Ready to cut down on your Blackrock Foundry farming time and get straight to the good stuff, like that glorious Ironhoof Destroyer mount? You're in the right place! While Blackrock Foundry can be a lengthy raid to clear each week, there's a fantastic skip that allows you to bypass most of the bosses and head directly to Blackhand. This guide will walk you through the process step-by-step, ensuring you can activate and utilize this skip efficiently.
The Blackrock Foundry Skip: Your Fast Track to Blackhand
The Blackrock Foundry skip is a life-saver for mount and transmog farmers. It involves completing a specific questline that, once finished, allows you to activate a shortcut from the raid's entrance directly to Blackhand's Crucible, the final boss encounter. No more slogging through Gruul, Oregorger, or the Iron Maidens!
Here's how to unlock and use it:
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| How To Activate Blackrock Foundry Skip |
Step 1: Embarking on the Quest for Speed!
Have you ever wished you could just teleport past all those pesky trash mobs and early bosses? Well, with the Blackrock Foundry skip, that wish comes true! Your first step is to initiate the quest that grants you this powerful ability.
Sub-heading: The Elusive Quest Giver
The quest you're looking for is called "Sigil of the Black Hand." To pick it up, you'll need to venture into Blackrock Foundry itself.
QuickTip: Copy useful snippets to a notes app.
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Difficulty Matters (for initial quest collection): It's generally recommended to complete the quest on Mythic difficulty as it will then unlock the skip for all other difficulties (Normal, Heroic, and Mythic). While you can do it on other difficulties, the Mythic completion is the most efficient for unlocking it universally.
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Where to Find Goraluk Anvilcrack: The quest giver, Goraluk Anvilcrack, is not immediately visible. You need to progress a little bit into the raid. He's located behind the crates after you defeat the Iron Maidens. Yes, you read that right – you'll need to defeat a few bosses to even start the quest that lets you skip them later! This is the "one-time pain" for weekly gain.
Step 2: Gathering the Embers of the Mountain
Once you've accepted "Sigil of the Black Hand" from Goraluk Anvilcrack, your task is to collect four unique items: "Embers of the Mountain."
Sub-heading: Weekly Grind for Glory
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One Ember Per Week: This is the crucial part that makes unlocking the skip a multi-week endeavor. You can only get one Ember of the Mountain per week per difficulty from specific bosses. This means to get all four, you will need to clear specific sections of the raid at least four times.
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Bosses that Drop Embers: The four Embers drop from the following bosses:
- Gruul
- Flamebender Ka'graz
- Operator Thogar
- Iron Maidens
Important Note: You must not kill Blackhand in a given week if you are trying to get an Ember from one of these bosses. If you kill Blackhand, you won't be able to get another quest item for that week.
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Repeat on Same Difficulty (or Mythic for all): If you're focusing on one difficulty to get the skip, you'll need to repeat the process of killing these four bosses (and not Blackhand) for four consecutive weeks to gather all four Embers. As mentioned, completing the quest on Mythic will automatically unlock the skip for Normal and Heroic difficulties as well.
Step 3: Turning in the Quest and Awaiting the Reset
After you've diligently collected all four Embers of the Mountain over several weeks, it's time to complete the quest.
Sub-heading: The Moment of Completion
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Return to Goraluk Anvilcrack: Head back into Blackrock Foundry and speak with Goraluk Anvilcrack to turn in "Sigil of the Black Hand." Upon completion, he acknowledges your efforts.
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Raid Reset is Key: The skip won't be immediately active. You need to wait for the next weekly raid reset. This is typically on Tuesdays for most regions. Once the reset occurs, the magic will happen!
Step 4: Activating the Blackrock Foundry Skip!
The week after you've completed the quest and the raid has reset, you're ready to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Sub-heading: The Blackrock Artifacts
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Enter Blackrock Foundry: Head into the raid on any difficulty you wish to farm.
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Locate the Artifacts: After clearing the initial trash mobs (if any remain), you will find Blackrock Artifacts on either side of the main gate leading deeper into the foundry, specifically the gate that normally requires you to clear early bosses to open.
