Withered Training Preparation, Tips, and Tricks
(Last updated 2017-1-12) This guide will outline some items to focus on in Suramar to maximize the Nightfallen reputation gains and overall success you have at Withered Army Training. This is not an all-inclusive guide, and will reference other resources on Withered Training that you should check out before starting the training. I wrote this guide because while there are a few great guides on how to clear the scenario, it was harder to find detailed information on how to prepare for the scenario or what to do your first few times.
Withered Training FAQ
- What is Withered Army Training? Withered Army Training is an every-three-days world quest that grants reputation with the Nightfallen, Artifact Power, and other goodies.
- When can I do it? You must complete about 40 quests in the Suramar storyline, ending with Building an Army!.
- I heard I have to pay Ancient Mana to do the scenario? The first time is free, after that you purchase troops with Ancient Mana. You can enter the scenario the second time right after you do it the first time, by the way. After that, you have to wait about three days in between attempts.
- How am I graded on Withered Training? The more mobs you kill, the higher your score.
- What score do I need for maximum reward? If you get 375 score, you maximize your +425 reputation reward, with other breakpoints at lower scores.
- A Withered soldier is running away - what do I do? Run to it and right click on it.
- I want to be a hero and kill all the bosses I can and defeat the training. Will I be rewarded for this? The further you get in the scenario, the more access you have to rewards.
- Wait, I thought rewards were based on score? You get certain rewards for getting 375 score or above. For others, you have to give up your Withered to carry back chests of rewards, so only complete them after you have gone as far as you want to on that attempt! These rewards cost either 5 or 10 Withered, and are either external to the training or upgrade your army for the next time you do the training. Most rewards that do not upgrade your army are cosmetic.
- How else can I maximize my reputation with the Nightfallen? Hey! This is a Withered Training guide, stay on topic. But, to answer, do every world quest in Suramar you see, do the three daily turn-ins to your Shal’Aran Withered, and complete all the story-line quests in Suramar.
Getting Around Suramar
In order to prepare for Withered Training, it may be useful to travel quickly around Suramar by unlocking portals. Unlocking all the portals will get the achievement Now You’re Thinking With Portals. See the comments there for some suggestions on unlocking the portals. I recommend the Handynotes addon and the Suramar Telemancy module that shows these portals on your map.
Maximizing your Ancient Mana Pool
The higher cap to your Ancient Mana pool you have, the more Withered you can start out with in Withered Training. Starting out with more makes the training easier, so you want to get as high a cap as you can. I recommend at least 1300 for 15 Withered, and the maximum cap of 2000 is ideal. Reaching that cap will give the achievement Why Can’t I Hold All This Mana? The top comment thread on Wowhead provides the following macro to help you identify which of the 10 upgrades to your Ancient Mana pool you have already acquired: /run local a={41138,42230,42488,42833,42792,42842,43988,43989,43986,43987}for i,q in ipairs(a)do print(i,IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(q))end
The first 5 ways to upgrade your mana pool are from the basic story-line. Ways 6-10 are from items you can pick up in the world. For those items, use these TomTom coordinates (also provided in the Wowhead comments): /way Suramar 21.4 54.5 Kel'danath's Manaflask /way Suramar 22.9 35.8 Volatile Leyline Crystal (ent.) /way Suramar 35.6 12.1 Infinite Stone /way Suramar 44.8 31.0 Enchanted Burial Urn /way Suramar 26.9 70.7 Kyrtos's Research Notes
Filling your Ancient Mana Pool
Once you have a high enough cap (ideally at least 1300), you need to fill it. If you are having problems I recommend three areas to farm for Ancient Mana items. They are at the Vineyard and the Market in Suramar, and the underground Falanar ruins (which Withered Army Training scenario uses the same map as). The Vineyard is probably the most abundant source of Ancient Mana if you face no competition from other players there. If you have limitless gold and no time, you can search on the auction house and pay gold for an Ancient Mana Gem or Ancient Mana Crystal.
Withered Army Training Tips
Before you start the scenario, I recommend looking at three resources. First, the top comment on wowhead here: http://www.wowhead.com/quest=43943/withered-army-training#comments which links to this “Wowhead map.” This resource goes into detail about how to fight each mob in the scenario, so I will not be covering that here. Second, this Reddit thread https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/51dcoj/i_have_made_a_map_for_the_wither_training/ provides the “Reddit map.” A third resource, this comment on MMO-Champion, includes the “MMO-Champion map part 1” and “MMO-Champion map part 2.” This guide is warrior specific, and had many of the same thoughts I did. You have all expansion to revisit Withered Training and complete it. With that in mind, I suggest you focus on getting 375 score each time until you build up your army a bit. Maximize the reward chests you grab before starting any hard bosses. Kill as many easy enemies as you can, then grab all the upgrades you can from the easy areas. If you complete the easy areas I outline, have 375 score, and have some chests you can grab, grab them, and do the harder bosses next time. If you have 1-4 Withered left over, there is no harm trying a boss to see what the encounter is like; just get the rewards first! Focus on upgrading your army and getting 375 score the first few times you enter the training, not on completing the scenario. Only go into the harder bosses if you have 375 score and there are no chests you can grab. This is not a sprint. There is no reward for going fast, and you can only do the scenario once every few days. Take your time and do not lose Withered to silly mistakes. Use a tank if possible. If not, use a DPS spec with good creature control, prioritizing short cooldown stuns and interrupts. You can hit your extra action button to enrage your Withered. They will aggro everything in sight and do more damage. I recommend using this only when a room is clear and you are engaging a boss. Other than that, it is too easy for things to get out of control with enraged Withered. Get the three daily buffs from your Shal’Aran Withered before starting if you have the Ancient Mana to do so - they will be active in the scenario!
