Recommended Level: 62-64
Time Required>: 70-110 minutes
Location: Northern Lake,
Read Strategy: Reader Comments and Strategies

Related Quests:

Quest	Get it at	Sharable?	Available To
[65] Lost in Action	Watcher Jhang (Coilfang Reservoir)	No	Level 62+

About the Instance:

The Slave Pens is the third instance of the Burning Crusade, and the first in Coilfang Reservoir. It ups the challenge of the encounters at Hellfire Citadel, with reasonably fast moving patrols, mind controlling mobs, and lots of fears. Success in this instance depends either on good gear, or the patience of waiting for the right moment to make pulls. I prefer the latter. Fortunately, the bosses, in contrast, are reasonably simple.

Party Makeup:
There is no special requirements for this instance. However, due to the large number of mobs capable of disabling players, crowd control will make things a lot easier. Bring a mage for polymorph, or a Warlock for seduce... or preferably both, as these will allow you to CC mind controlled party members. Furthermore, a secondary healer (Paladin, Shaman, Druid, Shadow priest) will make certain boss fights a lot easier. Bring a class that can cure poison too.

Useful Equipment:
Nothing essential, though frost and nature resistance helps with the bosses.

Finding Your Way to the Instance:
Coilfang Reservoir is located in the centre of the large lake at Northern Zargamarsh. The entrance is the huge towering structure located there, you can't miss it. Dive inside, follow the tunnel till you surface in a huge cavern. Slave Pens is west of the Meeting Stone located here.

Slave Pen Layout:
Slave Pens is basically a huge cavern separated by an artificial wall. To make your way through the instance, you'll need to navigate to the far side of the cavern. There are 3 bosses, though this instance should only be attempted when you plan to complete it. There too many trash mobs before the first boss that partial completions are not worthwhile.

Quest Quick Guide:
A Quick guide on each quest

Lost in Action:

This is the only quest related to this instance and in fact, only half of the quest is here. To get the quest, speak to Watcher Jhang located right at the meeting stone for this instance, you can't miss him. Of the four druids you need to find, two are located here. The first is on a ramp just above Mennu the Betrayer, the second near the end of the instance before the final boss.

Navigating through the Trash Mobs:

If one is not careful, the trash mobs are actually the most dangerous part of this instance. Although the initial tunnel should pose no problems, aggro gets messy once you reach the main cavern. This place is completely littered with mobs, and you should pull as much as possible into the tunnel entrance, while avoiding the patrols that circle the cavern. One sufficient mobs have been pulled, hug the left hand side wall. There are plenty of things to watch out for:

Coilfang Groups:
Groups of Naga are very dangerous. The champions are capable of an AOE fear, which will almost certainly aggro other groups unless you pull them far way. Enchantresses are capable of mind controlling your players, so make sure your mage is ready to polymorph that beserking Orc who just turned on you. In any fight, kill the casters first, followed by the fearers. Leave the defenders till last... since they're basically prot specced warriors.

Giant Crabs:
Groups of Giant Crabs litter the place, even worse, they often attack in groups of 6. While individually weak, in numbers, they can wipe your party. Warriors may need to go into Battle Stance and use thunderclap in order to properly tank so many used. An alternative is to AOE such groups to death, but that requires a Frost Mage and at least one other secondary AOEer (A Warlock, Mage or even Moonkin),

Slave-handlers and Slaves:
Naga Slavehandlers litter the instance. When engaged, they will call for all nearby slaves to help them. When a slave handler dies, these slaves are also freed. Therefore, always focus on the slave handler. At the mouth of the cavern, you'll want to kill all the slaves first. They may look tame, but they will turn on your once you start pulling slave handlers.

With the above tips in mind, make you away into the northern room, where Mennu the Betrayer resides.

Mennu the Betrayer:

Mennu is not a hard boss. Essentially, he is a tank and spank boss with a wide range of totems:

Healing Totem:  Heals Mennu by about 5% hp per second, kill it fast.
Nova Totem: Deals AOE Damage.
Earthgrab Totem: Entangles all party members.
Stoneskin Totem: Increases Mennu's armor.

Each totem has a few hundred hp and can be eliminated quickly. Have a mage fireblast them, or a shaman shock them. Whatever the case, assign a ranged DPS class to take them down ASAP. Without totems, Mennu is a pushover. Did I mentioned this guy drops an awesome sword?

Rockmarr:

Rockmarr is another tank and spank boss, that should not be too much challenge if you have a secondary healer..

Mass Frost Bolt:  Rockmarr will occasionally launch AOE Frostbolts at all players in the party, dealing 2000 damage to each, and slowing them down.  .tic
Grievous Wound: Target takes 800 damage every 2 seconds till he is healed to pulled
Ensnare: Target moves, attacks and casts spells at half speed.

This find can be tricky if there is no secondary healer, since the healer will need to concentrate on the tank, and the victim of the grievous wound. Which means everyone else will need to sly on bandages. If you do have a secondary healer though, no problem. A Shadow Priest with Vampiric Aura will also totally offset the AOE damage.

The Route Quaggmirran:

Continue through the far side of the Cavern, again by hugging the wall. Eventually, you'll be able to enter the passage on the eastern side, where the final boss lies. This passageway also houses the second lost druid, who has been left in a cage. Unlock the cage, fight off the incoming naga's using the same techniques as mentioned above. Not only to you complete another part of the quest, but this druid will bestow all party members with a buff that gives 110 Nature Resistance and 5% to all stats. Needless to say, this makes the final fight a lot easier!

Quaggmirran is only a few minutes south of here, and with the Naturalist Bite, the fight is much easier. (In fact, this walkthrough is written on the basis that you have this buff on). Apart from being big, Quaggmirran the Fungal Giant has these abilities:

Sweeping Strike:  Rogues: Don't stand on the same side as the warrior.
AOE Poison Nova: Fires 2500 damage poison bolts at all party members, with a further 2k DOT. Without the Naturalist bite, this attack will be a killer... but fortunately, you guys have 110 Nature Resist. So it'll only do about 1000, or even less.

Apart from rogues not attacking from the front, this is standard tank and spank. Make sure someone is assigned to dispelling the DOT component of poison nova, and you're all set. Damage druids and shamans should be content at being off healers for this fight, as their cure poison could save the day.

 

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