The Scourge Invasion is a limited-time world event, heralding the arrival of Naxxramas. Invasion points will pop up in several higher-level zones, Stormwind and Undercity will come under attack, and new bosses will appear in undead related dungeons. This guide to the Scourge Invasion will go over all the key points of interest. Including rewards only available during this event.

The event centers around the Argent Dawn and is a good opportunity to catch up on your rep. All mobs and quests involved will grant rep at least until Honored, the minimum rep required to enter Naxxramas.

Much of the event was reused as the pre-expansion event for Wrath of the Lich King. A similar event is also being used during the pre-expansion of Shadowlands on retail WoW.

City Invasions | Zone Invasions | Rewards | Dungeon Bosses | When Does It Begin and End?

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Stormwind and Undercity Invasions

A necropolis will float above Stormwind and Undercity for the duration of the event. Occasionally Scourge mobs will appear in the cities. They are neutral, so will leave low-level players alone so long as you don’t attack. They also leave key NPCs alone, including bankers and vendors.

Flameshockers

• Most common
• Level 55
• Don’t hit hard, but have a large health pool
• City guards can take care of them
• Players with the tag can get 5 AD rep (until honored) and a chance to loot Necrotic Runes (used for vendor items, see below)

Pallid Horror

• Group of elite mobs
• Attempt to get to the city leader, causing them to yell they are under attack
• Do not actually pose a threat, the city leader can defeat them
• When all defeated the city leader will yell, and a Damaged Necrotic Shard will spawn at the kill spot. The shard gives a quest to visit Light’s Hope Chapel (intro quest for the event). Any player can receive the quest (once per character), even if they didn’t tag the mobs.

With the mobs being passive and non-disruptive to city NPCs there is no need for players to deal with them if you don’t wish to. You should pick up the Damaged Necrotic Shard quest. Otherwise, you’ll do better farming Necrotic Runes from the other invasion spots.

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Necropolis Invasions

Several flying necropolis will periodically attack these high-level zones:

• Azshara
• Blasted Lands
• Burning Steppes
• Eastern Plaguelands
• Tanaris
• Winterspring

Zones under attack will have a purple skull marker on your map in continent view. You can also speak to NPCs near Argent Dawn tents in the major cities for locations and strength of the Scourge forces.

Assaulting the Necropolis

The goal is to knock out the Necrotic Shards on the ground, surrounded by undead.

1. Kill the non-elite undead around the shard. As more of them are killed the shard’s strength drops.
   • Grant 5 Argent Dawn rep until Honored
   • Can drop Scourgestones if wearing your Argent Dawn trinket
   • Can drop Necrotic Runes, used later in the assault and also as vendor currency with the Argent Dawn
2. Once the shard reaches zero, four acolytes will appear and start to heal the shard.
3. Interact with an acolyte and you can use 8 Necrotic Runes to disrupt them. This turns them into a Shadow of Doom, a level 61 elite mob.
   • Summoning it does not guarantee you have the tag, be ready to attack
4. Once dead you’ll loot 30 Necrotic Runes (a profit of 22). It also has a chance of dropping one of the Undead Cleaning/Slayer chest pieces (details below).
5. Killing all four acolytes/Shadows of Doom will destroy the Necrotic Shard.
6. Destroying all the Necrotic Shards attached to a floating Necropolis will destroy the Necropolis. But the Necropolis will return after some time, so long as the event is active.

Necrotic Runes

These are the primary goal of most players killing Scourge at the invasion sites. They are the currency used for new quests and items available at Light’s Hope Chapel.

• Turn an invasion acolyte into a Shadow of Doom = 8 Necrotic Runes
• Under the Shadow quest = 10 Necrotic Runes, rewards two Consecrated Sharpening Stone or Blessed Wizard Oil and unlocks the ability to buy other items
• Buy Consecrated Sharpening Stone or Blessed Wizard Oil = 8 Necrotic Runes each
• Buy Argent Dawn tabard = 10 Necrotic Runes
• Buy Undead Cleansing/Slayer gloves = 30 Necrotic Runes

Min/maxing DPS will want the Consecrated Sharpening Stone or Blessed Wizard Oil for Naxxramas. As they are only available during the invasion expect some players to farm the invasion points heavily to stockpile what they can.

Rare Spawns

Every 15 minutes while the Necrotic Shard is active rare spawns will appear.

• Bone Witch
• Lumbering Horror
• Spirit of the Damned

They are non-elite, but a bit higher level than the regular undead mobs. They drop 2-3 Necrotic Runes and an Undead Cleansing/Slaying bracer.

Letters from the Scourge

The non-elite undead has a chance to drop a letter item which starts a quest. There are six letters in total, each turned in at Light’s Hope Chapel for a small reward.

A week after turning in a letter you will receive a message through the mail, which mentions an NPC also mentioned in the letter. That NPC will now sell you Freshly-Squeezed Lemonade and Friendship Bread. They are equivalent to other food and drink from vendors. But you will receive a heart animation over your character while consuming them. The vendors will continue to sell you the items after the Scourge Invasion ends.

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Scourge Invasion Rewards

Most event rewards come from either drop around the necropolis invasions or buying items with Necrotic Runes. For best results consider forming a small party when attacking necropolis invasion points. Ideally with little to no overlap between cloth, leather, mail, and plate wearers.

Undead Cleansing & Slaying Armor Sets

Undead Cleansing and Undead Slaying armor sets are awarded only during this event. Each piece offers significantly increased damage against undead. With a 3-piece bonus of 2% damage increase to the undead. Along with some available consumables, you can stack a scary amount of offensive stats against undead mobs.

