A Putrid Task in World of Warcraft: Full Quest Walkthrough

A Putrid Task is a short Horde collection quest in Tirisfal Glades that asks you to strip seven Putrid Claws off the Scourge undead infesting the land around Brill. It is one of the earliest kill-and-loot quests Forsaken characters run into, and the whole thing takes place inside a single zone.

Quick answer: Kill Rotting Dead and Ravaged Corpses in the fields west of Brill, loot 7 Putrid Claws, then return them to Deathguard Dillinger to finish the quest.

A Putrid Task quest details in Classic and retail

The quest exists in two forms. The Classic version sits at level 6 and sends you to the bridge west of Brill, while the version reworked in Cataclysm scales down to level 1 and places Deathguard Dillinger at Cold Hearth Manor instead.

Detail	Classic	Retail
Quest giver and turn-in	Deathguard Dillinger, Brill	Deathguard Dillinger, Cold Hearth Manor
Level	6 (requires level 4)	1 (requires level 1)
Objective	7 Putrid Claws	7 Putrid Claws
Faction	Horde	Horde
Reward	1 silver, 410 XP	40 copper, 150 XP
Reputation	Undercity	+150 Undercity

The quest is sharable, so a party member who already has it can pass it to you. Season of Mastery realms pay out more experience, at 570 instead of 410.

Where to pick up A Putrid Task

Deathguard Dillinger hands out the quest and takes the turn-in. In Classic he stands out in the open in Brill, near the road crossing, so you do not need to step inside any building to find him. In the modern version he is stationed at Cold Hearth Manor around coordinates 52.5, 54.8, which you pass on the path back toward Brill while gathering Gloom Weed for Gordo’s Task. He also offers The New Forsaken from the same spot.

Accepting A Putrid Task — The quest dialogue window for A Putrid Task, with the Accept button at the bottom. Shown at 00:04 in FocustaGuides’s video. Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Putrid Claw drop sources and where to farm them

Only two mobs carry the claw, and both wander the same infested farmland. Roughly one in three kills drops the item, so expect somewhere around 20 kills to finish the count.

NPC	Level	Putrid Claw drop chance
Rotting Dead	5–6	33%
Ravaged Corpse	6–7	33%

The main cluster is west of Brill by the old bridge, around 53, 53. Several of them lurk directly under the bridge itself, which is easy to run straight past. The open field on the left after you cross the bridge holds more, and the ground around Cold Hearth Manor near 53, 57 works as a backup camp. Rotting Dead sit a level or two below Ravaged Corpses, so stick to them if you are questing at the minimum level of 4.

Do not push too far past the graveyard. Rot Hide Graverobbers and Rot Hide Mongrels patrol behind it and hit considerably harder than the undead you need. Gordo, a level 50 elite abomination, also walks a route through the area near Stillwater Pond.

How to complete A Putrid Task

Speak to Deathguard Dillinger and accept the quest. The objective line reads Putrid Claw 0/7 in your quest tracker once it is in your log.

Open your map and look for the highlighted objective area. Head west out of Brill along the road and cross the old bridge into the farmland the Scourge have taken.

Quest Overview — The farmland outside Brill where the Rotting Dead and Ravaged Corpses spawn. Shown at 00:05 in PazarGamingGuides’s video. Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Attack any Rotting Dead or Ravaged Corpse you find in the fields and under the bridge. Both count equally toward the objective, so kill whichever is closest and safest for your level.

Loot every corpse. The Putrid Claw appears in the loot window on about a third of kills, and each one you pick up bumps the counter by one.

Slaying Rotting Dead — A Putrid Claw in the loot window of a slain Rotting Dead. Shown at 00:39 in FocustaGuides’s video. Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Keep clearing the area until the tracker climbs toward 7. Dry streaks are normal given the drop rate, so work your way along the field rather than waiting on respawns in one spot.

Gathering Second Claw — The tracker updating to Putrid Claw 2/7 partway through the farm. Shown at 01:14 in FocustaGuides’s video. Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Collecting Putrid Claws — One claw left at 6/7 while clearing the last of the undead. Shown at 00:44 in PazarGamingGuides’s video. Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Travel back northeast along the path into Brill and talk to Deathguard Dillinger again. Choose Complete Quest in the dialogue window to hand over the claws.

How to confirm A Putrid Task is finished

The seventh claw triggers an Objective Complete notification on screen, and the tracker line switches to 7/7. Dillinger’s dialogue then changes from asking whether you have the claws to congratulating you on smashing the undead into rotting pulp, and the quest drops out of your log once you click through. Your reward money and experience land immediately.

Objective Complete & Map Check — The Objective Complete message after looting the seventh Putrid Claw. Shown at 00:51 in PazarGamingGuides’s video. Image: Blizzard Entertainment

If you want to check an old character, run this command in chat to test the completion flag for the Classic quest ID.

/run print(C_QuestLog.IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(404))

Use 25090 in place of 404 to check the retail version instead.

Turning the claws in opens up The Mills Overrun in Classic, keeping the Tirisfal Glades chain moving. In the modern game it sits as a side quest off The New Forsaken, so finishing it feeds straight back into the Forsaken Duties line without sending you anywhere new.