In Tanaris, there are the Caves of Time, which contain the 5-player dungeon The Black Morass. Find out what to expect on your journey into WoW’s past in our guide.
The Black Morass in the Caverns of Time in Tanaris is one of the dungeons in The Burning Crusade that will become available through the Timewalking event in WoW Patch 6.2. Since your characters will be scaled down to level 70 for the duration of the instance visit, the Black Morass actually plays like it did back then. Except, of course, you’ll have more skills at your disposal. Accordingly, we have only made rudimentary adjustments to our guide to the dungeon, as it has lost none of its validity despite the time travel. Have fun!
Back to the past
With the three instances in the Caves of Time, Blizzard introduces the history of World of Warcraft for the first time. The following quests should be possible in the Black Morass:
| quest name | fraction | quest giver | task | particularities |
| The Black Morass | Both | Andorum | Talk to Sa’at | – |
| The opening of the Dark Portal | Both | Seed | Protect Medivh | – |
| The opening of the Dark Portal | Both | Seed | return to Andormu | – |
Difficult sequel
After successfully completing the first part of the Caverns of Time, you’ll immediately receive the follow-up mission from Andormu: you’ll have to support and, above all, protect Medivh when the dark portal is opened. Only well-coordinated level 70 teams are up to this task. As in all instances of the Caverns of Time, you will receive reputation points for the Guardians of Time faction. Optimal class composition for the party: mage, defensive warrior/wild druid, priest/druid/healer shaman, warlock/hunter, and amplifier shaman.
The Black Morass
A few steps past the instance portal, Sa’at is waiting for you with further instructions. Each player must receive a Chronobeacon from Sa’at in order to summon a Keeper of Time for assistance later in the game. Keep the signal until the second boss, where you need to maximize damage. Important: If you leave the instance, for example to port another player or have equipment repaired, you will automatically lose the chrono signal. You will then have to talk to Sa’at again.
Collateral Damage
Before you help Medivh, you need to clean the quagmire. Here you will only encounter normal crocodiles, spiders and level 69 panthers. They have a lot of health and also dish out a lot, but also offer knotted leather and knotted leather scraps for skinners. Important: Thorough cleanup will make it easier for you to fight the dragons later, where the wild animals have no place. The hunter skill DISCOVERING WILD BEASTS makes this cleanup easier for your party. Tip: Every wild animal has a good reputation with the guardians of time.
Medivh
The dark wizard begins to open the portal as soon as a party member approaches him. Important: Give Medivh a wide berth during your purge so that the battle doesn’t start unprepared. Medivh himself does not actively participate in the fight, he is only surrounded by a protective shield that decreases with each hit. The event fails as soon as Medivh dies – then you should reset the instance.
Time after time
Talk to Medivh once you have cleared the quagmire and had enough time to regenerate. This will start the battle. Now 18 time gates appear in a semicircle around Medivh. From each gate emerge a Riftlord and waves of enemy dragonkin melee fighters, a dragonkin shadow caster, and four dragon boys. While the lord guards the gate, the others immediately run to Medivh and attack him. Their main target is always the prince. Only when he falls to the ground does the stream of enemy waves dry up, the gate closes, and the next one appears.
With the crowbar
What counts is the damage the prince does. The longer you take for this fight, the more waves will appear. A tactical tip: A hunter, mage, or melee class with heavy armor is great for distracting and knocking down waves of Medivh while the rest of the party takes care of the prince. To do this, he positions himself between the gate and Medivh, preferably so that the healer can still reach him. Once the prince is down, the next gate nearby opens and the game starts all over again. There is not much time for regeneration breaks here, especially since the tank must immediately attack to the next gate and the new prince. A boss appears in the sixth, twelfth and eighteenth gates. After the boss fights (see sidebar) you have more time for a break.
The Chronobeacon
Any team member can use the beacon at any time to summon a Keeper of Time to help. It doesn’t make sense to use it against the first two bosses and the princes, but rather against the waves storming Medivh, because this way you concentrate the damage on a common target. Tip: After the second boss fight, place a guard near Medivh so he can quickly intercept the dragon kids and dragon boys. By the way, keep two or three of the chrono signals until you fight the final boss, because a lot of damage is important here. The signal must then be placed behind the final boss – more about this in the “Aeonus” box on the right.
A game for time
You can only manage the event if, in addition to concentrated, high damage, you can survive a long fight. The fight develops fatally, for example, if the mage or healer has already used up his mana at the second gate and has to take a longer break. Healing and mana potions as well as conservation potions are helpful in any case. With bandages you relieve the healer, who concentrates on the tank and the hunter. Important: The many trees obstruct the healer’s vision, so he sometimes needs more time to heal. Tip: At the top of the screen you will be informed about the state of Medivh’s shield and the number of gates already opened.
The bosses in the Black Morass
Chronolord Deja
The first boss of the instance appears in the sixth gate. Although he appears with a companion wave, he is the only one who unleashes his lethal damage on downed groups. Tip: If the group hasn’t fully recovered yet, focus on the boss and finish off the rest of the wave afterward. His Chain Lightning, in particular, jumps from the tank to nearby party members, bringing death and destruction to the cloth wearers. The debuff TIME LOSS reduces the attack speed of the entire party.
Temporus
The second boss appears in the twelfth gate and becomes a nightmare for healers. The black dragon Temporus kicks the party with a nasty swing and weakens healing spells cast on a target by ten percent with a debuff that stacks up to ten times. Temporus also demands a quick demise. The longer the fight lasts, the more impossible it becomes to heal the tank. In addition, Temporus is immune to the warrior’s screams. The right tactic for the boss here is also: maximum damage.
Aeonus
The final boss Aeonus appears in the eighteenth and last portal. The group gets behind the boss to avoid his SANDATEM. For the ranged fighters: maximum distance to Aeonus. This will take out all nearby party members with a TIME STOP for four seconds. As with the other bosses, Aeonus must be taken down quickly, battered groups will not survive a long fight. If there are any Chrono Signals left, it’s a very good time to use them in the fight, but: don’t set the signals until after the first TIME STOP, because Aeonus will destroy your guards with one blow as soon as the tank loses aggro. Another advantage: the boss appears without a companion.
What is WoW Classic?
World of Warcraft Classic is a true recreation of the original WoW as you know it from 2006. All parts of the game – from combat mechanics and talent trees to character models and zones – have been recreated, contributing to the authentic experience.
Getting Started
All players with an active World of Warcraft subscription or game time on their accounts have access toWoW Classic at no additional cost.
- Open the Blizzard Battle.net Desktop App and select World of Warcraft from the menu.
- Select World of Warcraft Classic from the Version menu. If you have more than one World of Warcraft account, you’ll see a second Account drop-down list. In this column, select the active account you want to play with.
- Click the Install button. The progress bar will tell you when your game is ready to play.
- Click the Play button when the installation is complete.
You will need to select the realm you want to play on from several different realm types. Make sure you choose the same realm as your friends – in World of Warcraft Classic, you can only group with characters that are on the same realm as you!
Heroes&WIKI, WoW Classic, World of Warcraft Classic, WoW Classic Guide, WoW Classic Guides