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Comment by MonkeyPower

The Violet Hold are the dungeons beneath the floating city of Dalaran. This is the third dungeon to appear inside a capital city (after the Stormwind Stockade and Orgrimmar's Ragefire Chasm) and the only one to be accessible by both sides without having to go through an enemy capital.

Last boss is Blue Dragon named: Cyanigosa
(Copied from wowwiki)

Comment by 83214

This is probably the same place where Lady Vashj freed Kael'thas and his blood elves before they were executed by Grand Marshal Garithos in the Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne campaign. Once this instance is opened, this place will be a 5-man instance for level 75-77 players, making this instance, in terms of difficulty and level at this point, the Auchenai Crypts of WotLK.

Comment by 201290

Im sure Vashj freed them from the Stormwind dungeons, thats why they escaped via the Dark Portal.

Comment by Collypso

Will we see the bah-rem-yue sheep in a hidden room?

Comment by Robotusch

A spiritual follow-up to Black Morass.

Pretty much the same concept, once the event is started (and only the group leader can start it, which is nice!), 18 portals will spawn in succession in 1 of 3 different locations. Each portal will spawn a dragonkin with around 130k hp along with a slow stream of lesser mobs (either 1 dragonkin with around 10k hp or 3 whelps with around 3k hp each). Once the dragonkin is dead, the portal closes and a new will open shortly after.

After 6 portals has been closed, a untargettable dragonkin will spawn and walk to one of the cells present and release the boss mob. In our case, we were first treated to an etheral after 6 portals, followed by a floating demon eye after the 12th portal. Sadly, that was also when the instance server decided to crash, so we didn't manage to finish off the instance.

Comment by 114489

Same here today, we had the ethereal and a boss similar to Grand Master Vorpil, he'll protect himself with a bubble that has to get destroyed but when it does it does a knockback. Also you'll have water elementals that spawn and heal him so the tank has to walk him around the room to avoid them. Didn't get any further due to server crashes and restarts. You also get crystals at the beginning from an NPC that are similar to the items you get in BM. It's for the prison defense system and when used it basically looks like a lightning storm and does a good amount of damage to the mob you're fighting.

Comment by g0urra

The Violet Hold works in about the same way as Black Morass, with 18 waves of mobs coming through portals in the instance, and a boss every 6th wave.

Entering the instance will bring a scene of Violet Hold Guards repelling an invasion of blue dragonflight drakonids, coming out of portals in the instance. Lieutenant Sinclari asks people to help defending the hold, and tells them to use the Defense Control Crystals around the instance in case they need help with the mobs (which kills any non-boss mobs, and damages bosses). When everyone are ready, any group member can start the real event by telling Sinclari and her guards to leave the place so that the players can start repelling the invasion.

After starting the event, a blue portal will spawn somewhere in the instance. Each portal will either have a Portal Guardian (melee), Portal Keeper (caster), or a small squad of weaker (but elite) dragonkin, protecting the portal, while mobs slowly come out of the portal to attack the hold's gate, which is the instance's goal (similar to keeping Medivh's shield up). The portal will stay up until the Keeper or Guardian is killed.

Every 6th and 12th portal that's been closed will spawn an untargettable Azure Saboteur, which will release one of the hold's prisoner, and engage the group. The prisoner the saboteur frees is random, and can either be:

Erekem - arakkoa
Moragg - floating eye
Ichoron - water revenant
Xevozz - ethereal
Lavanthor - core hound
Zuramat the Obliterator - void lord

After the 18th portal has been closed, Cyanigosa will arrive and engage the group.

Comment by d3nyd

Our group could not kill Ichoron after 7 tries on heroic mode. I don't know what we were doing wrong, but our healer always got one-shotted and then the entire thing went downhill due to huge nukes, knockbacks, and aoe bolts. If you get Ichoron, be sure to have a group with a lot of HP.

Comment by Gombol

Doesnt seem to be a meeting stone, sadly.

