The Temple of Atal'Hakkar

The Temple of Atal'Hakkar, frequently called Sunken Temple is a level 50-55 instance in the Swamp of Sorrows. The item drops here are very good and can be worth doing even at level 60. The time for a run varies because some parts can be skipped. Expect a minimum of 2-2.5 hours for an Eranikus kill. A full clear could be up to 4 hours. The zone respawn is pretty long, and the dragon types never respawn so you can frequently return to right where you died in a wipeout.

External Guides and Maps

Annotated Instance Map from worldofwar.net

Quests

The Temple has some of the most involved quest lines yet. There are many pre-requisite steps for some of these quests. They involve Un'goro, Tanaris, and Feralas quite extensively.

Alliance Quests

42 (50) Into The Temple of Atal'Hakkar
Reward: Guardian Talisman
This quest line starts from Brohan Caskbelly in the Tavern in the Dwarven district of Stormwind. He asks you to investigate and find the Sunken Temple in the Swamp of Sorrows and then return. He then sends you to the Hinterlands where you are led to a drunken dwarf. The Dwarf sends you to Feralas and Tanaris to collect some parts and return. You then get sent back to the Dwarf in Stormwind who sends you back to the Sunken Temple to collect 20 items from ground spawn in and around the instance. You just need to pickup some ground spawn tablets, they are very common both inside and outside the instance.

47 (52) Haze of Evil
This quest is part of a quest line that starts from Muigin in the Refuge of Un'goro Crater. Muigen sends you to Gregan Brewspewer in Feralas who sends you to the Sunken Temple. You need to get five haze off the basement monsters of the temple and return to Muigen in Un'Goro.

Horde Quests

38 (43) Pool of Tears - Horde
This quest starts a four part quest line that will send you back to the temple. Obtain the quest from Fel'Zarul in Stonard. For this quest you just need to pick up some gear-clickable items called Atal'ai Artifacts which spawn around the outer rim of the temple lake.

38 (50) The Temple of Atal'Hakkar - Horde
Rewards: Guardian Talisman
This is the fourth part of the 'Pool of Tears' series. Parts 2-3 send you to the Atal'ai Exile in Hinterlands, and back again to Fel'Zarul. You just need to kill some trolls inside the instance to collect 20 Fetish of Hakkar.

48 (52) Zapper Fuel - Horde
This quest is the third part of a chain that starts with Larion and Muigin from Larion in Marshal's Refuge in Un'goro Crater. For this quest you collect Atal'ai Haze off the basement monsters of the temple. These quest items drop almost 100% of the time from the worm and ooze mobs, but only for questers. If you are the only member of the party questing, ask for loot to be temporarily set to Free For All and you will get all of your drops very quickly.

Neutral Quests

46 (51) Into the Depths
This quest starts from Marvon Rivetseeker, a goblin, in the center of Tanaris. It sends you to the temple basement to click on the Altar of Hakkar and receive some experience (?items?). This quest can be soloed by a class with stealth (Druid/Rogue).

46 (51) Secret of the Circle
Rewards: Hakkar'i Breastplate and Hakkar'i Shroud and Mark of Hakkar
This quest also starts from Marvon Rivetseeker in the center of Tanaris and gives you a hint to spawn the boss in the basement. In order to spawn him next to the final Serpent Statue (Santa Snake), you must light the statues on the main level (not the same level as the mini-bosses) to allow you access to the prophet and dragons. If you're coming up from basement, take the first passage on your right and then again go right until you hit the Hall of Serpents. The correct order to light the serpent statues is as follows:

1) South
2) North
3) Southwest
4) Southeast
5) Northwest
6) Northeast

Atalarion will spawn in the pit below and yell something in Troll once your group tags the statues in the correct order. [troll] My banishment is ended. Let the blood flow. Once the boss is dead, each quester should make sure to loot the gear-clickable statue in the center of the pit for their cache of reward items. Atalarion has a knock back attack that can be very nasty, doing up to 2k dmg. One option to prevent the falling damage is to fight him in the corridor leading to his circular area. There the ceiling will prevent him from sending you flying far. Alternatively you can also fight him with your back against a nearby wall.

38 (53) Jammal'an the Prophet
Rewards: Helm of Exile or Rainstrider Leggings
This quest can be tricky to get. It is given by the Atal'ai Exile in Shadra'Alor in the Hinterlands. He is surrounded by aggro mobs. The goal of this quest is to kill the prophet in the temple. In order to get access to the Prophet, there are 6 mini-bosses on the topmost floor that have to be killed first. When those trolls are killed the 'force field' separating Jammal'an from the rest of the temple drops.

