Fankriss the Unyielding

Fankriss the Unyielding is a giant sand reaver and the third required boss of the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. He lives at the bottom of the Hive Undergrounds, a maze of tunnels packed with silithid that the raid has to fight its way through first. Fankriss himself hits lightly. What kills raids is what he calls up: bursts of hatchlings from the tunnels around his lair, and yellow worms that turn into one-hit killers if they live too long.

Background

Sand reavers are the great scorpion-like beasts of the silithid swarm. Fankriss is the largest of them, a bigger and tougher cousin of Kurinnaxx in the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj. He guards the Hive Undergrounds, the nest beneath the temple where the silithid breed, and his lair is the way on to Viscidus, Princess Huhuran and the Twin Emperors. The game gives him no story beyond that; he's the beast at the heart of the hive.

Getting to him

From Battleguard Sartura's cavern, a long tunnel leads down to Fankriss. It's full of Vekniss Soldiers and swarms of Vekniss Drones that respawn almost as fast as they die, so there's no point standing still to clear it. Raids drag the bugs along as they move forward, let a large number pile up on the tanks, then kill them all at once with area spells, and repeat. Players who die run back and are summoned.

Players nicknamed it the "bug tunnel" and compared it to the Suppression Room in Blackwing Lair, though most agreed it was easier. At its end is a small alcove on the left, the "safe spot", where the raid can resurrect, summon and rebuff. Fankriss's aggro range is huge, so stepping a few yards past the alcove pulls him.

Abilities

• [[forever:spell:25646]]: a stacking wound that reduces the healing the tank receives, as with Kurinnaxx. Tanks swap to keep the stacks down.
• Vekniss Hatchlings: about once a minute, each of the three tunnels around the room releases a group of hatchlings. With each wave, one player is teleported into one of the small alcoves around the room and rooted there.
• [[forever:npc:15630]]: one to three yellow worms appear at random spots. They hit cloth wearers hard, and if they're still alive after about 20 seconds they enrage and kill whoever they hit in a single blow.

Strategy

The boss himself is easy to tank. Two of the raid's weaker tanks and a couple of healers can hold him for the whole fight, trading him back and forth as Mortal Wound stacks.

Everything else is about the adds. The Spawn of Fankriss come first: as soon as one appears, every damage dealer turns on it and kills it before it enrages. If one does enrage, it's stunned or kited until it dies. The worms often come in groups of three, one after another, so the raid has to kill the first one fast to have time for the others.

Off-tanks pick up the hatchlings from the tunnels as they come out and drag them together for area damage. Late in the fight, when the raid can't spare damage for them, they're snared, feared or kited instead. Healers keep an eye on players teleported into the alcoves, who are briefly cut off from the raid.

Meanwhile the rest of the damage goes into Fankriss himself. The longer the fight lasts, the more worms and hatchlings are alive at once, so a fast kill is the safest.

Loot

From our database (patch 1.12):

The [[forever:item:21650]] is a one-handed sword with attack power and critical strike chance, a favorite of rogues and warriors. The [[forever:item:21635]] is a polearm with 41 agility, built for hunters. The [[forever:item:21664]] was one of the best melee necklaces of the game. The [[forever:item:21647]] is a trinket that cuts its wearer's threat by 70% when used. Fankriss also drops class relics: a libram for paladins and a totem for shamans.

Quests

• [[forever:quest:8579]]: the [[forever:item:21229]] he drops for each player goes to [[forever:npc:15503]] at the temple entrance for Brood of Nozdormu reputation.

Sources

• Fankriss the Unyielding, Warcraft Wiki
• Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, Warcraft Wiki