Comment by topsub

to start the quest to get this key you need to do this.. https://www.wowhead.com/wotlk/quest=13158

Comment by Ophe

I've done this instance 3 times and for the life of me can't figure out how to get the defense system crystals. The only option that comes up on the NPC is the one that starts the event.

Comment by alorathepriest

Heroic Violet Hold awards just over 1300 reputation.

Comment by Gnipp

We wiped @ the last boss and we started the event again without resetting (the NPC's respawned).

BIG mistake, when we got to the first boss it bugged and spawned 3-4 of the same boss, all dropping the same loot as the first time... this resulted in our tank and healer dying, thus we = screwed :/

Sooo, make sure to reset the instance if you wipe :)

Comment by Sabni

This is possibly the single hardest 5-man to obtain specific pieces of loot from, because of the boss setup. Not only do you have to hope the RNG drops your item from a boss, you also have to pray that the RNG actually spawns your boss at all.

Because there are 6 variable bosses, and the instance will only spawn two of them per run, chances are that it will take you two or three runs before you will even see the boss you want.

Comment by PocketFox

Be very, very careful to keep at least one rezzer alive during this instance.

I recently ran this with a group make-up of a paladin tank, priest healer, and warrior, hunter, and mage for dps. We ended up with the ethereal for our second boss, and both the tank and the healer died. Because none of the dps was an engineer, they both had to run back... but the locked door is *inside* the portal, leaving all of us basically screwed. We had to make a quick getaway through a mage portal, and that was the end of that particular run.

Comment by Acosn

HEROIC:
Mob Groups: These guys are cake. Just remember that there's 2 variaties of portal spawns: Single guardians with slow trickle spawns, and elite groups that bum rush the entrance. With the guardians generally you'll want to tank them near the portal, and snag adds as they spawn. They all have low HP, so generally as long as the tank holds aggro and the DPS knows when to AoE these fights are easy.

Elite groups will bum rush the entrance, and there's basically two mobs in each group- a melee and a caster. The melee really just.... melees They'll also pop a spell reflection. The caster will be annoying because they (as far as I can tell) have no threat table, instead spamming a mindflay clone (no slow effect though) on random targets. This spell IS interruptable.

And a side note; avoid wipes like the plague. This aint fun when you're wiping and get to redo everything, plus bosses for no additional loot.

BOSSES:

Erekem: Spank and tank. He comes with two buddies, ignore them! not only do they not do much for damage, but when they die Ere will slap stormstrike on the tank. It'll be a wipe. Tank just needs to keep threat on them, kill the boss and then them.

Lavanthor: The corehound. He's still pretty easy. He'll slap DoTs on people and put a little burner flame on the ground. Nothing big.

Zuramat: EDIT: I got my bosses mixed up. This guy will be a chore. Aside from generic spank and tank he'll slap DoTs on people and occasionally target people with a special DoT that lets them see void sentries. Anyone who gets this (even the healer if they can) NEEDS to kill the sentries. Nothing is more annoying than killing the boss barely, and then subsequently wiping because the sentries kept casting. He DOES have a stacking debuff as well that will reduce healing (five stacks gets you -120% healing recieved. I dunno if that negative healing actually hurts you though)

Moragg: The floaty eye boss. He's not hard if you know what you're doing. Aside from a generic DoT and melee hits he'll randomly target someone with a DoT that deflects 8% of damage delt to him to the target. This isn't actually that damaging since it hardly lasts any time at all. His other ability you need to pay attention to though. Occasionally he'll target someone with an Occular Link. Hard to miss, its a long channeling spell. During this ALL damage delt to him is deflected to the target. ALL DAMAGE MUST BE STOPPED. I've had parties wipe when the warlock and the hunter wouldn't pull their pets off and the healer died as a result.

Xevozz: This guy can be a pain, especially when you don't know what you're doing against him. Think Kael'thas ala Heroic MGT on steroids. After a brief period of time he'll summon three arcane orbs that spam arcane explosion- these WILL cause a wipe if you sit in them. Keep excessive distance and keep moving away from them. Tank needs to remember to not path the orbs to the healer since they seem to follow the boss around. Occaisonally Xev will also port the whole party to him. Obviously you need to run like hell. EDIT: Clarification: he gets a damage spike if the orbs touch him or you.

