WoW TBC Classic Anniversary Phase 3 Prep Guide

WoW TBC Classic Anniversary Phase 3 lands Summer 2026. Exact date? Blizzard hasn't said. They'll tell you two weeks before it drops, when auction house prices for herbs, primals, and resistance kits have already tripled. Congratulations on being unprepared by design.

This phase introduces Tier 6 progression: Hyjal Summit and Black Temple, both 25-player, both requiring attunement, neither caring about your schedule. Tier 6 raids WoW TBC Classic Anniversary are the centerpiece of the entire expansion. If you wipe on trash in front of your guild the first week, that's on you, not the game.

Urgent Both raid attunements are partially completable RIGHT NOW in Phase 2. Every step you skip today is a queue you join on launch day.

Attunement: The Gate You Cannot Buy

Hyjal Summit: Short but Not Free

The Mount Hyjal attunement requires reaching Revered with Keepers of Time, then picking up The Vials of Eternity from Soridormi inside Caverns of Time in Tanaris. You need two items: Vashj's Vial Remnant from Lady Vashj in SSC, and Kael's Vial Remnant from Kael'thas in Tempest Keep. Kill both final bosses. Turn in. Done. You are now attuned to a raid that punishes shadow resistance slackers.

• Reach Revered with Keepers of Time
• Accept The Vials of Eternity from Soridormi (CoT, Tanaris)
• Kill Lady Vashj (SSC): loot her Vial Remnant
• Kill Kael'thas Sunstrider (TK: The Eye): loot his Vial Remnant
• Return to Soridormi. Collect your Revered standing with Scale of the Sands as a consolation prize

Black Temple Attunement: A Bureaucratic Odyssey

This is the one. The Black Temple attunement guide content spans multiple zones, multiple raid kills, and weeks of waiting. It's account-wide in Anniversary Edition, so you only suffer once per account. Small mercy.

1. Head to Shadowmoon Valley. Aldor players talk to Anchorite Ceyla (north). Scryers talk to Arcanist Thelis (south).
2. Collect 12 Baa'ri Tablet Fragments from the Ruins of Baa'ri. Tedious. Do it anyway.
3. Obtain orders from Akama (Warden's Cage). Complete Ashtongue Corruptors quests.
4. Find Seer Udalo inside the Arcatraz (Tempest Keep). Requires Arcatraz attunement.
5. Retrieve the Heart of Fury from Ata'mal Terrace in Shadowmoon Valley.
6. Bring Medallion of Karabor to A'dal in Shattrath.
7. Return to Akama at Warden's Cage.
8. Kill Al'ar in Tempest Keep while wearing the Ashtongue Cowl. Kill a boss in costume. Classic.
9. [Phase 3 Required] Defeat Rage Winterchill in Mount Hyjal. Retrieve Time-Phased Phylactery.
10. Report to A'dal in Shattrath. Travel to Black Temple entrance. Speak to Xi'ri. Watch the scripted event. Do not pull extra mobs. You will earn Medallion of Karabor.

Note Steps 1–8 are available now. Step 9 requires Phase 3. Do not wait until Phase 3 to start step 1. That is the mistake everyone makes.

Shadow Resistance: Not Optional

Shadow resistance gear TBC Black Temple is mandatory for Mother Shahraz. She beams your entire raid with shadow damage. Repeatedly. Guilds insist they don't need resist gear, wipe twice, and then spend a week farming kits under time pressure when AH prices have already spiked. Buy and craft your shadow resist gear now, while it's cheap and no one is competing for it.

Phase 3 unlocks Netherwing daily quests in Shadowmoon Valley. You complete them every day, collect eggs from the ground when the RNG gods allow, and after weeks of disguise quests you'll grow to actively hate, you reach Exalted with Netherwing. Blizzard gives you a Netherdrake mount and a short cinematic as thanks. The mount flies at 280% speed. Gladiator mounts fly at 310%. Nobody mentions this part.

