The Battle For The Undercity

Quest Giver: Broll Bearmantle — Undercity Sewers entrance, Tirisfal Glades

Objective: Assist King Varian Wrynn and Lady Jaina Proudmoore in bringing Grand Apothecary Putress to justice! Report to King Varian Wrynn should you succeed.

Quick Facts

• Location: Tirisfal Glades (staging area) → Undercity Sewers → Apothecarium → Royal Quarter
• Rewards: 41,500 XP (49,800 with heirloom bonuses), +500 Stormwind reputation, +500 Valiance Expedition reputation, Medallion of Heroism (trinket), plus choice of one of six rare-quality leg pieces
• Estimated Time: 20-30 minutes (plus a 5-minute pre-event wait)
• Chain Position: 5 of 5 in the post-Wrathgate chain (Reborn From The Ashes → Fate, Up Against Your Will → A Royal Coup → The Killing Time → The Battle For The Undercity)
• Horde Equivalent: The Battle For The Undercity (completely different event featuring Thrall and Sylvanas against Varimathras)

Walkthrough

Phase 1: Staging Area (5-minute wait)

After turning in The Killing Time to Broll Bearmantle, accept this quest from him. King Varian Wrynn and Lady Jaina Proudmoore are standing at the staging area outside the Undercity Sewers entrance, surrounded by Stormwind Elites, Alliance Siege Vehicles, and Alliance Flying Machines.

Speak to King Varian Wrynn to begin. Select the dialogue option: “Reporting for duty, your majesty! Let the assault begin!”

There is then a mandatory 5-minute countdown before the event starts. Varian delivers rally cries at intervals:

• 5 minutes: Calls heroes to gather at the sewer entrance
• 3 minutes: Announces the march is coming soon
• 2 minutes: “The hour of our redemption is close at hand!”
• 0 minutes: “The march upon the Undercity begins now! Be empowered by your King’s strength!”

Use this time to repair, organize your bags, and read the rest of this guide. Do not run into the sewers early, as elite mobs inside will kill you without the buffs.

Phase 2: Buffs

When the event begins, Varian casts Strength of Wrynn on all nearby allies:

• Increases maximum HP by 30,000
• Heals approximately 10,000 HP whenever you take damage
• Massively increases damage dealt (Shadow Word: Pain can tick for 4,500, Mind Flay critting for 8,500, and overall DPS reaching 5,000-20,000+ depending on class and level)

Jaina casts Improved Brilliance Aura:

• Massively increases mana, rage, and runic power regeneration (effectively infinite resources)
• Increases movement speed

These buffs only apply while you are within range of Varian and Jaina. If you wander too far or die and run back, you lose them and will be killed almost instantly by the elite mobs. This is the single most important mechanic of the entire event.

Phase 3: The Sewers

The group descends into the Undercity sewers. At the bottom of the tunnel, waves of undead and abominations attack. Varian calls out: “What is this? Stand your ground! Do not give them an inch!”

After several waves, Putress sends the Engorged Blight Worm (approximately 5 million HP). This is the most dangerous enemy in the event for the player:

• The worm can swallow players, pulling them into its pit and dealing heavy damage
• It has an AoE aura that ticks for substantial damage
• It can hit for 30,000 damage in a single ability, potentially one-shotting undergeared characters even with the HP buff
• Let Varian tank. Stay behind the worm and contribute damage. If you die, run back and wait for the worm to die before accepting your resurrection to avoid being killed again immediately.

After the worm dies, Varian rallies the troops: “Your aberrations are no match for the Alliance, Putress! We’re coming for you!”

Phase 4: The Canals and Apothecarium Approach

The group enters the main Undercity canals. Jaina notices corpses everywhere, and Varian identifies them as Horde forces. This is significant: the Horde is fighting their own simultaneous battle through the city. You will find the corpse of Khanok the Impassable, a massive demon the Horde killed on their route.

The group fights through Treacherous Guardians (Forsaken rebels) and Perfidious Dreadlords (Burning Legion demons) to reach the Apothecarium.

Phase 5: Grand Apothecary Putress

Putress is found in the Apothecarium. The fight has two phases:

1. Add Phase: Putress summons massive numbers of Failed Experiments (small ooze adds). These hit for 300-330 damage each on cloth but are individually weak. AoE classes shine here. The sheer volume creates walls of scrolling combat text that can obscure your view.
2. Boss Phase: Putress enters the fight himself at approximately 7.4 million HP. His melee hits deal over a million damage to cloth, so let Varian tank him exclusively. Putress also:
   • Throws blight barrels that leave green pools on the ground, dealing approximately 10,000 damage per tick. Move out of these immediately.
   • Has a knockback ability that launches you approximately 20 yards backward.
   • Continues summoning Failed Experiments during the fight, though at a slower rate.
   • Says “The power washes through me! I see… EVERYTHING!” before his final push.

