One of the centerpieces of the new World of Warcraft: Shadowlands expansion is Torghast, Tower of the Damned located in The Maw. This area has been described by some fans as an endless dungeon and Roguelike mini-game for players to clear each week. In World of Warcraft lore, Torghast is the location where the Jailer keeps his most precious souls. It is made up of wings, layers, and floors and is the primary place for players to earn the Soul Ash needed to craft Legendary items. Players can also find new Champions here who can be used at the Adventure Command Table.
Torghast is designed to give players a new experience each time they access it, with new floor layouts and enemy types to keep runs from getting stale. It can also be completed with a group of up to five, and difficulty will scale based on party size. Though players can run Torghast as many times as they want, only one run of each layer will count toward power progression and earning Soul Ash each week. Progression within Torghast itself is self-contained, and players won't be able to keep any currency, items, and abilities they earn once they complete a run. Thankfully, there are places within Torghast for players to experiment with builds, respec, and purchase useful items that make advancing through this endless dungeon even easier. Here's how to access, run, and get rewards from Torghast in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands.
How to Unlock Torghast in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
Players can access Torghast from the very first day they reach Level 60 and join their Covenant. Torghast unlocks when a player clears the first chapter of their Covenant's campaign.
Torghast has a complicated layout. There are six normal wings, plus a seventh that is different from the others, and only two are available each week. The wings of Torghast are:
- Skoldus Halls
- Fracture Chambers
- The Soulforges
- Coldheart Interstitia
- Mort'regar
- The Upper Reaches
Each of the six wings contains eight layers, and each layer will increase in difficulty. Each layer has six individual floors that must be completed in order. Once a player completes all six floors, they have essentially cleared a layer and will receive their Soul Ash for the week.
Players can complete whichever layer they wish after they have completed all eight in ascending order. After this point, they can choose to run whichever layer they want. Players who complete a layer, meaning both available wings on the same layer, will earn all the Soul Ash rewards from every layer below as well. That means if players complete layer six, even if they have not completed levels one through five, they will receive the Soul Ash rewards for all six layers. Of course, Soul Ash rewards decrease the higher difficulty a player goes, so they may only want to run Torghast on layer three, which will provide more than half the available Soul Ash for a given week.
Various layers of Torghast have taken a few weeks to unlock. This has placed some limitations on players, as all layers need to be completed in ascending order from one to eight. Completing a layer in one wing will unlock the next highest layer on every other wing. By Week 4 of the expansion, all eight layers should be unlocked and available for players to access.
Players can unlock a separate seventh wing, Twisting Corridors, that truly is an endless dungeon experience. There are 18 floors in Twisting Corridors, all themed after the other six wings. To gain access to Twisting Corridors, players will need to complete an introductory questline. There is an associated reward of 900 Soul Ash for completing this quest. Twisting Corridors does not usually reward Soul Ash when completed, but will instead grant players various cosmetic upgrades, including a mount that works in The Maw.
Torghast Strategies in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
Like any other dungeon, the goal in Torghast is to kill enemies and complete objectives. Each time a player clears an objective, they will earn Phantasma. This is a currency unique and exclusive to Torghast that can be exchanged for Anima Powers on certain floors of a layer. Anima Powers can be generic or class-specific and can increase a player character's power in Torghast. Players should keep in mind that these powers will disappear as soon as the character leaves Torghast.
While all objectives in Torghast, like looting chests, completing quests, solving puzzles, and killing Rare Elites are optional, they are often worth completing. Each one offers Anima Cells that provide one Anima Power. Players should also make sure to destroy any Ashen Phylacteries they come across to earn extra Phantasma and Anima Cells.
There are several break rooms in Torghast where players can stop at several vendors. Here, they can use Phantasma to get new specs for their character, purchase new gear, or change Soulbinds. Usually, these are located on floor 3 and floor 6 of a layer. Vendors will vary depending on the wing and the layer.
Floor 6 is also the boss floor of any layer of Torghast. Players should take advantage of the break room here prior to the boss fight. They can use any of their remaining Phantasma to change from an AoE build to a single-target build and make sure to grab better gear. Because they cannot save Phantasma, it's a good idea to use it before it's gone.
It may be a good idea to complete Torghast with a group. There are some advantages to grouping. Each player in the group will have a chance to choose their own Anima Power, increasing the chances someone in the party will get a more powerful Anima Power. Players will also notice that mobs will typically only attack one target at a time, making clearing enemies even easier with friends. Players can also build a more structurally sound team based on classes and run a layer of Torghast quickly and efficiently. Still, most players should have no trouble soloing Torghast, if they prefer.
Throughout Torghast, players will likely notice Soul Remnants. These are usually chained to the floor or found in cages. Players should make a point to stop and free these souls. Each freed soul gives players a stackable buff called Soul Remnant's Blessing that adds 1% to the character's Main Stats while in Torghast.
Players will need to be careful in Torghast. There are traps and other obstacles that might trip players up or kill them. A character can only die a certain number of times per floor before they are chased down by an entity called Tarragrue who will kill them, booting them from the Tower and making them start again. The number of times players can die scales depending on party size. When a player is running Torghast solo, they can only die 5 times per floor before Tarragrue spawns. In parties of five players, there can be 15 deaths per floor. These are not limited by character either. All players in a group of any size share the death counter, and even if only one player uses them all, the whole party will be booted from Torghast.
While in The Maw, players can earn reputation with Ve'nari and use collected Stygia to purchase permanent upgrades that make Torghast runs easier. Some of the better upgrades to grab are the Vessel of Unfortunate Spirits, which makes the first death a player experiences in Torghast not count toward their death counter, Sticky-Fingered Skeletal Hand, which can be used to attempt to unlock locked doors and passages in Torghast, and Possibility Matrix, which parmanently improves Anima Hoard orbs in Torghast by allowing them to have at least two Anima Power options.
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