Introduction

Sitting in the southern part of Silithus is the ruined Kingdom of Ahn’Qiraj. This kingdom was never a kingdom of peace and celebration, no. It was a kingdom of war and revenge, created in the image of an old god known as C’Thun. The kingdom is shrouded in mystery and well it is. The Silithid have had no part of the Warcraft lore before World of Warcraft.

The Temple of Ahn’Qiraj is the second dungeon in the series of Ahn’Qiraj dungeons. The first is the Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj which host a simple 20 man instance with loot similar to the other 20 man instance, Zul’Gurub. We have a guide on this dungeon if you are heading to the Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj right here. If you are heading to the 40 man instance (Temple of Ahn’Qiraj) then read on!

The Temple of Ahn’Qiraj hosts a 40 man instance that ranges from Molten Core-esque difficulty and steadily ramps up to Naxxaramas difficulty. It holds no official “tier” of armor nor does it have a place in the official progression from dungeon to dungeon. However, many consider it to be the post Blackwing Lair dungeon.

Ahn’Qiraj is a dungeon that requires both fairly decent gear along with refined coordination between all forty raid members. Many bosses require everyone to be fully alert and following tactics in order to successfully defeat them. As far as progression go, many believe that many guilds can venture into AQ40 while they are still learning Blackwing Lair (to get very good gear from the first few bosses). The ability to fully clear Blackwing Lair is needed to bypass the Twin Emperors and then dedication and lots of experience is require to take out C’Thun. Many guilds prefer to move onto AQ40 after they’ve successfully learned Blackwing Lair in order to hone their skills for the dread Naxxramas.

Raid Requirements and Attunement

Attunement

AQ40 has no attunement requirement. Anyone who is on a server that has had the gates of AQ40 opened (currently all servers) may enter AQ40. If the server doesn’t have the gates open, then a giant world event is required to open them. This though is unlikely on any future servers (which will probably just start with AQ40 open).

Organization

AQ40 can be done with pretty much a balanced raid of five of each class. Some guilds may wish to bring along their best of best, messing with the balance. However, as with most high-end raid dungeons, fifteen healers and five tanks are required. For those learning this instance or wanting to make the instance easier as a whole, seven Warriors can be brought along for extra tanking.

Similar to the Molten Core and Blackwing Lair the U.I. Add-On known as CT_Raid_Assist is extremely helpful with alerting you of skills used by bosses. Most raiding guilds will require all members to have it and luckily you can download it right here.

Nature Resistance

Everyone in the raid should have around 100 Nature Resistance with the tanks having well above 250. It's useful for several of the fights within AQ40 and even required to advance past some of the bosses.

Terminology

Main Tank – A Warrior who has the best gear and is best suited for tanking.
Off-Tank – One or more Warriors who will tank the boss whenever certain conditions are met, such as the main tank dieing, an enemy uses Wing Buffet, or something else.
DPS – Damage Per Second or basically damage.
Melee DPS – Rogues, feral Druids, and Warriors who are not tanking or off-tanking.
Trash – Any non-boss enemy.

Loot Drops

AQ40 works similar to the other 40 man raiding dungeons in that each boss will drop several purple quality items when killed. Other enemies (throughout the dungeon) have a very small chance when killed to drop something as well. AQ40 was the second dungeon to offer crafted armor items as well, along with crafted weapons. These can be obtained by the dragons inside the instance when you have sufficient reputation with them.

As you travel throughout the dungeon, be aware of the various green quality items that drop from the non-boss enemies. These need to be saved for those who need to craft items. When you first begin AQ40 you will be unable to craft anything, lacking both the reputation and the materials. As you advance further through the dungeon you’ll eventually get to the point where you will have more then enough materials for everyone.

Bug Mounts

The non-boss enemies at the start of the instance have a chance to drop “bug mounts”, or basically bugs that you can mount and ride at 100% increased speed. These only work within the AQ40 instance. The one that works outside of the instance was only attainable when the gate opening event occurred by the person who opened the gates.