Farming: Sunwell Plateau
On the Isle of Quel’Danas is a raid instance called Sunwell Plateau. The raid was released back in The Burning Crusade (TBC), and due to the Recipes, Gems (Crimson Spinel), and Transmog on offer, it still has a lot of appeal to many players.
The main benefit is the trash mobs scattered around the beginning of the raid. With the ability to mount up and travel through the instance, collecting all the mobs and quickly AoE them down means each trash run can be very efficient; if done correctly.
If you’re following this guide, you mustn’t pull any bosses. Failure to adhere to this, and kill any of the bosses, will incur a raid lockout.
How to get to Sunwell Plateau?
Take a portal to Shattrath City, and within the Terrace of Light, find the portal to the Isle of Quel’Danas, situated at coordinates, [48.41]. To access this portal, make sure you’re not mounted; otherwise, you’ll be prevented from successfully using the portal until you dismount!
Once you’ve arrived on the Isle of Quel’Danas, travel the short distance to coordinates [44.45], Sunwell Plateau, you have reached your destination!
The Aim of the Game!
As mentioned above, we’re merely here to farm the trash mobs, ignoring all the bosses. Due to the layout of the instance, we’re prevented from going any further than the first boss, Kalecgos.
Our aim is to loot Crimson Spinels. Why? you ask! Well since the release of the Mage Tower, I’ve sold 330 different cuts of Crimson Spinel, totaling 781k gold. That’s approximately 2.3k gold per Crimson Spinel.
Once you’ve defeated all the trash mobs, exit the instance and reset the raid. Rinse and repeat until you’ve burned yourself out or collected the items you’re farming.
Comfortable Rider’s Barding:
If you want to decrease the chance of being dazed or dismounted, consider opting for the mount equipment: Comfortable Rider’s Barding. It would help if you were level 10 or above, and given this blog post is regarding Farming: Sunwell Plateau, I’d imagine you easily meet this requirement.
This piece of equipment does not work on a Sky Golem!
Points of Interest:
I’ve illustrated the points of interest in the image provided. Please find below the necessary information to help with your trash farm.
- 1: Entrance/Exit.
- 2: The first area (inc. Sunblade Protector patrol).
- 3: The second area.
- 4: The third area.
- 5: Stairway.
- 6: Pack of mobs.
- 7: Sunblade protector patrol (in front of Kalecgos).
- 8: The last pack of mobs.
- Purple ring/line/arrow: Sunblade Protector.
- Yellow Route: Suggested route.
- Red Circles: Packs of mobs.
The Beginning!
Once you’ve entered the raid, head straight to the first area (2), highlighted in the image above; you will find a Sunblade Protector patrolling around a tree and two packs of mobs (highlighted by two red rings) situated under two arches. To begin your pull, get close enough to attract them, and they will chase you.
Make your way through the next courtyard (3), pulling all the mobs on your left and right-hand side. Be sure to activate any deactivated Sunblabe Protectors on the sides (highlighted by a purple arrow). If you’re here to collect Crimson Spinel’s, these Sunblade Protector’s have an excellent chance to drop them.
Be warned that these mobs have an increased chance to dismount you if you haven’t equipped the Comfortable Rider’s Barding. If you get dismounted, use a pillar or a corner to line of sight (LoS) the mobs and kill them all. Be careful of any stragglers, as you will not be able to mount up again until all the mobs you’ve pulled are dead.
Make your way through the next courtyard (4) and continue to pull the mobs and Sunblade Protector’s until you reach a set of stairs (5). Feel free to stack up the mobs here and kill them all if you haven’t done so already. Line of sight is essential because the NPC’s are ranged casters; hiding behind pillars will force them to come within melee distance.
The Stairway!
From hereon, we take the stairs (5); there are only a couple more packs and patrols left (6). Again, if you pull the mobs and get dismounted, use the pillar to LoS the mobs, and kill them all, and mount up once more.
Make your way around the outskirts following the path outlined above, and you’ll find another Sunblade Protector patrolling in front of Kalecgos (7). Careful not to pull the boss. Once you’ve pulled the Sunblade Protector, head back down to the final pack of mobs (8), LoS behind a pillar, and kill all the enemies you’ve collected.
If you have the Comfortable Rider’s Barding equipped, you can run this entire path without getting dismounted from the start (1) to finish (8)!
Youtube Clip:
Here’s a brief clip outlining the route, and how I collect and AOE the mobs. If you found the clip helpful, be sure to like and subscribe for future content.
Exiting the Instance:
There are two methods here.
Option one, run back to the entrance, exit, and (using the script below) reset all instances. Rinse and repeat!
Option Two, alternatively, if you have a class portal Deathknight (Death Gate), Druid (Dreamwalk), or Monk (Transcendence), use your class portal to leave the instance. Once you’re out of the instance, hit the portal once more to return to the nearest graveyard. Once back (using the script below), reset all instances.
The class portals are normally beneficial in instances where you can’t mount up, and exit quickly (i.e. Uldaman)
Resetting all Instances:
Here’s an excellent script for resetting all instances. Copy and paste this into the chatbox, then press enter, and voila! alternatively, create a macro and add it to your action bar, for an instant reset all instances one-click macro.
/script ResetInstances();
Check out this blog post for more information regarding the script.
Instance Limits:
Please be aware that there’s an instance limit of ten instances per one-hour period. As these trash runs can easily take a couple of minutes to complete, you’ll quickly hit this limit. I tend to log an alt and do something else while the cap resets.
Currently, my alt is sitting within/nearby Black Temple. This way, I have the best of both worlds, farming different locations. Importantly, this prevents farming from becoming tedious.
Mounts:
I’d also recommend having a mount that has a vendor/repair on it. Having a vendor at your disposal will make clearing your bags very efficient. Otherwise, if you don’t have one, there is a vendor Smith Hauthaa situated close by at the harbor, coordinates [50.40].
Mounts of interest:
- Mighty Caravan Brutosaur (BFA) (BMAH)
- The Grand Expedition Yak (MoP)
- Traveler’s Tundra Mammoth (WotLK)
Conclusion:
Crimson Spinel’s are a gem of great interest with the scaling benefits from the World Event: Timewalking. Sunwell Plateau and the Black Temple have excellent trash packs, meaning it’s easy to farm these gems.
With the ability to mount up within Sunwell Plateau and the improved drop chance of gems from Sunblade Protector’s, I’d suggest running Sunwell Plateau over Black Temple!
Feedback:
Any feedback is greatly received; please use the comment section below. If you need to contact me, use the contact me method. If you found this post helpful and believe it could be of use to someone else, please consider liking and sharing.
