The Rogue Poison Quest, for Horde and Alliance

Mists of Pandaria, patch 5.3

In M of P all of the poison quests are dead and have been removed from the game. Shenthul, the Troll (Horde) questgiver was assassinated by Garrosh (unsubstantiated rumor.) If you want to get even you will have your shot at Garrosh in patch 5.4.

Mathias, the Alliance questgiver, just looks at you when you ask about the quest, as if you have something better to do that to bug him about such things.

Poisons have been changed. You no longer have to quest to earn then, you don’t have to buy parts and make them, no finding of special recipes, etc. You just get them as you do any other ability.

Instant Poison is gone, Wound Poison and Deadly remain. A couple of poison are now talents. (See table.) Deadly Poison will be your “go to” poison for most of your work, these days.

Poisons now act like any other buff. You will find a “poisons” icon in your spellbook. Clicking that will give you a pop-out menu and you pick your poison(s.) You can apply one lethal and one non-lethal poison to your blades. Each “dose” lasts one hour. The doses persist even if you die or switch weapons. (As I said, they’re buffs, not the icky gunk that you used to apply, carefully, by hand.)

Here are the poisons and related abilities:

Poison type	Level	Notes
Improved Poisons	10	Assassination Ability – greater chance to apply lethal poisons.
Deadly Poison	10	Ability – The first application applies a DOT, additional applications are instant.
Crippling Poison	20	Ability – Slows the opposition.
Mind-numbing Poison	28	Ability – Slows spell-casting.
Wound Poison	30	Ability – Instant damage and reduces healing received by the target.
Leeching Poison	45	Talent – your poison applications heal you for a small amount.
Master Poisoner	64	Ability – no longer assassination only. More damage from your lethal poisons.
Paralytic Poison	75	Talent – Chance to stun your opponent.
Mastery: Potent Poisons	80	Assassination Ability – More damage from your lethal poisons.
Glyph of Crippling Poison	25	Higher chance to apply Crippling Poison.
Glyph of Poisons	25	Change poisons faster

Please “like”/Share this post if you find it useful.

Previously, On Cataclysm…

Update: With the arrival of WoW 4.0 the poison quests are obsolete. You can simply buy the poisons from the appropriate vendor when you hit the right level (level 10 for Instant Poison.) You can still do the quests, if you want to, just for the heck of it. They aren’t required.

The guide below is still good if you want to go through it, and you’re on a private server, though the world has shifted a bit. In addition to this change, the Lockpicking quests are totally obsolete and have been removed from the game.

The Poison Quests

One of the unique features of the World of Warcraft Rogue is in the use of poisons. Rogues are the only WoW class that can apply them. The poisons have a variety of effects, ranging from crippling (slows movement) to mind numbing (slows casting speed) to lethal (adds damage.)

The poisons don’t apply with every strike, and they’re aren’t devestating to the opponent, but they do have an effect and are pretty useful to have, especially in PvP. So do the quest and be toxic.

The general overview of the quest for both sides is the same.

Get the quest from the head Rogue dude
go to a tower
pickpocket a key
climb the tower
open a chest, get the item, get poisoned
return to the head Rogue dude to hand in the quest
get unpoisoned (if you haven’t already.)

You can grab the poison quest at level 20. Naturally, the Alliance quest is pretty easy and the Horde quest can’t be done by a 20 Rogue, not solo anyway, unless she’s very good. Here are the details, Alliance first, Horde further down.

For maximum Rogue Leveling Speed, check out Zygor.

Alliance Rogue Poison Quest

Once you hit level 20 get yourself to the SI:7 building in Southwest Stormwind, climb to the top floor, and talk to Mathias, the leader of SI:7. He’ll give you the quest Mathias and the Defias. By the way, you can do this entire quest without killing anything, for the pacifists among you.

You might want to bring some anti-venom. The stuff you make with the first aid skill is fine or you can (usually) buy it off the auction house.

head to Sentinel Hill, in Westfall, then head Southeast to 68,70.
You’ll see a tower with some 24s patrolling. A bit NorthWest of the tower is the person you want to talk to, Agent Kearnen. She’s hard to see, so look for the “?”

She’s a trusting sort, like Mathias, and won’t even ask for a password. She’ll give you the quest to get a key and then open a chest in the tower.
DO NOT enter the tower yet.
Pickpocket the Malformed Defias Drone first and get the key from him.

