Blackrock Spire is a location set in Blizzard Entertainments video game and book series, Warcraft. In the MMORPG World of Warcraft it acts as an instance dungeon in the virtual world.

Background

Blackrock Spire is the peak of molten earth in the mountain range between the Searing Gorge and Burning Steppes located in northern Azeroth. Blackrock Mountain is where in a desperate bid to turn the tide of an ancient Dwarves civil war, Emperor Thaurissan summoned the elemental Firelord, Ragnaros, into the world. It is believed that his elemental minions command the Dark Iron Dwarves, who are in the midst of creating armies out of living stone.

Blackrock Spire was originally constructured by the Blackrock Clan prior to the First Great War and acted as the Hordes base of operations by Blackhand the Destroyer until he was slain by his successor Orgrim Doomhammer. After Blackhands murder, his two sons, Rend Blackhand and Maim Blackhand left the Blackrock Clan to form and become joint Warchief's of the Black Tooth Grin Clan. However after the defeat of the Horde after the Second Great War, the Dark Iron Dwarves used Black Rock Spire as a base of operations. As a result Black Rock Spire has become a refuge for evil, and Nefarian the son of the great Dragon Deathwing has become ruler of the Upper spire.

Nomenclature

While geographical short forms are highly varied in any MMORPG, the most common shortforms referring to the Blackrock Spire are "UBRS" ("Upper Blackrock Spire") and "LBRS" ("Lower Blackrock Spire"). It is important to note that these refer to separate subdivisions of the instance (see below).

Druids and Rogues of both factions can participate in LBRS "stealth runs" where these invisible characters are able to bypass most of the groups in the instance and proceed directly to the bosses in a short amount of time.

Instance zone

Blackrock Spire is logically divided into two different parts, these are known as Lower Blackrock Spire (LBRS) and the Upper Blackrock Spire (UBRS). The Lower Blackrock Spire is a high level dungeon and a maximum of 15 people can all be in the same instance (as part of a raid). The terrain in Lower Blackrock is complex with bridges over chasms and deep drops. To reach the end one has to go down, then spiral up.

Upper Blackrock Spire can only be entered once the player obtains three gems and then perform a quest. The path through Upper Blackrock Spire is quite simple, the problem is the large groups and the huge power of the monsters one faces. Though UBRS can potentially be completed by a typical 5-man group, the final boss encounter requires a raid.

Generally, UBRS is the preferred instance due to its rewards. The chest piece of every class' superior armor set drops from Drakkisath. This boss is also a necessary step in attunement to both Onyxia's Lair and Blackwing Lair and is therefore a popular destination for many. LBRS is usually regarded as a sub-par instance in relation to rewards. Several class set pieces drop there, but most deem it unworthy of the time investment and high potential of wipes.

Horde side, many LBRS groups can be found to complete the quest "Warlord's Command" that begins in Kargath after a conversation with Warlord Goretooth. This quest leads to the chain of quests ultimately culminating in the Onyxia key. Completing Warlord's Command gives good quest rewards for each class, and the successive quest to kill Rend Blackhand is the one which awards some of the best trinkets in the game: Blackhand's Breadth, Eye of the Beast, or Mark of Tyranny. Alliance have access to these quest rewards (and the Onyxia key, of course), but through a different (and arguably, much easier) series of objectives; starting with the Jail Break quest in Blackrock Depths.

Enemies

Lower Blackrock Spire is populated by a roughly equal mix of orcs, trolls, and ogres, along with a section of deadly spiders. Monster levels range from 56 to 61, nearly all are elite. Upper Blackrock Spire is populated by orcs and dragonkin. Monster levels range from 59 to 62. All monsters, except the dragon whelps, are elite.

Lower Blackrock Spire has three named bosses (one ogre, one troll, and one dragonkin). In addition there are some other named mini-bosses. To gain entry to Upper Blackrock Spire you must gain one gem each from the three named bosses. This can take many visits to Lower Blackrock Spire as the gems are fairly rare drops.

Upper Blackrock Spire has three named bosses, Warchief Rend Blackhand, "The Beast", and General Drakkisath. Defeating these monsters can potentially result in the reward of items of great power and worth. In addition there are several lesser bosses that have worthwhile rewards.

Drakkisath strategy (easiest one): have one hunter kite Drakkisath towards Beast cave (as far as he can get him) while the raid kills his guards. Another approach is to have your tank focus on Drakkisath while a warlock chain fears a guard and the raid group kills the other. Alternatively a druid can sleep a guard, but fear tends to work better. After the first guard is dead, the raid then moves on to Drakkisath while the third guard remains feared / slept until Drakk is dead.

Other Info

Also, the famed Leeroy World of Warcraft video occurs in Blackrock Spire, in The Rookery area.

See also

Warcraft Universe

Locations in the Warcraft Universe

Organizations in the Warcraft universe

External links