Where the great city of Lordaeron once proudly stood, only desolate ruins remain. The good news is that this makes it the perfect location for some good ol’ fashioned plundering, and a cromulent quantity of Scourge-slaying. In World of Warcraft: Forever, the Ruins of Lordaeron serves as a low-level instance that sits just above the Undercity in Trisfal Glades.
While this may intrinsically mark the Ruins of Lordaeron as a Horde-exclusive dungeon, there’s plenty of joy to be found if you take the plunge on your Alliance toon. As we’ll come to explain in the guide, getting to the instance isn’t nearly as daunting in Forever as it was in Classic. Of course, we’ll also give you the full Lordaeron lowdown, including all the quests you can cash in, bosses you can challenge, and, most importantly, all of the goodies you can potentially acquire for your efforts. For a comfortable time in RoL, we’d recommend steering clear until level 18, though you can always jump in as soon as you’ve snapped up the quests.
How to get to Ruins of Lordaeron
Ruins of Lordaeron is located in Trisfal Glades, outside the entrance to the Undercity.
Horde-side, Undead will have the easiest time reaching the ruins, seeing as they’re parked on the doorstep of the Undercity. A quick Hearthstone back to base (provided you haven’t relocated to The Sepulcher or elsewhere) is all you need. If you’re a Skyborne, Orc, Troll, or Tauren coming from Kalimdor, then hop on the zeppelin stationed near Orgrimmar’s entrance, which will drop you off just outside the city walls.
If you’re part of the Alliance, you best take your sea sickness meds as all races will need to head out on a cruise across the ocean at some point. If you’re stationed in Stormwind (Humans, Skyborne at this point), take the shiny new ship from the harbor over to Auberdine in Darkshore. There, you’ll find a vessel that travels on a route rotating between Auberdine, Menethil Harbor (Wetlands), and Southshore (Hillsbrad Foothills). Kick your feet up and wait until you reach the latter of the three destinations, before making the run up through Silverpine Forest, and into Trisfal Glades. Alternatively, you can head directly north through the foothills, looping around the back of Dalaran, and swim across Lordamere Lake to the glades.
For Night Elves, it’s a similar story, though you’ll likely already be in Darkshore at this point. Again, hop on the ship to Hillsbrad and go for a run (or dip) when you arrive — nice and easy. Dwarves and Gnomes, conversely, have the most legwork to do. If you haven’t already been to Stormwind, you’ll first need to take the Deeprun Tram down there from Ironforge. From there, follow the steps outlined above and you’re good to go.
It should be noted that you will often find Horde players patrolling the dungeon’s entrance, ready to one-tap you. If you fall foul of these shenanigans (you’re on their turf, to be fair), then try and resurrect as close to the instance portal as possible and leg it.
Ruins of Lordaeron Map
Your party will enter the Ruins of Lordaeron to the north-east, before working its way around clockwise in a ‘U’ shape. The pathway marked on the map best indicates the dungeon’s general flow, with a double-back in and down once you reach the north-west quadrant. There’s some optional verticality to the ruins, too.
For example, if you climb the stairs up to the top of the tower in Market Street, you can follow the rooftop along and drop down directly behind one of the bosses, Bjork.
