Molten Core

The Molten Core is a level 60 raid dungeon located within Blackrock Mountain, home and seat of power to Ragnaros the Firelord. It was one of two forty (40) player raid dungeons available upon release of World of Warcraft, the other being Onyxia's Lair. Considered the pinnacle of raiding achievement at the time, the Molten Core enticed adventurers to enter the instance in the search of realm glory.

The sulfuric Molten Core is a gateway from the Firelands to Azeroth.

History


The Molten Core was created during the War of the Three Hammers more than 300 years ago. Near the end of the war, Thaurissan, the leader of the Dark Iron dwarves, sought to summon a powerful fire elemental to defeat the combined forces of the Bronzebeard and Wildhammer clans. He was more successful than he could have imagined, as he released Ragnaros the Firelord from millennia of captivity under the Redridge Mountains.

Ragnaros destroyed the city of Thaurissan and created the volcano of Blackrock Mountain. He dwells there to this day with his elemental servants and the enslaved remnants of the Dark Iron dwarf clan. The burning lake where Ragnaros lies sleeping acts as a rift connecting to the plane of fire, allowing the malicious elementals to pass through.

At some point, Archmage Antonidas was studying the entrance of the Molten Core.

From the Raid Areas page on the official World of Warcraft Community Site:
 * The Molten Core lies at the very bottom of Blackrock Depths. It is the heart of Blackrock Mountain and the exact spot where, long ago in a desperate bid to turn the tide of the dwarven civil war, Emperor Thaurissan summoned the elemental Firelord, Ragnaros, into the world. Though the firelord is incapable of straying far from the blazing Core, it is believed that his elemental minions command the Dark Iron dwarves, who are in the midst of creating armies out of living stone. The burning lake where Ragnaros lies sleeping acts as a rift connecting to the plane of fire, allowing the malicious elementals to pass through. Chief among Ragnaros' agents is Majordomo Executus - for this cunning elemental is the only one capable of calling the Firelord from his slumber.

After Dagran Thaurissan's death, Moira Thaurissan, hoping to free the Dark Iron dwarves from the fire elementals' rule, made sure the people of Azeroth knew about the threat of the elementals and about riches hidden deep below Blackrock Mountain. When Azeroth's heroes, recruited by the Hydraxian Waterlords, carefully moved through the Molten Core, killing the greatest of the fire elementals, vicious flamewakers, corehounds and their monstrous father, Magmadar, and even Majordomo Executus, and ultimately Ragnaros, who was banished back into the Firelands.

The Cenarion Raiment was liberated from the Molten Core and bestowed upon a worthy druid.

During the Fourth War, the area was entered by Thaelin Darkanvil and an Alliance adventurer, seeking a Fragment of the Molten Core for the Black Anvil. Despite previous efforts, several fire elementals and beasts still lingered in the cavern. The pair proceeded through the Core on The Tank and found Gezzrok the Keeper in Ragnaros' Lair. Gezzrok provided them with the fragment after proving their worth in a duel.

Geography


The Molten Core consists of rock and lava, with the lava forming rivers, small lakes and "lavafalls". Other features are small volcano-like smoke vents, molten cracks in the walls and roof, occasional dark iron deposits, and the runes of warding. Most locations do not have specific names, causing the majority of the Molten Core to be called simply "The Molten Core".

There are three possible ways to enter Molten Core:
 * By completing Attunement to the Core and thereafter being ported in by speaking with Lothos Riftwaker, by jumping through the window next to him, or by jumping into the lava next to his location.
 * By entering the portal in Blackrock Depths.
 * Via a warlock's Ritual of Summoning.

Loot
Upon successful completion of the encounters, all bosses drop tier 1 set items - excluding Ragnaros, who drops tier 2 leg items. In addition, trash mobs may drop Fiery Cores, Lava Cores, and Core Leather, which can be used to craft armor and weapons available with Thorium Brotherhood reputation.

Battle pets
The item drops themselves are bind on pickup, but the learned pets can be crated and traded.


