World of Warcraft: Prepare for Battle Quest Guide

Two very different quests in World of Warcraft carry the name Prepare for Battle, and the one you are holding decides where you go. The current one sends you out of Valanaar and north to a staging ground full of Peacekeepers. The older one, part of Assault on the Dark Portal, asks you to arm a camp of freed prisoners with looted Iron Horde gear.

Quick answer: Head north out of Valanaar into Gustberry Lowlands and turn in Prepare for Battle to Valennia Stormfist, the Peacekeeper Captain, then accept Making Our Move.

Route from Valanaar to Gustberry Lowlands

The whole trip is a straight run with nothing hostile in the way, so the fastest approach is to drop off the tower and keep moving north instead of taking the paths back down.

From Valanaar’s elevated wooden platform, leap off and activate Walk on Air during the descent. You’ll glide above the village rooftops and touch down far beyond the spot reached by taking the stairs.

Leaving the Building — Gliding down over Valanaar after dropping from the tower platform. Shown at 00:21 in FocustaGuides’s video. Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Open the world map and set your course north. Gustberry Lowlands sits directly above Valanaar, so you can line the route up once and then ignore the map for the rest of the run.

Cut through the village and cross the shallow water near the glowing ley line. This is the quickest line through the middle of town and it drops you straight onto the stone bridge.

Crossing the Water and Ley Line — The shallow pool beside the ley line, on the direct line through Valanaar. Shown at 00:33 in FocustaGuides’s video. Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Follow the stone bridge road north past the other players and NPCs working their way through the same chain. Nothing here attacks you, so there is no reason to stop unless you want to inspect someone’s gear on the way past.

Inspecting another player — The inspect panel open on another player along the bridge road north. Shown at 00:35 in PazarGamingGuides’s video. Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Stay on the cobblestone path until it opens onto a wide grassy area. The crowd of NPCs ahead of you is the marker that you are at the right spot.

Approaching the gathering area — The cobblestone path opening onto the gathering area. Shown at 00:47 in PazarGamingGuides’s video. Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Walk into Gustberry Lowlands proper, where Windshaper Shamans and rows of Peacekeepers are stationed. Valennia Stormfist is standing with them.

Approaching Gustberry Lowlands — Peacekeeper units lined up in Gustberry Lowlands, where the quest is handed in. Shown at 00:52 in FocustaGuides’s video. Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Talk to Valennia Stormfist, open the Prepare for Battle dialogue and press Complete Quest. She immediately offers the follow-up, Making Our Move, which is your confirmation that the hand-in registered.

Prepare for Battle in Assault on the Dark Portal (30 Blackrock Weapons)

The Warlords of Draenor version runs during the Tanaan Jungle prologue, after your group breaks out of the Iron Horde camp. The objective is simple: collect 30 Blackrock Weapons so the freed prisoners have something to fight with. Both factions run the same quest from different leaders.

Faction	Quest giver	Location
Alliance	Vindicator Maraad	Tanaan Jungle, 48.6, 14.2
Horde	Thrall	Tanaan Jungle

The quest starts and ends with the same NPC, requires level 10, and is sharable with your party.

Where to find Blackrock Weapons

Loose weapons lie on the ground throughout the area and can be picked up as you run.
Iron Horde weapon racks are the fastest source, handing over around half a dozen each.
Blackrock Slaghaulers and Blackrock Forgeworkers drop them when killed.

Clear the racks first and only fight the Blackrock mobs that are already in your path, since the racks cover most of the count on their own.

Rewards for Prepare for Battle

You pick one pair of item level 510 shoulders in your armor type, and you also learn the Cooldowns ability along with gold and experience.

Reward	Armor type
Quarrier’s Mantle	Cloth
Quarrier’s Spaulders	Leather
Quarrier’s Pauldrons	Mail
Quarrier’s Shoulderplates	Plate

How to tell the quest is done

Once the thirtieth weapon lands in your bags, Blackhand shouts down from above the camp asking what is going on below. Hand in to Thrall or Vindicator Maraad and Exarch Maladaar calls the freed prisoners forward, who charge the weapon pile and regroup at the end of the road. The chain then moves on to The Battle of the Forge.

If you are not sure whether an old character already finished it, run the matching check in chat. Quest ID 35019 is the Alliance version and 35005 is the Horde version.

/run print(C_QuestLog.IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(35019))
/run print(C_QuestLog.IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(35005))

Where Prepare for Battle sits in the Dark Portal chain

Prepare for Battle comes directly after Keli’dan the Breaker and leads into The Battle of the Forge. From there the chain splits into The Gunpowder Plot, The Shadow of the Worldbreaker and Ga’nar of the Frostwolf, with Ga’nar feeding into Polishing the Iron Throne and then The Prodigal Frostwolf. If you are working through the prologue for the achievement or just to unlock your garrison, none of those branches can be skipped.