Project Lore

Fresh on the heels of my post about cool things to explore in the old world, I thought I would take a moment to highlight one of the more interesting ones: Stratholme. I will say this now, I am extremely lucky. I received the Baron mount on my 4th attempt. For those of you who don’t know what that means (I was surprised to learn how many are unfamiliar), let me explain what I am talking about. The Baron mount, or The Deathcharger's Reins, is an epic ground mount that drops from the final boss of Stratholme’s dead side: Baron Rivendare. It has a 1 in 100 drop rate. This has been greatly increase recently as it used to be 1 in 1,000 and 1 in 5,000 before that. Now that it exists in the world of attainability, lots of people spend time farming for this unique mount. Doing the “Baron Run” is not only a great way to get Argent Dawn rep for those of you going for Argent Champion (be sure you have your Argent Dawn Commission equipped!), but there is that great carrot of a mount at the end to keep you grinding away. Stratholme is a level 60 instance, and can be easily soloed by level 80 characters, and with a little more work if you are 70+. If done correctly the Baron run can be completed very quickly, with some able to do it in under 10 minutes. The easiest place to start is at the service entrance, far to the east of the main entrance in Eastern Plaguelands. To do this you must have The Key to the City. If you do not have the key, simply go in the front. You can also have somebody else open the gate for you, or even pick the lock if you have the ability. Once inside, make sure you kill Magistrate Barthilas as this will make future runs much simpler! Trash is packed tight in Stratholme, so you best policy is to kill things as soon as you aggro them so they don’t pull other mobs. That being said, a vast majority of the trash is completely skippable due to a very small aggro radius, especially for level 80s. In order to get access to Baron Rivendare, there are 3 bosses that must first be killed: Baroness Anastari, Maleki the Pallid, and Nerub'enkan. None of these bosses should present a challenge at high level, just make sure you enter their temples after the boss dies and kill all of the acolytes. You can find a great map of where to find these guys at Wowhead. Once the acolytes are dead you will gain access to a new area full of abominations. These must all be killed in order for the door to Rivendare’s room to be opened. It is good practice to save one for last, and kill him in front of the door to the Baron's chamber. That way, you can run in before the door shuts. Once this happens you have one more boss to kill: Ramstein The Gorger. Get him down and go kill the Baron! The run is quick, and I wish you luck on the drop! If you aren't lucky enough to get the mount, be sure and pick up all the loot, as it can be sold for a suprising amount of gold.

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