Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj

At a glance

Forever planning status: Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj has no confirmed release or final rules in the WoW: Forever sources checked. Use these inherited Classic encounter plans to organize possible future progression. Raid size, access, resets, tuning and loot still need Forever confirmation before the encounter plan is used live. Confirmed Forever class changes are noted separately; a class having a control spell does not establish that it works on every inherited raid target.

Inherited Classic baseline:

The Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, or AQ20, is a level 60, 20-player raid at the Scarab Wall in southern Silithus. There is no personal attunement after the server's gates are open. The original War Effort and Scepter gate event is a server unlock, not a quest chain every raider must finish.

Kurinnaxx and General Rajaxx precede the final boss, Ossirian. Moam, Buru and Ayamiss are optional. A full clear includes all six. Original Classic uses a three-day reset, so confirm the save and next reset before inviting players from a previous run.

Season of Discovery's altered raid size and added mechanics are excluded.

Before you go

Two main tanks plus a third off tank make the wave and add encounters easier to control. Start with around four or five healers and adjust to gear and execution. Bring Hunters, Warlocks or Priests able to drain mana for Moam, Warlocks for Banish, ranged damage for airborne Ayamiss, and curse and poison removal.

Carry mana and healing potions, bandages, ordinary role consumables and repairs. Nature protection can help on poison-heavy fights, but a raid-wide fixed resistance set is not a universal AQ20 requirement. Assign a mobile crystal scout for Ossirian; mounting helps travel, but the scout must communicate with the tanks rather than click every crystal on sight.

Forever preparation: The developers confirm continued access to Classic consumables. Check current item tooltips and stacking rules when preparing them. Traditional world-buff use inside raids still needs policy confirmation; do not require a collection circuit or count those effects in your guaranteed raid budget.

Threat buffs: If your roster includes a Paladin, assign Salvation by job: its current Forever effect reduces generated threat by 30%. Mass Salvation affects the target's whole class. Check both tank and backup-tank buffs, then have the Paladin use Revoke to remove Salvation from those tanks before pulling. See the Paladin guide for current utility.

The route and trash

Clear space around each encounter before starting its event. Watch patrols and large insect packs; do not bring a skipped pack into the next boss while retreating. Anubisath Guardians have varying ability combinations. Call the observed combination and assign any summoned adds to a tank or available control before committing the raid. The main responses are:

Decide the optional route before spending the group's time on a summon or detour. Full clears are useful for Cenarion Circle reputation and class tokens. A shortened Ossirian run should still include a clear crystal path and the trash needed for safe movement.

Kurinnaxx

Face him away from the raid so Mortal Wound's frontal attacks do not hit unnecessary players. Keep two tanks high on threat. The incoming tank taunts at about three or four stacks, then holds him while the previous tank's healing reduction expires. The inactive tank attacks from behind, outside the frontal cone, so fresh stacks do not prevent that reset. Keep a backup ready if the taunt is resisted.

Everyone watches for Sand Traps underfoot and moves before they erupt. They cause damage, silence and an accuracy penalty, so a trapped healer or tank can be more dangerous than the damage alone. Tanks move him only as needed, preserving his facing. Save defensive and damage cooldowns for the final 30% enrage.

Wipe and recovery: too many Mortal Wound stacks or several healers caught in traps collapses the tank. Review the handover and trap movement; this baseline does not require a scripted add-wave assignment on Kurinnaxx.

General Rajaxx

After Kurinnaxx, speak to Lieutenant General Andorov only when the raid is ready. He and the Kaldorei Elites assist through seven waves of Qiraji, followed by Rajaxx himself. These are insect soldiers, not orc waves. Heal the friendly NPCs and preserve healer mana between controlled targets.

Tanks gather each wave, damage dealers follow the mark and crowd control holds surplus enemies when useful. The wave leaders add different problems:

For Rajaxx, use safe walls to limit Thundercrash knockback. It resets player threat and deals roughly half of current health, with a minimum hit of 100. Tanks recover him immediately while damage dealers pause; heal Andorov if the boss turns to him. Keep tanks fully supported, but do not exhaust mana repeatedly topping every raid member just because the percentage hit lowered their bar. Andorov's healing aura helps sustain the raid while he remains alive. Continue the pickup plan through the dangerous low-health finish.

Wipe and recovery: losing Andorov, chaining uncontrolled waves or reaching the boss with exhausted healers are separate failures. Wait for the event to reset, restore the NPC and wave plan, and restart together.

Moam

Tank him facing away and assign real mana-drain spells: Warlock Drain Mana, Priest Mana Burn and Hunter Viper Sting. A Mage's ordinary damage does not burn the boss's mana. Keep his mana below full while the raid damages him. Current Forever utility: Viper Sting drains for eight seconds but has a 15-second cooldown, so one Hunter cannot provide uninterrupted coverage. Assign overlapping drains and watch Moam's actual mana bar rather than relying on a permanent sting.

