Game Guides

Welcome to the Deadmines

So you've just reached level 15 and you have one of the Deadmines quests – you are ready to go down there right? Well actually wrong. I'm warning you now that it is hard – when I first went down there we had a level 22, 2 level 21's and 2 level 20's and we still couldn't defeat the final boss.

But do not get disheartened – all you need to do is level up a bit and you will be ready to get all the way to the end. We made it past everything other than the final boss anyway which we were very close to defeating.

The quests
There are four different quests for the Deadmines to try and pick them up. Two of them are for outside of the instance. These are collecting rail cards and some guys head (not Van Cleef's that is a different quest).

Then you have two main ones inside the instance dungeon. The first is Underground Assault which you pick up from a gnome in Tinker Town (which is in Ironforge). He then sends you to a gnome in Stormwind so it is like a pre-quest meaning that you cannot just share it.

Finally there is the quest for the final boss – assassinate Van Cleef. You get this by doing the Brotherhood of Defias quests which involves killing people and has a series of pre-quests including the Defias traitor quest in which you protect some guy who shows you the secret hide-out – end result, make sure you pick this up in advance.

The location
The entrance to the Deadmines is hidden in the barn in the far side of Moonbrook. You go in there and through a series of corridors to get into the mines and then you fight your way to the entrance of the instance. Anyone can join you up till this point.

Once in the dungeon just pretty much run around wildly until you see a big blue barrier – this is the group entrance to the Deadmines. Once you go past here, only your group will be in the instance, nobody else. There is a short loading screen as you enter and exit the instance.

You're Team
Make sure you have a full group of five people. The first time I went down the mines there were three mages and two paladins. I think this combination works great. You can deal loads of damage and sheep several enemies and you have two tanks who can also act as healers – paladins and mages rule.

Of course it is possible to do it with less than five people. But unless you are like level 30 or something you don't stand much of a chance. At the end boss you can end up fighting five people as Van Cleef spawns bodyguards and these guys are all tough, so you need the numbers.

What you will find
Well I don't want to spoil it – but I am going to anyway ;). You will fight a lot of miners and the odd mystic. Luckily everyone doesn't respawn for ages so if you die you should be able to run in again with few problems.

There are also patrols though (groups that patrol, usually 2 or 3) who will respawn – I will talk about death a little later on and say how that affects it. Also, try not to die on the final bosses as the bosses will not respawn and you need to be able to loot the corpse.

The first boss you will come up with is this fat guy. He is easy to deal with. The first boss that is actually a challenge is the big goblin machine that allows you to complete the underground assault quest.

Once you get into the main cavern there will be 2 mini bosses before the final one. The first is a large tauren type creature called Mr Smite. He has adds so make sure you have a plan. Once dead head onto the ship and head left to take out the cook. He is like a sub mini boss.

Anyway once dead head back to where you boarded the ship and go round the right side. There will be some planks leading up to the higher decks – there is where the captain of the ship is. Do not take him on! This is a sure way to get slaughtered.

First pick someone to pull and one by one take the other people and drag them down to your position half way up the ramps. Make sure you avoid the captain and his patrol as this will lead to a battle with a dozen monsters or so as the patrol will aggro everyone else.

Ok so now you have killed all the adds and there is just the captains patrol left. Pull them down and kill them all, nice and easy. You have now arrived at what it all comes down to – Van Cleef. Level 21 elite along with 4 rogue bodyguards. Not easy, I've been killed many a time there.

As a general guide you should always concentrate on the boss first. Get your primary tank, to well, tank him. Then any other tanks you have should make sure that your priests and casters are not being attacked by the rouges. In fact they could take the rogues while your casters take Van Cleef down. It obviously depends on your group setup.

Other information
If you happen to come across defies blasting powder make sure you loot and keep it – it may just come in handy. Also when you're on the ship in the final chamber, if you get into difficulties, jump into the water, you won't be followed and therefore you will be able to heal up and such. While still in combat though if you go onto the far bank they will run round. Watch out for goblins on the bank too.

When fighting defies pirates watch out for their parrots too. Too many times have I killed the pirate and a little later realised that I was still under attack. General rules like taking patrols first apply.

Conclusion
The Deadmines is my favourite dungeon I have gone in so far. Nice linear storyline, free respawns (only patrols whereas everything constantly respawns after a wipe in Gnomeregan) and it's loads of fun. So now you know how to handle it, put together a group, repair all your armour and go take that Van Cleef guy down!