Icheron: Prepare to fly. There's a ton of knock back with this boss. From 100% HP to about 20% she'll have a water shield that knocks all damage done to her by 99%. After a certain number of hits (EDIT: its just 35 ticks per shield) the shield drops and she explodes, sending you all over, and spawning a bunch of little water elementals. Kill them! after a period of time Icheron will respawn with another water shield. More dps, more explody, more water elemental killing. At about 20% hp she ditches the shield all together and frenzies, dealing 30% more damage and spell casting / attack 100% faster. Its not really that hard a fight though, more endurance than anything else.

Last Boss: more spank and tank! Only noteworthy hitch is that she'll occaisonally cast a spell that ports everyone to her, and wipes aggro. For all the dps that means they'll need to wait a click if they dont want to become a festive splatter on the floor. She also casts a blizzard, but as far as I can tell it only functions as a snare (no dps) and a generic DoT on random targets. Well, its not really generic, it'll burn mana off the target as well.

EDIT: Actually, this is how it goes for the last boss: Blizzard DOES hurt, but its negligible unless literally your whole party or a majority is caught in it. Her port spell does wipe aggro. She'll occasionally cast a spell on people called combust mana or something. basically its mana burn in DoT form. She'll also do a "fire breath"-esque ability that slaps a hard hitter DOT on anyone caught in it. So the tank should face her away from the party.

EDITED FOR ADDITIONAL BOSS ENCOUNTERS

Comment by Gnipp

When our priest died on the first boss he healed us with Prayer of Healing from the other side of the door for the rest of the instance duration, worked like a charm :D

Just remember to fight next to the door ofc :)

Comment by 230914

Okay so random note on this... because the group never noticed the portal spawns that rushed the door because we AoE'd them as soon as they spawned and I personally knew nothing about the crystals on the wall so I'm betting no one else did either... got an achievement...

Defenseless

Defeat Cyanigosa in The Violet Hold without using Defense Control Crystals and with Prison Seal Integrity at 100% while in Heroic Difficulty.

was a interesting suprise to say the least...

Oh and...

We had Zurmat and Moragg

Watch for the buff you get with Zurmat, you will be responsible for killing the adds while you have the buff. The tank didnt realize this and we wiped as they built up. Of course he got it twice in a row, that didnt help.

Comment by 94418

Patch 3.0.3: This instance is relatively short, takes about 25 to 30 minutes to do it without wiping on non-heroic mode.

Edit (Patch 6.0.3): Refer to FriendlyFacts' comment below. Currently capped characters can do this instance in under 10 minutes.

Comment by 260958

min level is 73, not 75

Comment by 74972

While it has been stated before in other posts... there was never a post devoted to this:
IF YOU DIE, DO NOT RELEASE AND RUN BACK IN UNLESS IT IS A WIPE...
The door is locked... if you release and run back in, you cannot rejoin the fight.
It makes sense if you think about it... sadly, I did not... and my group got to 4-man 2/3 of this on heroic.

Comment by ArgentSun

Here are the bosses, their abilities, and some suggested strategies. Some of those spells may not be cast on Normal difficulty, but bear with me - a little extra precaution won't hurt.

Erekem and his two Erekem Guards

Comment by 193312

it's easy on normal and heroic.

Comment by 167540

WARNING:

If you do NOT finish this instance, there is a trap that most likely could have happened in BM as well. If your group disbands mid-way through this instance and you attempt to finish it later with another group, someone from the first attempt could have finished the instance. Unfortunately, you will have no idea they did until you start hitting bosses. Along with that, if you want the epic drops, you'd have to do the entire instance to find out whether or not the instance was finished (although maybe it wouldn't be able to start again if finished).

Case in point: Someone attempted to do H. VH and they quickly realized they couldn't before killing a boss. Later he groups with his guild and I and we give it a shot thinking we can just go with his raid ID. First boss down, no loot, everyone's saved. At that point, it was either go the whole way and hope someone else also didn't complete it or walk away, which is what we did.