 * Golemagg the Incinerator drops the Core of Hardened Ash
 * Magmadar drops the Blazing Rune
 * Sulfuron Harbinger drops the Mark of Flame

Achievements

 * Molten Core (achievement)
 * Molten Core Guild Run
 * Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros (achievement)
 * Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker (achievement)

Raid history


On release, Molten Core and Onyxia's Lair were the only 40-player instances in the game, thus Ragnaros was the first "game end boss." With the advent of Blackwing Lair, Ahn'Qiraj, the original level-60 version of Naxxramas, and the raising of the level cap with the game's expansions, defeating Ragnaros has long since ceased to be the pinnacle of raiding success. However, prior to the Burning Crusade, slaying him was still considered a very important step in raid progression before engaging in more challenging content. It was the first raid encounter which required a concerted effort in acquiring massive amounts of a particular statistic (in this case, fire resistance). Moreover, the encounter was the first one to demand the extensive use of consumables, at least in the learning process and in the first few kills. As such, it was once a very important stage in the evolution of a raiding guild.

Molten Core is now typically only run for the Molten Core (achievement) achievement, or by players seeking to craft Sulfuras, Hand of Ragnaros or Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker. Additionally, three battle pets were added in Patch 5.1 as part of the Raiding with Leashes achievement, giving players another reason to run the instance.

Players were able to start soloing Molten Core in Wrath of the Lich King, and more easily in Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria. Now that pre-current-expansion raids do not require a raid group to enter, soloing the raid for transmogrification purposes or other loot is easier than ever.

Prerequisites


While technically there are no prerequisites to enter Molten Core through its entrance at the bottom of Blackrock Depths, every Core raider will want to complete the Attunement to the Core quest to enable the shortcut at the bottom of Blackrock Mountain. This quest is given at level 55 by Lothos Riftwaker who is located just outside the Grinding Quarry, on the way to Blackrock Depths. Once attuned you can access Molten Core by talking to Lothos again. When dead (as ghost) you also have the possibility to jump into the lava near Lothos. This can also be done by living players if they have a way to slow fall, or by jumping first onto the small ledge in the pillar on the right as you enter the main chamber of Blackrock Mountain, healing, then jumping down, back toward the wall of the lava pit, to cover the remaining distance to the platform below.

Before Ragnaros can be summoned, the raid must defeat Majordomo Executus. Majordomo Executus will only appear if the raid douses the seven runes that are located near certain bosses in the Molten Core.

Each of the bosses in Molten Core has a very specific loot table, which includes the Tier 1 armor pieces as well as a number of other epic-quality items.

As stated, the Molten Core includes several mechanics which forces players to fight the bosses in a specific order. These mechanics are:
 * Tome of Tranquilizing Shot - this tome (now obsolete) was once necessary for defeating Magmadar. As such, Lucifron (who dropped the tome) had to be killed before Magmadar. Part of the reason was also that Lucifron is located before Magmadar.
 * The runes of warding - most bosses in Molten Core guard runes which must be deactivated in order to summon Majordomo Executus. This means that these bosses must be defeated before Executus becomes available.
 * It's possible to fight Baron Geddon without getting too close to Shazzrah, but it's tricky to fight Shazzrah without getting too close to Baron Geddon.
 * While it's possible to jump down to Golemagg the Incinerator's location from the ridge behind him, the fiery cracks on it and the fall damage will often kill players before they get to defeat him. When walking around, players often defeat Sulfuron Harbinger on the way.
 * Ragnaros is summoned by Majordomo Executus, who will only agree to do so when he is defeated. As such, Majordomo Executus must be defeated before Ragnaros.
 * The trash mobs in Molten Core provide Fiery Cores, Lava Cores, and Core Leather, which can be used with recipes earned at high levels of Thorium Brotherhood reputation to craft epic armor and weapons. It is generally the case that a raid progressing through Molten Core will use these Cores to craft Fire Resistance armor, which will allow the melee DPS of the raid to survive the final encounters with Majordomo Executus and Ragnaros.
 * These factors, in addition to the layout of Molten Core, usually causes players to kill the bosses in this order: Lucifron → Magmadar → Gehennas → Garr → Baron Geddon → Shazzrah → Sulfuron Harbinger → Golemagg the Incinerator → Majordomo Executus → Ragnaros.

