Desolace is a great place to go in the low 30's. Most of the mobs in the zone are 30-35 and not too difficult. I went there as a 32 Rouge to get a bit more experience before tackling the level 34 Stranglethorn quests. In my experience you level quickest when you're taking on baddies that are either right at your level or 1 level higher. Since I only did the level 30-35 quests this guide is limited to the lower level parts of Desolace. Also, this place is great for a rogue as there are a lot of quests involving killing humanoids and demons so you get to pickpocket a lot.

0. Before you go you should:
- Go to Ironforge and see Roetten Stonehammer in the Hall of Explorers to get the Reclaimers' Business in Desolace quest.
- Either have an Engineer friend make you an Advanced Target Dummy or buy one in the AH.
- Check the miscellaneous notes at the bottom.

1. Go to Nijel's Point:
To get to Desolace head to Kalmador and go south to and through the Stonetalon mountains and the Charred Vale. As you run south in Desolace, from Stonetalon, you will soon see a road sign pointing east to Nijel's Point. Head east a bit then north up the hill to Nijel's Point. Pick up the Griffon route and make your home at the inn.

2. Reclaimers' #2:
Talk to Kreldig to complete the Reclaimers' quest and get the next one. Kreldig also gives another, level 39 quest but I didn't do that one. Head out of Nijel's and then east and almost immediately you'll come to Sargeron and the Hatefury Saytr's. They're mostly 32-33 and spread out enough so you don't have to worry much about adds. Collect your claws and horns then go back to Kreldig turn in and get the next quest in the series.

3. Reclaimers' #3 first part:
Back to Kreldig, turn in and get next one that has you collecting Scorpashi Venom and Aged Kodo hides. The best place for Scorpashi I found was just south of Sargeron. Most of the Scorpashi here are level 30-31 and seem to drop one venom for every 5 to 7 kills so you'll need to kill about 50-70 of them to complete that part. If you came to the zone at 30 this might actually be a good thing to do right away otherwise you can try to pick up as many of these as you can in your travels on the other quests.

The Aged Kodos can be found in the Kodo Graveyard which you'll pass on your way to the Gelkin Centaurs latter. It's just south of the center of the zone. I got 3 hides off 3 Aged Kodos. Watch out for the 36-37 Carrion Horrors though.

4. Burning Blades and Thunder Axe Fortress:
Get Vahlarriel's Search quest from Vahlarriel Demonslayer. Head out of Nijel's and head west-southwest. You'll find a couple of destroyed wagons just north of Thunder Axe Fortress. Open the crate there, retrieve the necklace and return to Vahlarriel to get the next part of Vahlarriel's Search. For this part you'll need to go into Thunder Axe Fortress. First though, head to Ethel Rethor and find Azore Aldamort on the north side of the tower and get the Scepter of Light quest.

Now head back east to Thunder Axe Fortress. The Burning Blades here are 30-33 and not too hard if you can keep it to one or two at a time. Having a partner is probably a good idea though. Go inside the gate and up to the top of the tower to the left of the gate. There's a level 33 Seer and a 31 Augt inside. Kill them and get the Scepter of Light off the Seer.

Now go back into the building that was straight ahead as you entered the gate. The first NPC you need to find here, Dalinda Malem, is in the center of this building. Talk to her and then head to the other building to find Tyranis, also in the middle. Tyranis is hostile, you'll need to kill him and take his pendant. Go back and talk to Dalinda now. She'll give you a quest to escort her out of the fortress. This is where a friend can come in handy unless you've cleared the way first. Lead her out and down the hill until you get the complete. Take the blade back to Azore. He'll give you a quest you can take or not that involves killing a level 38 naga if you're up to it or planning to stay in Desolace that long. Now go back to Vahlarriel to finish it all up.

5. Centaur Faction and Ears:
Next you'll want to tackle the Centaur quests. Talk to corporal Melkins in Nijel's and get the Centaur Bounty quest. Next talk to Captain Pentigast and get the Brutal Politics quest and ignore the Strange Alliance quest. The two Pentigast quests involve getting friendly faction with one of the Centaur tribes by killing the other so you can't really do both. It probably doesn't matter which one you pick though. Brutal Politics requires you to kill the Gelkin Centaurs near the southwest corner of the zone. Don't forget to keep your eye out for scorpashi for the Reclaimers' quest as you're running there. Also, you may want to stop off on the way and get the Kodo Bone quest; see Miscellaneous Note 3 below. You can pick these up at the Kodo Graveyard after you've collected the Aged Kodo hides.

The Gelkin are mostly 32-34 with a few 35-36. Since they are neutral to you when you start it's pretty easy to avoid aggroing more than one at a time. They will run when they get low on health and you may find yourself with an add if you chase them. I didn't count the number I had to kill to get the friendly faction with the Magram Centaur but I'd guess it was 40-50. At the time I went Magram friendly I'd guess I was one kill away from becoming Gelkin hated so I quit as soon as I did. Avoiding their hate will be useful later. In the process of getting this faction you should also have collected your 15 ears for the Centaur Bounty quest but, if you haven't, you'll have an opportunity later with a different centaur tribe.

6. More Centaurs:
After getting your Magram friendly faction head over to the Magram camp in the southeast and talk to Warug who is a little outside the main camp on the north end and up the hill a little. He'll give you a quest to kill Kolkar Centaurs who are found north of the Magram. At this point you can dive into the Kolkar or go back to Nijel's turn in your ears and repair.

Head to the Kolkar camp and get your kills. The ones you'll need are mostly near the road. Go back to Warug to turn in and get the next quest, Broken Tears. This is where it can be useful if you were able to keep your Gelkin faction from moving into hated. Head back to the Gelkin village, over the bridge and into the cave. Hack the large crystals and collect 3 broken tears. This doesn't seem to bother the Gelkins nearby if you're not hated. Back to Magram to turn in. You'll now get Gizmo for Warug quest. Give him the Advanced Target Dummy you brought with you to complete it. At this point he will offer you a level 37 quest. Take it if you're sticking around.

7. Finish Reclaimers' #3:
If you haven't gotten your quota of scorpashi venom or Kodo hides, do it now and go back to Nijel's to turn in.


This was the point I was up to 34 and most of the remaing quests here were brown or red to me. I left Desolace and went back to Stranglethorn Vale. I may come back for another break from Stranglethorn when I'm 37 though to do the rest of this zone though.



Miscellaneous Notes:

1. Watch out for the occasional 39 Elite giants roaming this zone. They're not hard to spot. There's also a 62 Elite Horde NPC wandering the roads.

2. The Kodo Roundup quest at Scrabblescrew's Camp seems to be broken as of this writing.

3. Kormek (/tloc 62,39 if you have Cosmos) gives a level 39 quest to collect Kodo bones at the Kodo graveyard that I did at 34. About half the time a hostile level 37-38 Kodo Apparition pops when you collect a bone though. I collected and ran from them. If you fight there's a good chance you'll pull a 37 buzzard in too. Good thing I did the Aged Kodo hides first.

4. Just west of Kormek's hut you'll sometimes find a small caravan; check out the Vendor Tron 1000 there for a good selection of trade items and recipes. Cork Gizelton, the caravan leader, supposedly gives the Bodyguard for Hire quest. I never managed to catch it though.

4. Horniz Brimbuzzle at the southwest corner of the Kodo Graveyard (tloc 48,62) gives another level 39 quest.