Keep in mind you may be giving up a lot of other stats and set bonuses to wear these pieces. DPS casters can get the most out of these pieces, depending on their other gear options. The trick is to maintain the spell hit cap using different slots. Melee and hunters will likely find these items are a DPS decrease. Newer characters may benefit more if they are looking to get into Naxx, but they don’t mean you stop gearing up through more traditional means. Check with your local theory crafter before committing to the time involved.

Chest Armor

• Robe of Undead Cleansing – Cloth
• Tunic of Undead Slaying – Leather
• Chestguard of Undead Slaying – Mail
• Breastplate of Undead Slaying – Plate

Chest pieces drop from Shadow of Doom when destroying an invasion point.

Bracers

• Bracers of Undead Cleansing – Cloth
• Wristwraps of Undead Slaying – Leather
• Wristguards of Undead Slaying – Mail
• Bracers of Undead Slaying – Plate

Bracers drop from the rare spawns around an invasion point: Bone Witch, Lumbering Horror, and Spirit of the Damned.

Gloves

• Gloves of Undead Cleansing – Cloth
• Handwraps of Undead Slaying – Leather
• Handguards of Undead Slaying – Mail
• Gauntlets of Undead Slaying – Plate

Gloves are awarded from an Argent Dawn questline.

1. Head to Light’s Hope Chapel with 40 Necrotic Runes.
2. Turn in 10 Necrotic Runes to complete Under the Shadow.
3. Speak to the Argent Outfitter and complete Argent Dawn Gloves by turning in another 30 Necrotic Runes.

Temporary Weapon Enchants

You can exchange 8 Necrotic Runes for an anti-undead sharpening stone or wizard oil. Note you need to complete Under the Shadow first, which requires its own 10 Necrotic Runes.

Blessed Wizard Oil

• Increases spell damage against undead by 60 for 1 hour
• Single-use item

Consecrated Sharpening Stone

• Increases attack power against undead by 100 for 1 hour
• Can be applied to two weapons if dual wielding
  • Alliance rogues get some benefit on MH, but more on OH if you need to conserve
  • Horde melee should keep Windfury on their MH
• Does affect hunter ranged attack power, unlike other sharpening stones

Marks of the Dawn

After a certain number of zones have been cleared of invasion points and necropolis a new NPC will spawn at Light’s Hope Chapel. They will offer players various Marks of the Dawn for free.

Lesser Mark of the Dawn

• 10 Stamina at level 60, scales at lower levels
• Offered after 100 zones have been defended on your server

Mark of the Dawn

• 20 Stamina at level 60, scales at lower levels
• Offered after 200 zones have been defended on your server

Greater Mark of the Dawn

• 30 Stamina at level 60, scales at lower levels
• Offered after 300 zones have been defended on your server
• When you see this you have 1 week or less left on invasion spawns

You will be given 3 of each, and the items are unique (3).

Tabard of the Argent Dawn

You can exchange 10 extra Necrotic Runes a Tabard of the Argent Dawn. No stats, but a unique design you won’t see again until the pre-Wrath of the Lich King event. Note you need to complete Under the Shadow first, which requires its own 10 Necrotic Runes.

You can also turn in 15 Necrotic Runes for a Major Healing Potion or a Major Mana Potion. But you’re probably better off stocking up on the special wizard oil and sharpening stones.

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New Dungeon Bosses

While the Scourge Invasion is active (December 3-31, regardless of invasion battle status) new bosses will be available in undead-related dungeons. You can easily spot them by their glowing purple aura, similar to the invading Scourge in the open world. These new bosses drop new, level-appropriate blue items (up to level 57). Nothing active raiders will get excited about.

Sever – Shadowfang Keep

Scorn – Scarlet Monastery (Graveyard)

Lady Falther’ess – Razorfen Downs

• Release her from the prison and she’ll transform and attack

Balzaphon – Stratholme

• Go in via the service entrance and head to the courtyard to the left

Lord Blackwood – Scholomance

• In the room just past the Chamber of Summoning, clear a few trash packs out first
• Lord Blackwood’s Blade has a unique black glow

Revanchion – Dire Maul West

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When Does the Scourge Invasion Begin and End?

The Scourge Invasion begins on December 3 at 2:00 PM PT, 5:00 PM ET. This is the same date and time Naxxramas opens, which is independent of the Scourge Invasion event.

The Scourge Invasion ends after a set number of zones have been cleared, plus one week. Blizzard announced they had increased the number of zones that must be cleared at each stage, and they added an extra week to invasion spawns on top of that.

• The number of zones needed to complete each stage: 100/200/300.
• After the 300 zones have been defended the invasion spawns will continue for one week. Up to, but not beyond December 31st. This is independent for each server.
• Event-related vendors, quest givers, and dungeon bosses will remain until December 31st.

By the numbers, Blizzard gave in the announcement they expect invasion spawns to now last for around 15 days (December 18th) on the busiest servers. But it still depends on how many players you have on each server participating.

What You Should Prioritize

When it comes to spending your Necrotic Runes it’ll depend on your character’s current progression.

Raid mains (with the possible exception of DPS priests and warlocks) should skip the armor set unless you simply want to add it to your collection. Your raid epics will be better, even against the undead of Naxxramas. Instead, focus on stockpiling the wizard oil and sharpening stones. Those offer a DPS increase for almost every class in Naxx.

You may also want to spend 10 Necrotic Runes on the Tabard of the Argent Dawn. It is a good looking and unique design until WotLK Classic gets announced.

Dungeon bosses can wait until after you’re done collecting items from the invasion points. They will stick around through December 31st on all servers.