Scepter of the Shifting Sands Questline – WoW Classic & Season of Discovery (SoD)

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As the gates of Ahn’Qiraj beckon, the Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline becomes available to players, featuring an epic journey that players must undertake to prepare for the horrors that await them. Scepter of the Shiftings Sands is an epic questline linked to The War Effort event, comprised of 32 quests, leading up to the opening of the gates of Ahn’Qiraj and awarding the prestigious and extremely hard-to-get Scarab Lord title and Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal mount!

The Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline requires either entire guilds or groups of players to complete a list of tasks that won’t be solo-able, leading to the Bang a Gong! and Treasure of the Timeless One quests which are the final part of the journey. The questline requires players to frantically farm reputation with the Brood of Nozdormu by collecting incredible amounts of bug parts from Silithus, face perilous threats in multiple raids, and fight against terrifying bosses in the open world.

The chain quest can be completed even long after the gates of Ahn’Qiraj open and the first Scarab Lord is crowned, but it won’t lead to the Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal reward anymore. In the original Vanilla WoW, the reward is available only to the first player who completes the Bang a Gong! quest and all players who subsequently deliver it within a 10-hour time frame after the first player on the realm completes it. However, in Season of Discovery, the Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal will be rewarded to all players who complete the quest between 1:00 pm PST on December 4 and 1:00 pm PST on December 6!

The Scepter of the Shifting Sands has 4 main stages, each having multiple quests! In this guide, we will list all quests according to their specific stage and offer in-depth explanations for each quest. In addition, the questline requires a hefty amount of materials that you should ideally acquire before starting this epic adventure!

Required Materials

First Stage: Discovering the Brood of Nozdormu and Grinding Reputation

The Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline begins with one seemingly normal Night Elf, Baristolth of the Shifting Sands! The first stage of the questline will revolve around discovering the Brood of Nozdormu and garnishing favor with them! This will be done by completing a tedious and infamous task: the great Silithus bug (Insects) farm!

First Stage Quest List:

What Tomorrow Brings

The Scepter of the Shifting Sands begins by picking up the What Tomorrow Brings quest from Baristolth of the Shifting Sands! The quest requires players to find the Caverns of Time in Tanaris and discover Anachronos. Upon accepting the quest, players will have their reputation with the Brood of Nozdormu set to Hated. Reaching Anachronos can be daunting due to the Elite Bronze Dragons that hover around the area which attack players on sight. During this stage, players only have to get close enough to Anachronos to trigger the completion of What Tomorrow Brings, without having to interact with him.

Once you encounter Anachronos, return to Baristolth of the Shifting Sands to turn in the quest.

Only One May Rise

The next quest at this stage is Only One May Rise, picked up from Baristolth of the Shifting Sands right after turning in What Tomorrow Brings. The quest requires you to venture into Blackwing Lair and loot the Head of the Broodlord Lashlayer from the third boss in the raid, Broodlord Lashlayer. The quest is pretty straightforward, as you simply have to complete the raid! The issue with the quest is that only one person can loot the Head of the Broodlord Lashlayer, meaning that you’ll have to get a dedicated group for it.

After you loot the Head of the Broodlord Lashlayer, return to Baristolth of the Shifting Sands to turn in the quest.

The Path of the Righteous

The Path of the Righteous quest is available after delivering the Only One May Rise quest. This quest is the beginning of a long and agonizing farm that awaits both you and everyone else who desires to complete this questline! The request requires you to acquire 200 x Silithid Carapace Fragment from any insect-like creature in Silithus. The Silithid Carapace Fragment is not Soulbound, meaning it can be traded between players, bought from the Auction House, or sent in between characters.

The Silithid Carapace Fragments can drop from any insect-like creature in Silithus, but there are 3 main spots known as Hives that are extremely contested by players, especially large guilds! Upon accepting the quest, you’ll be granted an Agent of Nozdormu badge that you must keep in your inventory to be able to loot Silithid Carapace Fragments.

silithus hives map locations
Silithus – Hive Map Locations

At this stage, the quest can only be completed solo, meaning you should ideally buy the 200 x Silithid Carapace Fragments to speed up the process! We specify the solo part because of the next part of this stage of the quest line, where you will face the horrific reality of the grind that awaits you, requiring a massive effort from many players to complete. Upon completing The Path of the Righteous, you will receive the Proxy of Nozdormu, a vital item for the grind that awaits you!

