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Quest

The Cipher of Damnation - Ar'tor's Charge

A World of Warcraft quest in Shadowmoon Valley. Facts and objectives from the current retail game data.

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The highest voted Wowhead comments for this page. They are community notes, not TheWoWDB comments.

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marskid2+66via Wowhead (opens the original comment in a new tab)

The Cipher of Damnation is an extremely long quest line in Shadowmoon Valley. It is a prerequisite for attunement to The Eye in Tempest Keep and Mount Hyjal in Caverns of time.
"*" Indicates quests with rewards.

Quest Line
1[A] - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10680 - "The Hand of Gul'Dan"
1[H] - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10681 - "The Hand of Gul'Dan"
2 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10458 - "Enraged Spirits of Fire and Earth"
3 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10480 - "Enraged Spirits of Water"
4* - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10480 - "Enraged Spirits of Air"
5 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10513 - "Oronok Torn-Heart"
6* - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10514 - "I Was A Lot Of Things..." - Most annoying quest ever implemented in World of Warcraft.
7 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10515 - "A Lesson Learned"
8 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10519 - "The Cipher of Damnation - Truth and History"

At this point, the quests diverge into three separate lines (which can be done in any order) for each of Oronok's three sons who will in turn help you obtain the three Fragments of Damnation.

Quest Line I - First Fragment of Damnation
1 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10521 - "Grom'tor, Son of Oronok"
2 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10522 - "The Cipher of Damnation - Grom'tor's Charge"
3* - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10523 - "The Cipher of Damnation - The First Fragment Recovered"

Quest Line II - Second Fragment of Damnation
1 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10527 "Ar'tor, Son of Oronok"
2 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10528 - "Demonic Crystal Prisons"
3 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10537 - "Lohn'goron, Bow of the Torn-heart"
4 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10540 - "The Cipher of Damnation - Ar'tor's Charge"
5* - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10541 - "The Cipher of Damnation - The Second Fragment Recovered"

Quest Line III - Third Fragment of Damnation
1 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10546 "Borak, Son of Oronok"
2 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10547 - "Of Thistleheads and Eggs..."
3 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10550 - "The Bundle of Bloodthistle"
4 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10570 - "To Catch A Thistlehead"
5 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10576 - "The Shadowmoon Shuffle"
6 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10577 - "What Illidan Wants, Illidan Gets..."
7 - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10578 - "The Cipher of Damnation - Borak's Charge"
8* - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10579 "The Cipher of Damnation - The Third Fragment Recovered"

After completing the quests for the three Fragments of Damnation, the lines converge and you need to kill one last boss.
Final* - http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10588 - "The Cipher of Damnation"

Rewards:

Everyone gets http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31074 - Fire Resist Neck

Choose one of the following:
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31036 - Caster Staff
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31038 - Healer Staff
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31062 - Paladin/Shaman 2H Axe
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31071 - Tanking 1H Axe
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31072 - Bow
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31073 - Melee Dagger

After completing the quest, you will get a message in the mail from Khadgar. If you go to Shattrath, he will tell you to talk to A'Dal, who unlocks the the three Trials. These are prerequisites for attunement to The Eye in Tempest Keep and Mount Hyjal in Caverns of time.

Read all 91 on Wowhead ↗

Quest facts

LevelLevel 25-30
ZoneShadowmoon Valley
Quest ID10540

Check whether you have already completed this quest in-game: /run print(C_QuestLog.IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(10540))

What to do

StorylineShadowmoon Valley, step 91 of 147
Rewards5,150 XP

Description

At last, we are ready. I will bestow a piece of my spirit upon you, hero. It will guard you and help you in your battle against evil. You must then travel south of here towards the back of Illidari Point. Hidden in the ether is a vile creature known as Veneratus the Many. My spirit hunter will call him out when he is near. Destroy Veneratus and take from his corpse the second part of the Cipher of Damnation.

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Where to go

Pins are the quest’s own POI points from the current retail client, projected onto the in-game zone map. The game marks one blob as the quest’s turn-in; the rest are objective areas. Points that fall outside a map’s window are dropped rather than guessed at.

Shadowmoon Valley Quest turn-in 2 mapped points
Shadowmoon Valley map showing where to go for The Cipher of Damnation - Ar'tor's ChargeTurn-inObjective area

In-game waypoint: /way #104 29.5 50.6

Coordinates

  • Turn-inShadowmoon Valley 29.5, 50.6/way #104 29.5 50.6
  • Objective areaShadowmoon Valley 28.9, 55.9/way #104 28.9 55.9

Map coordinates of the pins above. An area the client draws as a shape is given by the centre of its points.

Nearby on the Shadowmoon Valley map

Quests whose map markers the client places closest to this one on Shadowmoon Valley, nearest first. Distances are straight lines between the markers.

Getting there

Flight points closest to the quest’s turn-in marker on Shadowmoon Valley:

  • Wildhammer Stronghold, Shadowmoon ValleyAlliance · about 480 yards east
  • Shadowmoon Village, Shadowmoon ValleyHorde · about 780 yards north
  • Sanctum of the Stars, Shadowmoon ValleyAlliance and Horde · about 1,500 yards east

From the turn-in, the objective areas lie:

  • Objective areaabout 200 yards south

Straight-line distances in yards between the quest’s own map markers (QuestPOI) and the client’s flight-point positions (TaxiNodes); flight paths and terrain are not modelled.

Related
Experience5,150 XP

Storyline

Shadowmoon Valley

Part 91 of 147.

Previous: Lohn'goron, Bow of the Torn-heart · Next: The Cipher of Damnation - The Second Fragment Recovered

  1. 86The Cipher of Damnation - Grom'tor's Charge
  2. 87The Cipher of Damnation - The First Fragment Recovered
  3. 88Ar'tor, Son of Oronok
  4. 89Demonic Crystal Prisons
  5. 90Lohn'goron, Bow of the Torn-heart
  6. 91The Cipher of Damnation - Ar'tor's Charge
  7. 92The Cipher of Damnation - The Second Fragment Recovered
  8. 93Borak, Son of Oronok
  9. 94Of Thistleheads and Eggs...
  10. 95The Bundle of Bloodthistle
  11. 96To Catch A Thistlehead
  12. 97The Shadowmoon Shuffle

Showing steps 86 to 97 of 147.

Storyline order is the client’s own QuestLine data from the current retail build.

Where this quest fits

Before this quest

Taken from the storyline's own step order.

  • Lohn'goron, Bow of the Torn-heartShadowmoon Valley · Level 25-30

    It is a sign, <name>. Even in death, I cannot be stopped. Recovering a part of the Cipher of Damnation is my destiny. With your help, that destiny will be fulfilled. Before we embark on that journey, I must have my longbow, Lohn'goron.

After this quest

Taken from the storyline's own step order.

  • The Cipher of Damnation - The Second Fragment RecoveredShadowmoon Valley · Level 25-30

    I thank you, hero. For without you, my spirit would forever remain in this cursed place. <Ar'tor hands you a spectral lockbox.> Take it and deliver it to my father at the farm, far to the northeast, above Coilskar Cistern... Inside are Lohn'goron and the second part of the cipher.

The storyline at a glance

Shadowmoon Valley has 147 steps, from Spleendid! to A Job Unfinished....

Maps its steps are placed on (steps per map): Shadowmoon Valley (129), Terokkar Forest (10), Nagrand (7), Shattrath City (1).

Steps of this storyline count toward:

Other storylines on the Shadowmoon Valley map

Steps, storylines and map placement from the client’s QuestLine, prerequisite and QuestPOI data; neighbouring quest text is Blizzard’s own (quest API), shortened to its opening sentences.