What Can Players Expect From the Revamped Spellplague Caverns?

The first players have unlocked Spellplague Caverns this week and more will gradually be able to run the revamped dungeon. So it’s time to look what players can expect with and in latest tier of group content. We collected a few thoughts and comments from those that have been testing Spellplague Caverns on the preview already and compiled the most interesting tidbits. But first, let’s actually look at a run from Youtuber “northside”.

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It’s fun!

Most players we asked about the new dungeon responded that it’s a fun encounter. Some even say it’s the best design to date. Not much reminds you of the old Spellplague days, which were largely about punting adds into the acid. New foes have taken over over the caverns, so it thematically makes sense that the gameplay experience differs. The old hidden/optional boss however is indeed back! If you like secrets, this will please you!

The regular bosses feature new unique mechanics that can’t be offset by sheer DPS. Players generally seem to like this approach and that you need to be smart about the boss fights. You don’t go anywhere if you don’t understand the mechanics, but have a pretty easy life if you execute them well.

Mobs and Mechanics

Which brings us to the mobs and mechanics of the dungeon. It’s an add-heavy environment, so be careful what you pull and make sure you have your Lightning Enchantment slotted! For endgame characters the mob sections however should not present any trouble. This changes at the bosses though. Kabal uses a similar chain mechanic like the one in his solo demiplane. Once players get chained to each other, you need to kill one of the Golem adds to spawn a fireball, melt the chain with it and let it collide with the boss to break his invulnerability. After that the party can simply burn the boss.

The second boss is all about positioning and not getting thrown off the platform or stunned by the gaze. While Kabal is kind of a team effort to melt the fireball and all, in the second fight players need to largely act on their own. If you die, it’s probably your fault!

Last but not least Nostura needs a bit of group coordination again. She has the petrify gaze as well and players need to avoid laser-type beams. Additionally the group has to split between killing tentacles and the two-planes mechanic you know from the solo demiplane. It’s probably the least interesting boss though.

Reward Issues

While the dungeon and bosses are fun, there are certain concerns about the rewards. Next to using the Runic Keys from Storm Kings Thunder content, the dungeon also features pretty much the same loot as Fangbreaker Island. Being considerably longer however, the reward ratio is being questioned. There is one pretty big unknown factor involved though. We know the devs have based additional, random rewards on the difficulty and length of dungeons. You are much more likely to get an unbound Companion/Artifact/Mount from Fangbreaker Island than from Castle Never for example. So these extra drops might actually make all the difference here although the dungeon itself “only” rewards unrestored Relic Gear and the new Fragmented Artifact.

For some there’s also the Wicked Enchantment as additional incentive. It was promised back in Sea of Moving Ice and for PVP and tank builds has the favorable stat combination of Hit Points and Deflect in defensive slots.


We hoped this helped drawing a picture of what to expect in the dungeon. Have you already run Spellplague Caverns? Share your experience and thoughts in the comments below or visit the corresponding thread on our message board! Thanks to @gabrieldourden, @rjc9000@xsayajinx1 for contributing to this article. Keep rocking guys!

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8 thoughts on “What Can Players Expect From the Revamped Spellplague Caverns?

    • March 22, 2017 at 9:18 am
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      Seems to be an error in our db. Will be resolved with the next item pass. Thanks!

  • March 22, 2017 at 2:53 pm
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    you have not mentioned that the new SP dungeon is dropping Wicked enchants, the 2 stat enchant (arp/rec (i think) and HP/deflect) we were promised back at the start of mod 10.5. This is the primary draw of the dungeon for me and is a huge change for enchants in pvp for a lot of support/tanky classes

    • March 23, 2017 at 12:50 am
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      TY

  • March 23, 2017 at 10:08 am
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    now does the artifact drop in mythic like the rumor suggests or thats just what you guys have it as in the database?

    • March 23, 2017 at 2:10 pm
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      We just included the Mythic tooltip here.

  • March 23, 2017 at 4:31 pm
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    Is the artifact unbound?

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