This guide is for learning how to play the early game of my Scarab Lord class, which is based on the Ahn'Qiraj raids and related zones from World of Warcraft.

You can subscribe to the mod here:

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3412473044

Also included is an FAQ to clear up some of the more confusing parts of the mod. If you have a question feel free to ask - I'll be expanding the FAQ as needed.

1. First take note that your capitol, the Scarab Gate, is not exactly your actual capitol - it is a portal to Agartha. In Agartha you will find the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj as well as 3 Vekniss Hives. If one or more of the Vekniss Hives have spawned in an unreachable location in Agartha you should probably consider restarting.

In the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj you will find C'thun, the Old God, as well as a Silithid Noble. This noble functions as your first actual commander since Rajaxx, Skeram and C'thun are all stationary at this point in the game.


2. The very first thing you should do is select the silithid noble and move it to capture the Vekniss Hive containing the portal to Elysium - due to the mechanics of the game this Hive cannot be spawned under your control and must be captured manually at the start.


3. Next you will want to have a look at Skeram's rituals - throughout the game Skeram will be integral to your progression, you should ensure his safety as much as possible.

Skeram's available rituals at this point in the game are 3 separate Hive rituals as well as the Twilight Emissary ritual. You will want to place a silithid hive as soon as possible, as this is your primary source of Life Force. Each of the 3 hives can only be placed once.

DO NOT get the Twilight Emissary first, this will be a massive setback for you while you slowly gain the life force back to get one of the hives. The Vekniss hives do not drain life force from their surroundings but they do have a chance to provide a small amount of it each turn, but it is not nearly enough to make up for the lost time of not placing a hive on turn 1.

Before you place a Hive however go back to Agartha and have a look at C'thun's rituals. His 'Eye See You' ritual will allow you to reveal the nearby area to pick a more ideal location for your hive. If your first 2 casts of it don't find a good spot you can delay a turn for a 3rd cast, but I wouldn't delay any longer than that to place the hive. Try to ensure you pick a spot for the hive that will maximize its life force income for as long as possible. Try not to have it destroy any villages/towns/cities as these will be of important use to you later on.

Keep in mind that the 3 Main Hives (Ashi, Regal & Zora) drain life force from all squares within 2 spaces of themselves, just like a Pyramid of Power.


4. Which Hive should you pick? What's the difference? - Well its up to your personal preference really but as each hive spawns different types of silithids, here is the main differences between the 3:

Ashi - Hive Ashi spawns the most silithids but tends to be somewhat inferior in quality of units.
Regal - Hive Regal spawns the strongest silithids, but at a noticeably slower rate.
Zora - Hive Zora has the most versatile silithids and is a relatively aggressive expander.

Typically I pick Zora first because it is better than the other 2 at quickly grabbing some good resource tiles, but ultimately any of the 3 will serve you well as a first pick.

Whichever you pick try to place the first one relatively close to the Scarab Gate, while it spawns with units it does not spawn with a commander of its own to lead them, and your starting noble will have to travel there to pick them up.


5. At this point you may have noticed General Rajaxx standing next to Skeram in the Scarab Gate. Rajaxx is the key to the first stage of the mod and your primary goal starting out: to open the Scarab Gate. While the Scarab gate remains closed the Qiraji are unable to leave Ahn'Qiraj and you will have to rely solely upon silithids for your armies.

To open the Scarab Gate you must use Rajaxx's ritual 'Raise Qiraji Army' and accumulate a minimum of 5 Qiraji Captains, at which point you may open the gate, Qiraji will become recruitable and Rajaxx and Skeram will no longer be stationary, able to freely move around the map as normal commanders. Both will gain access to new rituals after doing so.

However it is best not to rush things; while you may want to raise a qiraji army in the near future just to pad the number of defenders in the Scarab Gate, having just one active hive will not be enough to get you the life force required to progress.


6. For the time being your goal should be to get all 3 Hives placed in ideal locations. Spend the time inbetween casts scouting for a good spot for the next one as well as capturing any sources of Iron that you can manage.


