Serpentshrine Cavern Attunement Guide
The Tier 5 raid Serpentshrine Cavern, or simply SSC, is one of the most iconic raids in the history of World of Warcraft. There, you face off against the Coilfang Matron Lady Vashj, one of Illidan's two lieutenants in Outland. Further, it is the second raid in TBCC requiring an attunement. This process is fairly easy once you have the Tier 4 raids on farm. It takes place in Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, and the Heroic version of The Slave Pens dungeon. Read on if you want to learn about the attunement process for SSC.
Requirements for Getting Attuned to Serpentshrine Cavern
With the most recent change to The Burning Crusade Classic you are no longer required to become attuned to Serpentshrine Cavern to enter the instance, but completing the quest line that was formerly required will grant you the unique title "Hand of A'dal". Listed below is our in-depth guide on the quest chain and how to complete it.
In order to complete the Serpentshrine Cavern attunement
questline, the following attunement quests for Karazhan and Heroic
The Slave Pens must be completed. You can find the Karazhan
attunement walkthrough on the Karazhan Attunement
page. In order to enter the Heroic Slave Pens, you have to be at least
Revered with the Cenarion Expedition
to buy the Reservoir Key.
As one part of this quest requires you to kill Nightbane, one player of your Karazhan group needs to be able to summon him. Our Karazhan Quests guide contains the questline required to summon this boss.
The Quest for Serpentshrine Cavern
- [70R] The Cudgel of Kar'desh
Going Into the Slave Pens
Skar'this the Heretic is a Naga captured inside the Heroic version of The Slave Pens. He can be found on the middle position of the three areas marked q on the map below. You need to defeat Mennu the Betrayer in order to get to this quest NPC. Feel free to consult our full Guide to The Slave Pens if you need more information about it.

After accepting the quest, Skar'this the Heretic wants you to retrieve
the Earthen Signet from Gruul the Dragonkiller and the
Blazing Signet from Nightbane.
Defeating Gruul and Nightbane
The two quest items needed are simply quest drops. You only need to kill the bosses and loot them, but make sure to have bag space! Our Gruul's Lair and Karazhan guides may help you with this goal.
Return to the Slave Pens
After defeating both Gruul the Dragonkiller and Nightbane, you need to return to Skar'this the Heretic in the Heroic Slave Pens and turn in the quest. Skar'this will then cast a blessing on you that allows you to enter SSC permanently.
Congratulations! You are now attuned to the Serpentshrine Cavern. If you want to know what bosses and loot await you within, consult our main guide on it below.
Changelog
- 15 Dec. 2021: Updated to reflect attunement now being optional.
- 31 Aug. 2021: Guide added.
This guide has been written by Sellin, a former top 10 US raider and current season and several time Gladiator, long time WoW Player and passionate about all things Warcraft and Theorycrafting. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him on Twitch.
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