If you’ve been playing World of Warcraft since the early days, you likely remember the Vanilla raid Zul’Gurub. The 20-man raid was added back in Patch 1.7.0 in September of 2005 and featured a massive amount of new gear, unique bosses, and the chance to fight the Soulflayer, Hakkar, himself.
But as time moved on, Zul’Gurub, like all endgame content eventually does, became obsolete. There was no longer any reason to visit the former Troll capital city other than farming up some mounts, farming a bit, and looking for transmogs.
Of course, World of Warcraft: Classic is all about putting some relevance back into old content! With the newest patch to the Classic client, the developers have added Zul’Gurub to the game!
“Within the jungles of Stranglethorn Vale, distant drums beat in an ancient ritual, calling forth the Blood God, Hakkar to the ancient troll city of Zul’Gurub,” Blizzard writes in their announcement. “Do you have what it takes to delve into its mysteries? Assemble a band of hardy explorers and make your way to Zul’Gurub, a max-level, 20-player raid instance with 120 new rare and epic items to procure from its verdant tree-lined avenues and lost temples.”
Pretty cool, huh? Zul’Gurub is one of the most classic and well-known raids from the early days of WoW, and even has the distinct honor of being the root of the cause of the infamous Corrupted Blood incident. The final boss, Hakkar the Soulflayer, causes the Corrupted Blood DoT effect. There’s a pretty good chance that Blizzard has patched the ability to not cause a pandemic, which really isn’t what the world needs right now.
There are thirteen bosses in the raid in total. These include the High Priests Arlokk, Jek’lik, Mar’li, Thekal, and Venoxis, as well as Bloodlord Mandokir, Jin’do the Hexer, Gahz’ranka, and Hakkar himself. There are also four separate bosses at the Edge of Madness, which is available once per week, with those four being Gri’lek, Hazza’rah, Renataki, and Wushoolay.
Killing mobs and bosses in the raid grants reputation with the Zandalar Tribe, one of the many tribes of Trolls on Azeroth, which can unlock some powerful rewards. You’ll also be working for your chance to grab some exclusive and rare mounts, the Swift Razzashi Raptor and the Swift Zulian Tiger mounts.
The gates to Zul’Gurub are open in the Stranglethorn Jungle, so get out there and kill some blood trolls before Hakkar the Soulflayer gets loose!
