Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj

The Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj is a 10-man outdoor raid dungeon located in southern Silithus, released with Patch 1.9. Its release was joined by massive server-dependent event called the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj. It can be found by entering the main Ahn'Qiraj Gate and continuing on the left path.

It uses a similar loot system to what Zul'Gurub used, via tokens dropped from bosses which are used to complete quests that give item rewards. Additionally, the quests can only be completed once a certain reputation has been reached with the Cenarion Circle. The rewards are class-specific: a ring at honoured, a cloak at revered and a weapon at exalted. There is a set bonus for all three.

The entrance to the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, which is a 40-player raid instance intended to be the step after Blackwing Lair, is via a separate portal following the right path from the Scarab Wall gate.

Most of the area is mountable, however, the bug mounts from the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj do not work here.

If any member of your party is in combat then your entire party is in combat no matter where they are in the instance.

History
Deep within the deserts of Silithus lies an ancient and powerful race of beings known as the Qiraji. One thousand years ago, the Night Elves and Bronze Dragonflight combined their considerable powers to seal the Qiraji behind the scarab wall with the help of the children of some of the aspects. This is remembered as the "War of the Shifting Sands".

Recently it was discovered that some of the Qiraji were finding ways past the wall. Anachronos, the bronze dragon, helped the adventurers of Azeroth open the Scarab Wall to prevent more incursions. The mortal races have now banded together to confront the evil Qiraji in their own land. A champion has opened the gate and the Horde and Alliance have driven the armies of the Qiraji back into the ruins in retreat. It now falls to heroes to delve into the lair of the Qiraji and put an end to their masters once and for all.

Quests

 * Starts with the quest item Head of Ossirian the Unscarred

Preparation
Many of the mobs in the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj use poison or nature-based attacks, so nature resistance gear would be ideal. However, nature resistance in Ahn'Qiraj seems not to be near as crucial as fire resistance to Molten Core.

Guilds who attempt the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj should not be required to be decked out in epic-quality equipment.

Likewise to nature resistance gear, Greater Nature Protection potions have some potential use in Ahn'Qiraj. However, the formula for these potions is known to sell for more than Greater Fire Protection potions.

Since the progression for the instances of this size is to go from Blackrock Spire to Zul'Gurub to the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, the type of gear to have would be ZG-level or above. Those wearing Tier 1 gear and above will find this instance a lot simpler. Note that since the removal of Zul'Gurub as a raid instance, players wishing to tackle AQ10 with a group of Lv. 60 players may have a harder time since this progression step is now gone.

Inside the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj there are two portals. The one on the left side is the portal to the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj. The one on the right is the portal to the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj.

Having at least 1 druid on your raid is not only a good idea, but essential. Entangling Roots, although unreliable, is the only form of Crowd Control that will work in AQ10. A balance Druid will shine in AQ10.

Dungeon denizens

 * Anubisath
 * Beetles
 * Frenzies
 * Horusath (one, )
 * Human (one, )
 * Mana surges
 * Night elves
 * Obsidian destroyers
 * Oozes
 * Qiraji
 * Roaches (critters)
 * Sand reaver (one, )
 * Scorpids
 * Silithid colossus (one, )
 * Silithid larvae
 * Silithid tanks
 * Silithid wasps
 * Silithid workers

Encounters
One of the nice things about AQ10 is that there are only two mandatory boss encounters between the entrance line and Ossirian: Kurinnaxx and General Rajaxx. The raid can then ignore Moam in the Reservoir to skip directly to Ossirian if desired.



Loot
The loot in AQ10 comes from:
 * killing bosses.
 * killing mobs.
 * coffer chests in the instance containing scarabs and idols, requiring coffer keys that drop off of mobs. The keys are not soulbound and as of 1.10 no longer disappear when you leave the zone. If you only receive one (1) key it is recommended you use it on the chest near Ossirian.
 * If you're in an aq10 group and your group downs at least the second boss then all the mobs up to him do not respawn after a soft reset, aka 30 minutes. But, the scarab coffers do respawn along with the level 55 non-elite scarabs. Typically you get one idol and 11-15 scarabs.
 * After killing Ossirian the Unscarred, his head will drop and that will start the quest the, which rewards the player with an epic neck piece.

Loot-quest system
AQ10 loot-quests require scarabs and idols which drop from trash mobs and Qiraji items which drop from bosses, combined with a certain level of faction with the Cenarion Circle.

Players must collect ten scarab items of two certain types (two lots of five), two stone idols of a certain type, and a single Qiraji item. When a player has the appropriate collection for a particular item and a certain level of reputation with the Cenarion Circle, they can turn them in for the item.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
During the Elemental Unrest, the Qiraji led by Prince Sarsarun attempted to invade Stormwind. However, adventurers led by Varian Wrynn (Alliance) and Cairne Bloodhoof (Horde) assaulted Ahn Qiraj and slew Sarsarun and any Qiraji nearby. The Sarsarun encounter took place in Ahn'Qiraj Terrace, a region of Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj inaccessible from the normal instance.

In Cataclysm, The Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj has been converted to a 10-player raid. With the concurrent removal of Zul'Gurub, this meant the end of 20-player raids.