How to Get Ashes of Al'ar in WoW: Solo Tempest Keep Farm Guide

Kael'thas Sunstrider's flaming phoenix is one of WoW's most iconic rare mounts. Here's how to reach Tempest Keep, solo The Eye and farm Ashes of Al'ar every week.

Ask a room full of mount collectors which old raid drop they still don't have, and Ashes of Al'ar will come up fast. Kael'thas Sunstrider's blazing phoenix has been a status symbol since The Burning Crusade, and its fiery wings still turn heads in every capital city. The best part: at current max level, any class can clear Tempest Keep alone in a few minutes. The catch is the drop chance, which means this is a weekly habit, not a one-night project.

This guide is written for current retail World of Warcraft (Midnight, patch 12.1).

The short version

Getting to Tempest Keep

1. Head to Outland. The quickest route is the portal to Shattrath City from the portal rooms in Stormwind or Orgrimmar. You can also go through the Dark Portal in the Blasted Lands and fly from Hellfire Peninsula.
2. Fly north-east into Netherstorm. It's the zone at the top of Outland, full of floating rock and purple energy storms.
3. Find Cosmowrench. This small goblin outpost sits in the far east of Netherstorm, and it's very close to Tempest Keep. If you have the flight path, it's a handy landing spot.
4. Fly east to the floating fortress. Tempest Keep hangs in the sky beyond the zone's eastern edge. It has four wings; The Eye is the raid you want. You'll need a flying mount (or a druid's flight form) to reach it.

There's no attunement anymore, so any character at a reasonable level can walk straight in.

Inside The Eye

The raid has four bosses, each in its own area:

1. Al'ar in The Phoenix Hall – the giant phoenix in the first hall.
2. Void Reaver in The Crucible.
3. High Astromancer Solarian in The Solarium.
4. Kael'thas Sunstrider at the end of the Tempest Bridge – the only boss that matters for the mount.

Only the Kael'thas kill counts for Ashes of Al'ar, and long-time farmers report heading straight for him. Some current guides tell you to clear the other three first, though. At max level each of them dies in seconds, so if the way to Kael'thas is blocked, just loop through the side rooms and come back. You can ignore or fly past most trash.

The Kael'thas fight at max level

Kael'thas is a long, phased encounter that was brutal for 25-player raids back in 2007. Solo at modern levels it's mostly a matter of waiting out the script:

1. The advisors. Talk to Kael'thas, and he sends his four advisors at you one at a time: Thaladred the Darkener, Lord Sanguinar, Grand Astromancer Capernian and Master Engineer Telonicus. Kill each one as it becomes active. Some of them will stun or crowd-control you, but they hit like wet noodles at your level.
2. The legendary weapons. Kael then summons a set of weapons that animate and attack. Kill them; you can loot them for the rest of the fight, but you won't need them.
3. The advisors return. After a short delay all four advisors are resurrected. Burn them down again.
4. Kael'thas himself. Now he finally becomes attackable. He summons phoenixes and casts big fire spells, none of which matter much at current item levels.
5. Gravity Lapse. Around half health he lifts everyone into the air and briefly shields himself. Don't panic: just keep attacking when you can and let the phase play out.

When he dies, loot the body. If the phoenix drops, it'll be right there in the loot window.

Weekly routine and lockouts

Your lockout resets with the weekly reset: Tuesday in the Americas and Wednesday in Europe. Each character gets one shot per week. That's why serious collectors run Tempest Keep on every max-level character they own: each kill is its own independent roll, so ten characters means ten chances a week instead of one.

There's no bad-luck protection, so be prepared for a long haul. With many alts it can show up within months; on a single character it can take years. Type /raidinfo if you're unsure whether a character has already used its lockout this week.

Tips to save time

• Pick a strong, mobile class. Anything can solo it, but classes with fast travel and high damage, such as Druids, Mages and Demon Hunters, make the trip quicker.
• Set your hearthstone nearby. If you farm on many alts, parking them in Shattrath or near Netherstorm shortens every run.
• Combine it with other old content. Tempest Keep fits nicely into a weekly loop with other legacy mount farms like Icecrown Citadel.
• Don't forget the transmog. Kael'thas and the other bosses drop Tier 5 armor and weapons, so even a "failed" run often pays out in appearances.
• Watch the Black Market Auction House. The mount occasionally appears there, but prices are unpredictable and usually steep.

Common mistakes

• Expecting the mount from Al'ar. Al'ar is the phoenix boss in the first hall, but the mount drops from Kael'thas, not Al'ar.
• Leaving before the advisors come back. The fight looks finished after the weapons die, but Kael'thas still has two phases to go.
• Panicking during Gravity Lapse. It's a timed phase; keep your health up and wait for Kael'thas to become attackable again.
• Running it on an alt that's already locked. Check /raidinfo before flying out.

Ashes of Al'ar rewards patience more than skill. Add Tempest Keep to your weekly routine on every max-level character, keep your expectations in check, and one day that blazing phoenix will finally light up your mount journal.

This article was written by AI (Claude) and checked against the sources above. Games are updated regularly, so details may change.