Stormwind Stockade: WoW Forever Dungeon

The Stockade is Stormwind's prison, taken over in a riot led by the Defias Bazil Thredd. It is small and fast, built as corridors of cells off a central hall, and every boss is a prisoner with a bounty on his head from somewhere in the Eastern Kingdoms.

The run is dangerous in one specific way: the cells. Prisoners stand inside open cells along every corridor and aggro when you walk past. A group that walks straight down a hall pulls the whole wing. A group that clears cell by cell, with the healer in the hall behind, finds it easy.

The beta client has no Dungeon Finder row for the Stockade, in Forever as in Classic Era, so you find a group in the city. The October 1 notes list the Stockade among the open beta dungeons. Most of the reward is in the quests: Lakeshire, Darkshire, Dun Modr and the Old Town all want a prisoner dead, and Forever pays dungeon quests better than dungeon mobs.

Clear order

1. Clear the entry hall to the central hub. Patrols cross the hub; watch for them before each pull.
2. Take one wing at a time. Targorr the Dread, Kam Deepfury and Hamhock are each in a cell block along the wings.
3. Dextren Ward waits deeper in one of the corridors.
4. Bazil Thredd is at the far end. Save him for last so the whole prison is clear behind you.
5. Bruegal Ironknuckle, a rare, may stand in one of the cells. He is optional.

Group and preparation

• The cell routine, step by step: the group waits in the cleared hallway. The tank walks to the open cell door, attacks the nearest prisoner, and backs out to the group. Prisoners from that cell follow; the cell across the hall usually stays put if nobody stands between the two doors. Kill, drink if needed, and move one cell forward. It feels slow, but a full wing pulled at once is a wipe at almost any level.
• Respawns are slow, so a wipe costs only the walk from the graveyard in Stormwind. Run back, rest at the entrance, and continue from the last cleared cell.
• Pull every cell separately. Have the tank step into the doorway, pull, and back into the hallway.
• Healers: stand in a corridor you have already cleared, never in an unchecked hallway.
• Almost every mob is a humanoid, so Polymorph and Sap both work. Use them on the third mob of any pull.
• A paladin or a priest helps with the fear from Dextren Ward; a Dwarf Shaman's Tremor Totem, new for the Alliance in Forever, helps more.

• No instance-specific change found in the beta client data as of build 1.60.1.70170: same encounter ids, names and order as Classic Era. Blizzard's notes so far do not name a change to this dungeon's bosses. ^{[BETA-OBSERVED]}

Forever rules that apply to every dungeon

• Dungeon mob XP was cut and dungeon quest XP raised; the October 1 notes then cut the extra dungeon quest XP by 50%. Do the quests. ^{[REPORTED][OFFICIAL]}
• Dungeon boss unique drops are now blue, and BoP green and blue appearances go to every eligible looter. ^[OFFICIAL]
• Blizzard says ordinary mobs take about 10 to 15 seconds to kill and crowd control still matters in dungeons. ^[OFFICIAL]

Classic Era quests for this dungeon

Classic Era quests for this dungeon that are not in our beta cache yet. Forever has over 1,000 new quests and has changed dungeon quest XP, so treat this as the Classic baseline until each one shows up in the beta cache. ^{[CLASSIC ERA]}

Bounties come from four different zones, so most players gather them over a few levels and run the Stockade once with all of them. The Stockade Riots only appears after The Unsent Letter from VanCleef and its follow-up, so run the Deadmines first if you want it.

Classic Era mechanics; Forever beta unconfirmed. ^{[CLASSIC ERA]}

Encounter 1 of 5 in the beta client. Classic Era mechanics; Forever beta unconfirmed. ^{[CLASSIC ERA]}

An orc brute in one of the cell blocks, with prisoners near him. Wanted in Lakeshire.

Tactics

A tank and spank. Clear the cells near him first, then pull him into the hallway and kill him. The only risk is pulling a cell with him.

