Comments

Comment by Dusklight

These are a 100% drop rate from the invisible Eye of Naxxramas mobs found throughout Stratholme. Using it gives you the 2 minute buff Truesight, allowing you to see the dread ward of Naxxramas in the southern part of Crusader's Square. Using a Stratholme Holy Water from the nearby supply crates on the crystal will shatter it, causing an unreachable Hand of Naxxramas NPC to spawn. After five minutes, the NPC will flee and you will then be able to proceed with empowering your Argent Dawn Commission and unlocking the secrets of Naxxramas.

Comment by Xorag

I have the buff and the argent trinket equipped but for some reason the portal isn't appearing for me near the gate.

Edit - Don't kill any bosses before looking for the portal

Comment by IhaveNoLife

If you kill the Hand of Naxxramas on one character and are thrown off by the Argent Dawn honored reputation requirement for the followup quest, don't do what I did and try to farm this on an alt that has a higher reputation with the Argent Dawn. Once you speak to Archmage Angela Dosantos, all of your characters will be able to access the Dread Citadel attunement quests, meaning the character with the highest reputation can immediately complete it. Furthermore, upon killing the Hand of Naxxramas (or maybe it's after talking to the Archmage), the Eyes of Naxxramas appear stop dropping this item for any of your characters.

Comment by giantsage

Just a heads-up, you use this on the live side, in front of the building that has Balnazzar and other bosses inside. Don't use it in front of the little chapel on the undead side, like I did...5 times.

Comment by Durotardorc

If you got mega confused like me. I finally figured the issue out.

Equip your argent dawn commendation trinket
Go get a ward from one of the Eyes floating around on the LIVE SIDE (aka main strathholme NOT servants entrance). I found one almost every time between The Unforgiven and Hearthsinger Forresten as shown on the dungeon map.
Make sure to pick up a couple of strathholme holy water along the way too (the glowy crates around the dungeon)
Stay on the LIVE side but go to the left side of the dungeon to the massive Cathedral in crusaders square (just past Timmy the Cruel boss).
Crack the ward and look to the gate to the south of the arena, there should be a portal spawn there, throw a holy water on it
Leg it back to the other side (UNDEAD) Through the festival lane gate on the map
zip around the 3 ziggurates, kill the bosses and 5 mobs in each
kill the abominations in the last large room, then kill rammstein
look to the left and there will be a gate, kill all the mini mobs that come out of there
go back to the building where rammstein was and kill the black knights
quickly zip downstairs to kill rivendare, and then zip back up and through that gate where the mini mobs came from
at the end of the short corridor there will bea locked gate and the Hand of Naxxrammus - extra action button will pop up - click and done.

--> https://imgur.com/a/kcgMBUB <-- where to click the ward

Comment by Incrediblz

I did it without going undead side failed by 5 seconds. went in again nuked and cleared undead side went to pop portal nothing. bit of a #$%^&* move by blizzard if you ask me as a warrior I dont struggle with movement etc I just figured they would not throttle something so basic as transmog unlock.Oh well once I calm down I will load up on speed pots or whatever and do it right.

Comment by Zhangtu

I got a ward on my first try then failed my attempt. I have done 25 runs now and have yet to get another ward. looking forward to knowing the drop rate.

EDIT: I had killed the boss somehow and didn't realize it. goodbye, 4 hours killing eyes lol

Comment by FlipFlopFantasy

Important! You can not pre-clear the undead side to make it faster! if you do that the portal won't spawn when you destroy the ward.

On my warlock running with burning rush I made it with about 50 seconds to spare, would not recommend doing this on a character with no movement speed increase.

Comment by wdyftw

For those who are farming for hours without a drop like me. Did you kill the endboss in old Scholo with the Commission equipped? If no, do so and loot the quest item. Bring that item to Duke Nicholas Zverenhoff in Light's Hope Chapel. After that, kill an eye with the Comission equipped. I had a 100% droprate

Comment by HasjSNAke

Getting so damn tired of this little adventure, one time the portal shows, the next it doesn't.

Finally had everything work perfectly, except the slaughterhouse gate didn't open, so another backfire. Getting sick and tired of these bugged/glitched half-assed progression adventures.