Powerful players (level 70-80+) can fight the eight first bosses in any way they prefer. It's also possible to skip Lucifron.

Resources

 * Core Leather (Skinning core hounds, 310 skinning required)
 * Inv ore mithril 01.png Dark Iron Deposit (230 mining required)
 * Blood of the Mountain
 * Fiery Core
 * Lava Core
 * Sulfuron Ingot

Anniversary edition
For WoW's 10-year anniversary, a special 40-player Raid Finder version of Molten Core was re-released to players as a Looking For Raid instance, with the encounters tuned and updated numerically, but "99% of nostalgia preserved". Elemental immunities/resistances were one of the only things "nerfed" in the name of playability; Golemagg's aggro radius was also reduced. According to one developer, watching Blizzard's internal testers do Core Hound packs was glorious.

The anniversary raid appeared as an option in max-level players' Group Finder menus for the duration of the anniversary. The description for the raid read "Celebrate World of Warcraft's Anniversary by running rampant through Ragnaros's hallowed Core, to his very lair", referencing Ragnaros's well-known dialogue just before fighting him. Defeating Ragnaros awarded the achievement Boldly, You Sought the Power of Ragnaros, which came with the mount Core Hound Chain. Ragnaros himself also had a 100% chance to drop a helm of the appropriate armor type, each sharing the same fiery model as the original Crown of Destruction item and Circle of Flame. He had a very low chance to drop the companion Hatespark the Tiny and the cosmetic enhancer Illusion: Flames of Ragnaros. Other bosses dropped only gold. All enemies awarded Hydraxian Waterlords reputation just as in the original version.

Notes and trivia

 * Killing NPCs within Molten Core still rewards reputation with the now-removed members of the Hydraxian Waterlords.
 * Prior to patch 3.0.8 the Hydraxian Waterlords offered a quest chain, eventually rewarding Aqual Quintessence, which was at one point required to douse the Runes of the Firelord in order to summon Majordomo Executus and consequently, Ragnaros. Presently, defeating bosses will automatically douse their respective runes.
 * There were very few quests that involved the Molten Core. The only significant quest chain was the Hydraxian Waterlords chain, which was started by a visit to Duke Hydraxis off the coast of Azshara. Completing this quest chain required killing one of each of the trash mobs in the Core, and then defeating the four Flamewaker bosses in Molten Core (Lucifron, Gehennas, Shazzrah, and Sulfuron Harbinger). In addition, all the trash mobs and bosses in Molten Core provided Hydraxian Waterlord reputation. The final reward options for this quest chain were Tidal Loop or Ocean's Breeze, both rare rings with high Fire Resistance.
 * As of patch 4.3.0 Molten Core can be accessed without being in a raid group by speaking with Lothos Riftwaker.
 * Molten Core was originally planned as a single room in Blackrock Depths containing the boss fight with Ragnaros, before being expanded into an entire separate instance.
 * The geometry for the two dungeons meshes perfectly.
 * Molten Core was nearly cut from World of Warcraft. To ensure it would be in the game at release, developers finished working on the dungeon in a single week. Jeff Kaplan did all of the spawning and creature placement, while Scott Mercer designed all of the boss fights, Bob Fitch worked up loot for the dungeon, and Pat Nagle created the Hydraxis quest line. Alex Afrasiabi was responsible for the attunement quest which would be patched in later.
 * The very first legendary item that dropped in World of Warcraft, the Talisman of Binding Shard, was immediately hotfixed out of the game.
 * In Hearthstone, the Molten Core card back was rewarded for pre-ordering the Blackrock Mountain adventure. The flavor text reads: "The Molten Core of Azeroth and not a chocolate lava cake, unfortunately."

Guides

 * How to solo Attunement to the Core
 * Inner Sanctum's Molten Core Strategy Guide
 * The Pocket Guide to Molten Core
 * Conquest guide