Zereth Mortis Zone Overview and Guide (2024)

Created by the First Ones as the workshop of the cosmic force of Death,where all of the Shadowlands was originated, Zereth Mortis is currentlyinhabited by Automa and The Enlightened Brokers, as well as some nativelife forms and the invading Mawsworn and Anima Devourers.

While your goals in the zone vary over time, the overarching theme is thatof exploration, recruitment of allies, and collection of information and powerfulartifacts, all with the ultimate goal of stopping The Jailer's plan touse the Sepulcher of the First Ones machinery to remake reality to his whims.

Setting Outline Mode to High in the System / Graphics settings of yourWoW client is immensely helpful when questing outdoors, as it will highlight questobjectives, treasures, special enemies, and other useful things that might otherwisego unnoticed.

You can further customize selection highlights for your targets and questobjectives in the Interface / Display menu, in order to make it as comfortable toquest outdoors as possible!

The green circle in the left side of themap is the town of Haven, where you can repair your gear, set your Hearthstone at the inn, teleport back and forth from Oribos,and access multiple gear and reputation vendors.

The green square on the northwest of themap is Exile's Hollow, where Firim and Pocopoc are located,as well as the Cypher of the First Ones research console andCypher Lore Codex dispenser.

The green line in the right side of themap connects two Ancient Translocators, which you can use to fly over tothe Sepulcher of the First Ones.

You will also be able to set and swap your Conduits orunlock rows of your Soulbinds with the Forge of Bonds placed inthe middle of the town. This forge is usable once you return to Haven withyour Covenant allies in the first campaign story chapter.Delivering Anima to your Covenant's sanctum is alsopossible in Haven by talking to your chosen Covenant's representative,located in the middle of the town.

The rest of the map is used for story and daily questing, and has multiplerare enemies (identified as skulls on the map) and treasures sprinkled throughout,which we will detail at the end of this guide.

You will eventually be able to fly in Zereth Mortis by completing the Unlocking the Secrets achievement, but until you are able to do so, youcan use the Ancient Translocators placed around the zone as flight pathsto quickly move between areas.

Is is also recommended to change your Covenantto Venthyr before you can fly, as it will make getting to many of thezone's treasures much easier and all combat in the zone is trivial enough thatyour actual Covenant ability is of little importance.

If you would like to learn more about the requirements for unlocking flying inZereth Mortis, please see our guide detailing it below.

Within Zereth Mortis are plenty of new battle pets and mounts to earn andunlock. To find out more about them, their appearances, movesets, and reuquirements,please consult our collection guides for Patch 9.2 below.

After doing them once, you can instantly complete the first three story chaptersand gain full access to Zereth Mortis, Pocopoc and theCypher of the First Ones system on alts by choosing the skip dialogueoption of Tal-Inara when starting the Zereth Mortis questlines inOribos.

While detailing every part of the new storyline that unfolds in Zereth Mortisis best left to spoiler articles, there is a new extensive storyline —identical for all Covenants — that will introduce the zone itself, some ofthe new raid bosses of the Sepulcher of the First Ones, and tie up theloose ends of the Shadowlands plot, such as The Arbiter's replacement andSylvanas', Anduin's, andThe Jailer's fates.

As you progress through Zereth Mortis you will unlock several daily and worldquests of the same kind that are available in most WoW zones: killing, collecting,clicking, and bar-filling.

World quests grant 125 reputation with The Enlightened faction andrandom, but previewed, rewards. Daily quests only award the previewed rewards.

After completing the third campaign story chapter, you will be able to pickup the quest Patterns Within Patterns in Haven, which you can doagain weekly.

Your reward for completing this quest is 1250 The Enlightened reputation,400 Cosmic Flux, and a Tribute of the Enlightened Elders containing900+ gold, 140+ Cyphers of the First Ones, 500 Reservoir Anima, anda 233 item level Epicpiece. You will also get Renown, if not already maxed.

If you do the campaign, complete 3 world quests every day, and turn inPatterns Within Patterns on cooldown, you will gain enough reputation tounlock Unity at the earliest time possible. The Memory of Unity allowsyou to have a second Legendary at 291 item level on a large choice of gear slots.