Comment by DarkKuno

Just finished this on my warrior.
The 5m timer to get from Live side to Deadside and kill the Baron without clearing the path first (since by design, killing any of the ziggaraut guard bosses will prevent the ward from showing you the live side portal) is extremely tight.
If I hadn't long ago put together a twinked out speed set and had speed on kill food+speed phial I wouldn't have made it.

Tips:
1. If you have a speed set, definitely equip it for this.
2. Mobility is king for this. Honestly if you want to make it easy, just be a druid or a DH with a speed set.
3. Bear Tartare or Fried Bonefish + Charged Phial of Alacrity are almost required to be able to get through in time
4. Do NOT kill ANY bosses before hand. If you try to pre-clear the bosses on dead side to unlock the Baron's room in advance, you will not be able to see the portal on live side when you crack the ward. Similarly try to avoid killing any trash on the way to the Cathedral area as well since you want as much uptime on your speed on kill food as possible when you're rushing to make it to the Baron in time.
4. Do NOT loot anything! Literally every second counts trying to get this done. It should go without saying, but I know some folks just can't help themselves due to long ingrained habit.

Good luck

Comment by Harai

If you repaired your first Argent Dawn Commission with a class that is having trouble beating the 5 minute timer in Stratholme and/or you have another alt that is exalted with Argent Dawn to bypass the next quest requirements you can request another Argent Dawn Commission trinket on that alt by talking to Duke Nicholas Zverenhoff in Light's Hope Chapel

/way #23 75.6 53.8 Duke Nicholas Zverenhoff

Comment by Hjorthie

I cannot stress this enough:
YOU NEED TO BE WEARING Argent Dawn Commission TO GET Ward of Naxxramas TO DROP
Please don't spend 3 hours trying to get the Ward to drop having the trinket just lie around in your bag, like me

Comment by Ashirin

Step by Step Guide for all of Stratholme:

Preparation:

Adjust your build to have a spamable AoE ability and to be as fast as possible. I completed it as shadow with Holy Nova and Feathers - which is really good AoE but very slow when compared to Druids or Rogues. And I had half a minute left at the end. So it's doable with every class.
Equip your Argent Dawn Commission in a trinket slot and have it equipped for the entirety of Stratholme

Live Side:
https://wow.zamimg.com/uploads/guide/images/18053.png

Enter the live side of Stratholm in Eastern Plaguelands 27,11
The Entrance is at A, bomb your way towards 5 and then 6. While you walk there do the next 2 steps
After killing a few mobs an Eye of Naxxramas will appear, kill it and loot a Ward of Naxxramas It's a guaranteed drop
Loot one of the boxes with glowing outlines for a Stratholme Holy Water
When you are in the courtyard at 6 don't enter the building, turn left and walk up to the closed gate

CARE now the 2 Minute Truesight part begins, so read ahead what to do!

Still live side

Use Ward of Naxxramas a portal will appear next to the gate
Throw your Stratholme Holy Water on the portal and now you have the Truesight buff
Run back towards the green 2 on the map where the The Unforgiven spawns, now run north on the map towards an closed gate - which you can open. It's around the area of the white 5 on the map. here you can enter the undead side

Undead Side
https://wow.zamimg.com/uploads/guide/images/17871.png

Remember to not loot, just AoE bomb and run run run
Go through the gates and we will enter Undead side at 14 on the map
Go left first and Kill the boss at 16, enter the building and kill all 5 Summoners. It is important we kill the five summoners in every building or the final boss can't be activated.
Run back to 14 then to the boss at 15. Remember to not loot and kill the 5 summoners after the boss.
Continue in the circle towards the boss at 17, five summoners
Run towards 18 and kill all constructs in the courtyard.
Ramstein the Gorger will spawn at the door towards 19, you can kill him with a ranged attack as soon as the door opens
DO NOT ENTER YET - go to the south side in the courtyard, you will see a horde of zombies spawning. Kill all of them
This triggers a couple of skeletons to spawn where Ramstein the Gorger spawned, the entrance to 19. Kill them
Head downstairs and kill Baron Rivendare Don't loot yet! almost done
GO back upstairs, head outside, an npc on a horse will be there and you turn right towards the gate where the zombies spawned -which is now open
Enter there you will see a ghost channeling escape - Use the extra action button this will kill the ghost and give you the follwing message
As the Hand of Naxxramas burns into a pile of ash, it is clear that recent events have escalated such that someone should be made aware of them.
You can exit the Dungeon now any way you like. Head to Eastern Plaguelands, Lights Hope Chapel and on the entrance to the chapel at 75,52 Archmage Angela Dosantos will be sitting on the wall. Talk to her, now accept her quest.