The Hand of the Righteous

Completing The Path of the Righteous allows you to pick up The Hand of the Righteous repeatable quest! This quest will represent a large chunk of the entire Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline, as players must reach Neutral with the Brood of Nozdormu. This can only be done by completing The Hand of the Righteous a ludicrous amount of times, with the quest having the same requirements as its predecessor, gathering 200 x Silithid Carapace Fragment.

This part of the Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline is what makes the chain quest infamous, as the process is long and arduous, involving an almost endless tide of players who wish to grab the glory of the Scarab Lord for themselves! The entire Silithus area becomes a mass war front for any PvP server and a diplomatic mess for any PvE server, as all top-performing guilds will desire to monopolize the hives.

Luckily, this is where the Proxy of Nozdormu comes in handy. The item will be received every time you complete The Hand of the Righteous quest. This allows you to assign multiple friends or guild members as your helpers, aiding you in gathering Silithid Carapace Fragments. Without the Agent of Nozdormu badge or the buff provided by Proxy of Nozdormu, players won’t be able to loot any Silithid Carapace Fragments.

This part of the quest line will take up the most time, as the rest is much simpler than the intense grind that represents this stage. You must repeatedly complete The Hand of the Righteous quest until your reputation turns from Hated to Neutral with the Brood of Nozdormu as there is no other way to increase your reputation with them.

Second Stage: Learning about The War of the Shifting Sands

After you finish the extensive grind for Silithid Carapace Fragments and reach Neutral with the Brood of Nozdormu, you may continue the Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline. The second stage is represented by a proper introduction to the past, and the events that led to the current situation. This stage is the quickest out of the entire quest line.

Second Stage Quest List:

Anachronos

After you become Neutral with the Brood of Nozdormu, visit Baristolth of the Shifting Sands again to pick up the Anachronos quest. The quest will send you to the Caverns of Time to talk to Anachronos. This time, players won’t have to fear the Elite Bronze Dragons or Anachronos himself, as the Neutral status turns the area into a safe spot.

Reaching Anachronos will finish the quest and open up the rest of the quest line.

Long Forgotten Memories

The Long Forgotten Memories quest can be picked up right after delivering the Anachronos quest. The quest requires you to head back to Silithus (I know, right?), to the very gates of Ahn’Qiraj, and interact with the Crystalline Tear at the 28.68, 89.14 coordinates. (Check Link for precise map visual representation). The Crystalline Tear is a red ruby lying on the ground that may be easily missed, so look carefully for it. Luckily, the big question mark above it should make it easy to spot.

crystalline tear gates of ahnqiraj
Crystalline Tear

Reaching the Crystalline Tear and interacting with it will complete the Long Forgotten Memories quest and open up A Pawn on the Eternal Board which can be directly picked from the Crystalline Tear.

A Pawn on the Eternal Board

The A Pawn on the Eternal Board starts an event that you must participate in right after starting the quest! The quest explains what happened in the past, specifically, the events that led to the sealing of Ahn’Qiraj. During the quest, you must stay close to the groups of NPCs! You may choose to aid them in killing the Qiraji and Anubite foes they are currently engaged in battle with, but it is not mandatory. Observing the event, you learn that Archdruid Fandral Staghelm helped the dragons seal Ahn’Qiraj but refused to carry the Scepter of the Shifting Sands to Darnassus, breaking it in the process and betraying the dragons.

Failing to stay alive during the event forces you to start it all over, meaning that you must abandon it from your quest log and retake the quest from the Crystalline Tear. Once the event is completed, you have to return to Anachronos and deliver the quest.

The Charge of the Dragonflights

Delivering A Pawn on the Eternal Board to Anachronos will allow you to pick up The Charge of the Dragonflights quest! The quest itself only requires you to listen to Anachronos, being available for completion right after you pick it up. Upon completion, Anachronos will have no follow-up quest, however, the details of The Charge of the Dragonflights hint at what players must do next.

Players must collect three of the four shards of the scepter that resulted from Staghelm’s betrayal! Anachronos hints that the shards were last held by Eranikus, Vaelastrasz, and Azuregos, former guardians who got corrupted by the Old Gods.

Third Stage: Mending the Broken Scepter

The third stage is the second-longest part of the chain quest, requiring you to collect 3 out of the 4 shards of the splintered scepter. One of the shards resides with Anachronos while the rest were last known to be held by Eranikus, Vaelastrasz, and Azuregos. Each shard is tied to a specific chain quest of its own! Unlike the previous parts of the Scepter of the Shifting Sands questline, the quest lines in this stage can be started in any order.