Despite the buffs, deaths are common here. If you die, run back. The fight is long enough that you will have time to rejoin.

Phase 6: The Discovery

After Putress dies, Varian delivers a powerful speech. He loots Putress’s corpse and then forces you to look at what the Forsaken have done: dozens of mutilated and defiled human corpses used as plague test subjects. Varian is horrified that the city he knew as a child has been turned into a charnel house.

This moment is what pushes him from “seeking justice for Bolvar” to “the Horde must be destroyed.”

Phase 7: The Royal Quarter Confrontation

Varian hears Thrall’s victory cry echoing from the Royal Quarter (Thrall yells in Orcish that the Undercity belongs to the Horde once more).

Varian declares: “THRALL! HERE?”

Follow the King immediately. Varian moves fast. If you lose him, you may not be able to find the Royal Quarter on your own, and the event can reset, forcing you to start over entirely. 

Note that Jaina stays behind at the Apothecarium, saying: “Varian, stop! I won’t help you do this!” Do NOT stay with Jaina. She does nothing further. Follow Varian.

In the Royal Quarter, Thrall and Sylvanas Windrunner are waiting. They have already defeated Varimathras and reclaimed the throne room. Varian confronts them:

“I was away for too long. My absence cost us the lives of some of our greatest heroes. Trash like you and this evil witch were allowed to roam free, unchecked.”

“I’ve waited a long time for this, Thrall. For every time I was thrown into one of your damned arenas… for every time I killed a green-skinned aberration like you… I could think of only one thing.”

“What our world could be without you and your twisted Horde… It ends now, Warchief.”

“ATTACK! FOR STORMWIND! FOR BOLVAR! FOR THE ALLIANCE!”

The fight begins. Stay back from the melee. Thrall uses Chain Lightning and Thunder, and Sylvanas uses Multi-Shot, all of which can damage you. If you die here, the event may complete without you.

Phase 8: Jaina’s Intervention

Moments into the fight, Jaina teleports in and yells: “VARIAN, NO! STOP!” She casts a mass freeze spell, incapacitating every unit in the room (including you, Broll, and Valeera). She says: “It did not have to be like this…”

Jaina then teleports all Alliance forces back to Stormwind. The quest completes automatically. You do not need to speak to anyone. Varian’s completion text appears:

“For too long have the Horde been left unchecked… Peace? Useless… It’s gotten us nowhere. We have lost some of our greatest heroes to ‘peace.’ Let us see what battle brings…”

“Return to Northrend, [player]. Conquer it for your king. FOR THE ALLIANCE!”

Efficiency Tips

• Budget 30 minutes. Between the 5-minute wait, 15-20 minutes of combat, and RP sequences, this is a significant time investment. Do not start this if you have to leave soon.
• Do not queue for dungeons during this event. If you leave the phase, the event resets and you must start over.
• Do not enter the sewers before Varian starts the event. You will die to elite mobs without the Strength of Wrynn buff.
• Dismiss hunter pets. Pets do not receive the HP buff and will die repeatedly. Your buffed damage without a pet is more than sufficient.
• Avoid Hellfire (Warlocks). The damage buff applies to self-damage too. You will kill yourself in seconds.
• Stick with the King at all times. Especially after Putress dies. The most common failure mode is losing Varian during the run to the Royal Quarter. Consider placing a raid target icon on him (/script SetRaidTarget(“target”, 8) while targeting him).
• If you die, run back. Do not take the spirit healer. The event is long enough that you can rejoin. The ghost flag icon above your character’s head indicates the correct direction to find Varian.
• Other players can be in your event. This is phased but NOT instanced. Other Alliance players on the same quest will share your event, which makes it faster and safer.
• Weapon skill opportunity: You can level Unarmed from 0 to 294 during this event by punching the Blight Worm and Putress, since the HP buff keeps you alive through anything. The extended boss fights make this surprisingly efficient.

Troubleshooting

Varian and Jaina don’t appear at the staging area: Another player’s event is likely in progress. Wait for it to complete (15-20 minutes). Check the status text at the top of your screen. If it says “The Alliance is battling through the Apothecarium!” or similar, you can run in and join the event already in progress.

The event gets stuck (Varian stops moving, waves stop spawning): This was a notorious bug at WotLK Classic launch. Blizzard deployed multiple hotfixes, and most issues were resolved by October 2022. If the event gets stuck, run outside the sewers and wait for it to reset. If the Engorged Blight Worm fails to spawn, the event will eventually reset on its own.

You abandoned the quest and can’t get the portal back in Stormwind: Travel to Tirisfal Glades manually (fly to Chillwind Camp in Western Plaguelands and ride west). The quest can be re-accepted from Broll Bearmantle at the sewer entrance.

