Scourge Invasion

The first Scourge Invasion appeared as a world event when players logged into Patch 1.11 during the opening of Naxxramas. Reintroduced in preparation for the Wrath of the Lich King and tuned for the new level cap of 70, it’s the only world event to be repeated.

This is how Tanaris looks today – sun, sand and giant plants, among the other usual stuff.

During the second Scourge Invasion of 2008, rares dropped the pants for the Blessed Undead Slaying sets at a 100% drop rate. They could be easily taken down by a tank and DPS / healer, if fought without, adds though you had to be fast to tag them since they didn’t spawn that often – especially at highly populated times.

Numerous high-level zones were the target of these floating necropoli, easily located by purple skull markers on either continent map. As a result, they only appeared in Eastern Plaguelands, Burning Steppes, Blasted Lands, Tanaris, Azshara and Winterspring.

Assaulting the Necropolis

The necropoli were accompanied by Necrotic Shards, which could only be found near each of the flying citadels. These shards were always surrounded by many undead non-elites, granting 5 Argent Dawn rep (until revered). They were also a consistent source of Invader’s Scourgestones if slain while having the Argent Dawn Commission equipped.

The shards near the undead weakened as each abomination was killed. When the strength of the shard reached zero, four Cultist Engineers would appear and begin to heal it. Each of these engineers could be “disrupted” through the use of eight Necrotic Runes causing the Acolyte to convert into a Shadow of Doom, a tough 70 elite mob. Defeating them would yield a Corruptor’s Scourgestone, 50 Argent Dawn rep, 30 Necrotic Runes and a chance to drop the chestpiece for the Undead Slaying set.

Destroying all four Shadows of Doom would destroy the Necrotic Shard, healing nearby players for 10,000, granting them a powerful buff and stopping new Scourge from spawning for a short time at that location.

Today, I took the opportunity to go back to Tanaris in my Blessed Regalia of Undead Cleansing and ‘re-enact’ the event. I can’t remember what I had as a weapon so I used my Scythe and veil for the occasion.

Aside from the necropolis event, Scourge mobs would occasionally appear in Stormwind and Undercity. However, their spawns appeared to be random as the city NPCs would yell for help. Flameshockers were level 63 mobs that didn’t hit very hard but had a lot of health. The city NPCs were capable of killing them on their own, but if a player or group chose to tag them, they would receive 5 Argent Dawn rep (at Honoured). Flameshockers could also drop Necrotic Runes.

Pallid Horrors would periodically spawn as they attempted to reach the city leader. The leader would yell they were under attack but did not pose any real threat as they were able to defeat the creatures themselves. Once defeated, a dead Necrotic Shard would spawn. The shard provided a quest to talk to an NPC at Light’s Hope Chapel which could be picked up by any player, even if they didn’t tag the mobs themselves.

The city mobs were neutral and wouldn’t attack a player who hadn’t attacked them first. Fortunately, they didn’t appear to attack vital NPCs such as bankers and vendors so players could simply ignore them and go about their business.

Prince Tenris Mirkblood

The Prince was added to Karazhan as a part of the Scourge Invasion. He was located behind a Bloodstained Door in a secluded section of Karazhan, above the stables where Attumen resides. There was also a quest to loot some papers from the chamber of Tenris Mirkblood and rewarded a Monster Slayer’s Kit.

You can read about our first encounter back in 2008 when the Arcanite Ripper was a highly sought-after drop. We managed to do this boss twice for our axe-wielding tanks, back when 10P raids weren’t all that common. I was just happy to see the Vampiric Batling could be looted by everyone.

On November 10, 2008 scourge forces attacked Stormwind Harbor and Orgrimmar’s Valley of Honor every thirty minutes with level 72 elite Frost Wyrm Raptors and 71 elite Towering Horror abominations.

The Haunted Memento could drop from any invading undead mob during the invasion. Just having the item in your inventory gave you the Haunted buff – an untargetable and harmless Scourge Haunt which could follow you anywhere. The effect could last as long as you had the item in your possession and could be given/tossed to any friendly player by targeting the player and right-clicking the item – much like a Heavy Leather Ball or Happy Fun Rock. Catching the item triggered the /cower animation. However, the item was destroyed with no confirmation if the recipient had no bag space. Can you guess who this happened to?

You could dismiss the shadow by storing the memento in the bank, stealthing or summoning a companion though the buff remained. Likewise, if you received the Memento while your companion was summoned, it would dismiss your companion.

Do you have memories from either Scourge event?