Shadowmoon Valley

For the zone from an alternate universe, see Shadowmoon Valley (alternate universe).

Shadowmoon Valley
Level: 25 - 50 Battle Pet Level: 20 - 21
Hand of Gul'dan
Capital(s)	Black Temple
Races	Night elf  Fel orc  Naga Blood elf  Orc  Draenei  Broken  Wildhammer dwarf  Demon Netherwing Dragonflight
Ruler(s)	Elder Sage Akama
Former ruler(s)	Lord Illidan Stormrage
Major settlements	Shadowmoon Village Wildhammer Stronghold Legion Hold Dragonmaw Fortress
Minor settlements	Slag Watch Deathforge Tower Sanctum of the Stars Dragonmaw Base Camp Crimson Watch
Affiliation	Illidari, Burning Legion, Sha'tar, Aldor, Scryers, Sons of Lothar, Alliance, Kor'kron, Horde
Former affiliation(s)	Shadowmoon clan
Location	Southeastern Outland
PvP status	Contested territory

Shadowmoon Valley is a region of southeastern Outland, east of Terokkar Forest. A pristine glade of gentle night and twilight hues lies as but an echo to a tortured landscape boiling with the fury of fel elementals. It was once the sacred home of orc and draenei who sought spiritual guidance beneath the loving embrace of the Pale Lady. Now only the Twisting Nether fills the sky while its burning minions sow their hatred upon the land. It is the location of the Black Temple where the Lord of Outland Illidan Stormrage once resided. It is one of the darkest, bleakest, and most fel-affected regions in the Warcraft universe, second only to Argus. The sky is always black and ghastly yellow, lightened up by the never-ceasing rain of infernals.

History

Gul'dan destroys Draenor's connection to the elements and creates the Hand of Gul'dan.

Shadowmoon Valley was once a lush moor engulfed in eternal night and lit by Draenor's two moons. This gave the entire land a relaxing, bluish hue that was reflected by its plant life. Roughly 800 years before the First War, the orcs began to migrate out of Gorgrond. Some of them gathered in the region, naming themselves after the valley and creating the Shadowmoon clan. For centuries, the orcs peacefully charted the stars and practiced their shamanistic and runic magic. They developed traditions and rituals centered around astrology and ancestor worship.

Six hundred years later, the draenei crash-landed on Draenor aboard the Genedar. Shortly before the crash, the naaru K'ara lost her connection with the Light, which caused it to enter the Void state of the naaru lifecycle. K'ara's final act was to convince the draenei to eject it from the vessel. K'ara was ejected from the Genedar and came to be known as the Dark Star to the orcs of the valley. Because of both the Void's power to defile the dead and those few who accessed K'ara's shadowy power directly had their minds shattered, the ancient chieftain of the Shadowmoon clan outlawed its powers after the discovery of the Dark Star. After settling properly on Draenor, the draenei built their sacred Temple of Karabor on the coast of Shadowmoon Valley, making the region the spiritual capital of draenei society.

Rise of the first Horde

All this changed, of course, when the Burning Legion made contact with Gul'dan and Ner'zhul centuries later. The orcs became more aggressive, attacking innocent draenei for no apparent reason. Under demonic influence, all the orc clans were united as the bloodthirsty Orcish Horde; backed by powerful Void and Fel magic, this Horde assaulted and destroyed the draenei settlements all across Draenor; Shadowmoon included. Gul'dan also used his mighty warlock magic to raise a fel-tainted volcano in the middle of the valley to sever the orcs' link to the elements. They then converged on the Temple of Karabor. To overcome its defenses, the Shadow Council performed a ritual to summon the power of the dark naaru K'ara. A great column of Void energy crashed down upon the temple, warping its architecture, causing the instant deaths of hundreds of draenei, while driving others to madness as the Void lords' whispers overcame them. When the Void energy dissipated, the Horde easily dispatched most of the stragglers, and the site was renamed the Black Temple and served as the base of the Shadow Council.

The volcano, called the Hand of Gul'dan, and the Black Temple's chain of fel rulers has transformed the lush valley into a blackened wasteland under a perpetual haze of black and green smoke and dotted with flows of green lava and green-tinted water.

Invasion of Draenor

This section concerns content related to Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness or its expansion Beyond the Dark Portal.

The Alliance Expedition attacked the Valley in order to destroy the fortress of the Shadowmoon clan and its dark order of death knights.

The Burning Crusade

This section concerns content related to The Burning Crusade.

In the following decades, the Burning Legion saw potential in the shattered remnants of Outland, and Shadowmoon Valley soon became perpetually bombarded by infernals summoned by the demon lords seeking to scour any remaining life from it. When Illidan Stormrage defeated Magtheridon, the lord of Outland, he claimed the Black Temple as the headquarters of the Illidari. Under the annihilan's control, the temple once served as a prime staging ground for the Legion's campaign on the broken world.

Even after Illidan's death and the return of the temple to the draenei under Akama, it seems Shadowmoon is unlikely to recover the twilit beauty it once possessed and remains one of the grimmest reminders of what the Burning Legion is capable of. However, the valley still retains some waning lunar energies from before Draenor's destruction.

Geography

Shadowmoon Valley is a barren wasteland of rock and ash, with little vegetation. The Hand of Gul'dan volcano dominates the center, from which green lava erupts.

The Alliance and Horde each have a settlement here, as do the Aldor and Scryers.

The valley contains one raid instance (the Black Temple) and several elite areas.

Maps and subregions

Map of Shadowmoon Valley.

