This is the guide for the Grimrail Depot — one of two WoD dungeons returned to WoW in Shadowlands season 4 Mythic+ pool. Return of the old dungeons is one of the most welcome features of the current Season apart from new achievements and the special seasonal Shrouded affix. Of course, Grimrail Depot has much fewer mobs and bosses than the Lower or Upper parts of Return to Karazhan. But some of its mechanics must be clarified both for new players and for those veterans who farmed WoD in the past.
Grimrail Depot Location
You almost don’t need to know how to get to Grimrail Depot if you have already visited M+ Iron Docks. Both instances are in the same location called Gorgrond, in the Draenor. The direct portal to Gogrond can be approached at the Oribos flight point. Another way to reach Gorgrond is to travel there from Ashran.
Portals to Ashran can be found in portal rooms of Horde and Alliance capitals. And a WoD veteran can remember plenty of other ways — for instance, find dusty-covered Garrison Hearthstone in their backpack. Upon reaching Gorgrond, seek a big black fortress-like factory called Blackrock Foundry. Move closer to it, open your map, and search for a blue circle that represents an entrance to the dungeon. This is where the Grimrail Depot is.
Grimrail Depot Route
Right after going through the Grimrail Depot entrance, you’ll be warmly met by Grimrail Technicians. As usual, these small goblins are far more terrifying than the big orcs around them. In fact, they are the main reason why most players try not to rush at the beginning of this dungeon. And although it’s possible to pull more mobs, the first part of the M+ route after the Grimrail Depot entrance looks like this.
Grimrail Technicians activate Iron Stars around them with the Activating spell. The ability can be interrupted with a stun, but only when that stun is done on the goblin who has already started his short 2.5-sec casting. But that definitely needs to be done to prevent a dangerous explosion of an Iron Star. Especially after you have received more than enough damage from Technician’s 50,000 Volts spell. By the way, the best way to avoid the highest damage of this skill is to hold yourself as far as possible from other players.
After dealing with the first boss you’ll need to pass through Bombardiers. Paradoxically, the more time you spend here, the more time will be possibly saved for your Grimrail Depot M+ run. You’d better deal with these mobs one by one, instead of getting into trouble with their strong damage and AoE on a very narrow, inconvenient part of the route. It would be too funny to wipe right before the most fascinating and challenging location of the Grimrail Depot.
Going further leads you to the platform on which a cutscene will play, but you’ll probably not want to watch it. As a result of the cutscene, you’ll find yourself in a train car of a running train. The Grom’kar Gunners are going to cause some problems. For example, the Shrapnel Blast, initially pointed at your tank, may damage you while the tank is dodging it.
Red circles indicate where Grom’kar Boomers strike with their Blackrock Mortars. Boomers will also try to deal you serious frontal damage with a Cannon Barrage. Skills of Grom’kar Cinderseers — Lava Wreath and Flametongue — will make you move a lot and try to move carefully, as the fighting area is very restricted.
The first spell spreads incredibly unpleasant fire-damaging debuff that also puts a silence on the target for 12 seconds. That sounds imbalanced, but the ability has its weakness: it ends if the target is not alone and doesn’t spread the effect to its allies. The second spell is in full responsibility of the tank, as they must take mobs from their area so that they’re not buffed by the puddles.
The second boss is followed by two more train cars with more unskippable enemies to enjoy at these parts of the Grimrail Depot. First of all, Grom’kar Far Seer, whose Storm Shield is of the highest priority of interruption. Of course, if you don’t want to spend 10 seconds trying not to touch the mob under the Shield, which will produce chain damage in response.
Grom’kar Captain is quite weak and its Reckless Slash rush’s damage can be easily avoided or reduced. Grimrail Scout can cause problems if you’ve spent all stuns on the Storm Shields, because Scout casts dangerous Arcane Blitz. But it’s definitely not as troublesome as a different goblin mob that you’ve seen at the other side of the Grimrail Depot near its entrance.