If you fail the timed gauntlet at any point, exit the dungeon, reset all instances and do it again. I had to reset it, worked like a charm.
If you kill the ghost with a spell at the end and not with the extra action button see if you get the message I quoted above. That is the trigger that you completed the gauntlet

Comment by scharky

VERY easy on a druid (but then, what isn't?). i finished with more than a minute to spare.

if you have a druid around 40ish, that's probably fine. higher level is better. you don't have to be in Feral spec, just cat form.

be in cat form, Swipe everything heading toward the cathedral. don't kill any bosses--just kill trash.

if you like, you can even go ahead and kill all the trash on the eastern side of the dungeon too, before you start the timer. that's what i did. just don't kill the bosses standing in front of the ziggurats yet.

get to the cathedral gate and toss the holy water on the black portal thing. use your Dash right after tossing the holy water; when that expires, use Stampeding Roar. you should be able to use both twice easily.

avoid the northern path, so you don't pull Unforgiven (just to be safe). go to the southern road, head through the Festival Lane gate, run run run to the first ziggurat.

Swipe the boss, run inside and Swipe the adds inside, move to the next. you can see them on your map, but just glance for one second if you have to. don't waste time.

there will be an Yell in red when each ziggurat is "dead". after the 3rd one, it'll say "the Slaughterhouse is vulnerable!" then you run to the Slaughterhouse, Swipe/Moonfire all the abominations.

kill the boss that comes out, run over and Swipe all the adds that run out of the gate, run back to the little building and Swipe the skeleton adds.

run inside and down, Swipe the boss, don't loot him.

run back outside to the gate, which should be open now (remember to use your Dash and Stampeding Roar as much as you can), run into the little hall and get right up on the gate, click the Action button that pops up.

done. now you can go loot Rivendare for his horsey, i hope :)

Comment by Friarruse

After some testing, you are free to kill any bosses and mobs on the LIVE side of Strath. So you can pretty much pre-clear your path to the UD side of Strath. HOWEVER, the moment you enter UD side, you will not be able to see the portal after using the ward. An easy way to tell if you've entered the UD side is if you hear the first boss yell. ("Magistrate Barthilas yells: Intruders at the Service Gate! Baron Rivendare must be warned!") The moment that line triggers, you are no longer eligible to start the speedrun, and will be forced to reset the instance.

ALSO, it will be important to note that while you do need to have the Argent Dawn Commission equipped to get the Truesight buff when using the Ward. You do not need to keep the trinket equipped after getting the buff.

Comment by gunnorra

Just did this today, i had cleared all the trash with no eye spawning, i ran back toward the Bal's citadel/where the portal should spawn, the eye spawned just a tad bit N of '5. I think it's linked to running over a specific floor spot, i hadn't killed a mob in perhaps 20 secs and i had already cleared that area.

Comment by Jeolene

Ok, important info I discovered. Something glitches if you fail to make it under the five minutes and you will not be able to spawn the portal at the cathedral. I tested this multiple times and discovered a fix.

1: If you can't get the portal to spawn, leave the dungeon (you should always be using the main entrance)

2: Reset the dungeon

3: Un-equip and then re-equip the the Argent trinket. I just simply right-clicked on my normal trink that should be on me for current content, then right-clicked on the argent trink again. You know you got it when you get a gold "buff" animation around you.

4: Reenter the dungeon and pop the ward again in front of the cathedral.

Comment by Foumo

Dropped a ward made the run in time and unfortunatly killed the mob behind the fence with a swing.
No Angela Dos Santos to be found ( tried the 2 different spawn).
300+ run not a single drop from then. Tried on rerolls nothing changed.
Is there a limited amount of ward which can be dropped ?

Comment by frakbt

Can I trash this after I have access to Naxx?