However, two quest lines intersect at one point, the Red Scepter Shard Questline and Blue Scepter Shard Questline. The Red Scepter Shard requires you to kill the final boss of Blackwing Lair while the Blue Scepter Shard requires you to loot an item found in the third boss’s room. You may choose to do those quests independently, depending on how fast the War Effort progresses, but it is recommended to attempt to complete both parts simultaneously.

We recommend you start with the Green Scepter Shard Questline, then proceed with the Blue Scepter Shard Questline up until the Draconic for Dummies quest and attempt to complete Nefarius’s Corruption and pick up chapter VII for The Only Prescription during the same Blackwing Lair raid reset.

Third Stage Quest List:

Green Scepter Shard Questline

Eranikus, Tyrant of the Dream

The first quest in the chain for the Green Scepter Shard is Eranikus, Tyrant of the Dream! In WoW Classic, this quest required players to venture into the Sunken Temple Dungeon and reach the final boss, Shade of Eranikus. Once the boss is approached, Malfurion Stormrage appears and offers the Eranikus, Tyrant of the Dream quest. In Season of Discovery, players have to get the quest from the raid version of Sunken Temple, meaning they need a larger group to get to the Shade of Eranikus.

Upon accepting the Eranikus, Tyrant of the Dream quest, Alliance and Horde players have to reach the Forest Wisp at the 37.55, 47.92 coordinates in Teldrassil. This part of the chain quest can be especially annoying for Horde players as they have to run through Darnassus to reach the Forest Wisp.

Tyrande and Remulos

Finding the Forest Wisp ends the Eranikus, Tyrant of the Dream quest and allows players to pick up the Tyrande and Remulos quest! This quest is extremely convenient for Druids as it requires players to travel to Moonglade and talk to Keeper Remulos. Players other than Druids have to either use the Flight Path or their mounts to reach Moonglade.

The Nightmare’s Corruption

After talking to Keeper Remulos, you can pick up The Nightmare’s Corruption. This part of the quest requires a strong raid group, as players must visit each of the Emerald Dream portals in Duskwood, The Hinterlands, Ashenvale, and Feralas and collect essences from strong dragons and dragonkin found around the portals.

It is yet unknown how this part of the questline will change in the Season of Discovery since the Nightmare Incursions effect will still be in effect! We will update this section of the guide once specific information becomes available.

Once you gather all four of the Nightmare’s Corruption fragments, return to Keeper Remulos to deliver The Nightmare’s Corruption quest!

The Nightmare Manifests

The Nightmare Manifests is the hardest part of the Green Scepter Shard Questline, requiring a full raid to deal with a particularly difficult boss. This quest is picked up from Keeper Remulos and starts an event immediately after being picked up. The event starts right after the quest is picked up, meaning players must be ready. The quest entails a defense scenario of Moonglade, featuring Keeper Remulos attempting a cleansing ritual on Eranikus, Tyrant of the Dream, awaiting Tyrande‘s arrival. During the ritual, Keeper Remulos will be heavily attacked while players must bring Eranikus, Tyrant of the Dream to 20% HP to start the cleansing ritual. Players must ensure their survival while also ensuring the demise of Nightmare Phantasms.

Upon successfully defending Nighthaven in Moonglade and completing the ritual upon Tyrande‘s arrival, players can turn in The Nightmare Manifests to Keeper Remulos to receive the Green Scepter Shard!

The Champion Returns

The Champion Returns quest is the last part of the Green Scepter Shard Questline! This quest can be picked up from Keeper Remulos and simply requires you to bring the Green Scepter Shard to Anachronos.

Red Scepter Shard Questline

Nefarius’s Corruption

The first and only quest in the Red Scepter Shard Questline is Nefarius’s Corruption! This quest can be picked up from Vaelastrasz the Corrupt inside the Blackwing Lair raid. Upon accepting Nefarius’s Corruption, players will be given precisely 5 hours after picking up the quest to kill Nefarian. Upon killing Nefarian, one player may loot the Red Scepter Shard. Failing to kill Nefarian within the 5 hours will block the players from the possibility of obtaining the Red Scepter Shard for 1 week while dropping From the Desk of Lord Victor Nefarius instead of the Red Scepter Shard.