• Tank: Pull him out of his cell so the next cells stay quiet.
• DPS: Hold damage until the tank has two or three hits on him.

Encounter 2 of 5 in the beta client. Classic Era mechanics; Forever beta unconfirmed. ^{[CLASSIC ERA]}

A Dark Iron dwarf in another cell block. Wanted in Dun Modr.

Abilities

Tactics

A slow, tanky fight. Keep pulling only him; his cell mates should already be dead. His head is for The Fury Runs Deep from Motley Garmason in the Wetlands.

• Tank: Use every threat tool you have between stuns; he is slow to kill.
• Healer: Easy fight. Drink before the pull so the next cell does not catch you empty.
• DPS: Give the tank a longer lead than usual; every stun costs the tank threat.

Encounter 3 of 5 in the beta client. Classic Era mechanics; Forever beta unconfirmed. ^{[CLASSIC ERA]}

An ogre magi with two Defias helpers. The only real caster boss in the prison.

Abilities

Tactics

Kill his two Defias helpers first. Pull him around a cell door so he walks into melee. Spread out so Chain Lightning does not hit the whole group. He has more health than the other prisoners.

If your group has no Purge or Dispel Magic, plan for Bloodlust: let the tank build a solid lead, then burn him hard so the buffed part of the fight is short. A healer who runs out of mana here usually ran out on the cells before him, so rest first.

• Healer: Chain Lightning hurts the whole group; watch everyone, not only the tank.
• DPS: A shaman's Purge or a priest's Dispel Magic on Bloodlust saves the tank a lot of damage.

Encounter 4 of 5 in the beta client. Classic Era mechanics; Forever beta unconfirmed. ^{[CLASSIC ERA]}

A murderer in a deeper corridor. Wanted in Darkshire.

Abilities

Tactics

The danger is the fear. A feared player runs, and in the Stockade that means into an uncleared cell. Clear the corridor around him fully before you pull, so a fear sends people only into empty cells.

• Tank: Keep him in a cleared stretch of hallway.
• Healer: Stand out of fear range; you are the person who must not run into a cell.
• DPS: Melee: when feared, you come back. Ranged: stay where you are.

Encounter 5 of 5 in the beta client. Classic Era mechanics; Forever beta unconfirmed. ^{[CLASSIC ERA]}

The Defias leader of the riot, at the end of the prison, with several adds near him.

Tactics

Clear the last cells and any patrols first, then pull Bazil with as few of his adds as you can. Crowd control one add and kill the rest before him. He hits hard for a boss of this level. His head finishes The Stockade Riots for Warden Thelwater and moves the VanCleef story on to the next step.

• Tank: Hold him in the corridor mouth so the stun catches as few people as possible.
• Healer: Big melee damage on the tank; stay topped and out of reach of loose adds.
• DPS: Adds first, then Bazil.

Not an encounter row in the beta client. Classic Era rare; Forever beta unconfirmed. ^{[CLASSIC ERA]}

A rare dwarf prisoner who appears in one of the cells on some runs. He is not an encounter row in the client.

Tactics

If he is up, treat him as a tougher prisoner: clear his neighbours first and pull him alone. In Classic Era he dropped Iron Knuckles, the Prison Shank or Jimmied Handcuffs, so groups kill him when he is there and never wait for him when he is not.

The Classic Era client (1.15.9.70003) lists the same 5 encounters under the same ids and names, with the same player cap.

Rows in the Forever client's achievement table tied to this map:

• Bazil Thredd kills (Stormwind Stockade) (5 points)

Written and checked by TheWoWDB on October 5, 2026. Abilities and tactics describe how these fights work in Classic Era; the WoW Forever beta can change any of them, and Blizzard has said boss loot and stats were reworked. Nothing here is a drop rate or a timing we measured. Loot rows come from the Adventure Guide match further down the page; the beta client cannot say how often anything drops.