The room containing Jammal'an is full of mobs which spawn a non-killable ghost upon dying. These ghosts are invulnerable and do serious melee damage, but are extremely slow and will die on a relatively short timer (15-20 sec) when simply left alone. Try to stay away from them and deal with the other mobs in the pull. The caster mobs in this room are sheepable -- the other undead mobs are not, but can be Shackled by a priest. Several of these mobs also have a Fear ability, so position your party a good distance away from them and pull all mobs back in order to avoid people being Feared into additional adds.

Jammal'an himself is 53 elite with a 53 elite caster add who isn't sheepable. Jammal'an also has mind control attack.

46 (53) The God Hakkar
Rewards: Gemburst Circlet or Lifeforce Dirk or Avenger Helm
This is part of a quest line from Yeh'kinya, a troll at the docks in Tanaris. This is the fourth and final step in the quest series. It starts off by sending you to Feralas to kill a few Screecher Spirits. The second quest in the chaing entails a trip into Zul'farrak for tablet drops from two named mobs inside the instance. The third step is to retrieve the Ancient Egg from Jintha'Alor in the Hinterlands. This item is in a cave deep in the troll city. There are many level 45-50 elite trolls along path to the cave. The egg itself is guarded by 3 elite trolls levels 52-53. Once you have the Ancient Egg, you proceed to the second floor of the Sunken Temple.

The strategy to summon Hakkar goes like this. First, it's a gated room. Once you activate the encounter by using the Ancient Egg, you'll be locked in so make sure everyone is inside. During the encounter, a shade of Hakker will appear and not do anything until you've extinguished 4 braziers at the 4 corners of the room. To extinguish them, you'll want to use the blood dropped by the bloodkeeper flying dragon mob. It will respawn 4 times but you may have to wait like a couple of minutes in between spawns. Make the loot free-for-all and designate a runner that will loot the blood and extinguish the flames. It's much simpler like that. Might want to turn back loot to original once the 4 braziers are off.

Turning off a brazier alerts some suppressor dragonkin mobs that will terminate the encounter (and lift gates) if not killed before 3 of them shoot beams at the dragon shade of Hakkar. Rule is to kill them as soon as possible. Good time to do so is in between spawns of the bloodkeeper. Once the 4 braziers are off, Hakkar (elite 53) will spawn and is a regular beat down mob. The room has many snake-like mobs in it as well during the encounter many of them that you don't need to kill if you stick to the corners and near walls. However, they'll join Hakkar in battle once summoned so if you think you may have a hard time with the adds, clear them right before extinguishing the last brazier.

48 (55) The Essence of Erankius
Rewards: Chained Essence of Eranikus This comes from a drop off the last boss, Eranikus. After Eranikus dies, you get an item that gives you a quest. To complete that quest and get this one, you click on the font in the back left corner of the room. You then get the Chained Essence. You can then turn the Essence in to the night elf in the cave in SW Swamp of Sorrows to get a later quest.

Eranikus has a non-dispellable mez attack, warstomp and knockdown attacks but is otherwise a regular beat-down without adds. Also, if you haven't done so before, you'll want to clear all the dragonkins in the area or he'll call all of the remaining ones for help which may make the fight much more difficult than needed. Finally, Eranikus seems to only be attackable if you first kill the prophet. Otherwise you'll only see its shade and won't be able to attack or agro it.

Prior to getting to him, you'll have to dispose of a pair of patrolling dragons (52-53 elite) with breath weapon and knockback but otherwise nothing especial.

At some point you may also get a message that two flying dragons are let loose. Those will typically circle the central area and you can avoid agroing by staying close to the walls. Overall, you'll want to kill them to give yourself some room to move in the central area. Don't fight them near the center if you haven't cleared the area of the other dragonkins. The dragon regularly use knockback attacks (as well as sleep so get the tremor totems out) which will send you into other elite mobs. They're plenty to handle by themselves without getting 2-4 elite mob adds in addition.