As mentioned, we recommend you start this quest when you reach The Only Prescription part of the Blue Scepter Shard Questline. Alternatively, you may finish this quest independently if you believe you’ll have enough time to complete the entire questline by the time the War Effort ends.

Blue Scepter Shard Questline

Azuregos’s Magical Ledger

The Blue Scepter Shard Questline starts with the Azuregos’s Magical Ledger quest, which can be picked up from Azuregos. In WoW Classic, players can interact with Azuregos or the Spirit of Azuregos to pick up the quest. In Season of Discovery, Azuregos is an instanced World Boss, making it extremely easy for anyone to pick up the Azuregos’s Magical Ledger quest from him.

The quest simply requires you to venture to Tanaris, in the Steamwheedle Port, and find Narain Soothfancy!

Translating the Ledger

Upon reaching Narain Soothfancy and delivering the Azuregos’s Magical Ledger quest, you can pick up the Translating the Ledger quest. The quest is a simple introduction of tasks that await you, being delivered immediately after pick up to Narain Soothfancy.

After completion, Narain Soothfancy will offer 3 chain quests that can be picked up at the same time: Stewvul, Ex-B.F.F., Never Ask Me About My Business, and Draconic for Dummies. All 3 quests are independent and can be completed simultaneously.

Stewvul, Ex-B.F.F.

The Stewvul, Ex-B.F.F. is the first chain quest offered by Narain and requires you to head to Silverpine Forest and go near the Greymane Wall. You will find an Inconspicuous Crate that serves as the quest’s delivery point. The Inconspicuous Crate can be found close to the gate at the 46.19, 86.68 coordinates and be easily spotted as it has multiple holes in it.

Scrying Goggles? No Problem!

The Scrying Goggles? No Problem! starts from the Inconspicuous Crate and will task you with venturing into the Molten Core to recover Narain’s Scrying Goggles. The item can drop from any Trash Mob in the raid and from all bosses. It is currently unknown whether the new SoD Molten Core boss also drops this item.

We recommend completing this quest by farming Trash Mobs since you need to reserve a fast clear of Molten Core for The Only Prescription quest which comes in later. Alternatively, you may choose to do both quests at the same time and farm the Trash Mobs on another day after their respawn.

Never Ask Me About My Business

Never Ask Me About My Business is the second chain quest offered by Narain. This quest is extremely short and should be completed right after it’s picked up since it requires you to head to Gadgetzan and find Dirge Quikcleave inside the settlement’s inn.

The Isle of Dread!

After finding Dirge Quikcleave, you can pick up The Isle of Dread! quest. This quest requires a strong raid group since it requires players to venture to the Isle of Dread in Feralas and gather 20 x Chimaerok Tenderloin and Lakmaeran’s Carcass. The Chimaerok Tenderloin can be collected easily, however, Lakmaeran’s Carcass can prove difficult to acquire without a coordinated and geared group since the boss is quite difficult to kill.

Upon gaining both items, return to Dirge Quikcleave to complete the quest.

Dirge’s Kickin’ Chimaerok Chops

Dirge’s Kickin’ Chimaerok Chops can be picked up right after returning to Dirge Quikcleave. It requires 20 x Goblin Rocket Fuel and 20 x Deeprock Salt for completion. You may directly buy those items or craft the Goblin Rocket Fuel yourself before returning to Dirge Quikcleave.

Return to Narain

The Return to Narain quest is the final part of this chain quest and simply requires you to deliver the 500 Pound Chicken to Narain. Yes, we’ve been doing all this for a 500-pound chicken, hopefully, the pesky Gnome enjoys it.

Draconic for Dummies

Draconic for Dummies is the third chain quest offered by Narain, and the most tedious by far. This quest requires you to find the Freshly Dug Dirt on the hidden isles south of Tanaris. This can be difficult to achieve since the area between Tanaris and the isles causes death by Fatigue. This can be completed with a fast Mount and an Elixir of Waterwalking or shaman buff. It can also be achieved with the Water Treads or with the buff from the Love Song for Narain quest!

You should ideally set your Hearthstone to Gadgetzan before venturing to find the Freshly Dug Dirt!

rAnS0m

Upon finding the Freshly Dug Dirt on the hidden isles south of Tanaris, you can pick up the rAnS0m quest after delivering Draconic for Dummies. The quest simply gives you a Ransom Note after you pick up the quest, which you must return to Narain.

Decoy!

