WoW HandbookThe Independent Handbook for WoW Forever.

Blackwing Lair

RaidLevel 60+40 players

Raid Map, Bosses & Location

Blackwing Lair, the 40-player raid atop Blackrock Mountain where Nefarian waits.

Burning Steppes

Map Art

Burning Steppes world map art
Flame Crest, Burning SteppesMorgan's Vigil, Burning Steppes
Blackwing Lair entrance
—
Blackwing Lair entrance in Burning Steppes at 32.5, 32.4.
Level
60+
Raid Size
40
Bosses
8
Location
Burning Steppes
Continent
Eastern Kingdoms

About Blackwing Lair

Nefarian inherited his father's project and improved on the method. Deathwing wanted the dragonflights broken; his son wanted them combined. The laboratory at the top of Blackrock Mountain exists to cross the flights against each other — black with red, red with green, whatever holds together long enough to be measured — and to produce from that a chromatic brood answering to one dragon only.

The material has to come from somewhere. Vaelastrasz was a red dragon and a friend of the Alliance before he was brought up the mountain and turned, and he is lucid enough to warn anyone who reaches him and not nearly lucid enough to stop. The eggs in the upper chamber are the current run of the experiment, and Razorgore was taken alive specifically to tend them.

None of the mountain's other occupants know the full shape of it. The Dark Horde garrisons the spire below for a paymaster it does not question, the Dark Iron keep to their own fire further down, and above all of it Nefarian works with the unhurried confidence of someone who expects to win on a timescale where none of this counts as an interruption.

First Run

  • The lair is at the top of Blackrock Spire, entered through Upper Blackrock Spire.
  • Forty players at maximum level, and a clear step up from Molten Core.
  • Attunement is required and the run to the door goes through a dungeon, so allow time before the first pull.
  • Bring class-specific resistance sets. Chromaggus in particular checks them.

Veteran Notes

  • Eight bosses, ending with Nefarian.
  • Forty players, maximum level.
  • Razorgore is a control encounter rather than a damage one and fails on coordination, not gear.
  • Vaelastrasz starts the moment the raid enters the room; there is no setup time.

Raid Bosses

8 bosses wait in Blackwing Lair.

  1. 01Razorgore the Untamed
  2. 02Vaelastrasz the Corrupt
  3. 03Broodlord Lashlayer
  4. 04Firemaw
  5. 05Ebonroc
  6. 06Flamegor
  7. 07Chromaggus
  8. 08NefarianFinal

Getting There

  1. ContinentEastern Kingdoms
  2. ZoneBurning Steppes Levels 50–59 · Contested territory
  3. Nearest flight pathFlame Crest, Burning Steppes Horde · 65.6, 24.2
  4. Entrance32.5, 32.4

Raid Progression

  1. Barrow Deeps10 players · 0 bosses
  2. Hyjal Summit20 players · 0 bosses
  3. Molten Core40 players · 10 bosses
  4. Onyxia's Lair40 players · 1 bosses
  5. Blackwing Lair40 players · 8 bosses
  6. Zul'Gurub20 players · 10 bosses
  7. Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj20 players · 6 bosses
  8. Temple of Ahn'Qiraj40 players · 9 bosses
  9. Naxxramas40 players · 15 bosses