WoW Forever brings back the keyring, but it is much lighter than in Classic. At launch on November 4, 2026, only one raid has a real attunement chain: every player who wants to fight Onyxia needs their own Drakefire Amulet, and the chain is not shared across your characters. The two new raids, The Barrow Deeps and Hyjal Summit, have no attunement at all, although the developers hint at extra steps for players who want the full experience. Among dungeons, the new City of Dalaran is the only one locked behind a quest, and a single Dalaran Sewer Key opens it for the whole group. The rest are the Classic keys you may remember, from The Scarlet Key to the Skeleton Key.
Below you will find a table of every instance that needs an attunement or a key, where each one comes from, what is still unconfirmed about the Seal of Ascension for Upper Blackrock Spire, and which parts are tied to one character.
An attunement is a quest chain that every character has to finish before the game lets them into a raid or dungeon. A key is simpler: one item, usually a drop or a single quest reward, that opens a door. In most cases one key holder can open the door for the whole party, while an attunement has to be done by each player.
At launch, WoW Forever has one attunement in the classic sense, for Onyxia's Lair. The City of Dalaran sits between the two: it takes a short quest chain, but only one member of the group needs the key. Everything else is a dungeon key that saves time, opens a wing or summons an optional boss.
The table sums up every instance with an attunement or a key, from the lowest level up.
| Instance | Attunement or key | Level | Where you get it | Our guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gnomeregan | Workshop Key, opens the back door to the Engineering Labs | 29–38 | Drops from Electrocutioner 6000 inside the dungeon | Gnomeregan guide |
| Scarlet Monastery | The Scarlet Key, opens the Armory and the Cathedral | 28–45 | Doan's Strongbox at the end of the Library | Scarlet Monastery guide |
| City of Dalaran | Dalaran Sewer Key, one per group | 30 for the key quests | Heart of Disruption from the Image of Archmage Modera | Dalaran attunement guide |
| Zul'Farrak | Mallet of Zul'Farrak, summons Gahz'rilla | 44–54 | Sacred Mallet from Qiaga the Keeper in The Hinterlands | Zul'Farrak guide |
| Maraudon | Scepter of Celebras, portal to Earth Song Falls | 46–55 | Legends of Maraudon and The Scepter of Celebras | Maraudon guide |
| Blackrock Depths | Shadowforge Key, opens the Shadowforge doors | 52–60 | Dark Iron Legacy, requires level 48 | Blackrock Depths guide |
| Upper Blackrock Spire | Seal of Ascension, not confirmed for WoW Forever yet | 58–60 | Seal of Ascension from Vaelan in Lower Blackrock Spire | Upper Blackrock Spire guide |
| Dire Maul | Crescent Key, opens the West and North wings | 58–60 | Drops from Pusillin in the East wing | Dire Maul guide |
| Scholomance | Skeleton Key, opens the front gate | 58–60 | The Key to Scholomance chain at Chillwind Camp or the Bulwark | Scholomance guide |
| Stratholme | Key to the City, opens the service entrance | 58–60 | Drops from Magistrate Barthilas | Stratholme guide |
| Onyxia's Lair | Drakefire Amulet, every raider needs one | 60 | Faction quest chain that ends with General Drakkisath | Onyxia attunement guide |
| The Barrow Deeps | No attunement | 60 | Open from December 9, 2026 | Barrow Deeps guide |
| Hyjal Summit | No attunement | 60 | Open from December 9, 2026 | Hyjal Summit guide |
The other dungeons, including the new Hall of Thanes, Ruins of Lordaeron and Excavation Site, have no key or attunement.
For every dungeon, its level range and its entrance, see our WoW Forever dungeons list.
Dungeon keys come from Classic and work the same way in the WoW Forever data. They bind when picked up, so you cannot trade them, but most of them only need one holder: once the door is open, the whole group walks through. Keys go into the keyring, so they do not take a bag slot.
The Armory and the Cathedral of Scarlet Monastery are behind locked doors. The Scarlet Key lies in Doan's Strongbox next to Arcanist Doan, the last boss of the Library, and every player in the group can loot one. That is why groups run the Library first. A Rogue with high enough Lockpicking can open the doors without the key.
