The Temple of Atal'Hakkar (also referred to as the Sunken Temple and abbreviated ST) was built by the prophet Jammal'an and his faithful followers, the Atal'ai trolls, to summon Hakkar the Soulflayer into Azeroth, gaining immortality for all Atal'ai trolls. The Green Dragonflight, led by Ysera, discovered the plans of the prophet and sunk the temple into the depths of the Swamp of Sorrows. They guard the site to this day, even though it was later discovered that Hakkar can only be summoned inside Zul'Gurub.

In addition to the promise of immortality to the Atal'ai trolls, Hakkar also gave them great and dark powers such as necromancy. As a result the inside of the temple is still guarded by both living and undead trolls.

Instance Information

With the release of the Burning Crusade, many other instances in Azeroth are run less frequently. However Sunken Temple remains a relatively popular instance to run if only because the Level 50 quests given to all classes require a trip to the Temple for various objectives. The Temple is split into to two main sections and many of the objectives in the temple have other pre-requisites within the Temple that must be completed first.

Group Composition

This instance can be difficult to do at level as there are many different aspects to it. It can be run by any standard 5-man make-up (1 tank, 3 DPS and a healer) but some classes bring things to the table that can be very helpful.

• Druid - having a druid in the party to hibernate dragonkin on some of the larger mixed elite/non-elite dragonkin pulls is extremely useful.
• Mage/Warlock - The ability to AoE some of the non-elite groups can make things go quicker provided the healer or some other party member has the ability to keep the AoE person alive.
• Mage/Priest - The ability to crowd control humanoids or undead can be extremely useful in some areas.
• Paladin - With a tankadin, especially one that's level 50 with Avenger's Shield, and a healer who can keep up with the damage, you can simply pull everything as a group. This allows the paladin to maximize their damage output using Consecration and Holy Shield while leaving CC classes free to all-out dps.

None of these are absolutely critical to the group but can make certain segments easier.

Instance Areas

Basement (Optional)

The Basement is an optional section of the instance in terms of not being a pre-requisite to the rest of the run. However, Druids and Horde Paladins will need to complete this section to complete their Level 50 quest chain.

The basement itself is a giant, multi-level ring. To get there, when you enter the instance, go forward to the right (don't take the path heading directly right) and go down the stairs. Down here you will encounter worms and maggots. While the maggots will not aggro you they will pitch in to help the worms when the worms aggro (and they typically go for the healer). This is one of those areas where some AoE can be helpful. Alternatively, you can just pull the maggots first and then attack the worms.

As you circle around this level, if you see the Altar to the center of the circle you'll want to interact with that to complete the quest Into the Depths. The altar is at the north end of the circle.

What you're looking for down here are stairways leading up to platforms with serpent statues on them (there are 6). It's possible to skirt some of the mobs to do this but sometimes this can be more trouble than it's worth. The most efficient way to complete this section is usually to clear then entire areas as quickly as possible and then spread the group out with each party member going to one of the platforms. It should be no problem to split up like this as everything has been cleared.

Once everyone is at their platform (someone will have to move to a different platform after their activation as there are 5 of you and 6 platforms) you need to activate the statues in a specific order. That order is:

• South
• North
• Southwest
• Southeast
• Northwest
• Northeast

Once all have been activated, the mini-boss Atal'alarion will spawn in the pool below.

Once all of the statues have been activated you'll want to regroup at the North platform. From here, hop down to the lower level, minding the pats that run below there. You will take falling damage so you don't want to be at half health and aggroing mobs. Heal yourselves up. Now you have two choices. Atal'alarion can be pulled solo when he is near the stairs, alternatively you can wait until he is far from the worms and try to pull them first.

Once Atal'alarion is down, looting him will complete the Druid and Horde Paladin Level 50 quests.

Make your way up the steps to the north out of the water and then up the stairs behind that. This should bring you back to the beginning of the instance.

The Six Protectors

This section is a pre-requisite for killing Jammal'an and, by extension, Shade of Eranikus^[1]. It also will complete the following classes' Level 50 quests: Shaman, Warrior, Warlock and Alliance Paladin. The Six Protectors, in no particular order, are: Hukku, Mijan, Zul'Lor, Gasher, Loro, and Zolo.

