The pocket guide to Deadmines

The Deadmines is an instance for level 20-22 players, located in the town of Moonbrook in Westfall.

WOW wiki entry
large map
In-game map from Atlas

Quests

These quests can be shared:

Collecting memories / Stormwind, Dwarven Quarter / Wilder Thistlenettle
Oh Brother / Stormwind, Dwarven Quarter / Wilder Thistlenettle
Underground Assault / Stormwind, Dwarven Quarter / Shoni the Shilent
Red Silk Bandanas / Sentinel Hill (top of tower) / Scout Riell

Quest chains

The Defias Brotherhood / Sentinel Hill, Westfall / Gryan Stoutmantle
This is the famous quest series that introduces Alliance players to the idea of an instance. Stoutmantle first sends you fedexing around Human territory, to Lakeshire, to Stormwind, and eventually back. You'll find and kill the Messenger and escort the Traitor to pinpoint the entrance to the Deadmines. You're ready to enter the instance when you're at the "bring me the head of Edwin Van Cleef" stage.

Walkthrough

In retrospect, this is not a difficult instance. It will be hard your first time through because you and your groupmates are likely new to your classes and to the game. This instance is the first time Alliance players are challenged to work together as a group.

The two Thistlenettle collection quests are done outside the instance, in the undead portion of the Deadmines. The undead pop a nasty curse, Call of the Grave. This counts down then does a huge amount of damage. Dispell it if you can, or heal up before it goes off. Don't start a new fight with the curse still on you.

Red Silk Bandanas can be collected outside the instance or inside. Everyone in your party should have them all by the time you reach the end of the instance.

March inside. Kill everything you see. The miners are mostly easy. They're runners, so hamstring or judge them to prevent them from fleeing and calling friends. The other Defias can come in pairs. Evokers will cast an area-of-effect fire spell that can be annoying. Rogues should practice their kick to interrupt. Paladins should practice their stun.

After every named mob is killed, a patrol will spawn and come up behind you. Be aware. Don't just rush onward. Assign someone to check behind the party periodically.

The first boss is Rhahk'zor. A properly-leveled party should have no trouble with him. Practice letting your tank get and hold aggro. Don't worry about the other mobs in the room behind him. They aren't linked. After he's down, watch behind for a patrol.

In the tunnels just beyond, look on the left for a rare named mob, Miner Johnson. Mobs like that will sometimes spawn in your instance, most often not. Kill these mobs when you see them, because they usually have good loot.

In the next area, you're introduced to a new enemy, goblin woodcutters. Why are they milling logs underground? Don't ask me. Beyond them is a tough boss, Sneed. You have to kill Sneed twice: once to bust up his nasty sawmill-on-legs machine, and again to beat him in the flesh once he's out. The machine drops the Specklesprocket that Shoni asked you to find. Loot it as soon as the machine is down. The wood step of the Paladin hammer quest is acquired in this room. Afterward, remember to look for patrols behind.

The next tunnel has more miners and their taskmasters, which you should be handling easily now. Beyond them is a nifty sight: a giant smelter! You will now face more goblins, this time with a slowing debuff and mechanical pets. Be careful with aggro in this room. Prevent the goblins from fleeing! Clear out as much of the room as you can before facing Gilnid the Smelter. He drops some nice leather pants.

One more tunnel remains. At the end of the tunnel is a large door with a cannon pointed at it. If you have a rogue in your party, the rogue should pick the lock on the door. This is the quiet way of entering the next area. If you have no rogue, find the gunpowder in the tunnel and use it to fire the cannon. This is noisy, and attracts a few Defias Pirates and their evil parrot minions. Oh well! Walk through the door to see... a pirate ship. A ship? Underground? Don't ask me.

Pull pirates with ranged attacks in ones and twos. Stay back and you should have no nasty incidents. At the end of the flat docks, there's a tempting treasure chest. Do not run up to this chest and try to loot it. It's a trap. Waiting there is Mr Smite and his two stealthed bodyguards. Prepare for the fight. Your tank should get on Smite and hold his attention. Everybody else should concentrate on taking down the two bodyguards as fast as possible. At 2/3rds health, Smite will stun you and take out a bigger weapon. If the bodyguards are still alive, they'll pound on you while you're stunned. Not good. Avoid it and kill them early. At 1/3 health, Smite will stun you again and go for an even bigger weapon. He's not so scary on his own, though, so beat him up. He might drop a nice weapon.

And now you face the ramps up to the ship. It used to be that jumping in the water dumped all aggro. Parties would go for a fast swim any time the buggy pulls on the ramps got out of control. Unfortunately, that no longer works. The pirates have taken swimming lessons. Of course, the ramps are still buggy, so you still have the problem with fewer ways to handle it. Stay calm. Plan your pulls. Don't rush. The boat and ramps are where many parties stall out. Don't lose heart. Managing aggro on the ramps is your #1 task right now.

Assign somebody to pull. Stay back while that player picks out mobs and pulls them back to you. After you've cleared the top of the ramp to the ship, go left, clockwise around the boat. Don't go right. There are aggro problems with the ramp above and the mobs to the right. Around to the right you'll find more pirates and parrots, and the murloc Cookie. Cookie can poison you. He drops a very nice wand, though, so take him down. Clear all the way around the boat, then jump over the junk blocking the route around. Move to the ramps. Clear steadily up the ramps, letting your designated puller go ahead. Be careful not to aggro the mobs at the top before you're ready! Have a stealthed person watch and tell you when to move up to the next platform.

At the top is Captain Greenskin. He'll have some minions with him, and can be a tough fight. Tank him, keep your tank healed, and burn down the minions. Enjoy the loot.

When the smoke has cleared from the decks, it's time for Van Cleef.

VC has two minions to start with, and he summons more if the fight lasts a long time. Assign somebody to keep the minions busy while your main tank + some other damage-dealer fights VC. Or have your tank collect all aggro. I've found it best to take him down as fast as possible, then worry about the minions. Loot his body for the head and for an Unsent Letter, which starts another quest series.

Congratulations! You're done. You have a little more fighting to do to reach the back exit, which is behind the boat to the east. This dumps you out in the Dagger Hills in the south of Westfall. Run back to Sentinel Hill to turn in the head, collect your very nice blue reward, and see your name shouted to the whole zone.