Choose Your Class's Molten Core Starter
Priests begin the Benediction and Anathema route with The Eye of Divinity. Hunters begin the Rhok'delar and Lok'delar route with an Ancient Petrified Leaf. Check the Cache of the Firelord after the Majordomo Executus encounter in Molten Core for your class's starter. The finished weapons come later, after the class quests and their additional components.
This roadmap covers the Season of Discovery Phase 4 versions of these epic class weapons, introduced in July 2024. Blizzard opened Molten Core and Onyxia's Lair on July 25, 2024. The quest routes below use the SoD replacements where they differ from the original Classic records.
| Class | Molten Core starter | Work still required |
|---|---|---|
| Level 60 Priest | The Eye of Divinity | Eris Havenfire's rescue, the Splinter of Nordrassil and The Eye of Shadow. |
| Level 60 Hunter | Ancient Petrified Leaf | The Ancients in Felwood, four demon heads and an enchanted black dragon sinew. The blue-sinew quiver is a separate branch. |
Neither starter is the completed weapon. Do not leave the raid expecting the staff or bow to appear immediately, and do not budget around a guaranteed starter drop on every run.
Priest: Rescue Eris's Peasants and Assemble Benediction
Keep The Eye of Divinity. You need it to find the quest giver and again when assembling the staff. The second Eye is a different item: The Eye of Shadow is bind-on-equip, so an unbound copy can be traded. Acquiring that component does not require waiting until after the rescue.
- Equip The Eye of Divinity in a trinket slot. Travel to the northwestern Eastern Plaguelands and look for Eris Havenfire. Equipping the Eye is the important visibility step; merely carrying it is insufficient.
- Speak with Eris and prepare for the rescue. Read her dialogue and the quest objective before starting. Make your friendly NPC health information visible and have your healing and disease-removal spells ready so you can identify injured peasants and react.
- Complete The Balance of Light and Shadow. The SoD quest, quest 84590, asks you to save 50 peasants before 15 are slain. Keep the rescue objective as your priority rather than chasing every enemy away from the peasants.
- Return to Eris for the Splinter of Nordrassil. The SoD reward is the updated Splinter, item 228749.
- Bring all three components together. Use the Splinter of Nordrassil with The Eye of Divinity and The Eye of Shadow to form Benediction.
A missing Eye is still a missing component after a successful rescue. Receiving the Splinter does not replace either Eye. Check all three item names before attempting the assembly; the two trinkets serve different purposes.
The healing staff can then change into Anathema, its damage-oriented counterpart. The SoD switching change is explained below, after the Hunter route.
Hunter: Return the Leaf and Open the Felwood Branches
Use the Ancient Petrified Leaf to begin The Ancient Leaf, then take it to Vartrus the Ancient in Felwood. Complete An Introduction with Vartrus to open the Ancients' tasks. If you have delivered the Leaf but cannot see the expected branches, finish that introduction before travelling to the demon zones.
The three tasks serve different rewards:
- Stave of the Ancients — Vartrus the Ancient
Defeat the four named demons and return their heads. This provides the Ancient Rune Etched Stave used to form the bow.
- A Proper String — Stoma the Ancient
Bring one Mature Black Dragon Sinew. Stoma turns it into the Enchanted Black Dragon Sinew required for the bow.
- Ancient Sinew Wrapped Lamina — Hastat the Ancient
Bring one Mature Blue Dragon Sinew for the quiver. This branch is separate from the bow's two components.
You can plan the demon and sinew tasks alongside one another. A blue sinew does not substitute for the black sinew, and completing the quiver branch does not finish the bow.
Collect Four Demon Heads, Following the Solo Requirement
The SoD Stave of the Ancients replacement is quest 84546. It names four targets and explicitly requires completing the task yourself. Read the supplied Petrified Bark for the locations and warning about challenging them alone.
- Simone the Seductress — Un'Goro Crater. Find her disguised form, speak with her and challenge her.
- Klinfran the Crazed — Burning Steppes. The Bark describes him wandering the zone in disguise.
- Solenor the Slayer — Silithus. Approach the disguised demon and force him to reveal his form.
- Artorius the Doombringer — Winterspring. Find and defeat him for the remaining head.
Loot each named head. Defeating a target without collecting its quest item leaves that part of the hand-in incomplete. Keep Simone's, Klinfran's, Solenor's and Artorius's heads until you return to Vartrus in Felwood.
These are solo class challenges, even though the quest chain begins with raid loot. Do not expect a raid group to kill the demons on your behalf. The Bark warns that the demons can flee if the challenge's conditions are not respected; use encounter guidance for your SoD abilities rather than assuming an old Classic tactic is mandatory.
Finish the Bow and Staff; Treat the Quiver Separately
For A Proper String, obtain the Mature Black Dragon Sinew associated with Onyxia and return it to Stoma. Keep his enchanted result. It is the enchanted sinew, rather than the raw Onyxia drop, that combines with Vartrus's stave.
- Hand the four heads to Vartrus to receive the SoD Ancient Rune Etched Stave, item 228659.
- Use that stave with the Enchanted Black Dragon Sinew to form Rhok'delar, Longbow of the Ancient Keepers.
- Speak with Vartrus again about Lok'delar. The documented Hunter quest route awards the staff through the return conversation after forming the bow.
For the optional Ancient Sinew Wrapped Lamina, bring the Mature Blue Dragon Sinew to Hastat. Azuregos and blue dragonkin are associated with this separate sinew in the base item records. Missing the blue sinew does not prevent you from completing the bow-and-staff route.
Before returning to Felwood, match the remaining task to its recipient: four heads to Vartrus, black sinew to Stoma, blue sinew to Hastat. After the first two hand-ins, assemble the bow and finish the staff conversation.
What Changed in the Season of Discovery Weapons?
In the July 28, 2024 SoD weapon report, Ease documented the updated rewards. Lok'delar gained Agility and additional Attack Power, while the Priest staff's switching cooldown fell from 30 minutes to one minute. The quiver was the exception to the reported item updates.
The SoD Benediction tooltip lists its use effect as calling forth Anathema with a one-minute cooldown. Use the staff to change form when available. This changes the weapon's form; select the character specialization and equipment appropriate to your role as well.
Those are SoD reward changes from the Phase 4 release, rather than a new announcement about today's game. When following a database link or an older guide, select the SoD version for its updated quest rewards and staff cooldown. The acquisition components remain the focus of this roadmap; none of these items is a promise of permanent best-in-slot status.
