Mana-Tombs



The Mana-Tombs are a wing of the Auchindoun instance. It is accessed north from the Ring of Observance. Note that although the instance itself is called Mana-Tombs, the entrance area outside the portal is called Mana Tombs without the dash. The instance normally takes about 90–120 minutes.

History
Auchindoun is a former draenei holy site and Horde fortress in the middle of the Bone Wastes, in Outland's Terokkar Forest. It was a holy ground for draenei burial until the Shadow Council took over, summoned an extremely powerful demon as old as time itself, and destroyed half of Terokkar Forest in the process. Different factions now vie for power in this magical spot: Ethereals suck the arcane energy from the Mana-Tombs, the Burning Legion harvests souls inside the Auchenai Crypts, arakkoa zealots work dark magic in the Sethekk Halls, and the Shadow Council plots its domination of Outland from within the Shadow Labyrinth.

Its inhabitants are mostly ethereals opposing the Consortium. The Mana-Tombs provide reputation for the Consortium until Honored; afterwards, in order to gain rep with the Consortium in Mana-Tombs, it must be run on Heroic (which requires honored with Lower City). The ethereals of the Consortium cannot enter due to the anti-ethereal wards set by Nexus-Prince Shaffar; they have attempted to breach the gates with little success, but have still tested whether or not their efforts worked - often resulting in the spotaneous combustion (for lack of a better term) of the ethereal tester sent through the gate. According to the Consortium, the ethereals in the Mana-Tombs are robbing it blind and if you wish to do business with them, you'll have to aid in taking out the competition.

Group and Level Guidance
It is recommended that you take characters in the 64-66 level range. It is essential to have Crowd Control and/or Anti-caster abilities in group. One primary mage or warlock and a secondary can be helpful (Mage, Warlock, Second Priest, Hunter, Rogue). Tanking is not nearly as important in mana-tombs as it is in other instances so an off tank is not required. Having a back up healer is also helpful on boss fights, but they should be able to add to dps when demanded. A Priest or paladin is also needed for their shadow resistance buffs.

Preparation for the Instance
Having Shadow resist items will make the first boss a lot easier, in fact, shadow resist items will be essential for players at the lower end of spectrum (63-64) that do not have a perfectly well formed party.

In order to summon Yor, at least one player from your party must have the quest (Repeatable) or have completed.

Stealth Runs
This dungeon provides moderate to heavy difficulty for a party made entirely of rogues and druids. No mobs have stealth detection, but there are several 'pinch-points' where 2 saps may not be enough to sneak by.


 * Pandemonius is linked to all mobs in his room. Everything inside the room must be cleared.  You may safely sneak around this boss.
 * Tavarok fights alone, and can be pulled with little to no preparation from the east side. You may safely sneak around this boss.
 * Yor fights alone, but the eels around its prison should be cleared at the very least.
 * Shaffar is linked to all mobs in his room. Everything past the stairs must be cleared.  This fight is especially cruel to melee, and may be impractical for stealth running.

Dungeon Denizens

 * Colossus (one, Tavarok)
 * Ethereals
 * Arcane wraiths
 * Mana surges
 * Mana wyrms
 * Rats (critters)
 * Roaches (critters)
 * Snakes (critters)
 * Sparks
 * Spiders (critters)
 * Void lord (one, Pandemonius)
 * Void terror (one, Yor)
 * Voidwraiths

Bosses

 * First Boss: Pandemonius
 * Second Boss: Tavarok
 * Third Boss: Nexus-Prince Shaffar
 * Summoned Boss: Yor (Heroic Mode only)

Trash

 * All mobs immune to mind control in heroic mode.

Loot
See Mana-Tombs loot.

Reputation
Reputation gains go to Consortium.
 * Trash mobs: 7 (heroic: 15)
 * Nexus Terror: 10 (heroic: 23)
 * Mana Leech: 1 (heroic: 3)

A complete clear of Mana-Tombs will give about 1200 reputation with the Consortium until Honored, and 2400 each Heroic clear.

Maps


Sub-areas


 * Ravaged Crypt
 * Crescent Hall
 * Hall of Twilight

Quests
Two quests are available at the entrance to the instance: The following are part of a quest chain that begins with in Blade's Edge Mountains after completing :
 * - Kill mobs in the instance, completed at the control panel prior to reaching Shaffar
 * - Escort the head engineer back to entrance. Probably best done after killing Shaffar and clearing the whole instance. (As soon as you finish the quest Safety Is Job One, several friendly NPCs will spawn, one of them will offer you this quest.)
 * - Kill Nexus-Prince Shaffar
 * (Repeatable)
 * - Not set inside the Mana-Tombs, but the reward is a permanent key to unlock Nexus-Prince Shaffar's Stasis Chamber
 * - Not set inside the Mana-Tombs, but the reward is a permanent key to unlock Nexus-Prince Shaffar's Stasis Chamber

Tips

 * This dungeon is often one of the least favorites for tanking classes in its level range due to the number of mobs that interfere with tanking functions, such as the Ethereal Scavengers' habit of leaving the tank to attack casters, or the Ethereal Stalkers' tendency to gouge the tank, causing all attacking mobs to ignore the tank for several seconds.


 * It's easy to forget that the Mana Leeches in this dungeon often perform an arcane explosion-like attack when they die. If several are pulled at once, it can quickly wipe out most of your melee DPS, also as a healer it is recommended to stand very far away as possible, at max range, to reduce the chance of being mana burned, as each hit could wipe out up to half of your mana, and when you're pulling groups of them mixed with other mobs your group will die very fast.