The Altar of Damnation Altar of Sha'tar The Altar of Shadows Black Temple Ata'mal Terrace Ruins of Karabor Coilskar Cistern Coilskar Point Crimson Watch The Deathforge Deathforge Tower Slag Watch Dragonmaw Fortress Dragonmaw Skyway Eclipse Point Eclipsion Fields The Fel Pits The Fetid Pool The Hand of Gul'dan Illidari Point Invasion Point: Cataclysm Legion Hold Magma Fields Netherwing Fields Netherwing Ledge Dragonmaw Base Camp Netherwing Mines Netherwing Pass Oronok's Farm The Path of Conquest Ruins of Baa'ri Sanctum of the Stars The Scalding Pools Shadowmoon Village Shattered Plains Sketh'lon Base Camp Sketh'lon Wreckage Warden's Cage Wildhammer Stronghold

Removed locations The Stair of Doom Sunfire Point

Warcraft II Fortress Shadowmoon Skeletal Coast

• 

  Shadowmoon region prior to the destruction of Draenor.
• 

  Shadowmoon region as it may have appeared in Warcraft III.
• 

  Original design layout for World of Warcraft

Instances

Dungeon Name	Level Range	Group Size	Approximate Run Time
Black Temple	70+	25-man	Unknown

The Altar of Sha'tar in art.

Elite areas

• Eclipsion Fields
• Crimson Watch
• The Path of Conquest
• Ata'mal Terrace
• Invasion Point: Cataclysm

Travel hubs

Wildhammer Stronghold

Shadowmoon Village

Altar of Sha'tar

Sanctum of the Stars

Adjacent regions

Zone Name	Faction	Level Range	Direction	Access
Terokkar Forest		62-80	West	Normal

Notable characters

Old draenei bridge

Main article: Shadowmoon Valley NPCs

• Akama
• Maiev Shadowsong
• Teron Gorefiend
• Kurdran Wildhammer and Sky'ree
• Zuluhed the Whacked

Quests

Main article: Shadowmoon Valley quests

Resources

Shadowmoon Valley is where most Nightmare Vines grow, and was previously the only place where they did.

Ruins of Baa'ri, a draenei dig site.

Herbs

•  [Felweed]
•  [Nightmare Vine]
•  [Dreaming Glory]
•  [Terocone]
•  [Mana Thistle]

Leather

•  [Crystal-Infused Leather]
•  [Fel Scales]
•  [Knothide Leather]
•  [Knothide Leather Scraps]

Metals

•  [Fel Iron Ore]
•  [Adamantite Ore] (both normal and rich veins)
•  [Khorium Ore]
•  [Nethercite Ore]
•  [Eternium Ore] (found when mining the other metals' nodes above, even Nethercite)

Cloth

•  [Netherweave Cloth]

Dig sites

• Illidari Point ( draenei)
• Eclipse Point ( draenei)
• Coilskar Point ( draenei)
• Warden's Cage ( orc)
• Ruins of Baa'ri ( draenei)
• Dragonmaw Fortress ( orc)

Other

• Felmist →  [Mote of Shadow] - Can only be harvested by Engineers with a  [Zapthrottle Mote Extractor].

Inhabitants

Air elementals Arakkoa ghosts Blood elves Chimaeras Colossi Core hounds Diemetradons Doom beasts Doomguard Dragonhawks Drakonid

Dreadlords Earth elementals Elekks Eredar Fel orcs Fel reavers Felboar Felguards Fire elemental Fleshbeasts Gan'arg

Ghosts Infernals Kaliris Naga Mo'arg Nether dragons Nether drakes Nether rays Oozes Pit lords Ravagers

Rock flayers Satyrs Scorpids Serpents Shadow Council Shivarra Succubi Voidwalkers Water elementals Wrathguards

Notes and trivia

A card back themed after Shadowmoon Valley in Hearthstone.

• Traditional flying mounts can be purchased at Wildhammer Stronghold for the Alliance and Shadowmoon Village for the Horde. The nether drakes are also purchased here from the Netherwing faction on Netherwing Ledge. Other places to purchase a flying mount include Blackwind Landing in Terokkar Forest from the Sha'tari Skyguard faction or Cenarion Refuge in Zangarmarsh from the Cenarion Expedition faction.
• The map of Shadowmoon Valley is the only Outland-map in World of Warcraft which doesn't show any stars in the Twisting Nether. It's most likely just a slip overlooked by the game developers.
• In Hearthstone, the Shadowmoon Valley card back was rewarded for achieving Rank 20 in Ranked Season 26, which took place during May 2016. The flavor text reads: "After Outland became what it is, Shadowmoon Valley has always been full of demonic energy. Gul'dan's favorite spa destination!"
• The The Burning Crusade Flash site had this to say about the zone: "This valley is a grim spectacle of demonic magic run amok. Day and night, molten fel energy erupts from the land and lights the sky with bilious green flame. To the east lies the Black Temple, Illidan Stormrage's seat of power. With the Dark Portal reopened, Illidan and his allies struggle to hold off Legion reinforcements and keep all other Outland portals closed."

Gallery

• 

  The Hand of Gul'dan.
• 

  Concept art.
• 

  Concept art.
• 

  Concept art.

Patch changes

• Patch 7.3.5 (2018-01-16): Level scaling implemented, previous zone level: 67 - 70.
  
• Patch 2.0.3 (2007-01-09): Added.
  

External links

Wowhead WoWDB Wago

Wowhead WoWDB Wago