Lady Anacondra

Lady Anacondra is one of the four Fanglords, the night elf druids who lead the Druids of the Fang in the Wailing Caverns under The Barrens. She is usually the first boss groups meet, and her gem is one of the four needed for the dungeon's main Horde quest.

Background

The druid Naralex came to the Wailing Caverns with a band of disciples, hoping to use the caves' waters and the power of the Emerald Dream to turn the dry Barrens green again. When he fell into the Dream, he was trapped in the Emerald Nightmare instead, and its corruption flowed through him into the caves. The water went foul, the animals became twisted "deviate" creatures, and most of his followers lost their minds.

Those followers became the Druids of the Fang. They now believe the world should belong to serpents, and their four leaders, the Fanglords, took snake names to match. Anacondra is the only woman among them. Later Blizzard material gives her old name as Scarletleaf and calls her the first of Naralex's followers to volunteer for his mission. She greets intruders with a promise that none can stand against the Serpent Lords.

Abilities

• Lightning Bolt: a long-range nature bolt. Her bolts can reach casters standing well back, so cloth wearers should not count on distance to keep them safe.
• Druid's Slumber: puts a player to sleep for several seconds. Any damage wakes them. If she sleeps the tank, she turns on someone else.
• Healing Touch: a slow heal on herself or an ally. Interrupt it.
• Thorns Aura: deals nature damage to anyone who hits her in melee.

Strategy

Anacondra appears in the first large cave of the dungeon, in one of four possible spots, so the start of the run changes from one visit to the next. Wherever she spawns, deviate raptors and other Druids of the Fang stand near her.

• Clear the creatures around her before pulling. The raptors call for help when they are about to die, which can bring more enemies into the fight.
• Interrupt Healing Touch every time; it is her only way to make the fight long.
• Healers should be ready to cure or wake a slept tank, and should watch the caster group, since her lightning reaches far.

Many players find her harder than Lord Cobrahn or Lord Serpentis because of the extra enemies near her, not because of the Fanglord herself.

Loot

Anacondra always drops her gem. Her one other notable drop is the belt from the Embrace of the Viper set, a five-piece leather set for druids and other leather wearers, whose other pieces come from the other Fanglords and from a quest.

Quests

• Leaders of the Fang: Nara Wildmane in Thunder Bluff wants the four dream gems carried by the Fanglords: Anacondra, Cobrahn, Pythas and Serpentis. The reward is a choice of [Crescent Staff] or [Wingblade]. Like the rest of the Wailing Caverns chain from Thunder Bluff, it is a Horde quest.

Killing Anacondra and the other three Fanglords is also what lets the Disciple of Naralex at the dungeon entrance begin the ritual to wake Naralex, which ends with the fight against Mutanus the Devourer.

Later history

Anacondra kept her role when Cataclysm (patch 4.0.3a) updated the Wailing Caverns, and she later appeared in Hearthstone's Wailing Caverns cards. The 1.12 encounter returned with World of Warcraft Classic in 2019.

Sources

• Lady Anacondra, Warcraft Wiki
• Wailing Caverns, Warcraft Wiki
• WoWDB NPC, loot and quest data for patch 1.12