The Blackfathom Deeps
Alliance Quests
The Blackfathom Deeps is a level 20-30 instance located in the northwestern corner of Ashenvale (14, 14). For the Alliance there are 5 quests you should get before heading to the instance.
- Knowledge in the Deeps from Gerrig Bonegrip at the Forlorn Cavern in Ironforge (50, 5)
- Researching the Corruption from Gershala Nightwhisper in Auberdine in Darkshore (38, 43)
- In Search of Thaelrid from Dawnwatcher Shaedlass at the Craftsmen’s Terrace in Darnassus (55, 23)
- Twilight Falls from Argent Guard Manados at the Craftsmen’s Terrace in Darnassus (55, 23)
- Blackfathom Villainy from Argent Guard Thaelrid in the Blackfathom Deeps
Now that you have the quests it would be a good time to stock up on food, water, and any potions/elixirs that you can afford. I would recommend that once you put yourself in the Looking for Group channel for this instance you try to get a Warlock. They have the spell Underwater Breathing, which is very useful in this instance. If your group does not have a Warlock you will need to pick up an Elixir of Water Breathing from the auction House.
Now make your way to Ashenvale or get summoned there if there are people already at the summoning stone. Once you and your party are ready make your way down the stairs to the pool below. Swim under the wall and up to the other side and you will now make your way through the cave to the instance.
The mobs on the way to the instance are Levels 17-21. Once inside the instance the mobs are levels 22-28 Elite. Your tank should be at least level 24, if not 26, especially if there are higher level dps classes in the group. A tank will be hard-pressed to keep aggro off someone, say an uber warlock, if the warlock has 3-4 levels of spell/gear advantage over them. Trust us on this.
Now that you are inside the instance just go straight ahead, once you reach the first cavern you will need to swim straight ahead to make it to the above water area. You will have to do some jumping to get to the other side. Now follow the path a little ways and you will come to the second cavern and your first boss, Ghamoo-ra, a level 23 Elite. He will be on the island in the middle of the cavern; he will be surrounded by level 22-24 Elites, but they remain yellow and do not need to be engaged, so don’t attack them with any AOE or sweeping attacks. The fight is mainly a tank and spank, but he does have a blockable AOE spell called Trample. Another point of interest is that hunters of the same level can tame him. Cool, huh?
Now go back to where you first came into the cavern and take and immediate right. Swim under water in the little alcove and that is where you will find Lorgalis’s Manuscript for the Knowledge of the Deeps quest. From here swim right again and go to the next alcove, swim under water and come up on the other side of the wall. In this cave is where you will find the next boss; Lady Sarevess a level 23 Elite. She will be surrounded by level 20-23 Elites.
Leave there and continue swimming right, skip the next alcove you see and swim under the second. In that cave you will find Argent Guard Thaelrid, he will give you the quest Blackfathom Villainy. He is a gray-ish, wounded night elf lying face down on the ground. On a side note you can do these quests anytime as I did, they offer a great deal of Argent Dawn Rep. Now leave there and swim… wait for it… right, the next alcove is where you will continue on in the instance.
Follow the path until it comes to an intersection, straight ahead is the next boss, Gelihast. He is a level 24 Elite and is surrounded by levels 20-24 Elites. He is a dual-sword wielder, so make sure your tank has a shield and relatively high block/parry/dodge rating because of his devastating Attack Speed. Next to Gelihast is a table with a orb on it, 
click on it and you will receive a buff called Blessing of Blackfathom. From there take a left and in either the first or second cave on your left will be the next boss; Lorgus Jett. He is a level 24 Elite and will have level 22-24 Elites around him. He’s an easy caster that has shaman spells, but falls rather easily compared to a heavy-hitting melee mini-boss. (Note that he may appear in other parts of the instance, his spawn is random.)
Now continue on down the path until you come to the next cavern. The first left down the path offers a locked chest at the end. Now from here I recommend you clear the area of all the mobs, when you are done with that go back to the circle pillar in the middle of the room. From there look at the entrance to the Temple door and jump into the water heading in that direction, go under the water and swim into the underwater cave. In there you will find Old Serra’kis, a level 24 Elite. Finding him is definitely harder than fighting him. You might want to kite him out into the cave and fight him on dry land.
Now get back up to the path and head for the Temple. In there you will find Twilight Lord Kelris, a level 24 Elite. Be sure to clear the entire room before attacking him. If you don’t, whatever mobs are left will attack you as soon as you attack him. Around the Shrine wear he was kneeling you will notice four unlit fire bowls, called The Fire of Aku’mai. To get the doors open you will need to light these. WARNING: Only light one at a time. Once one is lit you will be swarmed by a lot of mobs, so only light one then kill all the mobs and then light the next until all four have been lit.
The doors will open and you can proceed on. Follow the path until you come to Aku’Mai. He/she is a level 24 Elite that is able to wipe out a tank who is not properly protected with gear and buffs and an unattentive healer. Poison effects whittle away at the tank’s health even more, but it should also be noted that fear and traps can be effectively used to buy time to heal.
Now that Aku’Mai is dead go to the end of the cave and receive another blessing, at that time a Dwarf named Morridune will appear and offer a port to Darnassus. If all of your quest objectives are complete, take the port and go turn in all of your quests.
Blackfathom Deeps is an instance that can be ran through very quickly if you have the right group and there is some pretty nice loot for all classes. For High level Enchanters it also can be a very nice place to stock up on a lot of blue items to disenchant.
