Anub'Rekhan

Anub'Rekhan is an undead crypt lord, a giant nerubian spider-king raised by the Scourge, and the first boss of the Spider Wing (the Arachnid Quarter) of Naxxramas. He greets raids with "Welcome to my parlor" and fights with the spikes and locust swarms of the Warcraft III crypt lords. The four wings can be done in any order, and many guilds started here.

Background

Before the Scourge came, the nerubians ruled a great underground kingdom in Northrend, Azjol-Nerub. When the Lich King's forces conquered it, many of its lords were killed and raised as undead servants. Anub'Rekhan was one of them. Warcraft Wiki quotes the Argent Dawn's Commander Eligor Dawnbringer, who says Anub'Rekhan had been one of the finest spider lords of Azjol-Nerub and the most loyal of Anub'arak's commanders.

Naxxramas itself began as a nerubian ziggurat before the Scourge lifted it into the sky, so it's fitting that its Spider Wing is ruled by the nerubian dead. Anub'Rekhan guards the doors of the wing, and his invitation to his "parlor" is likely a nod to the old poem "The Spider and the Fly".

Abilities

• [[forever:spell:28783]]: spikes burst out of the floor in a line toward a random player, damaging everyone in the path and throwing them into the air. The fall hurts too.
• [[forever:spell:28785]]: Anub'Rekhan releases a swarm of locusts for 20 seconds. He moves 40% slower, and everyone within 30 yards takes stacking nature damage and can't attack or cast.
• Crypt Guards: he starts the fight with two [[forever:npc:16573]], and another joins each time he casts Locust Swarm. They cleave, web players in place and stack an acid on their tanks.
• Corpse scarabs: [[forever:npc:16698]] burst from the bodies of dead Crypt Guards and players.

Strategy

The fight has two jobs: killing the Crypt Guards and surviving Locust Swarm.

At the pull, Anub'Rekhan's tank takes him to his spot and turns him away from the raid. The two Crypt Guards are tanked close to where they start, facing away from everyone. Rogues and warriors stun them, since their acid stacks on the tank with no limit, and the raid kills one, then the other. Mages stand ready with Frost Nova for the scarabs that crawl out of the bodies.

Locust Swarm is the main event. When he begins casting it, everyone runs to the far side of the room and stays more than 30 yards away for the full 20 seconds. One player, often a hunter, holds his attention and kites him slowly around the edge of the room while a healer follows from a distance. The new Crypt Guard that appears with each swarm is picked up by an off-tank and killed like the first two.

Between swarms, the raid spreads out in a half-circle around him so Impale throws as few players as possible, and healers top off anyone who has been thrown. He goes berserk after ten minutes, but most raids killed him well before that.

Loot

From our database (patch 1.12):

The three Desecrated tokens are the Tier 3 bracers. The [[forever:item:22355]] is for warriors and rogues, the [[forever:item:22362]] for paladins, hunters, shamans and druids, and the [[forever:item:22369]] for priests, mages and warlocks. They're turned in at Light's Hope Chapel, with Argent Dawn reputation and crafting materials, for a piece of the class's set (see Tier Sets). The [[forever:item:22935]] is a neck with 24 frost resistance, useful for Sapphiron. The [[forever:item:22726]] is one of the 40 needed for Atiesh.

Quests

• [[forever:quest:9229]]: like most Naxxramas bosses, Anub'Rekhan has a small chance to drop [[forever:item:22708]], which starts a quest for [[forever:npc:16112]] at Light's Hope Chapel.
• Tier 3: his tokens are used in quests such as [[forever:quest:9084]] for rogues and [[forever:quest:9093]] for druids.

Trivia

• Warcraft Wiki notes that he was the first crypt lord in World of Warcraft, and the only one until Wrath of the Lich King, and that his abilities copy those of the crypt lords in Warcraft III.

Sources

• Anub'Rekhan (Classic), Warcraft Wiki
• Anub'Rekhan, Warcraft Wiki