Comment by Tequima

Getting to /way 27 10 Stratholme Entrance

As a Druid: Dreamwalk, then take the last portal on the right to Hinterlands. Fly North for 1 minute
As a DK: use your Deathgate to Archerus
As a Mage: Teleport Old Dalaran (need I remind you what to do before taking it?)
As a Rogue: Scroll of Teleport: Ravenholdt Ravenholdt in Hillsbrad Foothills, if you've done the Legion quest
As a Paladin: Dalaran Hearthstone (happily now a toy in 10.1.5) and take the Class Hall exit to Light's Hope Chapel (requires Legion quest chain to unlock).
All other Horde players, take the portal to Undercity from Ogrimmar flight towers
All other Alliance: either take a flight from Stormwind and go & make a coffee or whatever, or, if you've unlocked the flight paths, portal to Shattrath > Isle of Quel'Danas > ride to the flight master on the East of the island. Fly to Plaguewood Tower, Eastern Plaguelands (if unlocked) or Lights Hope Chapel if not.

Argent Dawn Commission
If you need to collect a replacement Argent Dawn Commission and you obtained in the past ,but it's no longer in your bank or void storage, speak to the Argent Dawn Quartermaster for your faction:

Horde: The Bulwark in Tirisfal Glades /way 83.30, 68.30 Argent Quartermaster Hasana
Alliance: Chillwind Camp (South-West edge of Western Plaguelands) /way 42.85 83.74 Argent Quartermaster Lightspark

If you didn't earn on this char, but have already obtained the new one on an alt via the Old Scholomance unlock, then speak to the AD Quartermaster in Lights Hope Chapel /way #23 75.6 53.8 Duke Nicholas Zverenhoff

Comment by Silvansaria

LVL 70
BM Hunter

(In order to complete the timed run I did the following things):
** I changed some talents around in order to get TRAILBLAZER x2 (You movement speed is increased by 30% anytime you have not attacked for 3 seconds)
** Barrage (to quickly kill an entire area almost instantly. This is good for the Ziggy buildings)
** Went to the Auction House, bought 2 cheap rings (with a gem slot) and bought the following gems: Straddling Sage Agate (+19 speed) and Straddling Viridium (+28 speed)
** During the run I also made good use of Disengage for the speed burst and Spirit of the Cheetah for the speed burst

So I just completed this - but not *exactly* as the guide specified...
I'll list MY steps on how I did this and what I did below:

#1: Before I even did the 'actual' timed run - I did a few practice runs to get the route and timing down exactly and grab a bunch of Holy Water (they stack and remain in your inventory)
#2: I entered the dungeon ONLY to get the Ward from the Eye of Nax.. This way - I already had it on my character and wouldn't have to worry about that later on the actual run itself (and yes, it's stays with you no matter what until you actually use it)

#3: The actual run:
Once I was ready with everything I did the actual run. I followed the Guide (the accurate, detailed guide written by Ashirin). One thing I would recommend is to have your map up AT ALL TIMES (minimized on the screen) so you know exactly where everything is and exactly what route/turns you're taking in real time...

** Those gates that close on you and trap you with the rats - to beat them I did a burst of speed through that tunnel or disengaged through it. Otherwise you get trapped inside and have to wait for the gates to open once you kill all the rats - might as well reset if you get caught in that trap...**

The first couple times I actually completed the run as specified in the Guide, but failed to get the "extra action button" so had to do everything over and here's why:

When you are running to that spectre at the very end - you need to run up and stand in front of the gate - directly in front of him or the button won't appear (at least it didn't for me) and I couldn't target him through the bars either... Once I learned that I was able to do the run, use the button and I got the message:

"As the Hand of Naxxramas burns into a pile of ash, it is clear that recent events have escalated such that someone should be made aware of them."

So now it's time to head to Light's Hope Chapel and talk to Archmage Angela Dosantos. EXCEPT - she wasn't there! I was freakin' out until I read the comment by bwoody75 above that gave the following information:

If she is NOT THERE at the Chapel. Go to THIS location: 72, 74. She will be standing in the road with 2 other people, Crusade Commander Korfax and Crusade Commander Eligor Dawnbringer. This location is on the lower right of your map at the beginning route to the "Ruins of the Scarlet Enclave". You will be able to talk to her as normal, relay the events that just took place, and she will then give you a quest to complete: Empower your Argent Dawn Commission (providing you are Exalted with Argent Dawn). If you ARE, and you complete the quest - you will get the ACHIEVEMENT called: Wards of the Dread Citadel (the note says: Unlocks ancient secrets within Naxxramas).

