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WoW Season of Discovery Sunken Temple Raid: What Changed and What to Know

Season of Discovery turned the Temple of Atal’Hakkar into a level-50, 20-player raid with eight encounters, redesigned mechanics, and new rewards. Here’s how it differed from the classic dungeon and what changed after launch.
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Sunken Temple—officially the Temple of Atal’Hakkar—became a 20-player, level-50 raid in World of Warcraft Classic: Season of Discovery Phase 3, which launched on April 4, 2024. It was a redesign of the familiar dungeon, not simply the old five-player run with a larger group: Blizzard announced new encounters, mechanics, and loot. The raid’s eight encounters end with Avatar of Hakkar.

What is the Season of Discovery Sunken Temple raid?

The Temple of Atal’Hakkar is the structure commonly known as Sunken Temple, in the eastern part of the Swamp of Sorrows. For Phase 3, Blizzard reworked it as level-50 “level-up” content for 20 players. Blizzard’s Phase 3 Content Update Notes called it “a newly revamped 20-player raid version of the classic Temple of Atal’Hakkar dungeon with all new encounters and mechanics, and of course, new loot!”

Phase 3 went live worldwide on April 4, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. PDT. The phase raised the level cap from 40 to 50, allowing characters to progress from level 41 through 50 and earn up to ten additional talent points. Blizzard announced the raid’s arrival in its Phase 3 launch post.

How the raid differs from the classic dungeon

The original Temple of Atal’Hakkar is a five-player dungeon. The Season of Discovery version was built as a 20-player raid, with new encounters and mechanics and a different reward offering. That distinction matters: a guide to the classic dungeon’s ordinary runs or drops does not, by itself, describe the SoD raid.

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Feature Classic dungeon Season of Discovery Phase 3 raid
Group format Typical five-player dungeon group 20-player raid, as described in Blizzard’s Phase 3 notes
Encounters Classic dungeon encounters Eight raid encounters, including new encounters and mechanics; roster reported by Wowhead’s raid overview
Rewards Classic dungeon loot and quests Revamped raid loot and reward systems, including set pieces and raid-associated quests; see Wowhead’s raid overview and Blizzard’s Phase 3 notes
Access rules Not stated here for the classic dungeon Icy Veins’ Phase 3 guide reported no attunement requirement and a seven-day lockout; these were Phase 3 rules, not a timeless schedule (Icy Veins)

The redesign description does not establish that every room or every classic boss was replaced. The safe comparison is that Blizzard made a raid version with new encounters and mechanics, rather than merely enlarging the original dungeon group.

All eight encounters

Wowhead’s Phase 3 overview counts eight encounters. Paired enemies below are one encounter, so the total is not a count of every named boss individually.

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  2. Festering Rotslime
  3. Atal’ai Defenders
  4. Dreamscythe and Weaver
  5. Jammal’an the Prophet and Ogom the Wretched
  6. Morphaz and Hazzas
  7. Shade of Eranikus
  8. Avatar of Hakkar (final encounter)

The roster and encounter count are from Wowhead’s Sunken Temple Level-Up Raid Overview.

What rewards did the raid add?

The raid’s rewards extended beyond boss drops. Wowhead’s overview describes a broad loot pool with new set pieces, upgraded epic versions of items from the original dungeon, and revamped quest rewards. It also documents three-piece set bonuses and raid-related progression systems.

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  • Class quests: Blizzard said level-50 class quests in the Temple of Atal’Hakkar grant all three listed loot options, rather than making a character choose one. The quests take players deep into the raid. Blizzard explained that some options could appear less attractive to less experienced players despite retaining value, and said it had not adjusted the rewards for Season of Discovery because most were already powerful (Phase 3 notes).
  • Raid quest rewards: Wowhead reports an epic ring selection associated with a quest turn-in, as well as a new world buff, Fervor of the Temple Explorer, connected to a quest (raid overview).
  • Crafting: The raid is associated with a Phase 3 epic crafting questline. Wowhead identifies Nightmare Seed as a reagent used in crafting (raid overview).

These are SoD raid rewards and systems; they should not be confused with the classic dungeon’s standard drops or its general quest information.

How the raid changed after launch

April 5, 2024: enemy health lowered

The raid’s initial health tuning changed one day after launch. Blizzard said it had aimed high because of concerns about player power in Phase 3, then concluded it had gone too far. Community manager Linxy wrote: “We feel that we aimed too high and have recently deployed a hotfix that lowers the health of all enemies and bosses within the Sunken Temple to help ensure this content remains accessible to all players.” Blizzard said groups needed to soft-reset the instance for the changes to take effect (The Sunken Temple Raid Adjustments).

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July 2024: Phase 4 experience and reset changes

Blizzard’s July 2024 version 1.15.3 notes later stated that Sunken Temple bosses would grant a sizable amount of experience and that the raid would reset twice per week (Phase 4 patch notes). This is a later Phase 4 schedule; it differs from the seven-day lockout reported by Icy Veins for Phase 3.

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Was it simply the old dungeon with more players?

No. Blizzard explicitly described the SoD incarnation as a revamped 20-player raid with new encounters and mechanics, along with new loot. The source material establishes that broad redesign, but not that every classic room or boss was replaced. The useful distinction is between the original five-player dungeon and the Phase 3 raid’s separate encounter and reward design.

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