In other instances, you can actually see the bosses and if another group killed them, they won't be there anymore. The mobs respawn though, which I don't remember happening in BC.

Comment by 293398

If you manage to wipe after you killed a boss, You will have to kill that boss again but with no loot.

Comment by Nebilim

This instance is called the Violet Hold, as in purple. Not Violent Hold. I've seen people call it that way too much and it just bugs me for some reason.

Comment by 169332

as i havent seen it here i will say so..
if u got some time and want a bigger chance on loot this instance is 3 mannable... ive just done it. takes some more time but you have a chance on 1 of 3 on the loot

Comment by 169044

I was in a heroic group and when we started the instance the gate was taking automatic damage, is this just the way the instance was set up or is this just a stupid bug.

Comment by Starfury

There appears to be a change in 3.0.8 to the portal that appears in front of Zuramat. The group of dragonkin that spawn from it now split up every time as they head for the door, some heading past Erekem and the others heading down the normal way. Before this patch I had never seen that happen.

Makes it a bit tougher for the tank to grab them all.

Comment by Aenonar

Zuramat (shadow): This boss together with Icheron (water) are the most annoying ones. I wouldn't really label Icheron as being a difficult kill, but he's just annoying since he explodes all the time and you have to kill all his little adds. I'm really happy to have the warbringer talent! Zuramat however can be very annoying.

He kept on double dotting me (tank) with his Void Shifts right at the pull. He doesn't melee much and has long casts instead and his adds are just the same, so the rage generation is really gimped. And because he double debuffed me that early I had little threat for the dps'ers and available rage to kill the adds so it took extra time and strain on the healer. And once I finally were done with the adds he usually double debuffed the dps (usually the lowest one) and finally double debuffed the healer at the end. As well as his stackable healing debuff. Truly annoying.

A tip for Zuramat is to have name plates on. The name plates on his adds will only show if you have the debuff, might help if you miss to see the debuff on you.

Edit: Can also confirm Starfury's post about those mobs splitting after 3.0.8. Hopefully just a bug, but irritating since the one running alone furthest away is usually a sorcerer

Comment by 137568

I dont know if this is something new added in a recent patch, but you can now release and run back, the lady with the naughty staff is stood by the closed door and if you talk to her, she can portal you back inside :)

(and if you want to know what I mean by naughty staff.. watch the motion of the 'hand' part of the staff on the 'shaft' :p)

Comment by Felet

Does this place only give rep on heroic? After three runs Im still 3525 revered with Wyrmrest, I tried chaning my tabard but I got nothing. Help a poor stupid brother out.

Comment by dav2000

If you die, you can now enter the dungeon by releasing and then running to the instance portal. There will be the NPC and you can ask her to port you in again.

This only works given you are not fighting a boss.

Comment by lestubinski

I ran this in Heroic with a pretty good group and cleaned up on Ichoron and got the achievment but got Zuramat as the second boss and couldn't kill him. Okay lets say u get the debuff from Zuramat that lets them see void sentries. Where are they? The debuff only lasts 6 seconds and for some reason couldn't get them targeted. Do they spawn at the center or the around the perimeter? My group was so close but ended up wiping 3 times, which ended our run. We didn't use the crystals either...what is the best way to target the void sentries? Targeting Macro when you get the debuff?

Comment by 269640

Min level is 72, I just cleared it with a group of lvl 74s

sidenote : not recomended for casters, horrible hit rate on bosses

Comment by 258919

This instance is extremely easy with a group of 67s. My group was 3 66s and two 67's and we had absolutely no trouble.

You will have 5 or 6 waves of enemies through the portals, then a boss will appear. If you get Zuramat you may have some trouble, but it's not that tough still. Ichoron can also be a bugger because he's immune to frost/water attacks, making him a pain for frost mages.

After the first boss fight, there will be a minute of peace in which to roll on loots and heal your party, then waves will start again. After you kill another boss, there will be another group of waves before Cyanigosa. She's really easy as hell, though keeping your cloth wearing casters a decent ways away could be helpful.