Some players do this on six characters. Do not become those people. One drake is enough to prove you showed up.

To unlock the grind: reach level 70, have epic flying (5,000 gold or already spent), and complete the opening Netherwing questline in Shadowmoon Valley. You cannot begin Phase 3 prep for Netherwing before the phase drops. This one actually waits for you.

Gold: Start Now or Pay Later

WoW TBC Classic Anniversary Anniversary gold farming is not exciting advice, but here it is: the moment Phase 3 drops, every consumable, gem, and resistance kit becomes more expensive. Demand spikes, supply doesn't, you pay the difference. Elixir of Demonslaying: cheap now, expensive later because Black Temple and Hyjal are full of demons. Haste potions go from 6–7g each at phase launch to 14–16g by the time Phase 4 is in sight.

Investment strategy: buy consumables you know your raid will need. Sell them as the phase progresses and prices climb. Reinvest into gems and enchants before they spike. The WoW WoW TBC Classic Anniversary Anniversary auction house is a predictable market if you pay attention to phase transitions

Epic gems TBC Phase 3 such as Bold Crimson Spinel and Runed Crimson Spinel drop from mobs in Tier 6 raids and can be mined inside Hyjal Summit: if you have Mining at 375. The designs to cut them are sold by Indormi in Caverns of Time and also drop inside the raids. They require Jewelcrafting at 375 to use. In original TBC Classic, individual epic gems sold for over 500g each. Plan accordingly.

• Mining 375: required to mine epic gem nodes inside Hyjal Summit
• Jewelcrafting 375: required to cut new designs from Indormi (Caverns of Time)
• Designs also drop from Tier 6 bosses and the new Phase 3 raid factions: Scale of the Sands and Ashtongue Deathsworn
• Gems cannot be bought with Badges of Justice until Phase 5: so early Phase 3, the only supply comes from raids

If you're a Jewelcrafter Be at 375 before Phase 3. Have gold ready for recipes. The window where you hold a monopoly on epic gem cuts is short and profitable.

Reputations: The Ones That Matter

Three factions allow you to exchange Marks of the Illidari (which drop from Tier 5 and Tier 6 trash and bosses) for free flasks: effectively eliminating a significant consumable cost every raid week. You need Exalted with all three. Start grinding.

New Phase 3 factions: Scale of the Sands (Hyjal) and Ashtongue Deathsworn (Black Temple): offer Jewelcrafting designs and unique class trinkets. Gear up, run the raids, the rep follows.

PvP: Hoard Now, Spend Day One

Arena Season 3 WoW TBC Classic Anniversary begins with Phase 3. New epic PvP gear becomes available. You can buy the off-pieces (not the full sets) immediately using pre-farmed honor and Battleground marks. The arena weapon rating requirement is 1,700 this season, down from 1,850. Blizzard's small act of mercy.

• Farm honor and BG marks during Phase 2 via daily Battleground quests
• Continue doing arenas even without needing gear: arena points convert to honor at the season end
• Example from Season 1: 4,000 arena points + 19,000 honor converted to 58,000 honor post-season
• Pre-farm Merciless Gladiator items where slots are still missing from your Phase 2 kit

Launch Day Checklist

Pin this. Do it in order. Don't freestyle.

• Black Temple attunement started: ideally through step 8 (Cowl of Ashtongue)
• Hyjal attunement complete (Vials of Eternity turned in)
• Keepers of Time: Revered
• Cenarion Expedition, Sha'tar, Aldor/Scryers: Exalted (for Mark flask exchange)
• Mining AND/OR Jewelcrafting at 375
• Shadow resistance gear assembled BEFORE reaching Mother Shahraz
• Consumable stockpile: Elixir of Demonslaying, haste potions, flasks
• Gold reserve: minimum 2,000g liquid before Phase 3 launches
• Honor and BG marks pre-farmed for Season 3 PvP off-pieces
• Netherwing questline completed on Phase 3 day one, dailies started immediately