Suggested Beginner’s Route
You can get 375 score with the following route on the Wowhead map above. I suggest clearing this route and grabbing the Withered army upgrade rewards from it before trying any more difficult rooms. After 2-4 successful clears of this route, you can do this route and continue on to harder bosses with your Withered army. Then, if you wipe, at least you won’t have missed getting rewards or upgrades, and you can try again at full strength next time. For each room, pull as few mobs as you can at a time and clear them before engaging more mobs. Be careful and hug the walls, as your Withered will accidentally aggro enemies if they get too close. Clear room 1. Head to room 4 and clear it. Clear the area between 4 and the intersection between 5 and 6. A very hard boss, Leystalker Dro, will likely pop out at one of these mobs (he can be avoided with very precise play - see below). Be alert, and good luck! Your very first time, when you start with only 8 Withered, you may want to grab the Health Increase chest (unless you think you can skip Dro - see below), since if you do not have good stuns you can easily wipe to him without getting any chest reward. Be on alert until you have killed Dro, as he can spawn at any mob in room 5. Clear the area between 5 and 8, and clear room 8. Clear the hallway towards 9, and get the one Withered just within 9 if it will bring you to a multiple of 5 for chests. You should be over 375 score, and can turn in your Withered for chests rewards along this path. Make sure to kill every single mob to improve your score. Especially make sure to free the mobs trapped in webs, as some of those hide Withered you can recruit.
Withered Pickups on Suggested Route
Along the above suggested route, you can pick up about 16 Withered reinforcements. A good goal is ending with 15 or 20 Withered toal so you can grab two reward chests. Even if almost all your original Withered die at Leystalker Dro, you can recover along the rest of the route. There are a few more Withered inside boss rooms that you can grab if you are very careful about not pulling the boss. These Withered are generally not necessary to maximize reputation gains or chest rewards, so I recommend skipping them your first few times if you are unsure whether you can avoid pulling the bosses.
Room
Withered
Room 1:
1
Room1 to Room 4:
1
Room 4:
1
Room 4 to Room 5:
4
Room 5:
2
Room 8:
2
From Room 8 to Room 9:
4
Front of Room 9:
1
Monitor your Withered
This nifty weakaura by alcaras will display how many Withered are in your army and their average health. It’s a nice way to see whether you are at a multiple of 5 for chest rewards. Especially once you have all the “easy” chest rewards and are progressing further into the instance, the indicator is a good way to help decide whether you can push a bit more or should stop and get the rewards available now.
Advanced Tactics and Dro Avoidance
This video covers several advanced tips I was not aware of when drafting the guide. A few points I want to emphasize: Demon hunters can scan for Dro and avoid him; other classes can avoid him if they memorize his stationary spawn locations (shown in the video) and play extremely precisely. As a tank with several upgrade chests under my belt, I will probably not alter my play now, but for someone new to the scenario, you may wish to try avoiding Dro. Apparently, your Withered will never attack until you do, you can use this to very carefully face pull and fight mobs in safer locations. If you are sure you will not accidentally face pull too many mobs, you can open boss doors and grab a few mobs and/or Withered near the entrance of the room this way. Some players, and the video creator, use the tactic of enraging their Withered in an empty area, then moving ahead and face pulling, then un-enraging their Withered. This is a hack to get the Withered to stop following you for a bit. Be warned, if you stray too far, the Withered will wander off and/or start following you. I had tried this tactic and found it to be fairly difficult for not a lot of reward, but some folks love it and get great results with it.
Changelog
2017-1-12: Removed references to unlocking dungeons, as The Arcway and Court of Stars are unlocked by default as of patch 7.1.
Conclusion
If you follow the above advice, hopefully you will clear the Withered Army training with 375+ score several times. Get three upgraded Withered and upgrade your whole army to have more health and be resistant to fear. Once that is completed, you can clear this route and take on the harder bosses for more upgrades and fun. Good luck!
Comments:
Raphael - Sep 1, 2016
Reddit comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/52f1j1/withered_training_strategy_and_faq/.
mikymod - Sep 2, 2016
just what i’m looking for :D ty and keep going!
wrathsome - Sep 4, 2016
Brilliant and you have my thanks. I’m not there yet, however instead of bookmarking your piece; I decided to bookmark your blog. Good stuff, well received.
Batcat - Sep 4, 2016
Thanks for putting this together in one place! I’ve been having trouble with the training, and I also haven’t capped out my Ancient Mana pool yet, either.