You’re stuck in the Battle phase and can’t interact with NPCs in Orgrimmar/Undercity: Visit Zidormi near the Undercity Sewers entrance in Tirisfal Glades to reset your phase state. This was added specifically to address this common issue.

Post-completion phasing warning: After completing this quest, the Undercity returns to normal Forsaken control. Horde NPCs, guards, and players will all be present again. Do not linger.

Lore Context

What You Just Witnessed

This quest is the formal end of the cold war between the Alliance and Horde. From WoW’s original launch through the first two years of WotLK, the factions maintained an uneasy peace while fighting common enemies. Varian’s declaration of war in the Royal Quarter shatters that arrangement permanently.

Every faction conflict from this point forward, through Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria, and Battle for Azeroth, traces its origin to this moment.

Why the Alliance Fights Putress, Not Varimathras

The Alliance and Horde run separate, simultaneous assaults.

The Horde enters through the main city and fights Varimathras (who holds the Royal Quarter). The Alliance enters through the sewers and fights Putress (who holds the Apothecarium). By the time the Alliance reaches the Royal Quarter, the Horde has already killed Varimathras.

You can see evidence of the Horde’s battle as you progress: Khanok the Impassable’s corpse in the canals, signs of combat everywhere, and Jaina’s observation that “there are corpses everywhere.”

The Human Corpses

The most damning detail in the entire quest happens between Putress’s death and the Thrall confrontation. Varian forces the player to look at what the Royal Apothecary Society was doing in the Apothecarium: experimenting on captured human bodies to perfect the New Plague. This is not just about Putress acting alone.

The Forsaken, as a faction tolerated by the Horde, were secretly developing a weapon capable of killing the living. Varian’s rage shifts from “Putress is a traitor” to “the Horde allowed this.”

Sylvanas’s Role

Creative Director Alex Afrasiabi later confirmed that Sylvanas had given Putress permission to develop the plague and told him not to waste any opportunity to use it against Arthas.

The World of Warcraft: Sylvanas novel further suggests she would have considered all the deaths at the Wrathgate worth it if Arthas had died. Her claim of being “barely escaped” during the coup is technically true, but the full picture is more complicated.

Cross-Expansion Connections

King Varian Wrynn

• Cataclysm/Mists of Pandaria: Varian’s hostility toward the Horde persists but gradually matures. He eventually recognizes Garrosh Hellscream as the true threat, not the Horde itself.
• Warlords of Draenor: Continues leading the Alliance against the Iron Horde.
• Legion (Broken Shore): Varian dies a hero’s death fighting the Burning Legion, buying time for the Alliance to retreat. His final words to Anduin: “I know that the Alliance will always endure because good people will always stand and fight for it.” Gul’dan disintegrates his body with fel magic.
• Arc: From hotheaded gladiator-king declaring war in a sewer to a father who gives his life for his people. This quest shows Varian at his worst; his Legion death shows him at his best.

Varimathras

• Killed here by the Horde (not the Alliance), but the story doesn’t end.
• Legion (Antorus, the Burning Throne): Varimathras returns as a raid boss. Punished by the Burning Legion for his failure at the Undercity, the Coven of Shivarra tortured him for years, stripping away flesh and sanity. Before dying for the final time, he warns players: “The Horde has been deceived by Sylvanas… you are blind to the darkness in your midst.” This warning foreshadows Sylvanas’s betrayal in Battle for Azeroth.

The Undercity Itself

• Battle for Azeroth: After Sylvanas burned Teldrassil, the Alliance besieged Lordaeron in the Battle for Lordaeron. Rather than let the Alliance claim the city (exactly what Varian wanted to do in this quest), Sylvanas flooded the entire Undercity with blight, rendering it uninhabitable. The city Varian fought through is now a toxic ruin no one can enter.

Kor’kron Guard Occupation

• After this battle, Thrall stations Kor’kron Guard troops led by Bragor Bloodfist inside the Undercity to monitor the Forsaken. This military occupation continues through Cataclysm and sets up the broader Horde internal tensions that culminate in Garrosh’s tyranny and the Siege of Orgrimmar.

This Event Was Removed in Cataclysm

• Patch 4.0.3a (November 2010) removed the entire post-Wrathgate quest chain, including this battle. The Cataclysm world revamp made the old phasing incompatible with the new zones. For over a decade, this content was completely inaccessible.
• WotLK Classic (September 2022) restored the event, though it launched with severe bugs due to layering interactions. Blizzard acknowledged the event was “fragile” in original WotLK too, stating it “continued to be problematic for the entire history of Wrath of the Lich King until it was removed.” Their efforts to “harden” it for Classic were partially successful, but the sheer volume of players caused widespread issues.
• If you are completing this in WotLK Classic, you are experiencing content that was unavailable for 12 years. Treat it accordingly.