High Interrogator Gerstahn

High Interrogator Gerstahn is a human cultist of the Twilight's Hammer who runs the Detention Block, the prison at the front of Blackrock Depths. She is usually the first named enemy a group meets in the dungeon, and she carries the only key to the prison's cells. That key makes her a stop on several of the dungeon's best-known quest chains, even for groups that have no interest in her loot.

Background

Gerstahn's title in the game is "Twilight's Hammer Interrogator". She is one of several Twilight's Hammer members who have settled among the Dark Iron dwarves under Blackrock Mountain, alongside the tauren Pyromancer Loregrain. The game's later Adventure Guide describes her as a woman of expensive tastes: fine food, fine clothes and jeweled instruments of torture. She is said to call the screaming of her prisoners her "symphony", and the Detention Block's cells are full of people who have heard it.

Those prisoners matter to both factions. The Alliance hero Marshal Windsor is held here after the Dark Irons captured him while he scouted Blackrock Mountain. So is Kharan Mighthammer, a dwarf of Ironforge, and the orc Commander Gor'shak of the Kargath Expeditionary Force. Gerstahn was Windsor's interrogator, and the information he did not give up becomes the start of the Alliance's long road to Onyxia's Lair.

The book Exploring Azeroth says Gerstahn was born a noblewoman. In World of Warcraft: The Comic, she is defeated by Thargas Anvilmar, fighting alongside Varian Wrynn and Broll Bearmantle, when they come to Blackrock Depths looking for Windsor.

Abilities

Gerstahn fights as a shadow priest:

• Mana Burn: a bolt that burns 272 to 300 mana and deals damage based on the mana it burns. Interruptible, and painful for healers.
• Psychic Scream: sends up to five nearby players running in fear for 6 seconds.
• Shadow Word: Pain: a shadow damage-over-time effect that lasts 18 seconds.
• Shadow Shield: a shield that absorbs 200 damage and hurts melee attackers.

She runs into melee range when pulled. She never fights alone: two elite guards and three Bloodhounds are posted around her in the middle of the Detention Block, and all of them join the fight.

Strategy

In Classic, groups usually clear the Detention Block's outer guards first, then pull Gerstahn's group into the open space of the prison. The hounds are weak and die quickly to area damage; the two elites are the real threat to healers, and crowd control on one of them keeps the fight short.

Gerstahn herself goes down fast if the group focuses her. Killing her before she gets off many casts of Psychic Scream is the best defense against it, since a fear in the Detention Block can send players running into other packs. Interrupting Mana Burn keeps the healer's mana up for the rest of the dungeon.

Loot

Gerstahn always drops the [Prison Cell Key], which opens the cells of the Detention Block. It goes on the keyring and lasts beyond the instance, so later trips don't need to kill her for it. The rest of her table is caster gear, from our database (patch 1.12):

The Greaves of Withering Despair joined her table in patch 1.10, when Blizzard added class gear to many dungeon bosses.

Quests

No quest asks for Gerstahn's death, but her key is part of several chains that start or pass through the Detention Block:

• Horde: Commander Gor'shak leads players to Commander Gor'shak's cell. His cell has to be opened, with the key or a rogue's lockpicks, before What Is Going On?, where the group defends him from waves of Dark Iron guards.
• Alliance: Marshal Windsor sends players to find Marshal Windsor in his cell, beginning the chain that continues through A Crumpled Up Note, A Shred of Hope and the escort Jail Break!.
• Alliance: Kharan Mighthammer, from Magni Bronzebeard, leads to Kharan Mighthammer, whose quests lead on to Princess Moira and the emperor.

Warcraft Wiki has only one in-game picture of Gerstahn, and it is too small to use here, so this article shows her prison and two of her prisoners.

Sources

• High Interrogator Gerstahn - Warcraft Wiki
• Detention Block - Warcraft Wiki
• Reginald Windsor - Warcraft Wiki