Why Should I Bother?
Okay, exploring and solving puzzles is all well and good, you may say, but how can this activity help me beat my guildmate Johnnymage on the DPS-meter? Well, my friend, you'll be happy to know that a quick journey inside will get you the new shiny high-level ring, the Onyx Annulet, and even more shiny Primordial Stones that go along with it (fully upgrading these gems may be not so quick, but this is a story for another time).
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Sure, you can find these stones elsewhere, but none of the sources can compete with the Zskera Vaults in terms of efficiency. And you will certainly need plenty of stones, given that you can break the unwanted ones to upgrade those you already possess or purchase more powerful options. Even if for some reason you detest the Zskera Vaults (maybe they remind you of Torghast?), you still have to visit there at least once, otherwise you will get neither the Onyx Annulet itself nor the access to the crafting system.
Of course, the developers could not forget about the avid collectors of cosmetics. In the depth of the Zskera Vaults, you can expect to:
- Befriend several cute little battle pets;
- Grab a couple of toys to have a little bit of fun while your raid leader explains another tedious boss strategy;
- Procure the reins of the impressive Mossy Mammoth! And as the old saying goes, you can never have enough mammoths.
- For your convenience, we included the full list of cosmetics below, with detailed explanations of how to obtain each one.
So, as you can see, every type of player, from a casual pet collector to the hardcore raider, will find something valuable in these ancient catacombs. Speaking of raids, would you agree that a fresh WoW patch with lots of new stuff to do in the open world is not the ideal time to waste several hours farming those pesky raid bosses? If you do agree, but still do not want to miss out on the weekly epics, we suggest our WoW raid boosting service. Let the team of pro players handle the boring stuff for you and save your own play time for something you enjoy!
How to Unlock the Zskera Vaults
Before you go on to explore the magical halls of the Zskera Vaults, you will have to complete several tasks. By the way, the access is not account-wide, so you will have to repeat this little attunement for each of your alts (there you go, a little bit of Shadowlands-esque design sprinkled into your otherwise alt-friendly Dragonflight experience). BLOG20
Fortunately, this whole thing will not take you very long. Here’s the basic rundown:
- In Morqut Village, you will find Scalecommander Viridia. You do need to finish all three of the quests that she offers before you can progress, so get those all squared away;
- Do the Helping Hand and Claw quest;
- Head back to Scalecommander Viridia, and you'll get another quest: Exploring Our Past. This leads you to the Zskera Vaults entrance. Even though the Vault is ever-changing, the entrance will always be in the same place;
- The final step is the Zskera Vault: Az quest. The vulpera nearby will basically offer you six free Zskera Vault keys as a gift! Who does not like free stuff?
The Right Way to Start
So, you have discovered the entrance and even managed to get a handful of Zskera Vault Keys! The activity itself is actually pretty straightforward. Open a door, kill anything hostile inside, click on stuff, loot the treasures and move on to the next door.
Sometimes there is a bit more nuance, of course. You may encounter the familiar Candy Crush-style minigame, meet a friendly NPC that can let you pilot a robot, or even start a puzzle that spans multiple floors. We cover the trickiest rooms later in the article, but if you want a spoiler-free exploration, start right away!
However, if you are interested in the most efficient way to spend your first 6 keys, we suggest you do the Zskera Vault quests in the following order:
- Pick up the Onyx Annulet (super hard to miss), but do not open any of the doors just yet!
- Leave and hand in the Annulet in the village. You'll be asked to head back and procure a special jeweler’s kit and a special anvil;
- The kit is on the first floor, so just follow your yellow quest marker;
- Getting the anvil requires you to climb to floor 2. In the Spider Vault all you have to do is click on the web;
- The room immediately in front of you will have a very useful potion on the floor that gives you the ability to boost your character forward. Use it to hop across the platforms and reach the room with the anvil (if you have Grappling Hook, Gust of Wind etc., the potion will be redundant, and you can save one key for later);
- With both items secured in your inventory, return to the Morqut Village and hand them in. Now you are free to uncover the full potential of the Annulet and to spend the rest of the keys as you see fit.
The ring probably merits a guide of its own. A maxed-out Onyx Annulet with a fully upgraded set of appropriate Primordial Stones can usually compete with the most powerful items in the game, so getting it sorted out will almost certainly let you have an edge over your guildmate Johnny on Terros next Wednesday. Of course, this is just one ring, so if you’d like a REAL advantage in terms of high-level gear, you should look into clearing some Mythic+ dungeons and grabbing the Great Vault rewards next reset. Purchasing our Mythic+ Carry services is by far the most efficient way to do just that.
The Key Element
As you have learned by now, entering the Vault itself is free (just talk to Pathfinder Jeb near the front door). Opening the treasure rooms inside, however, requires special keys. The first floor has 4 rooms, while floors 2-4 have 8 rooms each. Opening each room breaks the key. Basic math suggests that getting 28 of these bad boys will get you covered for the week (remember, each weekly reset creates a new instance of the Zskera Vaults for you with new rewards).
So how do you actually farm those? Fortunately, it’s not so difficult. There are both deterministic and luck-based options:
- Killing absolutely anything in the Forbidden Reach. Although far from being a guaranteed source, just doing stuff in the zone will certainly net you a steady stream of keys.
- The Forbidden Hoard event will 100% get you a key, so do not miss out on those!