Workshop Key drops from Electrocutioner 6000 in the Launch Bay. It opens the back entrance on the north side of the Train Depot, which leads straight to the Engineering Labs. Keep it: after a wipe on Mekgineer Thermaplugg, it saves you the walk through half the dungeon.
The Mallet of Zul'Farrak does not open a door. It summons Gahz'rilla, the hydra boss you call by striking the gong at the sacred pool. To make it, take the Sacred Mallet from Qiaga the Keeper at the Altar of Zul in The Hinterlands and use it at the altar on top of Jintha'Alor. Prepare it before the run, because nobody can summon the hydra without it.
The Scepter of Celebras is the reward of Legends of Maraudon and The Scepter of Celebras. You collect the two parts in the outer sides of Maraudon, free the spirit of Celebras the Redeemed, and he forges the scepter. On later runs it opens a portal from the entrance area straight to Earth Song Falls and the last bosses.
Blackrock Depths has two keys. The Shadowforge Key opens the Shadowforge doors and lets later groups skip the whole Detention Block. It is the reward of Dark Iron Legacy, a level 52 quest that you can start from level 48: a dead player talks to the ghost of Franclorn Forgewright on the Molten Span, then the group kills Fineous Darkvire for Ironfel and places the hammer on Franclorn's statue at the Shrine of Thaurissan inside the dungeon.
The Prison Cell Key drops from High Interrogator Gerstahn about half the time and opens the cells of the Detention Block. You need it for the princess chain and for the Alliance part of the Onyxia attunement, where Marshal Windsor waits in one of the cells. Rogues can pick the locks instead.
The West and North wings of Dire Maul need the Crescent Key. It drops from Pusillin, the imp in the East wing who runs away when you talk to him. Follow him through the wing to his last spot, kill him and his imps, and the key is yours. Run the East wing first, then the other two.
The front gate of Scholomance is locked. One player needs the Skeleton Key from the chain that ends with The Key to Scholomance for Alliance at Chillwind Camp or The Key to Scholomance for Horde at the Bulwark, both in the Western Plaguelands. The final quest requires level 55. A Rogue with high Lockpicking or an Engineer with a Powerful Seaforium Charge can also open the gate.
Key to the City drops from Magistrate Barthilas on the Live side of Stratholme. It opens the service entrance, so on later runs your group can go straight to the Undead side. Do not confuse it with the Horde quest Key to the City, a step of the Dalaran attunement.
WoW Forever adds a few keys that did not exist in Classic. The Krol'dok Compound Key and the Krol'dok Ogre Key are named after the new Krol'dok Stronghold in Riverglades, and the Azsharan Key has no description at all. None of their tooltips says what they open.
All the bosses, quests and loot of these dungeons are in our WoW Forever dungeon quests guide and the separate dungeon guides linked in the table above.
City of Dalaran is the only new dungeon with a locked gate. To enter, one player in the group needs the Dalaran Sewer Key. It is not a classic attunement: the key opens the sewer gate for the whole party, and the other players can join without doing a single step.
The key comes with the quest Heart of Disruption, which the Image of Archmage Modera gives at the sewer gate outside the northwest wall of Dalaran, in Alterac Mountains. It goes into your keyring the moment you accept the quest, so keep Heart of Disruption in your log until your group is inside. The two factions get there in different ways:
The key quests require level 30, while the dungeon quests are available from level 24. Start the chain before your group is waiting.
Every step of both chains with coordinates is in our WoW Forever City of Dalaran attunement guide. If you would rather skip the Horde chain and the full clear, our WoW Forever City of Dalaran service takes care of the run.
In Classic, the door between Lower and Upper Blackrock Spire opens only for a group with at least one player who carries the Seal of Ascension. The quest chain is still in WoW Forever and starts with Vaelan near the entrance of Lower Blackrock Spire:
Here is the catch. The last quest still points to the Seal as its reward, but the item itself is missing from the WoW Forever game data. Blizzard has not said whether the door still asks for the Seal. Until it does, plan for the key: have one player in your group carry the chain into the first Lower Blackrock Spire runs. Horde players already kill the same three bosses for Warlord's Command, the Onyxia attunement step, so the gemstones cost almost nothing extra.