Reaching full mana triggers Arcane Eruption, a dangerous raid blast and launch. Around 90 seconds he enters stone form and summons three Mana Fiends. Assign Banish or tanks and kill them in a controlled way; do not leave free elementals exploding in the healer group. Keep draining Moam while the raid handles that phase, then resume the boss when he becomes active.

Wipe and recovery: a full mana bar or unassigned Mana Fiends are the key failures. Confirm who drains, who controls each fiend and who maintains tank healing before the pull.

Buru the Gorger

In the armored phase, Buru fixates a player and pursues them. The target kites around the room toward a prepared egg, avoiding getting cornered. Other players lower an egg's health without killing it early or leaving damage-over-time effects on it. When Buru is close enough, the raid kills the egg so its explosion damages him. He does not simply crush a half-health egg by walking over it.

Tanks gather the hatchlings produced by broken eggs and damage dealers clear them. Call the next egg and next fixation target so the route stays predictable. Healers follow the kiter from a safe distance rather than standing in the egg blast.

At 20% his shell breaks and the encounter becomes a short burn under rapidly increasing raid damage. Clear the remaining hatchling problem, use damage cooldowns and keep players alive through Creeping Plague. Do not continue spending the whole raid's damage on eggs after the shell is gone.

Wipe and recovery: eggs dying too early, a kiter trapped between obstacles or entering the final burn with many adds usually causes the loss. Reset the egg preparation and movement call.

Ayamiss the Hunter

From 100% to 70% she is airborne. Ranged damage attacks the boss; rotate the ranged threat lead as needed so one player does not carry excessive poison stacks. Healers cover that ranged target and the raid's poison damage. Tanks collect Swarmers for controlled AoE.

Assign melee to the altar. When a player is paralyzed there for sacrifice, a larva moves toward them. Kill it before it reaches the player, in both phases. A successful sacrifice kills the player and creates a much more dangerous add.

At 70%, a tank picks her up on the ground and faces her away. The altar rescue assignment stays active even though melee can now hit the boss.

Wipe and recovery: a larva left alive to gain a few seconds of boss damage can cost a player and spawn a larger add. Keep the rescue group assigned until the kill.

Ossirian the Unscarred

Clear a safe approach and identify the first crystal before pulling. Ossirian begins with Strength of Ossirian, greatly increased damage that quickly kills a tank. Bring him close to the crystal and have the assigned player activate it while he is in range. This removes the strength buff for about 45 seconds and adds vulnerability to a magic school.

The scout finds and calls the next usable crystal while the tanks move him toward it. Activate that next crystal before the current weakening expires. A click while the boss is far away wastes the opportunity. Avoid tornadoes, keep melee out of War Stomp when called and decurse Curse of Tongues from healers promptly.

Two tanks maintain a threat lead because Enveloping Winds can disable the active tank and Ossirian is taunt-immune. Damage dealers slow down when the tanks are repositioning. Match available magic damage to the current vulnerability without abandoning the crystal movement.

Wipe and recovery: a missed weakening makes the next tank hits lethal. Review the scout's call, the boss-to-crystal distance and the click timing before blaming healing. Reset fully and identify a usable first crystal again.

Loot highlights

AQ20's three-piece class sets use Cenarion Circle standing. Take their quests and materials to Cenarion Hold in Silithus, rather than to AQ40's dragons:

Each piece consumes its class-appropriate token, 2 of the specified idol and 5 each of two specified scarab types. Read the chosen quest's required-items list before buying those materials. The six bind-on-pickup token families have these restrictions in both the checked Classic and Forever records:

These rewards are separate from AQ40 Tier 2.5 and Brood of Nozdormu rings. Allocate the token on the intended character; neither buying scarabs nor reaching Exalted supplies the missing boss drop.

Ossirian can drop Staff of the Ruins, Crossbow of Imminent Doom and other useful weapons and armor; his Head starts The Fall of Ossirian, a one-time delivery to Commander Mar'alith at Cenarion Hold with a choice of Charm, Amulet, Choker or Pendant of the Shifting Sands. Moam's table includes Gauntlets of New Life and Talon of Furious Concentration. Class spell-rank books are another reason to clear the optional bosses. Check who can use a book before assigning it, and plan for repeat clears rather than expecting one particular rare drop per run.

Trash and boss kills supply Cenarion Circle reputation through Exalted. AQ20 bosses also supply 350 base Brood reputation per full clear through Exalted: 50 from each of the first five and 100 from Ossirian. Qiraji Lord's Insignias are an AQ40 drop, not part of this raid's token income.