Torghast, the Tower of the Damned, is one of the new features in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. For MeinMMO author Benedict Grothaus, it was already one of the biggest pros before its release. With its latest update, it has become even better – although the new mode offers no rewards.
What is Torghast? Historically, the tower is the prison of the Jailer, where the worst denizens of World of Warcraft are imprisoned. In Shadowlands, it becomes one of the new core features.
Since the beginning of the story of Shadowlands, important characters like Jaina Proudmoore, Thrall, Baine Bloodhoof, and Anduin Wrynn have been imprisoned here and are meant to be freed. Players must defeat increasingly difficult enemies through different wings of the tower.
The gameplay is a so-called “roguelike”. You play your character, but you become stronger throughout your run with special abilities (“Anima Powers”). This allows for completely crazy builds and enormous damage numbers that do not work outside of Torghast. If you die too often or your run ends, the powers are gone again.
As a reward for Torghast, among other things, you can earn Soul Ash, which you need to craft the Legendaries of Shadowlands. Since January 6, 2021, the Tormented Corridors have been open, which for me is the mode that actually makes Torghast so good.
The new wing: The Tormented Corridors
What are these corridors? The Tormented Corridors are a new wing in Torghast that, unlike the others, is always open. They represent something like the “Challenge Mode” of Torghast, similar to the Mage Tower back in Legion.
Among other things, they serve to advance the story of Shadowlands with interesting cinematics and, above all, to provide engagement for interested players.
How do they work? The corridors differ from the other wings in Torghast by several characteristics:
- you enter three sets of six layers from various other wings – totaling 18 layers
- every 6th layer contains a boss
- there are no real rewards – except for a pet, a title, a special mount for the Maw, as well as the achievement of having completed it
Like the other wings, the Tormented Corridors come in eight difficulty levels, which must be unlocked gradually. However, they take significantly longer – and that is what makes them better.
The Tormented Corridors make Torghast even better
Here’s why they are so good: So far, the only thing that bothered me about Torghast was the end. Whenever enough Anima Powers had gathered to really go for it, the final boss would appear.
Here you can read on MeinMMO about the problems other players have with Torghast:
In the Tormented Corridors, I don’t have this problem of rapid power loss. After the first boss, I still have two more – with the same powers. And they keep getting more and stronger. This provides an excellent sense of power that is impossible elsewhere.
Even though I am someone who mainly hunts for the next upgrade in WoW, I mainly have one thing in Torghast: fun. So much fun that I keep returning to the Tormented Corridors, even without a reward for doing so.
Even a defeat, which especially at higher levels makes me grind my teeth, does not demotivate me. I just sign up again and try again, this time without the mistake that cost me the victory.
And what does this bring? The Tormented Corridors have a nice side effect. I am learning my class much better there than I could anywhere else.
I usually run most of my runs solo, so I don’t hinder anyone during my learning process. At a certain level, I have to start thinking and planning well in the corridors about how to proceed. Simply running through and whacking usually leads to defeat.
My first run ended around level 17 – the guardian at the end killed me every time with a ladle, without me being able to do anything about it.
During the second attempt, right after that, I started working with my cooldowns shortly before and thought carefully about how to kill the next mob group or whether I could perhaps bypass them altogether.
At the moment, I am mainly playing my Death Knight. In the future, when I have a bit more time, I see myself exploring other classes in Torghast as well – to learn and master them.
Of course, the corridors take longer than other wings. But precisely for that reason, I prefer being there.
Torghast is getting even better
Anyone looking at the calendar in the game will discover a new event starting Tuesday, January 12: “Torghast: Beasts of Prodigum.” The event runs until Monday, January 18.
Beasts of Prodigum is the first of the Torghast events that we can expect in Shadowlands in the future. In this event, Torghast will change slightly. At the beginning of a run, you should have a choice of three different Anima Powers that summon a companion for you:
- Command Chain summons Horgul, a tank
- Essence Lure summoning Valioc, who deals AoE damage and silences enemies
- Wailing Pendant summons Nal’tari, who enhances your abilities
In addition, new Anima Powers will strengthen these beasts (via wowhead). These special beasts of the Jailer are meant to ensure that variety comes to Torghast and that the content remains interesting.
Additionally, in the coming weeks, the story around Sylvanas Windrunner and Anduin Wrynn will certainly continue to develop. There are already signs of a direction – and you have already hinted that you would like to see Sylvanas as a heroine in WoW.