Few more notes
- Revive people fast, because you're constantly in combat
- Obviously don't blow your cooldowns on the waves.
- There are three types of waves
> A portal guardian and another add will spawn. Very easy to dispatch.
> A group of dragonkin mobs will spawn. Have your tank take their aggro, then just burn em down with AoE spells.
> 3 Boss Waves
- If for some reason it gets too tough, pull one of the crystals around the room to deal some serious damage to mobs. There is no penalty that I know of, but each crystal can only be pulled once. This can help kill Ichoron's adds fast.
- On Heroic, this instance has the possibility to be tough depending on which boss you get. But as long as your party knows the strategy for each boss (most are just tank 'n' spanks), you shouldn't have a problem.
- According to my Arcane Intellect timer, a normal run takes about 20-25 minutes with a good group, making this an easy place to farm exp and items. Or just a good way to pass the time.
- At level 75 you can pick up Discretion is Key from the leader of the Kirin Tor in Dalaran. This leads to Containment, which grants some decent armor for level 76ish. It simply requires you to kill the final boss, shouldn't take more than 30 minutes and gives you 500 Kirin Tor rep (on top of the reputation from the instance itself), the key to the hold (upon accepting, so you can start your own groups without needing a key holder, though most people have it), and your choice of leggings.

Good luck, though you probably won't need it.

Comment by 258919

Does this place only give rep on heroic? After three runs Im still 3525 revered with Wyrmrest, I tried chaning my tabard but I got nothing. Help a poor stupid brother out.

-Felet

This instance grants Kirin Tor rep, NOT Wyrmrest Accord reputation. The reason is, even though you are fighting a dragonflight, you are protecting Dalaran (or the Kirin Tor) from invasion. Even though their city boss could probably solo it.

Comment by 324997

This instance reminded me of the Dark Portal. Though i highly hate that Void even tho I dont usually wipe but its just a pain for the whole group i would hate to be a healer , haveing to heal that crap. the final bos is very easy unlike the final boss in The Oculus lol :-)

Comment by 52432

It's located in Dalaran.
Look at the map when in Dalaran.
Theres a door but you can easily get inside with people coming/going.

Comment by 311978

Id like to note that on one run, being the only skinner, i made over 80 gold from all of the mats i picked up. it was worth it just for that alone. Possibly the best dungeon for people looking to pick up borean leather quick

Comment by Kathucka

Watch out for the Azure Sorcerers. Their Arcane Stream ability picks a random target and does a nasty amount of damage. Stun, silence, interrupt, and kill them quickly.

With high DPS, this instance can be finished in 19 minutes or less in heroic mode. If you need reputation or badges, it should be considered a daily quest.

Xevozz is easily the nastiest boss in here, due to his insta-wipe abilities. Make sure you know how to fight him.

Comment by 301983

Violet Hold is Located at Dalaran ,to take the key and open the door you have to accept a quest and completing it it will allow you to have the key for ever,dont think the group is gonna summon you,there isnt a summoning stone in Dalaran so you have to come by your self.Before posting why you dint fight the other bosses here this is and 5 man dungeon that you fight the bosses random and not all of them.In the top of the screen it will say how many portals have been opened in the whole dungeon 18 portals will oppen fighting 3 bosses each run(as i said before you fight the bosses random).Always in each run you will fighting Cyanigosa as last boss and you will see that as a daily heroic of Violet Hold.In Violet Hold when 6 portals will open you will fight boss at 12 the second one and at 18 portals you will fight Cyanigosa.You will see Cyanigosa as a blood elf at the beggining but she will transform in to a Blue Dragon.In ganeral when portalls are opening some dragonskin will appear and you will have to fight them.Since of them will be spell caster there must be someone in the grp who interputs (silence) the spells from the spells casters so allowing the tank taking less damage and saving mana for the healer.

Good luck!

Comment by Kptch

There is now an NPC that can teleport you back in after a corpse run during the event.