7. Using the Iron you accumulate you should create Anubisath Emissaries, which you can get using C'thuns 'Old God's Emissary' ritual. These powerful but stupid units will wander around seeking out settlements, gaining you control of extra resource tiles as well as potentially discovering a good location for another silithid hive. In the early game you should generally try to keep all 3 emissaries active, however in the middle and late game you may find that their return on investment decreases. If they happen to keep suiciding into a magic library or something it may be prudent to clear that out before continuing to resummon them.


8. Once you have 2 or 3 of the Hives placed you can safely summon the Twilight Emissary. This will provide you with access to the Twilight's Hammer units as recruitable mercenaries - unlike your other units these can be recruited for gold anywhere in Elysium. The Twilight's Hammer will also contribute to accumulating Life Force with its rituals, which will require villages/towns/cities as mentioned earlier.


9. With the Twilight Emissary you are also now able to use C'thun's "Madness Intensifies[1]" ritual, which will give you access to several new rituals you may find useful situationally.


10. At this point you should prioritize having your twilight emissary establishing Twilight Enclaves in villages/towns/ports/cities, hiring Twilight Invokers to conduct Eldritch Research, as well as using C'thun's "Echoes of the Fallen" ritual on a few excess villages. Note that Twilight Enclave and Echoes of the Fallen are incompatible; if you use Echoes of the Fallen on a village already containing a Twilight Enclave you will lose the benefits of the Enclave.


10. Now you should be able to just keep doing the above and expanding while raising qiraji armies in preparation for opening the Scarab Gate. Once you have enough captains to do so you must evaluate your situation and decide whether you want to open the gate as soon as possible or raise the remaining captains and summon the Anubisath Warbringers - though they have a steep cost doing so will greatly increase the strength of your forces in the short term.


11. Once you have opened the Scarab Gate Rajaxx and Skeram will both gain new rituals and neither will be (Dormant) anymore, they will be able to move and act freely like any other commander. This will give you access to many new rituals both for these two as well as C'thun, and access to the rest of the mod's content, beginning with unearthing the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj and its denizens.


If you've managed to reach this far then you shouldn't require any more guidance from me - have fun drowning Elysium in a tide of insects and other horrors!

“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh C'thun Ahn'Qiraj wgah’nagl fhtagn!”

Q: If C'thun dies can he be resummoned?
A: No.


Q: If Skeram and Rajaxx die before the Scarab Gate is opened can I get them back?
A: No, if one of them dies the other can resummon him but if they both die you have functionally lost. This helps offset the fact that this class is so strong with a significant risk early game should the enemy somehow manage to threaten the Scarab Gate effectively. After the Gate is open they can be reobtained like any of the other boss creatures, though take care to place Skeram's statue before sending him into any danger. Later, once he becomes non-dormant, Ossirian the Unscarred can revive Skeram, however this is heavily less cost effective than using the Statue of Skeram, and should only be used as a last resort.


Q: Why are there ghouls in my silithid hives?
A: Silithid Hives drain life force just like Scourge Lord Pillars, and produce ghouls when draining human settlements. Leave the ghouls in the hives and they will be converted into silithids the turn after they spawn.


Q: What happens if I cast Echoes of the Fallen on a village containing a Twilight Enclave Master?
A: You lose all of the benefits of the Enclave Master, all of the events related to him (freespawning cultists and getting extra life force) will not work in a Ghost Village.


Q: I tried to use 'Gaze Unto the Void' in a location but it wouldn't work, why?
A: You probably already have another unit Gazing at the location - you can only have one Gazer in a location at a time.


Q: There are tons of dredge crushers/sand scitters/scorpids just sitting in my hives, why aren't they wandering?
A: I don't know, my only guess is that there are so many of them wandering around the area that it messes with the wander ai, since they are loners it might make them not want to leave the hive. Because this only tends to happen in the late middle game and beyond, events have been added that activate after year 7 and provide a chance to promote excess weak bugs into silithids if they are standing in hives.