Bosses

Avatar of Hakkar

• Embrace of the Wind Serpent (very rare)
• Bloodshot Greaves
• Featherskin Cape
• Might of Hakkar
• Spire of Hakkar
• Warrior's Embrace
• Windscale Sarong
  

This boss spawns as part of an event that is started by a quest to kill him. After completing the quest you can get a scroll to summon him without using the egg. He has an extensive loot table but is not needed to kill Eranikus so is sometimes skipped.

Dreamscythe Weaver Hazzas Morphaz

• Bloodfire Talons
• Dawnspire Cord
• Drakefang Butcher
• Firebreather
• Nightfall Drape
• Smoldering Claw
• Drakeclaw Band <random>
• Drakestone <random>
  

These drakes do not drop an item everytime but when they do it can be very nice. It is very very hard to get a Drakeclaw Band or Drakestone with the stats you want.

Gasher Hukku Loro Mijan Zolo Zul'Lor

• Atal'ai Breastplate <random>
• Atal'ai Gloves <random>
• Atal'ai Spaulders <random>
• Atal'ai Boots <random>
• Atal'ai Girdle <random>
• Atal'ai Leggings <random>
  

These bosses rarely drop anything, but when they do it can be good.

Atal'alarion

• Atal'alarion's Tusk Ring
• Headspike
• Darkwater Bracers <random>
  

A very frequently skipped boss because he is not needed to get to any other boss in the zone. If you decide to run him expect to add 30-45 minutes to the run just for him.

Jammal'an the Prophet

• Gloves of the Atal'ai Prophet
• Kilt of the Atal'ai Prophet
• Vestments of the Atal'ai Prophet
  

Good news for casters. Even these blues have some trouble beating some nice greens but they are a bit easier to get than a nice green.

Ogom the Wretched

• Fist of the Damned
• Eater of the Dead
• Blade of the Wretched
  

Drops aren't that hot but he is linked with the prophet so you kill him anyway.

Spawn of Hakkar

• Slitherscale Boots
• Wingveil Cloak
  

These guys spawn as part of the Hakkar event.

Shade of Eranikus

• Dragon's Call (very rare)
• Crest of Supremecy
• Dire Nail <random>
• Dragon's Eye
• Horns of Eranikus
• Rod of Corrosion
• Tooth of Eranikus
  

He drops 2 items per kill. The hardest challenge this dungeon has to offer. Make sure you have killed all drakes, whelps and dragonkin as he will summon any living ones to defend him when you attack.

Item List

Cloth

• Hakkar'i Shroud - Head, 58 armor, 16 Sta, 15 Int
• Gemburst Circlet - Head, 63 Armor, 5 Agi, 9 Sta, 17 Int, 18 Spi
• Embrace of the Wind Serpent - Chest, 86 Armor, 9 Sta, 17 Int, 30 Spi, 12 Nature Resistance
• Vestments of the Atal'ai Prophet - Chest, 78 armor, 27 Spi, 11 Int
• Gloves of the Atal'ai Prophet - Hands, 49 armor, 20 Spi, 6 Sta, 5 Int
• Dawnspire Cord - Waist, 43 Armor, 19 Int, 8 Spi
• Rainstrider Leggings - Legs, 69 Armor, 8 Agi, 7 Sta, 27 Spi
• Kilt of the Atal'ai Prophet - Legs, 69 armor, 18 Int/Spi, 9 Sta, 4 Str
• Atal'ai Gloves - +13 to two stats and increase healing and spell damage by 5.

Leather

• Atal'ai Spaulders <random> - Shoulders, 193 armor, +12-13 for two random stats or 19-20 for one stat
• Hakkar'ai Breastplate - Chest, 144 armor, 22 Sta, 4 Agi
• Darkwater Bracers <random> - Wrist
• Bloodfire Talons - Hands, 96 armor, 5 Int, 9 Spi, 10 Fire Resistance, Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 10.
• Windscale Sarong - Legs, 136 Armor, 7 Agi, 10 Sta, 10 Int, 20 Spi
• Atal'ai Leggings <random> - Legs, 120 armor, +15 for two stats, or +23 for one stat
• Slitherscale Boots - Feet, 104 Armor, 5 Str, 12 Sta, 15 Spi

Mail

• Helm of Exile - Head, Quest, 266 Armor, 11 Agility, 18 Intellect, 18 Spirit
• Horns of Eranikus - Head, 271 Armor, 27 Int, 11 Spi
• Atal'ai Breastplate <random> - Chest, 311 armor, 27 Resist Fire, 22 Attack Power
• Bloodshot Greaves - Feet, 221 Armor, 5 Strength, 6 Agility, 20 Stamina
• Atal'ai Boots <random> - Feet, 195 Armor, +10-11 for two random stats or +17 for one stat

