Shadowlands, the latest expansion for World of Warcraft, has been live for a few days now. Right from the start, there are eight new dungeons for players to explore. MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus has checked them all out and now shares his personal conclusion.
As a prelude: I find all the new dungeons from Shadowlands really well designed. Only two of them annoy me a bit: The Other Side and The Bloodied Depths, which is mainly due to some bugs that have made the mechanics unplayable.
After I quickly leveled up to level 60 – although not exactly in three hours – I visited all the dungeons. Three of them particularly stood out in my memory.
If you start looking at the new content of Shadowlands this weekend or later, you should definitely pay a little more attention to my Top 3 and take a look. It’s worth it!
Rank 3: Halls of Atonement
What kind of dungeon is this? The Halls of Atonement are located in the east of Revendreth and are one of the two instances of the Venthyr. They are the place where Anima is extracted from the torment of souls and possibly even the place where you can see Garrosh in the “Afterlife” cinematic of Revendreth.
After you complete the Revendreth campaign, you will find the Steward as the final boss in this dungeon. He has settled there after driving out the Accuser in order to collect Anima for his own plans.
What makes the Halls so special? Primarily, I’m captivated by the aesthetics of this dungeon. The Victorian Gothic style of Revendreth is already something I really like, and the dark atmosphere only enhances that.
In the Halls of Atonement, this is even more pronounced. The dungeon begins in a spacious courtyard in front of a creepy church, which is flooded with blood-red light coming through tinted glass.
Inside, there are hundreds of candles, dark walls, creepy altars, entire chapels, jagged door arches, and windows adorned in a vampiric style. Some of my characters will join the Venthyr just for the reward armor, which is why the aesthetics of the Halls managed to elevate the dungeon to third place.
Nice altar for a bloody mass. 
Gothic towers are just awesome! 
A whole chapel in the dungeon. 
Bloody boss fight in a dark red. 
The final boss stands on a nice balcony with statues. 
The view and background fit great too. 
Even the courtyard has something special. 
I want these windows in my apartment!
Rank 2: The Mists of Tirna Scithe
What kind of dungeon is this? The Mists of Tirna Scithe are located in the west of Ardenweald and belong to the Night Fae. In fact, they are an impenetrable veil in which souls can get lost forever. However, since the Anima drought, something has been going terribly wrong here.
Many beings of the forest are trying to claim the remaining power of the mists, and even the Drust, a people of dark sorcerers and druids known from Battle for Azeroth, are causing havoc here.
Interestingly, the Mists of Tirna Scithe is the only dungeon in Shadowlands with only three bosses. All others have four – except for the Theater of Pain.
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What makes it so special? The Mists tell an interesting, small story and link back to the old addon BFA. For a story lover like me, it’s nice to think about what the Drust are doing in Ardenweald and in this dungeon. Will we even see Gorak Tul again?
What makes the instance really good is a single mechanic: the Mist Labyrinth. After the first boss, you have to fight your way through several mist walls and select the correct one from several options. If you fail, the entire group has to start over.
To solve this, players should communicate, because a single mistake can set the whole group back. Various patterns must be recognized, which later also become important during the boss.
Already in the beta, the Mists were my favorite dungeon and I knew back then that you would hate it. However, the mechanics seem to have been slightly toned down, or it simply becomes easier with enough practice to discover the right patterns, which is why it only ranks second.
Rank 1: Theater of Pain
What kind of dungeon is this? Right in the center of Maldraxxus stands the Theater of Pain, one of the instances of the Necrolords and one of the dungeons that you can only enter when you reach level 60.
The Necrolords are known for appreciating strength, and they eliminate weakness through combat. The Theater of Pain is just such a place where you must prove that you are indeed the best fighters of the Shadowlands.
With five bosses, the Theater of Pain is the largest dungeon in Shadowlands regarding fights. After all, you must prove that you are really, really the best of the best!
What makes the Theater so special? Even though the aesthetics and story of the dungeon are already pretty cool, it’s the mechanics within that made me place the Theater of Pain on the throne.
Particularly, two bosses stood out in my memory: Gorechop and Xav the Unstoppable. Gorechop is a monstrosity you must face in the basement and fights with hooks like its relatives in Azeroth.
However, he doesn’t pull you towards him as usual with his hooks; instead, he lets them hang from the ceiling like curtains in the quite small room and combs through them. Those who get hit are pushed to the edge and into the harmful soup. This adds enormous dynamism to the fight.
Xav is even cooler. The fight actually only takes place on a small platform. However, Xav sends two players into the fighting pit below him once he has 100 energy. There, they must fight, which brings additional mechanics:
- every second “Glorious Combat” stacks, increasing taken damage by 3%
- the winner receives “Glorified” and deals 10% more damage for 20 seconds
- the loser receives “Bloody Beaten” and deals 10% less damage for 20 seconds
- if there is no winner after 45 seconds, both players receive the “Cowardice” debuff and deal 10% less damage for 20 seconds
- after the fight, both players return to the battle with full health
Anyone aiming for performance may sacrifice a player so that the stronger can kill the boss faster. But damn, it’s so much fun to beat each other during a boss fight! I’ve rarely had so much fun in a dungeon.
By the way, I have only seen the dungeons in heroic mode so far, as I am still waiting for stragglers in my group for the mythic instances. Other crazies have already completed all mythic achievements in that time.
It is possible that the mechanics in mythic mode or in Mythic+ will change again, but they remain cool anyway. I think: Wow has done a lot right here.
If you want to hear an assessment of Shadowlands in general, listen to our podcast on MeinMMO. I discuss there with editor and WoW newbie Leya Jankowski and GameStar community manager Marylin Marx about the different features of the new expansion and whether it’s still worth starting in WoW after 16 years. You can find the podcast here with us, on Spotify and iTunes.