...and that's it! :)

Comment by Snowangel79

I was able to do all of the steps except beat the 5 minute timer. I went back today with speed buff items but now the portal doesn’t spawn when I use the ward of naxx . Not sure why it doesn’t spawn

Comment by gibblett06

I came here trying to figure out why the Ward didn't drop for me when I reset and tried again but I still don't know why. The following resets that I did, I just unequipped the trinkets and put them back on and got it.

If anyone is unfamiliar with the run like I was, there's an entrance to the dead side at the festival gates in the live side.

For my speedrun I tried three times.
First run: I didn't know where I was going. Failed of course.
Second run: I got through everything on time and thought I'd missed something since after Ramstein, the door to the boss didn't open. I forgot about the extra mobs after him.
Third run: Got it on time.

Class: BM Hunter
Talents: Trailblazer 2/2, Pathfinding 2/2, Posthaste 2/2 and I took Barrage as well because it's easy to keep going while doing damage.
Spells used: Aspect of the Cheetah, Disengage and for damage I used mostly Barrage, Multishot and my barbed shot macro that sends my pets in to that target instantly so their stomp AOE kills all the things around.

Just clear all the live side so you don't get into combat and can keep your Trailblazer 30% speed active through the rest of that run.

And remember that after Ramstein, turn around, kill the little mobs that show up and then back to the door for the sentries, then you can kill the last boss.

I had 40 seconds left. GL

Comment by Phoenix7700

If you're having trouble finding Archmage Angela Dosantos and were not sure if everyone in your party got credit for finishing the timed event because only one person in your party pressed the extra action button. Make sure your other party members check all the different locations that Archmage Angela can be at. She was next to the entrance to the chapel in Lights Hope for me, but at Tyr's Hand for a friend.

Comment by entropicdragon

I managed this run on a level 70 mage, with no +run speed gear or food used, after a few tries with 10 seconds remaining.
Get these talents: Greater Invisibility, Incantation of Swiftness, Temporal Velocity.
Set up keybinds for Blink and Arcane Explosion for ease of use.
(If you're a gnome with Escape Artist, that can also be useful if you get hit by a spiderweb, but I didn't actually need it.)
Pop Greater Invisibility right after you hit the initial portal with Stratholme Holy Water for an initial burst of speed. Then, Blink on cooldown.
You can also use Alter Time twice quickly for a burst of speed without ruining your positioning (I'm not good enough with the timing to use it as intended.)
Clear the ziggurats in this order: Nerub'enkan, backtrack to Baroness Anastari, then Maleki the Pallid. This avoids the portcullis north of Nerub'enkan that traps you for several seconds.
Use Arcane Explosion for adds, but an instant-cast ranged spell as you approach the ziggurat bosses so you don't have to pause for the doors. NO LOOTING!
Once the ziggurats are clear, Greater Invisibility should be off cooldown and you can use it again for the final stretch.
As a fire mage, I used Fire Blast and Phoenix Flames to single-target the Abominations before Ramstein at range; other specs might have other options.
Then for the subsequent zombies, Flamestrike talented with Flame Patch, Dragon's Breath and Frost Nova.
Good luck and don't forget to use the To Dust extra action button rather than trying to murder the Hand!

Comment by Wrennie

If you're on a slow toon you can bring a friend and do the 5min part with 2 people (or more, presumably), and it doesn't matter if they haven't done any part of the chain, or have rep. They just need to be close enough when you break the seal to get the 5min debuff. You can split up, doesn't matter who tags what as long as all the bosses die in 5min and everyone has the debuff.

And if you go the route of clearing all the adds, don't do what we did and clear the adds on the undead side before breaking the seal. Portal wont show up after the gate to the undead side has been opened.

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Ward of Naxxramas

Item Level 1
Binds when picked up

Use: Break the ward.

Max Stack: 20

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Old Naxxramas Guide

Ward of Naxxramas

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