Nerub'enkan

Nerub'enkan is an undead crypt fiend who guards one of the three ziggurats on the undead side of Stratholme. A nerubian warrior who fell fighting the Scourge in Northrend, she was raised to serve it, and she now defends a Scourge ziggurat as fiercely as she once defended her home. She was known as the hardest hitter of the three ziggurat guardians.

Background

The nerubians are spider-like people from Azjol-Nerub, beneath Northrend. When the Lich King came to Northrend they fought him in the War of the Spider, and lost. Many of their dead were raised as crypt fiends to fight for The Scourge, and the Scourge brought them to Lordaeron during the Third War.

According to the later Adventure Guide, Nerub'enkan was a fearsome warrior in that war who finally died of her wounds and rose as an obedient minion. In Stratholme she holds one of the ziggurats whose crystals seal the Slaughterhouse, the stronghold of Baron Rivendare.

Abilities

• Raise Undead Scarab: raises undead scarabs to fight for her; their bites poison.
• Crypt Scarabs: sends a swarm of scarabs at her target.
• Pierce Armor: halves her target's armor for ten seconds.
• Encasing Webs: roots a player in webs and slows their attacks.

Strategy

Nerub'enkan hits hard, and Pierce Armor makes her hit the tank even harder for its duration, so the tank needs strong healing for the whole fight. The scarabs she raises are weak and die to area damage, but left alone their poison adds up; someone should keep them under control, and poison cures help. Encasing Webs can briefly take a player out of the fight and makes her lose interest in her current target, which is dangerous for hunters or warlocks letting a pet tank her.

She is immune to stuns and roots, so plans that depend on controlling her won't work.

Loot

Drop chances are from our database (patch 1.12). Since patch 1.4 she always drops at least one rare.

[Husk of Nerub'enkan] is a shield made from her own carapace, and [Carapace Spine Crossbow] a crossbow. [Beaststalker's Boots] are the hunter's Dungeon Set 1 boots (see Tier Sets). She also drops a [Corruptor's Scourgestone] and usually a [Plagued Flesh Sample].

Quests

• The Baron run: killing her and every enemy inside her ziggurat topples its crystal, one of three that must fall before the Slaughterhouse opens. With patch 1.10's [[forever:quest:8945]], that had to happen inside a 45-minute timer.
• The Active Agent: Betina Bigglezink wants Scourge data from the ziggurats, and The Flesh Does Not Lie wants flesh samples like hers.

Later history

Patch 4.0.3a changed her stats when Stratholme was retuned for Cataclysm. She still guards her ziggurat in the Service Entrance version of the dungeon.

Sources

• Nerub'enkan - Warcraft Wiki
• Stratholme (Classic) - Warcraft Wiki