In the end, Arcane Blitz is just a swirl from which you can walk away. Although it won’t be that easy during the Grimrail Mythic+ Walkthrough on the higher levels of the keystone and in certain weeks of the Affix rotation. Because there’s always a chance that Grimrail Loaders will explode with Bursting or cause Sanguine with their death. And these are just two M+ AoE affixes that can be especially harmful to players who rush towards the final boss to successfully complete the run. Finally, remember that since your keystone is level 10 and higher, this area will also be full of Shrouded dreadlords.
Grimrail Depot Bosses
Rocketspark and Borka
Railmaster Rocketspark and Borka the Brute look like bosses who waited for you to return to the Grimrail Depot. But you can expect them to try to fight you with a very trivial tactic. Railmaster jumps from one pile of boxes to another and strikes your allies with VX18-B Target Eliminator that deals damage to those who didn’t leave red circles on the floor.
At the same time Borka the Brute damages members of your party with Slam that badly damages them and interrupts their spells. Furthermore, Railmaster occasionally casts X21-01A Missile Barrage. That spell is channeled by the boss until someone interrupts it — but how, if Rocketspark is untankable and it’s difficult to reach him?
Well, now the tank receives a possibility to do something with Railmaster. Borka’s Mad Dash skill must be directed into the boxes on which Rocketspark casts his spell. That will cause Railmaster to fall, get stunned and start receiving twice the damage. But it’s not the right time to overdo it.
Even if you succeed and almost kill him, it may be better not to do so until Borka has received so much damage that you can kill the bosses almost simultaneously. Because if you don’t, killing one of the bosses will empower another one. The worst outcome is if you empower Borka, as it’ll drive him to almost enrage mode by triggering the Unmanaged Aggression.
That buff increases Borka’s damage by 50% and attack speed by 25% and makes it cast Slam even more frequently. So, if you can’t kill two bosses almost at once, it’s better to kill Borka first. In that case, Rocketspark will just repeat his X21-01A Missile Barrage standing on the floor. The spell is empowered with only one little feature: now there is completely no way to interrupt it. It’s dangerous, but it’s something you can overcome.
Nitrogg Thundertower
The second boss on the map of Grimrail Depot is Nitrogg Thundertower. Although it’s hard to name that Orc a boss: Nitrogg himself won’t cause as many troubles as his servants and his Cannon. The first phase lasts until Nitrogg’s HP is reduced to 60%. Before that he strikes you with Blackrock Mortar and Blackrock Grenade spells. The first one just powerfully damages everyone in front of a boss, while the second is about throwing a grenade at a random player.
When the second phase comes, Nitrogg gets into his precious Assault Cannon. The deadliest thing he will cast from it is Suppressive Fire — a target can hide from it by using the nearby obstacles. You can attack Assault Cannon by yourself, but don’t hurry to do it. In the second phase, a lot of mobs appear out of nowhere to assist their boss. But instead, they may suddenly help you more than him.
After their death, mobs will drop Blackrock Grenades, Blackrock Mortar Shells, and Blackrock Shrapnel. Picking them up gives various bonuses. The grenade can be thrown at the same mobs or at the Assault Cannon via an extra action button. Mortar Shell must be carried to Turrets, which will fire Homing Shell at the Cannon, significantly reducing its HP (about 40% for a shot).
Shrapnel is used on the same Turrets but to deal the damage to mobs in front of it. Destroying the Assault Cannon will draw you back into a kind of a first phase, but now Nitrogg won’t have any cannon to hide in.
Skylord Tovra
Skylord Tovra may seem to be a simpler boss than some mobs that you have met during your Grimrail Depot route. The first piece of advice only proves the encounter’s simplicity: Tovra is riding a rylak named Rakun and you must avoid the effect of its Thunderous Breath. Its main consequence is Diffused Energy which covers a major part of the train car on which you’re fighting.
It would be too easy not to get damaged by that energy if there weren’t Freezing Snares right between the puddles. That spell is basically a trap that activates not instantly but rather quickly and immobilizes all the party members within 6 yards for 6 seconds. The worst problem of the encounter is that effects of both spells remain until the end of the fight.
Finally, Tovra throws a Spinning Spear at the tank, and that is the least problem for the whole party. However, if any player stays too close to the tank, they will also be damaged by the Spear. One more reason to bring down the boss as quickly as possible and hit a new personal record in your Mythic run!