Zereth Mortis introduces the new The Enlightened reputation, which is thesource of many power upgrades, especially for crafters, as previewed in the previoussection. You can consult our specialized guide below for more information ontheir rewards and how to earn reputation with them:

Progenitor Essentia is the new equivalent of Patch 9.1's Korthite Crystal, used to craft the new Legendary bases through Vestige of the Eternal, which you can getonce campaign story chapter 5 is finished and you are Honored withThe Enlightened.

You can rarely obtain it in Zereth Mortis when gathering and opening treasures,and can research the Creatian power at the Cypher of the First Onesconsole to increase the odds of getting it from gathering while buffed byEchoed Jiro found in Zereth Mortis.

Players can get their hands on a full set of item level 226 catch-up gear fromboth initial quests in Zereth Mortis and Hadja, a vendor which is unlockedafter you return to Haven with your Covenant allies after the first campaignstory chapter. Each piece will cost you 500 Reservoir Anima, and the tokensto create the items can be sent over to alts due to being bind to account. You canalso consider transferring Anima through the Traveler's Anima Cache itempurchased at Au'Dara near the Oribos flight master.

Further gear progression can be had with Sandworn Relic traded gear,which has an item level of 246 and is purchased from Rafiq at thePilgrim's Grace town, in the middle-right edge of the main landmass ofZereth Mortis, near the teleporter to the island containing theSepulcher of the First Ones. The relics required forthis gear can be farmed in the northeast area of Zereth Mortis, the EndlessSands, outlined in green on the map below.

There are three important new systems to interact with in Zereth Mortis:

• The Cypher of the First Ones system is a new progression system fueledby Cyphers of the First Ones which grants open world power bonuses and ZerethMortis content unlocks;
• Protoform Synthesis can be unlocked through the Cypher system andallows you to create pets and mounts with materials found in Zereth Mortis;
• The Creation Catalyst is unlocked in the fourth story campaign step,Forging a New Path, and allows you to create your own tier set gear!

There are 29 different rare enemies in Zereth Mortis, and killing them all isthe objective of the Adventurer of Zereth Mortis achievement. You also needto kill at least 10 of them in order tounlock flying in Zereth Mortis, as that is the conditionfor the required Adventures in Zereth Mortis achievement.

Rare enemies that are active will be shown as skulls on the Zereth Mortis map.Most will show up and be killable as soon as they spawn, but some require additionalplayer input in order to become marked on the map and attackable, such as theCorrupted Architect, who requires you to engage the Cartel Xy brokers whoare trying to reactivate it first.

As always, the best strategy to take down as many rares as possible is to joinother people in the premade group finder and be generally alert to chat mark pins,which appear on your map once you click them in the chat window. You can place yourown mark pins by Ctrl+clicking on an unmarked location on your map.Ctrl+clicking a pin removes it, and pins are shareable in chat byShift+clicking them, just like other items.

Each rare drops 10 The Enlightened reputation (15 for the northeasternEndless Sands rares, who also drop Sandworn Relics), some Cosmic Flux, Reservoir Anima, Cyphers of the First Ones,grey items, and crafting resources for Zereth Mortis' Protoform Synthesisfeature of the Cypher of the First Ones. You can also occasionally getprofession recipes for your professions, as shown in the image above.

There are many minor types of treasures in Zereth Mortis, which are usuallyplaced on hard-to-reach places that can only be easily accessed by Venthyrplayers using Door of Shadows, Warlocks,or Demon Hunters.

You can also use the Cypher gear jump power shown above to jump into hard-to-reachtreasures, so keep an eye out for gear with the Dimensional Translatorspower!

These typically reward only small amounts of Cyphers of the First Ones, Cosmic Flux and / or other resources, but can be looted once per day.

You can also find one-time treasures which generally grant greater rewards,such as the Stolen Scroll located right above Haven.

Some of the treasures can only be accessed once you have unlocked certain traitson the Cypher of the First Ones console, such as the Drowned Broker Suppliesdisplayed below, located in the lake to the immediate south of Haven. Inthis case, you require the Dealic Understanding research in order tocontrol the orange circled NPC and retrieve the underwater treasure circled in yellow.

Another example of unlocked treasures are the puzzle boxes unlocked throughthe Cachial Understanding trait. Pocopoc will point you to some of themwhen nearby, and you will occasionally get the unlocking of some caches as a worldquest. Our Cypher of the First Ones guide has details on every type of puzzleand how to solve them, if you need help.