Recommended Level: 66-68
Time Required>: 40-70 minutes
Location: Auchenai Crypt, The Large Crater to the South of Shadrath City
Read Strategy: Reader Comments and Strategies

Related Quests:

Quest	Get it at	Sharable?	Available To
[67] Everything will be all right	Greatfather Aldrimus (Chain starts will Ha'lel, outside Crypts)	No	Level 65+
[68] Auchindoun...	A'dal (Chain Starts at Gorash, in Nagand)	No	Level 66+ Horde

About the Instance:

Auchenei crypts is the second instance in the Auchindoun complex, with continues its predecessor's proliferation of non-standard fights. Once again, the vast majority of the creatures within the instance are casters, and thus cannot be tanked too well. This, coupled with invisible mobs, make this an instance that requires quick reflexes and spur of the moment strategies. While this instance is blissfully quick to do for the appropriate group, its difficulty, coiled with the fact that quests for it are part of long chains, make the instance a reasonably unpopular choice. That said, any Horde player must complete this instance at least once, for it is part of one of the major overarching Horde storylines.

Party Makeup:
Crowd Control and DPS are essential for this instance. Due to the nature of the first boss, who has the ability to slow spell casting by 200%, Warlocks and especially Fire or Frost Mages are poor choices for DPS. The ideal group includes at least one priest or Paladin (preferably both), along with sufficient DPS (Hunter, Rogue and Arcane Mages). That said, parties will still need to bring a mage for AOE purposed. Finally, the best healers for this instance or those that can heal without casting long spells, making Druid HOTs and the Shadow Priest's Vampiric Aura the obvious choices.

1  Protection Paladin (Tank)
2. Shadow Priest (DPS, Shadowheal)
3. Druid (Main Healer)
4. Hunter (Ranged DPS)
5. Mage (AOE, DPS)

Useful Equipment:
Most mobs within the instance have shadow attacks, and shadow resist will be helpful.

Finding Your Way to the Instance:
The crypts is located on the western side of the meeting stone at Auchindoun.

Auchenei Crypt Layout:
Auchenei Crypt is a short instance, featuring only two bosses, and plenty of tricky mob pulls along the way.

Quest Quick Guide:
There are two quests for Auchenei Crypts, both of which require significant time to be expended on the prerequisites.

Everything will be All Right:

While the quest giver is right outside the instance, this quest is unavailable till people finish the quest chain I see dead people', which can be obtained from a bout outside the crypts called Ha'lel. After an involving sequence of elite quests, ending with the destruction of Levixus on the top of Auchindoun, this quest becomes available. In fact, you won't be able to see the quest giver till Levixus is destroyed.

Auchindoun:

Given by A'dal at the center of Shadrath city. However, it requires the completion of an intensive chain that begins in Nagrand, at the native orc outpost.

Crossing the Bridge of Souls:

There is a significant amount of pulls before one reaches the first boss of Auchenei Crypts, including passage across the Bridge of Souls. These are not trivial fights. In particular, the unprepared party will be shocked to see that while it appears that any pull consists or only two or three mobs, two to three more will appear at the start of each fight. While these once invisible adds do not have much hit points (~6000), they deal damage as if they were elites.

iIn a standard pull, CC one of the visible elites. The tank will need to tank the other two as three extra mobs appear. These can be any combinations of Unliving sorcerers, priests, stalkers or soldiers. Stalkers will shoot at healers, casters will deal AOE chaos, and priests will attempt to heal allies. The DPS classes will need to eliminate these quickly, lest the healer gets swarmed. Soldiers are standard melee mobs, and should be taunted by the tank and dealt with last.

Auchenai Soulpriest  
Shadow Casters that launch shadow bolts, and will sometimes mind control a friendly player. Kill these right after the invisible adds. If an ally is mind controlled... polymorph them.

Auchenai Monks  
Immune to CC, warriors be prepared to tank them.

After progressing to the upper level after the first cavern, the players will need to cross the Bridge of Souls. It is advisable for groups to pull all patrols off the bridge, since souls randomly appear within the bridge, and explode, dealing an AOE knockback that disrupts spells and may knock players off the bridge into instant death. If you have to fight on the bridge, insure you don't eventure too close the edge. Once the bridge is cleared, you've reach the first boss.

Shirrak the Dead Watcher:

Shirrak the Dead Watcher hovers at the far end to the Bridge of Souls. This giant beholder can be very easy or very tough, depending on class composition.

Inhibit Magic Aura:  All casters within 45 yard range of Shirrak will have their casting time increased by 200%.
Focused Fire: Every 10 seconds or so, Shirrak will choose one random player to focus fire on. If the player does not move out of 35 yards from Shirrak in 3 seconds, he will take 1.4k damage per second AOE center on the player till he's smart enough to move.
Carnivorous Bite: Melee players automatically take DOT damage.

Shirrak is not physically very strong, but his Inhibit Magic aura makes healing a very inefficient process. Having a high DPS here is essential. Players will need to stick with either channelled or instant cast spells, and healers on HOTs. For example, mages, regardless of specc, should be using Arcane Missiles.

To launch combat, everyone should charge the ramp, and off the bridge, and thus avoid spell interruption of the randomly spawning spirits. Start DPS immediately, and keep an eye on your combat lord to make sure you're the one being watched for focus fire. Even watched tanks will need to run, for no healer can counter burst damage with a 200% cast speed debuff.
 

Slaying Maladaar:

A few more pulls, and players will reach Maladaar's chamber. The camber itself is populated by large groups of skeletons, each led by a necromancer. Since each pull involves at least a dozen skeletons, each with 3000 hp, AOE is almost essential. A single mage with Arcane Explosion or Improved Blizzard will suffice. Things go a lot more smoothly when the necromancer is CCed during the process.

Exarch Maladaar has the following abilities:

Clone Player:  Exarch Maladaar will create a shadow clone of a player. Shadow clones have the same stats and abilities of the player, but do not appear to have their equipment. They also share the property of boss mobs, and cannot be snared, crowd controlled, silenced, or counter spelled.  .tic
Avatar of the Martyr: At 15% health, Maladaar creates a shadow copy of himself with the Soul Cleave ability (Same as Mortal Strike), that has 30,000 hp.

It is essential that DPS keep an eye out for the shadow clones, and destroy them as fast as possible, especially if they are clones of caster classes. While melee classes get to punch you with bare fists, a shadow version of your mage casting arcane missiles at the priest is a recipe for disaster. When Maladaar summons his avataar, use all cooldowns to burn Maladaar quickly. Although the Avataar needs to be killed even if Maladaar dies, you won't need to kill Maladaar again... even if you wipe.