Comment by darkshezael

My group accidentally had a wipe in Heroic mode today & it was the first time for me.
After the first boss, there was a never-ending portal in front of Lavanthor that keep spewing 1-3 mobs 'till the end, even during the bosses. When the usual portals opened, our tank had to pull the mobs a bit closer to center so the healer could heal him & and the elemental shaman who tanked the mobs from that never-ending portal (they can be killed pretty fast, and we need to kill them fast so we could drink up before the boss).

We thought it might be a bug, might be not. It's kinda harsh for the healer; so just be careful so you won't get into such troublesome situation. =)

Comment by 211524

I have run into a glitch in heroic mode where a portal guardian will spawn under the floor and you can not target it. Due to not being able to kill the guardian there is a constant wave of mobs that persists till you after kill the last boss. Members of the guild i am in have dubbed this glitch "hard mode H VH".

Comment by Talishunda

I was able to come in here at level 70. There isn't much you can contribute to at level 70 in here, but it is possible to get in.

Comment by 283503

A ripoff of The Black Morass

Comment by Coaldrone

Quick hunter tip - Aspect of the Pack, if used carefully, can help immensely in making sure your tank can get to each portal in good time before mobs start spawning. Naturally, the split second you turn it on the tank will spam "PACK OFF, PACK OFF" in party chat, but just ignore him, he's a meathead, his job is to get hit. A monkey can get hit. Eventually your group will realise the benefits of the increased movement speed between portals and you will be heralded as the saviour of modern instance runs.

Comment by gryldrak

I would like to know why this instance appears on your LFG list of dungeons at level 73. The gear is meant for level 75 players and Rhonin will not give you the key quest until then.

Comment by 385381

What is the required lvl for Violet Hold? is it lvl 75 or can u enter it at lvl 72 or something?

Comment by Arreador

I know people say the bosses are random, but in MY case i've done this instance like 20 times (maybe more) and Lavanthor has only spawned once.

And, unfortunately, not dropping the gun. :(

Comment by Little

You can lvl lockpicking for 1 on its door :) However, you won't gain aditional skill points if you keep lockpicking it. I was able to open it with 370 skill.
EDIT: You will gain skill only, if you don't have the key yet, of course. And I know this information probably isn't relevant.

Comment by 258919

Laughably easy on normal, not much harder on heroic (especially with 5k gearscores).

A few notes

- if you aren't going for the achievement, don't feel rushed to pick up adds who make it to the door. It takes forever to down that thing.

- if you aren't going for the achievement, then use the crystals liberally. Save some for Ichoron, though, if you happen to get her.

- this place is skinner's delight. Every single mob in this instance, with the exception of bosses and the couple of caster humans that appear, is skinnable. Even Lavanthor is skinnable (yielded about 7 Borean Leathers on normal for me).

- if you wipe, you start over. You face the bosses again, though they have generic names, and you receive no loot from them if you have already beaten them.

As for the bosses; Ichoron is easy if you use the crystals when she splits. Xevozz is considered the toughest by most because of the orbs; CC them and kite him around the top of the hold quickly enough, and you shouldn't wipe. Zuramat requires players who can to kill the adds, and don't kill the adds first on Erekem.

The other bosses are spank'n'tanks, just take care to stay beside/in front of Cyanigosa and out of her Blizzard spell.

Comment by 555274

Just solo'd this on normal with 80 prot pal...pretty straightforward just have to make sure you close each portal before a new one opens. at one point I had 2 open and had to hold them off at the main stairs. I managed to pull the portal keepers up there with me to get them closed. The bosses I had were ichoron and xevozz. ichoron was a pain getting all the ads cleaned up by my self.
I ran it a second time and got killed by zuramat...there were also two other portals open while on the boss.

Links

The Violet Hold

The Violet HoldErekemMoraggIchoronXevozzLavanthorZuramat the ObliteratorCyanigosaDalaranThe Violet HoldCyanigosa

Guides

The Violet Hold Dungeon Boss Guide The Violet Hold Dungeon Loot Guide The Violet Hold Overview WOTLKC

The Violet Hold

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