In Classic, each gemstone dropped about one time in three and only one player could loot it, so a group could need more than one Lower Blackrock Spire run for a single seal. Our WoW Forever Lower Blackrock Spire guide covers the bosses that drop the gemstones, and the WoW Forever Upper Blackrock Spire guide explains the route to General Drakkisath.
Onyxia's Lair opens on December 9, 2026, as a 40-player raid, and it keeps the original attunement. Every raider needs a Drakefire Amulet in their bags to enter. It does not have to be equipped, so you can keep a better necklace on, but a raider who left the amulet in the bank stays outside.
The amulet is the last reward of a long faction quest chain, and the official advice is to start early, bring a few friends for the elite quests, and plan several trips into high-level dungeons. Here is how the two chains compare:
| Detail | Alliance | Horde |
|---|---|---|
| First quest giver | Helendis Riverhorn in the Burning Steppes, Dragonkin Menace from level 48 | Warlord Goretooth in Kargath, Badlands, every quest requires level 55 |
| Number of quests | 16 | 15 |
| Dungeon runs | Blackrock Depths twice, then Upper Blackrock Spire | Lower and Upper Blackrock Spire, four trips in total |
| Hardest part | The escort in Jail Break! and The Great Masquerade in Stormwind | Four elite dragons in four zones |
| Amulet from | Haleh in Winterspring | Rexxar in Desolace |
Both chains end the same way: you kill General Drakkisath at the top of Blackrock Spire for the Blood of the Black Dragon Champion and bring it back for the amulet. The amulet itself requires level 50, but in practice both factions finish at 60.
We walk through all 16 Alliance and 15 Horde quests with coordinates in our WoW Forever Onyxia attunement guide, and the fight itself is in the WoW Forever Onyxia's Lair guide. If your guild is not ready for 40 players when the lair opens, take a look at our WoW Forever Onyxia's Lair Boost.
The two new raids open on the same day as Onyxia, December 9, 2026, and neither has an attunement. In the dungeon episode of the official WoW Forever podcast, the developers put it simply: for the new raids, "there's not something that's going to stop you from walking into them." Blizzard's Raid Overview of October 20 lists an attunement for Onyxia's Lair only.
There is a catch here too. In the same podcast, the developers said you "might have to do a little digging and figure stuff out as you go to sort of like get the full experience", and that one of the new raids has something "a little familiar" from the old attunements. What that is, they did not say.
Read more about each raid in our WoW Forever Barrow Deeps guide and WoW Forever Hyjal Summit guide, and the full raid lineup with dates in our WoW Forever raids overview.
A lot of WoW Forever progression is shared across the account, starting with Legacy Points, so players ask whether attunements are too. They are not, at least not at launch.
If you plan several alts, our WoW Forever alt leveling guide shows which dungeon runs are worth repeating on each of them.
A few habits save hours when you collect keys on a new character.
These guides cover the attunements and the instances behind them in full.
These are the questions players ask most about attunements and keys in WoW Forever.
Only Onyxia's Lair at launch. Every raider needs a Drakefire Amulet in their bags. The Barrow Deeps and Hyjal Summit have no attunement.
No, not at launch. Every character completes the chain on their own, and the Chipped Drakefire Amulet shortcut from other Classic versions is not sold in WoW Forever.
No. One player with the Dalaran Sewer Key opens the sewer gate for the whole party.
Probably, but it is not confirmed. The Seal of Ascension chain is still in the game, while the item itself has no WoW Forever database entry yet. Have one player in your group do the chain to be safe.
Molten Core is not part of the launch raids. The quest Attunement to the Core is still in the Blackrock Depths data, but the first raids on December 9 are The Barrow Deeps, Hyjal Summit and Onyxia's Lair.
Two different things share the name. The item Key to the City drops from Magistrate Barthilas and opens the service entrance of Stratholme. The quest Key to the City is a step of the Horde Dalaran attunement, where you loot a Grimy Key at the Lordamere Internment Camp.
Yes, for several of them. A Rogue with high enough Lockpicking can open the Scarlet Monastery doors, the Scholomance gate and the locked doors in Blackrock Depths. Raid attunements and the Dalaran sewer gate still need the item.