After returning to Narain and handing in rAnS0m, players can pick up Decoy!. The quest grants you a bag of supplies, Narain’s Special Kit, that you must use to disguise yourself as Narain, including a map pointing to a specific location in Winterspring. For this part of the quest, you should bring a full group, including a strong tank and healer since you’ll be facing a powerful boss.

Once in Winterspring, use the Bag of Gold from Narain’s Special Kit to spawn a boss named Number Two and kill it! After you slay the beast, return to Narain to complete the Decoy! quest.

The Only Prescription

Now here comes the truly annoying part, The Only Prescription quest. The quest is picked up from Narain after delivering Decoy! and requires you to gather 8 specific chapters of the Draconic for Dummies book from across the world to mend Azuregos‘s ledger and create Draconic For Dummies: Volume II.

List of Pages (Locations)

Once you collect all the chapters, you need to use the Magical Book Binding provided by Narain to complete the Draconic For Dummies: Volume II!

The Good News and The Bad News

After you finish all 3 chain quests, you will be in for quite a huge surprise, The Good News and The Bad News! This quest is given by Narain right after completing Draconic For Dummies: Volume II and requires you to spend a hefty amount of gold to complete. Luckily, we mentioned at the start of the article that you should have prepared the following materials:

After acquiring all the materials and emptying your pockets, you may now deliver the quest to Narain to complete it! Doing so unlocks the final and most daunting task, The Wrath of Neptulon!

The Wrath of Neptulon

The Wrath of Neptulon is the final quest offered by Narain and requires you to gather a mighty group of allies to hunt down Maws. Narain will hand you an Arcanite Buoy that you’ll have to use in The Bay of Storms, Azshara, to lure out Maws. The boss fight is quite tough, so best to ensure to bring out an entire raid group.

Upon killing Maws, players can loot the Blue Scepter Shard and head over to Anachronos to finish this chain quest!

Fourth Stage: Opening the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj and Claiming Scarab Lord

Upon collecting all of the three missing shards, Green Scepter Shard, Red Scepter Shard, and Blue Scepter Shard, you’ll be able to get your hands on the Scepter of the Shifting Sands! However, the War Effort must be completed before any player can gain the Scepter of the Shifting Sands. After the War Effort ends, players have the chance to acquire the Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal mount and Scarab Lord title!

In WoW Classic, whenever the War Effort ends, players may visit Anachronos to get The Might of Kalimdor quest and get their hands on the Scepter of the Shifting Sands! Afterward, players may go to the Scarab Gong and start the Bang a Gong! quest to initiate a 10-hour server-wide countdown and receive the Scarab Lord title and the Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal mount. During the 10-hour time frame, players holding a Scepter of the Shifting Sands may go and complete the Bang a Gong! quest! After 10 hours, the quest becomes unavailable for any player on the specific realm where the quest was completed.

In Season of Discovery, the developers announced that any player holding a Scepter of the Shifting Sands between 1:00 pm PST on December 4 and 1:00 pm PST on December 6 may gain the Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal mount, offering much more leeway for players to become a Scarab Lord!

Fourth Stage Quest List:

The Might of Kalimdor

At the end of the War Effort, players who obtained the Green Scepter Shard, Red Scepter Shard, and Blue Scepter Shard can visit Anachronos to pick up The Might of Kalimdor quest and receive their Scepter of the Shifting Sands!

Bang a Gong!

Bang a Gong! is the infamous quest sought after by all who desire to become a Scarab Lord! The quest is picked up from the Scarab Gong itself and rewards the Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal mount to all players who acquire a Scepter of the Shifting Sands. As mentioned above, on WoW Classic, this can only be done after the War Effort ends and within 10 hours after the first Bang a Gong! was triggered. In Season of Discovery, players can complete the quest and receive rewards between 1:00 pm PST on December 4 and 1:00 pm PST on December 6.

Treasure of the Timeless One

The Treasure of the Timeless One quest is available only to those who became Scarab Lords! This quest is picked up from the same location as the Scarab Gong from Jonathan the Revelator. The quest offers a few epic rewards to players who complete this epic journey!

Rewards:

Hopefully, this article showcases all the information you need to claim the Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal Mount and become a Scarab Lord! Let us know in the comment section below if we missed anything or if you believe valuable information can be added to the guide!

 

About the Author

Nevermore

Hey there folks, I am Nevermore and have been deeply passionate about WoW for more than a decade. Whether we talk about the hidden mysteries of Azeroth or the otherworldly Outland, my journey brought me here to share the things that I have experienced with you all.
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