the Guest Rooms there is a bed with two skeletons lying in it. Dead roses lay between them, and one has a knife stuck in it, while the other is holding a bottle. This is a reference to Romeo and Juliet.

Karazhan gryphon roost
The Karazhan gryphon roost is left over from the planning phase of Karazhan. Before the teleport to Aran's room was implemented, the original plan was to have a flight path that connected to the top of Karazhan for the convenience of groups who had already cleared most of the instance. With the ability to fly in Azeroth it is now possible to reach the ledge, but the portal is still blocked. It is notable that a skeletal gryphon can be seen flying around the tower too.

In The Last Guardian, Medivh and Khadgar used the gryphons to reach Stormwind and the Black Morass.