The Best of Intentions

Objective: Wait for Serinar to disguise you as a Burning Depths Necrolyte, then infiltrate the back of the Maw of Neltharion to uncover the Cult of the Damned’s true purpose.

Quick Facts

• Location: Maw of Neltharion (inside the Obsidian Dragonshrine), Dragonblight
• Coordinates for Completion: [31.7, 30.5]
• Chain Position: 3 of 8 in the Obsidian Dragonshrine chain (Nalice → Serinar → Nalice)
• Do Alongside: No One to Save You (if not already completed from the previous step)

Walkthrough

Get the Disguise

• Speak with Serinar. He will apply a necrolyte disguise and also cast Serinar’s Presence, which lets him see through your eyes. Both buffs last 10 minutes.
• If the disguise drops immediately after being applied, dismiss any active pets and wait a moment before speaking to him again. Death Knight ghouls are a common culprit.
• If the disguise keeps falling off within seconds, abandon the quest, wait for the Serinar’s Presence buff to expire, then reacquire the quest and try again. Having the previous Presence buff active when a new disguise is applied can cause a conflict that strips it instantly.

Navigate the Cave

• From Serinar, head west a short distance, then follow the winding path north deeper into the Maw.
• The cave layout can be disorienting (it reuses the geometry of Ragefire Chasm). Stick to the main path, and you’ll eventually reach a large room with stone arches spanning over lava.
• Proceed to the back of this chamber, where you’ll find Rothin the Decaying inside a shielded bubble, actively resurrecting black dragon skeletons into magmawyrms. Approaching him at [31.7, 30.5] triggers the completion objective: “Uncover the Magmawyrm Resurrection Chamber.”

Disguise Rules

• Entering combat breaks the disguise. If you attack anything or a mob aggros onto you, it’s gone.
• Passive environmental damage (such as fire ticks from Smoldering Skeletons) does not break it. You can safely walk through fire patches.
• If you lose the disguise partway through, you have two options: fight your way to Rothin’s chamber (the objective still triggers without the disguise) or backtrack to Serinar for a fresh one.

Exiting the Cave

• After the quest completes, Serinar removes your disguise remotely. Don’t backtrack through the main path if you can avoid it, since mobs will now aggro freely.
• Look for a side tunnel at the back of Rothin’s chamber. It leads down a steep ramp and drops you near the cave entrance, close to Serinar. This shortcut saves significant time and avoids respawned cultists.

Efficiency Tips

• Pre-buff your speed before talking to Serinar. Abilities like Aspect of the Cheetah, Cat Form + Dash, or Ghost Wolf persist through the disguise application process, letting you reach the objective faster.
• Druids: Shapeshifting does not break the disguise. You can freely switch to Cat Form for speed or Travel Form without issue.
• Rogues: You can Pickpocket cultists while disguised for extra loot.
• All classes: Memorize the cave layout during this scouting run. The next two quests (Culling the Damned and Defiling the Defilers) send you back inside without a disguise to kill mobs and destroy runes.

Lore Context

Serinar is a member of the black dragonflight defending the Obsidian Dragonshrine against the Cult of the Damned. He was sent here by Nalice, the black dragonflight’s ambassador at Wyrmrest Temple. For a black dragon, he’s remarkably cooperative with mortals, though his completion dialogue makes clear he views you as “quite an effective tool.”

The Maw of Neltharion is named after Neltharion the Earth-Warder, the black Aspect’s original name before his corruption into Deathwing. The Cult has infiltrated this sacred volcanic cave to harvest power from dead black dragon bones and resurrect them as magmawyrms for the Scourge.

The cave’s interior reuses the layout of Ragefire Chasm, the Horde-side dungeon beneath Orgrimmar. 

Cross-Expansion Connections

Serinar’s Uncertain Fate

• After Deathwing‘s death in Cataclysm, Wrathion claimed to be the last living black dragon. However, Blizzard developers have stated “it is possible that some black dragons on Azeroth have managed to evade Wrathion’s detection.” Serinar has never been confirmed dead or appeared in any content since WotLK, making him one of the black dragonflight’s unresolved mysteries.
• By Dragonflight, the Bronzebeard brothers reported that the dragonshrines of Dragonblight were largely empty.