After you have the key stealth up the tower. Avoid or kill the patrols (lev 24) at your pleasure.
Klaven is at the top, guarding the chest. Kill or sap him, he’s only level 23 and is not an elite.

Then open the chest, get the journal, get poisoned with The Touch of Zanzil.
use the anti-venom to get rid of the Zanzil
Go back to SI:7 and hand it in. You’ll get the thistle tea recipe (Thistle Tea is very nice) and you’ll learn the poisons skill.
If you need the cure for the poison then he’ll send you downstairs (get Touch of Zanzil quest) for the cure. No xp for this quest though.
You’re done. Check out the trainer to see if he has some more poison recipes for you, there should be at leat one, and then talk to the shady dealer or the poison vendor and make some poisons!

Just for fun, if you want to work up your poison skill the Instant poison goes yellow at 125. So I capped my skill at 140 just from making instant poison. Yes, that means I was 28 when I did the quest.

The chest in the tower, unlike the Horde chest, can only be picked once. So you can’t use it to level your lockpicking. I tried. Sigh.

Horde Rogue Poison Quest

Horde has this one a bit tougher than the Alliance, but since the Horde ARE tougher… 😉

Any level 20 Alliance Rogue should be able to solo their quest, no sweat. A level 20 Horde Rogue won’t be able to solo this one without help or some serious twinkage. So grab a pal or two.

It’s not the level 22 guards that you have to think so much about, it’s the level 23 Elite you have to kill.

Also, you should bring an anti-venom with you. The one from your 1st aid training will work just fine.

To start:

Speak with the troll Shenthul in Orgrimmar, in the Cleft of Shadow, at 43,53. He’ll have you do a salute. Just type /salute to complete it.

Next you’ll do the Deep Cover quest and travel to the Venture Co. Tower, north of the Sludge Fen (Northern Barrens) and contact the Shattered Hand’s covert operative, Taskmaster Fizzule. Be warned that Fizzule is extremely cautious.

Note that Shenthul gave you a flare gun. You will have to use it to let Fizzulke know you’re coming. He’s at 55,05.

Use the flare gun twice, as per your instructions, then approach Fizzule and use the salute, or else he’ll kill you as the Ally spy you obviously are. (use /salute) Guess he’s a little more careful, or a little more paranoid, than Alliance Agent Kearnen, who’ll talk to any Rogue at all.
Fizzule will give you the quest: Mission: Possible But Not Probable
DO NOT enter the tower yet.
Pickpocket Foreman Silixiz at the base of the tower, to get his key. Do not kill him until you have the key. He won’t drop it, you have to pickpocket him to get the key. Then kill him if you like.
Then kill two of each type of wandering mob – patrollers, drones, and lookouts.
The Alliance didn’t have to kill anyone. Wimps.
Get to the top of the tower and kill the 23 Elite Grand Foreman Gallywix who’s guarding the chest. Since you need his head, and he won’t just hand it to you willingly, sapping him just isn’t enough.

Unlike the Alliance quest you can pick this lock repeatedly (and you’ll have to kill Gallywix a few times as he respawns every few minutes) to work your lockpicking skill as high as 175 or so. Edit – this is no longer true. The box can now only be opened once. I guess Bliz thought it was too easy on Rogues to let it be picked many times.
If you’re going to stay and work your skill do not apply your anti-venom until you’re done, because you’ll get a fresh poisoning every time you open that chest. Edit – this no longer applies since the box can’t be multi-picked.
Open the chest (with the key,) get the goods, get poisoned, cure the poison with your anti-venom, head back to Shenthul to complete the quest and get the next one, Hinott’s Assistance.
Head to Tarren Mills in the Hillsbrad foothills, and deliver the Sample of Zanzil’s Mixture to Serge Hinott. Serge is the Alchemy Trainer in the first building on the left when you come into TM. Serge will give you your poison skill and cure your Touch of Zanzil (if you haven’t cured it already.) Alliance just have to go downstairs from their trainer to get the cure. Lazy so and sos…

Then return to any rogue trainer and get any new poison recipes that are available. Talk to the the poison dealer, and make your poisons.

And you’re done. Woot. Now go kill something.

In addition to lockpicking some Rogues are into PvP, raids, fast leveling and gold acquisition, and some just want to be the best. If you fit into some or all of these groups then get to 90 fast, here.