Dire Maul North / Tribute Run - Walkthrough

Dire Maul North / Tribute Run - Walkthrough

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ONE OF THE MORE INTERESTING INSTANCES in World of Warcraft is Dire Maul North. This wing contains several named bosses that can be killed on the way to the final boss -- King Gordok -- but the rewards are greater if you reach the King WITHOUT killing any of the other bosses. You see, killing the mini-bosses usually produces relatively weak green items; if you spare the guards en route to the King, you'll find extra, more valuable blue items waiting at the end, as well as a few other nice surprises. Here's what you can expect on a typical Dire Maul North run.

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1. The entrance to DM North is, as you'd expect, found north of the PVP pit, where you'll find two doors (someone will need to have the Crescent Key from DM East). The group enters through the right-side door, where there's a small protective pocket to buff up and avoid patrols that roam the area.

2. After pulling the first few patrols, you'll see a center pit with a lot of dogs, a named NPC -- Guard Mol'dar -- and a path down to the left that leads down to the Athenaeum (a.k.a. the Dire Maul Library). Hopefully, you'll be back to visit the Library later, but you'll be staying out of the pit for now.

3. Although it's possible to move directly to the atrium to the left -- which is where you eventually need to go -- there's a nasty group of four ogres blocking your path. Many groups will opt to go to the right and work the long way around, where you won't face anything more than 3 ogres at a time.

4. Hopefully you brought a mage and some other crowd control, or you're going to have a lot of fun with the groups of ogres to come. Sheeping should be a must on every pull, and having some sort of crowd control to keep a second ogre busy on every pull will make things even smoother.

5. As you work your way around to the far side of the pit, you'll run into Stomper Kreeg (a.k.a. The Drunk). Don't bother with him; in fact, the group may ask you to simply sacrifice yourself if you accidentally aggro him (or any of the future bosses), rather than kill him and damage the Tribute.

6. There are a number of paths that can be taken around the second room, as the goal is to reach a door at the far west. Many will take the north route, which involves one rough pull of 4 ogres, but then goes through some easily AoEd spiders and lashers. Guard Fengus patrols the perimeter on the far side; once again, if you're on a Tribute Run, it's crucial that you avoid aggroing him.

7. At the far west of this second room is a large door that leads further into the instace. The key can be found in the center of this room at the top of the ramp. A rogue can generally sneak up and grab the key with ease.

8. With the door opened, the group moves indoors, into the Halls of Destruction. There's a long alley that leads to a larger room, with a few NPCs of note. The first is Guard Slip'kik, who patrols in front of "A Broken Trap." If you brought some Frost Oil and a Thorium Widget, you can fix the trap and take Guard Slip'kik out of action without killing him, keeping the maximum Tribute Run intact.

9. In the far right of this same area is a friendly NPC named Knot Thimblejack. He gives the quest for "The Gordok Ogre Suit," which you'll need in a few minutes to continue the Tribute Run. He also has a quest to "Free Knot!," which requires the Gordok Shackle Key, a random drop. You should save freeing Knot until you've finished off the King, since the plan is to come back later when it's safer.

10. After making a few lefts and clearing a few more groups, you'll arrive at the base of a large ramp. At the top of the first ramp is a group of ogre warlocks around a basket that contains Ogre Tannin. This is the key ingredient for the Gordok Ogre Suit. When you loot the tannin, Gordok Bushwacker spawns, so make sure the area is clear before looting the tannin.

11. At the top of the ramp, after a few more groups, is a large Inner Door on the left. The key normally drops off Guard Mol'dar at the beginning of the instance, but, for the Tribute Run, a rogue can pick the lock, or it can be opened with a Truesilver Skeleton Key (created with Blacksmithing).

12. The next corridor is where you'll want to put on the Gordok Ogre Suit. Whoever has the suit should go to the far end of the hall and talk to Captain Kromcrush, who will freak out and run downstairs. In other words, he'll run away so you don't have to kill him, further keeping the Tribute Run intact.

13. After entering the courtyard and killing a few dogs, you'll arrive at the final battle of the Tribute Run: King Gordok. There's a catch, however. Protecting Gordok is Cho'Rush the Observer, who will try to heal Gordok if he's within range. Often, a warrior will pull the King to one side of the arena, a paladin will off-tank the guard to the other side, and your healer will stand in the middle within range of everyone. To maximize the Tribute, the goal is to kill Gordok first, so everyone except the off-tank focuses on killing the King.

14. After the king is dead, Mizzle the Crafty comes out to talk to you, and has a surprise: you're about to be crowned the new King of Dire Maul! First things first, however: there's a lot of loot to sort through. The list of potential drops is too big to go through here; just trust the fact that between 5 people, there's a good chance you'll be leaving with something nice.

15. Once you're done with the loot, don't port out -- go back downstairs and you'll see your newfound kingship means the entire instance has turned friendly, including all the bosses you left alive. Some of the bosses will offer nice buffs, which can come in handy after you talk to Captain Kromcrush, who gives you the quest "Unfinshed Gordok Business" in Dire Maul West.

16. If you want, you can take this rare moment of peace to visit the Library, and then continue through to the West instance.