WoWApr 16, 2019 4:32 pm CT

These Crucible of the Storms guides will help you tackle the game’s newest raid

It’s all been leading up to this. The Naga have been stirring up trouble on the coast. You discovered (or re-discovered) an ancient artifact. You made friends with an Old God. And now you’re heading into the Crucible of Storms to fight N’Zoth’s allies.

Or if you’ve made friends with N’Zoth, maybe you’d like to sit this one out. But whatever your allegiance, the Crucible of Storms raid is now open in Normal and Heroic modes, with Mythic and LFR to follow next week, on April 23.

What is the Crucible of Storms?

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, we should take a step back. Crucible essentially continues the Stormsong Valley story, you know that something very bad has happened to the Tidesages. Spoiler alert for those of you who haven’t played the zone or the Shrine of the Storms dungeon: they’ve fallen under the influence of the Naga and their Old God masters.

But Shrine of Storms wasn’t the end of the story, and now we’re headed into a raid to fight off the real source of the problem: not the Tidesages, but N’Zoth. There’s a great in-game quest chain that tells the story leading up to the raid (featuring my new best friend Xal’atath), and if you want to play through it yourself, look for the World Quest Naga Attack. While you’re murdering Naga, you’ll pick up the quest Orders from Azshara. Completing the chain will lead you right to the raid’s doorstep, but if you don’t have the time or interest, you can safely assume that Old Gods did it. Which is actually a pretty safe assumption for just about anything in World of Warcraft.

How hard is Crucible of Storms?

This short raid features just two encounters, but they won’t be easy. Expect difficulty on par with the last bosses of Dazar’alor, which, in my very humble opinion means pretty hard.

What ilevel do I need to join LFR Crucible of Storms?

When LFR is released on April 23, players will need to be ilevel 350 to zone in. That’s exactly the same as Dazar’alor, so if you’ve been enjoying the current tier of LFR, you’ll be able to enjoy the new tier of LFR.

Where is the Crucible of Storms?

You’ll find Crucible of Storms on the island to the east of Stormsong Valley, in the middle of a bunch of giant creepy Old God tentacles. The closest flight path is Mildenhall Meadery for the Alliance or Ironmaul Overlook for the Horde.

What’s the strategy for the Restless Cabal?

Restless Cabal is the first encounter in Crucible of Storms, and it features a pair of unfriendlies for you to handle: Fa’thuul the Feared and Zaxasj the Speaker. It’s an interesting encounter where you need to juggle — and counter — the bosses’ use of three unique relics around the room, all of which are really bad for your health.

Use these guides to get the encounter down:

Wowhead’s guide, which includes a detailed rundown of different difficulties
Icy Veins’ guide, a very detailed point-by-point walkthrough
Questionably Epic’s guide, a one-page minimalist guide with illustrations on positioning
TankNotes’ guide, which covers the raid specifically for tanks
And for visual learners, a video guide from Fatboss:

What’s the strategy for Uu’nat?

If you’ve been looking forward to fighting a creepy void-touched Naga, this fight’s for you. Uu’nat is the second and final boss in Crucible of Storms, and it’s an interesting twist on the first encounter. This time you get to use the relics from the first fight to power you up… but they come with some downsides that you’ll have to manage.

Use these guides to get the encounter down:

Wowhead’s guide, which includes a detailed rundown of different difficulties
Icy Veins’ guide, a very thorough point-by-point walkthrough
Questionably Epic’s guide, a one-page minimalist guide with illustrations on positioning
TankNotes’ guide, which covers the raid specifically for tanks
And for visual learners, a video guide from Fatboss:

What kind of loot do I get?

Both encounters drop gear that’s slightly better than Dazar’alor gear. The Restless Cabal gear drops are 375 in LFR, 390 in Normal, 405 in Heroic, and 420 in Mythic. Uu’nat gear drops are 380 in LFR, 395 in Normal, 410 in Heroic, and 425 in Mythic. Upgrades for everyone!

The loot features a lot of equip effects, all of them with interesting on-equip effects. While the item level is only slightly higher than Dazar’alor, the gear options are definitely interesting. Check out the complete list here before you zone in.