Retribution Paladins soloing Magister’s Terrace. Why? Gold? You bet! Gear? Probably not. Fun items? Absolutely. Achievements? Only if you haven’t gotten them yet. Reputation? For me, oh yeah. Magister’s Terrace is one of the harder Burning Crusade dungeons to solo as a Ret Paladin. Wait, did I say hard…hah!
The normal mode is very easy. The heroic 5-man of Magister’s Terrace can prove a bit tricky, but it is very, very easy to solo as a Ret Paladin once you go through it a time or two.
I will cover 3 things here:
- Gold Making
- Fun Items to Grab
- Strategy
Gold Making
You may find it hard to believe, but I ran Magister’s Terrace nomral mode and came up with about 524 gold per hour. Seriously. From start to finish, it took me 14 minutes. That gives me 4 runs in an hour. That was hauling ass and pulling multiple packs at a time, however. I didn’t stall at all.
For One Run:
- 38g coinage
- 17g vendor trash
- 22g boss drops
- 14g from Netherweave drops (2 stacks, made 2 Netherweave Bags @ 7g each)
- 40g enchanting mats (6 green drops, 20 Arcane Dust, 2 Greater Planar Essence)
The total for one run came to 131g. That gives me a whopping 524g in one hour if I ran them all back to back. Not too shabby. With Cataclysm around the corner, the economy will start to see downward trends, and gold making methods will start to crack and crumble as people start dumping their goods. Running BC 5-mans, including the heroic versions, will still provide a sound method of gold making when the AH market and other gold making strategies spiral downward.
Fun Items From Magister’s Terrace
Personally, I found there were several fun items to go for in Magister’s Terrace. As a Retribution Paladin, I often find myself standing around waiting for or in groups with some extra downtime, so giving me some new toys is always welcome!
Here are the items to shoot for in Magister’s Terrace!
- [Phoenix Hatchling] – Kael’thas Sunstrider (Normal & Heroic)
- [Sun Touched Satchel] – Zone Drop (Normal & Heroic)
- [Orb of the Sin'dorei] – Any Boss Drop (Heroic)
- [Swift White Hawkstrider] – Kael’thas Sunstrider (Heroic)
So far, I have everything but the Hawkstrider. Still on my list of mounts to get. The Orb of Sin-dorei is probably my favorite, because switching to a Blood Elf is just cool as hell. It has a 5 minute duration, and a cooldown of 30 minutes. It is NOT a trinket, so it does not need to be equipped!
The 20-slot bag is unique, so unfortunately you can only grab one. These drop at least once or twice every run for me, so getting one shouldn’t be hard. The Phoenix hatchling dropped on my 3rd run overall, so that was any easy loot as well.
Magister’s Terrace Strategy
For normal runs, I’ll make this easy. Pull no more than two packs at a time. Even though these guys are squishy, they can still pack a punch. They have an assortment of DoTs that can be shockingly effective if you don’t remove them quickly.
Each boss on normal mode can be brought down just tank n’ spank. On Sunstrider, burn him down as quickly as possible before he launches you into air swim mode. Avoid the orbs and hit him with anything you can as you make passes by him. DOn’t worry about his pet, it won’t inflict any real damage on you.
Buffs for Normal
- Retribution Aura
- Seal of Command
- Blessing of Might
Heroic Mode
Magister’s Terrace on Heroic mode is deceptively more difficult if you try to solo it the very first time. Here are my general tips and buffs:
- Retribution Aura
- Seal of Light
- Judgement of Light
- Blessing of Kings
- Selin Fireheart can be burned down tank n’ spank style with Seal of Command or Seal of Light. He shouldn’t inflict any serious damage.
- Vexallus needs to be burned down FAST. Burn Avenging Wrath and nuke him with Seal of Command or Seal of Righteousness. Your damage increases with his debuffs he puts on you, so he should go down fast. Do not try to kite him or outlast him, the damage may be more than you can take. This was my hardest fight, as I was trying to rely on SoL and JoL to keep me up. Just nuke him. Plain and simple.
- Priestess Delrissa and her cohorts can be AoE’d without any fear of taking too much damage. Any seal will do.
- Kael’thas Sunstrider can be taken down with any seal really, but I leave up SoL just to be safe. Avoid the orbs and make damaging passes on him when orbs are far enough away.
As far as the trash packs go, I only pull one at a time. Their damage output is significant enough to warrant caution, so try to keep from pulling too many. I take the Sunblade Blood Knights out first, then the Warlocks, with the Physicians right after. Everything else is fair game.
I’ve actually found this 5-man quite enjoyable, despite running it over and over for rep. I’m not quite to exalted yet, but I am closing in. WHenever I finish, I still may consider this as a viable gold making dungeon when time comes to start farming these babies closer to Cataclysm!
If there is anything I didn’t cover, please feel free to comment below! Helpful hints and tips are always welcome!
EDIT 2/26/10:
Got my mount! I think it was 4 or 5 runs on heroic. Lucky drop!
Your gear looks to be of high level in the photos, what is the minimum level of gear for this place? In your opinion.
I’m guessing prot will be a safe option what do you think minimum level requirements would be for that?
I have done it a few time.
You should have an ilevel about 226.
Yesterday i’ve got the Hawk, after only 82 Kael’thas kills.
(according to the statistic)
I saw this guide and decided to give it ago. I hadn’t gotten the chance to run this in TBC so thought it’d be cool to go back and kill Kael on 5man. As luck would have it, I got the heroic achievement and the achievement for the hawkstrider on the same run. 1 kill, 1 mount. Talk about dumb luck. I think I’m going to leave it like that just for fun.
