Dire Maul Perfect Tribute Run Guide ----------------------------------- This guide explains how to make a perfect tribute run in the northern wing of Dire Maul. At the end, I've also noted how to get to the Athenaeum (the library) on your own without fighting anything. A "perfect tribute run" means a run where you kill the ogre king without killing any named ogres along the way. After you kill the ogre king, you will become king yourself, and receive a tribute from the named ogres you didn't kill. Reasons for making this run include: * A reward of approximately three blue items * Some very strong two-hour buffs * Getting the "Unfinished Gordok Business" quest The buffs can be used to fight world bosses in the Dire Maul arena or to assault the more difficult west wing of the instance. It is possible to do a tribute run without it being perfect (i.e. killing some of the named monsters on the way to the king). You will get a significantly less nice tribute reward, won't get as many buffs, and won't get the quest if you killed Captain Kromcrush. There is a map of the northern wing at: http://worldofwarcraft.gameamp.com/game_map/game_map/103.php In order to do a perfect tribute run, the party will need to bring some supplies: * To activate the freeze trap (to bypass Guard Slip'kik): - 1 frost oil - 1 thorium widget * To make the Gordok ogre suit (to bypass Captain Kromcrush): - 4 bolts of runecloth - 2 rune thread - 8 rugged leather * A way to get through the inner door, which can be: - A rogue with 285 or better lockpicking - A truesilver key and a smith who can use it - A large seaforium charge and an engineer who can use it Upon entering the northern wing, you will be in an alcove facing into a courtyard which has an upper ring and an interior. Two patrols walk in front of the entrance: a single ogre, and an ogre with dogs. Pull these patrols before continuing, or they are likely to add on you during one of the following fights, which will likely cause a party wipe. Dogs have a surprisingly long aggression range and can see through stealth; however, they are non-elite and can be taken down with instant arcane explosion if you have a suitable mage and healer. In the interior of the courtyard, on the north side, is Guard Mol'dar. He is the easiest named ogre to bypass; simply don't go near him. For a straightforward perfect tribute run, there is no reason to descend into the courtyard interior. However, you might want to visit the library, which is down a passageway accessed from a door in the west side of the courtyard interior. If you do descend into the courtyard interior, there is a roving patrol of dogs which you should pull before fighting anything else in the interior. Assuming you don't go into the interior or are done with it, you want to make a right turn from the entrance and proceed east (counterclockwise) along the upper ring. After a pair of ogres, you will mostly be clearing groups of non-elites which can be easily dealt with using AOE powers. When you reach the west side, proceed west into the next room. There are *two* roving ogre-and-dog patrols as you come into this room; pull the first one back into the first room so the second one doesn't add on you. This room contains Guard Fengus, who is probably the most difficult named ogre to avoid. His path takes him from the center of the room to the south side and then west, and from the center to the west side and then north. If you are level 60 and hug the walls, he shouldn't see you, but you will have to clear groups of ogres to make your way west to the next room. If you do get his attention, you will have to flee to the instance entrance or wipe in order to avoid killing him. For added fun, you need a key from a chest in the center of the room in order to proceed, so a party member will need to dart into the center (preferrably from the northern entrance) while he is off to one of the sides. If you are holding the courtyard key and you die, *do not release* if at all possible; you will lose the key if you exit the instance. Proceed to the west. In this area, there will be occasional floating eyeballs. If they see you (they can see through stealth), they will open a portal and summon two level 60 elites unless you kill the eye quickly. A party should be able to take the elites alone, but as adds to an existing fight they are pretty deadly. Clear this passageway (mostly groups of two ogres and one or two non-elite ogre warlock doomguard pets) until you can see the next room to the north. In the room ahead are four things: a group of ogres, a broken trap, a questgiver (Knot Thimblejack), and the wandering path of Guard Slip'kik. In order to bypass Guard Slip'kik, you need to wait until he leaves to the west and reset the frost trap using frost oil and a thorium widget. It may be possible to do this before pulling the group of ogres; my groups have always chosen to pull the ogre group first. Unlike a regular frost trap, this one lasts a long time, probably forever. (I've had a party wipe twice in the final room, and both times we were able to corpse run without having to reset the trap.) Once you've trapped Guard Slip'kik and cleared the ogre group, you can talk to Knot Thimblejack. If have a Gordok Shackle Key, you can set him free and get treasure from a cache he leaves behind, but don't do this until you've dealt with the Gordok Ogre Suit. (Gordok Shackle keys drop frequently from the named ogres and less frequently from the random ogres. They do not disappear when you leave the instance.) To make the Gordok Ogre Suit, you'll need four bolts of runecloth, two rune thread, eight rugged leather, and one ogre tannin. Ogre tannin can be obtained by clearing to the west, up one level, and into the corner of the landing. Once you have the tannin, go back to Knot Thimblejack and have the suit made. (After you have made an ogre suit through the quest, Knot can teach tailors and leatherworkers to make ogre suits on their own. Make sure to poke around at his conversation options for the recipe before using the shackle key and releasing him. Suits made this way take half the reagent cost of suits made through the quest, but you'll still need ogre tannin.) Clear up the ramps and to the Gordok Inner Door. Open the door using one of the methods mentioned at the beginning. Clear one or two ogre groups in the hall to the north, until you can see Captain Kromcrush. Have a party member use the ogre suit, talk to Kromcrush, and tell him that Guard Fengus called him a gnoll lover. He will run off and you can go past. As with the freeze trap, Captain Kromcrush's displacement appears to last forever; when he reaches Guard Fengus's location, he yells, but then stays there. Clear the pair of ogres to the right to give yourself a place to stand (pull them way back into the hall; they can cast fear), then clear the pack of wandering dogs, then clear the fixed pack of dogs. Clear the second pack of ogres on the right so that you don't get knocked into them during the final combat. Now you should be able to face King Gordok and the Observer. Kill King Gordok first (just tank the observer; he doesn't appear to be crowd-controllable); keeping the Observer alive is required for a perfect tribute. This is a tough fight; make sure to build up some threat on the tank before starting to deal damage. Once you kill the king, talk to the NPC who runs up and become king yourself (all party members can do this). All the ogres in the instance will go green. A chest will appear containing the tribute. You can now head back to the instance entrance; talk to named ogres along the way to get the nice two-hour buffs and the Unfinished Gordok Business quest. I've seen reports that you can drop (or not take) the king buff on all party members except the healer, and then rampage back through the instance with an invincible healer, killing the named ogres for loot. However, I've also seen reports that the named ogres don't drop very good loot if you do this. ===== How to get to the Athenaeum alone: You'll need a crescent key. Enter the north wing. Cross the front passageway to the stairs, avoiding the single-ogre and ogre-with-dogs patrols. On the stairs, jump onto the left side wall; the trick here is to jump diagonally forward (toward the bottom of the stairs) and left, so that you get some height advantage on the side wall. Run up the side wall and jump down; you should then be able to reach the door to the Athenaeum without drawing the ogres. There is a dog patrol in the courtyard which can screw you up if you have bad luck with timing, so watch for it.