Plate

• Silvershell Leggings - Legs, BoE, 470 Armor, 20 Strength, 12 Stamina, 10 Spirit
• Warrior's Embrace - Chest, 567 Armor, 4 Agility, +11 Stamina, Equip: Increases your chance to dodge an attack by 2%
• Atal'ai Girdle - Waist, 280 armor, +11-12 for two stats or +17 for one
• Atal'alarion's Tusk Ring - Waist, 302 Armor, 18 Strength, 8 Stamina

Weapon/Shield/Ranged

• Lifeforce Dirk - Dagger, 40 - 75 Damage, Speed 1.60, (35.9 damage per second), 11 Sta
• Dire Nail <random> - Dagger
• Fist of the Damned - 1H Mace, 42 - 80, Damage Speed 1.90, (32.1 damage per second), Chance on hit: Steals 30 life from target enemy.
• Might of Hakkar - MH Mace, 60 - 112, Damage Speed 2.40, 35.8 DPS, 11 Sta, 5 Spi
• Firebreather - 1H Sword, 54 - 101, Damage Speed 2.20, 35.2 DPS, Chance on hit: Hurls a fiery ball that causes 70 Fire damage and an additional 9 damage over 6 sec
• Dragon's Call - 1H Sword, 72 - 135 Damage, Speed 2.50, 41.4 DPS, Chance on hit: Calls forth an Emerald Dragon Whelp to protect you in battle for a short period of time.
• Blade of the Wretched - MH Sword, 47 - 88 Damage Speed 2.10, 32.1 DPS, Chance on hit: Corrupts the target, causing 90 damage over 3 sec.
• Eater of the Dead - MH Axe, 49 - 92 Damage, Speed 2.20, 32.0 DPS, Equip: +30 Attack Power when fighting Undead
• Tooth of Eranikus - MH Axe, 62 - 116 Damage, Speed 2.40, 37.1 DPS, 6 Str, Equip: Improves your chance to hit by 1%
• Drakefang Butcher - 2H Sword, 99 - 149 Damage, Speed 2.70, 45.9 DPS, 15 Str, Chance on hit: Wounds the target causing them to bleed for 150 damage over 30 sec.
• Smoldering Claw - Polearm, 108 - 162 Damage, Speed 2.90, 46.6 DPS, 10 Fire Resistance, Chance on hit: Hurls a fiery ball that causes 135 Fire damage and an additional 15 damage over 6 sec
• Headspike - Polearm, 106 - 159 Damage, Speed 3.00, 44.2 DPS, 15 Str, 18 Sta
• Spire of Hakkar - Staff, 126 - 190 Damage, Speed 3.40, 46.5 DPS, 16 Sta, 16 Spi, Equip: Increases damage and healing done by magical spells and effects by up to 10.
• Crest of Supremacy - Shield, 1930 Armor, 35 Block, 6 Strength, 6 Agi, 7 Sta, 7 Int, 7 Spi
• Rod of Corrosion - Wand, 50 - 93 Nature Damage, Speed 1.30, 55.0 DPS, +10 Nature Resistance
• Ragehammer - 2H Mace - 128 - 193 Damage, Speed 3.70, 43.4 DPS, Lvl 45, Chance on hit: Increases damage done by 20 and attack speed by 5% for 15 sec.

Jewlery

• Dragon's Eye - Amulet, 6 Sta, 15 Spi
• Mark of Hakkar - Ring, 10 Sta, 7 Str
• Drakeclaw Band <random> - Ring, +9-10 for two random stats or +14-15 for one stat, +6 Defense
• Guardian Talisman - Trinket, Equip: Have a 2% chance when struck in combat of increasing armor by 350 for 15 sec
• Chained Essence of Eranikus - Trinket, Use: Summons a cloud of poison that deals 50 Nature damage every 5 sec to any enemy in an 8 yard radius around the caster for 45 sec

Misc

• Featherskin Cape - Back, 39 Armor, 4 Sta, 4 Int, 15 Spi
• Nightfall Drape - Back, 38 Armor, 14 Sta, 8 Spi
• Wingveil Cloak - Back, 34 Armor, 12 Spi
• Drakestone <random> - HiH, +9-10 for two random stats, or 14-15 for one stat