March of the Giants

Quest Giver (Horde): Sage Edan — Camp Winterhoof, Howling Fjord [48, 13]

Quest Giver (Alliance): Researcher Aderan — Fort Wildervar, Howling Fjord [60, 16]

Objective: Use the Runeseeking Pick on the corpses of 4 Runed Stone Giants.

Quick Facts

• Zone: Howling Fjord — Giants’ Run, northeast area
• Suggested Players: 2 (Group quest, but soloable with the right approach)
• Chain Position: 1 of 3 (March of the Giants → The Lodestone → Demolishing Megalith)
• Pairs With: The Rune of Command (strongly recommended, see tips below)

Walkthrough

Finding and Killing Runed Stone Giants

• Head to Giants’ Run, starting around [66, 23]. Only Runed Stone Giants count for this quest. Regular Stone Giants and Iron Rune Sentinels will give an “Invalid Target” message when you try to use the pick.
• Runed Stone Giants spawn at the stone circles in Giants’ Run, then walk north toward the snowline at Frostblade Peak, where they despawn. The best spot to intercept them is around [72, 16], right where the ground transitions to snow.
• These are level 71 elites and they hit hard. Their signature ability is Dark Rune, a Shadow DoT that deals 300 damage every 2 seconds for 8 seconds and stacks up to 5 times. At full stacks, that’s 1,500 Shadow damage every 2 seconds. Do not try to face-tank these for extended periods.

Using the Runeseeking Pick

• After killing a valid Runed Stone Giant, target the corpse and use the Runeseeking Pick from your inventory. Act quickly, as other players can use the pick on your kill.
• Miners beware: If you have Mining, you can accidentally mine the giant’s corpse instead of using the pick. Mining the corpse will despawn it. Use the pick first.

Efficiency Tips

• Do this alongside The Rune of Command. Pick up The Rune of Command before heading to Giants’ Run. Use the Rune on a neutral (non-aggressive) Stone Giant to gain a temporary combat pet that stuns enemies and tanks effectively. This pet makes soloing the Runed Stone Giants far more manageable.
  • Pro tip: Don’t turn in The Rune of Command until you’ve finished this entire quest chain, as the pet remains available as long as the quest is active.
• Kiting is king. Ranged classes and anyone with slows or roots will have a much easier time. The giants are susceptible to roots and slows (though immune to fear). Maintain distance and avoid letting Dark Rune stack up.
• Class tips:
  • Hunters: Kite with Frost Trap and Concussive Shot. Don’t rely on your pet to tank (Dark Rune will shred it). A clean kiting path runs from [73, 19] southwest to [70, 20] between the rock outcroppings.
  • Warlocks: Apply DoTs and kite. Curse of Exhaustion helps with distance. Pets are useful for extra damage but won’t survive sustained melee.
  • Warriors: Spell Reflection can bounce the Dark Rune debuff back. Time it carefully as the giant applies the DoT through a buff on itself.
  • Druids: Entangling Roots works. Balance/Resto can root and nuke at range. Feral druids should open from stealth, get in burst damage, then shift to bear when DoT stacks mount, use Nature’s Grasp to create distance, and re-root.
  • Paladins: Cleanse can remove the Shadow DoT, giving a significant survivability advantage.
  • Shamans: Frost Shock and kite. Two Lightning Bolts plus one Frost Shock, repeat.

Lore Context

• The iron dwarves at Giants’ Run are using titan-derived rune magic to enslave stone giants and march them north toward Frostblade Peak. The Runeseeking Pick reveals that the runes contain repeated commands for “north” and “west,” pulling the giants toward something called the Stoneforge. This sets up the rest of the chain: The Lodestone identifies Megalith as the giants’ leader, and Demolishing Megalith has you take him down.
• The iron dwarves serve Loken, a corrupted titan Keeper, and their control of stone giants foreshadows the much larger conflict between iron dwarves and the titan-forged in the Storm Peaks and Ulduar. This same iron dwarf enslavement storyline continues in Grizzly Hills at Thor Modan and Dun Argol, where the stone giant Gavrock asks for help freeing his enslaved brothers. 

Explore Howling Fjord’s hidden easter eggs, lore mysteries, and connections across Warcraft history in Vikstone’s Howling Fjord Chronicles, along with the complete quest storyline.