Skum

Skum is a huge thunder lizard in the Wailing Caverns, a beast that came into the caves to escape the heat of The Barrens and was twisted by the nightmare that grips them. He is an optional boss with a lightning attack that jumps between players.

Background

Thunder lizards are massive, horned reptiles that roam the plains of the Barrens and other dry parts of Kalimdor, crackling with static. Later Blizzard material says Skum went down into the Wailing Caverns looking for relief from the harsh land above, and that, like most of the caves' animals, he was changed by the corruption leaking out of Naralex's nightmare.

The druid Naralex had hoped to heal the Barrens through the Emerald Dream. Instead the Emerald Nightmare took hold of him, and its energy flowed through him into the caves, turning the creatures there into twisted "deviates." Skum is one of the largest of them, and has a lot of health for a level 21 creature.

Abilities

• Chained Bolt: a lightning bolt that strikes his target and arcs to up to two more nearby players, doing nature damage to each. It can be interrupted.

Otherwise Skum is a big melee beast. His danger comes from his health pool and from the chain lightning hitting several players at once.

Strategy

Skum is not needed for any quest and isn't on the way to the Fanglords, so many groups skip him. Those who want his loot find him in the deeper, water-filled part of the caves.

• Spread out a little so Chained Bolt can't jump between all the casters at once.
• Interrupt Chained Bolt when possible. Warriors, rogues and shamans all have interrupts at this level.
• He has nearly twice the health of a Fanglord, so the fight takes longer than most in the dungeon. Healers should pace their mana.

Loot

Skum drops one of two items, each at about one in two, plus Deviate Hides.

Glowing Lizardscale Cloak is a rare-quality cloak, one of the better ones available at this level. Tail Spike is an uncommon dagger with strength and agility.

Quests

No quest asks for Skum by name. His Deviate Hides count toward Deviate Hides, for which Nalpak, who waits in the caves outside the instance portal, wants 20 hides.

Trivia

• In the World of Warcraft beta, Skum was a rare spawn. Patch 0.9 made him a permanent spawn and raised his health.

Later history

Patch 4.1.0 moved Skum to a new area, the Crag of the Everliving, and Battle for Azeroth (patch 8.0.1) gave him an updated model. The 1.12 version returned with World of Warcraft Classic in 2019.

Sources

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