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World of Warcraft is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that was first released by Blizzard Entertainment in 2004. Despite its age WoW is still very popular and the most played MMORPG out there. For those who might be wondering, Dragonflight, the next WoW expansion, is expected to launch by the end of 2022. In the meantime, Shadowlands, the eighth and most recent expansion that came out in November 2020 still has a lot to offer. After all, it did become the fastest selling PC game of all time on the first full day of its launch.
For new players World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is not an easy game to master. For some of the more difficult activities you may want to consider getting some assistance such as a Sanctum of Domination mythic raid boost to get you over the hard parts. Boosting in MMO games is a fairly common practice with many people finding the service useful. Raids in Shadowlands are both challenging and exciting and for many they are one of the best parts of the game.
What Are Raids in World of Warcraft?
Once a WoW character has reached the maximum level of 60 their skills can no longer be increased and no new abilities can be added. From this point on the only way to improve a character is by getting better equipment and other rewards. Raids are end-game content that are intended for those who have maxed out their character level.
Raids are done in groups and to participate players will usually be required to have certain levels of skill and gear. There are 4 difficulty levels for raids; Normal, Heroic, Mythic and Raid Finder. Mythic is the most difficult of the four. Raid Finder is the difficulty of any raid joined using the “Looking for Raid” (LFR) tool. Its difficulty is the lowest and only available in 25-player mode.
Raids can take several hours to complete so you have to be ready to commit the time. It takes at least 10 players to put together a raiding group so it isn’t always easy to find that many people all available at the same time which makes the LFR tool pretty handy. You can also look for a raiding guild that has an open spot.
Most Exciting Raids in Shadowlands
Counting all the old expansions there are a total of 57 raids in World of Warcraft. However, only 3 of these are considered Shadowlands raids. The Shadowlands raids are Castle Nathria, Sanctum of Domination and Sepulcher of the First Ones.
Castle Nathria Raid
Castle Nathria was the first raid of the Shadowlands expansion so for that reason one of the most exciting for many players. It definitely helped that it was one of the more challenging raids in WoW for several years. You will find Castle Nathria in the zone of Revendreth which is where souls are sent for punishment. There are a total of 10 bosses that need to be dealt with the Final Boss being Sire Denathrius. Incidentally if you defeat the boss Sludgefist and take his head four times in the Castle Nathria: Getting A Head quest on any difficulty, you will unlock a raid skip that allows you to jump directly to Sludgefist by talking to General Draven. General Draven can be found at the entrance of the Huntsman Altimor wing of Castle Nathria.
No weapons get dropped in this raid. Instead, certain bosses (Sun King’s Salvation, Huntsman Altimor, Hungering Destroyer, The Council of Blood and Sire Denathrius) drop tokens that can be exchanged for weapons at your Covenant Sanctum. Artificer Xy’Mox and Stone Legion Generals drop tokens that can be exchanged for shields and off-hands. Bosses are also guaranteed to drop Legendary Power recipes. Bosses are definitely challenging enough to keep the excitement level high.
Sanctum of Domination Raid
Sanctum of Domination is the second of the Shadowlands raids and like the Castle Nathria raid there are 10 bosses. The final boss is Sylvanas Windrunner, the Banshee queen. The raid is carried out in a part of the Maw called Desmotaeron. Players can earn a raid skip by defeating Kel’Thuzad four times and collecting four Phylactery Shard on any difficulty. This will allow you to go directly to Kel’Thuzad (second to last boss) after defeating The Tarragrue (first boss encounter). Although challenging, many players consider Sanctum of Domination to be the easiest of the Shadowlands raids.
Bosses will drop various weapons and accessories such as Moriaz’s Spare Targe, Dormazain’s Tenderizer, Exacting Mindslicer, Hellscream’s Requiem, Record of Collapsing Realities, Edge of Night, Maledict Opus and the most notable being Rae’shalare, Death’s Whisper which is Sylvana’s legendary bow. The bow is upgradable and grants Hunters a completely new ability. A large number of armor items drop as well.
Players also have the opportunity to get 3 different mounts in the Sanctum of Domination raid. If you kill the Nine (third boss) on any difficulty mode gives about a 1 in 50 chance of the ground mount Sanctum Gloomcharger’s Reins falling out. Completing the Glory of the Sanctum Raider achievement can get you Hand of Hrestimorak and if you defeat Sylvanas Windrunner on Mythic difficulty Vengeance’s Reins has a guaranteed chance to drop
Sepulcher of the First Ones
Sepulcher of the First Ones is the third and final raid in WoW Shadowlands. There are 11 bosses in this raid with the final boss being the Jailer, Zovaal. The entrance to the raid is located on a floating isle in Zereth Mortis. In order to get there, you will have to fly to Pilgrim’s Grace and interact with the Ancient Translocator to fly to the island. The bosses can be very difficult even after the game was patched to make the raid easier.
Notable drops include Soulwarped Seal of Wrynn, Fractal Cypher of the Zereth Overseer, Sepulcher’s Savior, Antumbra, Shadow of the Cosmos, Genesis Lathe, Soulwarped Seal of Menethil and Gavel of the First Arbiter. The Sepulcher raid also reintroduces tier sets with bosses dropping 4 types of tokens that allow players to get various tier set armor pieces.
Determining which of the 3 raids is most exciting will generally be a matter of personal preference with each raid having its advocates. All three provide plenty of thrills and enjoyment.