When you enter the instance, facing forward, you want to take the path forward and to the right (do not take the path directly to the right, you want the one that you're facing). As you reach the top of the stairs you may feel like you've been here before. The layout of this section and level is almost identical to the basement serpent statue level. Except the mobs guarding the level are different and the platforms overlooking the center of the circle contain the trolls that you need to kill instead of harmless snake statues.

For this quest it doesn't matter what order you kill the trolls in, and if you feel like skirting mobs on this level that's perfectly fine. Make your way around the circle clearing the way and moving down the paths that lead to the trolls in the center of the circle. Most of them are pretty easy to take out, though many do have abilities or pets that you need to look out for (some spawn slime blobs or skeletons that will need to be dealt with, for instance). Looting these trolls will give the feathers needed for the above refeneced class quests.

After killing the last troll, the force field around the prophet Jamal'an will vanish and you will be able to kill him. Head back down to the entrance of the instance and, as you're facing the instance portal, take the path that heads straight to the right (remember this is as you're facing the instance portal not as you're facing forward into the instance.)

Jammal'an the Prophet

As previously mentioned, this guy needs to be killed in order to kill the Shade of Eranikus and, if you got here and he's blocked off by a forcefield you need to go back to the previous section and kill the trolls.

Before you get to the Prophet, you will encounter groups of dragonkin. Usually it's 1-2 elites with a mess of whelpings around them that are non-elite. The elite's can be hibernated by a druid, just make sure that if you're going to AoE the whelplings you keep the AoE away from the hibernated dragonkin. When you get to a circular room full of dragonkin, Jammal'an's room is down a passage on the southeast side, clear your way there.

Note that you must clear all of the trolls from this room before attacking Jammal'an or they will rush to his aid. The trolls are a mix of living and undead though mostly undead. This is where a priest with shacle can come in handy. Also, they will fear. You really need to pull your groups very far back to avoid aggroing the whole room when they do. Because you will. And it's bad. You also want to be aware that, on death, some will spawn a spirit that hits extremely hard on cloth and is invulnerable to damage or taunt. It will target a random player and go after them. The good news is that they move pretty slowly and are easily avoided. They also only last for about 10-15 seconds. (remember this mechanism, you'll see it again in another section here).

Once the room is cleared and the spirits dissipated you can take on Jammal'an the Prophet and his pal Ogom the Wretched. After defeating Jammal'an, two things will happen: Two dragons will spawn in the large circular room you passed through to reach him, and the Shade of Eranikus will be attackable.

Morphaz and Hazzas and Eranikus Oh My!

Killing and looting Morphaz will complete the following classes' Level 50 quest lines: Hunter, Priest, Rogue, and Mage.

When you get back to the circular room full of dragonkin you should be able to pull the two new dragons flying about solo from the doorway. Do this. Once they are dead, you will absolutely need to clear this room and all corridors leading to it of all dragonkin and whelplings if you're going to fight Eranikus. If you don't you will be swarmed with angry green scales the minute you attack him and you will wipe. Be diligent and patient here, check the room and check the corridors.

Once the room is cleared of all dragonkin and whelplings, head down the passage directly to the South. You'll come to a big rectangular room with the two dragons, Morphaz and Hazzas.

Unlike the two dragons in the circular room, these two are linked so you will need to fight them both at the same time.

After you've cleared the entire area of dragons, dragonkin and whelplings you are ready to take on Shade of Eranikus. This can be a difficult fight as he hits pretty hard and has some annoying special abilities. See the mob page for details.

After he is taken out you will receive a trinket. Right click on the trinket to accept the quest and then go to the corner of the room to the brazier there and click on the brazier. This will complete the quest and you can keep the trinket. Even if you don't want to use it, hang on to the trinket anyway as it's part of a different quest chain that you may want to complete.

Avatar of Hakkar

This is a complicated and scripted encounter, for details see the page on Avatar of Hakkar. Note that to do the encounter, one member of your group will need to have the Ancient Egg.

Subzones of Temple of Atal'Hakkar

Notes

1. ^ The Shade of Eranikus cannot be targeted unless Jamal'an has been killed

World of Warcraft Wikibase™