- Cataloger Daela, a trader at the Morqut Village, will happily sell a Sack of Oddities to you for just 2000 Elemental Overflow. As you guessed, the bag may contain a key. This, again, is a chance-based option, but if you have more Elemental Overflow than you know how to spend (which you probably do), this is a great sink for the currency.
Tips and Tricks
Most treasure rooms in the Zskera Vaults are quite simple and self-contained. Enter, click on stuff, move to the next one. However, there are special cases which truly merit the name “puzzle”. Usually, they require you to pick something up in one room and use it in another. The challenge lies in the ever-changing nature of the Zskera Vaults which prevents us from creating a guide with the exact steps and locations of every necessary item. All we can do is give you some tips for the most difficult (or even potentially lethal) of puzzles.
| Fire Rooms | As you may have guessed, standing in fire is bad for your health! It also prevents you from looting any treasures. Fortunately, there is more than one way to deal with it. You can either get a 10 minutes fire protection buff (look for a bright orange crystal), or find a special Alchemy room, fill an empty vial with Restorative Water and then throw it into the flames to extinguish them permanently. |
|---|---|
| Ice Rooms | Ice is apparently just as bad as fire! You can deal with it similarly: find the Cauldron of Empowering Flame in a room with a rotating flame turret, fill the vial with flames to get Vial of Flames and throw it into the ice room to melt the ice. |
| Arcane Watchers | Some treasures are protected by an arcane laser. The only way to counter it is to find the item that will grant you arcane protection buff which will make you immune to the laser beam damage. |
| Chests Encased in Stone | Finally, something that does not damage you! However, the stone pillars still need to be dealt with. To do this, find the Alchemy room once again, this time fill the vial from the dissolving cauldron. This will do the trick. |
Zskera Cosmetics
If you are a person of refined taste and a connoisseur of majestic mounts and cute little creatures, you don’t want to miss this section. Some of them are found in specific places or on certain floors, while others can be literally anywhere inside, so there is practically no point in creating a list of Zskera Vaults rewards per layer.
Having said that, here’s a list of what you can expect to find here:
Zskera Vault Mounts
Mossy Mammoth
This one seems complicated, but in reality, it is pretty straightforward. Throughout your journeys in the Zskera Vaults, you will come across items like the Strange Petrified Orb with descriptions suggesting that they can be combined with another item. You will probably collect them naturally after several runs. Perform five of these combinations, and you will get the reins of your new Mossy companion.
Toys
Holoviewer Toys
There are a total of three of these, each one projecting a hologram of a different Dragon Aspect. All three are on the very top level of the Zskera Vaults. The only catch is that it will take your three separate weeks to get the entire set, as you can pick up only one of the toys per reset.
Spore-Bound Essence
Remember how you extinguished fire on the floor in the Elemental rooms using a vial filled with Restorative Water? You will basically need to do the same thing in a treasure room with an Overgrown Skeleton.
Zskera Vault Companions Guide
Brightfeather
Just loot everything in the stone pillar chest room described above. The drop is not guaranteed, but eventually you’ll get it.
Emmah
This one will require you to do some fishing. Just find a Disgusting Vat in one of the treasure rooms, pull out your fishing rod and hope for the best.
Gilded Mechafrog
Get yourself an Energized Circlet. Use it to locate Neltharion Gift Tokens in various treasure rooms. Then turn them in at Prototype Tinker-Tron for Tattered Gift Packages. If you are lucky enough, one of them will have this cute little thing!
Kobaldt
This is a two-step process. First, locate a Ley-Infused Crystal. Then, find one of those ice rooms we described earlier (remember to bring some bottled up fire with you!). Approach the Inanimate Crystalspine. The strange creature will jump back to life and immediately join your battle pet roster.
Patos
Find the treasure room with an aquarium and some Escaped Fish. Pick up three of those poor bastards and put them into the aquarium. Next, grab some good old Restorative Water via the process described earlier. This time, pour it into the aquarium instead of throwing it on the floor. The fish will be so grateful that it will agree to become your battle companion!
Conclusion
This pretty much covers all the important aspects of the Zskera Vaults for an efficient and easy weekly run. Regular visits will net you lots of stone shards for your Onyx Annulet, some additions to your collection of cosmetics and even a respectable sum of gold. This last point is especially relevant in an expansion without a Mission Table! Of course, buying some profession reagents at the Auction House or simply going through a shopping list of raid consumables for the night will quickly evaporate this “respectable sum”. In case you need a boost to your finances, check our WoW Gold service and you’ll be golden (pun intended)!
F.A.Q.
How to do well in Zskera Vaults?
After reading this article, it is honestly very hard to fail in the Zskera Vaults. There is no attempt limit, no timer urging you to hurry up and certainly no Tarragrue breathing down your neck. A special Zskera Vaults flawless guide is unnecessary, since all your runs will be essentially flawless! The only real way to screw up is not having enough keys for every door you’d like to open.
Can Zskera Vaults be soloed?
They most certainly can. In fact, given that this is an instance-based scenario, solo is the only way to do it!
What is the easiest Zskera Vault level?
Generally speaking, the first one will be the easiest as there won’t be lots of those puzzles that span several rooms. But you are also not likely to encounter any significant roadblocks on the higher floors either.
What is the best Zskera Vault level?
That will depend on what type of reward you are after. Some toys, as you have learned, can only be found on specific floors. If your goal in the Zskera Vaults is non-specific or floor-agnostic, any level will do!