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Click and Behold!: Interact with one of these Blackrock Artifacts. You'll see a brief animation, and the massive gate will lower, the flames will turn off, and the path to Blackhand's Crucible will be wide open! You can now bypass all the bosses leading up to him.
Step 5: Sharing the Skip with Your Alts (Optional, but Highly Recommended!)
Good news! As of a recent patch (around 11.0.5 with The War Within pre-patch), raid skip quests are now account-wide! This is a huge quality-of-life improvement.
Tip: Watch for summary phrases — they give the gist.
Sub-heading: Leveraging Account-Wide Unlocks
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Once Unlocked, Always Unlocked (on your account): If you've completed "Sigil of the Black Hand" on one character, any other character on your World of Warcraft account can now benefit from the Blackrock Foundry skip. This means you don't need to re-do the multi-week questline on every alt you want to farm with!
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Enter and Click: Simply enter Blackrock Foundry on your alt, clear any initial trash, and click one of the Blackrock Artifacts to activate the skip. It's that easy!
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Potential Legacy Sharing Method (if account-wide is not working for some reason): While largely obsolete now, if you ever find the account-wide skip isn't functioning (due to a bug or specific circumstances), the old method involved creating a group with your main (the one with the skip), inviting your alt, and then having your main enter and activate the skip while grouped with the alt. The alt would then be able to enter the instance with the skip active. However, with the account-wide change, this should no longer be necessary for BRF.
Congratulations!
You've successfully activated the Blackrock Foundry skip. Enjoy your faster weekly runs for the Ironhoof Destroyer mount and any transmog pieces you're chasing! This skip will save you a tremendous amount of time and make your farming much more efficient.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Blackrock Foundry Skip
Here are 10 common questions about the Blackrock Foundry skip, with quick answers:
How to start the Blackrock Foundry skip quest? You start the quest "Sigil of the Black Hand" by speaking to Goraluk Anvilcrack, who is found after defeating the Iron Maidens in Blackrock Foundry.
How to get all the Embers of the Mountain? You get one Ember of the Mountain per week from each of the following bosses: Gruul, Flamebender Ka'graz, Operator Thogar, and Iron Maidens. You need to collect four total.
QuickTip: Don’t just consume — reflect.
How to make the Blackrock Foundry skip account-wide? As of recent patches (around 11.0.5), raid skip quests, including the Blackrock Foundry skip, are retroactively account-wide. Once you complete "Sigil of the Black Hand" on one character, the skip is available for all characters on your account.
How to activate the Blackrock Foundry skip after completing the quest? After the weekly raid reset following quest completion, enter Blackrock Foundry. You'll find Blackrock Artifacts near the initial gate. Click one to open the path to Blackhand.
How to tell if my Blackrock Foundry skip is active? Once you enter the raid and click the Blackrock Artifact, the large gate leading to Blackhand's Crucible will open, and the flames blocking the path will disappear.
How to skip directly to Blackhand? By activating the Blackrock Foundry skip, you bypass all previous bosses and can walk directly to the elevator that takes you up to Blackhand.
QuickTip: Don’t skim too fast — depth matters.
How to reset Blackrock Foundry to use the skip again? Raid instances reset weekly. Simply wait for the next weekly reset (usually Tuesday) and re-enter Blackrock Foundry. The skip will be available to activate again.
How to farm the Ironhoof Destroyer mount efficiently with the skip? Once the skip is active, you can enter Blackrock Foundry, click the artifact to open the path, take the elevator to Blackhand, and defeat him. This drastically cuts down on your farming time each week.
How to share the Blackrock Foundry skip with an alt (if account-wide isn't working)? (Though largely obsolete now) Have your main (with the skip) create a group, invite your alt, and then have your main enter the raid and click the artifact. Your alt should then be able to enter the instance with the skip active.
How to know which bosses drop the quest items for the skip? The four Embers of the Mountain drop from Gruul, Flamebender Ka'graz, Operator Thogar, and Iron Maidens.
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