Castle Nathria is the first raid in the new expansion World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. Raids are the pinnacle of PvE and require good preparation. MeinMMO gives you five helpful tips to ensure your successful start.
What is Castle Nathria? The first raid of Shadowlands is set in the gloomy area of Revendreth. Those who have already completed the story will know exactly why we confront Count Denathrius and his minions.
A total of ten bosses await you in the raid and reward you with some of the best loot currently available in the game. After major changes in past expansions, there are tokens here that multiple classes will be vying for, which can be exchanged for powerful weapons at your respective covenant.
When does Castle Nathria release? The raid opens its doors on December 9, along with the first season for Mythic+ and the Arena. From then on, we will also finally have player numbers for the DPS ranking of Shadowlands and can tell you exactly how strong each class is.
To ensure you are ideally prepared, we give you five tips before you head to Revendreth and Castle Nathria.
1. Prepare for the bosses
What should I prepare? Many of the bosses come with unique mechanics that can quickly lead to the end of the fight if you don’t play them correctly. You should avoid this at all costs – after all, if that happens, there’s no loot.
To prevent yourself from getting caught off-guard and struggling with abilities you don’t fully understand, you should at least have a general idea of what the bosses’ abilities are and how to deal with them in your role.
Discuss within the group who will take on which roles. Death Knights or Hunters can disrupt mechanics or make them significantly easier with their special abilities.
Where can I find guides? There are many experts who have made a name for themselves over the years with guides. We recommend:
- Hazelnuttygames on YouTube (English)
- FatbossTV on YouTube (English)
- wowhead, if you prefer text guides
Additionally, you can always find a good summary of the most important abilities in the Adventure Guide. While you won’t get precise descriptions and tips on how to best handle them there, you will at least know what to expect.
Should I spoil myself? If you want to be surprised by the bosses, that’s definitely an option. As long as your entire group agrees to discover how a boss works on their own, it can also be a lot of fun. Otherwise, at least one person should know the bosses and be ready to briefly explain them to the group.
2. Stock up on consumables
What are consumables? Every raid requires the right preparation with food (“buff food”), potions, and flasks. You should have plenty available while in Castle Nathria.
While they aren’t strictly necessary, they can help prevent those infamous “1%-wipes” and generally make it a bit easier for you to get through the raid.
In addition, Shadowlands again provides many more opportunities to squeeze out a few more percentages from your character. The expanded professions system delivers even more items for you to prepare with.
What consumables are available? Each class and specialization has different items that can enhance your performance. Generally, you should stock up on the following:
- Buff food or feast meals from the chef
- Sharpening and weight stones from the blacksmith for melee classes
- Weapon oils from the alchemist
- Flasks and potions from the alchemist
- Drums from the leatherworker, in case you are missing classes like shamans or mages
- possibly Vantus runes, although the recipe is only obtainable within the raid
You can find an overview of all important recipes and the new crafting in our extensive professions guide for Shadowlands on MeinMMO.
3. Craft your first Legendary
What are Legendaries? With Shadowlands, legendary items make a return as a feature, similar to their existence in Legion. These powerful items enhance your abilities and can significantly increase your damage.
They are the strongest equipment in the game and can be crafted in Shadowlands as long as you have completed the necessary quests beforehand. In our guide, we explain how to craft legendary items in Shadowlands.
Which Legendary do I need? Depending on the class, you need different legendary effects that can be obtained from various locations. There is no effect that is universally the “best” for all classes.
In our list, you can find the best Legendary for each class. That can help you decide what to craft. These represent the mathematically best options – but if they don’t fit your playstyle, you might perform better with an alternative. You can find all legendary effects for your class in the Adventure Guide.
Should I craft that now? Not necessarily. If the preparation and coordination with the group are right, you probably won’t need a Legendary in the first week, especially since some of the best effects are only found in Nathria.
Moreover, it may happen that the effects will be adjusted again. For some classes and players, it may be worth waiting a week before crafting a stronger Legendary.
4. Upgrade your gear
How should I gear up? In general, it’s wise to equip yourself with the best gear you can currently obtain. This means you should complete all dungeons, world quests, and other activities where there’s still loot for you.
Once you find something that will serve you for a while, you should also make use of gems and enchantments. They don’t even have to be the “most expensive and best” ones.
Many enchantments and stones can be acquired quite cheaply from players who are leveling their professions. That’s still better than nothing and should suffice for your initial gear. However, when you have your first raid weapon, it should have something decent on it.
Where can I find better gear? The best gear before the raid can be obtained in Mythic dungeons, which you can complete once per week. If you are unlucky and get nothing, you can still rely on other sources. There are:
- Mythic dungeons with item level 184
- Heroic dungeons with item level 171
- PvP gear that starts at level 155 and can be upgraded to 171 with honor – even higher starting December 9
- Rare world loot with item level 190
- World quest rewards with various levels
If you don’t enjoy PvP, heroic dungeons provide the chance to patch up your major weaknesses a bit. Since the first hotfix of Shadowlands, there is no daily lockout on heroic dungeons. You can farm as much as you want.
5. Update your addons
How to manage your addons: Addons can make your gameplay easier. They aren’t necessary but are extremely useful, and some raid leaders require certain addons in progress raiding.
With an addon manager, you can easily download and install new addons or remove those you no longer need to avoid errors and conflicts. A useful manager is WoWUp, which allows you to manage addons easily.
Which addons do I need? For a raid like Castle Nathria, so-called “boss mod addons” like Deadly Boss Mods (DBM) or BigWigs are highly recommended. Additionally, UI addons like WeakAuras can make the game easier for you.
Which of these modifications suit you best, you will have to find out for yourself. Many can be tailored to personal preferences. In our list of the 9 best addons for Shadowlands, you will find some tips for getting started.
Bonus: Check your specialization and talents
Some classes have specializations and talents for raids that are better suited than what they usually play in dungeons and solo content. This can even vary from boss to boss. Check if this applies to you and adjust your build accordingly.
This also applies to your soulbinds at your respective covenant. Different conduits can be better in raid settings and can be easily swapped in your sanctum. Ideally, bring along a few tomes or codices of balanced mind to quickly switch talents in the raid.
Since this is not relevant for all classes, this tip is just a bonus.
The Ultimate Compendium for WoW: Shadowlands
148 pages of guides for newcomers and returnees, including an XXL poster. Everything you need to know about dungeons, the new covenants, Torghast, and the classes is practical at hand.
With Nathria and the first season, Shadowlands will have its first major content update just two weeks after release, which many players are already looking forward to. This finally begins the actual endgame of WoW.
Especially for newcomers, it can be a great experience to see a raid for the first time with a larger group. In the MeinMMO podcast, editor Leya Jankowski, WoW expert Benedict Grothaus, and GameStar community manager Marilyn Marx discuss whether it’s worth starting WoW after 16 years.