Aysa-Duskwood
Don’t forget the ez gold from Magtheridon (as long as you have 1 good healer and 1 other high dps who can interrupt heals.) 500g split between 3 people for 15ish min. of work.
@ Aysa – Grats on the mount! I got mine yesterday too, I think on my 5th Heroic run of the place…maybe 4th. Kind of lost track.
In regards to gear requirements…I would say gear level 219-226-ish should make it relatively easy. It’s do-able below that for sure, just have to manage heals much more closely.
I’m officially in the ‘Magister’s club’. I’ve done it a couple times now, but no mount as of yet.
A couple observations i’ve had are: Eat Dragonfin filets,Use a Stoneblood pot,Glyph for SoC and run that, while keeping up Divine plea and alternating between JoL and JoW. This is assuming 2 pc T10,
you shouldnt have to do a lot of healing during fights, and mana holds up pretty well.Judicious us of repentance is also helpful.
One more thing, you can fight all the bosses this way, just pick your targets wisely on the 4th Boss/bosses. I forget here name and on Kal’Thas you can just wait out the orbs when they pop, and finish him off when they disappear.
Anyway, I think you have a Great site here Khor! Keep up the good work and sharing your awesome insight.
Semper Fi,
Fant
Thanks Fant, glad you like it! Here’s to hoping you can get your mount soon!
Got mount first try! Thanx for the guide and hope you put up more!
Awesome Thor! Congrats!
Well, i spotted this wonderfull site of yours today and well went try it
. Easy on normal but cant get it quite yet on HC was hopping you could hepl me out here… Maybe it’s my talente tree or something. Can you show the one you use Khor? Main problem is 2nd boss, can do everything till there so from normal experience i’d say it would go fine after him too but something’s missing there :S Tnx in advance mate and let me tell you GREAT site and work you have here. GZ!
Hey Arth, the second boss is a pain, and I took all the careful approaches with little success. The key to knocking this guy out in heroic is to light him up from the very beginning. Pop Avenging Wrath, and trinkets you have, and just pour on the DPS! I used Seal of Command here, but if you are in T9 or less, you may wanna try Seal of Righteousness. He goes down pretty fast, just be real aggressive!
i personally use seal of command all the way, no need for seal of light or seal of wisdom. the mobs go down so fast, and just throw a few FoL, combined with sacred shield. i barely take any damage.
Sounds like a good plan. Ive done it with all the other BC dungeons so far and some are more worthwhile then others, but with the mount drop on HC mode makes it more worthwhile. Shame my Mount collector is my fury warr and not my Ret Pally really. I guess this is also a viable way of boosting a lvl 70 friend as well should the need arise. Will give it a try when i get home from work tonight.
Going ok with the normal runs. Should be noted that the items you listed at the top only drop in HC mode afaik. Also a word of caution to anyone else who may want to try this, DOnt get too carried away if you are only in T9 gear like myself, Stick to one group at a time, Its not hugely dangerous going for 2 at a time, but there is no point risking death and having to run all the way back into the instance, and have repair bills
I’m not sure how you guys are doing it, but I can’t kill the Priestess and her minions. The shaman purges me, the rogue stuns me, and the warrior disarms me. Then, I’m dead.
@ Parcek – Is this normal or Heroic? If heroic, it is tougher obviously, so you may have to switch some things up. Make sure Sacred Shield is active. Switch from Seal of Command to Seal of Light. Judge Light. When Art of War procs, forget Exorcism. Use Flash of Light. Divine Storm every single chance you get for additional heals.
Thanks Khor. Yeah it was heroic. I ended up switching to Prot Spec to do it. I tried about 4 times as ret. I just kept taking too much damage to even do any thing as ret. Prot spec was a walk in the park.
I used to go there to farm. Have everything but the mount and it is indeed a good gold maker, but it not to be taken lightly.
Not to get off-topic but a 5man BC instance that takes a little strategy that’s fantastic for farming, in regards to just vendoring literally almost everything is Sethekk Halls. The size and layout of it make it quick to run, loot and that sort of thing. But if you pull more than one pack of mobs, say 2-3 packs you’ll find out sooner than later that strategy is needed. But it’s a great place for ret pallies to go make money.
Thanks for the website, I love it.
Nice guide man, thanks. BTW, as anyone tried Seal of Vengeance instead of SoC or SoR on the second boss?
I hit up Magister’s Terrace last night for the first time and I smashed all the way through Vexallus. This is super fun!! Now I have just a couple of questions (noob questions
).
-How the heck do I get to the next boss Priestess Delrissa? I smashed through Vexallus and then went to the outside area and spoke to this dragon that turned into a night elf but that was it. I was lost!!
I guess that is my only question lol. This run was fun for the portion that I did. Now I want to finish it so I can get my mounts
… HELP!!
By the way my Ret is REWOP on The Venture Co server. And Khor keep up the amazing work. I am on this site everyday getting feedback and help from you and other amazing Pally’s. It is much appreciated.
This is about impossible on Heroic, hands down. I’m in all 245-251 gear, seal of insight (tried EVERY seal at some point), kings (tried might too), and everything else, and I’m getting blown up everytime I move. We can’t heal through Divine Storm since it required holy power now, and we can’t really heal ourselves through Fol since Art doesn’t proc it anymore.
This isn’t impossible, but I don’t see how the hell you guys go through this without dying.