Wards of the Dread Citadel

Wards of the Dread Citadel is a dungeon & raid achievement earned by empowering the Argent Dawn Commission to unlock secrets within Naxxramas. Players must have already unlocked access to original Scholomance via the Memory of Scholomance achievement in order to progress on this achievement.

• 1) Unlock access to the original Scholomance.
• 2) If not already in possession of a pre- completed Argent Dawn Commission or its upgrades, enter original Scholomance and head to the Great Ossuary with Rattlegore. Find a Cracked Argent Dawn Commission atop the first pile on the left and repair it with a Righteous Orb and 4x Truesilver Bar.
• 3) Equip the trinket, head back to the original Scholomance, then kill Darkmaster Gandling to loot Darkmaster's Scourgestone and complete Darkmaster's Scourgestone (quest). The quest can be turned in to three NPCs across Lordaeron, but Duke Nicholas Zverenhoff at Light's Hope Chapel is the closest to the next objective. This unlocks Invader's Scourgestone collection.
• 4) Enter Stratholme Main Gate, then clear a path northwest toward Crusaders' Square with the Argent Dawn Commission equipped. Do not cross the Festival Lane gate into the eastern side of Stratholme. On the way, find and kill an Eye of Naxxramas, then loot the Ward of Naxxramas from its corpse. The shade spawns with a yell: yell
• 5) Loot a Stratholme Holy Water from any Stratholme Supply Crate, then head to Crusaders' Square and turn south toward the southern gate.
• 6) Use the Ward to gain a two-minute Truesight buff. A portal with a Scourge crystal in it appears at immediately in front of the gate. Throw the holy water into it, which alerts the Hand of Naxxramas: yell This starts a five-minute timer, tracked by a debuff:.
• 7) Quickly run east through the Festival Lane at and open the gate to the Service side.
• 8) Speedrun the Stratholme Service Entrance side but without stopping to loot anything:
• 9) Defeat the three bosses in front of ziggurats in the Gauntlet at, , and kill all the Thuzadin Acolytes within them to destroy the the Ash'ari Crystals
• 10) Kill all nine abominations around in the Slaughter Square
• 11) Defeat Ramstein the Gorger at when it runs out from the Slaughter House
• 12) Kill all the Mindless Undead that stream out from the southern path at . It may be necessary to run east toward the gate at to trigger them
• 13) Kill the Black Guard Sentries at to gain entry to Rivendare's room in the Slaughter House
• 14) Kill Aurius Rivendare at
• 15) Exit the slaughterhouse, run south toward the tunnel with the portal barred with a portcullis, then use the To Dust extra action button that appears at :

If done correctly, the following message appears:

• emote

Exit the dungeon and find Archmage Angela Dosantos at at the entrance to Tyr's Hand (or at Light's Hope Chapel) and speak with her:

Depending on the player's standing with the Argent Dawn, one of three quests becomes available:

• The Dread Citadel - Naxxramas (Honored) (honored)
• The Dread Citadel - Naxxramas (Revered) (revered)
• The Dread Citadel - Naxxramas (Exalted) (exalted)

If not at least honored with the Argent Dawn, do the Eastern Plaguelands storyline with Fiona's Caravan through Argent Call: The Trial of the Crypt to quickly gain standing with the faction.

Completing any of the three quests awards the Wards of the Dread Citadel achievement. This unlocks the Revealed Portal to Naxxramas at in the Plaguewood that teleports the player to Naxxramas, but now with new secrets. Unlike the Memory of Scholomance, this is not a separate instance but a permanent modification to Naxxramas; these secrets are also present when entering Naxxramas at above the Carrion Fields in the Dragonblight.

Additionally, as players zone into appropriate instances, they will gain the Empowered Argent Dawn Commission buff, allowing them to loot scourgestones without having to equip the trinket:

Trash mobs in Naxxramas will drop Wartorn Scrap, bosses will drop a Corruptor's Scourgestone, and Frozen Rune objects can be found all over the raid.

Although the secret to unlocking special access to Naxxramas is done, the hunt for more secrets continues. The key item and NPC for obtaining new rewards and achievements are the Makeshift Grappling Hook and Zackett Skullsmash (Inconvenience Fee). Notable secrets and rewards are Reins of Valiance, various Tier 3 and Frost Resist recipes, as well as achievements Putting Wilhelm Out of Business (Omarion's Second Handbook) and Never Bothered, Anyway.

These non-bound recipes are randomly contained in the Slime-Covered Scroll: